Chapter 10

"Arlette! Arlette, wake up! It is time to train," came a voice pounding at my door.

I groaned, pulling the pillow over my head. Crap, why do I have to be such a light sleeper? My hand patted my nightstand for my watch and when I felt the familiar leather I pulled it under the cover with me. I peeked one eye open to look at it and moaned again. Fuck, its like seven in the morning! I don't get up seven in the morning. It should be illegal to wake up so fucking early.

"Arlette!"

"Leave me alone! Too early," I whined, half moaning half-whimpering. The knocking insisted. "Mom, too early! Don't got school 'til noon!"

"Arlette, I am not your mother." The knocking stopped. I mentally cheered. Thank God! Precious sleep! Sighing, I snuggled into my blanket intent of falling back into a warm slumber. Well, I was.

That was all ruined when the duvet was suddenly ripped from me, my cocoon gone. I didn't have time to curl up as I was yanked out of bed by my ankles to fall onto the cold wooden floor. I shrieked, my eyes flying open to face a tall imposing figure standing over me. For a moment I panicked. What axe murderer was standing over me? Then, I saw the familiar white and blue and the imposing amber eyes. I whined. Shit, he's worse than an axe murderer.

"Really, Connor? You couldn't shake my shoulder or something?" I asked, blurrily glaring up at him.

"You would not awaken any way otherwise," he reasoned. "Now, get up. Its time for breakfast."

"I thought you said it was time to train?"

"We're training after we have eaten."

I made a keening sound that made Connor frown. I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands. "I hate you. I hate you so much right now. It should be illegal to be up this early."

"You should get dressed," he said, ignoring my complaints.

"Get dressed in what?"

He pointed to a bundle of clothes lying innocently on a chair nearby. I blinked wearily at the grey coat, trousers, and the matching tunic underneath. The coat resembled the one Connor wore, but obviously it was grey and didn't have the Native touches he put on his. I got off the floor to walk over to the chair, picking up the coat. My fingertips traced over the eagle embroidered on the hood.

"What's this?" I asked, yawning.

"Those will be the clothes you wear during your training and missions. Achilles has told me those are the traditional clothing novices of the Brotherhood wear until they reach the Master rank," he explained.

"Hang on. Weren't you wearing your native clothes when Achilles was training you? Why can't I wear my clothes?"

He shrugged. "Do you have any other clothes to wear?"

"No..."

"Then, those will have to do." Without another word Connor walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

I grumbled. Damn, I really had no choice but to put those on. It was either this or go naked. Reluctantly, I pulled on the clothes. They were actually kind of comfy in terms of maneuvering. But, I couldn't help but feel like it wasn't tight enough. My legs were used to being restrained by my tight pants to accent my legs. That was a big no-no in this day in age as women that showed even their ankles was scandalous. So the slightly loose trousers made me feel like I lost something. Sighing, I slipped on the coat and boots and made my way out the door.

I walked out into the large hallway, turning to walk down the stairs. Rubbing my eyes, I automatically turned left at the bottom of the stairs into the dining room where the wooden table had four places set. At the table sat Achilles at the head, Connor on his right, and Kyle on his left. There was another place next to Kyle left for me.

"M-Morning," I greeted sleepily.

"Good morning," Achilles responded. Since Connor was the one to wake me up, he said nothing.

I sat beside Kyle, silently noting he was wearing the same clothes as me. These must really be the novice clothes for newly recruited Assassins. But, I was too sleepy to say anything. I face planted onto the table next to my plate, my head hitting it with a 'thunk.'

"Kyle," I whined. "Is coffee around during this time period?"

"Uh, I think so. It was the alternative to tea in terms of drinks," he answered.

"Please tell me you have coffee," I begged Achilles.

"We do, but a woman shouldn't be drinking something like it," he disapproved.

"I don't care! Coffee!"

"Sorry, Lettie isn't usually like this," Kyle apologized. "She hates mornings and being woken up with less than seven hours of sleep. She usually tends to act cranky."

"Mornings are the devil's work," I retorted, irritated. "Whoever decided morning should exist should be shot and maimed. I can't function so early without coffee. No teen should even be awake before noon."

"You realize that coffee during this time is going to be way stronger than your usual?"

"Do we have sugar?"

"In limited supply," Connor answered. "There has been a shortage of it due to the war."

"Damn. What about milk?"

"There's a cow out back," Kyle mentioned.

"Then, we're fine." I can't drink my coffee black, anyway. It has to have sugar or milk in it; otherwise, I refuse to touch the stuff.

"You really aren't a morning person," he sighed. "Me and Connor got up just fine an hour ago."

"You're too cheerful to be normal. As for Connor, I have no idea." I lifted my head to stare at Connor. He didn't have his hood up so I could see his dark hair slightly braided with beads in some places. "I still can't believe you're our age. You don't look anything like the fifteen year old I met. Looking at you now makes me think I haven't met you five years ago!"

"As you realize, time has moved forward for us as you've traveled through it," he said.

I groaned as a middle-aged maid entered the room with the food she probably cooked. I still wasn't sure what her name was. Connor didn't even sound like he was nineteen. He acts like he's a middle-aged man. "I'm tired."

"Cease your whining. This is the time you will be rising from now on," Achilles stated firmly. He poked at some eggs to put on his plate-his signal to allow everyone else to start. I lifted my head so I could grab some food before the guys got to it. Its universal for all teenaged boys to scarf down food when it's in sight.

"Why so early?"

"It is better to rise early than delay by sleeping in."

"Old man talk," Kyle muttered beside me and looked down into his full plate. I grinned into my cup of coffee after I poured large amounts of milk into it to get to my taste. It really was bitter, but I was more awake. The taste itself helped me wake up.

Achilles shot him a glare and then to Connor who snorted into his own coffee. This is what he gets when he puts three teenagers in the same room. A whole lot of disrespect and fooling around going on.

"So," I started to change the subject. "What's the plan for our training? I know we both agreed to become Assassins, but what kind of training are we supposed to do?"

"You two are to work on stealth and free-running until lunch, then combat training to supper and research of the history of our Brotherhood until dinner. It will alternate every other day so you can gain a better understanding of each area. I will supervise your history study while Connor will look after your stealth; we will both instruct you on combat training."

"Do we get any chance to rest outside of eating?" I asked. Other than history, that sounds like a very physical regime.

"After dinner, yes."

"But we're gonna be so tired we'll collapse after dinner," Kyle moaned in despair. "You call that rest?"

"I guess this is what we get for agreeing to this." This was gonna suck so bad. I just know it. I kind of wished I hadn't agreed to this because of the future aches and pains. But, this was our only option instead of being lazy and burdens on Achilles. Achilles was an old crippled man. We couldn't put that kind of burden on him. He's already got enough on his plate with Connor and the Assassins! So our only other option was to become Assassins ourselves. I managed a shaky grin. "So. When do we start?"

I was really regretting my words about starting training. Training, in less than poetic terms, was hell.

For two months Connor and Achilles practically drove us into the ground with all of their training. They gave us nearly no room to breathe before making us either sprint around the lake nearby or start climbing a cliff face. Well, Connor made us do that one. Achilles had us practice fencing and adjusting to the hatchets. We got to learn how to fight with the removable hidden blade (the specialty weapon of the Assassins) in one hand with different weapon with the other. Then, he had us study the history of the Assassins before dinner.

The Assassins were more than people who killed other people. They were an order bent on protecting innocent civilians from having their free will taken away by the Templars. The Templars weren't just those knights in the Middle Ages who wanted to fight for the name of England. They had a much larger agenda to find special items called Pieces of Eden to dominate the world. These Pieces of Eden all had special powers that seemed otherworldly. With these items they could dominate the world and shape it in their image all for the name of peace. I already had an idea that the key and hourglass could be Pieces of was no way we could travel through time otherwise. The Templars and Assassins were sworn enemies that have been fighting for the fate of humanity for God knows how long. It turns out the man I met in Renaissance Italy, Ezio Auditore, was an assassin as well. One of the best, apparently. He managed to revive the Rome branch of the order on his own and got rid of the Borgia reign in Italy. Not only that he was one of the best mentors the Brotherhood ever had. Odd. When I met him all I could think about was what a lady killer he was. No pun intended.

Kyle and I studied more than the history of the Assassins. We studied their philosophy. They followed a creed that has been the heart of the Brotherhood for ages. There were three of them in total. One, stay your blade from the flesh of the innocent; two, hide in plain sight; and three, never compromise the Brotherhood. We were told to follow those tenants but to decipher what they could mean in different situations. Then, there was the philosophy we had to keep to heart.

Nothing is true, everything is permitted.

We had to interpret that however we wanted. What I got from it was how we had to question everything. If someone told us the sky was blue, we would have to see for ourselves if it really is blue or its just what we're seeing that makes it blue. All opinions were free to come out, not just a single person saying the sky is blue. I already had that philosophy how we shouldn't really believe one account of a story before we form an opinion. An old teacher of mine in high school had us look at different accounts on a single subject and made us form our own opinion. Kyle, on the other hand, was a bit peeved. He was an historian. He had to look at limited, biased accounts to make his own opinion, which he thought really wasn't fair. He was expected to question how history went now? Despite the different accounts made on it already? Blasphemy!

Other than that, the physical part of our training was the hardest to adjust to. Apparently, our standards of physical training was different to their standards. Very different. It took that entire month to get our stamina up to both of their standards. Climbing and free-running, as they called it, took up all of our time to get used to. Kyle and I had no arm muscles at all to pull us up buildings bare handed without any sort of aid. True to Kyle's prediction and my worst nightmare we had barely no time to rest outside sleeping at night. Each morning since that first day we woke up bright and early and incredibly sore. I swear that first morning I had to crawl out of bed to go downstairs. Our bodies hurt in ways I didn't even know they could.

Combat training was most likely the worst. We had to learn how to fight with two weapons in each hand. At first I was afraid to touch any of the weapons because of how sharp they were. But Connor's idea of training was more hands on. He tossed me a weapon (a hatchet) and told me to prepare myself before attacking me. I had so many bruises that day. After he finished his assault, he told me what I did wrong before teaching us our stances and how to correctly hold the hatchet. Kyle watched us fight and had paled when Connor said it was his turn. He did the same method with all of the weapons we had to learn how to wield which included the hidden blade, a hatchet, a knife, a sword, a bow and arrow, a pistol, and something called a rope dart.

Surprisingly, we also find out a couple of things during training. It turns out I was great at close combat as well as hand-to-hand. Connor taught us how to counter our opponent's attacks with all our weapons, including our bare fists. He taught us a few basic counters. I was able to pick it up pretty quickly and it became my favorite way to fight. Although it wasn't the ideal way to fight, it was easy for me. As for Kyle, he was much better at long-range fighting. He was better at shooting people with a pistol. I already knew he was better because of his sniper eyes and his example at Lexington. He was also better in terms of stamina. After the two months of conditioning, he could sprint far longer compared to me. But I was better at free-running and climbing buildings. Stealth also turned out to be an area I excelled in. I found that out when Achilles taught us assassination techniques. I was better at climbing up to buildings and jumping down to hit targets silently. Well, kind of. I had to work on hunting small animals around the homestead as my assassination targets to practice on. I had yet to kill an actual human, which I had been dreading. It killed me a bit on the inside when I killed the animals. What would I be like once i killed someone? Both of us had our strengths and weaknesses, but if we teamed up we could hide those weaknesses. Or at least that's what Achilles says.

After the first two weeks of non-stop physical conditioning, Kyle and I eventually got used to being sore and went with it. We improved a lot, but we still weren't ready for missions the other assassins were doing. Yet, for all our training there was nothing that could have prepared me to do what every assassin must learn.

It was what we had to learn next that made realize things were horribly real to me.

One morning we got up at the usual time (I was getting better at waking up early, but Connor still had to drag me out of bed) and ate breakfast altogether. After we finished, Connor herded us outside. Then, started leading us out into the forests surrounding the Davenport homestead. When we first arrived here Kyle and I were awed by the fact Connor had gathered people to live here on the homestead to call their home. From what we were told they were people who were either driven from their previous home or looking for a second chance. They were a bunch of misfits like ourselves. We haven't met any of the residence yet, but we would soon. I know it.

He led us through the forest silently without a word. We realized early on Connor was a man of few words. Neither of us said a word, both of us still too sore and tired to say anything. Wouldn't Mom be proud we were quiet for once? So, during the walk through the forest we were greeted with the call of birds from above while animals scattered at the footsteps crunching on the dirt and fallen branches. We were probably walking for about half an hour to allow us to fully awaken when we came upon a cliff face. Without any instructions he started climbing the cliff.

Kyle and I exchanged a look of displeasure. We didn't like climbing cliffs when he first made us climb one. Our hands were covered in cuts from gripping the rock where it cut into our skin. They were still healing from that underneath our fingerless gloves (or as I'd like to call them hobo gloves). Sighing, we followed after Connor, who was expecting us to follow without him actually saying it.

A few minutes later after much cursing by Kyle for not being able to find footholds to climb on, we were at the top of the cliff. Connor, who had obviously arrived before us, was looking towards the ocean on the horizon. We had a clear view of it from the top. When we arrived he turned towards us.

"Kyle, Arlette," he addressed calmly. "Today, you will be learning an essential skill every assassin must learn in order to perform effectively during missions. You will be learning how to perform a leap of faith."

"Um, what?" I asked, slightly nervous. A leap of faith? As in something like trusting someone with a great secret?

"A leap of faith. You must be able to jump from a great height in order to reach a target on the ground." He pointed to a fallen tree hanging off the cliff. It looked stable because it was lodged between two medium sized rocks. He gestured to something below. We peered down the cliff to see a pile of leaves and broken branches conveniently below the tree. The dots connected in our heads.

We stared at him with wide eyes incredulously. My heart was pounding against my ribcage. He wasn't suggesting...?

"You want us to jump off a cliff and land in that tiny pile of leaves fifty meters below? Are you trying to get us killed?" Kyle gaped.

"Do not panic. It is perfectly safe," he assured us. I was feeling anything but assured.

"That's suicide! We're never going to survive a fall like that!" I argued.

"Yes, you are. I have done many leaps of faith in the past and here I stand today."

"Why would we need to learn how to do these? We can just climb down!" Kyle agreed with me.

Connor shook his head. "During missions, there will come a time where your target is on the ground while you are on the top of buildings. Performing a leap of faith is the fastest method to reaching the ground as well as securing a hiding place should you require one. Every assassin must be able to perform it."

"But you're asking us to jump off a cliff without knowing if we'll land in the leaves!" I gasped. My panic was rising like the crest of a wave. This was insane. We were never going to survive a fall like that! A pile of leaves wouldn't keep us from killing ourselves! It was suicide!

"I guess this is why its called a leap of faith. You have to trust that you're gonna survive," Kyle observed bitterly.

"In a sense. Now," he said, gazing between us two, "who would like to go first?"

Kyle and I glanced at one another. We immediately pointed at the other.

"He will!"

"She will!"

We paused, wondering how we managed to say that at the same time. Surprised, I glared at him the same time he did. "No, you go!"

"You go! You're the oldest!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, and as the oldest I say you go first!" he argued.

"Older siblings usually protect their younger siblings. They don't make them jump off a cliff first!"

"Survival of the fittest, Lettie. You have to go first to see if its safe for me to try."

"What kind of logic is that?!"

"A good one!"

"Enough!" Connor barked. We shut up instantly. He nodded towards me. "Arlette, you will go first."

I bit my lip, resisting the urge to whimper. This wasn't fair. Why did I ever agree to become an assassin again? Very reluctantly, I dragged my feet over to the tree. I hopped onto it, taking great care to spread out my arms to help me balance as I slowly made my way over to the tip of the branch.

Don't look down. Don't look down, I chanted in my head. I could handle heights just fine-not when I was literally about to jump to my death. I made it to the tip ,gripping the sides to steady myself, and squeezed my eyes closed. I wasn't crouched on a tree ready to plunge down off a cliff to land in a pile of leaves that may or may not decide whether I live or not. Nope. So wasn't there. If my heart wasn't bursting out of my chest before, it was practically climbing up my throat to escape by now. It would be lucky to get out of this.

"Alright, Arlette. What you need to do first is see how far the leaves are in order to angle your jump," Connor advised me. "When you jump make sure to roll head-over-heels so you may land on your back. It will help cushion the fall and leave you unharmed."

I peeked an eye open to try and see the pile of leaves. Suddenly, a wave of dizziness hit me as the ground appeared to come closer. Gasping, I screwed my eyes closed, breathing deeply to make my head stop spinning.

"C-Connor? I don't think I can do this," I gasped. My arms were starting to tremble, my body slightly swaying. If there was a wind, I'm sure I would've been knocked over.

"Yes, you can. All you need to do is trust yourself."

"I trust myself not to jump! I can't do this!"

"She's not gonna do it, man. She's too scared," Kyle said.

"She needs motivation. I know Arlette can perform this well."

It was nice how Connor believed in me. I wish I could say the same for me. I don't think I can do this. This was worse than what happened at camp. I had a harness back then to ensure I wouldn't die. This time I was trusting only myself into making sure I survive, and I didn't think I would.

Reality cruelly brought me back when the tree bounced. I gripped the tree like it was my lifeline. What the hell?! Peering over my shoulder, I think all the blood left my face as Connor was suddenly behind me. He was crouched low as well, but he had a determined gleam in his eyes.

"C-Connor? What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry for doing this, but its for your own good," he apologized. I don't know if it was sincere or not because what he did next zapped my thoughts and fried them to a crisp.

Connor pushed me.

He literally pushed me off that freakin' tree to free fall off the cliff! I didn't even see his arm move until he had already shoved me back enough to lose my balance. I'm pretty sure my scream resonated throughout the valley and caused a few birds to take flight.

Free falling through the air, my lungs were emptied of it. What was a three second drop stretched like hours for me. I squeezed my eyes closed.

Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, GOD! I'm going to die. I'm going to die after being pushed off a cliff and it'll all be Connor's fault! I was awaiting my death, but as many times before I felt a small, firm thump underneath me. I blacked out the moment I landed on something solid.

When I gained consciousness I was being shaken by my shoulders.

"Arlette! Arlette, are you alright?" came the voice of Connor.

"I can't believe you did that! If my sister's dead because of you, Templars will be the least of your worries!" Kyle threatened.

I groaned, silencing their voices. I opened my eyes to see Connor was holding me by my shoulders. Kyle was hovering over his shoulder, caught between glaring at Connor and peering at me in open worry. That's new. He doesn't usually show his worry. When they saw I was awake they backed off to give me space.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Connor pushed you off a cliff," Kyle answered. "I think you fainted the moment you landed in the leaves."

"I did not expect her to faint! I thought Arlette would be capable of performing a leap of faith with a little push!" Connor justified.

I took a moment to register what he said. The reality and memory of what happened slammed into me like a freight train. Panic and shock caused tears to line my eyes and stream down my cheeks. I began to tremble violently. Connor tensed and opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted as I lifted my hand to slap him. The sharp smack silenced everything around us, the boys staring at me in shock. There wasn't even the cry of animals to fill the silence.

"A little push? I can't believe you! You don't shove people off cliffs when they don't want to jump! I could have died! I hate you!" I yelled at him. I wrenched myself out of his hands, got to my feet, and sprinted off into the forest, ignoring Kyle shouting after me. Sobs wracked my chest.

The nerve of that guy! How could he push me off a cliff like that? I could have died! Didn't he care he could've killed me? Of course not. He's an assassin. He doesn't care if he kills just one more person, least of all me. What if I really did die? Would he even care he pushed one of his students to their death all for the sake of learning a move she was afraid to do? If being an assassin made me lose compassion for human lives, I didn't want to be one anymore. I knew I would be killing people, but I didn't want to become a monster who killed for fun.

I wasn't sure where I was headed. I kept running through the woods without a general idea of where to go. All I could hear was my own harsh breathing and the crunching of wood from my footsteps. I avoided any cliff faces and kept running without any idea of where I was going. So, I was evidently surprised when I ended up near a stream. I stopped short of the water's edge and crouched at the bank into a ball. I buried my face into the rough material of my robes, hugging my bent legs.

I want to go home. I don't want to be in the 1770's in the middle of a secret war. It was bad enough with the American one! That fall off the cliff made me realize at any given moment I could be killed. Joining the assassins would double my chances of being killed. Sign my death warrant, in fact. So, what was I thinking when I decided to join them? I wasn't thinking. I was still too shocked with all the information Connor and Achilles told us that day. It was like anything that had to do with assassins was changing my life for the worse.

Ezio, Connor, Achilles...I don't know why assassins seemed to gravitate towards me and Kyle, but I didn't want it. Kyle might, but I didn't. I just wanted to go home where people weren't trying to kill me and everything made sense. I wanted my old life back where all I had to worry about was passing my classes. But, I realized the moment I decided to travel through time, my old life was just that: old. I could never get that life back to the way it was before.

My life had changed, for the better or worse.

I wasn't sure how long I was feeling sorry for myself. My trembling didn't stop because my tears kept flowing to stain my robes. Damn, now I need Ms. Theodora (the maid) to wash my robes again. Ever since we started our training, she kept complaining to Achilles how we came home battered, bruised, and dirtied. She wasn't upset we were hurt-she was angry she had to keep washing our robes. I wouldn't blame her. I might like doing my laundry, but in this age I'd hate it. Its why we had two sets of robes. I didn't care I was staining my robes with my tear until I could stop them.

My trembling abruptly stopped the moment I heard a low growling sound behind me. All my muscles seized. Wait...That sounds frighteningly familiar. I've heard it many times as I practiced my assassination techniques. I had to run so many times because they came to take my kills and there was nothing I could do about it. Like out of a horror movie, I held my breath, lifting my head, and turned around painfully slow. Behind me was the worst thing I could see on my own.

A pack of wolves were behind me. There were about three of them in the pack, each one with a dark grey coat, and they all had their teeth bared with a low growl erupting from their chests. Their ears were low, threatening. This wasn't your average play growl like they were about to play a game with me. They were on the hunt.

I was on the menu.

Like Connor advised me so many times when he taught me how to hunt, the whole point of it was not to make any sudden movements. Any sudden movements and they would end up my last. I slowly stood to my feet, my eyes never leaving the golden ones of the wolves. Very, very slowly, I flexed my left hand to activate the mechanism of the hidden blade. The familiar blade I've known for a month was a comfortable weight in my hand in the face of danger. My eyes flickered for a possible escape route. I couldn't outrun wolves, but I could try. I slowly inched towards my left where the wolves weren't around. Okay, I can run as far as I can until find a tree to climb. Hopefully.

So, it was now or never.

Summoning what little of my courage I had left, I sprinted towards the trees. Immediately, I heard the angry snarling and growling from behind me. I didn't dare look back because of how close they were getting. If I looked back, I would probably trip and get eaten. I would get too frightened to the point I wouldn't be able to move. So, no looking back!

I sped through the forest, desperately looking for a tree I could climb. Much later I would have realized all the trees were climbable, but I was too panicked to notice. I was too busy running for my life to realize what was logical. When books describe how the main character noticed a logical solution to their problem in the face of danger they made it sound relatively easy. In fact I would yell at the character if they didn't realize what to do instantly. Man, was I regretting that. I couldn't help but curse at my naive self. Shit, shit, shit...!

As I was cursing, whatever force ruled the world decided to screw with me again. All of a sudden, the tip of my boot caught a small ridge on the ground I didn't see. My knee gave out and I tumbled to the ground. My leg protested in pain at the sudden tumble. I tried to ignore that in favor of running for my life but it was too late. Before I could get up, an unfamiliar weight tackled me from behind as my shoulder screamed in pain.

I shrieked at the sudden and sharp pain penetrating from my shoulder. Cursing every god I could think of, I jabbed my elbow to stab the wolf in the ribs to shove it off me. It yelped and the teeth latched onto me let go. I took the chance to shove myself off the ground and get into a stance. The wolves had gone back a little, beginning to circle me. I could spot the one that bit me because of the red blood in its mouth. The same color stained my shoulder and dripped down my arm. Shit. I couldn't even feel my arm. It went numb from the pain resonating from my shoulder.

At this point I realize I was in the worst position for someone of my current ability. I wasn't very good at fighting yet with Connor and Kyle as my only opponents and I wasn't very good at hunting. I was like a newborn with the few abilities I had. Still, with my will to survive I wasn't going to die at the fangs of wolves. I refused to die yet. I gripped my hidden blade tightly. Let's see how well I can fight injured.

The wolves had the same idea. An injured prey was an easy meal. Their hackles raised, one of them ran at me and pounced. I tensed and was about to strike back when all of a sudden something shot into the side of the wolf. It yelped and fell to the ground at my feet. Looking down, I was surprised to see the feathered end of an arrow sticking into the side. The kind of feather used made it recognizeable for me. I looked around to see where the arrow could have come from.

That was a mistake.

The moment I turned my eyes to the trees another wolf ran to attack me while I was distracted. But, by the time I noticed there was a rustle from the trees above and a shadow descended. Connor fell from above the trees to land on top of the wolf. It didn't have time to make a sound as he plunged his hidden blade into its neck and killed it. At the same time there was a bang that echoed throughout the woods. The other wolf fell before it could run. And silence fell.

Connor retracted his blade from the wolf's neck and gave the metal a quick clean. He stood up, turning to face me.

"Arlette, are you alright?" he asked me. I could sense the relief in his voice when he saw me standing. Shocked, but standing. But his eyes caught the blood on my shoulder. He started, quickly making his way over to me to gingerly touch the wound. "You are hurt! Did that wolf bite you?"

"I..." I laughed weakly. "I'm really bad at this."

The world became blurred. The last thing I remembered was seeing Connor shout in surprise as I slumped over and fainted for the second time that day.

When I regained consciousness the day was already over and it was night.

I brushed my hair away from my shoulder to allow Connor a better look at the bite wound. The wound wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be. Because of my clothes and the amount of layers I had under my coat to stave off the cold, the teeth didn't permanently damage my shoulder. Though, there was a lot of blood. He gently cleaned out the wound with a wet cloth, adding some ointment that would clean out the wound. It hurt like nothing I've ever felt before, but luckily the bit of brandy I had buzzed the pain to a minimum. The taste of it was sour in my mouth.

We were sitting in Achilles' bedroom downstairs where various books were held. I was seated on Achilles' bed with my robes off. All I had on was the undershirt that was supposed to be underwear in this era. Connor stood in front of me to clean out the wound while Kyle and Achilles were sitting at the table in the room. They were playing some kind of game, but I noticed Kyle steal glances at me every few minutes.

"You know," I said, slurring a bit, "staring at me like that won't make the bite go away."

"Sorry," he apologized sheepishly. "I wasn't expecting you to get bitten by a wolf today."

I grunted. I wasn't expecting to get bitten either. After I had fainted, Connor had carried me back to the house and left me in Achilles' room before going to call the doctor. I wasn't sure who the doctor was because when he came over I was still out like a light. From what I was told after awakening, he performed the procedure to treat my wolf bite. Kyle told me the procedure was the worst part when the bite itself wasn't that bad. He said the doctor, Dr. Lyle White, had to clean my bite and stitched the wound. Apparently, while the wound wasn't completely bad enough to damage any of my muscles or tendons (I hope) there was torn skin. When he finished stitching all he told Connor was to bandage the wound so I wouldn't touch it or open it. I didn't even remember any of that happening and stayed unconscious throughout all of it. For once my low pain tolerance kept me knocked out from witnessing one of the nastiest things that could happen in a medical procedure.

"I'm not gonna turn into a werewolf at the next full moon."

"Were...wolf?" Connor cautiously asked. Since he was the one to drive me towards the wolves, he was probably tiptoeing around me to make sure he didn't make me angry.

"Half-man, half-wolf. They turn into men covered in fur on full moons," I explained. "I think most Native Americans had stories about them, but called them shape shifters instead. They had animal forms, too, in the stories other than turning into a huge furry humanoid with a taste for humans. Only way you become a werewolf is if you're bitten by one. It's like a disease that never goes away. Kinda like cancer."

Something small hit me in the head. I blinked at Kyle owlishly. He was smiling in amusement.

"How much brandy did you give her? She never talks this much," he asked Connor.

Connor half-smiled, which in some part of my brain I found cute. He gestured with one hand over to the nightstand by the bed where he placed the brandy bottle after I had some. Almost half the bottle was gone. Did I really drink that much? Why would I? It tasted horrible. Tasted like something died in my mouth.

"Of course it's bitter. Is that her first time drinking?" Achilles asked, grinning himself. Oh, did I say that out loud? From Kyle's grin, that would be a yes.

"The hard stuff? Yeah," Kyle laughed. "She doesn't like the taste of wine. She says it tastes like rotten grapes."

"I don't care if that's how it's supposed to taste like that. That stuff tastes like shit," I argued. "How can people like alcohol? It kills your taste buds and makes me want to chuck it out the window. Stuff is nasty."

"Says the one who drank half a bottle of brandy."

"Know what? Screw you. You're not the one who got bit by a fucking wolf. It hurts like hell." I winced on cue as Connor put gauze directly on the tender wound. I whimpered. It hurt a lot. I wanted to cry because of the pain stabbing at my nerves. "I need opium."

"It is not a serious enough bite to warrant such medicine," Connor scolded. He wrapped my shoulder tightly enough to allow me to move. "You will be fine. You need to let it heal."

"Good. It'll leave a nasty scar, though, won't it?"

"Yes."

"Great. First battle scar I get and it's from almost getting killed by a wolf!"

"Do not be ashamed by it," Achilles advised. He paused from the game, which by the look on Kyle's face, he was winning. He nodded at me. "Surviving a wolf attack is no easy task for most people. You were lucky to make it out alive with what little training you've had this past month. Be proud of what you accomplished."

"I'll try." I nodded at his advise. Connor finished wrapping the wound, tying it securely to not let it fall.

"That should hold until tomorrow," Connor said, inspecting his work. "I do not believe the wound to be serious enough at the moment, but if it becomes infected we shall see Dr. White as soon as possible."

"Alright." I rubbed my shoulder gently, wondering what nasty mark would forever mar my skin. I stood up. "I'm gonna go to bed. Alcohol's making me dizzy."

"You don't have any tolerance for alcohol, you girl," Kyle taunted. Finally, he had something to hang over my head. Not.

"Thanks for noticing my gender," I taunted back. Grabbing my bundle of robes, I said goodnight to all of them. I head down the hall and up the stairs to where my room was near the landing. I was about to open the door when I heard my name called out. Glancing down the stairs, I saw Connor coming up. He stopped near me. "Hey, Con. What do ya need?"

If he was amused by my slurring or the butcher of his name, he didn't show it. Instead, he stared at me straight in the eyes, managing to hold my gaze for more than a second-much longer than I would with anyone else.

"Arlette," he started. "I wish to apologize."

"For what?" His stare had blanked out the rest of my mind not blurred by pain or alcohol. Jesus, it's like looking at one of the wolves again!

"For pushing you off the cliff when you were not ready," he elaborated. "I had thought you would be able to perform it with no hesitation as with the rest of your training. I did not know you had a fear of heights and that is why you hesitated."

"Kyle told you, huh?" I sighed. "No, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. We're training to be assassins and we have to deal with heights. Heights have never bothered me much, but I'm only fine with it as long as I don't look down."

"Still, it was not right of me to do such a thing. You could have been injured. I did not think of that when I decided to push you."

I smiled. Although at times I might say I hate Connor for a lot of things he does, whether its training or how he can assassinate people, he really wasn't such a bad guy. He was trying to do what he thought was right in the end, even when we don't like his method.

"Well, I guess apology accepted. Just don't do it again."

His shoulders visibly relaxed in relief. Was he really that wound up because I yelled at him? Or was it for another reason? "Alright. I will not do it again."

Whether it was because of the alcohol or some crazy thought that decided to flit through my thoughts, I suddenly found myself throwing out my arms around Connor to hug him. Again, he tensed under my touch. Jeez, does he have touching issues or something? He always does that when people touch him. But, he relaxed again at my next words.

"Thanks for everything, Connor."

"Why are you thanking me?" he asked.

"You've done a lot of stuff for me and Kyle. You protected me back in Boston when we first met, you looked out for Kyle during the Tea party, and, well..." I blushed. I let go of him to rub my neck nervously on my good side. "You and Achilles helped us when anyone else in your position would think we were crazy. No one would believe we came from the future. Really, saying thank you doesn't seen enough to pay you back."

He shook his head. "There is no need to thank us. We wanted to help."

"Uh-huh." For some reason I didn't believe that. There had to be another reason why he would help us, two practical strangers, for no payment in return. Unfortunately, my mind was too muddled to think straight. I wanted to go to bed and end this horrible day. I put my hand to the doorknob again and twisted it to open the door. "Well, night."

"Good night, Arlette."

With that, I shut the door firmly behind me. When it was I slumped against the door with a heavy sigh. Gods, am I an idiot. Two months of training and I couldn't win against a wolf. Again, I started to think I wasn't cut out to be an assassin. I had trouble fending off a wild animal. How would I do against an intelligent human who could think and counter my attacks? Was I really going to survive in this era? I couldn't protect myself much less Kyle or Connor. I banged my head back against the door.

I am utterly and completely pathetic.

Sorry! I know I promised I would update this last week but the day I was going to finish this chapter my cousin came over to stay for the weekend. The good news is he helped me a bit to figure out how to treat a wolf bite during this era. He's an AC fan, too, so I asked him for advice on what to do if he were in Lettie's position. Actually, he helped me a lot with this chapter. I ran a scenario of what he would do if he had an apprentice who refused to do a leap of faith to see if it was justified for Connor to push Lettie off. It was a bunch of 'what if' questions. He basically would do the same thing as Connor and push them off then I went a little further like what if they caught the edge before the fell. He said he would make them come back up and do it. If they hung there instead, he would leave them there until they get up. He'd be a mean mentor.

Okay, here's a question for you reviewers. What would you do you had to perform a leap of faith for the first time?

Please review! I'd love to see your answers.