The Young Gladiatrix

Faces In The Crowd

"They were here, y'know. All of them" murmured Ash, her voice barely audible over the laughter of her fellow knights. But Decimus had heard her. "Who was here?" he asked, tightening his arm around her shoulders, catching the attention of the others. "The assassins. It's not hard to spot hooded figures really. Guess we screwed that up for our order. They were all here. That's when I lost my focus. When I spotted them. I could feel their eyes on me. They knew it was me under the armour" This was about to become a heavy topic. It had been over a year since she'd seen the assassins.
The group shared a silent look with one another. "It's been a year since I've seen them. A few months since they've even came to one of the events. Now they show up. All of them"
Lord Stafford looked to her, this was the first time she'd mentioned the assassins to them. "They were the ones to distract you? Did they make any gestures when you saw them?" he asked, wanting to know more details. The assassins distracted her in a situation that could've easily killed her. "They didn't have to make any gestures to distract me or to get my attention. They had it the second I spotted them whilst presenting myself to the crowd. And he was here too. He was here. With another girl on his arm. I knew he'd jump on Arcane eventually" she spoke of Dmitri with such venom in her voice. She stood, walking to stand before the fireplace. Her arms crossed over her chest, her back to those behind her. "All while I was with the assassins. I thought he loved me. In reality, was he creeping around with Arcane behind my back. Such an honourable man, Dmitri" she scowled, clenching and unclenching her fists. "Ezio never did like me there anyway. Blood of a guard. Blood of those we were against. He may have saved me. He may have put a shelter over my head. But I knew... I knew that something wasn't right. I put my life on the line. Every damn day. For the assassins. Put my freedom on the line. Now I have lost MY freedom, whilst they still have theirs. I won't speak of what they planned. I won't speak of their location. But I will speak of how they treated me. How they tiptoed around every single behaviour. How they feared punishing me. How they treated me differently. Like I was some... Some child. The assassins can preach all they like about how they want to change Venice and Rome. It won't happen. Not in any of their lifetimes. The enemy is far too strong. But would they listen when I told them that? NO!"
At this point, the knights and Decimus remained where they were. The anger radiating from Ash could be felt in the air. She may have changed her attitude, but she wasn't taking steps back here. She had to vent on the assassins. And by how she spoke, it sounded as though she was turning against them. It sounded like the assassins had treated her worse than the arena was doing so. With a sigh, Ash shook her head. Trying to calm herself down. She turned to the knights and Decimus.
"The assassins. Oh. The ASSASSSINS. You want to know who we killed? Who we were assigned to kill? Any high ranking general. Any number of guards. Some high profile members of the church. All seemed to be valuable targets. At the time. That is. And who did the killing? Me. Niero, briefly. And the rest of us. Ezio? No. He only took the most important kills. But you already know all of this. You got an assassin within your grasp because my own FATHER! Hired you to capture me. Maybe I should make ammends with him. But no. I will never forgive that man for what he did. If he had never treated myself and Niero the way he did. Maybe Niero would still be here. But I'm getting ahead of my own thoughts now. The assassins. Knowing they will come to the events now. Knowing he will be watching. I really. Really don't want to lose focus. But I know I will if they are watching. Their eyes are like fire. Under those hoods.... Under those hoods are stories even you would cringe at. Why do I wear the hood? Because I bound myself to their creed. I bound myself to their teachings and their laws. Why? Because it was what Niero wanted. He too was bound to all of this himself. Though he dropped the hood sooner than I did when he was dragged to the arena. I wear the hood to hide what I was taught. But even still. I wear their mark on my skin. Every assassin has the mark tattooed on them. All in different places. Me? You've probably seen it"
Lord Stafford, Sir Neville and Sir Howard watched Ash with small smirks. This was how they wanted her in the tournaments. Fired up. And that is what she was right now. If the assassins caused her to get fired up, Dmitri and Arcane in particular. Then they silently hoped that the assassins came to every event. They needed Ash to be fired up. Being fired up seemed to make her a better jouster. She became angry at her opponent, but still remained focused. It was the ideal mindset, really.
Decimus walked to Ash, taking her hands in his. Feeling her trembling ever so slightly. "Dmitri won't get anywhere near you. Nor will any of those assassins. And if they dare to try. They won't dare again. Forget that man. Forget what he did to you. I will never do as he did. I will never look upon another woman the way I look upon you. Nor will I go behind your back for scandalous actions. That is no way for a man to act when he already has a woman on his arm. I won't do bad on you, my love. The ring, is a promise for that"

With that, he drew her close, pressing a soft kiss to her lips; before hugging her gently. He had never heard of her speak of the assassins in such a manner. After a year of not having any contact with them, it had given her time to think. Really THINK about them and their order as a whole.
Right now. It sounded as though she detested them all.

[Authors Note: Damn. Ash is angry. But it is understandable. She has every right to be angry. And she still knows how to hold her tongue and behave. She changed, and she still is changed. This is her reacting to the assassins as a whole now. And what about Dmitri! He's moved on to Arcane, another assassin! And with Ash speaking like this, should she ditch the assassins? Or stay on the terms that it was Niero's plan for her to stay with them?!]