Cearbhail: This took me a while. I knew what I needed to do with it, but I wasn't sure about how I should go about writing it. Anyway, enjoy. Let me know what you think of the story so far. And yes, eventually there will be apples and stuff floating around. And Templars will be involved.
[Malik Ishtar]
Dear journal,
I have failed in my personal mission. The coven that I sought to protect has fallen to the hands of King John. While we did destroy the iron mines that provided King John with precious iron for his swords and armor; sink a ship that was used for illegal human trafficking; and raid the King's personal icebox for all his meat and wine…it came at a cost that we cannot recover from. Many witches lost their lives last night. It was a purge that I couldn't stop. I was too late. The Coven Mother Bo-Peep and the Father John Jingleheimer were hung in front of the city late last night. While we were recovering, several other witches were taken from their houses and were found in the streets the following mornings with their heads chopped off.
But there is some luck. Most of the Littles were in the woods during the purge. But, I feel that we are no longer safe here. We must be on high alert for now on. Or at least until I can tear down a few printed posters of my supposed face or maybe even bribe a few couriers to speak about kinder things than all the stuff I've done lately. Who knows, I might even run into a Templar agent that I can kill. That will get the place really calm. I don't know why, but it helps. Well, anyway. Locksley and I are going into town to get some hair trimmers and hair dye, as well as some new clothes. I've sent a request of Acre for a few boxes of initiate robes and gear. Might as well get everyone suited up and trained. Until then, I must begin training Locksley and Red. Luckily, my sister is helping Red with her studies.
Malik…
…
Walking around the rooftops, looking down at the people going about their normal lives was just an informative as it usually was. The people reacted negatively to seeing bodies being dragged away by knights, but once explained that the bodies were related to the burning of iron mines and the harbor incident, there were no tears shed. I knew better. I was the blame for the harbor incident, as was Wolfe. If he hadn't been transporting slaves, the ship would have never needed to come to a crashing halt. And if I had planned my mission better and overseen the mine explosion, there would have never been an incident other than dead slavers and a few guards.
The streets were more active than usual. People seemed out of sorts, like life was just turned upside down for them. People aimlessly wandered the streets in a chaotic haze, like something massive had just happened. Maybe it was all the dead bodies, but it seemed more than that. So, Locksley and I continued to stroll across the rooftops, looking for answers. The marketplace probably had the answers I was looking for.
"I have a question." Locksley brought up as we began strolling to the marketplace.
"What is it?"
"Why is it…whenever we walk on the rooftops…no one seems to notice us?"
That question took me off guard. I mean, I had asked the same thing when I was seven, when I had just begun learning the Assassin's trade. I guess Locksley was a young learner, just like I was. I guess I needed to explain things to him like he was one. But he seemed intelligent, he should understand rather quickly. "Let me answer with another question. Do you ever look up at roofs during your normal day routine?"
He paused in his tracks. He finally tilted his head to the side in utter confusion. "No…I guess I don't."
I nodded. "Most people go about their days with their heads to the ground, looking where they step. They occasionally look ahead, to see if someone they know is around or maybe because they're in a hurry. But rarely does anyone ever look up. Nothing they ever need is up. Unless they're checking the weather."
Locksley seemed to take that easily. "Ok, but how come no one ever reacts to us walking on their roofs? Don't they hear us running up here?"
"By the time they hear us, we're already on someone else's roof. If they look for us, they might find us, but what then? Complain to the guards about a random man running across their roof? They might, but what would that do for them?"
Locksley seemed to nod. "Ok, I think I understand. Pretty much what you're telling me is that we're safer up here because people are too complacent and lazy to do anything about us being up here."
"Exactly. The only ones that will notice us are the guards themselves. Now, we could go down and join the normal people in the streets, but we might run into that one mentally deranged person who will shove us around for no reason. That might catch unwanted guard attention and we might find ourselves in a fight that we don't really need to be in. Oh, and just so you know: if you get in a fight with guards, just run away and hide. Hide by jumping in a pile of hay, sitting on a bench, or just take off your cloak and lean against the wall. The guards are always too stupid to suspect you'd actually hide from them."
Locksley nodded his head again, scrunching his face up in thought. "You've done this a lot before, haven't you?"
I shrugged. "It's all taught in our evasion class. I've never tried it out myself. I've always just fought my adversaries head-on until they're all dead."
"Oy, you!" The voice of a knight caused me to step away from the edge of the roof and shirk away anyone's view of me. Standing just beneath me was a group of knights pulling a wagon filled with iron pots and pans. He wasn't looking up at me. He was looking at the doorway underneath me. "Open up! Under the King's decree, open this door!"
I head the door open up and some old man answered. "What brings you here?"
The knight pulled him out into the streets, throwing him on the dirt road. "New law has been put in place. Because of the iron incident that has diminished our iron reservoirs, all citizens are ordered to give up their iron possessions to be given to the royal smelter. We need new building supplies to fix the wall that has been broken, as well as repair the harbor and ships that were ruined last night. Henceforth, a new tax has been added to the town of Nottingham. The Crone demands 100 gold coins or 500 silver coins. If you cannot provide these coins, we have been ordered to seize all property necessary to fill the tax." The knights began rushing into the house. I could hear the commotion from my hiding spot.
Locksley was almost growling to himself. "What bullshit! This is just the King taking everything he can from the hard-working citizens and putting it in his lap." He started pulling his bow off his back. "I'm going to go kill them."
I brought my hand up to stop him. "No, how about we do this my way?"
He glared at me. "And what do you suggest?"
I closed my eyes in thought. What would really send a message? Killing these knights would only increase problems with the people, and taking the iron back would only instigate another collection, as well retaliation. I had to think up some way to fix this without causing more trouble for the city. But, what could I do? "They said that they were going to smelt all the iron. What if we broke the smelter, not just broke it, but blew it up with black powder?"
"How does that fix this?" He threw back at me. "They're stealing from the poor! Taking from the rich and giving to the poor is kind of my thing."
I nodded to him. He had a good point. It wasn't a good enough of a message. But…if Locksley and his men telegraphed that they were behind this…it would take all responsibility off the citizens. For a while at least. If the people got too fed up with the King, there might be a revolt too. The people would only take so much before taking it themselves. This town really needed my help. And I wasn't allowed to take like needlessly. I might just have to if it will save this town, despite my orders. A good start would be Duke Wolfe. He was responsible for this outbreak anyway.
"Since you are known for doing this…do it. Go and do what you do. I will go and blow up the smelter." I looked back at Locksley. He seemed pleased with my permission.
"You're not a stupid as you seem, Assassin." He replied as he started heading to the edge of the roof. "I'll start right here."
…
[Little Red]
"Are you sure it's ok to come here? My brother said to say outside the town." Laila asked as she followed me back into my house.
My house looked ransacked. Every jar of everything I had was taken, my circle disrupted, my iron pots stolen. Jeez, I leave for one night and I lose everything I had! What happened? I shrugged my shoulders in defeat, looking around my kitchen. There was nothing left at all. "Well, it's was a waste anyway. The knights have taken everything I have. They even stole my cinnamon and my pepper flakes."
Laila scanned the room for anything. "Just what are we looking for anyway?"
"The camp is short on supplies, so I thought I'd bring some stuff: pots, pans, blankets. Anything I thought we would need in camp."
Laila nodded and started heading for the staircase leading to the basement. "Ok, I'll see what I can find."
While she looked downstairs, I walked into the living room. All my jars of obscure objects were missing as well. My other circle was also painted over, breaking its magical hold. My candles were smashed flat and I swear that part of the room had caught on fire. The staircase leading up to the second floor was spotless, though. Perhaps they left after ransacking this floor. Marching up the stairs proved me wrong. My bed was stripped clean, even the bed was missing. My curtains were taken as well. My ironing iron was gone. Why was all my iron gone?
Scratching my head, I looked in the bathroom. I found a few rolls of toilet paper. That was a mission success right there. I threw those in my bag and started walking downstairs. I wondered when I could come back to this house. When would it be safe for me to live like I used to. Then again, if I just moved to York or something, I'm sure I'd be just fine. But I shouldn't have to leave my own town just to live.
I waited in the living room for Laila. "Hey! I found some boxes of tea! Are we taking that?" Her muffled voice called from the basement.
"Yes!" I screamed back. Tea was definitely something we wanted to take with us. It would make our mornings more durable at least.
That's when I heard a knock at my door. It took me by surprise. Did a knight hear me scream? Did they suspect I was back and getting ready to kill me like I saw the other bodies? I started to back away from the door as quietly as I could, but the doorknob started to twist. I seemed to freeze in my place as the door flew open slowly, and a small girl wearing a black dress and a yellow duck-shaped hat stepped into my house. She froze when she saw me, as I did when I saw her.
She was carrying a small staff with a quartz crystal embedded in the top. She had long black hair and was as pale as I was. She looked only nine or something. She looked up at me with her bright red eyes. I wasn't sure if she was scanning me or just stunned. I had gotten similar stares from Father Jingleheimer and Mother Bo-Peep. She smiled at me as she slung a giant sack off her back, throwing it on the ground. "Good, you're here. I suspected you'd be dead. But…I thought I could feel your presence." She laughed as she closed the door behind her. "That's good. I hoped I wasn't too late."
I paused in my place. "Um…who are you?"
She pointed up to her hat, saying, "You don't know the Little Duckling when you see her?" She spun around, throwing herself into a pose. "I'm Little Duckling!" Then she reached into her sack, pulling out a small duckling. "And this is my familiar: Ugly." She pushed it towards my face. "Say 'hi', Ugly!" The duckling peeped at me.
"Um…Ok. Hi, Ugly. And Little Duckling, what are you doing here?" The little girl paused for a second; thinking about what she was going to say.
She finally shrugged and said, "First off, don't call me Little Duckling. Just call me Vicky. And secondly…" She looked around the room, taking in all the damage that had been done. "It's just like I saw in my vision. Things are growing worse." She paced around the room, looking down at my circle for a second before saying, "My mother sent me here to keep this coven alive. She'd come if she were able, but she's needed in York right now."
"And who's your mother?" I did not like where this was going. And I think I did.
She turned and smiled at me. "Mother Goose, of course!" She laughed as she ran up to me. "And that makes me a gosling as well." She nodded as she crossed her arms. "Yup, Mother wants me to help rebuild this coven. I'm the new Mother Goose!"
"But you're nine!" Laila called from the kitchen behind me. "How can you be…whatever you said you were?"
Vicky looked over at Laila with that same distant stare. She finally smiled and said, "Hi, I'm Little Duckling, but call me Vicky." She ran up to Laila, throwing her into a hug. "Thank you for saving my sisters."
Laila froze on the stop, looking to me for answers. I shrugged in return. "So, you're our new Coven Mother? So…are you in charge of us then?"
Vicky shook her head. "Not really, Mommy is. She'll tell me what to do through this crystal ball." She pulled out a small clear ball. "At least until she can send a replacement for me. Mother Bo-Peep was one of her best friends. It will be hard to replace her. So, I'm here to watch over you until she can send someone else." She looked around the room a few more times before sighing. "I'm hungry. Is there anything to eat?"
I shook my head. "No, someone broke into my house and stole all my stuff. But…we do have some food at our camp out in the forest."
She frowned at hearing that. "We're going camping?" She whined. "I hate camping." She crossed her arms and sighed again. "I have to fix this immediately."
…
[Malik]
After following the carts of iron for the past hour or so, I could see where the smelter was. It was in the castle, well, in the courtyard. That would mean that I would have to blow up the courtyard. That would be easy enough. I already had plenty of bags of black powder. All I had to do was throw it in the smelting pot. Enough of it would blow it up. If I kept throwing more, it should blow it all up. Of course, I had some of Little Red's 'special' powder. I went by her house earlier and collected some documented explosive powder. I'm sure she won't mind.
And on the way out, I saw the oddest thing. This little girl with a duck hat walking across town while knights were beating civilians to near-death. They didn't even bat an eye at her, and she didn't seem to be bothered by them either. She was humming a tune that reminded me of my mother's song. It was a little different, but so close that I almost found myself getting lost in an old memory. But, I couldn't stop to think about it. I did have a mission to perform after all.
So, instead of carefully climbing down and placing the bag on the device, I thought I'd just attach a bag onto the crossbow I had. Just to make it more fun, I placed one of those red-tipped bolts that explode. That should create a big bang. The bag I selected was the 'explosive' powder Red used. So, when I had the small bag secured to the bolt and the crossbow aimed at the smelter, I waited and watched as the iron maker went about his errands. Knights paced around the ground, watching for any surprises, but not looking up at the roof (where I was sitting).
I finally found my chance as the iron maker stepped away from the smelter to grab more iron pots that were in the cart. I released the bolt and instantly the smelter seemed to disappear into a massive cloud of purple smoke and fire. The entire courtyard seemed to explode with the force. It was strong enough that I was thrown off my feet by the shockwave. I was taken off my feet and flew off of the roof. I looked down as the roof disappeared. I closed my eyes and spread my arms out. Hopefully I would land on something soft.
"Cloud cover!" I heard a child cry. I landed on something soft, something absorbent. When I opened my eyes, I could see that I was sitting on what appeared to be clouds. Very soft, bouncy clouds. I looked up to see that little girl from earlier. She smiled at me, sticking out her hand. "Hi, I'm Little Duckling! But you can call me…" She glared at me with sharp red eyes. "Mother Goose." She reached up and snatched me by my left ear, pulling me as she started to walk away. "We need to talk." Her tone had become sharp and disapproving. I tried to pull my ear free but her pinching fingers seemed to lock onto my ear. I can't believe it! I was being dragged around by a seven year-old! And she was the Mother Goose I've been hearing about. Ah, man…I'm in trouble.
Cearbhail: Next chapter should be pretty boring, but I'll think of something intestesting to do.
