//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Nessuno lasciato alle spalle // Story: Ezio in Equestria // by Ezio iz pirate //------------------------------// Yusuf stood on the deck of the ship, all of his fellow assassins accompanying him on the journey swiftly preparing the ship, Den Master Akman stood on the docks with a group of assassins, bowing to Yusuf "I promise to watch over the dens until you return" Yusuf nodded "As Ezio once told me, Nessuno lasciato alle spalle" Akman gave a confused look "What does that mean, sir?" "It means no one left behind" Yusuf responded before bowing and taking his leave of the group of assassins on the dock. When Yusuf reached the wheel of the ship he turned to Toran "Are we ready to go?" Toran simply nodded to Yusuf. The Den Master bowed again "Well then, the best of luck to you and Toran" Yusuf called out to his men on the deck "Alright everyone, we are getting ready to take our leave of Constantinople to find Ezio, is everyone ready?" All of them called out yes, with everyone ready Yusuf gave command to drop the sails. as they did so Yusuf noticed a group of guards running down the street not to far from them, this wouldn't bug him except they where running towards the ship, and of course when they reached the part of the docks the ship was at there where Templars leading them "There are the assassins, attack!" barked the leader of the group, who, of course, was a Templar as well. Akman pulled out his sword and let his hook blade slide out of its socket, the other assassins that stood beside him as guards let out there hook blades as well "Get out of here, we'll deal with them" Akman shouted to Yusuf, who nodded in return. The crew of Assassins managed to get the sails open in time and they where off, Yusuf ordering Toran to take the wheel while he watched the battle, Akman and his group of Assassins where winning, sure of there victory he let out a sigh of relief and made his way to Toran's side "I will be below deck reading whenever you need me to take back the wheel" Toran nodded, without another word spoken Yusuf made his way to the bottom of the ship and found the room the assassins had prepared for him, it was supposed to be a spare storage room but they didn't need it for that, so Yusuf just ordered them to turn it into a small room for him, the book he now sat reading at his desk was Niccolò Polo's Journal, lent to him by Ezio. As he read he noticed a small piece of paper sticking out towards the end of the book, he turned to the page it was located and discovered it was a unsent letter, he opened it and read it silently to himself ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ August 30th, 1257 Dear Altair, one of the Masyaf Keys have been hidden from us, and i regret to inform you it was the one explaining the time between your banishment from Masyaf Castle, i fear the thief of the key was a Templar, he said the key was going to place by the name of Equestria, i have never heard of this place before, never traveled there, never even seen it on a map in all the time that i have lived, which comes to the ultimate question: is Equestria, perhaps, a secret place hidden away from the maps, undiscovered, and full of Templars? i will do research in my free time but for now im afraid the missing key could be lost forever, i cant be sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, considering i still have two, the other three already hidden in places only a skilled assassin could reach, but if we cannot find the missng one the last door behind the apple you spoke of will never be discovered...but as i said before all still goes fairly well, the rest of the keys will be hidden by the end of this week, i hope to hear a response from you about the lost key. With kindest regards, Niccolo Polo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yusuf put down the letter and stood up, retuning to the top deck he noticed a storm was ahead of them, Yusuf decided to take there chances in the storm, his crew was probably the best he could have. Toran let Yusuf take the wheel so he could go down to read the letter. Within seconds later a light rain began to drop, as they traveled deeper into the storm the raining grew heavier and the winds started to speed up, soon enough they where in the same storm that Ezio's ship had been in. Thats when Yusuf saw it, another ship not to far away heading towards them, and Yusuf could make out who the ship belonged to by the flag, it belonged to the Templars. and there plan was quite easy to figure out, they knew someone would go after Ezio, this was a fine oppurtunity to kill or trap more assassins, so they sent this ship out here to wait for them, and the ship was fairly big, when they arrived the ship ambushed while in the storm and take the Assassins by surprise, that part wasn't going to happen though, "Everyone, prepare to fight, there's a Templar ship inbound!" Yusuf called out to his men. After he called out the order to his men he ordered another Assassin to take the wheel, after doing so he went below deck to his quarters "Toran, there's a Templar ship approaching, get ready to fight" Toran put the letter back in the back and closed it, then followed Yusuf back up to the deck, by then the ship had already managed to get to them and already throwing grappling hooks to pull the ships side by side, Yusuf rallied all his men and prepared to fight, but instead of waiting for the Templars to board there ship Yusuf decided they deserve a surprise, so expecting his men to follow him into battle, he jumped over to the other ships side and began climbing. and of course as predicted first came Toran, then the rest of the Assassins followed. Yusuf was of course the first one to jump onto the deck, as soon as he did he jabbed his hook blade into a Templar's chest and threw him overboard. Toran then jumped onto the deck and stabbed the Templar beside Yusuf in the face, forcing the Templar to the ground before pulling the blade out, then the rest of the Assassins came up one by one, the battle had truly began now, the Assassins quickly spread, attacking there own targets. Yusuf went straight for the captain, but was stopped before he even made it to the staircase up to the wheel by a group of Templars, Yusuf pulled out his sword and let out his hook blade, preparing to fight, five Templars, one Assassin. Yusuf waited for his chance to come, and it did very soon. the lead Templar attempted to charge at Yusuf and run him through with his sword, it didn't end well for him, just as he was about to run the blade through Yusuf jumped to the side and stabbed his hidden blade into his enemy's back, throwing him back into the group before pulling back in his hook blade, knocking over the whole group of Templars. Yusuf then pulled out a splinter bomb and threw it on the group, killing them all before they even had a chance to stand back up, he then ran past the bodies, up the stairs, and behind the captain, before he could perform the kill though the captain turned around and kicked Yusuf to the ground. Yusuf managed to roll aside right before the captain brought his sword down into his face, Yusuf then quickly stood up and decided to just use his sword for this fight, and so it began. The captain unlike his crew was a fine swordsman and posed a fair challenge to Yusuf, every time Yusuf attempted to counter his attacks the captain would always block them and kick Yusuf away, until eventually Yusuf found an opening, the captain was left handed when it came to fighting, so Yusuf simply waited until the right moment, when it came he struck, he locked swords with the captain then stabbed his hook blade into his left side over and over again in quick and swift movements for about 5 times before kicking im in the stomach, making him fall to the ground, Yusuf quickly crouched and let his hook blade spring out, the tip of the blade a inch away from the captains neck "Any last words?" "Go to He-" Yusuf didn't let him finish his sentence, swiftly stabbing the hook blade into his neck, then back out. "Huzur içinde yatsın" Yusuf said closing the Templars eyelids and standing up. As soon as Yusuf did this the second in command appeared at the top of the stairs, Yusuf charged at him before the Templar could do anything and knocked him overboard, then ran down the stair and was pleased to see that the battle was almost over, and they where winning. Yusuf did notice an Assassin being cornered by a group of Templars, and no one attempting to try and help the Assassin, so Yusuf charged at the group, but by the time he got there it was to late, the Assassin was dead, Yusuf was eager to avenge his fallen brother, but someone barged on to the deck and shouted at the top of there lungs something that made all the fighting come to an immediate stop "The powder's been set off!" As soon as the Templars heard that they scrambled to jump overboard, but all the Assassins took a moment to realize what they meant, and when they did Yusuf was the one to announce it "they've ignited explosives, jump!" after saying this Yusuf jumped overboard, Toran following him, then the ships powder's and explosives went off.