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Avapithecus — The Tyranny of King Connor: Chapter 4
#1812 #assassin #connor #creed #deryn #king #oc #shikoba #tecumseh #tyranny #war #warof1812 #washington #assassinscreed #aveza
Published: 2016-09-07 19:07:31 +0000 UTC; Views: 865; Favourites: 1; Downloads: 0
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“Connor! Knew I'd find you here!”“Aveza! It is great to see you again! How are you?”
“Oh, I'm fine. Arnold and I just returned to the mainland after a mission a few days ago.”
“Oh? And how did it go?”
“There were some complications, but overall, I'd call it a success. Mainly because we now have this!”
“...”
“...Connor? What's wrong?”
“Where did you get that?!”
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April 10, 1815; Kethtippecanoogi, Lënapehòkink
The carriage rattled as its wheels creaked along the rough dirt roads leading into the city. Aveza and Shikoba bounced up and down with each rattle. Aveza tried desperately once again to claw at the knot that bound her hands, but it was to no avail. She cursed under her breath.
Giving up yet again, she slouched back against the wall of the carriage. She looked out the tiny barred window at the city beyond. It was a large city, but it was crude and beaten. The longhouses and bridges that laced the land seemed surprisingly European, at least in layout. It was impressive, but it fared no better than the other places she'd been to in this world. Citizens walked the streets, their fear never leaving their eyes. They were all clearly starving, but too afraid to ask for food at risk of gaining even more scars and bruises on top of the ones that coated their flesh already. An eerie fog covered the city, further emphasizing the people's sense of despair and paranoia. Aveza would avenge them, this she swore. But first she had to get out of here.
After another failed attempt at clawing at the knot in the rope, she decided the best thing to do would just be to wait. They were taking them somewhere, and they had to let them out of the carriage eventually. And so she waited.
Soon enough, the carriage pulled into a fenced-off area that surrounded a gloomy building. Tecumseh ordered his warriors to grab Aveza and Shikoba, and so they pulled open the carriage doors, and dragged them out. The two were carried into the building, which Aveza quickly realized was a prison, and they were thrown into a pair of cells.
“Mind being a bit gentler when you handle a lady?” Aveza sarcastically shouted at the guard as he slammed her cell door shut. The guard said nothing. He simply walked over to his post.
Aveza sighed and sat against the dirty wall of her cell. She could hear the wails of other inmates coming from the other halls. She tried not to imagine the torture they were receiving to scream that loud. She analyzed her environment, looking for a way out.
“You've caused us a lot of trouble,” a voice snarled behind her. She spun around and saw Tecumseh standing right outside her cell door, the caring smile she was used to seeing on him replaced with an evil grin.
“I'll only say this once, Tecumseh,” she warned. “Set us free now, and no one gets hurt.”
Tecumseh laughed.
“You are surely mistaken if you think you have a chance of getting out of here alive,” he said. “I'll tell you how this is going to go down. I'm going to break you, torture you, slice and puncture you, and once you tell me all you know about your pathetic rebel friends, I will personally drag your bloodstained body to Kanatahséton and have you kneel before our Great Rotiá:ner.”
“I'll bend my knee to no man,” Aveza said, scowling at the shadow of her old friend.
Tecumseh just grinned. “We shall see,” he said. And with that, he made his leave. A few minutes later, the wails of the prison noticeably increased.
Aveza sat against the wall of her cell, still struggling to take everything in. She finally got another chance to see her old friend after his death, but now it seemed she was forced to see him as a target. She felt like she might cry. But she kept her tears back for now, because now was her time to escape.
She looked over at the guard, who watched them with the eyes of a hawk. She wondered how informed he was on the rebels that he was watching. Did he know about what she could do? If she carried out the plan that formed in her head, would he react as she expected? She decided it was worth a shot, and so she closed her eyes, focused her senses, and went invisible.
And fortunately, the guard’s eyes widened in surprise.
“What?” he said. “Where did she go? How did-?”
But he was cut off, because as he entered the cell to look for Aveza, she snuck up behind him and put a hand around his mouth, blocking the passage of air. Within moments, the guard fell unconscious to the ground, and Aveza looted his keys just as her cloak wore off. Then she ran over to her mother's cell and broke her out.
“Nice work, sweetheart,” she said to Aveza. “Come on, let's go find our equipment.”
Aveza nodded, and the two took off silently down the prison halls.
“There's no way we'll get out of here without help,” Aveza said as they searched.
“Perhaps we could try to rally the prisoners then,” said Shikoba. “If we could break them out and convince them to riot, then we'd have a whole army at our side.”
“Sounds good to me.”
The two kept searching, and eventually came across the room that held their weapons and supplies. Aveza grabbed her war club and pistols, and the small jug that she was relieved to see intact. She picked it up and looked in at the Tea within.
“Mum! Look what I found!” she said. But Shikoba was not as pleased.
“That's great dear,” she said. “We can burn it later, but right now, we need to get going.”
“But...mum. This can help us!”
“I highly doubt that.”
“But mum, don't you see? An army of prisoners will help, yeah. But with this stuff, we could be guaranteed a win!”
“No Aveza! It's too dangerous! I'll not risk your mind just to save our necks.”
“But mum-”
“I said no!”
Aveza lowered her head and sighed. “Fine…” she said.
Shikoba nodded and turned to leave. Aveza looked down at the Tea. Couldn't her mother see? Didn't she realize the advantage it could give them? Aveza knew that drinking it would be their only real chance at getting out alive and toppling Tecumseh’s regime. She had to risk it. She had to…
“I'm sorry mum,” she said just as Shikoba was about to leave. Shikoba turned.
“What?” was all she could say before Aveza started chugging. She tossed the jug aside and started feeling unbelievably sick. The last thing she heard before blacking out was her mother's panicked protests.
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April 10, 1815; Sky World
Aveza awoke and found herself in the dark empty void once again. She looked around nervously.
“Oh God…” she said, realizing the risk she just took. “Mum…”
What had she done? Her mother warned her not to do this. But she had to, didn't she? This was the only way, right?
Right?
She fought against her mind. No, she thought, she had to do this. Her mother didn't know what she was talking about. Aveza was able to handle the first swig well enough. She'll handle this one too.
She waited for a moment, until suddenly she heard the ground shake a small bit, and then a lot. The ground rumbled, and Aveza lost her balance with each shake. She looked around for the source of the disturbance, and her eyes widened when a massive figure came walking out of the fog: a giant bear. Aveza watched in awe as it slowly lumbered across the void. And suddenly, she heard panicked screeching.
She looked over, and saw a hawk screeching at the bear as it came towards its nest, which was full of eggs. The bear clearly didn't care about what probably seemed like a tiny insect to it, and so it just kept going. Aveza gasped as she saw the bear’s paw about to come crashing down on the bird and the nest, and she sprinted over, leapt forward, and grabbed the would-be victims, rolling out of the way just before they were all crushed. Aveza noticed the hawk screech almost happily at her before taking off into the fog. Aveza looked down at the eggs in her hand. She rushed them far out of the path of the bear, and gently set them down.
“Blimey…” she said, out of breath. Suddenly, she noticed the hawk return from the fog. It came flying straight at her, and it didn't seem to be slowing down. Aveza braced for impact, but she was surprised when it didn't come. Instead, the bird fazed through her, like a ghost, and she suddenly felt a bizarre shock going up and down her body. Her skin started glowing with the same eerie blue as last time. She looked down at her arms and saw another tattoo form. A pattern of feathers etched themselves into her arms before her flesh stopped glowing. She heard another screech from the hawk.
She looked up, and saw it looking down at her from a some sort of floating phantom platform. It almost seemed like it was beckoning her. She felt another new instinct commanding her body. And so she let it take her as she jumped up, not quite knowing what it would accomplish. And suddenly she found her body morphing into a new shape. Her arms became wings and her feet became talons. Her entire body mimicked the hawk, except that her new form was transparent, like a phantom.
Like Connor’s eagle.
She fluttered up to the platform, and returned to normal when she landed. She looked down at her arms in awe.
“Holy…” was all she was able to say. Suddenly, the hawk next to her started screeching again. The world rumbled again and Aveza quickly saw the bear return from the fog. She noticed a shape forming from the platform: a glowing phantom spear. The hawk seemed to be insistent on her picking it up. And so she did. As she did, she noticed something change in the bear: it's forehead began to glow, almost like…
...like a target.
The hawk screeched again and took off, flying over to the glowing spot and then circling around it.
“Well… alright then…” Aveza said, taking a guess at what the creature wanted her to do. She gripped the spear tight, and jumped again. She let her instinct guide her change. Her form shifted to that of a hawk and she let her wings carry her all the way to the bear. She came in fast, and used her momentum to fling herself towards the glowing target. Just before she reached the bear’s head, she returned to her human form, raised her spear high, and used her momentum to drive the weapon deep into the giant monster's skull. The bear roared in pain, and began to disintegrate into the fog. As the bear disappeared, Aveza began to fall through the void, suddenly feeling very sick again. Her vision started blurring as she fell. Just seconds before she hit the ground, she blacked out entirely.
The last sound she heard before the world went black was the sound of a screeching hawk.
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April 10, 1815; Kethtippecanoogi, Lënapehòkink
“Aveza! Aveza!”
Aveza groggily awoke to the sounds of her panicking mother, who was shaking her hard. Aveza rubbed her head.
“Oh thank God!” Shikoba said, hugging her daughter tight.
“Ow! Mum! I can't breathe!”
Shikoba stepped back, looking over her daughter to make sure she was okay. An angered tone was added to her worried expression when Aveza seemed unharmed.
“Are you mad?” she said. “I told you not to drink the Tea! Do you have any idea of the risk you've taken?”
“Well what do you expect me to do, mum?” Aveza said, a bit more bitterly than she intended. “This whole building, this whole city is crawling with Tecumseh’s warriors! How else are we going to fight them off?”
“As human beings! We can rally the prisoners, like we said! Their support should be more than enough!”
Aveza scoffed. Why couldn't her mother see? If they were going to fight such a powerful foe, she'd need power too. She was stronger now, couldn't she see? Well, she'd surely get the chance to prove her power soon enough.
“Whatever,” said Aveza. “Let's just go.”
Aveza started storming out the door before her mother could protest further. Reluctantly, Shikoba followed, taking the jug and hiding it away in her pouch as she did, and the two got to work on rallying their army.
Aveza found quick use of her new power, using it to reach the high scaffolding in the ceiling and stealthily air assassinate the guards before fluttering back out of sight. She managed to loot a set of keys off of one of the bodies, and she used them to unlock several cell doors. Within minutes, Aveza and Shikoba had their army of fed-up prisoners ready and willing to start a revolt.
The guards were immediately overwhelmed as the battle began. Warriors on both sides fell fast. Aveza didn't pay any attention to her allies, she just focused on finding Tecumseh. She was going to make him pay.
The search began to get difficult when the revolt spread out of the prison and into the city. The citizens, equally tired of the abuse put upon them by Ratonhnhaké:ton’s army, joined in on the fight and turned the whole city into a battleground.
Aveza sprinted out of the prison, leaving her mother behind. She followed the shouts of the citizens, listening for any mentions of Tecumseh. And eventually, she managed to find him.
Or rather… he found her.
Aveza stopped dead in her tracks when Tecumseh stepped forward some distance away, holding Shikoba tightly, a pistol pressed against her skull.
“You bloody coward!” Aveza called. “Let her go and fight me like a man!”
“I propose a better option,” Tecumseh said, his arrogant grin still on his face. “You and your men lay down your weapons, and I'll consider sparing you.”
Aveza clenched her fists. Shikoba looked at her worriedly.
“Aveza!” she called. “Just run! Get out of here!”
Tecumseh scowled at her. “Shut up!” he shouted. And while his head was turned for that split second, Aveza made her move. Her feet lifted off the ground as she took to her hawk form, streaking across the battlefield and kicking Tecumseh back, hard. Her momentum carried the two to the ground. Aveza returned to being human, and in a split second she flicked her wrist and drove her blade into his throat. Time slowed again as reality broke down around them and the silent void took its place. Aveza grabbed Tecumseh by the collar.
“You bloody snake!” she shouted bitterly. “How could you do this? I used to bloody trust you!”
Through glazed eyes, Tecumseh looked up at her. His face had the same confused, liberated look that his brother did when her blade met his flesh.
“I… who… who are you?” he sputtered. “How did I… by the Great Spirit… I am free!” His face went pale. “Oh no… what have I done? My people… I… I…”
“You slaughtered them, tortured them, did whatever your sick twisted heart wanted to do to them! You monster!”
“I… It was me, but it wasn't.”
“What are you going on about?”
“It wasn't my mind… it was… Ratonhnhaké:ton… the Apple.”
He suddenly reached up and gripped her arm tight with what little strength he had left. He looked at her with pleading eyes. “Listen to me,” he said frantically. “Ratonhnhaké:ton has made plans for invasion, for slaughter. He sits in his palace in Kanatahséton right now, preparing his navy to invade Europe. You have to stop him. You have to. For as long as he wields the Apple, nothing will stop him from conquering the world…”
His hand went limp and fell to the ground as he died. Aveza closed his eyes, more out of instinct than out of respect.
“I will stop him,” she said. “Connor will die at my blade. All of you traitorous snakes deserve to be cut down.”
She stood from the body, and reality returned to her. Aveza was glad to see that her allies had pretty much won the battle, as Tecumseh’s warriors lay dead around them. Shikoba rushed up to her.
“Niyaawe, sweetheart,” she said. “That could've turned ugly.”
“Things already have turned ugly, nikya,” Aveza said coldly.
Shikoba didn't quite know how to respond to that.
“Rally everyone up,” Aveza said. “We're leaving.”
“What?” said Shikoba. “What do you mean? Where?”
“Kanatahséton.”
