Before anyone says anything, yes it has been absolutely forever since I have updated this dinosaur. School attacked me with incredible amounts of homework. That being said, let this chapter be the start of a continuing story, as I plan to take this story all the way through Oblivion, including the Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine expansion DLC.
That being said, I am also considering writing a Prince of Persia and Skyrim crossover. Leave your comments saying how you liked, or didn't like, my story, as well as which you want to see: Prince of Persia/Skyrim, or ACIII/Skyrim.
Enjoy the latest chapter, "The Ledger"!
They had rode for a day or so, and had traversed a good deal of the lush landscape that is Cyrodiil. Ezio was feeling sore by now, and was regretting his fortune of being in Bruma at the right place and time, as Olav had described it as being. Altair had been going forward as though this was the norm for him.
He took a deep breath, and looked down at the black mane of his horse. He saw the bracers of his hidden blades, decorated with a somewhat modified symbol of the Nine Divines, to cement the standardized disguise of the Assassin Brotherhood; priests and monks.
He tightened his hands around the reigns, though if his knuckles were whitened all, he couldn't tell. They were covered in his Bruma Priest gloves, similar to a design commonly seen in Skyrim. They served a double purpose; the first purpose was to protect the wearer's hands from mistakenly getting diced by their own hidden blade. The second was to keep the warmth of the body in against the colds of Bruma, and further North.
His coat was heavy, even as the snow receded, and yielded to grass. A cabin appeared in the distance, and Altair shifted his course towards it. "I thought the order was to head straight to Kvatch?" Ezio called out, his horse quickly closing the distance between them.
"Don't be a fool; we need to restock at some points." Altair replied, dismounting his horse and heading for the home cabin. Ezio shook his head, following suit.
"How close are we to Kvatch?" "We should be arriving soon. There is a foul wind blowing, not one I'm very familiar with." Ezio inhaled, trying to sense whatever Altair was sensing. Whereas his eyes were now quite possibly the most powerful on Tamriel at this moment, thanks to a supernatural curse, his other senses were unfortunately nowhere near as well honed.
That being said, the air did indeed feel different. It was ominous. "I wonder who lives here." Ezio changed the topic, quickly. He didn't know exactly how Altair reacted to ominous winds, and didn't care to find out for some time. Altair stopped for a moment, looking around.
"The people who live here are dead." Altair responded, coldly. "We wouldn't be stopping, otherwise." "Dead?" Surprise was evident in Ezio's voice. "How do you know?" "Look around you," Altair gestured, Ezio's eyes first following his arm to his finger, then to where he pointed, then gradually he looked around him. The crops were withering slightly, like they had not been tended to for a few days. "Untended crops, the door is not even locked," he kicked it lightly, causing it to swing open. "They were recently attacked by bandits." At that statement, Ezio's Eye activated, revealing much to him. There were bloodstains from the door to the forests. The bloodstains were fresh enough to be followed on foot, Ezio decided. "We'll need to investigate the home for a bit, find out if these bandits left a calling card…" Altair said. Had his Eye not activated? Perhaps it worked differently?
"That is unnecessary." Ezio said, following the bloodstains that apparently only he could see.
"What?"
"My Eye. I can see a trail of blood. We'll follow that to the source."
"Your talent makes this job much easier." Came the remark as Ezio started after the trail. Altair could be heard following closely behind him; but his focus was on what the his Eye showed him. They entered the forest, weaving through trees and bushes alike, until they came upon a small camp.
"There." he pointed. Altair gazed upon them, drawing his sword. Ezio did the same, gazing down at the bandits. They all glowed red, but among the red, he saw fading blue. Was it a captive? Was the captive dying? They needed to charge in. Ezio leapt up and ran forward, though he did not shout or yell.
He was now just outside the camp. The Eye had…deactivated, for lack of a better word. His blade was readied for combat. Altair would be close behind him, he was confident they could take on a few measly bandits. He leaped out of cover, charging at the bandits. He brought his weapon down on the first enemy he saw; an orc wielding a heavy battleaxe. His blade connected, and the orc cried out in pain as his shoulder had been cleaved in two.
Ezio yanked the weapon out, though it took some effort. He stumbled backwards a bit, before getting caught by a mace in the arm. He was pushed backwards, and he cried out in pain as the attacker, a Khajiit, readied to bring down the mace for a finishing blow. Instinct screamed for Ezio to leap to the left or right, but his mind drifted back to when his father was teaching him how to fight.
He bent his knees, collapsing before the mace could come down. The opponent lost his balance long enough for Ezio to draw the hidden blade and slam it into the Khajiit's sternum, sending him back while bleeding profusely. There was a third and fourth bandit, whom Ezio readied to fight. "Someone came to play hero for these poor saps." Ezio spun to see a more heavily-armored bandit.
"Who are you?" Ezio demanded.
"Someone who is exacting their vengeance."
"Vengeance?"
"You're in the way, priest. You've wounded my men, so we'll wound you."
Ezio spun in time to see the third bandit, a Redguard, slash at him with his scimitar. Ezio managed to block the blow with the steel of the bracer, however the force of the blow, while not taking off the limb, sent Ezio to the ground. His back collided with the ground, hard, and he let out a cry of pain.
The Redguard slammed his foot onto Ezio's chest, holding him down. The fourth bandit, another orc, helped the other orc stand up, as they all stood above his disabled form. The leader knelt over him, drawing a knife. "I'm going to skin you, whelp." Ezio spat in the bandit's face. "Damn!" he brought the knife down against his captive, slicing his lip open. Blood poured freely from the wound, however by the time he began to skin his face, a knife flew through his head.
The bandits all fell back a few steps in shock. Seizing his opportunity, Ezio shoved the bandit leader back a bit, grabbing his knife, and faced the other three that now stood against him. "Who else wants some?" His yelling must have been horrific while accompanied by his bloody face and his insinuating that the knife was his doing. "You?" he pointed it at the injured orc, who shrank from his presence. "You?" The healthy orc now backed away from the knife. "Or maybe you?" The Redguard scanned the area, looking for any backup this mysterious foe must have had.
Before any action could be taken, the Master Assassin had already made his way up into the trees, and was above the three enemies. He drew both of his hidden blades, and leaped down towards his targets, landing on both healthy opponents blade first. With a minimal blood, both Redguard and orc were felled, leaving the last opponent to cry in terror.
"You have committed crimes against Cyrodiil. The crimes of robbery, murder, and disruption of an Imperial mission, leave only one punishment available to scum like you." Altair's commanding tone filled the air. The orc turned to run, but Ezio launched the leader's dagger at him, catching him behind the knee, the weapon piercing the joint entirely. The orc's scream filled the air as Altair drew his sword across his neck.
"Rest in peace." he said, executing the final bandit. The atmosphere was so silent as to be deadly for a few moments, until Ezio covered his wound with some of the bandit's cloth. "You really are a fool."
"There were only four."
"They could have had hidden back-up. There were so many unknown variables to that situation that what you did was suicide." He gazed straight at Ezio. "Your Eye won't save you from everything. Especially when you only know basic combat, have no sense of tactics, and refuse to listen to those that know better and do." He looked toward the camp. "You were lucky to have someone like me on the field at this point. Someone who can adapt. The reason I didn't immediately enter combat was because while you were swinging a sword like a madman and getting beaten down, I saved the hostage and scouted the area. Otherwise this battle would not have been anywhere near as successful."
He took a breath as Ezio sat on a log. "Why am I even here?"
"You are here to learn. Unfortunately, I am no sort of teacher, however you will need to learn to be patient. Let that scar be a good lesson for you." Altair sat across from Ezio. "Tactics are the difference between getting slaughtered against countless enemies, or slaughtering countless enemies. Scout the area to see where the enemies patrol, then set up ambushes. I had to find a position where I could launch an initial attack and change my position quickly. Not only that, but I needed to know exactly how many enemies there were in the vicinity, and cover any possible escape routes and areas where reinforcements can arrive." He was pointing fingers out as he listed the different things he was talking about. "It was then I found the hostage, and proceeded to evacuate him while you were distracting the rest of the bandits. That, I thank you for."
"How can this apply to anywhere else, though?"
"You have an incredible power, Auditore. That Eye is something no one else has that I know of, however that power is useless unless you know how to apply it." he sighed. "That is something you need to learn on your own. No one else can teach you how your power works. However, you need to learn the basics of scouting an area. We'll practice when we get to Kvatch." he stood up, looking around the bandit camp. "Scavenge the area for food and supplies. We have at least another day's travel before we reach Kvatch."
Ezio nodded, and began to search the belongings of the chief bandit. He had fifty septims, gold pieces used as currency throughout Tamriel. There was also a map, listing out their various activities, and a ledger was attached to it. On the ledger it had several names of people and places, and numbers beside them. Perhaps that was the amount of septims that they had acquired from these people? He hid them within his coat, to be presented to the next authority he had come into contact with.
He exited the tent, and found that Altair had already acquired a large sack filled with food. "Find anything worth anything?"
"Just fifty or so septims."
"Pfft, 'just'." Ezio ignored the snide remark as they made their way back to the farm and their horses. There stood a man, tending to the horses with food and water. "Thank you, sir, for helping us on our way."
"Thank you, Father." the man bowed. "You and your disciple have saved me from a devastating fate. My family, though…"
"I apologize for us not arriving sooner." Ezio took out the pouch containing the septims.
"There's no way anyone could have known, Father. I will go into mourning…see what I can do about repairing the farm…"
"Please, sir." Ezio interjected. "This is something we do not need." He pulled the bag of septims out of his coat. "Please, take this with the blessing of Arkay; may the souls of your family find home in his arms." He handed the man the pouch and turned to mount his horse.
"Thank you, sirs. I will never forget you!" Altair and Ezio rode off, keeping to the road towards Kvatch. Ezio was nervous; he still had no clue what to expect, and his Eye was slowly helping him less and less. He couldn't depend solely upon Altair, however he knew that until he learned how to strategize with his environment, and how to fight more effectively, he would need to.
It was then that Ezio began to wonder something. He pulled out the ledger and looked at the names listed. At the bottom, which he assumed was the latest heist, he saw a name that couldn't have been that of a person. It was more akin to the name of an organization. "Something wrong?" Altair asked, looking behind him.
"Do you know what the Imperiatus is?"
"A group of hunters that believe themselves a sort of authority on the sport. They worship the Daedric Prince Hircine." Altair replied. "Why?"
"I found this ledger off of the chief bandit." Altair sighed. "It is filled with names of people and places. I was expecting to see the name of the farmer, or at least the name of the farm at the bottom, or somewhere near it."
"Best not to worry about it for now. When we get to Kvatch we can get the ledger to the Denmaster there. He'll find out what's going on." Altair assured. "Our mission must come first, no matter what, however."
"Right." It was more than apparent that he had much to learn, however he had a teacher who had mastered the art. He would eventually return to Skingrad, but he knew that people like that farmer were all over Cyrodiil. It was a rush, receiving gratitude for something he had actively done, even if he couldn't claim all the credit for himself. Mysteries swirled around this whole event, though: why would those bandits go after a whole organization? Who was that farmer they saved, really?
He needed to know what was going on. Who that farmer was, who those bandits were, what vengeance he was exacting. As long as he hung around these Assassins, he would get closer to the answer, however he had a dark feeling that however close he got to the answer of this ledger, he would be closer to being stuck in the trade.
