I apologize, it's been a while, but nevertheless, here's the next chapter. Review responses are at the bottom. Please, review, follow, and favorite! Enjoy!
RWTalent
James:
I don't usually appreciate getting unexpected news, but I was very glad when I followed Elsa and Anna out of the new Assassin headquarters. I hadn't been expecting to have to show them around, and that unpreparedness had made me fall back on my Assassin training, becoming colder and less friendly.
We finally made it back to the castle and were led to the dungeons underneath and off to the side of the castle. The captain of the guard, Franz, was waiting for us. He bowed formally to Anna and Elsa, and nodded at me.
"Your Highnesses," Franz greeted. "We have some unfortunate news."
"I am aware that you have news." Elsa said regally. "Please just tell us."
"We found a strain of cantarella in your breakfast," Franz said grimly.
My proverbial ears stuck up at that. Cantarella, a strain of arsenic, was very difficult to trace. How they had found it at all was suspiciously impressive. And on top of that, I recognized it. Cantarella was a poison commonly used by the Templars. And I knew for a fact that that man I fought in guard training was at least a Templar sympathizer.
I spoke up. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you find the poison?"
Franz squinted his eyes quizzically at me. "A guard saw one of his colleges pouring it over Her Majesty's breakfast and reported it."
"Did you catch the guy?!" Anna demanded. She was very obviously upset.
"Yes." Franz said, a hint of pride in his voice. "He's currently in one of the dungeons, being questioned." I stepped back and thought for a while as Elsa and Anna leveled tons of questions at Franz.
So, we've got a guard who tried to poison Elsa with Templar poison. Yet was dumb enough to get caught doing it. I thought. I think a meeting should be arranged...
"We haven't gotten any usable information from him yet." Franz said. "A few hours in isolation should get him to talk."
Kai stepped into the dungeons, coughing politely to let them know he was there. "Queen Elsa, the councilors have convened to discuss preparations for Lord Bolverkr."
I snapped my head toward Elsa's attendant. Did he just say Bolverkr! I shouted in my head. I had heard stories of Lord Bolverkr while in training back in London. Assassin recruits would tell ghost stories about that man, the most brutal of all Templars in Europe. He had been responsible for the deaths of ten master Assassins in less than five years. He had single-handedly taken control of city-state after city-state in Italy. It had gotten so bad that current Italian Assassins were afraid to go anywhere without being in a group of at least three.
He's coming here! I thought. I ran through plans after plans, shifting through general Assassin procedures, searching for any idea of what to do. I found nothing. So I decided that talking to the prisoner was my only option.
"Thank you Kai," Elsa said. The elderly man bowed and left. The Queen turned to me, unlike in the mansion where she looked suspiciously and slightly scared at me, she looked scared for her life, for her sister's life. "James. I won't need any protection during the meeting. I need you to help Franz, anything he needs."
"Of course," I replied immediately, without even thinking about it.
"Thank you," Elsa said, offering a slight smile. She and Anna then walked out after Kai, leaving me alone with Franz.
"So, what do you need help with?" I asked Franz.
"Right now, nothing much. The guards are trying to interrogate the prisoner right now. Then it's isolation for a few hours."
I nodded thoughtfully, a plan coming together. "Alright, I'll see if I can't talk to the shippers about anything suspicious coming into the harbor."
"That would help."
I smiled and quickly left the dungeons. I had every intention to check out the docks...just not yet. I exited the castle, careful not to be seen by anyone, and walked around to the side of the castle were a few dungeon windows opened up at ground level. I pulled my hood up, crouched down in the shadows and waited.
I focused for a moment, and activated my eagle vision. I could see through just the outer-wall, but it was enough to recognize the prisoners. Two glowing blue guards were exiting a cell that held a glowing gold figure; my target. As soon as the guards closed the cell door behind them, I pulled out a set of lock picks. I quickly picked the lock on the window leading into the cell, opened the window, and silently slipped in.
A large man was laying face down in the center of the cell. He was large and had been wearing a guard uniform, but it was now torn, ripped up, and stained in various spots. I recognized him as a switched off the eagle vision, he was the man I had fought during the guard training; the man I believed was a Templar sympathizer.
I knew the door was locked, and the man was in no shape to climb out the window, so I disregarded subtlety. I roughly grabbed the remains of his shirt and jerked him up off the floor, backwards into the stone wall.
The man grunted in pain as his head hit the wall. I waited patiently as the man came back to consciousness and recognize me. His pupils dilated and his nostrils flared in anger. He quickly stood up and tried to charge me.
I snuck an arm under one of his and twisted, throwing him over a hip, and into the opposite wall. I grabbed his hair and pulled his head back, revealing his throat. I released my left hidden blade and held it up to his throat.
"Who are you, and why did you try to kill the Queen?" I growled in his ear.
The man chuckled slightly. "You don't stand a chance. Bolverkr is coming, Assassin. You're a dead man, it's just a matter of time."
"Then it doesn't matter what you tell me then, does it?" I responded.
"Bolverkr doesn't tell anyone his plans." The man said. "He just told me to try to kill the Queen as openly as possible. If that stupid English-man hadn't gotten in the way of my decoy chef, she'd already be dead."
I raised an eyebrow. Did this guy really see my intervene this morning and not connect the dots? "Why is he coming to Arendelle?"
"He's going to take the throne, and he's going to form a wall of Templars against you Assassins, stretching from the bottom of Italy to the top of Norway. Then we'll start the strangling, expanding West and crushing your puny order until it pops and all of you murderers die. One. By. One." The man ranted.
"Hm," Was all I afforded the man. I let his hair go and retracted my hidden blade.
The man rubbed his head and his throat. He started to roll over, probably to try to attack me again, but he only got halfway. I delivered a sharp kick to his temple, knocking him out instantly, and instantly forming a purple bruise.
"So," I said to myself. "Bolverkr is coming to Arendelle, and he's already tried to kill Elsa, probably twice. I can't do this alone." I nodded to myself and climbed back out the window.
After locking the window from the outside and vaulting over the castle wall, I started roaming around the city. I was looking for people in trouble, but after three hours of finding nothing, I noticed a flaw in my plan. Elsa, was too good of a leader, there weren't any people in trouble or angry.
I grumbled to myself as I sat on a bench, giving my feet a break from walking. "This is harder than Damien said." I told myself.
Then, a brilliant idea popped into my mind. The guard trial held countless people searching for a job. They even said that not all of them would be able to get a job. They must still be out there. All I had to do was find them...and there was a list in the castle.
A couple hours later, I was walking the streets of Arendelle once again, this time with a scroll that held all the names of the guard try-outs that hadn't made the cut. First stop; the seamstress' daughter, Earlene.
I found the her mother's shop tucked away on a little back street, flanked by cozy-looking houses. I noticed that the shop's upper windows were open. I tucked the list into the back of my belt and ran up the wall. Using the niches and ledges of the building, I quickly climbed up and through the open windows.
The room was very simple and organized. A well-made bed tucked into the corner of the room, a small desk with neat piles of paper and I assumed an organized dresser next to the bed. I sat down at the desk, kicking my feet up onto the desk-top, and waited.
It didn't take long before the woman I was looking for entered the room. She jumped slightly before standing perfectly still in the doorway. She wasn't much younger than me, around eighteen or nineteen. She was distinctly Asian, which surprised me, not many people migrated to other countries. She had dark, silky hair, and sharp green eyes.
I gestured to the bed, "Please, have a seat."
The woman slowly walked over to the bed, remaining on the balls of her feet. And she sat down on the very edge of the bed, ready to move in an instant.
"While I find your caution flattering, you don't have to worry, I'm not going to hurt you." The woman didn't budge. "Actually, I was going to offer you a job."
The seemed to effect her, she squinted questioningly at me. "What kind of job?"
"I noticed you didn't get accepted into Arendelle's royal guard. I was thinking that with a little more training, you can have a...different kind of guard position." I said.
"That doesn't answer my question." She noted.
I smiled. "No it doesn't. But the thing is, I can't tell you the details unless you accept it. All I can tell you is that you'll be protecting the country, and the freedom of its people. But there will be little to no glory to it. And the pay depends on how well you do."
The woman thought it over for a moment, before nodding. "If it means protecting innocent people, you can count me in."
"Excellent." I said. I tossed her a spare key to the headquarters that I had the old man make for me, and told her the address. "Wait there until you get further instructions. Lock the doors behind you, don't let anyone in unless they have a key as well."
I stood up and walked toward the window. I glanced back at the woman who just stared at my curiously. "Welcome to the Assassins, Earlene. Glad to have you on board."
Then I jumped out the window.
Aiphira: Here's another chappy for you, no more waiting!
OutSquash13(Guest): Mwahaha! Cliffhangers everywhere! But seriously, I've got way more where this is from, I just have been bogged down with schoolwork and applying to college.
Josef Bican: You think it's a good idea to respond? You got it. And you've got a good point about AC's tendencies towards violence and intimacy, so you can expect blood, guts, and more. (hope it didn't turn out too "later")
VenomousFantum: Ah, sarcasm, glad someone besides me appreciates its fine art. Now that the chapter's out, hopefully that "else" won't have to happen.
TheFOX-N3XU5: Part 1: Sorry, no murder, no bomb, just poison. Poison and an Easter egg Part 2: Alright! Updated, boom!
Guest (No name on this one, so I don't really know who this is): Sorry for the pain I've caused, have this gift of a chapter as an apology.
