Imperial Assassin by Mark Robson Page A

for Reynik to be convincing was not achievable in the timescale. Having acknowledged this, she was left with the debate of whether to even attempt to improve his skill with the
weapon. He would have used one before, as all Legionnaires were given training in their use. Crossbows were issued to those on guard duty, so they needed to have a modicum of skill with it.
    In the end, Femke decided that the crossbow would have to be abandoned in favour of the more important skills of stealthy movement, picking locks and poisoning. She was expert in all three
skills and initially concluded that in order to limit the number of people involved in Reynik’s training, it might be better if she conducted his training in these areas. After considerable
thought on the matter, she changed her mind and brought in one final tutor.
    There was a troupe of players currently in the city with whom she had performed during a past mission. Her cover name during that time had been Dana and she had initially been accepted into the
troupe as a personal favour to her old Master, Lord Ferdand. The leader of the troupe was a flamboyant man called Devarusso, who was widely recognised for his loud verbosity and extravagant body
language. It had been a while since Femke had last seen him, but they had parted on friendly terms and Devarusso was a long-term friend of Ferdand. This gave Femke confidence that the man would
help her again.
    What most did not know was that underneath the actor’s colourful public façade, his private persona was one of understatement and subtlety. Femke knew from personal experience that
Devarusso would prove an excellent movement tutor for Reynik. Learning how to move with the subtlety of an actor would help the Legionnaire both to gain stealth skills, and to conceal his military
background.
    Lord Ferdand had professed the greatest of respect for Devarusso’s acting skills, but had also been quick to tell Femke never to trust him with secrets. Femke had long known that Ferdand
was an excellent judge of character and, having spent several months with Devarusso’s troupe, discovered that her Master’s assessment had once again been sound. Devarusso could be a
terrible gossip. There were ways to prevent this being a problem, but it did complicate the situation.
    ‘Dana! What a delight to see you, my dear! Come in. Come in. Here, I’m just pouring some dahl. Do have a cup. Please tell me you’ve decided to come and join us again. I have a
role that would be perfect for you. Ah! This is wonderful! You will make the perfect Camille!’
    Devarusso’s expressive face beamed with pleasure as he recognised Femke. He poured a second cup of the steaming fluid and handed it to her with a flourish. For a moment her heart leaped at
the thought of being back on the stage with Devarusso and the other players, but she knew that it could not be.
    ‘I’m sorry, Devarusso,’ she said with no need to feign her disappointed tone. ‘I’ve not come to rejoin the company. I’m here on behalf of a friend.’
    His face dropped momentarily, but he recovered his composure quickly. ‘Of course, my dear. Tell me of your friend. Does she want to act?’
    Femke smiled fondly at him. ‘No,
he
doesn’t want to act, but he does need to be able to disguise certain habits.’ She dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper.
‘He has . . . um . . . left his Legion a little before he was due to, and he needs to learn to hide his military background for a while. I can’t think of a better person to teach him
how to alter his gait and bearing than you.’
    ‘Dana, just
how
early is your friend leaving his Legion?’ Devarusso asked, raising one of his sharply angled, black eyebrows quizzically.
    ‘Oh, about twenty-five to thirty . . . years, I’d say,’ she replied with an embarrassed shrug and an apologetic grin.
    Devarusso coughed, choking on his dahl as he realised exactly what she was asking him to do. Femke did not shy away from