Chapter 3
New friends
"It's night time now so there are not many people around but it's still going to take time for you to see all the important places. We'll meet Leonardo and then Ezio can introduce you to the council that run the brotherhood. Cole's voice was quiet and accompanied to still atmosphere around them. The tall buildings almost blocked out the moon and the clouds. Here and there were some windows that still emitted the soft glow of a candle or lamp. The torches of soldiers patrolling would also sometimes shine from around a corner or from down a street, they gave the Cole dirty looks but other than that the assassins were left alone. "What do you think of my city so far?" asked Cole as he filled the silence stretching between them. No answer came from the brunette. "Kai?" Cole turned around to look at the man but instead of an assassin in red and black, he saw an empty and dark street. "No." Cole muttered out and his eyes went wide and his heart started beating faster. He could not loose Kai on his first night here. But then again, they weren't exactly being careful, Cesare could have seen them and taken Kai, or maybe that rogue assassin claimed his life. All these thoughts were rushing through his mind as Cole ran down the street, checking if he saw anything suspicious. Nothing came up, corner after corner and he still came up empty, he was really starting to become worried now. His hands shook and he bit his bottom lip out of habit, Kai doesn't know his way in the city, what if he gets lost, or robbed, or assaulted, or arrested? By now Cole dragged a hand through his hair in frustration. What if he picks a fight with on the guards or with a thief of mercenary or what if one of those whore girls seduce him? Ezio would never forgive him.
"Where are you, you stupid assassin." Cole's trembling voice echoed off the sides of the flower and vine covered walls of the buildings. "Assassin?" oh no. Cole walked op slightly but as he saw the growing arrange of a torch and the metallic sounds of swords and armour. He turned around and broke into a run, manoeuvring easily through the twists and turns of the streets. "Stop! Assassin!" the guard's rough voice echoed loudly around him and in no time the rest all flocked towards him. "Oh this is just fantastic, I lost Kai and now I'm going to have to fight a bunch of stupid soldiers." It wasn't long before every corner turned into a dead end, blocked off by soldiers. Soon they had him boxed in, they were in a courtyard, surrounded by rose bushes and in the centre stood a small fountain. One of the men let out a gruff and animalistic laugh, Cole cringed at the ugliness if it. Well if they want to fight an assassin, then they'll get a fight. Cole reached for his sword, only to find it not there. "Awww, don't have your sword? Too bad filth." Cole didn't appreciate being called 'filth' but he'd rather not make an unfiltered reply to get him into even more trouble. Where was Kai, he's a master assassin, he could fight these guys. His heart pumped furiously in his chest and hid palms became sweaty. "Just kill him already!" The anger in the guards voice make Cole and everyone around him flinch, they soon recovered and one of them came charging at Cole. Ok, I don't have a sword but that doesn't mean I'm defenceless. Cole unsheathed his dagger and blocked the attack, the friction of the two blades made small sparks appear. At the sight of this, two more guards rushed into the action.
He managed to kill the one before the other two could make a successful attack, in the heat of the moment all Cole could hear was his own ragged breathing and the sounds of metal on metal. Faint grunts were heard as well as the occasional yelp before they died. He was sweating profusely now but there were still five more of these witless idiots to fight. The sheathed his dagger and picked up two of the swords surrounding him, after swinging them around to get used to the grip, he attacked first. The guard used his spear to dodge the first sword but not the second, resulting in him becoming a human kabob. In the motion of pulling his weapon out of the man, one guard snuck around Cole and swiped at his legs. He barely had time to register what was going on, he jumped to the back just as the sharp blade made contact. A long deep cut made its way up the side of his left leg and blood immediately soaked his beige pants. Cole painfully clenched his teeth and his grip on the two swords tightened. He took pressure of his leg and wobbled a little his right leg, Cole looked up to see the man that had hurt him laughing to his friends who did the same. A red blush spread across his face in embarrassment and pure rage as he watched these idiots mocking him, he got enough of that back home and he didn't need it from some Templar watchdogs. But his leg throbbed painfully when he put some of his body weight back on it, he didn't know if he could still fight. "We should bring him to Cesare, I'm sure he'd like a little assassin to play with." They bellowed with laughter again, all at Cole's expense. He had gotten his breathing under control and dropped the sword but they didn't seem to notice and took it as his surrender. Cole reached for his belt and pulled out four small knifes, one for each of them. In a fluid motion and as fast as lightning, he threw his blades and as always, they each found their mark. The four remaining guards collapsed to the ground as the reached for their throats to stop the sudden splutter of blood that now poured out.
A few seconds passed as he watched them all breathe their dying breath, some curses were sent his way. But then the pain caught up with him and the throbbing turned into sharp burning and his clothing rubbed against the open wound. He could stand but walking was a different matter, he hopped to the nearest wall which was behind him and used it as support when he took a step forward. His sudden intake of breath sounded loudly in the still night and he fought down the lump that grew on his throat. Peering down at his wound, he tried to see how much damage was done. He was losing a lot of blood, and fast, it was long and no doubt deep as it came up from his knee to just under his hip. "Could this day get any worse?" He grumbled as he continued limping away from the scattered dead bodies. "Kai!" Cole called through the night air, like before he received no reply. This was starting to get hopeless as Cole debated whether Ezio might scold him for deserting the foreign assassin. Sighing for the thousandth time, he looked down at his leg. Still burning, still throbbing and still bleeding, he should really bandage that up now. Surveying the area for any threats and seeing none Cole leaned against the wall and slid down. It sent excruciating pain though his entire left side and he struggled to hold back a whimper, he should have thought of a better way to sit down. Cole tore a ling strip of cloth from his uniform and started wrapping it around the cut. He blinked a few times as his vision blurred up and he became drowsy, the strip sadly wasn't long enough for the large gash so another strip was torn off and wrapped tightly around his leg. The sun started rising now and the flurry of oranges and reds decorated the sky. Has is already been a whole day? He needed to get off the streets before it started filling up, he wasn't far from the (Villa Rosa) so he could try to get back to them but that left Kai. He didn't even know if the man was even still alive, he could have been killed by that mysterious assassin. Maybe he shouldn't think about it, thinking made his head hurt. A lot. His leg stopped hurting at least but then again, he couldn't feel anything anymore.
The world was spinning, his head pounded and his breathing was strained, this morning was defiantly not a good one. And he didn't even get any sleep, he was up the entire night with that useless foreigner. A groan sounded from his chest and vibrated through his body, at least he knew he wasn't dead. Or maybe his mind was playing tricks on him and only made him think that he was alive. All he could see were grey and brown shapes that created the foreground for a fiery backdrop which seemed to calm him a little. I wish I could pain that. He slumped against the wall that he'd been holding onto, he was so tired. I'm sure Kai's okay. I can take a little nap, just for five minutes… Cole's eyes gradually fell closed before he gave in.
*Line break*
I watched as that black-clothed assassin fell asleep against the building, from the looks of it he had lost a lot of blood which probably cause him to pass out. But that only made him an easier target for me, another mindless assassin down for the count. I jumped down from the roof I was standing on, the rising sun painted a pretty picture in the sky and also lightened up the city. Soon people would be crowding the streets so I need to get to him before someone sees. I walked up to the boy and crouched down beside him and pulled his hood off. Is expression was calm, tranquil and did not need to be disturbed. Stray, ebony hair fell over his face, covering part of his eyes and his lips were slightly parted. His cheeks, and his entire face for that matter, was pale from the loss of blood. His breathing was shallow. Maybe I shouldn't kill him. But he was an assassin and they deserved to die, but then again I'm not someone who would kill a person in their sleep, and he looked so young, too young to be manipulated into killing people. My lip curled at the thought, how they used me before. And how I slit every one of their throats. It's a painful and satisfying memory, one I have to relive on a daily basis. But enough thinking, I have to decide what I'm to do with this assassin. It would be so much easier to just push a hidden blade into his neck, he would die a quick and painless death, I groaned. But I'm not like that… I huffed and slipped my arms under his body and began carrying him bridal style, I would take him to my home and maybe I could even get him to join me. And if he joined then there would be hope for that mule of a negotiator too.
He wasn't too heavy, quite light actually but maybe it was because of his size, he didn't look very tall and he was certainly shorter than me. I carried him through the empty streets until I came across a small, unremarkable house on the corner of a street. It was built like all the others, bland with a small wooden door and windows with little potted plants showing. A group of guards were coming my way so I needed to get in before they saw me, I already double crossed Cesera and didn't need to see what the consequences were.
Pushing open the door to the cool house I came face to face with a brown haired assassin that was struggling against the ropes that bound him to the chair. Luckily he was also gagged so I didn't have to listen to his absentminded ramblings about how he'll get me back for this or how he will extract his carefully planned revenge. I've heard it all before from smarter and more respectable people than this thing. My prisoners eyes went wide when he saw the body that I carried in, he must know this person. "Do you know him?" I asked in my cool and calm voice, he tensed and looked up at me with his golden amber eyes and then shook his head, 'no'. "Well then that's good. Now you won't be affected by his death." He paused before struggling violently again, his chair bouncing with each tug. "Idiocy is doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result." I said as I watched him struggling. I still held the smaller man in my arms at the doorway and it amused me to see such futile attempts being made to get free. Finally he stopped and with a huff of defeat he let his head drop down. Good, now I can get some peace. I placed the man on one of the empty tables in the room before I unwrapped his leg for closer examination. There was a lot of blood, and the gash was large. He would need stitching and this could take weeks to heal. I retrieved my medical kit from one of the cupboards and started cleaning the wound before stitching it up. He moved a little in his sleep and sometime whimpered a little, I ignored it and continued working. As I turned around I saw the other one looking at me with curious eyes and following my every move. I didn't mind, it's not like it bothered me when someone watched me work. After I was nearly done I turned to the surprisingly silent man behind me, "I ask again, do you know him?" He hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding his head, I smiled. "Don't lie to me again." And with that I turned back to my patient who still needed a bandage around that leg, when my work was done I carried him upstairs to my room and let him sleep. After removing several weapons and blocking any escape routes of cause.
I walked back downstairs to my other guest and eyed him. "Where is the brotherhood's hideout?" I asked. His curious gaze turned into that of hatred and I'm sure if I removed his gag that he would have some pretty carefully picked out words for me. He said something but it was muffled, I pulled a chair over to sit in front of him and then I removed the piece of cloth from his mouth. "Will you answer my-." He oh so rudely cut me off. "I'm never saying anything to freaking murderer like you, you backstabbing, two faced piece of s-." his face was red with rage and his body shook, his small little tantrum would have made some laugh if he had shown some manners, but like they say; what you do unto others shall be done unto to. So I cupped him right there by shoving the dirty cloth back into his mouth. "When I talk, you listen. When bring you into my house, you will have respect. If I ask you a question, you will answer me. Do you understand?" I asked, my lips pursed together and I waited for him to calm down. When his did I slowly pulled the gaga away. "I won tell you where they are, I don't even know my way around the city." He answered me and sneered after. Oh well, I didn't expect him to know much, I knew he was still new to the city. "Okay, would you like some rest?" he didn't answer me but instead glared at me. "What's my third rule?" I huffed out in annoyance, he still didn't answer. He was hopeless, he was stupid and he was stubborn. I drew my hidden blade and pressed it against his neck, trying my best to hold back from killing him now. "When I ask a question, you will answer me. Okay." He looked scared and nodded when I pulled my blade away, his neck had a small cut that dripped a little blood but it was nothing serious. If anything, he deserved it. But maybe now he will learn, if he doesn't then I might just rethink his usefulness.
