Chapter 9 – "Jukuna"

-

"Jukuna is a cold and calculating man," Ice told me in a cool, arrogant whisper while handing me a chalice of wine. "He has made sacrifices before. He will make them again."

He poured me a chalice of wine and handed it to me. Perhaps he felt that I needed it. Slipping off his facemask unheedingly, Ice drank from his own cup.

It was quiet in the backyard cabin he claimed for himself. The only illumination in the room came in through the skylights up on the high ceiling. Particles of dust caught the light and gleamed as they rose and fell with the disturbance his movements caused. He did not feel like a messenger of death then, when his eyes were not fixed upon me, but instead cast a far-away look into his surroundings. His pure platinum colored hair in sharp contrast to the frame of dark eyelashes shielding his eyes, as if they grew that dark to shelter his light-sensitive eyes.

There was an invisible space between us, and I later realized this must be what Sweet meant.

A world of darkness apart.

That is how he would remain in my memory; surreal, untouchable.

…

"Jukuna knows there is none better than I who can teach you within this short amount of time," Ice said. His words sank in slowly.

I did not ask him why Jukuna didn't trust me with him in the first place, but I had asked…

"Are you…better than Karma?" I had asked.

The silence stretched out. I did not know if I offended him.

…I could not tell.

-

…

No, I do not think I remember this correctly. I'm starting to get a little weary from recalling all this after all… I think I skipped a bit ahead, let me fix that.

…

You wanted to know everything, didn't you? Then please... I know we don't have all the time in the world anymore but…

This will be the last time you'll hear from me…

Your Majesty…

…

-

I remember…

"Is Art dead?" I remember asking him quietly. That was when he handed me the chalice of wine.

"That is not for me to tell you," he told me in that characteristic arrogant whisper of his. "Why not ask Jukuna, yourself?"

Perhaps he still held a grudge against Jukuna…because of what happened with that traitor, Khadori…or it could be anything else. There was scorn in his voice, though it was barely audible.

"Jukuna is a cold and calculating man. He has made such sacrifices before, and will do so again."

I clutched the glass chalice with both hands and did not know what to say.

He raised his own chalice to his lips and drank from it.

After a moment of silence, Ice peered at me through his eyelashes. "A leader who is merciless to his followers as his enemies, is that what you want?" Ice wanted to know, a wry smile twisting the corner of his mouth.

I stared at him curiously.

"I'm offering you an alternative, Rusalka," he said softly, venomously.

Spy.

That one word resounded inside my head.

…

"…Jukuna is my master. I will obey him unconditionally."

And I meant what I said. He could tell. Now that I think of it… He always had a way of knowing. It made him all that much dangerous.

…

The only sound I heard was the soft clink of his metal bracer against the bottom of the glass chalice in his hand. I suppose it would've been rude if I didn't try the wine he offered, and I was about to loosen my facemask when he grabbed my arm unexpectedly, forcefully.

"Fool."

He said that with so much distaste, I couldn't help but to feel alarmed.

"Never accept anything offered without checking first," Ice commanded coldly.

I blinked at him in confusion.

"Look again."

There was a tiny bit of difference, but it was there, floating almost indiscernibly on the surface of the liquid.

… I had been watching him the whole time. And yet I did not even see when he'd poisoned my wine.

"They are training you wrong," Ice told me, with just a light touch of distaste in his voice. "There is no way you can become good enough to defeat one of us in a matter of weeks. It is a foolish notion. What you should be learning instead…" He gazed at me through veiled eyes. "…is how to not be killed."

"Jukuna has a lot of enemies, and in turn they will be your enemies," Ice told me, pulling me out a chair. "But it is not a confrontation you should be worried about…it is assassination."

"Though there are hostile guilds, none of them have yet declared war. But they have other means …"

Ice leaned on the table beside me, clearing the table off to make room, causing several insignificant objects to fall off in the process.

"The flick of a fan, a prick of a needle, the flipping of a book…It does not matter how many people are guarding you, there will be a way."

"And I will show you what I can," he promised me.

Something small and round which fell off the table rolled into me.

He was speaking again.

"When the previous ruler, Tristan VI died, his half-brother succeeded him. The new king immediately assembled an Elite Guard to protect his person. And why not?" Ice asked. "The kingdom was in a state of chaos, and much less ready to accept a half-blooded monarch."

I reached down and picked up the object. It was a jade band…a ring…I've seen it before, lying on the table that time I've been looking through his journals.

"He hired famous bodyguards who never left his side. He had servants who tested all his food. He, himself, never left the safety of his palace. Nonetheless, in less than two months, Rune Midgaard was again without a king…"

Ice let out a wry smile, noticing the ring in my hand. "Like it?" He took it when I offered it to him. "It belonged to someone special…" He held it up and turned it as if he could see things on its surface that I could not. "…Someone long gone."

For some reason he handed it back to me, even though I was not its owner. Curiously, I ran my fingers along its smooth surface, and then slipped it on my finger.

"You wanted to know which one of us, me or Karma, is better…" Ice said softly, "…I do not know. But you might hear otherwise from others…" A soft smile, an ambiguous one.

'Killing Ice,' he said.

"Does the name not mean anything to you?"

…

I shook my head slightly. He gave a nonchalant shrug, and his eyes landed on his ring that I've tried on and was starting to pull off.

"…Fits you."

-

…

But I couldn't have asked Jukuna. Asked him about Art's mission, I mean. And when I went to see Karma that evening, he glanced over at me from his task of checking the weaponry, and shook his head.

"Sweet has not yet spoken to neither Jukuna nor I."

Nor had she told any of the other members, I could tell from the worrisome look in their eyes.

But she had told Ice. I can't say I remember how I knew this… Many ways, I suppose, and justifiable by none alone.

Well…

I searched for Sweet. I found her by herself in a spacious, light-filled room guild members used for an alternative storage space. It was also the space Art used to store and do his paintings, in an excruciatingly slow pace. That didn't mean he didn't get a lot done, however.

He had done many, many face portraits… Portraits of guild members and people I didn't recognize. I noted Karma, Ice, and Sweet were not there, for he did not know their faces.

…But I was.

Momentarily distracted from Sweet, who was watching, I reached out and touched my face that he had done. I do not know if it looked like me… I have never seen myself smile…even if it was only a sad, half-smile.

"If we receive no news in two days stating that their conditions are stabilized," Sweet's bitter voice reminded me of what I went there for, "then I'm afraid there's no one but Jukuna to blame."

"…Why…?" I had whispered while gazing at the ground.

"He knew very well that Sethron wouldn't accept his proposal," Sweet hissed, coming up close. Her green eyes flashed with emotion. I recalled that Sethron was the name of the high wizard heading that guild…

Majesta.

"…And yet he sent us to him. I am only here right now because Sethron needed a messenger. To forward his answer." Sweet smiled, loosening her grip on her arms because the action caused blood to start seeping through the clean bandages again.

"His answer is 'no', Rusalka," the strawberry blond hissed to me. "He will stop at nothing…not unless she tells him to."

That's right…

…Her.

"Pray, if you know how, Rusalka…" Sweet told me, before walking lightly away.

-

"Who was she?" I had asked Ice when I looked to see him examining the ring again. It was him who taught me how to pick locks. It was he who had me learn by practicing on the collection of locks and chests he had horded in his cabin.

"Someone I should have protected, but didn't," was his soft reply.

I asked nothing else, and went back to what I was doing; unlocking containers to which the keys have been lost. Either he was lying about the keys, or he was uninterested in finding time to lock-pick them himself.

Parchment, gold coins, jewels, and small glass containers I assumed to be poison.

When I reached for a particularly plain-looking wooden box, however, he made move as if to stop me.

"…Not this one?" I had inquired.

He drew his hand back. "No, see if you can unlock this one."

I couldn't. I inserted the lock-pick into the hole and knew immediately, as I used it to probe around, that it would be nigh impossible for me to do.

"I thought not," Ice stated when he saw me give up after only a few minutes. "That box is never meant to be opened."

"What lies inside…?"

"The reason I am damned for life," he replied melodically. With a small smile, he slipped his facemask back on and left me.

-

"Rusalka…"

I paused in the corridor and looked around. Sweet came into view from behind the shadows. I simply waited for her to speak.

"I hear Ice is training you…"

I did not know what to make of that…

"…Aren't you getting assistance from Karma?" I asked her quietly. Her green eyes squinted slightly, and I couldn't tell if she was frowning or smiling.

"Hn. At the contest, a week from now. I want you to face me."

Yes, her meaning was clear.

"I challenge you to a match, Rusalka."

That was all she wanted to tell me. She started to leave but I asked her, "Why?"

Her back was turned to me. For a long moment nothing happened. Then she lifted her head and spoke.

"Because it would be easy to condemn ones we do not understand, wouldn't it, Rusalka? Remember that. You are not of the same world…you would not understand… But I-…I am. I am like him."

Still, I wasn't sure what she was getting at, but I tried anyway. "What makes you think-…"

"Honey," Sweet said sweetly, "everyone else in the guild besides you knows." She tossed me a glance over her shoulder. "Why not confront him about it, if you're brave?"

-

"Ice?" Little Bird asked with an arched brow, "I thought he was with you."

-

"That man? I don't know. He always disappears in and out as he wills," Lai told me with a helpless shrug. Then she stared at me with sparkling eyes. "But, wow. I heard that he's never agreed to train anyone."

-

"I saw him a while ago…not where he went off to." Queen edged closer and whispered to me, "Has he shown you his face yet?"

"Looking for Ice?" a smooth but authoritative voice startled both of us. "He'll be back soon," Karma told us as he swept past without even a glance in our direction.

We watched until the black-haired Elite disappeared out of sight.

"Something's bothering him," Queen observed. She sobered. "Then again…we're all waiting for the news…"

I gave a small bow and took my leave.

There was something bigger, something darker beneath the surface of things, and I knew it even then. It was the beginning of the play Jukuna had staged… I can see it even now.

-

"Rusalka."

He gestured for me to come forward and to hold out my hand.

He gave me something, I took it curiously. It was a bangle, a silver one that was elaborately decorated. The designs hid the hinged opening and clasp where two blades I recognized to be lock-picks pulled out if the bracelet was open. I looked up at his deep blue eyes.

"Keep it with you," he told me.

…I put it on my wrist carefully.

"…Thank you, Ice."

"If there is anything else you need…"

He knew I had something to ask. Or that he expected me to have something to ask. There was a suspenseful pause.

"…Will you tell me about your past?"

His face was expressionless, a perfect mask that I've yet to learn how to master.

"And what if I say no?" he asked with an amused glint in his eyes.

…

I knew I couldn't back down.

"Then I will find out for myself," I told him.

He swept his arms open and gave me a low bow. "As you wish."

'Eventually', I was going to say, but he forestalled it.

"I'll give you three days. If you can find out within three days' time, I will acknowledge your potential and your talent…" Ice said.

'Potential and talent…?' I had wondered, a tad suspicious. "For what…?" I asked him.

His eyes were smirking at me when he replied softly, "…For becoming an assassin."