AC Syndicate: Isolated Files [OS]

The Orphan

Disclaimer: This is a reprint of a chapter from a fanfiction in which Victoria Reid appears. Please note that the Amanda Frye Wildson fanfiction is not canon to my character's story, nor is the previous short story. So you won't see Amanda Frye in Assassin's Creed Blackbird, or even in its alternative version. [Chapter image by me]

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In Whitechapel, the Blighters were determined to regain control. And perhaps take back London from the Rooks who had taken over the streets of the city. They did not want to disappoint the men and women who had hired them, who themselves wanted to be well paid by their superiors. They were more aggressive than usual. They would even enter houses and ransack everything in their path, to encourage civilians to join them or to give everything they had.

As a little blonde girl laughed heartily with her parents during snack time in the kitchen, the front door was forced open and men were shouting. The hilarity stopped, and the girl was taken into her mother's arms. The redcoats who had violated the family cocoon had come to settle their score with the Rooks family he had just seen. They had not digested the defeat of the last fight, a few days ago. The father asked his wife to take their daughter to safety. The mother refused categorically, and despite the father's insistence, she put her daughter down, crouched down, and asked her to go and hide where she knew.

"The secret place?" the girl asked to be sure.

"Yes, no one will find you. Not even the bad guys we told you about."

"Will you come and get me with dad?"

The mother heard a complaint from the pain and a piece of furniture creaking. She turned towards the source of the noise. The father needed help, she should not linger any longer. Her mother answered quickly and ordered her not to go out under any circumstances. She kissed her daughter's forehead dearly, almost with tears in her eyes.

"Come on, Amanda. go!"

Without question, the four-year-old girl obeyed while the mother stood up and took a knife from her ankle, hidden by her trousers. The little girl opened the door to one of the kitchen lockers and opened a trap door on the floor. She climbed down and hid there.

The fists flew, the grunts of effort were emitted, the impact between fists, jaws and ribs was audible. Every blow that the girl's ears heard made her flinch. The fight made a mess of the house. A sound she did not know echoed through the room. A blade had cut a groove in the flesh of the neck. Blood ran down the skin, down the throat, over the victim's hand. The Rook woman had just had her throat slit. When the man saw this, he screamed the name of the woman he loved. He was filled with rage and continued to fight despite his injuries. But he got tired of fighting, and the wounds did not help. The opponents took advantage of this to make a few low blows. Some were in vain, but others managed to reach the Rook. Then he ended up with a dagger in his heart. Still standing, in shock, he took a few steps back, his eyes on the white weapon that had just pierced his flesh, then fell to his knees. A Blighter behind him grabbed his head and gave him a rabbit's neck by turning his head violently. The dreadful crack and the sound of the fall startled the little girl from her hiding place. She had tears in her eyes because she was so scared. She couldn't understand what had just happened.

"Search the place! Take all you want."

Then the Blighter spat on the body of the Rook he had just killed, and lit a cigar he had stolen from a civilian.

Fear drove the little girl from her hiding place. She got down on all fours so as not to be seen. She saw her mother bathed in blood, looking in her direction, her eyes wide open. Tears rolled down the cheek of the blond head, barely four years old. Tetanized by fear and the image she had just seen, she did not dare move. A metal junk that fell in the next room brought her back to earth. Even though she had difficulty understanding what was happening, she knew perfectly well that she should not stay here. She headed for the back door of the house, two meters away from her. Her footsteps alerted the Blighter who had given the orders and two others who were in the room with him. They barely had time to see the girl fleeing into the back yard.