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Good day or good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and a warm welcome to all new and returning readers of On The Wings Of An Eagle. As promised, the fourth chapter is now published a week after the last one, and I hope that I can make this into my regular update schedule; one chapter a week. However, don't get your hopes up - my exams are still malevolently looming on the horizon, and they take up far more of my time than I would like. Still, I will do my best not to disappoint you.
To those who left them, thank you very much for your encouraging reviews, and to all others who read this story, thank you very much as well - the number of people to have read my story encouraged me as much as the feedback left in the reviews. Thank you!
This chapter is the last one where I will definitely follow the canon storyline of Familiar of Zero. I will soon start melding the two storylines of Assassin's Creed and Familiar of Zero into something new in the next chapters. Whether this is a good or bad thing, I don't know, which I why I would very much appreciate your feedback. All opinions welcome!
In other news, I have published another story. It's called Miserly Old Man, Trickster Fox, dealing with the Naruto universe. The writing style is very similar, though I do try to be more humourous in that other story. If that's your cup of tea, don't hesitate to take a look! Now, on with the story.
Please, enjoy yourself while reading this story, and if you liked or disliked it, be kind enough to leave a review. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.
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On The Wings Of An Eagle
Chapter IV - Growing Talons
...
"Madamigella, wake up, please."
Louise groaned and hid her head under the covers. She didn't want to wake up. She hadn't slept well; a late night and strange dreams had troubled her sleep. A heavy hand touched her shoulder and she threw it off, still not fully awake.
"Éléonore, let me sleep for a bit," she grumbled, snuggling into her covers. "Five more minutes..."
"Madamigella, it's already dawn," the voice continued. Someone shook her shoulder again, sounding reproachful and slightly annoyed. "I was told you had to attend classes. Aren't you going to go to breakfast?"
Breakfast? Classes? ...Wasn't she at home with Mother and Father and her sisters?
Louise started blinking rapidly, sleep leaving her very quickly. Hold on just a moment – since when did her older sister have a man's voice?
She shrieked and fell out of bed in a tangle of bed covers. When she managed to free herself, she spotted a young man standing in her room, wearing a disconcerting amount of weapons all over his body. "Grazie a Dio," he muttered, sounding relieved and annoyed at the same time. "I thought I was never going to get you to wake up. What is it with the youth of today? All lazing about, not using the time they have..."
"Who in the Founder's name are you!" she yelled at him, trying to cover herself up as much as she could with the bed covers. Even though she was wearing her nightclothes, that little detail mattered little in her mind.
The man blinked at her, black eyes surprised. "It's me, Ezio. Don't you remember me?"
Louise didn't, which only increased her horror. What had she done last night? "Why are you in my room?"
The man threw up his arms in annoyance, rolling his eyes. "Merda! I'm supposed to be your familiar, remember? Ezio Auditore da Firenze. You summoned me a few days ago!"
Louise blinked a few times. "Liar."
The young man bristled. "And why, prego, would you call me a liar?"
"The man I summoned was far older than you," Louise said, her voice getting firmer. "He was old. You can't be more than twenty! And he had white hair," she added after a moment, feeling a bit stupid for stating the obvious.
The man rolled his eyes. "I know exactly how old I looked before, madamigella. It was my face, after all." He made a few vague movements in the air with his hands, frustrated at being unable to explain himself. "Your... magic has made me young again. I don't understand it either."
"My magic did this to you?" Louise asked, her tone doubting. Her magic had never really worked before, why would it do so now?
"Yes!" The man ripped off one of his armoured gloves, shoving the back of his hand under her nose. "See these signs? They appeared when we made the contract!"
Louise studied the runes engraved in the man's hand. They looked genuine. "So I really did summon you?"
"How often will I have to repeat myself?" he asked, genuine irritation in his voice now. "You did! Now, do you plan on eating breakfast, or are you just going to sit there and stare at me all day long?"
"Fine," she grumbled, getting up in a huff. "Help me get dressed."
Her familiar gave her a flat look. "How old are you?"
She glared at him. "I'm seventeen. Your point?"
"Seventeen, and you can't even dress yourself?" Her familiar grinned in what she couldn't help but think was an insolent manner. "Are you really that childish, or is it because you want a man to dress you?"
"Don't question my orders!" she said hotly. She looked at him critically. "Besides, you're not a man, you're my familiar. It's as if I would get embarrassed dressing in front of my dog."
"...Is that so?" he said, his tone exceedingly polite. "Well, this dog will be going to the dining hall and wait for you to get dressed by yourself, madamigella. By your leave." He bowed mockingly and walked out the door.
"Get back in here!" she yelled furiously after him.
"Woof, woof, I can't hear you!" her familiar called over his shoulder, laughing uprariously.
Louise was half tempted to run after him and hex him until he was left as nothing more than a bloody smear on the wall, but she realized running through the school's corridors in her nightclothes would be a far greater embarrassment than not disciplining an unruly familiar.
Furious, she went to find her own clothes and get dressed by herself.
...
Ezio chuckled as he walked towards the dining hall. The nerve of that girl! It was both amusing and worrying, the way she treated him. He snorted. 'Dog' indeed. That young lady had absolutely no idea who she was dealing with. But then again, he had to admit, neither did he. He speculated what magic she was capable of... Colbert had seemed convinced of her power.
He wondered if he was going to get lost again when he suddenly passed an open balcony. He grinned, and a moment later he was leaping over the rooftops of the Academy, enjoying the feeling of the wind and the warmth of the rising sun on his face.
He jumped from one roof to a lower one, dampening his fall with a perfectly executed roll, immediately continuing his sprint at a full tilt. He grinned fiercely. He couldn't remember scaling and running this fast. His mind and body felt... quicker, somehow, ever since he had accepted Louise's contract. Was it her strange magic that influenced him? Or did he just feel faster in comparison to how slow he had been when he'd grown old?
He ignored those pressing questions for the moment, seeing as no one could answer them yet, and continued to climb and run in the general direction of the dining hall. He spotted the telltale signs of pigeons resting on a ledge and smiled.
For a mere moment, he hung still in the air, gravity and momentum battling for dominance until gravity won, sending him hurtling down to earth. He landed in a mound of freshly cut grass and climbed out, humming cheerfully. I don't seem to have lost my touch, he thought with childlike glee.
It was only when he finished patting the cut grass off his clothes that he noticed the waiting students idly sitting or standing in the courtyard in front of the entrance to the dining hall, looking absolutely stunned. Quite a few were openly gaping at him, others muttering amongst themselves or pointing fingers at him.
Ezio met their gazes and shrugged widely, arms out. "What?"
That seemed to break them out of their stupor, the students continuing on their way to the dining hall. Ezio leaned against the open entrance, closing his eyes and enjoying the warmth of the sun. The students would occasionally throw glances at him as they passed by when they thought he wasn't looking, whispering behind held hands, but his hearing was far sharper than they gave him credit for.
"Do you think he's a scholar?"
"No scholar carries that many weapons on him... Perhaps a travelling sellsword, you think?"
"Nah, don't think so. I bet he's a retainer to one of the professors."
"Did you see that jump, though? I thought he was going to kill himself!"
"Well, whoever he is, he clearly isn't sane..."
Ezio chuckled at that last one. He had often asked himself if he was entirely clear of mind, but had learned to live with it. Being insane sometimes had some clear advantages. What kind of sane person threw himself regularly off a tower and expected to survive?
He heard two footsteps approach, one quiet as a cat's paw on satin and the other heavy, firm yet fleeting at the same time. They both stopped abruptly in front of him. Ezio didn't bother to open his eyes. He had no business with any of these 'nobles' except Louise.
"So you're the commoner that Vallière summoned?" a loud girl's voice asked, sounding doubtful. "You don't exactly look like much."
Ezio sighed. Apparently, these nobles had decided that they had business with him, though. "And what would it matter to you what I look like?" he asked blandly. "I'm in no mood for tiresome games. Go to breakfast already like the others; I'm waiting for my mistress."
"Oh, there's fire in you, talking to a noble like that," the voice said approvingly. "Either you're very proud or just very stupid."
Ezio laughed. "I've been called both." He opened his eyes and spotted the most unlikely pair of women he'd ever seen.
He recognized the young dragon rider from yesterday night immediately, though she didn't seem to pay him any attention, her nose buried in a book and her blue eyes darting back and forth across the lines behind her thin glasses. She completely ignored Ezio, her dragon nowhere to be seen. He assumed the beast was out flying by itself.
Tabitha's companion was her complete opposite. Where the dragon rider was short, she was tall. Where her skin was pale from hours spent poring over tomes in the library, hers was darkened from the sun. Where Tabitha's hair was a light blue cropped to shoulder-length, hers was a waist-length, fiery red. Where the rider was, er... lacking, she was endowed (to put it politely!). And while Tabitha appeared distant and silent, her companion was the complete opposite, measuring up Ezio with fiery eyes and an amused smile on her lips.
The tall girl laughed. "So, tell me, commoner, how much is the Vallière brat paying for this little charade, pretending to be her familiar?"
Ezio looked at her intently for a moment, then ignored her completely and addressed Tabitha, smiling. "Good morning, signorina. I trust you had a restful night?"
The smaller girl looked up briefly and nodded once, her eyes immediately returning to her book. Ezio couldn't help but continue to ask. "And where is Sylphid at this hour?"
"Hunting," was the girl's simple reply.
Ezio nodded sagely. "Ah, yes, that would make sense. A big animal needs a lot of food, no?"
Tabitha nodded wordlessly.
"Oi, oi," the other girl grumbled, "don't leave me out of the conversation here!"
Ezio looked at her oddly. "I don't think getting a one-word answer is much of a conversation."
"With Tabitha here?" The girl laughed aloud and winked at him. "You'd be surprised at how quiet she is! If she's talking to you already, you must have made a serious impression on her!"
"Met last night," Tabitha said simply, still not looking up from her book.
"Really?" her friend said eagerly. "Do tell, what happened?"
"Talk," Tabitha answered simply.
"Himmel hilf," the other girl muttered, exasperated. "You're never going to make new friends if you're so taciturn, Tabitha! You need to lighten up a bit, talk to people, make them smile! Don't you understand that? I've been telling you for years, and yet you never seem to listen!"
Tabitha ignored her and kept reading. Her friend huffed and turned back to Ezio, annoyed and muttering in some foreign language that Ezio didn't know. Ezio watched her carefully. She seemed to be far more... 'vivacious' and outgoing than her companion. There was an interesting story behind their friendship, Ezio was sure of it, and he couldn't help but smile.
"So, how did the Vallière girl convince you to go along with pretending to be her familiar? Money?" the redhead asked, her mouth set in a smirk. "It's not worth it, I tell you. That girl is an absolute failure as a mage; you'll only embarrass yourself by associating with her."
"Is that so?" Ezio asked drily.
"Familiar!" a shrill voice yelled from inside the dining hall. "Where on earth are you?"
"Out here, mistress!" Ezio called back cheerfully. He saw the red-haired girl's expression change from amusement to distaste as Louise walked into the courtyard, but she quickly schooled her features into a polite smile. Louise didn't bother hiding her dislike of the redhead as she approached the small group, scowling at her.
There was a silent stare-off. Louise turned away first and addressed Ezio. "Familiar," she said, gritting her teeth. "When I give you an order, I expect you to follow it. Do you understand me?"
"Perdonatemi, I can't understand you," Ezio said with a straight face. "I only speak dog language, remember?"
"Familiar, this is not a joke!" Louise said loudly, stamping her feet like a petulant child. "I'm trying to think of an appropriate punishment for your behaviour."
The Assassin blinked. "Punishment, you say?"
"Yes." Louise nodded, oblivious to the way Ezio's shoulders tensed. "I'm thinking of giving you no food for a week – or perhaps you would prefer twenty lashes of the whip?" she asked snippily.
Ezio relaxed once more, smirking. "Whipped like a dog, only because I refused to help you dress?"
"I fail to see what is so terribly amusing," Louise hissed.
Ezio kicked off the wall, his smile becoming icy and his eyes cold. "No, madamigella, this is definitely not amusing in any way. And if it is, I assure that I'm not laughing. Not in the slightest."
He approached Louise and crouched down so that their eyes were on the same level. Cold black eyes met reddish-brown ones, and the girl was pinned in place by sudden fear.
"You see, madamigella," Ezio said softly, "I am a family man. I told you this before I accepted this strange contract of yours. Do you know what that means, exactly?"
"Does it matter?" she said belligerently.
She quailed when Ezio silenced her with a look. "It means that I am married, child. For fifteen beautiful years, I have been married to a woman I love, a woman I was prepared to die for, a woman I would have gladly killed for, and let me assure you that I have killed for her, more than once." Ezio smiled lightly, patting the sword sheathed at his side, before his expression turned serious again. "Fifteen beautiful years in which this woman gave me a strong son and a beautiful daughter. Those were some of the happiest years of my life."
Ezio didn't bother to hide his contempt now. "I have never thought of another woman since I met my wife. She never needed help to get dressed. She was strong, she had her own mind on things, and she refused to be dependent on any man, even if she loved this man from the bottom of her heart. The only people I have ever helped were my own children, my own flesh and blood, and that was only when they were too small and helpless to do it themselves."
He leant forward until their noses nearly touched, eyes cold. "So tell me, madamigella, do you really think that I would even consider helping you, a pampered, annoying and abrasive young brat, to dress in the morning? Or are you really as helpless as a newborn bambino?"
Louise said nothing as she stared at him, her mouth open in stunned silence.
"Do you remember something else I told you?" he asked, voice quietly lethal. "I am not your servant. I am not your pet. Or have you already forgotten?" Louise said nothing, held by the icy glare of those black eyes. Ezio stood up and sighed dejectedly. "I feared so."
He turned to the two other girls and bowed lightly. "It was a pleasure seeing you again, signorina Tabitha," he said politely. The blue-haired girl looked up at him for a brief moment, but said nothing. "And you too, madamigella..."
The redhead snapped out of it. "Zerbst," she said quickly and held out a hand graciously, "Kirche von Anhalt-Zerbst."
Ezio took the offered hand and briefly touched his lips to the back of her hand in a polite gesture. "A pleasure to meet you, madamigella. Ezio Auditore da Firenze, at your service. And now, I wish you all a good day."
And with that Ezio walked off at a measured pace, ignoring Louise altogether.
Louise found her voice again and yelled, not really knowing what else to do. "Familiar! Where do you think you're going?"
Ezio turned a frosty glance over his shoulder at her. "My name is not 'Familiar', child. It's Ezio. Remember it. And to answer your question, I am going to the kitchens. I prefer the company of honest, hard-working men and women to that of bratty children."
And Ezio continued on his way, ignoring the way Louise's hands clenched in fury.
Kirche laughed aloud when he'd disappeared from view. "Well, well, Vallière, how surprising," the Germanian crowed, delighted at her rival's misery. "Can you believe it? You even managed to make your familiar run away in shame at your behavior. Well, if he even is your familiar – even your hired hands despise you, don't they? Does your incompetence really know any bounds, or do you just delight in torturing yourself?"
"Shut up!" Louise snarled, furiously storming off into the dining hall.
Kirche and Tabitha, however, were still standing there. The smaller girl was still reading, her tall companion staring at the spot where Ezio had disappeared.
"That was no commoner," she said aloud. "No fear, no deference. No commoner would dare speak to a noble that way."
"Dangerous," Tabitha commented softly.
"Dangerous? You think he's dangerous? Where did you get that idea?"
"Sword," Tabitha said, not looking up from her page. "Eyes."
"All right, all right, the weapons were a bit of a giveaway, but still– What do you mean, you saw it in his eyes?"
Tabitha started walking into the dining hall, her eyes still glued to her book.
"Tabitha!" Kirche pleaded as she walked after her, pouting. "Don't leave me hanging like that! I want to know!"
…
Finding the kitchens was relatively easy. The nobles probably liked their food still hot, so they couldn't be far from the dining hall. As he cautiously opened the door to the room filled with warmth and fires from the various stoves and pots, a person carrying something heavy nearly ran him over.
"I'm sorry! I didn't see you!"
Ezio chuckled as he recognized the voice. "No need to apologize, Miss Siesta."
The part-time nurse blinked up at him and smiled. "Monsieur Auditore! What brings you here?"
"Well, it seems that my little noble mistress is quite angry with me," and I with her, Ezio thought drily, "so I decided to come here for breakfast." He shrugged. "She mentioned that she didn't want to give me any food for a week. Some sort of punishment."
Siesta frowned. "That's horrible!"
Ezio's stomach grumbled, audible even over the din of the bustling kitchen. He smiled sheepishly. "My stomach seems to agree." He hadn't really eaten during the three days he'd been unconscious and had spent his first night back on his feet running and climbing around, delighting in his newly returned strength without stopping to eat. Probably a mistake. It was a wonder he hadn't collapsed yet.
Siesta giggled, motioning him to follow after her. "Come in! I'll get the cook to whip something up for you!"
"You don't mind doing that on my behalf?" Ezio asked gratefully. "Molto grazie, signorina."
"No need to feel like a stranger, Monsieur Auditore!" Siesta said cheerfully. "After me!"
The exuberant maid wasted no time, grabbing him by the hand and pulling him into the controlled chaos that was the Academy's kitchens. Everywhere Ezio could see, kitchen hands and cooks were cutting vegetables or watching over stewing pots simmering over flaming stoves, the occasional servant brining in baskets of vegetables, sausages, or various dead animals that were quickly skinned or plumed to disappear in various cooking pots or frying pans. The whole room was obscured by a low-hanging cloud of steam and smoke, and it was warm, smelling of cooking food and freshly baked bread. Ezio decided he liked it here, even though he took care not to bowl anyone over by accident. Everyone seemed busy.
Siesta led him efficiently through the whole of the massive kitchen to a large fireplace at the other end, blazing with flames that Ezio felt even halfway across the room. In front of it stood a man easily as tall as he was, but twice as large and packed with muscles and meat, a chef's hat on his head, sideburns and a large beard framing his face. He was standing close to the fireplace, shouting orders and yelling at the people working in the kitchen to increase their pace, his stern look observing everything happening in his domain.
Siesta stopped right in front of him, and Ezio nearly crashed into the two of them as she suddenly halted. "Hey, Marteau!" she said cheerfully. "This is Monsieur Auditore! He's been summoned as a familiar by one of the students, and I just invited him in when I saw him outside!" She shoved him in front of her, and Ezio gave the large man an awkward grin as he got manhandled by the far smaller woman.
Marteau just laughed, a booming sound that echoed through the entire kitchen. "A familiar, eh? Well, I've got no trouble with the creatures summoned by noble folks, even if your masters are all a bunch of stuck-up pricks! Com'ere, pal, let me take a good look at you! Servants to the bastard nobles like us have to stick together!"
He gave the hapless Italian a bone-crushing hug, Ezio thinking that one of his ribs might have cracked. The cook then held him at arm's length, an eyebrow raised as he studied Ezio's features. "You're not from around here, are you? Where do you hail from?"
"Far away, Messer Marteau," Ezio wheezed, trying to get his breath back. The man was indeed ridiculously strong. Slaving for hours in a kitchen and carrying around heavy pots and crates probably built muscle like no one's business. "A country named Italia."
"Never heard of it!" the man said jovially. "Bit far away from home, aren't you?"
You have no idea, Ezio thought, a pang of homesickness hitting him. He ruthlessly crushed it before it could show on his face. "Very," he agreed, smiling. "I'm not quite used to everything around here."
"Well, I'm sure that our little Siesta here will help you out if you have any questions!" the large man said, winking cheerfully. "Told me quite a bit about you already! Seems to be quite taken with you as well! Aren't you, ma petite?"
"Marteau!" Siesta blushed a fiery red. "He came here to get breakfast, not to hear you gossip!"
Marteau laughed, a bellowing sound that sounded over the kitchen's noisy din. "Well, we servants always gossip! What else would you come to us for? Well, except for the damn food, that's for sure!" He clapped a large hand on Ezio's back, nearly sending the Assassin flying into the fireplace. "Sit yourself down at a table, Monsieur Auditore; I'm sure I can get some scraps of food for you that's too lower-class for the nobles to scarf down! The nobles here have got money flowing out of their arse; I don't think they'll mind paying fir an extra meal or two!"
Marteau was as true to his word as he was an excellent cook. Soon enough, Ezio was eating a large bowl of stew with vegetables and something meaty in it, along with a half a loaf of freshly baked bread. It was a simple, heartening meal, and exactly what Ezio needed after staying up all night. Once again, he thought wryly, it pays to be nice to the help. Though he did wonder why the large cook seemed to dislike the nobility so much.
Ezio watched from his little alcove to the side of the kitchen as the servants worked arduously, trading jokes and light-hearted barbs as they prepared breakfast, Marteau watching with an eagle's eye that everything went as smoothly as it possibly could. Considering the chaos and masses of food moved through this room, it didn't seem like an easy job, but Marteau was battling valiantly.
When he was done eating, Ezio stopped a harried-looking Siesta. "Is there any way I can help?" he asked politely.
"You want to help?" she asked, surprised.
"Of course, if you don't want me to, I can just–"
"No, no, I was just surprised!" she said quickly, smiling. "Familiars are like their noble masters; they usually don't help the servants, you know!" She gestured to a row of trays, freshly baked bread and pastries lying on them row by row. "Can you just help me move those to the dining hall?"
Ezio grinned, glad to be able to help in any small way he could. "It would be a pleasure, signorina."
...
Ezio regretted his decision as soon as he was forced to distribute the food in the dining hall.
Well, regret was perhaps too strong a word. He didn't mind helping Siesta – quite the contrary, in fact – but he wished he could have done so in a manner that didn't put him in the same room as these young nobles. The way they acted made him wish he could reach for a weapon and slit their pretty little throats.
They sat together in their little cliques, laughing and chatting, helping themselves to the food that the servants provided without even thanking them, without even looking at them. As if they were furniture, a part of the scenery. Occasionally, one of the noble children would call out an order for some foodstuff or another, or another jug of drink, and they would be promptly obeyed by one of the many maids and kitchen hands standing there in silent attendance.
The way the nobles talked made Ezio's skin crawl. That arrogant expectation that they would be obeyed, no matter how rude they sounded or how dismissive they were. The arrogance of nobility, thinking themselves higher and more important than any 'commoner'. It was just like home, like the Pazzi and Borgia of Roma and Firenze. Disgusting.
Ezio knew that nobles bled just the same way commoners did. Death visited all, no matter what womb you were born from.
"Excuse me!" an obnoxiously loud voice called out to him. "Can I have one of those excellent-looking pastries, my good man?"
Ezio repressed the urge to beat that pompous little twit to death with the metal tray he was carrying. It was heavy enough, and it had a rough edge. Slam it against someone's neck hard enough and it should break. Or perhaps he could choke him with it. As far as improvised weapons went, a metal tray wasn't a bad choice. Hell, Ezio had killed people with a broom before.
To his regret, Ezio reined in that impulse and approached the group of students that were chattering amongst themselves, the blond idiot from last night at its centre, his admirers surrounding him as he posed after yet another dramatic declaration, flourishing his rose wand. Whatever it was he had said, the boys and girls surrounding him ate it all up. Ezio had stopped listening to him after a while, just so he could repress the urge to murder the idiot boy right then and there in the most brutal manner possible.
Now, however, he had no choice but to deal with him. Oh joy.
"Yes, signore?" he said politely. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, give those pastries here!" the boy said impatiently. "Honestly, how stupid can you be? Do your job! We don't pay your salary for nothing, you know." The students around him tittered at his wit. Or perhaps the lack thereof. Ezio wasn't quite sure.
Biting his tongue to avoid saying the first thing that came to his mind, Ezio bowed graciously and held out the platter filled with assorted pastries, swallowing his pride. "Of course, Messere." He'd often dressed up as a servant for one assassination or another, and knew the part he had to play.
Though he rarely played the servant for very long. Usually, he killed the smug bastard that thought him to be subservient to him. Ezio realized with a sense of melancholy that he really couldn't do that here. Not yet, at least. He didn't have a place to hide the body, for starters, and the magic was an additionally complicating variable. How bothersome.
Soon, all the pastries were swiped from the pastries by the ravenous students, yet the blond was still there, staring at Ezio. "Have we met before?"
Ezio raised an eyebrow. As if I could forget an idiotic performance like the one you put on last night. His mouth twitched slightly. "I'm sure I would remember an illustrious personage such as yours, signore," he answered, voice dripping with dry amusement.
"Is is you!" the young student exclaimed, pointing his rose wand at Ezio dramatically. "I recognize your strange accent! You're that new servant, aren't you?"
"Am I? I hadn't realized. Who are you, then?"
"Don't be so insolent! My name is Guiche de Gramont, third son of the illustrious Général de Gramont, leader of the Queen's Fifth Regiment during the Fourth Germanian Campaign!" the boy declared, straightening himself up and sticking out his bared chest (an open shirt with frills, how utterly tasteless) in a gesture of manly machismo. Considering there wasn't much chest to stick out, it made him look more like a twerp than anything else. His admirers didn't seem to care, swooning over him. "Your behaviour last night was most rude, commoner! I've had a mind or two to punish you for your undignified actions!"
Ezio wondered why the nobles here were so interested in punishing others. That couldn't possibly be a healthy state of mind.
He narrowed his eyes at the self-proclaimed military scion. "I think I remember you..." he began slowly.
Guiche preened, proud of having made a lasting impression–
"...you were with that lovely young lady, weren't you? Katie, wasn't it? How is she doing, by the way?"
–only to deflate a moment later as a deathly silence fell over the whole group. Guiche himself had become perfectly still and pale as a sheet.
"Guiche," a deceptively sweet voice asked, "what is this that I'm hearing about you and Katie?"
The pompous fop had gone quite white as a curly-haired girl with blue eyes pushed through the crowd that had seemed to gather, glaring at him. "Nothing! Nothing at all!" he said quickly, trying to give a charming smile. "After all, why would I need to spend time with her when I have such a–"
"–charming rose to spend my time with?" Ezio finished, chuckling. "Careful, you used that one last night on young Miss Katie already. Some variety in your compliments wouldn't hurt, you know."
"A 'charming rose', Guiche? Really?" the young girl asked quietly, still glaring at the blond boy. "And exactly why is my fiancé spending his time with other women without telling the one he's promised to marry?"
"Lies! All lies!" the youth said frantically, waving his rose wand around. "You are the only one for me, Montmorency! There's no need to believe this servant, he's a commoner! He–"
"Oh, hello, Miss Katie!" Ezio called out loudly as he spotted the brunette at the edge of the crowd of onlookers. "Lovely day we're having, isn't it?"
Immediately, the whole crowd's attention was focused on the young girl as she stormed up to Guiche with tears in her eyes and started to loudly berate him for his 'unfaithfulness'. With all eyes fixed on the impending drama that was about to follow, Ezio made a quick getaway, smirking mischievously. Manipulating a crowd was just so easy, not to mention entertaining.
Ezio quickly walked over to Siesta, who was watching with quiet horror at the chaos that began to unfold, wringing her hands. "What happened?" she asked, worry evident on her face.
Ezio casually leant against the wall next to her, keeping a straight face. "Well, that blond imbecile was seriously getting on my nerves, so I just talked to him. I really have no idea what happened."
"Absolutely no idea, now?" another voice asked icily. Ezio blinked, looking to his other side and seeing Louise glare up at him. He hadn't even noticed her approach. She was surprisingly quiet. Or perhaps he'd just been distracted.
He raised a cool eyebrow. "Is there a problem, mistress?" he asked, the title sounding far more disdainful than it should have in his mouth.
Louise frowned as she watched Katie, Guiche and Montmorency argue loudly and quite hysterically with each other, the crowd watching with poorly hidden enthusiasm. "Be careful what kind of people you mess with," she quietly warned. "No matter how much Guiche deserves a kicking, he is still a noble. He could kill you very easily if he wanted to."
Ezio snorted in disdain. "Greater men than him have tried."
The petite girl just scowled and walked away. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
Ezio looked at her as she left, puzzled. ...Was that concern just now? Strange way to show it.
He heard two loud slaps and returned his attention to the little mayhem he had started. Guiche stood there, open-mouthed and holding one of his two flaming cheeks, staring incredulously as the two girls stormed away, angrily pushing their way through the crowd. The blond one simply looked furious, but Katie was crying openly. Ezio felt a slight pang of guilt at her plight, remembering when Claudia had found out about Ducchio's two-timing. Admittedly, she hadn't stayed sad all that long, but she was still hurt by him. He smiled wistfully. The ensuing beat-down he gave that scumbag was one of Ezio's most treasured memories.
He resolved to do something nice for Miss Katie at some point in the future. She probably needed it.
"YOU!" Guiche roared as he advanced on Ezio, his rose held out threateningly. "This is all your fault!"
Ezio took note of the surrounding students and the way they followed Guiche with avid interest. That was the trouble with crowds – such fickle beasts. Siesta squeaked in fear and quickly got out of the way.
The Assassin raised a brow in mild interest. "My fault?"
"You made a young maiden cry!" the blond youth declared, pointing the rose at Ezio. "Her tears are on your hands! Her lamentations and weeping was caused by your barbarian manners!"
Ezio rolled his eyes. Overblown drama worse than any cheap street theatre. Well, he could act too. "Why, I've never made a young lady cry!" he protested aloud, clutching his heart in mock indignation. "All the ladies I kept company I left quite satisfied and happy, though they always seemed disappointed that I had to depart early." He grinned as some students couldn't help chuckling. Turning a crowd against its instigator was vital. Humour seemed to help. "Though I wonder why those two young ladies seemed so... disappointed, Gramont. Why the two-timing? Is it that difficult to control your own urges that you can't even stay with one woman? Cheating on your fiancé, that lovely young signorina di Montmorency..." He shook his head in mock disapproval. "What an utter shame that she be wasted on a fool like you..."
"Enough of this!" Guiche roared, red-faced, the laughter of the crowd in his ears. He looked furious and unbalanced, as if he was going to snap at any moment.
Good. Ezio hoped that his taunts would provoke a reaction.
"You," Guiche growled, trying in vain to control himself, "are a vulgar and filthy commoner!"
Ezio yawned, looking quite disinterested. "Vulgarity and truth are seldom far apart, aren't they? As for the filth – I'm not the one staining his house's honour and that of two young women with my skirt-chasing. My mother raised me better than that, even if I am nothing but a commoner."
The idiot didn't miss the barb thrown at his family. "How dare you insult the House of Gramont!"
"It's not really an insult if it's true, no?" Ezio retorted with a smirk. "I'd say I'm not the one shaming my family by making an ass of myself in front of witnesses."
"That's it!" Guiche roared, pointing his rose straight at Ezio. "In the name of the House of Gramont, by the honours granted to me by my nobility and my magic, I challenge you to a duel!"
The whole crowd, which had amassed to include most of the students in the dining hall, had fallen silent. The other students seemed expectant and excited. Siesta looked terrified. Louise, though, looked resigned and tired, head held in her hands. Ezio wondered what her problem was.
"I accept," he said calmly. "Where and when?"
Guiche blinked in surprise as hushed murmurs broke out amongst the students. Ezio stepped forward from the wall, facing him. "Where and when, ragazzo?" he repeated, the taunting smirk reappearing.
The youth lifted up his nose haughtily. "The Vestri Court," he announced loudly with a grin. "We shall not sully these halls with the shame of your defeat. In ten minutes. Is that soon enough for you, or do you need more time to prepare?" he taunted.
The Assassin gave a mocking bow. "I am always ready for a fight, Monsieur de Gramont. I will be there, unless, of course, I have to wait for you to powder your nose. Take your time if you need it, though."
Guiche snarled in anger and marched through the chuckling crowd towards the entrance. His friends followed him, looking rather unsure, the other students following after them. Ezio stretched, hearing his joints crack one by one. Ah. That felt good.
"That was very foolish, Familiar."
Ezio turned around to see Louise scrutinizing him with a cool look. "My name is not 'Familiar'. And why was I foolish?" he asked, mildly interested despite his annoyance.
Louise harrumphed. "Technically, you couldn't even be challenged to a duel – you're a commoner, after all. A duel is between nobles, beings capable of magic, gifted by God and His Founder. Between people with honour. You're neither. Guiche did this deliberately to humiliate you."
"And how, pray, does he intend to humiliate me?" Ezio asked, amused.
The petite girl just scowled. "He'll beat you into a bloody pulp in front of the whole school. Is that humiliating enough, Monsieur Auditore?"
Ezio chuckled at the spiteful way she spoke his name, which only served to incense her further. "Well, if that womanizing fop can beat me, then I'd say that I definitely deserve to be humiliated."
"Foolish, stubborn and overconfident," Louise sighed, shaking her head in resignation. "Guiche will grind you to dust. No commoner can resist a mage."
"Then your commoners have never really tried."
Louise gave him a mirthless smile. "They have. They got massacred and subdued time and again. A pitchfork or sickle is no good when the elements themselves are out to destroy you." Louise walked towards the entrance door. "Guiche specializes in Earth magic. Construction, to be precise."
"...What does that mean? And why are you telling me this?"
Louise shrugged. "Who knows. I'll see you outside."
A moment later she was gone, leaving Ezio and Siesta behind. The Assassin turned to the quivering servant and smiled politely. "Do excuse me, Miss Siesta, but where exactly can I find the Vestri Court?"
...
Ezio regretted needling Guiche until the youth snapped and challenged him to a duel.
Not that he didn't want to fight – in fact, he would like nothing more than wipe that pompously confident smirk off the blond idiot's face, preferably using something with a sharp edge. What Ezio regretted was the choice of venue – one of the many large courtyards of the Academy. It was a large, open space, allowing both duellists enough room to move and fight. The surrounding crowd encircled Ezio and Guiche within a respectful distance. Siesta stood next to a tree, looking pale and ill. Louise was standing off to the side, watching with a scowl. Kirche and Tabitha were there as well, the redhead looking curious and Tabitha still reading, although she occasionally glanced up at the two combatants. The scene never seemed to hold her interest for long, though.
Ezio shifted apprehensively. This wasn't how he usually fought. When he had the chance, he decided the battlefield, the weapons, and the moment to strike, not his opponent. Ezio didn't fight 'fair' – the concept was as alien to him as the strange magic the people of these lands used. Fighting fair meant that there was a chance his enemy might win. There was a reason why he climbed high and struck from above if he could. It evened the odds, especially when he was outnumbered.
Ezio had never lost a fight. He might have lost a battle, lost friends, but all who had faced him had eventually died by his hand in one manner or another, sooner or later.
The Assassin's finger twitched. Still, this whole 'honourable duel' business was just bad news for him.
"I commend you for not running away." Guiche smirked, looking completely confident. "Are you scared, commoner?"
"Hardly," Ezio drawled, smirking. "Just waiting for your first move. Or are you too cowardly to attack, hiding behind that witchcraft of yours?"
Counters. Let him attack first, then react. It would give him an idea of what this mage was capable of.
"Bah!" Guiche spat on the ground, flourishing his wand. "Do you know what my runic name is, commoner?"
Whatever it is, it's probably as ridiculously flamboyant as everything else about you, Ezio thought disdainfully.
"My name is Guiche the Bronze! And that is exactly what you shall fight, commoner! A Valkyrie made of that beautiful metal, summoned from the Earth itself to defeat you!"
And with a few decisive slashes of the rose wand, something rose from the ground – a large, hulking figure made of shining metal. It was in the shape of a woman, beautifully decorated and wielding a long pike. It clunked as it straightened up, hefting its weapon. Impressed mutters resounded in the crowd – apparently this type of magic was rather difficult.
Ezio eyed it warily. Construction, she said... The ability to build things with magic. Now it makes sense.
"So? What do you say to my creation, commoner?" the youth declared confidently.
The Italian smirked wickedly. "Well, I was just wondering why you decided to hide behind something that looks like a woman, to be honest. Not man enough to fight your own battles, boy? Hiding behind a woman's skirt? Or did you create that lamentable imitation because it's the only woman that would accept you without feeling the urge to slap you?"
Angry people made mistakes, and Ezio had taunted his foes for years. The result was predictable, really: Guiche yelled in anger and flicked his rose wand, making the metal hulk charge towards Ezio at a full run. The Assassin waited patiently, raising his gauntleted fists from his sides in an easy stance.
When the construct reached him and made to run him through with its pike, Ezio lightly twisted aside. With a deft grip he had grabbed the long weapon, a strong kick sending the construct tumbling, the weapon ripped out of its hands. Before anyone could even blink, Ezio had used the pike's heavy axe head to crash through the metal shell of the puppet, cutting from its right shoulder to its left hip in one fluid motion. The two hollow halves fell to the ground with an empty clang.
Ezio dropped the pike, feeling the back of his left hand itching madly. Strange...
"I-impossible!"
Ezio turned around and saw Guiche, his mouth open and gawking. The crowd had fallen completely silent. Kirche and Siesta were goggling at the sudden turn of events. Louise looked as stunned as the other students around her. Tabitha was the only one who looked relatively unsurprised, but even her eyes were narrowed.
The Assassin shrugged dismissively. "I am bored, ragazzo. If those puppets are all you have in your bag of tricks, I suggest you concede defeat."
Guiche became red with fury. "A Gramont does not run!" he yelled, waving his wand again. This time, three metal figures rose out of the ground – one wielding an axe, another a mace and shield, and the last a spear.
"Of course, Gramont!" Ezio called out, grinning. "Hide behind your little marionettes! Hide behind them like the coward you are!"
"I. Am. Not. A. Coward!" Guiche roared, and the three figures charged all at once.
The first thing that Ezio noticed was that these constructs were all unusually well coordinated – Though it would make sense, he reasoned as he dodged a swipe of the axe before deflecting a jab of the spear with one of his bracers, if they are all created by the same person and come from the same source. They won't fight like ordinary humans will.
The second thing That Ezio noted that he himself was unusually fast. The familiar's ritual had given him back his youth, certainly, returning him to his former speed and strength of old, but even now he was evading the attacks of three different opponents all at once with a speed and grace that surpassed anything he'd ever done before. Even after decades of fighting, Ezio didn't think that he had ever been this nimble.
He'd solve that puzzle later, though. Time to end this little charade.
When the mace-wielding construct came just a bit too close, Ezio's leg lashed out in a practiced kick, hitting its groin. The metal dented under his armoured shin, the construct wobbling precariously, unbalanced. A moment later Ezio had grabbed the mace and viciously caved its chest in.
One down, two to go.
The axe(wo)man charged forward, but its overhead strike was predictable. Ezio nimbly stepped sideways, the captured mace crashing into its extended leg, sending it on its way downwards. With a fluid underhand strike, Ezio reduced the back of its head to an unrecognizable deformed mass, the beautifully decorated face now nothing more than crumpled sheet metal. The construct became still when Ezio slammed the heavy mace into its back with full force.
One left...
The last Valkyrie seemed to have learned from the fate of its fellows. Or perhaps it was Guiche that was being more careful now. No matter. In any case, the last construct stayed back, holding its spear in a guard position, waiting warily as it tried to corral him.
Ezio rolled his eyes and dropped the mace. He lifted up his left arm and aimed.
A moment later, a loud gunshot destroyed the stunned silence in the courtyard, the bullet tearing through the construct like a dagger through cheese. It dropped the spear, one of its arms having been cleanly blown off at the shoulder, and had no time to defend itself when Ezio punched it several times with an armoured fist, the hollow puppet crumbling under the force of his strikes.
Ezio flexed his fingers distastefully as the figure collapsed. He scowled at Guiche, who had begun to tremble like a leaf, his face as pale as that of a ghost's.
"I-i-impossible," he mumbled, staring wide-eyed at the remains of his puppets before pointing a quivering rose wand at his opponent. "That's impossible! You're nothing but a commoner!"
"Pathetic," Ezio growled. "Pathetic! You called yourself the son of a general, didn't you? A noble capable of magic! Look at me, boy!" he roared, and Guiche flinched as Ezio approached. "I have none of your hocus-pocus! I cannot conjure fire, I cannot create puppets, I can't even heal myself! I have only my weapons, my skills and my wit! And yet here I am, still standing! Well? What do you have to say for yourself?"
Guiche whimpered something inaudible, his knees knocking together, looking like a deer before it was run down by hunters on horseback.
Ezio shook his head, scoffing disdainfully. "I don't know whether to pity you or pity your father. He must be disappointed at having a sorry excuse for a fighter like you as his son. Or at least he would be disappointed, if he really is half the general you claim him to be." He narrowed his eyes at the youth, the hidden blade leaping from its sheath with a loud hiss. "Don't worry, though – I don't think you'll embarrass your dear father any longer after this."
And he started running towards Guiche at a full tilt, fully intending to cut his throat. The youth screamed and waved his wand, making half a dozen constructs appear from the ground. These had none of the elaborate decorations that had dominated his previous puppets – these were simply ugly, bland pieces of metal, constructed in a panicked hurry to stop a furious attacker.
It was futile.
Ezio tore through them, dancing like a dervish through their ranks, the hidden blade cutting metal, the hookblade sending puppets crashing into each other or tripping them over, leaving them helpless to the coup de grâce that followed a moment later, their arms cut off or their hollow shells ruthlessly crushed by a heavy boot or a dropping knee.
Guiche whimpered when Ezio emerged from the destroyed hunks of metal moments later without a single scratch. He frantically waved his rose wand and a sword rose from the ground, hilt first. Guiche grabbed it and charged, screaming incoherently, a wild and panicked look on his face. The Assassin scoffed.
Ezio grabbed Guiche's wrist and elbow as the boy's first wide swing came his way, pushing harshly in the opposite direction. The joint snapped with a sound that curdled blood, Ezio taking the sword for himself with a deft twist. The heavy boot lashed out, smashing into the side of the noble's knee. Guiche collapsed with a shrill scream of pain as the joint was reduced to splinters, his legs now unable to hold him, the broken limb bent at an angle that couldn't possibly be healthy.
Ezio set the captured weapon against Guiche's throat, drawing blood. One little push and the jugular would be severed, ridding the world of another useless parasite.
A voice stopped him, though, cutting cleanly through the red haze of cold rage and fury clouding his mind.
"Ezio, that's enough!"
Ezio's sword stilled, the itch on the back of his left hand heightening, as if the runes had been cut into his skin again. He gritted his teeth, tempted to just kill the little shit anyway, but looked around him first.
The students around him had backed away as far as they possibly could, their faces pale. Some of the girls were clutching each other in abject terror, crying, the boys looking faint, as if they were going to be ill. All their faces were displaying utter fear and shock. Siesta looked shocked, as if she couldn't believe what she had just witnessed with her own eyes. Kirche's mouth was open in a wide 'O' of surprise, her arms hanging slack at her sides. Tabitha's eyes were upon him, icy blue and calculating, her expression far colder than he had ever seen it before. Montmorency and Katie had apparently returned to watch, both of them looks of utter horror on their faces as they saw Guiche lying broken and bleeding on the ground.
It was Louise that surprised him, though. The girl hadn't retreated like her classmates; no, she had actually stepped forward, standing only a few metres away from the two of them, the diminutive girl glaring at him, hands clenched. It was her who had yelled at him to stand down.
Ezio, however, didn't drop his sword. "Why stop me?" he asked, curious.
She held his gaze, not backing down. "I will not let you kill him," she grit out angrily.
"Again, why stop me?" Ezio adjusted his grip slightly, nicking Guiche's skin, blood flowing freely. The blond youth whimpered, tears running down his face, his robes an utter mess. Ezio didn't care. "You don't even like him that much," he continued bluntly, ignoring his defeated opponent who began to weep quietly in fear. "And he was the one who challenged me to a duel, vero? I could kill him right now, right here, and no one would be able to complain."
"He's one of my classmates," Louise spat out. "It doesn't matter if I like him or not. And it seems I might be the only one who can stop you from killing him. It's not right."
Ezio grinned nastily. "Is that so, child? If he had ground me to dust instead," he relished the girl's flinch as her own words were thrown back into her face, "would you have said anything? Or would you have relished an uppity commoner getting his due? Would that have been right?"
"...No," Louise snarled, "it wouldn't have been right! But that doesn't matter now!"
"It matters," Ezio said coldly, the point of his sword never wavering. "Injustice is one of my particular pet peeves. People tend to die when they annoy me, child."
"Please..." Guiche whimpered, trying to move away from the sword, but unable to do so as he screamed in pain, his destroyed arm and leg hampering him. "Please..."
"What?" Ezio asked, throwing the youth an irritated glance. "What is it you want?"
"I want to live," Guiche whispered, blood from his throat running over his bare chest. He was sobbing now, completely undignified when faced with death. "I want to live!"
"You challenge me to a duel, knowing full well that we would fight to the death, and now that you are defeated, you beg for your life?" Ezio asked, disgusted. "Where is that bravado of yours now? Gone, all because a 'commoner' managed to defeat you?"
Guiche stared up at him along the length of the blade he'd conjured, tears running down his cheeks and his eyes silently pleading.
"Is this the first time you've faced death, ragazzo?" the Assassin asked scornfully.
"Yes," Guiche whispered, his voice fading.
"Pathetic," Ezio said quietly, but he was still heard throughout the whole courtyard. "And you call yourself a noble? If you were unwilling to gamble your life for the cause you defend, then you are nothing more than a waste of space." He spat out at Guiche disdainfully. "Shameful. If you are an example of the rest of this country's nobility, then I wish to be no part of it."
The students were silent, watching with growing horror, the only sounds being some of the students silently weeping and the sound of the wind. Guiche was still pleading silently for mercy, crying and feeling far colder than he ever had before in his life, even though the sun was high in the sky.
"Ezio..." Louise said quietly, warningly.
The Assassin threw her a baleful glare. The conjured sword was raised high in a sudden movement, slashing across Guiche's face, blood splattering the grass. Some of the students screamed. Others fainted. Guiche himself collapsed bonelessly onto his back in a dead faint.
Ezio looked at him with contempt, grabbing the two ends of the conjured sword and breaking it over his knee, letting the pieces drop at his feet. He turned around and marched towards Louise, who nearly shrank back under his furious glare. The girl, however, stood her ground, and Ezio felt a grudging sort of respect rise in him.
"I will listen to you this once, mistress," Ezio hissed venomously, ignoring the students who crowded towards Guiche in a panic, trying to help him. "But the next time any one of these fools challenges me to a duel, their head will be mine. Capito?"
"I wouldn't worry too much," Louise said laconically, nodding towards the teachers that were driving their way through the crowd to get to the wounded student. "Anyone who challenges you after this little display is a true idiot. Killing them would be a favour to the universe."
Sister Catherine had managed to get to Guiche first, hurriedly levitating the broken boy onto a stretcher, assisted by a bespectacled woman with green hair that threw a wary look Ezio's way. Professor Colbert was there, accompanied by an old man with a long flowing beard that reached his belt buckle, clad in elaborate robes. They conversed hurriedly, whispering to themselves with agitation before Colbert nodded and hurried off.
As Ezio watched, the old man stood up to his full height and glared. "Don't you have any classes to get to, ladies and gentlemen?" he roared, his voice booming across the yard with ease. "Get moving, or a detention will be the least thing you have to worry about!"
Ezio nearly burst out laughing as the students scattered. The incongruity of threatening someone with detention, of all things, after nearly witnessing someone succumbing to a brutal death was just too strange. Louise noticed the suppressed hilarity, though, and couldn't help but smirk herself.
Guiche was briskly carried away under the eyes of the muttering students, the two remaining teachers conferring quickly and quietly.
"Say, Ezio," Louise addressed him quietly, her words nearly inaudible over the hubbub of the crowd.
"What is it, Louise?"
She hesitated for a moment before ploughing on. "...Can you teach me how to use a sword like you?"
Ezio blinked, before a slow smile flickered over his face.
Well, well, there is some steel in this little mistress of mine after all.
...
"By the Founder, Colbert, I thought that you were just pulling my leg," Old Osmond muttered quietly to the man accompanying him through the corridors. The old magician looked pale and worried.
"Oh, so you suddenly believe me now?" the teacher said, sounding mildly offended. "When I came to tell you of my suspicions yesterday evening, you dismissed them, and I quote, as 'baloney created by a mind addled by reading too much history and far too many myths and bedtime stories.' What changed your tune so quickly, headmaster?"
"My apologies, Colbert, but you do have a reputation for various... eccentricities," Old Osmond said diplomatically.
Colbert raised an eyebrow. "I like researching history. It is full of interesting lessons for each and every single one of us, full of mistakes that we can learn and grow from."
"Let's not start that particular argument again, as fascinating as it may be, d'accord?" Osmond said quickly, waving his hand dismissively. "We have far more important things to worry about. Are you absolutely sure that the familiar's runes match those written down in Brimir's scrolls?"
Colbert sighed, aggravated. "Indubitably. The angles, the geometry, the various arrangements and magical power conduits all match those of the runes belonging to the Gandalfr. Seeing that man's skill with his weapons was just the final proof."
"Dear Founder and all his Saints..." the headmaster whispered, looking pale and worried. "The Left Hand of God has returned..."
"Well, that can't really be a good sign," Colbert said bluntly. "Brimir's familiars were foretold to return in times of war and strife. Omens of doom, as the old women say."
"Surely those are legends."
"Headmaster, have you seen the way that man moved?" Colbert asked incredulously. "He annihilated the Gramont boy. That arrogant brat may be a skirt-chasing idiot, but he's no slouch when it comes to magic and puppetry. A natural talent, one might say. Yet he was demolished in mere moments by a commoner with absolutely no magical aptitude using nothing more than common weapons and skill. And I can't help but think that Monsieur Auditore was just toying with him."
Osmond raised an interested eyebrow, suddenly stopping in the hallway next to an open window, feeling a fresh breeze. "Auditore?"
"That's the familiar's name," Colbert confirmed. "Ezio Auditore da Firenze."
"Firenze, you say? Sounds Romalian."
The bespectacled teacher laughed quietly. "It does, doesn't it? I looked up the name. It's the name of a small fishing village that was razed to the ground over forty years ago during a peasant uprising. The local nobility weren't exactly gentle when they decided to suppress the rebels... But he can't possibly be from there. He knew nothing of magic and our society."
"Really?" Osmond asked, sounding inordinately interested.
"In fact," Colbert continued, pushing his glasses excitedly up his nose, "he scoffed at the very idea of it, only believing me when I demonstrated our power right in front of him. He claimed that his homeland didn't know magic at all!"
"And yet he can fight magicians with nothing but swords and skill? Truly impressive. ...Keep an eye on him," Osmond ordered quietly after a moment of thought, keeping his voice low. "We have no idea what his intentions are, so be wary. You still have that artefact you retrieved from his person when he first appeared, don't you?"
"The golden sphere?"
"Yes, that one. It's definitely a powerful magical object; any fool with the Sense could spot it from miles away. We'll lock it into the Academy's vault for safekeeping."
Colbert blinked rapidly. "Is that wise? Technically, we are stealing that thing from him, headmaster."
"Would you rather have me return an immeasurably powerful magical object to a commoner who has no idea how to use it?" Osmond asked archly. Colbert looked like he wanted to say something, but shut his mouth quickly. "Thank you for agreeing with me. Now, I expect that artefact in my office this evening. Until then, Professor Colbert, I bid you a good day." With a sweep of his robes, the headmaster disappeared down the Academy's corridor, his expression back to that of the grandfatherly old man that many of the students looked up to and trusted.
The former Flame Snake simply stood there, lost in thought. And yet you're wrong, headmaster. There is magic in that man, just not any we have ever come across. I can feel it. And he is the Gandalfr... Colbert's mouth set into a mirthless smile. There's no telling what he is capable of. Or what Mademoiselle de la Vallière is capable of, for that matter. After all, she was the one who summoned him in the first place.
The teacher turned on his heel, walking towards the laboratory that he called home. Well, playing it safe is probably the best idea for now, he mused silently. Let's hope this doesn't blow up in our faces.
Outside the open window where a strong wind blew, he thought he heard an eagle screech.
...
The original light novels of Familiar of Zero (Zero no Tsukaima) were written by Noboru Yamaguchi, originally published by Media Factory in 2004, and are still ongoing after twenty volumes and a four-season anime adaptation by J.C. Staff that premiered in July 2006.
The original video game Assassin's Creed was originally released in 2007 by Ubisoft, followed by its sequels Assassin's Creed II (2009), Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010), and Assassin's Creed: Revelations (2011). At the time of this writing (May 2012), Assassin's Creed III is announced to be released in October 2012.
Again, please support the official release, and be kind enough to leave a review.