Hello to you! I would just like to say thank you to these people for their support and also some suggestions regarding Ryne's name:

Verna Venisa

ER

Ladyknight

'Me'

Fire Mage

ElfKlutz1200

Jowa

AB-scribere

And anyone else I've forgotten, thank you for your reviews!!! Goddess Bless!

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Lesson 7: Escape and Evade

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Ryne, eager to please Mischa, found out all she could about what the Head Master Larynxa was doing. Larynxa turned out to be a woman of many mysteries. Which meant, the girl didn't find out much. But she did find out that the Head Master didn't have a very high regard of male Master Assassins. Which meant she didn't think highly of Mischa.

Ryne wondered if that was part of the reason Mischa wanted the dirt on Larynxa. It didn't help in her quest that she didn't have any idea what her new friend wanted to find out, either.

Finally the night of her initiation came.

"Have you thought of a name?" Julia asked as she watched the girl nervously tightening then loosening her belt.

"Yes. Silentshadow, do you think it's okay?" She asked hurriedly, ready to think of something else. But her former teacher smiled.

"It fits you. You must make sure you know it well, and be ready to answer to it. That's what everyone her at the academy will call you now," Julia was draped lazily over a low armchair, watching her charge with amusement. Ryne felt ready to snap at the woman for her expression, but reminded herself that she was probably worth laughing over; her belt buckle was probably going to be worn out by the end of the night, and she had brushed her hair more times than the most vain Court Lady up at the Corus Palace.

"Stop fidgeting," her mentor ordered at last. Ryne obeyed gratefully, sinking onto another armchair.

"Now, you know the drill. You'll be an assassin for a few years at least, and if you get good enough, the academy Head Master might offer you a teaching job as a mentor to another Trainee as you were when I first saw you," Julia surveyed her closely for a moment, then graced her student with a rare genuine smile.

"You've done well," she said, grudgingly. It was all Ryne needed. That was the highest praise she could get from anyone, especially Julia. And the woman wouldn't give more; they both knew that.

At last a Trainee appeared at the doorway, his plain blue practice clothes declaring his status. The boy bowed low to them.

"Adept Dyer and Master Stonecold, the ceremony awaits you," he told the floor. Julia nodded curtly and swept out of the room, Ryne trailing behind with the fluttering in her stomach renewed. Her very core seemed to have chills running through it with anxiety.

They stepped through a pair of mighty oak doors into the Grand Ceremony Chamber. Here were performed all the great occasions; welcoming a new batch of Trainees, celebrating the few Trainees that rose to the Rank of Adept, rejoicing when the couple of worthy Adepts rose to Master rank, and acknowledging when a Master accepted the Head Master's offer of a teaching position.

"Step lively," Julia murmured, elbowing her. Ryne jumped, startled, and turned her attention back to the raised dais where the panel of Grand Masters awaited her. But she couldn't help gazing around. So many people... the girl knew that they were here to judge her, to see whether the renowned Julia Stonecold had trained another matchless assassin. Ryne felt about two inches tall; she didn't think that she was as good as her teacher's former students.

Among her students was the mighty Crimson Spider, a woman of formidable talent and almost as good as Julia in her youth. She had also trained Sheba Goldensword, who had risked her life to assassinate the former King of Tyra, and Will Lightningstrike who could complete a mission in record time. Lightningstrike's name did not go down well at the academy however, for fault of Head Master Larynxa's dislike of men.

They approached the dais and Julia laid a hand on Ryne's shoulder. The girl ran her gaze along the row of Grand Masters. She recognised the King of Thieves, making a rare appearance, the famed Grand Master Bloodspill, even Minx Hawkfletch had come!

"I, Master Julia Stonecold, present Adept Ryne Dyer my student to be initiated into the rank of Master," she announced. Head Master Larynxa stood in her place.

"Do you, as her mentor and teacher, declare her competent?" The high woman's voice travelled across the length of the room easily.

"Aye, she's fit," Julia was obviously fighting to suppress a smile as Larynxa frowned. Ryne's teacher didn't like formality.

"Adept, do you accept the rank of Master and the responsibilities it presents?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ryne managed to say. Her voice seemed a tiny squeak compared to Larynxa's well-practiced boom. The Head Master nodded.

"Very well. Receive the mark of your new station," she turned and acknowledged a young man waiting at a side door, who led Ryne and Julia through to a small room.

"Ready?" He motioned for her to sit on the table, producing a box from a chest in the room. Ryne nodded, steeling herself. The man steadied her and began the painful part of her initiation ceremony; the receiving of a tattooed mark to set her apart as a Master.

Awhile later, Ryne was led back to the Grand Chamber by Julia, resisting the impulse to rub her hurting shoulder. They stood before the Grand Masters again.

"You have received your mark of Mastery; state your new name by which you will be known as," Larynxa now sounded bored, like this was a tedious job she had to do each day.

"Master Ryne Silentshadow," the girl announced as loudly as she could. Larynxa nodded, and the clerk below her noted it on his pad.

"Very well," she looked up at the crowd and raised her arms.

"I present to you Master Ryne Silentshadow!" She called. Ryne let Julia steer her from the Chamber, wearing a relieved grin as she walked amidst the cheers from the crowd. Her teacher took her back to her rooms, where Ryne gratefully fell onto the bed and slept off her nerves.

Master Ryne Silentshadow.

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She crouched on a rooftop, blending with the darkness like the name she had taken that few weeks earlier.

"Fernandez, where are you," she muttered, scanning the windows of the building across from her. Fernandez Tailor was a fraud, and Ryne had been hired through the academy to take him out. The young woman finally spotted him through a top-floor window, snuffing candles in preparation for sleep. She grinned with all her teeth, like a hungry wolf, and stood stretching.

"Time for the kill," she sighed happily. Ryne secured one end of a rope to her post house's chimney, and the other end to the back of her belt with a special clip. She backed along the edge of the roof, dropping a few coils of rope as she went, then readied herself.

She jumped.

The young woman went flying through the air joyfully like a bird until her slack ran out, then was pulled forward. Her arc ended over Fernandez' building, where she slapped the clip at her back to open it and landed lightly on the roof. Pleased with her successful flight, Ryne crouched by the edge of the roof and swung herself over it, gripping the ledge with her fingertips until her toes found holds in the old, crumbling brick.

She was lucky it was only two stairway height's fall; an easy leap for a trained assassin. But she wasn't jumping yet, no. The young assassin manoeuvred herself into position on the window ledge and pried it open with her dagger, then sprung lightly inside.

"Here I come, ready or not," she whispered gleefully, and crept across the chamber. It was easy to tell which room was Fernandez'; he had a candle lit and a faint glow permeated under the door. Ryne pressed her ear to the door. No sound. Perhaps he was asleep? She opened the door quietly and peeked inside. A little girl slumbered in the bed.

Ryne grumbled inaudibly and started to pull the door closed, but as she retreated a floorboard creaked underneath her foot and the young woman winced.

"Sophia?" Someone called from the direction of the hallway. Double cursed! Fernandez must have been patrolling his childrens' rooms making sure they were asleep before he slept himself, for the man was in full dress as he walked around the corner before Ryne had any time to move.

"Thief!" He yelled, drawing a dagger and pointing it at her. The assassin allowed herself time for a disgruntled snort before leaping into the air over him as he rushed at her, and drawing her own dagger to plunge into his back. Fernandez dropped like a stone, yelping once before dying. Ryne extracted her blade with an air of satisfaction.

"Da?" The little girl's horrified face poked around the door. Ryne looked up, and suddenly heard the thumping of feet coming towards her.

"Sorry," she whispered to the child, before sprinting to a window.

"Stop!" Shouts hailed her angrily, but Ryne braced her arms in front of her face and flung herself at one of the floor-length windows that this wealthy family had invested in. She fell amidst the shattered glass to the street below, and rolled once before leaping up and darting down the lane as fast as her bruised and torn legs could carry her.

Escape the shouts; evade the arrows. She must get to the inviting shadow of the alleyway in front of her.

Ryne slipped into the cool, welcoming blackness gratefully. Her first month as a real assassin and she messed up.

But at least they hadn't caught her.

*~*~*~*

Ryne arrived back at the academy in a sad state. Her cuts were treated, and she lay back in her room with a relieved sigh, only to be disturbed by a knock at the door.

"Master Silentshadow, a note," the Trainee held it out. Ryne took it and dismissed him, opening it eagerly.

'Ryne - Greetings, and congratulations on your Mastery. I have some information that might interest you. A little bird whispered in my ear your next mission. You will be assigned to kill one George Cooper, and take in mind this but keep it secret- he was the former King of Thieves, now retired. The man who wants him dead claims he revealed the secrets of the Rogue to King Jonathan on the hill, and Larynxa believes this story. A tale not true. I have reason to believe that the King On The Hill does know the Rogue's secrets, but will not reveal them to the Lord Provost for he respects George's request that he not, as part of an old and prospering friendship.

Now that you have the information, I ask of you to either deny the mission or inform George of the actions against him when you commence.

Regards,

Mischa.'

Ryne sat back, deep in thought. Mischa wanted her to fail a mission on purpose? But she had to admit, he had a point. And a handsome face, but that wasn't really the point...

She lay back and closed her eyes, slowly drifting to sleep. If Mischa wanted her to do this, of course she would, to please him.

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~SultanaChicky