Chapter Four
Claudia woke with a yawn, stretching out. Her body felt stiff after the sleep but that was a left over from the beating; not the apple. Her dreams had been interesting. She dreamed of the apple. Of its powers. Altair and his mentor. She wondered if it was memories of that the apple had. Could it remember things? It was more alive than she had previously thought. It responded to thoughts and had a desire to do what its owner wanted.
Which must be why they were here. Although she didn't recall wanting to go to some strange world.
"Evening sleepy head." She heard as she walked into the main carriage. The brother, Jacob was still there and speaking Italian to her ears.
"Where's Ezio and your sister?" She asked.
"He wanted to go for a walk." Jacob grumbled.
"You don't like him?"
"I don't like that I have to be left behind."
"Try twenty years of it," Claudia said, taking a seat.
"I'm meant to be looking after you," Jacob sighed. "Want breakfast? I can give you an apple."
"Oh, very funny." Claudia said, eyes narrowing. "How long have you been working on that?"
"Twenty minutes. But we don't have much food here anyway."
"Ah. You've missed dinner!" Claudia said a touch of humour in her voice. "My husband was always in a huff if he didn't get food."
"Husband?"
"Dead these past few years. Do you think we can go and get food? I'm famished!" Claudia wanted to change the topic.
"What about Ezio and Evie?"
"They can handle themselves."
"And your habit of exploding with golden power?"
"I feel more in control after sleeping. I think I might get to know the apple. It doesn't inherently want to release its power. I think that's just my temper."
"That's doesn't fill me with confidence that you won't accidentally do something."
"I'll try not to. Besides, I'm hungry. You're hungry. We should eat. So long as you can pay for it?"
"Of course I have money!"
"Good. Let's go. I hope we find somewhere good. The stories I've heard of English food…"
"Steak and ale pie."
"Ale? With steak? It should be red wine!"
"Right, right princess." Jacob said, rolling his eyes.
"Let's go. Steak and ale pie for breakfast." Claudia made a face. But she supposed she needed to also put herself into the right sleep schedule.
"With chips!" Jacob smiled.
"Chips?"
"You know? Potatoes, fried in lots of oil."
"Potatoes?"
"Not heard of them." Claudia admitted.
"Do they not have them in Italy?"
"No."
"You poor Italians!" Jacob said, unaware that potatoes were an import and Claudia none the wiser.
"I doubt it." Claudia muttered, not sold on the idea of English food.
"Aw, give it a try!"
As soon as the train stopped at the right station, they went out. Claudia was somewhat amazed by all the stations. The train itself was fascinating! It moved so fast! And smooth. Without any horses in sight! The smog in the air though, did not seem like a fair deal. They had bad air in Rome, but it wasn't like this. The trade-off was better.
"This way, Claudia!" Jacob said, pulling her along.
"It's so huge," She muttered, looking around the train station. Coming in, she had been too tired to see the feat of engineering that was here.
"You've never seen things this big?"
"Our stuff is grand and made from marble. But the metal and glass…"
"So you weren't living in wooden huts?"
Claudia shot Jacob a look.
"I am the Madame of Roma! Sister of the great Assassin of the Ages! My home is a grand one in the city. Marble floors that keep the ground cool in the height of the summer. Three colours. White, black and green. I have statues-"
"I get the picture!" Jacob said hurriedly before she could go on.
"So where is this restaurant?"
"Pub, really." Jacob correctly. Claudia shot him a look.
"Sure it's not up to your standards but it's good to try something different."
"English." Claudia muttered.
Needless to say, Claudia, Madame of Roma, did not enjoy the steak and ale pie (or wouldn't admit that the pastry was amazing and the strange flavours of the steak and ale was strangely addictive). Neither did she enjoy the wine she had tried. But she held her drink better than Jacob as they walked back, him stumbling slightly.
"That was a good night!" Jacob exclaimed. Claudia had recounted some of her stories, including some of Ezio's.
"It was!" Claudia grinned, cheeks pink and practically glowing. After a while, the crowds had been drawn to them and the two had changed from exchanging assassin stories to general ones. They'd even got free drinks out of it.
"It's nice to get out with company!" Jacob said. "Can't convince Evie to go anywhere unless it's business."
"Trying to get Ezio somewhere is the same. No family meals." Claudia sighed.
"Siblings are the worst, aren't they?" Jacob said.
""Awful!" Claudia agreed as they made their way to the station.
"She thinks life is all work no play." Jacob moaned.
"It's meant to be fun." Claudia agreed, although she did enjoy working. It annoyed her brother, brought her money and also her assassin work was getting out and doing things.
"We should do this tomorrow." Jacob suggested.
"You should come to Italy."
"Bit far."
Claudia considered asking it of the apple and felt inside herself but it was humming softly to its own tune. Her chest vibrated slightly but it felt no more controllable than her heart beat. Cautiously, she considered expanding and it responded, pushing to her ribs but she allowed it to go no further. Did the apple refuse a jolly back home? Would it allow her to go back? She considered this. She wasn't ready to go back. The apple new that. She rubbed her arm, still tender.
Her wrists were raw and weeping, pulled behind her back and tied with rope to the chair. The cold subterranean air in the basement chilled the burning pain in her body. She was having the only respite she got from the beatings; the questions. Iron filled her mouth as her head hung, loose hair covering her bared chest, fine clothes ripped. She prayed that they would hit her arms and not her breasts the next time round. The pain there shot through her body like roots through the ground. At least her left arm was dead from the elbow down. She drew in a ragged breath to spit at the man. It was as close as she had come to talking. The action caused pain to flow through her and she nearly fainted. If only that had been the case. Her body trembled as a lecherous hand grabbed her chest, moved to her waist before the other fist shot back and hit her breast. She let out a cry.
"Claudia!" she blinked, feeling a warm embrace holding her, arms tight against her body. Then suddenly she was released. It took her a few seconds to realise it wasn't Ezio who had broken her from her stupor.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" She said, looking around. She felt so weak. She had released some of the Apple's power during the memory.
"It's OK. The street is deserted." Jacob said. Claudia shivered still. Perhaps she wasn't safe out. Her flashbacks seem to set off the apple and her temper. Two things that made her dangerous.
"I want to hit something." Claudia muttered. Violence made her feel better. Maths would be a second best.
"We could always start a gang fight. It's not completely late."
"Gang fight?"
"We get a whole load of people and beat up our enemies and win some new London territory for ourselves."
"Ah, like Ezio's burning the Borgia towers!"
"That means nothing to me."
"He did them by himself. I don't really know much of the action." Claudia shuddered but rose to her feet, flexing her fingers. She could punch.
"Are you sure you're alright to start a fight?" Jacob asked. Claudia shot him a look.
So the Apple took. But surely she could claim its power to refuel her own body. Ezio would rise again after using the apple. Her eyes closed and she felt its warm glow fill through her body, going from her heart to her extremities.
"Let's go." She said.
A/N: Thank you to everyone who's been following of Auditores and Fryes! I hope you have enjoyed it so far. The fact that Jacob doesn't know about Ezio is cannon, as far as I can remember so obviously those two will have fun soon.