It had only been a single day since Ulysses Septimus had found out about the location of the next map piece.
The Supreme Commander of the Armada paced the length of his flagship - the Malevolence - for what must have been the thirtieth time yet. The more they approached the fortress of the Neo - Aquilan Assassins, the more the memories returned in more ferocious waves.
"Ulysses, run! I will cover you!"
Ezio was cut off rather rudely by the sound of a cannon firing somewhere out in the distance, and the sound of a section of Monteriggioni's battlement walls coming down; rubble now landing on the streets in massive chunks...
Ulysses Septimus' white gloved fingers tightened almost painfully around the railing of the Armada galleon. His mouth had pressed down into a thin line, impossibly thin, behind the mask that had became his face; it was utterly, completely impossible not to recall in vivid detail, as though it had only happened yesterday, the siege of the Assassin fortress of Monteriggioni.
He had escaped, Septimus recalled, almost unscathed minus a few minor bruises and scraps and small wounds from fighting against the Templars who had attempted to cut him off during his escapade.
If I had returned a few minutes quicker, this could have been prevented-!
In the same vivid detail, Ulysses saw himself return to a scene of carnage in the fortress when the Malevolence passed by the ruins that was once Monteriggioni; made ever more vivid by the moonlight now shining down from the heavens, reflecting from the stones that were once a part of the mighty fortress, telling a story with their own silence.
A story of bloodbath, of death and my first failure that I could have prevented.
Ulysses turned his gaze away from the fortress' ruins, albeit with some effort, focusing instead forward and on the location that he and his soldiers currently headed towards.
The fortress of Cyprus, named after the island on which it stood, fabled to be the birthplace of the Aquilan Goddess Aphrodite Mirrorlove.
Internally, the Supreme Commander of the Armada estimated that it would not be longer than one more hour before they arrived at the only recently built fortress. Some part of him deep down inside nudged at him, whispering like the golden artifact often would into his mind.
If it wasn't for Atticus, the memories attached to this world would not have been so bitter and painful. If it wasn't for him, your brother would have lived. if it wasn't for him, your lord and your King would have still been alive and functioning.
Atticus Mercilus.
Ulysses' lips twisted from a straight line into a dangerous, silent snarl, both of his hands tightening around the armrests of the chair as he fought to keep himself from exploding into yet another one of those fits of silent anger against the Templar Grand Master, the one who had tore his life down and stomped it into shreds.
Yet, ironically, if it was not for Atticus instigating this series of events, perhaps he would not have been in the position he was in today.
The thought alone was enough to prompt a slight, airy chuckle of an almost morbid humor from Ulysses' lips behind the protection of his mask.
"How strange you are, Fates - what else do you wish to give me in return for tearing something I hold dear away?"
He had only registered those words when he had spoken them out loud to the empty cabin before him, and the little chuckle that followed it at least a whole minute later. Perhaps he should not have been testing the fates this way, for are they not the one who loves to actually reply to the questions of the mortals through actually enacting out the answer before them?
The thought was quickly pushed to the other side of his mind, however, muted by the overwhelming buzz of memories and voices he could not name within his skull.
Running his fingers along the map of Aquila laid out on the map before him, Ulysses lingered over Illios, the location in which the city of Troy currently stood. What a damn clever location, truly: surrounded on both sides by steep mountains, a single fortress of enough size would be easily defended, but much more difficult to take.
No wonder the Eagles have not been able to make even a dent in the forces of the snakes.
Ulysses brought a single gloved hand up the comm link clipped to his collar.
"Albinus, report in."
The very second his fingers left the miniature mechanism, a series of organized raps sounded at the closed door of the captain's cabin.
"Enter."
The youngest member of the Triumvirate closed the door behind him as he stepped in, his right arm snapping into a classic Armada salute.
"Supreme Commander and creator."
Ulysses nodded only once, raising his right hand in a singular gesture for him to have a seat in the chair directly across from him, separated only by the massive desk that had taken up the majority of the space in the cabin.
"Have a look at this."
Who else would be more fitting to help plan out the assault on the Trojan fortress than the representative of his own intelligence and logic?
Albinus was silent for several seconds, simply scanning over the map laid out before him.
"It does appear that our foes have chosen a rather strategic location for a fortress; easy to defend, hard to lay siege to."
The Armada elite sniper scanned over the map a few more times.
"Though it is not impossible to subdue-" He traced a singular thin finger up the sides of the image of the walls of Troy, "-if we can overcome the walls and open the gates from the inside, whatever is inside the walls would be nothing but "meat for the picking," as how humans would have put it."
Such was not exactly difficult for Ulysses himself, truly, not with his training and experience he had amassed over the years as an Assassin, he could scale those walls with little effort; not to mention if this was accomplished at night, there was a more than likely chance he would be able to slit the throat of the sentries without raising even the smallest sound.
"What would you suggest of then, Albinus?"
"What you had in mind, Commander, or myself and Servius can remain on the ship and snipe off each of the sentries to open a way for the eagles to enter the city. I have another idea, though it is not exactly one of stealth."
"Continue."
The Apple truly had not failed in making him my perfect twin in terms of intelligence and logical reasoning.
"Bombard them with our cannons until the walls come down, then allow the Eagles to march their forces in first, and only send our troops in after them so to avoid loss to our numbers."
Ulysses had thought he replied with perfect clarity and control, though the clearly visible flinch that went through Albinus' frame made him think otherwise: "I do like your ideas, particularly the third one, which I believe that the General Rooke himself would no doubt agree with myself on."
It was a fairly well known fact that the General of the Armada was one who lusted after the thrill of the battle, of spilling the blood of the enemies of the Armada.
Pausing for a singular second to compare each of the plans within his mind, the Supreme Commander of the Armada allowed himself a ear - to - ear smile behind his mask, so wide it almost felt painful upon his face.
"Belay my commands to the Genral Rooke and others, we shall take on the third plan you recommended."
Albinus saluted him.
"Immediately, Commander."
Rising from his seat, the elite sniper exited the cabin in a few quick strides, leaving Ulysses once more with his own thoughts and the demon which had woken from its slumber at the promise of blood and carnage; hissing excitedly like a snake that had just picked up on the scent of its prey.
Perhaps it was not the brightest idea to allow this demon to catch a scent of the blood that would no doubt be spilled, for Ulysses soon found himself rather dizzy and unable to hold a straight stance as he rose from his own chair, a feeling rather similar to those rushes he would get when he served as the Interrogator for the Assassin Order. Only it was ten times, a hundred times stronger.
The very same urge to throw his head back and laugh.
The same urge to want, desire more blood to be spilled by his enemies.
The same dizziness at the thought of the blood they would spill onto the earth as they fall down screaming, struck by a sword or some other weapon.
"My my...I am quite addicted, it seems…"
Again, this was addressed to no one in particular, and it drew a laugh from Ulysses so that he had to quite literally clamp a hand over his own masked mouth to keep it from rising to a volume that would alarm his soldiers -
Lowering the hand down once the tremors and the laughter had finally died down, Septimus stepped out from the cabin, sensing a jolt through the deck underneath his feet as the Malevolence pulled into the docking area of the fortress of Cyprus.
Cyprus, much like many of the Assassin branch headquarters, was built in the same fashion as the other buildings often found in the world they were located; more or less resembling a typical Aquilan fortress, only the banner of the Assassin Order flew proudly in the air from the tallest building - the Praetorium - housing the Governor of the particular branch.
White clad Assassins held up their right hand in the Aquilan salute as Ulysses stepped off the Armada galleon.
"Hail, Grand Master General."
While normally, Ulysses felt more at ease amidst the ranks of clockworks he commanded, the Armada Supreme Commander found himself blending right back in among the Assassin faction -
My brothers and sisters...
Turning the dagger blade over in his hand, the Armada Supreme Commander sheathed the weapon with his signature flourish as a gesture for the governor and his elites to take their respective seats around the massive table in the war chamber.
"I had received news that the next piece of the map leading to El Dorado is here in Aquila, in the hands of the king Odysseus."
Ten long fingers interlocked, Ulysses looked over the face of each and every one present.
"Sì, Grand Master." The Governor of the branch spoke up, a middle aged man about the age of forty with a fine beard. "Our informant within the army of the Achaeans confirmed such."
"Then send the informant to announce to him of our arrival: inform him that we are more than ready to aide him in winning the Trojan War."
This is not Valencia, so it is only prudent to be careful in dealing with leaders of significance.
Saluting him, the Governor rose and exited the chamber.
Ulysses trained his attention back onto his elites - Deacon, Rooke, Servius, and Albinus - a small smile almost making its way onto his face underneath the protection of his mask. By now, Rooke's eagerness was almost visible, but Septimus supposed he could not blame him, he supposed, considering that the Supreme Commander of the Armada made it quite clear that he could take control of each and every battle they could possibly become involved in with the Serpents.
"Prepare to set sail for Troy."
Ulysses had left most of the elites onboard the Malevolence upon arrival to the outer rims of Illios; marching an entire battalion through the outer rings, where Serpent scouts were basically everywhere was nothing short of suicide -
In a war, sometimes the number can be the difference between defeat and victory.
The Supreme Commander of the Armada made a single gesture for Albinus - the only elite accompanying him - to keep close, much to Servius' dismay (upon initially hearing of the Commander's will to enter Illios without anyone else accompanying).
It almost felt as though he had returned to the times when he was naught but a single Assassin, truly, when he completed missions by himself and no one else.
"Commander!"
Albinus had spoken in the lowest of all whispers, almost imperceptible had it not been for their close proximity; almost pressing against each other.
Following the musketeer's finger, Ulysses could just make out the shape of what looked like a campfire in the distance.
And so the Aquila storyline begins, sort of. We also see a bit of the intelligence bestowed upon Albinus, for he is after all, literally Ulysses' intelligence, logic, and reasoning personified.
But whether the Armada soldiers succeed in taking the map piece or not shall be revealed later ;)
Reviews are much appreciated and they make me happy :D
Until next time my dear readers!
-Hades
(PS: email address is on my profile, I welcome any questions about VE/VL or anything else you would like to speak to me about)