Being a Hero by Colin Walker

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‘If you would like to make one you can do so now, although the waiting list for any none-official appointments is, I'm afraid to say, rather long.'
‘This is preposterous! I demand...'
‘If you do not wish to make an appointment,' the servant said, calmly speaking over the flustered insistence of the man, ‘then you will be shown out.'
‘I have come far. This cannot wait.'
‘Then you should have made an appointment.' The servant gestured for Feroz to show Majeed out.
The blade had done its work before the servant could move, slicing through the man's neck. Feroz noticed, with the detachment of oncoming shock, that the wound didn't bleed as it should. It was as though the blade had cauterised the flesh as it sailed through.
The servant fell to the floor, twitching before he died.
‘Show me in,' Majeed said to Feroz, slipping the knife away smoothly.
He didn't know what to do; he should attack the man at least, make an attempt to protect master Sohrab from what was obviously an assassination attempt. But he couldn't move, couldn't even look at the man, let alone attempt to strike him.
‘I said open the door.' The voice was so calm, so different to the anxious tone of before. As though in a dream, Feroz stepped over the corpse and opened the heavy wooden door to Sohrab's office. Majeed pushed him roughly through and entered, dragging the corpse inside and shutting the door silently behind him.
Feroz had never been in any of the teacher's offices. It was as he had expected, with varnished wood and fine carpets, a massive desk with an impressive wall hanging covering one side of the room.
‘Make yourself useful and open the blinds,' Majeed said as he reached into his fine robe and removed a leather clad case, which he placed carefully on the desk near the window before opening it.
Feroz stumbled to the window and opened the blinds, taking a moment to look out over the dusty training grounds beyond before turning back.
Majeed had opened the case but from Feroz' vantage point he couldn't see what lay within. Whatever it was though, it gave off a sickly green light, and it turned Majeed's face into that of a ghoul.
‘What are you doing?' Feroz managed to choke the words out despite his fear. If only he'd become a warrior, even a first tier. Then he'd know what to do, how to deal with this threat. Scenarios kept playing through his mind, obscuring useful thoughts, showing him dreams of a triumphant gate guard being admitted into the Heroes for stopping the assassin.
‘I'm going to blow up the school with this bomb, probably killing everyone in the city.' Majeed's hands were busy within the case and Feroz moved slowly away from the window, trying to get a look at what he was doing. ‘Hopefully the blast will be enough to take out the computer controlling the orbital defences.'
‘The what...' Feroz didn't know what the man had meant by computers or orbital defences, but he knew what a bomb was. He was nearing an angle where he could see into the case, his footsteps silent on the thick carpeting.
‘Just be quiet for a bit alright,' Majeed said, distracted.