The man known as Elladan Hawkfist unlocked the two obvious and one hidden lock to the front door of his room in a broken down building in the Old Town district of Stormwind, and slipped inside without a candle in hand... he preferred operating in the darkness of the night as much as possible. He slipped in the room and re-locked them behind him.
"Hawkie, Hawkie, Hawkie... You've been a bad boy," a deep voice came from across the room. Elladan crouched and spun, two blackened iron shuriken flying out, invisible in the darkness where he thought the voice had come from. Two long fixed-blade razors were drawn from scabbards strapped under his vambraces, ready to strike.
"Nice reflex, Hawkie... but pointless," said the voice once more, but from behind him. Elladan began to move... but went as still as a statue, someone else's blade to his throat. "You may be a young ball of piss and vinegar, but do you know what always beats a young ball of piss and vinegar?" the voice asked.
"What?" asked Elladan.
"An old, treacherous ball of piss and vinegar." A hand reached out and took first one of his razors away, and then the other.
"Nice steel, but stupid, using Alterac razorblades..." The voice chuckled. "You might as well tattoo 'SYNDICATE' across your neck, and beg any self-respecting Ravenholdt-trained shadowhawk to cut your throat, using their signature weapon."
The Syndicate was a criminal organization formed by the former king of Alterac after he betrayed the Alliance to the Horde, and were betrayed by the Horde in turn. Led by for former nobles of Alterac and their households. they preyed upon their own former citizens, the kingdom of Stromgarde, the Horde... they were against the entire world and reveled in cruelty, rapacity, and all manner of atrocity.
Ravenholdt was a guild of thieves and assassins, based in Ravenholdt Manor, and had been the enemy of the Syndicate since they first appeared. Operatives trained by Ravenholdt were the best thieves and assassins and resented the thuggish cruelty and wanton violence of the Syndicate. Ravenholdt thieves were proud of rarely having to harm others in practicing their trade, and their assassins were precision instruments, like a scalpel wielded by the best surgeons; they removed cancers from the body of mankind, with almost no collateral damages.
"I don't know what you are talking about," lied Elladan. Elladan was a good teller of falsehoods and had had a lifetime of practice.
"Sure you don't," said the voice. The blade next to Elladan's throat vanished as if it had never been. "Just like that burn mark near your thumb next to the webbing of the other fingers isn't a scar from removing a Defias Brotherhood tattoo. Light a lamp, we have some talking to do, and I want to be able to look in your eyes if I have to kill you."
Elladan did as he has been instructed, and was not horribly surprised when he saw his intruder in the dim light. The fellow wore a complete suit of leather armor, reinforced with riveted steel strips, all covered with a coat of midnight blue lacquer. He had two broad-bladed daggers, thick at the hilt and tapering to a triangle point, the kind of blade useless for throwing but ideal for parrying larger swords. His helm was stylized as a raven's head and marked him as the assassin known as the Rook, the same Rook who had advised him to seek out the gathering of the Brotherhood of Valor, who had recently employed Elladan to investigate their one of their own, Commander Jon Chess.
"You have been asking questions about Jonathan Chess. Tell me everything you've managed to find out," commanded the Rook.
Elladan had spent the last three days spending coin, gathering information. Many had chosen to not talk about Chess, and the few who had, had demanded gold, not the usual silver or copper required. Chess was either loved or feared - possibly both.
"Commander Jonathan Chess had been raised in the Stormwind Orphanage after the renegade Dalaran wizard named Arugal and his feral Worgen destroyed the town of Pyrewood in the northern Gilnean barony of Silverpine. When he grew old enough he had left, and gained his first job as a rat catcher in the Old Town district of Stormwind," Elladan began.
The Rook interrupted him. "When he first arrived, Jon had no last name. He was born Jonathan Summervale, but when he arrived, he had a signet ring of the Silverlaine family around his neck."
"How do you know..." said Elladan, curiously.
"If you had been trained at Ravenholdt, you would know that most of being a professional assassin is being able to research your target. I have long had my own file on Chess. Continue."
He had paid good silver to Orphan Matron Nightingale when her boss, Shellene had refused to take money - apparently, Jon still came back a few times a month, bearing gifts of cheese and reading adventure stories to the children of the Orphanage. Either he had not paid Nightinggale enough, or he had failed to ask the right questions.
"Chess was then been hired by Elling Trias to act as a merchant factor, traveling..."
Again he was interrupted. "Elling Trias gave him the last name of 'Chess', because he said that trying to give Jon orders was like talking with a fellow playing the game - Jon always was asking questions about what to do in case of contingencies of problems he foresaw," Rook said. "Keep going."
"...through Kalimbor and the Eastern Kingdoms, delivering cheeses and taking orders for fulfillment. He was then based in Theramore, but was fortunate enough to be out of the city when it was destroyed."
"Chess lost the woman he loved when Theramore was destroyed, and friends he loved like family. I don't think he thought of it as lucky," commented Rook.
"I suppose not..." said Elladan, thinking that he himself would have been grateful if an exploding mana bomb had destroyed his family; he had hated his older brother, who had directed Syndicate operations in the Arathi Highlands. "In any case, after Theramore, he enlisted in the Alliance military and was sent to Northrend as a reconnaissance scout, where he learned cartography, and sneaking around and so forth. Apparently, he was pretty good at it, as he had been promoted to the rank of Commander before he got out."
"Understand that rank in the scout service isn't like normal rank... it's higher because scouts operate under a separate chain of command, and normal line officers try and give orders like they're addicted to it, they can't help themselves... scout rank lets the scouts dodge that trap. Put a lot of scouts in the stockades for insubordination before they figured that out..." The Rook chuckled.
"Right... you know, I served in Northrend myself, as one of those line troops," commented Elladan.
"I know," confirmed the Rook. "I also know you served with Aidan Falconcrest... who died there."
Elladan fought down a wave of panic. He knew. How the bloody Fel did this guy know, and who had he told?
"Continue," said the Rook.
Elladan hesitated a moment and continued what he had discovered.
"So, after he got out, he spent some time with the Argent Crusaders in Heathglen, then he returned to Stormwind..." and again the Rook interrupted.
"In Northrend, he fell in love with a Draenei paladin, and he followed her to Hearthglen. When she dumped his ass, then he returned to Stormwind," added the Rook.
"Yeah? Do you know her name?"
"Not important. You want to know her name, ask Chess."
"In Stormwind, he hung out his shingle as a private investigator. He joined the Allied Detective Agency for a time, but that didn't last. He was engaged to a Lynesia Deh'lorei for a time. He made himself a name helping the new Ren'dorei to the city, helping them find work. Then he vanished for three weeks."
"He didn't vanish, he was taken by Scarlet Crusader renegades, who didn't want the Ren'dorei helped. They broke him down and tortured him, and then they twisted his mind, tried to turn him into a serial killer of Ren'dorei."
"What happened?" asked Elladan. He hadn't found even a hint of this!
"Well, according to some, Chess was freed by a Druid of the Talon, who had been sent a message by Aviana, if you can believe that... in any case, the Scarlets didn't finish the job, and Chess is still somewhat broken, especially where Ren'dorei are concerned. Be careful about Jonathan Chess, boy - he seems like a nice enough fellow, helping Ren'dorei and orphans and all... but he can - and will - cut your throat clean if he thinks for a second that you are a danger to him and those he loves - which includes the Brotherhood. Accept whatever jobs you want from them, but don't ever think of doing them dirt - not unless you kill Chess first."
"Why do you care?" Elladan asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you clearly know a lot about this guy - he a target of yours?"
"Oh, much worse... I am of Ravenholdt, and Ravenholdt is run by Lord Jorach Ravenholdt. And Lord Jorach is fond of his cheeses... and do you know who supplies Ravenholdt with cheeses?"
"Jon Chess," said Elladan, shaking his head.
"Yes, Jon Chess. So if something bad happens to Chess, the wrath of Ravenholdt will descend on whoever was responsible. And do you know who in Stormwind is part of Ravenholdt, besides myself?"
"No..." said Elladan, thoughtfully.
"That's right - you don't. It could be the Dwarf who sold you tobacco for your pipe. It could be that wench you tumbled at the Gilded Cage. It could be anyone... but the one thing you can bank cash on, is that whoever it is, you'll never see it coming. We're professionals."
"I understand," said Elladan.
"Elladan Hawkfist, who is not Aiden Falconcrest...know this. Ravenholdt does not have it's eye on you, they consider Aiden Falconcrest died in Northrend," said the Rook. "I will be taking my leave now." The Rook moved like lightning and tossed a small smoke grenade to the floor of the apartment, which exploded in smoke which smelled of brimstone. When the smoke had cleared, the Rook had vanished into the Shadow.
* * * * *
Some time later, the fellow most knew as Jon Chess removed the armor and stylized helm of the Rook, and relaxed one of the bolt-holes he had in Stormwind for such occasions, smiling. He was glad that Elladan had not found out any of the actual truths about Jon Chess, like the fact that he was actually a bastard of the Silverlaine line, or that Trias himself had sent Jon to Ravenholdt to be trained for Jaina Proudmore, who had asked the retired spymaster of Stormwind for help defending Theramore.
Or that Jon had become the ruthless assassin known in the trade as the Rook, and that the Rook continued to work for the Alliance military, "removing prices from the board".
Jon respected anyone who decided to turn their backs on the Syndicate, where the only acceptable way out was to be killed in action. Jon was glad that it had not proved necessary to kill him.
After all, Lord Jorach Ravenholdt had named him the Rook because it was both another name for ravens, and also a powerful chess piece.
