Kvatch Part 3: The Church
When Altair awoke, it was not to the sight he was expecting. Being a man trained in the art of murder, he was unaccustomed to happy endings in some cases. The battle was not over, nor was this the last time they would ever see an Oblivion gate, but for today the battle had been won. He pushed himself to his feet, and looked around at the healed land and sky.
The sounds of people running around setting up a forward base filled the air. There were entire squads of soldiers going over plans, training with bows, practicing swordplay, and praying. He looked toward the gates of Kvatch, and pondered where Auditore could have gone, as he wasn't among the soldiers in the forward base.
"Father, you succeeded in your task." The Master nodded in confirmation, concealing what shock he had experienced, and the commander continued. "Your disciple joined in our scouting groups into the city. So far only one of our squadrons have returned from there, sadly…your disciple was not among them." Altair drew a breath, and exhaled as he began trekking towards the city gates.
"Then there is heavy resistance inside the city." he observed. "What of the returning scouts?"
"They have reported several enemy groups within the walls. The civilians are holed up within the church."
"What of the other Father of the Temple?" the commander folded his arms.
"He went in with another reconnaissance group. They have not returned either."
"If he's followed his training, then the recon groups will be fine. He will have drawn all allied forces into the church, which from what it sounds like, is an easily defensible location." Altair explained. "I'll go in alone, and see if I can rendezvous with my allies. Thank you, commander."
"Are you sure about this, Father?" Altair nodded.
"I will signal when the time is right to strike. Be ready for that time." With that, he headed toward the town. This would be a bit more normal than the realm of Oblivion, that made Altair a bit more easygoing about the affair. He was still fighting demons, but the backbone of the Battle of Kvatch was broken, and the rest was just cleanup.
Normally, this point would be the end of the Master Assassin's mission. The cleanup was really for the regular forces, such as the authorities, or initiates like Auditore. However, because he and Auditore were partners until the Grandmaster said otherwise, he had to deal with demeaning tasks such as finishing the last of the enemies.
He easily scaled the city walls, which had a lack of enemy archers, making the task that much easier. From his new vantage point atop the wall, he could see a good portion of the city. All around were corpses, of the innocent and guards alike. This event would forever be a scar upon the city's history, and nothing that the Assassin Brotherhood did would ever change that.
The church had been toppled, the huge tower had fallen onto the streets, effectively dividing the city into two halves. Dremora were still there in force, patrolling the desecrated roads of the once-proud city. The Master Assassin decided directly engaging enemies at this time wouldn't be a good idea; on day one he had an accurate view of where all of his enemies were, and was able to keep tabs on them. He also had backup on day one.
Here, he had no idea where all enemies could be hiding out, and he was a solitary unit. He leaped from the wall onto the roof of one of the many buildings that hadn't yet been destroyed. One of the good things about ground units was that they rarely searched the skies for enemies; that distracts from searching the ground for any approaching enemies.
He leaped off of the building, catching the wall easily enough. His gloves were made of a special high-friction material, allowing Altair to climb seemingly-impossible surfaces. He had made it to the top, and now had a clear path towards the church. He was now close enough to see that enemies were still besieging the church.
He scouted out alternative paths towards the church that didn't involve crossing enemy paths. From the building he was on, it didn't seem like too huge a leap to the city walls once more, and then a simple trek over to the back of the church would be simple enough. However the sun would cast a shadow, and possibly reveal his position to the enemy.
Another way was to continue his scurrying across rooftops, but the same problem presented itself. One enemy who was a little bit too observant would see his shadow, and be alerted to his presence. This battle would take some more thought than merely charging across the city. Perhaps he could run inside the buildings, instead. His shadow would only show when he leapt from building to building, and he could easily make himself scarce once inside a window. He opened a trap door on the roof, and fell into the top floor of the building, deciding that to be the best idea.
He descended the levels of the building, until he found a window he could leap across to. To any normal person, the force of impact would have caused him to fall to the ground. However, a combination of years of training had strengthened his arms, and his special gloves kept him glued to the wall. He pushed himself up the wall and into the window, landing into a roll.
He didn't take much time to examine the homes, although they were as much a statement of the town's destruction as the streets themselves. The dremora had hunted down every civilian they could, and the entrails were accompanied by blood spattered everywhere. The furniture was tossed aside wherever possible, and splintered wood lay shattered across the broken, burnt room.
Altair made his way to the next window, leaping across to the wall, and shimmying up the wall. He toppled into the building, wading through the carnage caused by the demonic dremora patrolling the streets even now. The church was finally within one building's reach; the Master Assassin reached the top of the building. He took a deep breath as he prepared his final leap into the church.
He crashed through the remainder of the stained class, deciding to not risk too much more time out in the open. He fell into a roll, silently grateful that none of the glass had pierced his armor or skin. "Stop!" called a familiar voice as Altair looked up to see the survivors of the attack, all armed with bows and having arrows at the ready.
"Altair? How did-" asked Auditore, as he approached from the mob of people ready to kill him at a moment's notice.
"I'd heard you were all holed up in the church. I knew Machiavelli was among you, so I knew you would all be heavily fortified." He held his hands up as a symbol of peace. "I am here to help."
"You priests are the strangest people I've ever seen." said a priest. "Things must work differently at the Temple of the One."
"What is your name?" asked Altair, deciding to lose anonymity for a while.
"My name is Martin." said the priest.
"Martin. Alright, Martin." Altair took a breath. "On my way in, I saw several enemies outside, scouting around, in addition to whatever is besieging the church itself. However, the church has some remnants of a second floor. How are our rations doing?"
"We are running low on food," explained Martin, the casually dressed priest. "We have plenty of arrows, in case you are suggesting we take sniper positions."
"Excellent, we are equipped, at the very least." Altair made it to the second floor, where the wall began to degrade. It provided an excellent view of the dremora-ridden path all the way to the gates of Kvatch. "The plan is to snipe every enemy possible. I, and a few volunteers, will take out other ground units. We'll make our way to the gate, and let in reinforcements."
"Reinforcements? The army amassed so quickly?"
"We broke the Oblivion gate. The army was all too happy to take the easy job of cleaning up afterwards." Altair explained, examining the field of battle. "While our top priority is to defeat everything between us and the exit, I want eyes behind us as well, to keep reinforcements at bay."
"We can do that."
"How many able men do we have?"
"Not many. Fewer trained with weaponry."
"It didn't seem that way to me when I first entered the church."
"I think you understand there is a difference between us being focused on one target and us being put up against several targets." Altair sighed.
"We need someone with a bow, it provides the effect of fear. That can turn the battle, at the very least." Martin sighed.
"What of the injured and sick?" Martin asked. "We can't afford every able-bodied man to this task."
"You will tend to the injured. We will make it out of this, Martin." Martin nodded.
"We will try…"
"You will do." Altair leaped down, and caught up to Ezio. "Auditore, I need a status report."
"We lost a lot of good men just retreating to the church. Master Machiavelli decided to scout out further into the town a few hours ago, we haven't seen or heard from him." Great, so Machiavelli decided to charge even further into this mess. That made the mission that much harder.
"Alright. I need you to hang back and practice your archery on live targets. I will take what remains of the scouts, and lead a charge back to the gates."
"Back to the gates?"
"Auditore, our mission is to free the people, for now. The Imperial Army is here to defeat the enemies. We're assassins, not one-man armies."
"Could have fooled me." retorted the boy.
"We won't always be fighting alongside one another, Auditore. You need to learn to follow the mission parameters, and not to risk extra resources on things others are better equipped to handle." Auditore heaved a sigh, and Altair turned around. "We'll fight our way out, and we'll save as many innocents as possible, and we'll exit the scene indiscreetly."
"Right."
"Good." Altair replied, and walked off. It was a cruel truth, and Auditore didn't often like that kind of a truth. It was the kind of truth he expected the boy to fight, and if he did, he would risk too much. He could risk the lives of everyone in that church, including the lives of Machiavelli and himself.
He readied a small squadron of ground warriors. The archers took their positions while Martin began to aid an injured couple. The sounds of the demons pounding on the door filled the silent void that had been created. The demons knew no fear, but struck fear into several of the people there. It was time to strike back, and teach the demons why they should fear the light.
Altair thought he was taking the show, but Ezio wouldn't let that happen. As the Master Assassin charged off into battle, the Auditore boy had plans of his own. Before Altair had fallen into the church, Martin had told Ezio of the secret passage between the castle and the church. The Count's family, much like Skingrad's own court, feared assassination.
So they didn't get out often. Or so the people thought. He grabbed a torch and descended the stairs, into the dark tunnels of the under church. There was no one else, and the flame kept a comfortable glow about the place. His breath was in tight gasps, as he was inexperienced with spelunking, and the idea was one that held much fear over Ezio's head.
After what seemed like hours of traveling the tunnel, he finally heard grunts above the ground. A ladder invited him up, but he would be appearing in the middle of quite a few enemies. He needed help, but Altair was going to be stubborn about this whole affair. That bullshit about completing the mission filled his mind. The whole city was the mission. He thought back to when he considered Altair a hero. A lazy one, maybe. Willing to pull out just because objectives were completed. Maybe he was a coward.
He pushed the manhole out of his way. He could immediately see two dremora, guarding a gate winch. Yes, that was it! A gate winch. He would open that in case any reinforcements came. Maybe then Altair would be impressed. Why was he so focused on impressing Altair all of a sudden? He shouldn't have cared.
He placed a hand on the ground, and used it to push himself upwards, and placed his knee on the ground. He was being as silent as possible, then drew his sword. The dremora turned almost immediately, and attacked. Ezio's eye activated, showing him what their next moves were to be. The one on the left would be struck by an arrow and killed, but the one on the right was fully prepared to stab forth and skewer the young Assassin.
Dodging to the side of the attack, he held his blade aloft, slamming the side of the weapon into the torso of his foe, pushing it backward. He drew a throwing knife on the back end of the swing, and on return strike, thrust the weapon forward, landing square in his foe's shoulder. Practice aim on the fly, noted Ezio as he drew back a few paces to avoid his opponent's counterattack.
A second arrow felled the second dremora, and Machiavelli landed behind the corpses. "You're really quite bad at this, aren't you." he said, and pulled the gate winch.
"Haven't had much chance to practice. Sorry." Ezio said, yanking his throwing knife out of the fallen demon.
"You'll do better traveling with me for this venture, then. Where is Ibn La'Ahad?"
"He is trying to get all of the civilians out."
"Its for the best. I can't do everything."
"He's retreating after."
"He'll be waiting for you. There is a reason he does not like to do more than the mission mandates, but you are one of his objectives." Machiavelli tossed a glove at Ezio. "That is a Scaling Glove. It will help climb the gates. You have ranged weapons, we'll use those for now."
After putting on the glove, Ezio hugged the wall, and started to push himself up, relying solely upon the Scaling Glove to pull himself up. Machiavelli had reached the top of the wall pretty easily, and sat there, staring out at the castle while Ezio tried to catch up. Once he reached the top, he hurled himself over, and sat still for a few moments. "Are you okay, Auditore?" Machiavelli asked, drawing his bow.
"I'm fine, I just need a moment."
"We're going to run a confusion operation. Sniping on the move. I'll kill one enemy, you kill another, and we change positions. Enemies will try to check for us, but will find nothing, and be wide open for a continued attack." The idea was genius, it seemed. They could pull out enemies, and dispatch them easily.
"Right, right, we can do that! Where did you come up with that?"
"Part of my training. I had to invade some old forts infested with bandits without being detected by any of them." Ezio detected a hint of pride in stating that. "I can teach you about infiltration later. Right now we need to execute it." Ezio nodded and drew his bow as well. Machiavelli made his way around the castle walls. His first attack would be Ezio's signal to keep an eye on Machiavelli's position.
A dremora noticed where the arrow had come from, and had already gone to investigate it. Ezio's arrow was ready, and his arm was getting sore as he awaited the demon to reach position. Machiavelli had disappeared a moment, but reappeared to Ezio's left. The young boy released the arrow, and it flew. The brief moment it was in the air seemed like an eternity: Machiavelli was depending on both of their skills with archery, and if Ezio failed, both of their lives were in danger. The arrow, miraculously, flew true, hitting the foe in the neck.
The dremora collapsed, and more enemies noticed where the arrow came from. Time to keep moving, Ezio thought to himself, and he began moving to his next position. Somewhere he would have a good eye on Machiavelli, and still be hidden from enemy view. He found a place just as Machiavelli fired on the two enemies that had invaded Ezio's previous position. Enemies we appearing in groups, now? This was a bad sign. If he had to start killing enemies in droves, that would be bad for Ezio.
It didn't matter, he drew another arrow, and prepared to fire another arrow. His Eye activated, allowing easier viewing of the battlefield. He wished he had control of when it activated, then it would be an efficient weapon. As it was, it was not a very useful instrument of combat. One enemy had reached Machiavelli's former position. No one else was following behind. Good, enemies were still not coming in hordes.
He loosed another arrow, letting the Eye of Eden guide his shot. It landed in between the demon's eyes, killing it instantly. He then began to move to a new position, keeping Machiavelli in view. It was then that enemies began to attempt to ring an alarm. Ezio fired an arrow, killing the demon trying to, and Machiavelli released three more arrows, dispatching three dremora. The Eye ceased to detect more enemies, however there were more enemies inside the castle.
Before much else could happen, however, soldiers started to storm the castle. Altair had succeeded in letting reinforcements in! Machiavelli caught up with Ezio, and shattered the window. "There is one other reason I am here, and by rights as Master, I requisition your aid, Auditore." Confused, the boy nodded, and followed Machiavelli into the castle.
They moved through the foyer's upper balcony. The dremora were alerted to the Assassin's presence immediately upon the shattering of the window, however the army's invasion served as a great distraction. "Don't focus on killing enemies right now. The dremora have one captive we don't want dying just yet."
"The count?"
"Now you're thinking, Auditore." They ran along the rafters, staying out of the crossfire of the battle. Machiavelli broke another window open, and they moved along the outside of the castle itself. They couldn't get involved with the battle, or they risked the count's life. The sounds of the battle filled Ezio's ears, and he knew Altair would eventually track them down.
If Altair got involved before they saved the count, things wouldn't be good for the young Assassin. He needed to prove to Altair that he was a good fighter, and could take care of himself. Machiavelli hoisted himself into one of the castle window, and pulled him through. They both landed in the hall just outside the count's room. Machiavelli motioned for Ezio to take position by the side of the door, and he drew his bow. Following orders and following suit, they both readied to storm the room.
"Remember, Auditore. This is a simple extraction, we aren't here to kill everything." the boy nodded, and Machiavelli kicked the door in. They both loosed their arrows on the only enemy in the room when they saw it; the count was dead. "Damnit!" Machiavelli shouted, running over to the corpse.
"It was a long shot he'd have survived…" Ezio said, trying to calm down the Master Assassin.
"He died on my mission."
"In circumstances you couldn't prevent."
"It doesn't matter when you are a Master Assassin, Auditore." Ezio jumped when he heard Altair behind him. "You follow orders, and you make sure freak accidents don't happen. Even if it couldn't have been prevented, it then becomes the fault of yours for not preventing the need to prevent disaster."
"Ibn La'Ahad…" Machiavelli said, standing up. There was a dead silence between the Assassins, as Machiavelli prepared to say as much as Altair dreaded to hear. "I need to help stabilize the Kvatchian Government." Ezio could see Altair clench his fists until his knuckles whitened. Ezio had subconsciously stopped breathing, the air was weighted. "I've already requisitioned Auditore's aid." Without a moment's pause, the silence was broken.
"Damn you, Machiavelli!" Altair yelled, socking the man in the face. Ezio flinched and stepped a few paces back, his mind returning to when Machiavelli had mentioned some sort of reason Altair did not like to do more than what was mandated by the mission. "I'll help you finish off the last of the dremora. Afterwards, Kvatch is your problem, not mine." Machiavelli nodded. Altair turned to Ezio. There must have been a deep pact of trust between the two, in order for Altair to take on extra objectives. "I understand your aid was requisitioned. It's good you can listen to someone's orders."
Machiavelli and Altair made their way down the hall. Following two Master Assassins was like following two legends. Their stride was strong and directed, despite the anger between the two. It brought a question to mind: were they former partners? Perhaps Machiavelli knew the reason Altair preferred to get in and get out of a mission. They slammed the door open, and Ezio then saw the battle going on. He drew his bow, and turned to the wall. He would hang onto the rafters, and snipe enemies from above.
A silent admiration filled the boy, as he fired potshots into the crowd. He was paying more attention the executions the Master Assassins were pulling off left and right. One moment Altair was stabbing an enemy in the wrist with his hidden blade, then finishing it with its own mace, the next he was encumbering an enemy with the corpse and crushing its skull with a well placed boot.
Machiavelli was doing no less impressive. Sword and dagger out, he dug his weapon into the enemy's arm, then used the longer weapon to impale their face. He then grabbed their weapon, and lopped another dremora's legs off, before finishing it with a well placed giant serrated sword to the chest.
The battle continued. If Ezio didn't know any better, he'd be somewhat surprised that they won with such oppressing odds. He descended to the ground when Machiavelli and Altair had finished the last enemy, digging longswords into its heart. They pulled the weapons out, and it fell to its knees, black liquid spilling out of it.
"That is…the last of them…" Altair said, heaving a breath. "Auditore, we're heading to Anvil. It's a coast city, and the best place to get in contact with the Grandmaster."
"Before you go, it may be a good idea to place the priest, Martin, into custody." Machiavelli said. Altair stopped dead once more, just as he had before the battle. "I have his whole name listed here."
"Who is he?" Ezio asked. Machiavelli was pushing the limits of Altair's patience, and knew it.
"Martin Septim. The son of Uriel Septim VII, and next heir to the throne." Ezio pulled out the Amulet of Kings.
"Did you know…?" he asked.
"Yes. I am surprised Altair has not noticed it." Altair folded his arms.
"You need to take Martin into protective custody. He is Ezio Auditore da Skingrad, entrusted with the death wish of the latest emperor. And since he's accompanying you, you need to take the highest-priority mission seriously, Ibn La'Ahad."
"Fine, we'll take Martin into our custody, Machiavelli." There was a certain scorn in Altair's tone. He was hoping to get to Anvil quickly. He wanted to get rid of Ezio. The boy sighed. They walked out of the castle and down to the church. They fought the battle to take back Kvatch, and broke a siege from the gates of Hell itself. It was cause for great celebration, but neither Assassin felt much like celebrating.
Martin was giving a sermon outside of the church, praying to the Nine Divines to protect the souls of all who had died that day. "Martin Septim, you are hereby placed under the protective custody of the Brotherhood." Altair announced, grabbing him by the back of the neck.
"We don't need to be so rough." Ezio was somewhat appalled by Altair's behavior.
"We need to get to Anvil. We can get him to a Den there." Altair was exasperated. He was in pain from having just won a huge battle within a gigantic city. Ezio decided to not argue.
"Wait!" Martin yelled. "There are other heirs, I'm sure of it."
"All have been killed. That's why we're here, Septim." He motioned to Auditore, who pulled out the Amulet of Kings, as well as himself. Martin tried to struggle against Altair's strong grip, but found himself unable.
"I…I…!"
"Please, do not argue." Ezio was not willing to incur Altair's wrath. Septim continued to try to struggle.
"Fine. Take me to the Weynon Priory."
"Why there?" Altair asked.
"That is where the Blades' leader will be. He can help us with what we need to do." Altair sighed.
"Now you know how I feel." Ezio folded his arms as Altair dragged the priest behind him. "Always having to do more before you can do what you need to."