War Sage: Thanks for your second review. You rock! People like you keep me going.
Chapter 12
At dawn the next day, Ezio and I made our way to the Grand Bazaar, and shopping wasn't the reason for us being there. I had already sent gifts to my girls before this, and we were there to get info on this Captain, Tarik Barleti. The problem was, said info was hard to get.
The various shopkeepers weren't squealing, as there were Janissaries skulking around the place, and also due to the fact that they couldn't stop trying to sell us something.
"Well, that was a waste of time." I growled, after trying the shopkeepers.
"We must think of something. Time is of the essence." Ezio urged, and I smiled as an idea occurred to me. "Let's go straight to his boys for info."
Ezio gave me a nonplussed look. "Why in hell would they tell you anything?"
I tapped my nose with my finger. "For one thing, they won't expect me to ask them. Secondly, it will be the way I ask them that will throw them off as well."
I lowered my hood, messed up my hair a little, trying to make it look like I had just gotten my ass kicked, and walked over to the nearest Janissary. "Oi, you!"
The man stared at me through his mask, as I stepped up to him.
"I am a Prince of England, and some of your fellow Janissaries just man-handled me, and threatened my brother when he tried to interfere on my behalf. I demand to know where your commanding officer is!" I said, in a passable snobby voice that had a clear English accent, pointing at Ezio and finishing by poking the guard in the chest.
The man looked down at me for a moment, and then replied. "Go to a small square that has a coffee shop on each corner, that way." He added, pointing north. With a huff, I grabbed Ezio, and started out that way.
As we did so, Ezio shook his head. "That was luck."
I wrapped an arm around his shoulders, smiling smugly. "I'm just keeping up appearances."
Ezio snorted, shoving me playfully. "Someday, your play-acting won't get you any results."
I chuckled. "But until then, the actor works the magic, while the older brother shuts his cake-hole!" (Yes, I did borrow that from Supernatural!)
Making our way through the Bazaar, which was no small task, let me say that, we were eventually able to arrive at a crossroads in the lanes which broadened out into a little square with a coffee shop on each corner.
In front of one stood the big captain with the grizzled beard, which seemed to be a mark of his rank as well as his resplendent uniform. He was clearly high on the food chain of Constantinople.
We crept as close as we could, in order to hear what was being said.
"Are you ready?" He asked his men, and they nodded their assent. "This is an important meeting. Make sure that I am not being followed." Too little, too late, douchebag!
They nodded again and split up, disappearing into the Bazaar in different directions. Really, morons?
Ezio and I knew they would be looking for us, so we waited a minute or so before following the captain.
Barleti hadn't gone far before he came to another Janissary, a lieutenant, who to the casual eye would have just seemed to be window-shopping in front of an armorer's establishment. But since most traders stayed out of the way of the Janissaries, this didn't really fool us at all.
"What news?" Barleti said as he drew level with the soldier. "Manuel has agreed to meet you, Tarik. He's waiting by the Arsenal Gate."
Um, who? Ezio and I exchanged a look.
Tarik sighed. "An eager old weasel, isn't he? Come!" They set off, out of the Bazaar, and into the city streets.
It was a long way to the Arsenal, which was situated on the north side of the Golden Horn, farther to the west, but they showed no sign of wanting to take transport yet, and we followed them on foot.
A matter of a couple of miles, and the two men were engrossed in conversation, most of which we managed to catch, and it wasn't hard to blend in with the streets of Constantinople while listening to the two yatter on.
"How did Manuel look? Was he nervous or cagey?" Tarik asked.
"He was his usual self. Impatient and discourteous."
"Hmn. I suppose he has earned that right. Have there been dispatches from the sultan?"
"The last news was a week ago, Bayezid's letter was short and full of sad tidings."
Tarik shook his head. "I could not imagine being at such odds with my own son."
We followed the two chatterboxes to a building close by the Arsenal Gate.
Waiting for them was a large, plump, expensively dressed man in his late fifties, sporting a full grey beard and waxed mustaches. His feathered turban was encrusted with jewels, and there was a jeweled ring on each of his pudgy fingers.
His companion was thinner, almost too thin for an average man, and his clothing suggested that he hailed from Turkmenistan.
We hid discreetly among the heavy branches of a tamarind tree that grew close by, paid close attention as preliminary greetings were exchanged and learned that Thickness was Manuel Palaiologos, a name that didn't ring any bells.
The stick-figure beside him was a bodyguard, going by the name of Shahkulu. Going by the tales that Yusuf told about him, this guy was a rebel against the Ottoman rulers of his country, and that he was spreading his rebellion around the nearby towns and villages.
The trouble was, this guy was not exactly a choir-boy: he had street-cred for being a sadistic bandit as well as a rebellious one. Not what we Assassins are looking for, that's for sure!
Once the elaborate niceties had been dealt with, Manuel gestured to Shahkulu, who entered the building behind them, some of guard post. From it, he brought a small but heavy wooden chest, which he placed at Tarik's feet.
The Janissary lieutenant opened it and began counting the gold coins with which it was filled.
"You may verify the amount, Tarik, but the money stays with me until I have seen the cargo for myself and ascertained its quality." Manuel said.
Tarik grunted. "Understood. You are a shrewd man, Manuel."
"Trust without cynicism is hollow," said Manuel unctuously.
The Janissary had been counting fast, closing the chest shortly after receiving it. "The count is good, Tarik. It's all here."
"So, what now?" Manuel asked Tarik.
"You will have access to the Arsenal. When you are satisfied, the cargo will be delivered to a location of your choosing."
"Are your men prepared to travel?"
"Not a problem."
"Very good. I will have a map drawn up for you within a week." Manuel said, and the two parted company.
We waited until the coast was clear before we climbed down from the tree and made our way with the pedal to the metal to the Assassin's HQ.
It was dusk when we arrived and found Yusuf already there waiting for us. "One of my men claims he saw a shipment of weapons brought in here earlier. So we got curious."
Ezio and I exchanged looks, and I couldn't resist making my feelings known. "It fucking figures! Then again, Templars were never pacifists."
Ezio appeared to have similar thoughts. "I would like to see them for myself."
I snorted. "Fine, let's just walk up to Barleti, and ask for a look-see! I'm sure he would be real welcoming."
Ezio sent me a dark look, and I raised my hands. "Chillax, Bro! I was being sarcastic."
Yusuf gave us a mystified look. "What does 'chillax' mean?"
I was about to answer, when Ezio interrupted. "Don't ask! For Minerva's sake, don't ask!"
Sniggering, I winked at Yusuf before joining Ezio in scanning the outer walls of the Arsenal.
They were more well-guarded than Fort Knox, and that was saying something.
"Short of killing everyone in sight, I'm not sure how we will get inside."
I raised a hand. "We could make a noise, a big one. Do we have any grenades that make a loud noise enough to get those primitive lemmings to roll over and play dead?"
Yusuf shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Master, not big enough to shake them all up."
I nodded, disappointed. "Can't blame a guy for trying. So, we have to think of something more subtle."
A commotion sounded behind us in the square, and our attention was drawn to an altercation that had broken out near the main gate in the Arsenal walls, between a trader and three Janissaries, who were bullying him.
"You have been warned twice: no merchants near the Arsenal walls!" A Janissary sergeant was saying, and turned to his men. "Take this stuff away!"
The stooges started to pick up the trader's crate of fruit, and carry them away.
"Hypocrites!" the man grumbled. "If your men didn't buy my produce, I wouldn't be selling it here in the first place!"
The sergeant ignored him, and the soldiers went on with their work, but the trader hadn't finished. He got in the face of the leader, and let him have it. "You are no worse than the Byzantines, you traitor!"
WHAM!
The trader went down with a bloody nose, and I snorted. The sergeant was a coward, but the trader was right at the wrong time.
"Hold your tongue, parasite!" growled the sergeant.
He turned away to supervise the continuing confiscation of the fruit, while a woman from the crowd rushed up to help the injured trader. Yusuf, Ezio, and I watched as she helped him to his feet.
"Even in times of peace, the poor are always under siege." Yusuf said, and I straightened, an idea coming to me.
"Unless the poor can turn the tables on them."
Ezio nodded, both of us thinking of similar circumstances in Rome.
"Arthur is right. Perhaps if we inspire them to vent their anger, that will help our cause."
Yusuf looked at him. "You mean recruit these people? Incite them to rebel?"
"It need only be a demonstration. But with enough of them on our side..."
We watched as the Janissaries, unimpeded, proceeded to carry off what was left of the man's stock, leaving his stall completely bare. They disappeared through a wicket in the main gate.
"Feigning solidarity to push your own agenda? What gentlemen." Yusuf said with a hint of contempt.
Ezio shrugged. "It's not pretty, we know. But it will work, believe me."
Yusuf shrugged. "Whatever works. And I see no other way of effecting a break-in here."
I nodded. "There's a big enough crowd here, and the trader sure seems to be will-known. Let's go and do some politicking with the people."
For the next half hour and more, the three of us worked the crowd, hinting and persuading, cajoling and inspiring the ordinary working people around them, whom they found to be very open to the idea of putting an end to their oppression.
Basically, we were the doing what the media corporations like Fox News did that were back home in the States!
All we needed was for someone to get fired up. Once a sufficient number had gathered into a mob, Ezio addressed them.
The fruit trader stood by his side, defiant now. Yusuf and I, standing near the trader, had seen to it that most of the men and women had armed themselves in one way and another. The fruit trader held a huge curved pruning knife.
"Fight with us, brothers," Ezio declaimed. "And avenge this injustice. The Janissaries are above the law! Let's show them we won't stand for their tyranny."
"Yes!" Several voices roared.
"It makes me sick to see the kind of abuse they hand out, doesn't it you?" Ezio continued.
"Yes!"
"Will you fight with us?"
"Yes!"
"Then let's go!"
I rubbed my hands together, grinning at Yusuf, who returned the smile cautiously. "Who needs the Apple of Eden when we got Ezio? It's clobbering time!" (This phrase is the property of Phil Brooks, known as CM Punk)
By then, a detachment of armed Janissaries had come out from the Arsenal Gate, which was firmly closed behind them.
They took up positions in front of it, swords drawn, and faced the mobbed, who seemed fucking pissed!
Undaunted by the soldiers' show of strength, more like incensed by it, the growing crowd surged forward toward the gate.
Whenever a Janissary was rash enough to close with people in the front rank, he was overcome by the sheer weight of numbers and either hurled aside or crushed under advancing feet.
Soon afterward, the crowd was milling about at the gate itself, with the three of us barely enough command to direct our improvised strike force to batter it open.
Hundreds of voices shouted protests, insults, and threats at their oppressors, and I looked at Ezio. "That gate is going down, and soon!"
Yusuf looked at us grimly. "The people are doing you both a favor. Return it and keep them safe from harm."
As Yusuf spoke, two detachments of Janissary reinforcements bore down on the crowd in a pincer movement, having emerged from side gates in the north and south walls.
"This calls for close-quarters fighting." Ezio said to me, preparing his hook blade and hidden-blade.
"I knew there was a reason I woke up this morning!" I said, doing the same with my weapons, throwing myself into the fray with a Rebel Yell, Ezio and Yusuf beside me.
Encouraged by our skills, the men and women on each flank of the crowd turned bravely to face the Janissary counter-attack.
As for the Janissaries, they were taken aback by the strong resistance, and got their collective asses kicked, the gate crumbling soon afterwards.
Cheering, the people managed to hold the Janissaries in check as ferocious fighting broke out in the Arsenal's main quadrangle.
Through it all, Ezio and I slipped like two ghosts into the inner confines of fortress-like edifice.
"I love the smell of dead Templars in the morning!" I said, in tribute to Apocalypse Now, grinning at Ezio, who shook his head.
"Can you not be serious right now, the two of us being behind enemy lines as we are now?"
I smiled. "Aren't you the one who told me that it was better for a warrior to laugh than cry?"
Ezio had to admit that he had done so. "Besides, you wouldn't have me any other way."
Ezio grimaced as we made our way deeper and deeper within the western section of the Arsenal. "That sounded so wrong, Fratellino."
I smirked back at him. "You're going to have to hide your homosexual and incestuous fantasies from Sofia. You can't go breaking your heart so soon!"
Playfully punching each other, we made our way along the Arsenal, approaching our objective.
A battle had been fought and won, but I had a feeling that things were about to get even more interesting.
Sorry for taking so long, guys! I've actually started to write a novel or two, and writing fan-fiction for you guys, and working a full-time job, so my time is limited. Regardless, I really appreciate your support and taking time to read my fan fics, and I hope not to disappoint! Read and review, y'allz!
