Assassin's Creed: Brothers Unite (#Wattys2016) |Assassin's Creed Fanfiction|

Chapter 22 Ezio

   I felt like I was playing a huge game of "catch me if you can", with Altaïr and Connor ahead of me. I did my best to keep up but I've never climbed a tree before. I don't know why that thought never occurred to me. It looked like Altaïr had never done it before either, he was lagging behind but was still ahead of me.

   Connor dropped to the ground not far from New York's walls. He stopped to wait for us. When we caught up to him he grinned. "What took you two so long?"

   "If we had known how to leap through trees that would have helped," I said.

   "Not bad for your first time," he said nodding approvingly.

   We joined a small group of people entering the city. Once we got inside I could feel one of the anchors close-by. I could tell it wasn't Connor or Altaïr because they were much closer than the one I was feeling. I looked around as Connor led us towards the town square.

   I saw a flash of metal in the sunlight. I looked in the direction it had come from. Edward?

   Ezio? What are you three doing here?! Edward didn't sound very happy.

   We were looking for you, I said. Connor said he was fine so we came to find you. Are Arno, Archer, and Aveline with you?

   No, just Adé. Follow me. He stepped onto the street a little.

   "This way," I said.

   Connor looked at Edward and nodded. We followed him through the streets to an alley not far from the square.

   Edward looked around. "This is were I left Adé," he said. There was a hint of worry in his voice. "He wouldn't have moved unless something forced him to."

   Shay, was my instant thought. My second thought was, Redcoats.

   "If we split up we might be able to find him," Altaïr suggested. "Or we could stay all in one group. That would draw more attention though..." He looked thoughtful. He always seemed to want to take the quiet way, no matter what we were doing. Maybe that was normal in Masyaf.

   "Let's split up," Edward said as if Altaïr had never said anything. "If you find Adé, let the other's know."

   I wandered aimlessly through the streets. That's how I usually found things, just wandering without any special place I needed to be, and no end point. I learned that people would ignore me unless I entered their group, then they would look at me strangely and pull away. I kept a sharp eye out for redcoats.

   Edward! Ezio! Altaïr! Connor sounded frantic. Come here. Quick!

   Where? I asked.

   A picture of a tall building and an abandoned street entered my mind. Here.

   I climbed up onto the closest building while the people whispered about my sanity. I guess everyone is the same when they see someone climbing buildings. I looked around for a more run down part of town. It took a long time to find the place Connor had shown me. Edward was already there. They were crouched around something on the ground. Oh no. I stood behind them, looking down at the dead body of Adéwalé.

   Edward had an angry feeling about him. "Shay," he spat. "Shay killed him."

   Connor was looking closely at Adéwalé's neck. "I think we have other things to worry about," he said pointing. "His anchor pendent is gone."

   Edward grit his teeth. "That's not good."

   "Why?" I asked. "I mean, I know we can communicate with them, but what else can they do that would make it bad for Shay to have one?"

   "He can eavesdrop, tell what we are thinking, use it to locate other assassins from the Inner Brotherhood," Connor said. "That sort of thing. It's extremely dangerous. It also means that you need to learn the tongue of the assassins, which is not an easy thing to learn."

   "Oh..." I paused. "Inner Brotherhood?"

   To my surprise Edward and Connor started laughing. I frowned but didn't say anything.

   "You have a long way to go," Connor said with a smile.

     Altaïr dropped down next to us. "We should tell the others."

   "We'll wait for them at the Homestead," Edward said. "For now, we need to get Adé's body out of here before someone else finds it."