Cearbhail:

Hello, everyone. Happy Thanksgiving, I guess. Not one of my favorite holidays but I guess I shouldn't get too picky about which holidays I wish happy thoughts for. At any rate, here's a new chapter. Setting up for a new min-arc. Enjoy.

[Malik]

Dear Journal,

From what I know about this country, the current date here is December 12th, 1189. How odd, but I guess they need to keep track of time just as our people do. At any rate, the events of last week have blown over. The town is still on enough of an alert that they are looking for anyone that resembles someone like me. So…I've ditched my white robes for the time being and dressed up like one of Hood's merry men. My sister is continuing her career as a clothes designer. People are finally starting to warm up to wearing Syrian stylized clothing, for which my sister is making a good amount of money. She's also taking to learning about making pouches, boots, and belts with leathers acquired from the deer we hunt.

Since our meat supply is running low, a hunting party is being dispatched today. I am joining Hood in the spirit of the hunt today. I'm thinking of turning it into a training session for him. Teach him how to track using the Sight. While he does that, I will learn how to learn the secrets of the crossbow he carries with him. I did get to use one during the fight that led to the destruction of pretty much half the town, but I never really trained with it since. The firing device seems pretty useful if I plan on taking anyone out lethally, but I heard there are alternatives. The bolts the witches came up with that cause disorientation and explosions…I wonder if the coven here can come up with some distraction-based bolts I can use. Could come in handy. I will talk to Mother Goose about it when she returns from her mission down at the docks.

Malik Ishtar.

…

The woods were silent, as they had been all winter long. Fresh snow littered the ground, giving the illusion of the woods being brighter than they really were. Of course, it made it easier for us to find any animals moving around. That was a problem for us, though. There weren't any animals moving around. None. I even searched with my Sight, which brought up nothing. It was like the entire forest was abandoned. I'd never seen anything like this.

I hugged my winter coat closer to me as a brisk cold wind blew over us. The wind was harsh for me, but for the Hood and his men, it was like a welcomed gift. They breathed in the cold air, barely wearing any layers other than their tights and green cloaks. I don't know how they can do it, but I guess living up here their whole lives will produce some sort of protection from the colder months. I don't really have to worry about it back home in Syria. It gets cold, yes, but not this cold. We get no snow where I live. A concept I was still coming to terms with. The snow was bright to look at. Pretty, yes, and it glittered like a gift from Allah, but it was a bitter gift. If prolonged in it, it can destroy your body. I found out the hard way when we found a deer that had been out for too long. It was frozen. It had been the only proof of life still in these woods. There was nothing left, it would seem.

"Oh, Allah…" My sister mumbled into her hands, trying to warm them up. She shivered as she looked up at me. "Do you really need me up here?"

I shook my head. "Not really. I thought we'd run into something…but these woods are dead."

"They are not." Hood called up from above me. He was resting on a branch, looking out to the woods with a long stare. "The woods are like this every winter season. We just have to find the food. It is resting, because they too hate the cold. The hungry will come out to seek food. We just have to find it before the animals start waking up." He gestured to the trees. "Squirrels take refuge in the trees, birds as well. Rabbits burrow underground, foxes too. Deer are a mystery. They move and move until spring hits."

"So, just like the dead deer we found?" I looked up at him.

He shook his head. "No…that deer was hunted. The leg showed signs of a wolf attacking it. What happened to the wolf is beyond me though." He looked down at me and my sister. "So, we try to find our next meal by tracking tracks in the snow, but we've been all around these woods. No one has seen any signs of tracks at all. It's almost like these woods are empty. I mean… just listen." He stopped and directed us to the woods. I listened. I heard nothing. Not a thing.

"Yeah, it's pretty silent." I said up to him. "That's a bad thing, right?"

He nodded. "No birds chirping, not a call from anything. It's weird." He shrugged it off. "Perhaps we should call the hunt off, find us something in the marketplace."

"We don't have the gold to feed us all." I reminded Locksley.

Locksley sat on his branch for a few seconds. "We could always do what we do best. Go steal from the King and give it to the poor…in this case, us."

"Just four days ago, we blew up his castle. I doubt we'd be able to just sneak in." I rubbed the bridge of my nose. It was in those few seconds that I heard something crunching in the snow. Looking down, I could see something in white moving around. It was one of the witches. Ashley, I think her name was.

She looked around like she was looking for someone. It was odd, but I don't think she was looking for me. "Locksley?" She called as she walked along below us. "Sir…are you here somewhere?" She looked down at her little metallic rod. "Funny…I should be near him."

"I'm up here." Locksley called out to her, which made her jump in surprise.

She caught her breath as she looked up at us. "Sir, Red wanted me to tell you that we've been accepted to help the dock workers rebuild the town. They seemed pretty happy to have the additional help."

Locksley nodded to her. "Thanks for the update. Mind helping us with something?"

She shrugged. "Sure. What do you need help with?"

"We're having trouble finding food. Mind doing some magic stuff to get us a few deer?"

I have never seen anyone so angry before in my life. "I'm a vegetarian!" She screamed back up at Locksley. "And you want me to abuse my powers to bring innocent animals to you so that you can kill them?"

There was a slight pause before Locksley nodded. "Yes. We have a lot of people to feed, not just you. You have your garden…the rest of us require protein to live."

She scoffed as she crossed her arms. "It's not like I can do anything that strong. I don't know how to manipulate the minds of people."

"I'm not telling you to enslave someone, just bring us some animals." He called back down to her. "You know, like what Vicky did with that whistle thing that brought us a couple hawks."

"I don't know how to do that either!" She screamed.

"How hard can it be?" He shrugged. "Can you at least try?"

"I don't know…can you suddenly shoot a moving target with your eyes covered?"

"Yes, yes I can." He nodded. "Just last year, during the archery tournament, I covered my eyes and shot four moving targets that were strapped to the backs of running deer. And I got eagle's-eye on each of them."

Ashley scoffed. "Well, it might be easy for you to tap into your…whatever it is that lets you do the impossible, but I can't just do something I have no prior experience with."

"And yet, you can manipulate wind and air…not to mention create fire without instruments."

"That's just…visualization and stuff." She mumbled to herself, not so much to us. She looked down at the snowy ground before looking back up at us. "Ok, fine. I'll give it a try." She reached up, taking off her ridiculous large white pointy hat. Her golden brown hair blew in the wind and she shivered as she looked towards the wind. The wind started picking up even more, which started collecting around our little witch. It was like that for a few seconds. She stood there, stretching her hands to the sky as wind collected around us.

"Allah, Allah, Allah…" My sister started cursing as she rubbed her arms. I felt the bitter sting of the wind as well, and it was only getting worse because the wind was picking up.

"Channel the energy of nature…" Ashley mumbled to herself as she lowered her hands to her side. The wind started to slow until there was no movement at all. In fact, the woods felt as still as ever. All I could hear was Ashley breathing as she centered herself. I tried to look away as Ashley suddenly exploded with a strong light that erupted from her center. It was a sudden flash that came and went, but when it was over there was nothing left of the light.

We all sat there silently as we waited for something. And…something happened. It's just not the something we wanted. "Did you see that light?" A distant voice called out from deeper inside the woods.

"Yeah, I saw it. Should we go investigate?" Another voice called back.

"We should." The voice answered back. That's when I saw them. Six or so men weather leather armor with steel plates attached to their shoulders and arms came silently stalking out through the brush, or whatever was left of the brush. They had bows, much like our own.

"What?" One of the men asked as he spotted Ashley. "Sir…it's one of those things!"

Ashley snapped out of her little bubble, looking at the armored fellows coming towards us. "What?"

"A witch." One of the men said. "Should we kill it?"

"What?" Ashley screamed as she took a step back. "Kill me? Why?"

"She's got a point." One of the older men answered. "She might be useful. Help us take our town back. Capture her." That was all that needed to be said for the other men to spring to action. The five other men brought their bows up, pulling back arrows.

Ashley screamed and turned around to run for it. She didn't get very far before some of the men released their first round of arrows at her. All those arrows were intercepted by Locksley. Locksley surprised me by jumping from his perch down to the snow while firing his bow. His arrows flew straight down and snapped one of the flying arrows heading towards Ashley like it had been child's play.

I looked at Laila, nodding to her. "Time to fight."

She nodded back. "Right, ok." She jumped on ahead, soaring to the next tree like a practiced expert. Of course, of the two of us she was the better acrobat. She could easily soar through the trees, while I would be more likely to slip off a branch and crush my balls on the branch below me. So, I took this time to get myself acquainted to my new crossbow. I brought the device up to load my first bolt inside it. I took aim down what I assumed was the sight, aiming the crossbow's sights to the bandit leader. I released the bolt and I heard my sister cry out in pain.

I looked up from my crossbow to see my bolt sitting in my sister's thigh. "The fuck?" She screamed as she reached for her leg. Apparently, having a bolt in her leg made her incapable of standing on a branch anymore and she tumbled from her resting place. She fell from the branch, landing behind the bandit leader with a cry of pain. My sister landing behind him caused the leader to spin around in surprise, but it surprised me more that he didn't know that my sister and I were here yet. Of course, that changed when he saw my writhing sister clutching her leg in front of him. "What?" He said as he looked from her over to me. When he spotted me, he waved his sword arm up to me. "There's a bunch up in the trees."

That's when the barrage of arrows from around me launched down to the six men now taking cover behind the trees. The leader took his time to load his bow before aiming up at me. I was loading my own crossbow bolt as he did so. As he launched his arrow, I launched mine. Our two ballistics collided mid-flight, and I was pretty proud of that. Too bad I didn't even bother aiming for that one. I closed my eyes, flinched, and pulled the trigger randomly. It was more out of fear than out of instinct. Still…it got the job done. My bolt split the arrow in two. Behind me, I heard two of Lockley's men cry out in surprise as they reached for their shins. I saw them fall from the trees, landing on the ground. One of them actually landed on Locksley.

I looked down at the downed men as they writhed. The arrow I had splintered has managed to clip them in the kneecaps. Ouch…that had to suck. And poor Locksley, having to be underneath one of his men when they fell from the tree. He looked just as out of this fight as my sister was. Oh well, that just left me and two more of Locksley's men. Oh, and Ashley.

Speaking of her, she was already channeling some sort of spell. Arrows whizzed around her, which made me wonder why the leader had even requested taking her alive. It looked like his men were trying to kill her. It took me a few seconds to finish reloading my crossbow. In that timeframe, the leader had already loaded his bow and had it aimed up at me. Just as he fired, I leaped from my resting place, falling to a branch below me. But…as we already know, my body sucks at being acrobatic on ice-covered trees. I slid forward and fell right onto my balls. White light exploded all over my vision and my hand clamped up. My trigger finger flinched and I heard the crossbow release a bolt.

"My leg!" One of Locksley's men screamed and fell from the tree onto the ground. I joined him a second later as I slowly slid off the branch. I landed right on top of Ashley as she finished preparing her spell. Right as I landed on her, a giant fireball flung from her fingertips, flying right into the tree where the last merry man was sniping from. The man jumped from the now burning tree, landing in the snow. I heard a nasty snap as the man landed. He reached for his knee and buckled into the snow.

I struggled to stand up, but I couldn't move. This really sucked. And poor Ashley, having to be underneath me when I fell from the treetop. I knocked the poor girl out. As the leader of the random men started walking up to me, I saw his bowmen coming out from behind their trees. I struggled to stand up, but the leader planted his foot on me, pushing me off of Ashley.

I rolled onto my back with a groan as I reached for my balls. They were on fire after taking the hit they did. I tried my hardest to ignore the pain as I tried to reach for the leader's leg. If I could at least slip my hidden blade into his ankle, I could disable his ability to walk. Or at the very least, I could draw enough blood to leave a trail for me to follow if he made a run for it with Ashley.

The leader looked down at me and then over to Ashley. "Warriors and witches in white." He mused as he looked around to his men. "Gather the wounded; take them to camp. Strip them of their weapons." The men nodded and started walking over to my fallen comrades. Each one of the men started knocking my fellows out, all except my sister and me.

The man looked down at me, smiling. "Thanks for the help. If it hadn't been for you…I probably wouldn't be alive still. So…thanks." With that, I was welcomed with a boot to the face.

…

"Brother, wake up." I heard Laila mumble to me.

My head throbbed, as did my balls. I tried to move my hands, but I felt the resistance of a restraint. Great…bounded on a bed. How original. I opened my eyes, but I guess night had fallen already. I could feel the bitter sting of winter air. I took a look around. I could tell we were in some sort of giant tent. We had a small oil lamp lighting up the entire tent, but other than that, I didn't see any other source of light.

"Where are we?" I asked Laila as I tried to sit up. I felt the restraint added to my chest. So…they decided to tie me all the way down? Why not my sister, who was comfortably sitting on her own bed without any restraint? She had a medical wrapping on her leg, which she kept scratching against. That was my bad; it was my bolt that struck her in the leg.

"We're somewhere near York, from what Harry said."

"Harry?" I didn't recall any guy named Harry.

Laila nodded. "Yup, Harry Pig. He's one of the leaders of this camp."

"You mean the guys that attacked us?"

She nodded again. "Your inability to shoot a crossbow has landed us an opportunity, brother." She pushed off her bed and walked over to. She limped on her leg, which she compensated for by leaning against some sort of cane. "I had them tie you down until I had a chance to talk to you first. Hear me out…" She bent down to look at me. "Harry Strawson Pig lost his village to Wolfe. Well, he and his brothers: Phatty Woody Pig and Coalson Bricks Pig."

I nodded. "So…these three Pigs lost their homes to Wolfe, huh? So, what are you not telling me?"

She smiled. "This is an amply place where the King has his caravan traveling through. All the armor that heads to the battlefront comes through here. Not to mention, Wolfe is trying to use this town for the iron mines nearby. If we take it back, from the hands of the King, we can disrupt his supply lines for a while."

I nodded. "Is that the only reason why we should help him?"

She shook her head. "Honestly, I only thought that up to convince you. But…you should see these men and women. They lost their homes, brother. We're Assassins…we help people. And these people need help. They lost their homes…and to the Templars too. That's more than enough reason for me to fight."

I nodded. "Ok then. Where do we start?"

She reached down and started undoing my restraints. "Well, first. You apologize to Ashley for groping her."

"What? I didn't do that."

Laila crossed her arms. "She said that when you fell from the tree, the first thing you did was grab her breast. And then you knocked her out." She punched me in the back of the head. "Not cool, brother. You perv." She said as she headed for the exit of the tent. "Come…I'll introduce you to Harry Pig. He's with Ashley right now."

Cearbhail:

Ok, so Malik's inability to do anything effective is progressing the plot. Won't be the last time something like this happens either. Oh...and did you guys enjoy the three Little Pigs? Yeah...you'll see soon enough.