The Artist and The Assassin

Malice Maketh Man

Prologue
England, Whitechapel - 1848

"Get the bastards!" A man yells as he and a couple other thugs chase after two young men through the dark alleyway. The two young men run through and out of the alley and into an abandoned house as one of the young men close the door behind them.

"What are we going to do!?" The younger boy says to his older brother who is rummaging around through the dusty and creaky cub boards.

"We need to find someone to defend ourselves with! Anything!" The older boy says as he frantically opens and closes cabinets before pulling out a rusty pocket knife from off one of the shelves.

"Here! Take this and I'll use that board over there!" The older boy says to the younger one as he gives him the rusty pocket knife and goes to pick up a broken wooden board to use as a weapon.

"I'll hide over here and you over there! If anything goes wrong I want you to run, ok?" The older boy says to the younger one as he puts a hand on his shoulder. The younger boy nods.

"Good. Now quickly!" The older one says as he runs behind the where the door would open up and readies his weapon. The young man goes and hides in the closet by a broken window in the back of the house.

Murmuring can be heard outside of the house before the door opens up and five thugs enter the house.

"Find those kids or I'll roast you in a furnace!" One thug says who seems to be the leader of the group. The others begin to search the abandoned house as the leader stays next to the entrance and closes the door, oblivious to older boy who is behind the door.

One of the thugs walks towards the closet the younger boy is in and before he can open it the other thug beside him knocks down dresser in front of the door.

"Dammit! Why the hell did you do that!?" The one thug yells at the other.

"I didn't mean to! I tripped because of this stupid broken floor!" He says before turning around to face the leader and sees the older boy behind him.

"There he is! Get him!" The thug says as the older boy lifts the broken board and stabs it into the back of the thug leader. The others charge him as the young man tries to escape the closet but to no avail.

As one of the thugs swing at him with his knife the boy dodges it and swings the board towards his face, breaking his nose and knocking him unconscious, but before he can reposition himself, one of the thugs slice his arm with their knife and the boy drops the broken bloodied board on the floor and yells in pain.

The younger boys breathing becomes sporadic as he hears the yells through the other side of the door. Tears start forming as he tries to cover his ears with his hands.

"This is what your family gets for how they messed with us!" One of the thugs says as he punches the boy and knocks him onto the floor before beginning to kick him in the chest multiple times.

The other thug grabs his shoulder and pulls him back as to stop him from kicking him any further. The thug then gets down on one knee and grabs the boy's neck.

"Tell us where it is and we won't end your family's legacy!" He yells at the boy who is bruised and beaten.

"I don't know what the bloody hell you're taking about!" The boy yells before being punched in the face leaving him with a bloody nose.