Cearbhail:

It's been a while, right? Yeah, and I got really stuck on this chapter. Not even sure what I wanted from it. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

[Zorro]

Dearest Mother and younger sister,

I have confessed to my crime to the King of Nottingham. He forced me to join the tournament at a punishment. If I lose, he will kill me; if I win he will make me a knight in his service. I must not fail in my quest. I have to make everyone in my path yield. I will not kill for the pleasure of the people. My sword is sharp but if it can be helped, I will not kill with it. I will not repeat what happened the night the bandits raided our village. I know all too well what happens when one takes a life needlessly. You have my word on my honor.

I found out something. Red, a girl that I met the day I saved her coven on the ship…she had some friends that were missing. They're actually under the castle. I told her about it and that sent both Malik and Laila off to go find them. What they will do with the prisoners, I do not yet know, but I guess it's up to them now. I have to win my next bout. Luckily, I get to watch my opponent fight their match first.

With much love,

Diego Vega.

…

The tournament was going smoothly. I won my first match with barely an effort. I had been forced to train with the rapier ever since I was a young lad; my father was the Lord of Vega, our town in Spain. I was something of a prince, so he thought it best if I trained in the sword to protect myself if something were to happen to him. I was forced to train every day, but I never really took a liking to it. I never fully understood the responsibility of what it meant to hold a sword; to hold something that could cause death in my hands. A tool to kill is a tool to kill; it cannot be anything else. That's what I had believed at the time.

The day came when an opposing Lord of a nearby militia challenged my father for ownership of his lordship and all the land and people it contained. My father denied him the challenge, but the lord would not take 'no' for an answer. He raided our village a few nights after his challenge was denied. I remember looking from my bedroom window done at the village. Smoke filled the sky as buildings burned. I saw armored soldiers walking through the street for our mansion. I grabbed my rapier and jumped out the window, which was ok because there was a ledge right outside. It was my emergency escape route. I wasn't running away, though. I was going to take them by surprise.

"There's the son!" One of the guards said.

"Take him alive as leverage." The Lord called. Arrows snapped all around me, slamming into the wall all around me. I was on a small ledge so it wasn't like I could just go around them. I tried to pull them out, but they were pretty stuck. And guards waited all around for me to climb down. I turned and started grabbing onto the arrows. I used them to push myself up to where I could grab the ceiling. I climbed up to the ceiling of our mansion. I ran across the rooftop, hoping to get to the courtyard before anyone else died.

"Lord Vega! I have come to challenge you to a duel. If you value the lives of your family, your friends, you will accept the challenge."

I ran across the rooftop as I heard my father open up the door. "I suppose I have no choice but to accept. What are your terms?"

"If I win, you will forfeit your fortunes and your Lordship to me, and I will rule your land." The Lord shouted for everyone to hear.

"If I win, you must leave our land and never harm another one of my family ever again." My father called from the doorway, grabbing a saber. I could see him from the ceiling where I was standing. He was standing in the middle of the courtyard. He brought his saber up, aiming it right at the lord. The lord brought up a massive claymore; he was dressed in full armor that glowed golden with gems everywhere. My father was dressed in his pajamas. He didn't look very worried, and I knew there was no reason for him to be.

The lord ran up to my father, taking his first slash. My dad side-stepped it, bringing the flat of his blade down on the lord's hand. "Your stance is sloppy, your sword too big to control." He grunted as the lord took another swing. My father rolled underneath the claymore's blade, slashing his saber against the lord's armor. He found a small spot where the armor didn't cover and slid his sword right through it. That's when the fight ended. My father hadn't slid the saber in more than an inch. "You have lost, Lord Ruiz." He pulled his saber out and stepped away from the fallen lord. "Now, leave and never return."

The Lord didn't look pleased by his loss and this was when I learned the truth about honor. The Lord pushed himself onto his feet and picked up his claymore. He turned to face my father. He didn't say anything over the scream as he brought his sword down on my dad. My father stepped off to the side and let the claymore cleave the stonework pavement where he was standing. Dad brought his saber up the Lord's head. As the claymore came down, the Lord started to bend to pick it up. My dad's sword passed right through it without any movement on his past. A second later, there was a headless lord staining our garden. The armies departed without another word. We had several retaliations from the rest of the royal family. I had tested my blade against several of their warriors and learned from my dad that the sword may be a tool of death, but it was used to protect our family.

Looking at the knights in the tournament; all I could see was that Lord. His armor, his giant claymore…his disgrace. I wouldn't lose to any of them. The next match was starting up, and I could see a woman, the only one in the whole tournament, up against a man. She had a shield and a one-handed longsword. When the two of them met in battle, she bowed to him, raising her sword as a salute before running up to him. The opposing knight took a swing, but she nimbly spun in the air, catching the attack with her shield. She spun herself around, bringing her blade up in a thrust. It nailed him in the shoulder and he stumbled back. She quickly kicked him and he went down. She stepped up on top of him, placing her sword's tip down on his throat. He yielded. "The winner is Ashley O'Collins."

Aside from that, there was one man like myself. He carried two sickles as his weapons; two handheld curved cutting tools. He seemed to have no reservations on killing. When his match started, he began by running right through a slash, bringing his metallic armguard up to catch the attack. He sprinted right past the attack, taking his two sickles into the man's armor. He brought up his knee, hammering him right in the chest, pushing himself up into the air, still holding onto his sickles in the man's chest plate. He spun over top of him, pulling him down as he flipped over his head. When they crashed, he brought out his sickles and brought them right outside the man's throat. He yielded, but he still pulled them across his throat. "The winner is Jack Wilson." I looked at the gentleman with the white cloak. He looked so sinister; I couldn't help but feel that he was the one I needed to look out for. I was sure this man wasn't the first one he'd try to kill.

The only other person I had to be careful with was Ashley O'Collins. She looked ferocious. She didn't look like any lady I'd ever seen before. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a braid and she had these really stern eyes, like they were scanning everyone for a fault in their defense that she could exploit. It wouldn't surprise me if she knew how to beat me already. She took a quick glance at me, glaring at me as she scanned my body. She grunted to herself, smirking and pulled out a sharpening stone. She turned to her sword and started sharpening it.

I was called into my next match. It was against some random knight that had served in the crusade and had come home. He was hoping to earn the prize money to build himself a better house. He had seen my first round and he knew what to expect. When we entered the ring, the tournament master introduced us and someone hit a gong. The knight was so foolish to charge in like the last one. He didn't carry a large sword either. He had a longsword and a shield, like that Ashley girl that had worried me. I looked over to see her watching me intently as she leaned against the railing. She only shook her head, and I swear I could hear her thinking, Taking your eyes off your enemy is foolish.

I snapped my head around to see the knight had taken the time to come up to me. He thrusted with his blade and I snapped my blade, catching his attack and warding it away from me. I stepped away from his attack, but with how he had thrown it at me, I couldn't get him to expose his armor's weakness. I took a step back and took a good look at his armor. It wasn't some hand-me-down armor like the person I fought before. This armor was well tended to. I couldn't see any exposing points I could exploit. I guess it was time for grace and agility to take over. I lunged forward, bringing my blade up. I ran my tip into the man's soft spot in his sword arm's elbow. He flinched away just in time to make me miss my lunge. My tip scraped across his forearm plate. And as that was happening he was slashing at me with his sword, while trying to bash me with his shield.

I jumped back, missing a slash on my arm by just enough. He slashed my sleeve on my shirt open, and I saw some blood stain his blade. I could feel the light rip of my skin, like it had been irritated. He might have got me in a shallow cut then. But he paused after his attack, and by then my sword had found a spot in his elbow's soft spot. I poked him and he jumped back, dropping his sword in the process. I ran up to him, sprinting behind him. He spun to bash me with his shield. I quickly ran back towards him, rolling underneath his shield. Before he could whip around and correct his earlier turn, I had already brought my saber up to his throat. When he turned to find me, he brought up his arms in defeat. "I yield." He announced loudly enough for the announcer to call the match.

I glanced over at Ashley. She tapped on the railing she was leaning against, pushed off it, and glared at me long enough to tell me she knew how to defeat me. I looked over at Jack to see that he was smirking to himself. He knew he could beat me too. I wondered if I was going to survive this tournament after all.

…

[Malik]

Since the tournament was underway, the castle's security was lax. The king wasn't even here, but at the tournament. If anyone was going to attack him, it would be there. So, it was easy for my sister and me to infiltrate the castle. We both came in on opposite sides; right after guards had passed by some windows. I remember resting on the second floor window in a blind spot right underneath the window where no one could see me. Once a guard passed by, I rolled right through the window and hid behind a potted plant. I paused to look at the knight to see if I caused any sounds that would draw his attention. He continued his walk like nothing had happened at all. I scanned for anyone behind me. I didn't see anyone. Most likely everyone was at the tournament except for a few maids and a couple knights patrolling the grounds. Even less inside the castle. I tailed the one knight, sure that if I stayed behind him there would be less chance I would run into anyone else behind me. Well, there was a chance he'd lead me to somewhere where I could find out where the witches were. But still, it would be better to be completely out of sight than to depend on dumb luck.

As we got closer to the end of the hallway, I saw my way to disappear. Right above me was a giant support structure for the ceiling. It was so high up that no one would find me unless they were purposefully looking up at the ceiling for some odd reason. I ran straight up the wall, grabbing on anything I could grab. I pulled myself up the wall without so much as a sound. The guard I was tailing didn't seem to take notice until I reached the ceiling. Right as soon as I set my foot down, he turned around and scanned the hallway for something. He turned around and continued his rounds. I stepped carefully on a support beam wide enough for me to glide across. There were some convenient beams for me to rest myself up on while I continued following the guard. I was lucky the designers of this castle made it so easy for me to get up here and follow one guard around. Of course, these were originally constructed so that maintenance on the castle could be easier. I guess builders would need to be able to reach up here, but if they climbed like I did…that wouldn't be so hard. I looked back down at the guard. He would stop every once in a while and look behind him to see if he was being tailed. I hate tailing missions so damn much, but not as much as I hate eavesdropping. But I didn't know where the dungeon was so…I needed to find out. I'm sure I'd have to overhear some conversation at some time to find out.

The very guard I was gliding above of stopped by a maid walking with some stew on a cart. "Is that going down to the dungeon?" Go figure, an eavesdropping mission. I focused my Sight on my ears and started Listening. Their voices became loud and clear to me as they started talking.

The maid nodded. "Yes. It's lunchtime for the witches." Witches, huh? I bet they were the same ones my sister and I were chasing after. I would have been more than glad to kill some knights to get down to the dungeon but I wasn't even really sure what I planned to do yet. I was ordered to do something assassins never do…don't kill the king. I was just supposed to mess with him and disrupt some supply runs. If I went around and killed more guards and knights…the king would get pissed and more people would suffer for it. As a result of my actions, half the town had been burned to the ground and a bunch of innocent people had been killed. I was quickly learning that in order to do my job I had to walk on eggshells with every action I took. At least until I got the word that I could do my actual job.

So, I waited until the knight took his leave. The maid started taking off with the cart and I set off following her. I looked around, hoping to see my sister. I could feel her presence nearby so I closed my eyes, focusing on my Sight. When I opened my eyes, I could see my sister's aura as a blue figure outlining her features. She was clinging to a wall right beside me, right out of sight of everyone nearby. She seemed to be following the cart with the maid as well. Good, we were on the same page then. I kept my Sight on as I carefully glided across the beams as I followed the maid. It was hard to see the beams as they became slightly transparent, but at least the maid glowed with a golden hue that I couldn't mistake or even lose for a second, even if I wanted to. I had to be careful though. If she left my peripherals for even 20 seconds…I doubt I'd be able to find her again. It finally got to the point where she was taking the food down a ramp designed for carts. I bet that led to the dungeon. I looked around for any sign of any guards. I didn't see any.

I hopped down from the beam, carefully landing as silently as possible. I checked for any guards at all. There were a couple leaning against a wall on the other side of the hallway, but they didn't seem concerned enough to look over at me. They were complaining about stables duty. I waved my sister in and she climbed through the window, hopping down to join me. She had her hood up and she nodded to me. "What are your orders, brother?"

"Shadow me from above and watch for any surprises. If you see any guards that might corner me down there, as in…coming down that ramp…" I pointed to it. "find a way to get rid of them without killing. Knock them out if you have to. But a distraction like an explosion from the other side of the hallway would be better." I said to her. She nodded and ran up the wall beside us. I watched as she climbed the wall effortlessly. She morphed into the shadows and I couldn't really see her. I started walking down the ramp, keeping my ears open for any sounds of footsteps or rolling wheels. I didn't hear any so I kept going down as silently as possible.

I don't know how far I had gone down the spiral ramp, but it felt like a good minute of walking. It was a good thing there was only one place this emptied out. I had passed my 20 second rule for tailing and I was sure that I had lost her. As I got towards the bottom of the ramp, I heard some voices. "I'm here to give the witches their meal." That was the voice of the maid I was following. From what I was hearing, she sounded like she was maybe 30 feet away. That was a good sign.

"That's fine." I heard a guard call out. I poked my head out a massive row of cells. They were dingy cells made up of iron bars that ran vertically from the ceiling to the ground with a barred door. I had never seen cells like these ones before. Our cells were a massive pit you throw someone down. Towards the middle of the hallway filled with cells, the maid stood by a heavily armored door with a single guard checking her supply of food for weapons. When he cleared her, she walked through the heavily fortified steel doorway when the guard opened it up. He closed it behind her. I took a closer look at the guard. He was a heavily-armored knight adorned in weapons. He didn't look weak, but he looked bored and perhaps distracted. If I had a flashbang I was sure that I could overcome him without killing him. I could free the witches and we'd leave before anyone knew any better. There was no way I would be able to sneak past him and see the witches without drawing some sort of attention from him though.

Before I acted on my plan of action, I had to really think about what I was going to do. I didn't know anything yet. The reason they were locked up to start with. The King didn't seem like an idiot. If I busted out his witches, he'd only get angry and retaliate. We'd have to retreat again. For now, I guess I should just take this for what it was and tell Mother Goose I found her sisters. If she wished for me to free them then I'd come back and do so. And there was something else I didn't know…why King John had them in the first place. I remember something about the exploding bolts. I was beginning to wonder if this is how King John was getting his weapons.

The heavily-armored door opened up and the maid came wheeling out with her cart. She bowed to the knight wished him a fair day and then turned to come back up the ramp. I was suddenly stricken with the fact that…I couldn't stand here any longer. She'd find me, scream, and then it would lead to an ambush right here on a narrow ramp. I fell back, going back up the stairs. Now we knew where the witches were at least. That was a start. If I ever needed to come back, I knew where they were being kept. I turned to scurry up the ramp, but I heard a loud explosion that shook the ground underneath me. I rolled my eyes as the alarm started sounding, loud bells saying that someone had infiltrated the castle. I turned and ran up the ramp to see my sister standing her ground against several stunned knights that were starting to stand up from the ground.

I hurried as I grabbed a broom sitting against the wall. It was the only weapon I had on me except my hidden blade. I snapped the broom part off, giving me a staff to work with. I ran up to my sister, putting my back to hers. "What did you do?"

"These knights were on their way down the ramp. I distracted them." She replied.

I watched as several other knights were running to join us. We were at four right now, but with eight more coming in to join us, I was sure it was going to become bloody soon enough. "No blood; no killing. Immobilize them."

"Right." She said as she jumped into the air, landing on two fallen knights. She crushed them between the legs and they curled up, screaming high-pitched in their helmets. She pulled out her non-lethal weapon that she always carried with her. It was a straight baton with a small handle connected on the side. She called it a nightstick, but I'd seen those before when I was up near the giant-ass wall. They called it a tonfa but…whatever. She ran up to four more knights and started tossing flashbangs and then knocking them in the head while they were blinded and deafened. How she escaped without damage was beyond me.

I turned my attention to the two downed knights that were starting to stand up. I whipped my staff around, knocking them both in the helmet. It was enough to get them back on the ground. I stomped their faces and kicked them in the ribs a couple times and they passed out…or died. I'm not really sure. They were tossing and turning like I broke a rib or two so that was something. I turned my attention to the four upcoming knights. I twirled my new toy around and waved for them to come at me. Just like with training; never attack first. They attack, I catch their attack, I finish them.

The four knights tried to surround me and I let them. I felt one from behind begin setting up for a slash. I brought my staff behind me, catching his attack. I felt a slight pause as I contemplated what I should do. Should I loosen his stance to make him fall; redirect his body into someone else and put them both on the ground; or should I just counter-attack and send him to the ground? I decided for loosening his stance. I had a split second when I parried the attack off that I was able to whip my staff under his front foot. He went straight down and I turned to face the other knights. Before the downed one could get back up, I kicked him in the head and he stopped moving.

A knight in front of me screamed and rushed me. I caught his slash and immediately trapped his arm. I folded my arms around his and pulled. His elbow snapped and he fell on his knees. I spun my staff around and cracked him in the back of the neck. He went down and I took this opportunity to take on one of his stunned buddies. I lunged forward, slamming one in the throat with the rounded end of the broomstick. He gurgled but fell on his butt. I quickly turned around and swept the last one off his feet. I finished him with a kick to the head, leaving me with just the one knight. And he was still getting up, grabbing his throat like I crushed his Adam's apple.

He turned to finish me off, but there was an explosion of pure hot fire right beside him. He cried out in pain as half his body lit on fire. I thought something weird had happened until more explosions started forming all around me. Fire was bursting out of nowhere and I looked up. More knights had formed up in the hallways, crossbows aimed at us with those red bolts I loved so much. They were aiming at us, preparing to fire.

"Sister!" I screamed to her. "Time to run! You go first."

"Don't need to tell me twice." She announced and sprinted for the nearest window. The knights all launched their bolts at her. They missed, but barely just. Sections of the floor all around my sister exploded into fire but she dived through the window without any trouble or fire on her robes. I turned to run for the window but several bolts beat me too it. The window exploded into fire and falling rubble. They were actually blowing up the castle to get me stuck. I would have still jumped through the fallen debris but it was flaming so hot that I knew I wouldn't survive it. And with nothing but flames behind me, I had no choice but straight for one group of knights and hope I survived a volley of bolts. "Brother, left side. I'll cover you!" She called from outside the window. I had to trust her. So I sprinted for the knights in the left corridor. More bolts launched and I rolled forward, hoping that I didn't get hit. Luckily it was the floor behind me that exploded and not me. I rolled up on my feet and was nearly 37 feet away. Ok sis…if you're going to do anything…

I watched as a flashbang flew through the window, landing right at the feet of the archers. It went off with a blinding explosion, but I covered my eyes at the right second. When I opened them, there was a slight distortion but I could still see; the other knights couldn't. I brought up my broomstick and knocked one right in the face, grabbing his crossbow and his tiny quiver of exploding bolts as I ran past his downed body. I loaded a bolt and aimed at the group. I launched one at the center of the hallway. It exploded into a wide flame that was more than capable of covering my retreat. I jumped through the window right before I heard another patrol pass by. I hid underneath the window with my sister. We both dangled on the second floor again, nothing but a straight fall underneath us.

She looked down and nodded. "Bushes underneath us. We can hide and escape." She let go of her holding spot and free-fell to the ground, landing silently.

I sighed as I let go and let myself fall. I landed just as quietly and the two of us climbed in a bush and waited for the storm to pass. Surely they wouldn't notice two white-clad assassins sitting in a bush made up of green plants. Patrols of running knight passed us by and we slowly made our way for the exit. When we got there, we saw that it was on full lock-down. Knights were covering every inch of the courtyard, and even had pulled up the drawbridge leading to the town. Great…now what?

We started going back, looking for a back way out of the castle. There was just some really weird man-made river canal leading out to the river, with some small personal rowboat as transportation. There were no guards back here, it was completely unguarded. My sister turned to look at me. "Should we take this boat out of here?"

A boat? An assassin…in a boat? That just seemed wrong…so wrong…on so many levels. "Next thing you know we'll be sailing ships and fighting Templars in the ocean." I shook my head and sighed. "But…if it means a quick escape then by all means, let's use this…indefensible piece of board wood to escape." This was a horrible idea. Assassins weren't made to be on water. Nothing good could come from this.

Cearbhail:

Next chapter should get interesting. The tournament will continue, the King will get something...we'll find out. Anyway, hope to continue soon.