Shadows: Whisper | Assassin's Creed

[TwilightMoonDragon]

Typhon

 

Typhon looked at the note again. Yes, it was scrawled down in such a rush, that you could not tell certain words apart from others. Running a hand through his hair, he looked at Cyrus and scowled. "The damn Athenians are coming to claim Thebes!"

 

"Athenians?" Aetios stepped out from the shadows, and blinked in confusion. There was a frown on his stubbly face, and his green eyes sparkled with concern. "Then why are we just standing-"

 

A fist cracked against his cheek. Aetios stumbled backwards onto the common room table, and struggled to get up. But a hand closed around his throat and cut off his circulation.

 

"Typ-" Aetios choked out, raising his hands to Typhon's.

 

"No!' Typhon screamed. "You damn Athenian! You betrayed us! You betrayed us all! All of you καθάρματα!"

 

[καθάρματα - ***s]

Edited July 27, 2013 by TwilightMoonDragon

[Dusset]

Cyrus was about to start mobilizing the Creed when Typhon punched out Aetios. Cyrus walked up, angry with the young man. He grabbed his collar a store him viciously off Aetios. "What in the name of Aries is going through your skull, boy? If you start pointing fingers, then everyone will jump in. Then suddenly you have anarchy on your hands. I don't give half a goat's ass if he's from Athens. He's an assassin and your brother. If you pull this again, I'll pull out your eyes and make you watch as I bloody your corpse." He released his grip and walked away. "Everyone! We're moving out! This is an emergency situation which places the whole city in danger! You need to pack now! Get your things and meet in the commons. We'll speak there!" He had a voice that carried, and was sure that everyone heard. "Move!" He walked back to Aella. "Have you seen Helena? She needs to be here." Sophia had heard her father and knew exactly what to do. She was in their room packing away what little had been unpacked. She returned and handed the sack to her father, her little arms barely carrying it. He thanked her and told her to keep close. If she lost him, she was to find him, Circe or Helena. They were the only two he might actually trust her with.

[RainDash]

"No, I just came back from attending the pigeon coops." Aella said, now a little worried. But she kept her cool. She was in charge and people would panic if she panicked. "I'll go look for her." She stated before darting off. If Typhon was mad at someone for just being Athenian, she really didn't want to be near him right now. The thought of him just being angry for now reason scared her, but she'd fight back. She always did.

 

Calypso was wandering around when she heard the yelling. She had just barely entered the room when Typhon was about to bash in the skull of Aetios. She was Athenian, even if she didn't identify herself as such. Now scared and worried, Calypso backed out of the room, moving to her bed. Why was he so loud today? She didn't like it when people were loud. She was crying and covering her ears, scared that Typhon would somehow find her and hurt her. "Too loud. Don't like loud." She muttered to herself, twisting her fingers and wringing her hands.

 

[Going to work.]

[TwilightMoonDragon]

[Will post when Moose posts!]

[Mousia]

(What's going on right now? I know that the Templars have the Ankh and they need to go, but where am I needed?)

[Dusset]

((Cyrus asked Aela to go find Helena. He knows what he needs to do but not where they should head to.))

[Mousia]

Helena sat in a tree, knowing that the Athenians had come to take their city, but not particularly caring. Arcanus' tip from before had helped her gather information, but she hadn't told her masters about any of it. She hadn't wanted them to be scared. But she knew that they'd figure it out soon. Or perhaps they already had. But that wasn't on her mind. He was... Her black-clothed lover that had died at the hands of the Templars. She'd never forgive them for the loss of her fiancee. Tears streamed down her face as she remembered his smile. His laugh. His touch when the moon had risen to greet them and the stars twinkled down and smiled at their love. She sobbed and hugged the boughs of the tree, pretending that they could hug her back and console her for her sadness.

[RainDash]

Aella found Helena. Weeping and crying like a child. Crying made Aella sick, children cried. Adults like her and Helena, they didn't cry. They stood up and got back in the fight. Aella held her tongue though, she needed to have Helena not angry at her. "Helena." Aella said bluntly. "We need your advice. A letter has come in from Athens. The Templars have the Ankh. No one here has an idea of what to do."

 

[short because of chores]

[Mousia]

(Mkay. )

 

Helena wiped away her tears and stood up. She took several steps to the end of the branch, not caring that it bowed under her. "No one has an idea?" She laughed a little, though most would consider standing on the end of a bending branch dangerous. She seemed not to be aware. "No one offered any suggestion at all? No one was competent enough to come up with a single possibility? So you come running to me as I mourn? You feel the need to interrupt as the only emotion I feel is showing itself?" She shook her head and bent her knees, preparing to spring from the branch. Thrusting her body outward, she curled up into a ball and flipped once before setting her hands down to roll and break the fall. "I am Mentor for skill. Pure and complete knowledge of the fight. I can kill any number of Templars alone because I was trained to be a rival of the gods. Times were dire. The assassins needed us to have the strength of twenty men to fight against the coup. Torture made me stronger and here I still stand. But being strong for everybody and putting on a happy face to reassure every brother and sister takes its toll, Aella. So I'm sorry that I feel emotion and that you have eyes and ears to witness it. And I'm sorry that you all have no brains at all to come up with any idea at all. But if you, someone who knows nothing of the horrors of being a Mentor and how much loss I've had to swallow with a stone face, have a problem with me, you should say it out loud instead of letting me go on, unable to tell you why and rationalize my actions. I hope you didn't think that I got to where I am by keeping my eyes and ears closed. I see your scornful eyes and I hear your scrutinizing voice." She looked up at the sky. The clouds moved above them and she smiled. "Excuse my tone." She started walking toward headquarters, setting a brisk pace, neither going very slow, nor running. "I have known that the Templars had the Ankh for some time. I knew that the Athenians would move to take Thebes. Letting you all know would have caused an upset. I didn't want there to be panic before the actions were finalized. But now I can be be perfectly candid with you all. We must move all the children and all the sick beforehand, perhaps hiding them in wagons filled with straw or amongst animals. They must go along with a small team of guards. Then we should figure out what to do from there. But our first priority is protecting the weak among us whom we have sheltered. Understood?"

 

(I hope that plan is alright with you guys... )

[IceFyr1928]

[fine with me. I'm still waiting for people to actually start leaving.]

 

Devon chuckled slightly as he looked over the map of Thebes and the surrounding geography, and moved one of the wooden figurines marking a phalanx to the area in front of one of the main gates.

 

"We will have one phalanx here," he said to the military leaders around the table, "And another at the northern gate. From there, we will split two more phalanxes in half, using those four groups to secure the city and locate the assassin dogs. Once they have been located, a messenger will go to each phalanx with the information, and we will move in." As he gave the plan, he moved the pieces on the map, illustrating what was to happen. His commanders seemed to comprehend, and he dismissed them.

 

Once he was once again alone, he grabbed the Ankh from where it was resting, it had earned itself a display table of its own, and chuckled to himself as he felt its power.

 

"Soon, not even the gods will be able to stop me from taking the entire world into my hands..." He chuckled at the thought, and then turned to his private chambers, where his armor was waiting for him. When he started, he was a farmboy. Now, he led an army.

 

An unbeatable army.

[Dusset]

((I'm so old now...))

 

Cyrus relentlessly roared orders to his new found charges. If Aella was any good at being an assassin, she'd have found Helena by now. He was moving up and down the halls, in and out of the rooms. The whole of everyone were to be in the common. He didn't know why Helena was away, but she'd come back to Spartan level organization. A level of military precision that even eluded the assassins. "Get everyone out here.! I don't care if you're dying!" Sophia was running along behind her father, watching him work. It was always interesting. "Masters! Stay with your apprentices! Keep them in line! Our Mentor is on her way! If she isn't back in five minutes, we're leaving anyways!"

 

((Your plan is fine.

Though, Aella may have taken the situation wrong.))

[TwilightMoonDragon]

Aetios

 

Red blinded him, and pain flooded over the ridge of his nose. Typhon was ripped away from him, and he sat up. All he could hear was the murmurings of the people around him, and a higher one. Masters... stay with apprentices... Did he even have an apprentice..? He didn't know...

 

"Aetios," Circe grabbed his color and put him in with the rest of the gathered assassins. "Stay here."

 

Aetios nodded and watched as the woman walked to where Cyrus was. He raised his hand to the ridge of his nose. Thankfully, it wasn't broken.

[RainDash]

Aella snorted. "No offense, but my strength lies in not crying over every little thing that happens. Templars exploit weakness, and I've barely had enough time to cope with becoming a Master before this happens." She tried to explain as they walked. "Not to mention, we don't even know what the Ankh does. For all we know, our attacks would be useless." She wasn't a child! She didn't know how to lead either, all she knew was how to fight. She'd been fighting for long enough to not weep over every loss. Weeping was time wasting, and Father never appreciated time wasting. Father would know what to do, how to move and what to say. "But that sounds like a plan. I'll get started as soon as we return to the HQ." Pain was a part of life, no matter who you were. Though Aella hadn't been tortured, she'd lost a lot as well. Her mother, her childhood, her father, and finally her happiness. She'd never say it aloud, but she hated being a Master. It was a rushed decision, one that probably would only weaken them all later. However, there wasn't anyone more qualified. So she bit her tongue and let them all scold her for her 'idiocy'. Eventually she'd be better than all of them. She just needed experience.

[Mousia]

Helena narrowed her eyes. "You challenge me, but you do not realize what a challenge is to me. I relentlessly pursue those who have done me wrong. I do not stop until all debts have been repaid and the playing fields are again equal. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I hope you realize that I don't play games. Loosing parents is a fact of life. I'd spit upon you if you thought that that loss even compared. I care for an entire country. I carry the weight of it upon my shoulders. If you think that you have strength for letting no emotion escape you, then I simply pity you. You will find that emotion is a fundamental part of an assassin. One without emotion is no assassin at all. That is you. You are merely a killer who hasn't yet found a particular purpose. You just do what you think you want, but nothing means anything. You've found nothing profound to let tears grace you. For tears are a mark of a divine god touching your heart with beauty, then taking it after you have already seen its heavenly grace. My the gods look down upon you and offer their pity, for you obvious have no sense of what it means to be an assassin. You may have a strong body and a strong mind, but no one without a strong spirit is up to snuff with all the rest of us. Think on that. Maybe, when you're old and dying, the gods will show you their light and you will understand. Until then, forget this talk. Think what you wish of me and do what you wish to me, but never, ever let the thought cross your mind that my brother is also fair game. He is a man who has seen nothing but sorrow and darkness. A single bad word from your mouth and I will see to it that you suffer as he has. I hope we're on the same page, now, new master. I am in control and you report directly to me. Enjoy the power and influence in front of the others, because you should be used to being just as low and weak before me." It was funny how she could switch so easily from being kind and warm to being an iron woman with no problem attacking others with a savage purpose. Her hands were already red with blood. Helena didn't care how many more she'd have to kill before she had collected from others all that was owed.

 

(I'm sorry for that... She was very mean. I hope you don't take it personally.)

Edited July 29, 2013 by Mousia

[IceFyr1928]

Arcanus watched the entire scene from a spot within the trees, where he had been hiding in plain sight. He had only noticed the scene when the harsh words started, and he remained a fair distance away, leaning against a tree.

 

After it seemed the conversation was done, he made a mental note to never get on Helena's bad side, he straightened and approached them at his usual brisk walk, and said, "An interesting speech, but let's try hurrying up with the evacuation. The Templar were preparing to move out when I left, and it's only a day's march if the Capitan is smart enough to get over here as fast as possible. And trust me when I say that once he gets here, there isn't going to be a safe place within several miles. I know what the Ankh does, and I sincerely hope I don't have to find out its implementation in battle." He came to a stop in the open, and bowed slightly to both Helena and the other lady, apparently a new master.

 

"Forgive me, young miss," he said to her, "I am Arcanus the wanderer. I am here to ensure that time is of the essence."

[Dusset]

((Putting this here since I was the last one to post in the OOC.

If Helena doesn't show in the next post or so, I'm gonna have Cyrus start moving people out of the city. Is this okay?))

[Mousia]

(Oh, yeah. Sorry. You can have him just start moving people out. I was just waiting for RD because Arcanus was speaking to her more directly.)

[TwilightMoonDragon]

[Duss, wanna have Cyrus and Circe interact? Maybe she could help him?]

[Dusset]

((Alright.

Yeah sure, Circe can do whatever.))

 

Cyrus waited roughly five minutes before he ordered an exit. They were to go to the Northern outskirts and rendezvous there. Helena and Aella could find them. "Alright! I need a group to move ahead! You five! You're my advanced scouts! Find a suitable place outside the Northern walls to hideout until we have a more solid plan. Sick and infirm! Make sure you do not leave this building until you have guard! I need you three to locate and bring back a hay cart! We need a way to move those who can't walk! There aren't many who can't!" He watched the eight he sent away leave. Those who were injured and sick were paired with a person of health. Only two couldn't walk, they would ride under a haystack in the cart. "The rest of you! Those who are not paired as a bodyguard, Disperse! Do not group together! Do not move together! We cannot tip the Templars off! I want you to make it out of the city in anyway possible and meet up North! Go, go!" He began waiting for the cart to show up. Hermes and two others had gone for it, and should be back soon. Cyrus didn't know this, but Hermes was the perfect man for stealing things. Let alone a cart.

[Mousia]

Kallisto heard Cyrus' order and crouched down to look at her son. "Ready to go, Thais?" The boy just nodded. When the black-haired woman picked up her son, she also threw a very large dirty blanket over her shoulders and soiled both their faces with mud. "Just please speak poorly, my son, lest they find that we are educated." Her back was arched deeply forward as she assumed a weary appearance. Her son closed his eyes and tried to make himself seem small. He sucked up the air in his stomach so his ribs showed and breathed shallowly as they passed others. It seemed to be working. They took a route that lead eat through Thebes, then turned to head north along the outskirts. That way, they wouldn't be heading in a straight line to lead Templars to their hiding place. The walk seemed to be uneventful. She could only hope that they others were also having her luck.

[TwilightMoonDragon]

Circe pressed her lips to the side of a teenaged boy's face. She was body guarding him, and he was new, so he had begun to cry and mutter words to his patron guard. It was the least she could do to çomfort him. Thankfully, he was snivelling now. "Cyrus!" she called. "Is Sophia alright?"

 

[Hard to type with one finger. :< Thankfully my cast will be off tonight!]

[RainDash]

[Hey, no prob Mousey. This is my character, not me. Aella was supposed to be kind of a jerk.]

 

"Everyone keeps saying that. I'm tired of talking." Aella said as she turned and left. Trained killer am I? Then I guess I am little more than that. Thanks, Dad. She hated Assassins, hoity toity types who philosophized their kills. Like it meant anything. Killing was killing, it didn't have to make sense. She found the group, and chastised any slackers. "Come on! It's a day's march away. We're wasting minutes. You have anything left? Then grab it!" Soon they were organized and ready to go. She knew how to get someone moving at least. Helena could keep making speeches until she was blue in the face, but it wouldn't bother Aella. She'd heard it all before. Not good enough, not fast enough, not smart enough. People rest on my shoulders. Nothing but talk and hot air.

[Dusset]

Most of the Creed was moving out when Aella showed up. Cyrus assumed Helena wasn't far behind. "Aella. I'm having them move up North. Those who are still here are waiting on a cart. I have scouts heading North to look for somewhere to hideout while we're on the move." He told her, filling her in on his plans. He walked away from her for a moment and Circe approached him. "Yes, she is fine." He said, patting her head as she stood next to him. "She's been helping me mobilize everyone." He frowned at the teenager next to her. By his age, Cyrus was already fighting in the army. Sophia, though, took pity. She plodded forward and tapped the man-child's hand. "You'll be just fine." It was comical since she was only five.

[Mousia]

(I just say that because I'm not too comfortable with a character as harsh as Helena. I'm trying out new things and new people and sometimes I get scared of that. Which is kind of why I made Caius and Zero. They're so soft and weak...)

 

Helena narrowed her eyes at Aella. She had not said anything to Al - er... - Arcanus. Whatever. "Come along, Arcanus. You can explain to me exactly what the Ankh does on the way. But cover your face and be quiet about it. I'm not exactly in the mood to be interrupted by foolish Templars." Flipping up her hood, the woman rolled her eyes and started toward the north. She saw the majority of people headed that way and read between the lines. Her pace showed her annoyance, but she kept her face to the ground and her fists unclenched. Arcanus could tag along if he wanted, but she didn't even care right then. He main priority was to figure out how to let her anger out before she blew up in someone's face. It wasn't right of her to sink down to Aella's level. She should have controlled herself. But "should" was a word that was stupid and pointless. "Should" was a regretful person's word. And regret was just about a sin for Helena.

[TwilightMoonDragon]

The man sobbed, although with a smile, and touched his hand to the top of the girl's head. Circe went over to Cyrus and touched her fingers against the back of his hand. "Do not worry. We will get through this. And I will kill for Sophia, and for Thais. I promise."