A Stupid Scavenger, Another Little Piece of Paper, and Some Girl Time
"So how is it that you came to meet Haytham, Ziio?"
"Well, he actually rescued me and several other members from my village when we were held captive by the British and later perused me so that I would be able to help him find something only our village can find," Ziio replies casually while she sits behind me and braids my long pale blond and rainbow hair down my back as she talks to Ellen, Prudence, Corrine, and I by the river.
I smile as I take in the view of the Homestead and the people around me. I've needed some girl time now days. There's too many guys around me all the time. God, it can be annoying sometimes. So we sent them away to do some work with Big Dave and Terry and Godfrey around this place. It could use some cleaning up. The girls and I are having a nice quiet afternoon by the river washing clothes and just talking. It's been so hard on all of us these last few months, I think we all need the peace and each other.
"So what about you, Riley?" Ellen asks looking over at me. "You never told us how you came to meet Connor and come here."
I grin as I look back at the first moment I met Connor in Boston three years ago when he saved my life and thought I was crazy from the start. "We met in Boston when these redcoats thought they could put up a fight against me."
Ziio chuckles behind me. "You two always seem to find trouble when you're together."
I smile as I look at the women around me as they talk with one another and laugh like family. But these people are my family, they took me in.
"Riley!"
I turn my head slightly to not damage the braid Ziio is making but just enough to see Connor walking towards us in his Assassin robes and weapons strapped to his body like we're about to go somewhere.
"What's up, Ponytail?" I ask while looking up at him when he blocks the sun with his big head.
"Gear up," he says down to me. "We are going to a ship graveyard."
I groan just as Ziio is finishing my braid and I can throw my head back and complain. "Why?" I whine. "We got back like yesterday from the fort."
"That was almost a week ago," Connor chuckles.
"Oh," I mumble as the other women giggle around me. I turn around to look at Ziio. "Think you and Haytham can hold down the homestead without us for a few days?"
Ziio smiles at me. "You can count on it."
...
"Ship graveyard's just around the point. Can't miss it," Mister Faulkner says to us as he rows our little long boat towards the cliffs of this abandoned island. "The men say Abel Owens was aboard one of the doomed vessels. It it's true, you'll find what's left of him here. Scavengers love the graveyard! So be on your guard!"
"Aye, aye," I say as I pull up my hood before following a very eager Connor onto the rocky shore.
"If Abel Owens' ship wrecked around here, they must have been looking for something themselves," Connor says to me as I follow him up the steep cliff side.
"Yeah, but if they found it and didn't get off the island, then we may have a problem," I call up to him.
"I agree," Connor says. "If that is the case, then we will need to be careful."
"When am I not careful." I scoff as Connor is helping me up the ledge of the cliff and I begin walking down the path towards the ships.
"You nearly fell onto the dinner table surrounded by guards in Fort Wolcott," Connor calls to me as he follows.
"That was a mere accident," I laugh. "And besides, I'm always watching out for-"
"Riley!" Connor quickly grabs my arm to keep me from falling down into the rocks and water below when the ground beneath me crumbles.
"Traps," I mutter.
"Right, always careful," Connor chuckles.
I laugh too as I look at him with a blush creeping up my face. I smile before reaching up on my tiptoes to plant a small kiss on Connor's warm lips.
Connor smiles down at me before leaning in to kiss me for real this time when I notice him look up and his face grow serious. "Another ship," he mutters. I turn around to look out to the remains of ships in the graveyard to see men walking around with guns and long coats. "Scavengers."
"Just great," I mutter. "This just got a whole lot harder."
Connor leaves my side and takes a running start to land on the wood of an old ship closest to us. I roll my eyes, there's a much easier way to approach this.
"Idiot," I mutter as I follow his suit and land on the wood beside him as he's yelling to a man who is digging around in a crate on the opposite side of the ship we stand on.
"Put that down," Connor says firmly to the man.
"Piss off!" the man scoffs at him. "I found it! 'Tis mine!" With that, he takes off.
Connor and I follow as he yells to the scavenger, "STOP!"
"Your running is pointless," I call to the man as I follow him swiftly jumping from the posts and wood braces right on his tail.
"Leave me be!" The scavenger cries as we chase him through the graveyard. "I found it!"
"What you carry is ours!" Connor snarls as he runs on foot through the ships.
"I would listen to him if I were you," I call to the stupid scavenger again as I stay above the two men.
From above Connor, I watch the scavenger use a chase breaker or let several remains of barrels and broken bits of ship stop Connor in his pursuit.
"Nice try!" the scavenger laughs.
"Not that easy to stop him," I shout back as Connor shoves aside two of the scavenger's guards.
"It's not yours! Leave me alone!" The man cries again as he ducks under the cover of the ships. "Why are you two chasing me! I've done nothing wrong!"
I swiftly run up the side of a ship mast that has fallen on its side as I run beside the man. I wanna give this kill to Connor, anyways.
"Stop and give us what we came for!" Connor yells as he gets almost close enough to snag the man's coat that is just out of his reach.
"Ha ha! What's mine is mine!" the man shouts back. "Rantipole!"
"Come on, dude!" I shout. "Just make your life easy and hand it over!"
"Sorry mate! Looks like you lost this treasure hunt!" the scavenger cackles as he disappears into one of the caves.
"Shit," I mutter to myself as I follow Connor up a tall mast which is all of the sudden, crumbling under our weight.
"Damn," Connor says quickly before he suddenly grabs me in his strong arms as we go tumbling into the side of the cliff near the cave.
He quickly gets up and I follow him into the dark cave as we hear the man's voice echoing in the cave, "Fellas! Some hector and little kid in hoods' chasin' me!"
"We'll deal with 'em," one of his friends says.
Connor comes charging into the cave and rips his tomahawk from his side and drives it into the head of one of the men. I rip out my own sword and jump into the action as I drive my sword through the stomach and my hidden blade through the head of a mercenary with shocked eyes by the fact that I'm a girl.
The two of us finish off the remaining guards without trouble before I push sweat from my forehead and wipe away blood from my sword.
"'Near the wolf's abode,'" Connor mutters as he is crouching down over the scavenger's dead body with another little piece of paper in his hands.
"Great," I mutter as I let out a long breath of air. "Now, can we please get out of here?"
Connor looks over his shoulder at me with a grin. "Ready, to get back."
I nod with a small smile. "I miss my warm bed."
He laughs at my comment as he takes my hand and the two of us slowly walk out of the cave back towards the Aquila.
...
"Did ya find it?" Faulkner asks us after we are both back aboard the Aquila.
"Yep," I say happily. "Now, please, let's go home."
"We cannot do that just yet," Connor says to me.
"Why is that?" I ask with a puzzled look as I turn around to face him.
"We still have two more pieces of the map to collect," he says with a grin.
"Really?" I ask as my shoulders sag a bit. "Wonderful..."
"Set a course for the Northwest Passage."