Chapter 8
The Little Assassin
Royal Precinct, Tianjing
"Wake up, my little assassin," a voice said. "It's time to train."
Yasuko opened her eyes to see Prince Sturla standing over her. She was in her bed back at the estate. The Prince handed her a small bundle and told her, "Put this on. You should be able to tell from the fit, but it needs to be worn against the skin. Wear it under your kimono as you walk about the estate. Yung my valet will be waiting outside to take you to the dojo."
Prince Sturla left the room and Yasuko inspected the bundle he gave her. It was some sort of sheer bodysuit. You could see a honeycomb mesh pattern and striations that seemed to line up with the bands of the major muscle groups, but it was perfectly smooth to the touch.
It was easier to put on than she was expecting given how tight it was. If she wasn't as flexible as she was, she might have had trouble with the fastener that ran all the way from the base of the spine to the base of the skull. Although the suit pressed against her body, it wasn't so constrictive that it actually hurt. Rather, it made her entire body feel like a coiled spring. It was strange.
She took a moment to look at herself in the mirror. Although she could still feel the pain from where the guard hit her, there were no bruises or marks of any kind to show for it. She thought it just as well not to think about who washed off all the white makeup she had left on her from the neck down.
Yoon-hee was nowhere to be found, so she had to dress herself. Wrapping the obi was the most difficult part and it took her a couple tries before she got it looking halfway decent. The bodysuit Sturla gave her was still fairly obvious, but so long as she kept her hands tucked away in her sleeves, it wouldn't be too bad.
When she stepped out of her bedroom, Yung was there waiting for her. He bowed and gestured down the hallway.
"Follow me, young mistress."
He led her to the east wing of the estate and down a level. She had never been to the lower level before. It had a very spartan look to it, unlike anything she'd seen in the Capital so far. The lack of any ornamentation actually made her feel a little more relaxed, but this was dramatically offset by her unease at whatever was awaiting her. Yasuko eventually found herself in an expansive dojo with tatami flooring and full-length mirrors lining the walls to the left and the right. At the center of the back wall was a little shrine flanked by weapon racks on either side. Standing in the center of the dojo was Prince Sturla, wearing a light suit of black armor in lieu of his regular uniform. As Yasuko stepped in, Yung withdrew.
"I will expect you to be prompter in the future, Yasuko," Sturla said. "Perhaps you should spend a little more of your free time learning to tie your own obi faster. Take all that off, except for the suit I gave you, of course."
It was quicker to get out of the kimono than get into it. There were more weapon racks on the front wall, so Yasuko hung her clothes there. She was pretty sure Prince Sturla wouldn't have the patience for her to fold them neatly.
As she began to approach the Prince, it was like beginning her training for the very first time. She only had the vaguest memories of when her father first started to teach her when she was six. She'd had a lot of other masters since then, but this was the first time she'd be training under someone she considered to be an enemy.
When Yasuko stopped several paces from Prince Sturla, he took a moment to appraise her, saying, "It suits you well. Are you ready to begin?"
Yasuko nodded, trying her best to hide her uncertainty.
Prince Sturla began pacing as he started his monologue.
"If you're going to be my assassin, you need to get better at your craft. You probably have all sorts of questions at the moment, but these are at the top of your list, I imagine. Why am I training someone who would very much like to see me dead and if I'm so skilled, why do I need an assassin to do my dirty work?
"For the first question, I'm training you because I want you to learn from the best and should you ever accomplish the impossible and surpass me, I have it coming and will not begrudge you your victory. As to the second, I can't very well be killing everyone in my way with my own two hands. Eventually they'd just send enough people after me that even I couldn't kill them all.
"I could tell you had potential the moment I saw you. With a little luck and a few strings pulled behind the scenes, you were given an unprecedented opportunity to show off what you're made of. You've got the guts, you've got the fire. Now we just need to add some polish."
Yasuko wasn't surprised that there were other hands at work behind her encounter with the Emperor. She should've seen it sooner. If she was going to get wrapped up in this world of intrigue, she was going to have to get a lot sharper.
"Aren't you going to ask about the suit?" Prince Sturla asked.
"I imagine you'll tell me whether I ask or not," Yasuko replied.
"Quite so. The suit doubles your body's natural performance. Strength, speed, agility. It's standard equipment for all regular troops and most personal bodyguards."
"Are there more powerful ones?"
"Of course, but your body wouldn't be able to handle it. Not yet at least. That's why you're training."
Yasuko could see the Prince's own suit under his armor. It didn't look any different than her own, but she knew looks could be deceiving.
"What's the amplification on your suit?" she asked.
"Trade secret, my dear," Prince Sturla said, wagging his finger. "Perhaps one day I'll tell you, but I will say this. Even if you think to use my little present against me in some unguarded moment, know that I've bested men with four times amplification completely naked."
Unbidden, the image of the Prince naked fighting off armed men popped into her head. She blushed at the thought, prompting Prince Sturla to throw his head back and laugh.
"Ha ha ha! No, I won't be putting my own daughter through any of that. Even if we're not related by blood."
He gave her a sly, suggestive look with the last line. As much as she didn't want to admit it because he was a hated enemy, the Prince was really attractive and him wearing a suit so perfectly conformed to his well-toned muscles wasn't helping any.
"Ah, look at that face," the Prince said. "Are all Infernals such prudes? You need to learn how to live!"
Perhaps the only thing that could overcome Yasuko's embarrassment was anger and the Prince flaunting his hedonism was a fine way to make her angry.
"It takes everything just to survive in the hell you people put us through," she growled. "We don't have the luxury of wallowing in decadence."
Prince Sturla wagged his finger at her again.
"Ah-ah-ah. You made your first mistake. You still think of yourself as an Infernal. If you're going to infiltrate our society, you have to become a Celestial in mind, body and soul. There's bound to be at least one or two people out there clever enough to bait you with your Infernal heritage to expose you. Don't let it happen."
Prince Sturla then walked up to her and took hold of her wrist. She suppressed the urge to try to yank her arm away.
"There's something else I forgot to mention," he said. "Your suit is special. While the amplification isn't as great as the average combat model, it is designed for stealth. By pressing this button on your wrist, the suit becomes completely transparent."
Prince Sturla pressed the button and the color seeped out of the suit, like ink mixing in water but in reverse. Standing there as good as naked, Yasuko's first instinct was to cover herself, but she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of flustering her so easily, even if he'd already succeeded at doing so before. She could feel her cheeks burning, but she didn't avert her eyes from him.
Sturla, however, looked her up and down, and said, "You can only tell on closest inspection." With his free hand, he rubbed her hip and added, "Even to the touch, it can easily deceive."
Yasuko promptly kneed the Prince in the groin, surprised at how much faster and more forceful it felt with the suit's enhancement, but it didn't faze him in the slightest. Before she could plant her foot again, Prince Sturla swept the leg she was balancing on and pinned her to the ground.
"Common tactics only work on common opponents, my little assassin," he told her. "I am no common drunken masher in the streets of some Infernal hellhole. You would do well not to treat me as such. You know I'm wearing a suit far more powerful than your own, but my face is exposed and both my hands were occupied. You could have tried for an elbow strike to break my nose or played along by putting your hand on my cheek to get an opening to gouge out my eye with your thumb. You need to be thinking about the most effective avenue of attack under any circumstances."
In a moment of weakness, Yasuko averted her eyes. She hated herself for doing it, but with the Prince right on top of her like that, pressing his body against hers, knowing that she couldn't do anything against him, it was too much.
"I will need to break you of your silly prudery if you are going to be effective," he said, "but for now, I'll show you a little mercy. Besides, even I might get a little distracted if we keep this up too long."
Prince Sturla pressed the button at her wrist, which he had never let go of, and the color filled back into the suit. He then let go of her wrist and stood up. He extended a hand to her, which she grudgingly accepted.
This was a mistake, as he yanked her up and drove his fist into her gut. Out of pure spite, he activated the suit's transparency again and threw her halfway across the dojo. She landed hard on the floor. The wind was knocked out of her but she still made a point to press the button on her wrist. This was another mistake.
Prince Sturla dashed forward, kicking her in the stomach like she was a football, knocking her into the wall, smashing one of the mirrors.
"Do you think I'm so trivial an opponent that you can afford to fret about your modesty, girl!?" the Prince snapped, sounding uncharacteristically angry. "Insult me like that again and see what happens."
Yasuko did just that, pressing the button on her wrist just to match spite for spite. She must have really gotten to him, because he rushed at her again. She wanted to get up and at least try to get one hit in, but he was too fast for her. He took hold of her by the back of the head and slammed her face into the floor. Everything went black.
* * *
When Yasuko opened her eyes, everything seemed like a big white blur. Other than a beeping sound, her ears weren't focusing very well either. This droning sound started to overlay the beeping, slowly sounding more and more like a human voice.
"—ko, can you hear me?"
The voice repeated itself.
"Miss Yasuko, can you hear me?"
The only reply Yasuko could manage was a weak moan. There was a human shape to go with the human voice, but it still wasn't very clear. A light shined in her eyes, so she closed her eyelids.
"Open your eyes, Miss Yasuko," the voice said.
Yasuko groaned in protest, but the voice insisted.
"Open your eyes."
Reluctantly, she did so. The light was still shining.
"Now follow the light."
The light started moving around and Yasuko did what she could do follow it, but even such a simple task was making her tired.
"Now say something, Miss Yasuko," the voice said.
Talking sounded like a lot of effort, but she did what she could.
"Whaa... Where... Where am I?"
It hurt her jaw to speak. Now that she thought about it, there was a general feeling of pain all over, but her face and stomach seemed to have the worst of it.
"You are at the infirmary of Prince Sturla's estate," the voice explained. "I am Dr. Hadad. It would seem that you caused His Highness some annoyance."
Annoyance? That was one way to put it.
"You will be happy to know that I was able to reconstruct your face with 99% accuracy. I imagine you are still suffering from blurred vision, but your eyesight should return to normal in a couple hours."
"What happened?" Yasuko asked.
"Prince Sturla tends to be a little overzealous in his training," Dr. Hadad explained, "though you are the first girl so young to be counted among his sparring partners. A gentleman ought to practice a little more restraint, but I suppose that is a vulnerability His Highness will not countenance."
Her memory was no clearer than her vision. She could only vaguely remember making Prince Sturla angry. Maybe she should count herself lucky that she was no worse off.
"I am going to have to ask you to refrain from training for the next three days and to avoid any blows to the face for two weeks at least," the doctor said. "I would not like my hard work to go to waste."
Yasuko wasn't sure Prince Sturla was going to extend that kind of courtesy to her. Still, she learned something useful out of all this. Prince Sturla could be provoked to anger and angry people tend to make mistakes. The only problem was that he was so much better than her that she'd end up like this or worse before she could exploit any vulnerability. She had a long way to go yet and like it or not, studying under Prince Sturla was probably going to be the best way to learn to beat him.
"Oh, yes," the doctor continued, "I have a message from His Highness for you. For the time being, you will be training under other teachers until you are fit to face him again. As a physician, I would ask you to exercise what moderation you can. It is my duty to fix what His Highness breaks, but I would be happier if you were not a regular guest here."
"Me too, Doc," Yasuko said weakly.
"Rest for now, Miss Yasuko. If you need anything, press the call button by your left hand and the nurse will tend to you."
With that, the human shape that was Dr. Hadad left. Yasuko closed her eyes. It probably went without saying, but being an assassin wasn't going to be easy.