"What were you doing in my room?"
"I'm really sorry Mr. Jax, I was just looking for the toilet."
Isaac did his best to look innocent and apologetic, but he wasn't sure if Jax would believe him.
"Why would the toilet be in the house? Didn't you see it in the back yard when you were chopping wood?"
"I thought that was just a shed... I've never lived in a house before, so I didn't know where the toilet would be. I'm truly sorry, Mr. Jax."
The village didn't have running water so most toilets were outside. However, Isaac's explanation was a believable reason for not knowing that. When Jax looked at Isaac's dejected face, he decided to give him a chance.
"Okay. Let me just go and see how much wood you've chopped whilst you make lunch."
At this point Isaac began looking for chances to run.
Fortunately, he had been asked to make lunch alone. The moment he heard Jax step outside, he immediately left the kitchen and walked towards the front door. Then, he felt a hand firmly grasp his shoulder.
"Stay."
The voice was just as firm as the hand grabbing his shoulder. Isaac was stunned and froze for a second, but then he sprang into action.
He grabbed the kitchen knife he'd stolen moments earlier and plunged it into the man's arm. He felt the satisfying moment of contact between blade and flesh and heard a scream of pain. Pulling the knife back before the man could react, Isaac made a dash for the door.
"Where do you think you're going, brat!?"
The man gave chase whilst clutching at his arm, but Isaac was already outside. The man burst through the door and ran out onto the street,
"Stop him!"
Several people heard the shout and were confused. Isaac had already blended into the crowd of people on the street, so they didn't know who the man was shouting about. More and more people started to stare at the man, surprised by the blood flowing from his arm.
When the man realised that Isaac had escaped and everybody was staring at him, he was furious and extremely embarrassed. He went back into Jax's house, slamming the door behind him.
*************************
Meanwhile, Isaac had slipped away down a back alley. He was rather disappointed with himself.
'How could I make such an obvious mistake? I knew there were 2 people in the house, so why did I become so careless after only 1 of them left? I reacted quickly and dealt with the situation well, but I should've known leaving like that would make me look guilty. Maybe I could have lied about still needing to go to the toilet and escaped that way?"
After a task, Isaac would always evaluate what he did well and where he should've done better. He believed it was crucial to the process of learning and improving; if he ensured he never made the same mistake twice, he would eventually become perfect. Of course, becoming perfect was impossible in reality, but he could at least keep learning from his mistakes and continue improving.
Mistakes aside, he'd gotten what he came for. Isaac pulled out a folder from inside his fur coat. It was titled "Village Council Meeting Autumn 4" and had been hidden inside Jax's mattress.
The first few pages were just about the rise in taxes and a few proposals such as reducing the number of village guards. However, most of the folder was filled with plans to relocate the village. The village head's daughter had led the council meeting since her father was ill, and she wanted to move the village to the other side of the forest, nearer to an iron deposit.
It seemed like a good plan. However, the iron deposit was outside the sect's territory and so would the new village be. The main reason for opposing the plan was that the sect wouldn't let it happen. Even Jax, whose business would benefit massively from a nearby iron deposit, passionately disagreed with the plan because he was terrified of what the sect might do.
Jax had then written some notes about the village head's daughter having separate meetings with her supporters. They were trying to make the move happen as soon as possible.
All of this gave Isaac a focus. If the village moved, they wouldn't have to give the sect a quota of food and young men and women every year. Isaac would pass the trial if he prevented the villagers from even thinking about moving.
The easiest way to stop them moving would be for the sect to awaken the village head and his daughter. That would satisfy their grudge from years before and make them indebted to the sect. However, that was impossible since Isaac couldn't leave the village.
Convincing the village head not to move would also be difficult. When he and his daughter needed a favour, the sect had refused them. Now, his daughter had formed a group trying to move as soon as possible. It was unlikely that Isaac could persuade them.
Instead, Isaac thought he should make an example of those who defied the sect.
*************************
It was about 2pm, so the sun would set soon. In Northern Tundra, the days were short and the nights were long. Especially in Autumn.
Isaac was at the market. He didn't have any money, but he also didn't need any; he was only pretending to browse products while he checked out the village head's house. On his first day in the village, Isaac saw a large building in the middle of a fenced-off courtyard. While working at the tavern, he discovered the village head lived there. Now, he spent over an hour checking it out from every angle.
When he was satisfied, he left and waited for nightfall.
When everything was dark and the village was asleep, Isaac returned to the village head's residence. He pulled himself up onto the rooftop of a nearby house and looked into the courtyard to see where the guards were. Just like earlier, 2 of them were patrolling around the house.
Isaac lay flat on the rooftop so he wasn't spotted and waited for the first guard to pass. Then he got up and jumped from the rooftop to grab the top of the courtyard's fence. He quickly climbed over and dropped down silently on the other side. Then, he ran across the courtyard and pressed his body flat against the building before the second guard turned the corner.
It was so dark that you could only see a person's silhouette, and Isaac's was hidden by the dark building behind him.
The second guard walked past, about 3 metres away from him. After they were gone, Isaac pulled lightly at the window frame above him. However, it didn't budge. It was either jammed or locked.
Isaac was prepared for that, though. He peeked around the corner to make sure the guard had their back to him, then moved stealthily to the building's door. When one of the guards had gone to the market earlier, Isaac had pickpocketed him. Back at the 'farm', he'd often have to steal food from other kids, so his hands were pretty deft.
Taking a key out of his pocket, he unlocked the door and opened it a crack.
'Shit!'
The door opened onto a long hallway running through the middle of the building. At the end of the hallway, a guard was leaning against a closed door. Isaac quickly and quietly shut the door. Fortunately, it seemed the guard was nearly falling asleep and hadn't spotted him.
He couldn't sneak in whilst that guard was still there so he needed to create a diversion. He waited for another gap between the patrolling guards and climbed back over the fence. After leaving the courtyard, he made his way to the residential district on the eastern side of the village head's house.
He walked into the first street he saw and looked at the row of houses in front of him. Then he picked up a stone, weighed it a couple of times in his hand, and launched it through an empty-looking house's front window. He walked up, kicked the rest of the glass out of the window, then hopped inside.
Twenty minutes later, everybody in the area were woken by a child screaming
"Fire! Fire! Help! Somebody, please, save my mother!"
One of the houses on the front street was utterly ablaze. Of course, the village head's house was right across the street so the guards heard as well.
"Come on, they need help."
"... we should probably stay here, though."
"Who do you think pays our salaries? It's the people of this village! We're civil servants, so it's our duty to help!"
Just as the second guard was about the follow the first, the other guard rushed out of the building.
"Alex, you stay inside. At least one of us needs to stay here. Us two are enough to handled it."
Alex looked a little reluctant like he still wanted to help, but he went back inside anyway.
The two guards rushed out of the courtyard and hurried to help extinguish the fire.
Isaac was a little disappointed to only see 2 guards leaving, but he had already stopped shouting "fire" and had run into the empty courtyard. He already had the kitchen knife behind his back as he opened the door.
The guard obviously saw him, since he wasn't trying to stay hidden this time.
"How did you – no, what are you doing here kid?"
"My – *sob* – parents are trapped in a fire *sob* please, please help them!"
Isaac never stopped walking towards the guard while he spoke.
"My 2 colleagues are already there. I'm sure your parents will be alright."
"But... but I'm so worried. Won't you help me?"
Isaac was just a few steps away now.
"I told you, my colleagues will help you. I'm sorry but I need you to leave now, and what are you hiding behind – Ahh! Hmmm – gugggh!"
Isaac stabbed the guard in the chest, then covered his mouth and slit his throat mid scream. Everything was silent for a moment as Isaac tried to hear whether the village head or his daughter had woken up. Unfortunately, he heard groggy mumbling from the room to his right,
"Alexander, what's going on? ... Alexander?"
Isaac had to finish his mission quickly. He quietly entered the room to his left and saw a young woman lying in bed, still asleep. He approached the bed without making a sound. If he used the knife again, she would scream and he could get caught, so he picked up the pillow beside her. He pushed it down hard over her face.
The he used the few seconds before her panic reflex woke her up to climb onto the bed, kneeling on her arms.
The woman awoke in a fright, but she couldn't even open her eyes because of the pillow pushing on her face. She tried to push whatever was on her face away, but her arms wouldn't move. At the end of the bed, her legs started kicking frantically.
She was still woozy from having just woken up, so she felt weak and had no idea what was going on. If she was fully awake, she might have been able to free her arms and push Isaac away. However, all she could do now was struggle futilely.
Terror began to set in as she realised she needed oxygen NOW. She was taking gasping breaths by reflex, but she was sucking in the pillow cloth instead of air.
Slowly, her kicks started to get weaker and weaker until they stopped entirely. Isaac kept the pillow over her for a while to make sure, then he put it back next to her. He left the folder full of plans to move the village on top of her body as a finishing touch, then flipped open the latch on the window and disappeared into the night.