Cearbhail:

A long chapter. 11 pages overall in my word doc. A lot going on inside. You'll see.

[Zorro]

Captain's log, Astrology date: Scorpio December 12th, 1189

It's been four days since the reported explosion in the castle grounds. Two white-robed people were reported on castle grounds and many guards reported seeing trained warriors taking down their brothers with little trouble. We ran into the Assassins down near the Lower Quarter but then something weird happened and we woke up back in our barracks with no markings indicating the fight that we had in the previous hour or two. The three of us traveled back to the Lower Quarter and looked for any signs of the intruders but found nothing but burnt down buildings. Wherever these white-robes are, I have concluded that they are not in the burnt sector of town. We should refocus or efforts on the outskirts of town, where the men that follow the Hood have been known to camp out. It's there that we'll find the missing Assassins.

Other recommendations that I will see to today: the refitting of the burnt sector of town renamed the Lower Quarter. I will suggest cleaning crews to help clean up the town, with construction crews moving in to rebuild burnt down houses. We have more people returning from the war and they need places to stay. I think it will benefit everyone in town to see that place rebuilt. Other than that, we just need to reinforce the castle so that what happened four days ago will not repeat any time soon. At any rate, my fellow officers have to meet up in the castle to go over our contracts and stuff.

Captain Vega.

…

"I was so close to having them…" I heard Ashley scowl as she slammed her hand down on the dining table. "They were right there…both of them. They were covered in white…I had them." Her eyes glared down at her breakfast plate filled with hotcakes and hash browns.

Ashley and I had started out our morning as we did every morning. The two of us met up for breakfast in the castle dining area, where we planned our daily activities. Of course, the past few days have been nothing but orientation and getting our guard captain room in order. The three of us: Jack Wilson, Ashley O'Collins, and myself shared a single room in the guard's barracks out in the west wing of the castle. Ashley and I got along just fine, but both of us rarely stuck around Jack alone. He still wanted our blood. He wanted to test himself against us as a team, but he seemed ok with joining with us to find the Assassins. I was the only one who knew where they were hiding, and I was trying my best to keep everyone away from the Lower Quarter.

"Those white bastards…" I heard a nearby guard say from further down the massive 20 plus seated table. "I will make them pay for killing my best friend."

I held my tongue as I looked up at Ashley. She looked confused for a second. "Wait…what are you talking about?"

The guard looked over at us like he just interrupted a conversation. "You said you almost had them. You hunted them four days ago, right? The bastards in white?"

She nodded. "Huh…I guess you could think I was talking about them. But…" She looked at me and then back over to him. "I was actually talking about the creampuffs. They were covered in white frosting. They looked so tasty…and Jack took both of them. That bastard." She puffed her face out and looked back down at her plate of hotcakes. "I always have two in the morning."

I looked down at my plate. I had one creampuff on my plate, and I really wanted to eat it, but I guess building a solid reputation with Ashley was more important than one little creamy goodness. I sighed as I picked the creampuff off my plate and placed it on hers. "There you go."

She looked up at me for a second, her eyes calculating but not nearly as harsh as they were during the tournament. "You sure? You understand what happens if you don't eat that creampuff.."

I nodded. "Yes…I don't have a sugar rush first thing in the morning."

She sighed with what appeared to be mock disappointment. "As long as you understand how your morning is going to be…" She picked up the creampuff and popped it in her mouth. "Oh well…" She said with her mouth full. "So…" She swallowed before releasing a food-gasmed groan. "That was so good." She croaked out before looking back at me. Her face started to reflect her normal seriousness. "So, what's the plan this morning?"

I shrugged. "I think we should check the marketplace for any signs of activity. It's Monday, and people usually like to get their morning fix of coffee. Good time for the pickpockets to be out looking for loose change." I only suggested it because I knew Malik and Hood would be out in the wilds today hunting boars and other animals for dinner for the next week or two. They had a lot of people to feed. Other than that, I knew that Red was on her way down to the docks to make amends. The rest of the coven that was involved in the destruction of the port was on their way down as well to help in whatever way they could. It was Vicky's idea, I heard. I'm glad Malik sends me little notes of the things he's planning to do. It makes it easier to keep guards away from his location on those days.

She nodded. "Not a bad idea, but we do have to meet with the King today. He finally has those contracts written up and ready for us to sign."

Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that. It took him four days to get his scribe and lawyer to figure out the best contracts to sign us into. Until then, we'd just been walking around and making sure our own room was in order, that our weapons and armor were maintained, and that the other guards were patrolling the city. Of course, we had to sit through two days of orientation and officer training. We had to learn how to wave to people and tell them to 'move along' and 'mind your own business.' Yeah, seriously, we had a class on that. Talk about overqualified for this job.

I scanned the massive dining room for any sign of Jack. I hadn't seen him since I'd gone to bed last night, not that I'm worried that he's either run away to join a circus or been killed by a guard. He just had that feeling of dread and impersonal hatred of everyone. He made me feel vulnerable all the time, and he made Ashley feel the same. We both tense up whenever he's around, and I think he's kind of like a wild dog in the sense that he can feel our fear and uses it as a weapon against us. I wonder how long the three of us can operate as a team before either I betray the group for my Assassin family or until Jack tries to kill us in our sleep.

I looked over at Ashley. She looked content as she chewed the rest of her hotcakes. She was the only innocent one in our group, and that was saying something. I was here to spy for the Assassins…and eventually I might have to wound her to let my friends escape. Jack was already a committed killer and he would kill either of us if it benefitted him. No matter what…either I or Jack will eventually try to kill her…but the kicker was that she trusted me. If I had to betray this group, it would probably hurt her more than if Jack did. To make matters worse, if I did betray the group, Jack might take that moment of utter shock to kill her before she could defend herself against him. I didn't really see a positive way to keep her out of the way, unless I got her to wound herself before any other confrontations occurred. I hated to think like this, but sometimes…the situation at hand needed to be analyzed and accepted for what it was.

Ashley caught me looking at her and she stopped chewing her food. Her eyes analyzed mine before she placed her fork down. "You seem to have very deepened eyes on me. Do you feel something amiss?"

I shook my head, tearing my eyes off her and back down to my own breakfast. "Nothing of the sort. Just admiring your lovely eyes."

She scoffed and returned to her hotcakes with a shake of her head. "Save it for the wenches; I wouldn't bed you if you and Jack were the last men on Earth."

We sat there for a few minutes as we finished up our breakfasts. The other guards came and went as they ate their food and then reported to their stations. I finished my breakfast first and I sat there in silence as I watched Ashley eat hers. I had three days to get to understand her, to know what kind of person she was. She was a fighter, pure and simple. Her entire family was of a strong royal line. They all were knights. Well, the men were at least. The women were the quiet supporters, except for one: her mother: Evelyn O'Collins. Her mother was the first woman to become a knight through a lot of adversity and being pushed around. She made a name for herself in York, I guess. But then some man killed her ten years ago, and ever since then Ashley had taken up her mother's armor and vowed to become a knight to honor her memory. She vowed to find the man that killed her mother in cold-blood. The man that slit her throat and pulled out her organs. Gee…I wonder who that could have been.

Speaking of the guy I couldn't imagine being innocent in our lives, Jack stormed into the dining area. His white cap was laden with blood and his sword looked fresh with it. Crap…he killed someone. I'd have to face him now and question him. As soon as I looked up at him, Ashley turned to look at him as well. When she noticed him, she pushed off the table. "Why is there blood in your cape?"

Jack paused. "A guard questioned my authority. I have the right to challenge any guard to a duel to the death. And I won. Serves him right, stepping on my foot like that."

Ashley growled but she held her tongue. Part of the orientation was about legal duels. He did have the right to challenge someone if they disrespected him in any way. I wondered if the guard actually hit his foot at all or if he just claimed the incident and then challenged the poor boy to the fight. Either way, I was pretty sure he'd challenge us whenever he felt the time was right.

I walked over to Ashley calmly as she glared at him. With a nudge my arm, she tore her eyes off him over to me. I nodded to her saying, "We have to get our orders from the King. Let's go."

She looked from me over to Jack. She finally scowled back but took the first step towards the exit. "Fine, let's get this over with." She looked over her shoulder over to Jack. "You understand the three of us will be a team from this point on, correct?"

He nodded. "Yes, of course." He purred.

"And if you show any dishonor to anyone, it will by our team that will reflect that dishonor. If you do anything to ruin the honor I've worked up to…if you do anything to take my sword away from me…I will kill you where you stand." Ashley held a gaze with him before she stormed out of the room.

I looked over at Jack, nodding. "And if she fights you…I will fight alongside her."

He chuckled as he walked up to me. "I sure feel the love this morning." He walked past me towards the exit. "But…" He paused. When Ashley left the room completely, he held a look at me for a second. He scanned the room for a second before nodding. I noted that no one else was in the room with us. If he decided to fight me, while I had no weapon on me, he would kill me in seconds and then he'd be able to justify it later as an honor-bound duel. "I think I can take an Assassin trainee in a fair fight. You haven't been trained enough to match my prowess…and neither has your Master." He smirked as he turned around and stalked out of the room. "Do not interfere with my mission…and I will not interfere with yours." He said calmly as he walked out of the room.

I stood there for a minute trying to figure out what had just happened. Obviously, Jack knew I was an Assassin…and he knew about Master Ishtar too. But there was something I didn't quite understand. Did he say he was on a mission? Just what was he besides a cold-hearted killer?

I sighed as I shook off the feeling. I followed after Jack and Ashley. The hallways were filled with guards patrolling the castle. Alert was still pretty high since a wing of the castle was lit on fire not even a week ago. We were trying our best to keep it from happening again. I was the only one that knew that Master Ishtar wouldn't be invading for a while. He was sitting on the information I gave to him about the witches living in the dungeon. No one had any idea of what to do with it though. He wanted to go in and free them, but he knew that freeing them would result in more violence. And after what happened to the Lower Quarter, Master Ishtar was reluctant to do anything that would cause more trouble.

I walked in silence until I ended up outside the throne room. Ashley and Jack stood there waiting for me. With a nod of my head, the three of us walked into the room where the King waited for us. The King waited for us in his throne. When we approached, he nodded. "Welcome, welcome. It's time for you to sign in as my Elite Knight Captains." He stood up from his throne and walked over to us. With a snap of his fingers, a crew of paper pushers charged into the room with a stack of forms. "Now, we will discuss uniforms and requirements."

"Requirements?" Jack echoed. "What 'requirements' do you mean?"

King John looked at me. "First off…Diego Vega, you are required to lose or take off your shirt in the presence of my peasants when it comes time for a fight. They really liked seeing you shirtless so I will give my people what they want…and what they want is perfect Spanish abs." He looked from me over to Ashley. "And you, Miss O'Collins…are stirring up quite a following of women wanting to become more active members of the town. I like that, so do whatever you can to make yourself a more public figure. Stand up for the little man, fight for women rights…stuff like that."

She scoffed and crossed her arms. "I'm being ordered to do that? I would do that anyway."

"Perfect…just keep acting like that." He replied and then looked over at Jack. "You…you need a mask. Something wicked. I know…" He pulled up a white opera mask. "Here, put this on. You will inspire fear in anyone that would rise up against me. You will be my Inquisitor. If anyone in town needs silenced…I expect you to handle it for me."

Jack laughed as he slipped the mask over his face. "Oh…I love this assignment already."

I sighed as a paper pusher walked up and tore my shirt off. Ok…it was the middle of December…and my shirt was just taken from me. Why am I the only one that's being punished by being amazingly attractive? I guess it's just my burden to carry, the burden of an amazing body and face.

…

[Red]

You know, I hadn't actually taken time to see how the port was doing. I didn't see exactly how much work was being put into in and just coming down to see it was something else. It was pretty cold out, cold enough that I had to double layer up and wear an enchanted robe that kept me warm. There was a small layer of snow, maybe ankle deep. It was lightly snowing and with the long frozen river by the port town, the small rebuilding town looked beautiful in the coat of shimmering white.

"Wow…look at this place." Lucy said from beside me. "It's so…just beautiful." She raced past me down towards the town.

Mary and Muffet were behind me. "It's just too cold out here for us." Muffet said as she rubbed her arms underneath her cloak. "This thing is just not helping me out."

"I enchanted it personally." Vicky said from my right. "It will keep you warm if you actually focus on using its power." She looked up at me thoughtfully. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Was I sure? Yes, I'm sure I was. "It really is our fault…and a lot of people died because of it. And then these slaves had to be brought in to fix what we destroyed. We should be offering to help."

"And if they try to place us in the stocks?" Jill asked from beside her brother.

"Then I put everyone to sleep, erase their memories, and we go home." Vicky announced. "We have nothing to really worry about other than a little name-calling." She looked from Jill over to Brian, who stood right next to her. I was amazed she even let him come with us. He was doing pretty well considering his had one arm wrapped up in a sling. His other arm was being used to drag a cart filled with various healing herbs and cloaks much like ours.

"What?" He asked as he looked at her.

She growled but looked away. "Nothing, just a bad dream I had." She pushed through the snow as she walked up to me. She was dressed in white robes and a normal looking pointy witch hat that was also white. She looked just like a little witch in every detail. In fact, we all were dressed up in our robes today and half of us were wearing our traditional hats too. I was the weird one wearing my red hood. Vicky wanted to make a statement that we were back and that we were here to stay. "I may be the Mother Goose of this family, but I want you to do the talking, Little Red."

I nodded. "Part of my Assassin training then?"

She nodded. "Yes, these orders were from Malik himself. He wants to make us look better in the eyes of the town. So…we're going to go out and do things like fix wounds and cure illnesses. We're here to offer support in any way we can. If we build enough good faith with the town…getting our sisters and brothers out of the dungeon in the castle will be easier."

"Why not just take them and wipe the guards' memories?" I looked back at her.

She scowled and looked away. "Our family has been there too long…and wiping that much memory away from the guards and King can have negative effects on the mind. Not sure if they'd become vegetables or mentally unstable, but I'd rather save that as the last resort if I could." She shrugged. "So, we're being diplomatic about it. We need to change the way people think of us. And this is a great way to start. I actually agree with the oaf on this matter."

I nodded. "Ok…stay behind me everyone, and keep her hands on your wands in case it comes to some sort of confrontation."

Vicky scoffed at the idea. "Please. If I even sense a threat to us, I will teleport us back home and erase everyone's minds of the whole event."

I guess that was one way to keep us safe. Could she really do that? I looked down at her. "Is that really even possible? Teleport everyone away and erase their memories?"

Vicky only looked up at me, arching a single eyebrow, and then started walking towards the port town. She stopped several steps later. "I did it four days ago, Red. Your date was ending on bad terms and I wanted it to be better, so I took us all home. However…your boyfriend wasn't affected by my mind wipe." She looked back at me. "He remembers the whole event. You should talk to him about it sometime. You might learn something about what he's capable of. He's not a normal person. He might be one of us."

I stood there for a few seconds just looking at her. After the few seconds we looked at each other, she seemed to think that our gazing contest was completed. She turned around and started back down to the town. I let myself release a building breath and looked down to the port. I could see the slaves already out and about. Some were carrying a large beam of wood; some were using a wheelbarrow to transport bricks through the snow. Half of the buildings looked a lot better, some were already done. The giant ship we crashed was reduced to a skeleton. Well, at least Wolfe wouldn't be using that ship to take my sisters out of England anymore.

I started following behind Vicky as we walked into the town. Some of the slaves and guardsmen stopped what they were doing to watch us march into the town. They looked confused to what as to why we were suddenly coming down to their town. The guardsmen looked more apprehensive towards us when they noticed half of us were dressed in traditional robes and hates, well the winter set at least. We have a set for each season. The white robes were set aside for winter. The only one among us not wearing all white was Lucy, who tried to incorporate some sort of gothic dressy appearance with her pure white robe.

One of the slaves got a look at Lucy and his eyes widened in fear. He dropped his wheelbarrow and grasped for his neck. Was he choking? He continued to fiddle with his neck long enough that I thought he was dying or something. Then, his hand seemed to find a whistle. He didn't pause as he brought up to his lips and blew loudly into it. Everyone nearby, us included, covered our ears as he blew into the whistle for a whole count of ten seconds.

"What's going on?" Jack asked from somewhere behind me.

I shook my head. I didn't know. The slave continued to blow on his whistle until several guardsmen ran up to him. When they saw Lucy, they drew their swords and took up a defensive wall around the slave. They were silent as they stood there, their eyes glaring back at Lucy.

Vicky only shrugged and looked at me. "Well…this is a great way to start."

"What's going on out there?" I heard a guardsman say from inside the tavern to our left. Heavy footsteps pounded on the floor and the door slowly swung open. A knight stood in the doorway. He was dressed in some impressive armor and looked like one of the leaders here. When he looked at us his eyes shot up. "Ok…wow." He pushed out through the doorway and started coming down towards us. His hand rested on the pommel of his sword. "What do we have here?" He said amusingly as he looked from me to Vicky and then to the others with us.

The slave that blew on his whistle pointed to Lucy. "Sir…a mime!"

The knight paused in his tracks. He looked over at Lucy. It took him maybe a whole second or two to break out into a laugh and then looked at the slave. "Frankie…there's no such thing as mimes. They're a fairytale."

"But-but…she-she's wearing black and white. And she looks like nothing I've ever seen in this lifetime." The slave sounded like he could barely hold his voice.

The knight sighed. He looked at Lucy, bowing his head apologetically. Then he brought his head back up and then looked at everyone. A smirk formed on his lips. "No…this is no mime. This is something real, something tangible. Something dangerous." He yelled to everyone. He waved to Lucy and then to the rest of us. "What we have here, are witches. The vile slime that destroyed our port town with the ship we scuttled. In fact, you could say they're the reason you're all here and not home with your families." He said that directly to the slaves in the town.

Vicky shook her head and grunted disgustingly. "I don't think this will go well." She mumbled to me.

In the commotion I saw Olin run up to look at me. He looked confused, happy, and scared at the same second. When he looked from me over to the knight, his expression softened. He had to know who the knight was, and it seemed like he respected the guy. Maybe this could be salvaged. If Olin seemed to like this guy, he couldn't be too bad. I pulled my hood down. My hair had been dyed back to my natural red. I was back to being Red and not Isabella, which was my birth name. I stepped towards the knight.

I looked carefully into his eyes. He snapped his eyes to me, but I didn't see any sign of malice intent. His hand rested on the pummel of his sword, but that looked more like a resting posture than a threatening one. "Sir Knight, I am Little Red of the Nottingham Coven. My sisters and brothers and I are here today to help in any way we can with the reconstruction of this town."

The knight looked at me for a whole second before scrunching up his face. He nodded lightly to himself like he understood the situation. "Ah…so…you're Red." He reached out and pinched my cheeks. "My little Olin has a cutie as a girlfriend." He released my cheek and turned to look at Olin. "Olin! Why didn't you tell me your girlfriend was coming down here?"

He shrugged. "I didn't know."

"Did you know she was a witch?" He asked as politely as I could expect someone to when talking about witches.

He shrugged. "Kinda, yeah." What? He knew? I didn't do anything that would have told him anything of the sort.

Vicky snorted when she saw the confusion in my expression. I looked down at her and a smile broke out on her face. "Remember when I told you your date wasn't going so good so I erased everyone's memory? Well…I also said it didn't work on Olin." Oh…so… that would mean that he had known for a while the type of person I was. Well…that saves me from having to explain it later.

The knight looked down at Vicky and then at me. "Which of you is the leader of your coven?"

I looked down at Vicky, but the way she looked up at me told me that she wanted me to say that I was the leader. I shrugged. "I guess I'm the leader of the coven. Although the tiny girl is the strongest among us."

The knight nodded. "Ok." He pinched my cheeks again, and this time it hurt a little. Not because he pinched too hard or something, but my face was growing gold from the bitter sting of the winter air. When he was done pinching me, he nodded his head politely. "I am always happy to have all the help I can get. The winter is slowing down our construction efforts and since the beams of wood are slippery, we already have a lot of wounded that can't walk."

Mary and Jill raised their hands. "We can help heal them." Jill said excitedly.

The knight nodded. "If you wouldn't mind." He replied happily. He turned to look at the whistleblower. "Frankie here will show you to where we're keeping them." Frankie looked less frightened now that he knew none of us were mimes. He nodded and waved to the two girls to follow him. Mary and Jill quickly followed behind the slave as he led them through the snow over to the medical building near the middle of the construction site.

"We come bearing gifts." Vicky said and turned to face Brian. She gestured to the large cart that Brian had been dragging with him. "In this cart you will find robes that are enchanted with several useful enchantments. The robes are designed to keep you warm even in the coldest of blizzards, as well protect one from falling off a building. They slow down your descent so that you barely feel it when you finally hit the ground. The gloves protect the hands from blisters, and the herbs help replenish the muscles after a long day of carrying beams of wood and hammering things down."

The knight nodded. "We much appreciate it." He waved to everyone that had gathered around. "Well, you heard them. Grab a robe, some gloves, and chew some magical herbs." People pretty much stood there for a few seconds before Olin walked up to us. He looked at me, smiled, and then walked up to the cart filled with the stuff. He grabbed a red robe, threw it over his work clothes; grabbed a pair of gloves and threw them on as well; and then he helped himself to a handful of our healing herbs. He nodded in delight as he chewed on them, raising his arm in what I assumed was his way of giving a thumbs up.

Some people cheered for him as he stepped away from the cart. They seemed excited now and they stormed the cart, everyone grabbing something. I was still watching Olin as he walked back over to me. He paused for a second but then he threw an arm around me and pulled me close. In the second of Olin's confusion of what to do next, I leaned up to him and kissed him on the cheek.

The knight that had been rather quite accepting of us awed at Olin and me. I looked up at him. He had a smile of pure pleasure on his face. He reached up to his eyes to wipe away a fake tear. "You kids are so cute together. I…" He stepped away. "I can't watch this any longer. I might cry." He laughed as he returned back to the tavern. He stopped inches away from the doorway and then turned to face me. "Oh yeah. You're welcome to assist in any way you feel that you can. If you have any questions or suggestions, you may find me inside this tavern. My name is Eric Johnson." He nodded one more time before retreating inside.

Olin kissed me on my cheek while I was still looking at Eric. It half made me jump in surprise. I turned back to him, wrapping my arms around him. "Hi." I said to him.

"It's nice to see you." He replied. He looked around. "I can't say I was expecting you to come down here…but it's nice to have you here."

"Well, you know. We felt it was time to help out." It also helped that my boyfriend was down here working every day like a dog. Especially in this bitter cold.

We stood like that for a few seconds but then our lips touched. We were about to start making out, but Vicky rushed between the two of us and pushed us apart. "No." She cried, looking from Olin over to me. She puffed her face and then crossed her arms in a pout. "We're not here to make out; we're here to help rebuild this town." She turned around. "Red, you come with me to help Mary and Jill in the medical building."

I smirked as I replied slightly cattily. "I thought I was the leader of this coven."

Her face blushed over for a second before sighing. "Ok, fine." She looked away. "What do you request of me…Mother?"

Mother? I never thought I'd hear those words before. I couldn't help but laugh as I doubled over. "Mother? Please, I'm no Mother." I waved the idea off. "I was just joking, Vicky. You're definitely the leader of this coven."

She smirked up at me, shaking her head. "No, I was serious. You're the Mother of the Nottingham Coven. I talked to mommy back in York last night. She likes the idea. You're the new Mother." What? I'm really the new leader? "And my job is to help guide you and teach you the forbidden stuff so that you can become a great witch…just like me." She replied happily and pointed to herself with a wide childish grin.

I sighed as I looked over to Olin. "We'll chat later." And by chat I meant make out. "I have people to go heal."

He nodded back to me. "Ok. See you later then?"

"Tonight." I replied back.

Cearbhail:

Wow, so we have some character building, and Red's the new Mother of Nottingham. I wonder how many people saw that coming? And now we know that Jack knows about the Assassins. I wonder how that will play out. Hmm... I really don't know yet.