The Assassins were silent. After Achilles had told them of Shay's resurrection, he had expected mixed replies, calls of joy from Hope and Liam at the thought of their friend still breathing and curses from Chevalier as the traitor still walked. In a way, he was right, but this was all done internally. No opinion was aired. Both Liam and Hope knew that while their friend was alive, so was their enemy. They had to accept that Shay wasn't who they had believed him to be. He was a turncoat and a Templar, nothing more and nothing less.
"Are we in danger?" Hope was the first to speak, breaking the icy cold silence.
"Most likely," Achilles nodded, "Shay is aware of our construct and how to infiltrate our confines. However, he doesn't know all of us."
All eyes turned to Victoria, the dark, slim figure who stood at the back, unfamiliar with this traitorous, immortal man.
"Victoria Smith, for your own safety, I recommend you defect to England or another Brotherhood, somewhere that Shay will not be."
"Why is that? Don't you think it will be better if we all work together to apprehend him?" The woman frowned at Achilles' words.
"Normally, yes, but you are one of the few Assassins here who is unknown to Shay, quite an achievement considering what he knows about us. Should we fail to stop him, someone has to report to the other branches what happened here."
"I don't like this but I understand." The dark hooded female Assassin nodded, casting a helpless expression in Edward's direction. Victoria had grown quite close to his family, found a friend in Eleanor and became a role model for Mary. She had a hard time accepting the idea of leaving them behind to whatever destiny fate had in store for them. However, the woman's expression hardened as she spoke her next phrase.
"I have one condition though." Victoria stated with a piercing glance toward Edward and Achilles, causing the grandson of Blackbeard to gulp slightly, wondering why she was looking at him as if he was a potential enemy and was quite frankly intimidated by the shadowy figure.
"What condition?" The mentor asked with a wary glance at the woman.
"Iain is leaving with me." Victoria stated unyielding, daring both Assassins to deny her demand. Edward couldn't say he was surprised by the porcelain beauty's words. She might be an Assassin but her love for the quiet sailor overrode all loyalties to the Brotherhood and judging from her fierce expression, any refusal from his part could result in violent, possibly fatal repercussion for him and several of his brethren.
Edward would sorely miss his friend who helped so much over the past few months but perhaps it was better for him to be kept out of this whole ordeal.
The son of Jemima and Thomas nodded his consent and Victoria's features softened, sending an apologetic glance at Edward and a respectful bow to her mentor.
"Good luck then, all of you." The tall, darkly dressed Assassin said in a subdued tone before turning around and walking briskly out of the room. Concealing her sadness behind a mask of aloofness, she had a horrible feeling about all this.
"What happened?" Was the first question Iain asked when he saw Victoria striding in a determined pace. Despite the severe predicament of the Brotherhood here, she couldn't help but smile at his words. Trust the quiet Scot to go directly to the core subject instead of making small talk.
"Not here, let's go somewhere more discreet." Victoria said, scanning her surroundings with her eyes and Eagle Vision to make sure there were no potential enemies or spies before leading Iain to one of her small safe flats.
"This is worst than what I thought," she said, her voice low, "I've been ordered to defect to another Brotherhood."
"Why?" Iain's face was suddenly lit up by concern, fearing the worst. "What did you do?"
"No, it's nothing I've done," she almost started laughing at his sudden aghast expression, believing Victoria had done something terrible. "Achilles had told us about Shay. Only Edward, Adé and I knew he was alive."
"Would it be better if we all worked together to stop Shay?" Iain frowned which brought a small smile from Victoria despite the situation, the seaman often thought the same way she did.
"I voiced the same objection but Achilles said that because Shay Cormac doesn't know me, I should move away in case the Brotherhood here falls. So that someone can report what happened here."
"And what turned this Shay character against the Assassins? No one really told me what happened at the homestead and why." Inquired the sailor.
"Remember my opinion about the pieces of Eden?" Questionned the dark figure.
"Yes, you told me that you were not willing to trust any artifacts able to interact and mess with a person's mind or where its power comes from." Iain quoted Victoria's own words about the precursor objects.
"Before Shay disappeared, in his last mission, he was tasked to retrieve one of these objects hidden in Lisbon. Upon returning, he stated that the artifact destroyed the entire city in an earthquake and accused Achilles of knowing or at least suspecting this because of a similar event occuring in Haiti coinciding with an attempt to retrieve another piece of Eden"
"Can those things really do that?" Wondered a gobsmacked Iain Keith.
"I don't know, Achilles and the other Assassins don't think so but I am not so sure. I read many books talking about previous Assassins who came in contact with precursor artifacts and it doesn't inspire any trust in those things." Victoria sighed in displeasure.
This had been an age old argument between her and the mentor. She was of the opinion that the Assassins should fight the Templars the old fashioned way rather than depend upon finding and using some object of questionable nature from a mysterious civilisation that disappeared long ago.
"From what I deduced, I can basically speculate that Shay was traumatised by what happened in Lisbon and is now of the same opinion as me concerning the pieces of Eden but chose a more radical method which consists of exterminating anyone who is willing to use the precursor artifacts against their adversaries. This happens to be the Assassin's Brotherhood in the colonies and to do so, he aligned himself with the Templars to help him in his goal." The woman finished her explanation about the former Assassins.
"What will you do?" The sailor asked.
"I guess we'll move back to England, and yes, you are coming with me." Victoria replied in a tone that brook no refusal from his part.
Iain had no intention of refusing but like her, he didn't like the idea of leaving Edward and his family alone to fend off a fully trained rogue Assassin. These last few months, the Scotsman grew closer to the Englishman and from the little time he spent with his family, he already developed a good relationship with Eleanor and their children, especially Mary who basically adored both Iain and Victoria.
"If you intend to continue the fight against the Templars, I might have an alternative." The Scottish said in a subdued voice.
"What do you mean?" The beautiful Assassin inquired with a raised eyebrow at the uncertain expression from her interlocutor.
"The bounty hunter, Marshal Garrett came to me with a proposition to join his group and take command of one of his vessels. He said that although they are primarily an independent organisation, we could work from the shadows, hiding behind the flag of the various governments they get their contracts from to undermine the Templars."
"He said that? Iain, are you sure this Marshal Garrett can be trusted? We are talking about the same person who led an assault against the Storm Fortress and is responsible for your trauma. Can you really work with this man?" The dark haired woman asked with a concerned gaze, fearing for the man's emotional state.
"I don't know, but he didn't deny his responsibility and he never tried to justify his actions other than he is a hunter paid to do a job. Marshal explained that he personally no longer takes contracts from the Templars since a Grand Master used his family as hostage. The hunter also admitted that while some of his vessels do continue to take minor contracts from the Templars for spying and appearance purposes, he is primarily working against them."
"And if we were to join his group, what would happen?" Victoria emphasised on the word 'we', while speaking.
"We would be given command of a Prince class first rate man'o'war called the Darkness, a vessel almost as dangerous as the Storm Fortress itself and is bigger than Marshal's own flagship, the Minotaur. Her captain has been killed in action and Garrett is looking for an experienced replacement, I apparently qualify because of my experience with the Fortress. In the meantime, the Darkness has been sailing in tandem with the Minotaur until they get an experienced captain."
"I see, I think we should consider this but we also have to think about Alexa. A ship is no place to raise a child."
Alexa was a daughter of a Grand Master assassinated by Marshal's former superior, Alexander Grim, before he brought the infant to Achilles and left a letter for her to read when she was older, explaining her origins described from an outsider point of view. When Victoria wasn't away in a mission, she with Eleanor and Iain, helped to raise the girl. The woman found it ironic that the child wore a female variant name of the same man who killed her father.
The hunter must be serious about his offer if he is willing to offer command of one of his most powerful vessels to someone he seriously wronged and could very well become his mortal enemy.
And if Marshal hadn't lied, the man had a family himself and he was able to lead a group of bounty hunters.
Victoria's brooding and anti social personality gave her a significant advantage as she wasn't known even among the ranks of the very Brotherhood she is a member of. The shadowy woman could either choose to secretly track down this Shay and hopefully deal with him, or help the Brotherhood through the bounty hunters and make sure that even if the Templars triumphed with the turncoat's help, their victory will taste so bitter that they'll wonder if they truly won.
With these thoughts, the Assassin pulled out two objects from a hidden compartment in the room and presented them to Iain.
"I think you are sufficiently trained to wield these, I made them for you and considering the current predicament of the Brotherhood, they might be useful."
On close inspection, Iain recognised the vambraces as hidden blades but unlike those he had seen Edward and his brethren wear which often had decorations and an Assassins logo. They looked like ordinary working arm protections and could easily be concealed under the sleeves of any outfit the Scotsman chose to wear.
The woman gently removed the small scarf covering the sailor's wrist to reveal a nasty scar only to be hidden again by the wrist blade. While tying the weapon to Iain's arm, Victoria softly kissed the Scotsman on his lips causing the man to turn a bright shade of red before he tentatively returned the kiss.
Pulling away from her lover, Victoria lowered her hood and gently massaged the sailor's cheek while staring at him with warmth filled eyes mixed with sorrow.
"They look good on you." The pale faced beauty said as she untied her hair, allowing the sea of black to fall in slight elegant waves just below her shoulders and made the Scottish sailor's breath quicken as he admired the tall female Assassin.
Iain gulped as Victoria locked the door while maintaining her piercing gaze toward her lover before walking over to him to rain small pecks over his face. She enveloped the man in her arms and gave him a more passionate kiss that he gladly returned.
"I love you, Iain Keith, I think I've loved you from start but I wasn't ready to acknowledge it until your battle against the Death Hand." Whispered the Assassin, staring lovingly at the sailor, there was a hint of apprehension in her voice.
"I love you too, Victoria Smith, I wasn't brave enough to say it for fear of destroying our friendship." The man reciprocated her feelings.
What Iain wouldn't say was that he thought she was out of his league, far too good for him, but the woman learned to read him well. The sailor belonged to a very rare category of men where the girl that wanted to court him actually had to take the lead and make the first step. That was so typical of him, Victoria thought with fondness and exasperation at the same time.
Both Assassin and seaman sought comfort from each other against the severe problems their friends and fellow brethren were facing. But if they could ever find it, they would find it together.
So the story of Iain and Victoria is nearly at an end, however, as these characters were created by the marvellous RedTitanAlpha, please go and check out their story before they met the Youngs and after they left them. I cannot recommend this writer highly enough with such incredible stories and characters that seem real enough to have actually existed. Thank you for reading and leaving lovely reviews as always!