A/N: Note, I don't own a copy of AC: Unity. I really just made up the city layout here, and the layout of the Square Du Temple.
Her place was on the eastern side of the fort, in what was already Paris' eastern most district. Four nights they had been watching the fort, returning to the chateau to sleep during most of the daylight. It had been uneventful, but Élise felt a strange connection to the building, as if she could feel the ghosts of their forebears.
Then there was the other side of her life, her beginning, she felt it in Arno. Although he was on the other side of the fort, she felt his presence. The Assassin Order, once a sect of Mohammedans, had spread to Christian lands, solely to battle the Templars in a feud over a strange metal ball.
Now there was a third faction entering the war. The Illuminati, originating in Bavaria. She felt them in Joseph Servan, who was somewhere in the compound.
She had found herself a shadowy spot by her designated exit, in an alley about twenty yards north of the portal. It put her at an angle where the exit portal was only a sliver, but it was enough to see anyone enter or depart.
Fortunately, experience from the past few nights told her the perimeter guard was nearly non-existent. Only during the day did it seem the soldiers watched the walls and the turrets. That made her job much easier.
A cockaroach scurried out from her veil of shadows, onto the street.
Then two emerged, carrying barrels, heading in the opposite direction of her alley. Were those the men she had been waiting for, at long last? It was time to begin.
She emerged from her sanctuary of shadow. The two persons, backs to her, both wore bicorn hats. One appeared to be wearing a wig with a pony tail, the other had a shaved head. The former was slightly short but very burly. The latter tall and slimmer, and possessed a strange dimple on the back of his head.
They were coming to the end of the compound's eastern flank, left leading down the stretch of street with the barber shop and general store. Anticipating the left, she began easing her way rightward, nearly hugging the brick fortress wall, so as to stay behind their cone of vision. She remembered her training in the green hills of Normandy, the lectures of Master Delille and Montrose, how she was taught about the human field of view, and how her chances of being noticed were effected by lighting, distance, whether the enemy was looking for her.
They began their turn, and she tensed inside, quickening her pace to move in sync, keep herself away from their cone of vision.
When they'd fully changed angles she felt a tremendous relief.
Coming in from the east, there was another guard, bleary eyed and holding a lantern. He seemed to pay no mind to any of them. He passed them without consequence. Little did he know, both were engaged in secret machinations.
"Hold on, I'm sorry. I need to put this down," the taller one said.
Élise began to panic, knowing if they were resting they might look around. As they both carefully set their barrels down, she felt conflicting instincts. To stay frozen, or dash as quietly as possible into an alley to hide in? Somehow, the latter won over. With feet trained by Assassins, she took large and quick but quiet steps that shaped themselves carefully to the cobble stone below her.
When she finally found herself in an alley with a broken wagon wheel, heart pounding, she waited for a couple of seconds. Silence. No indication she had roused their suspicions. She was very glad.
She heard the taller one speak again.
"Ever think this seems a bit wreckless, Adonis? The French Guard is..." There was a pause, then the rest of was in a hushed voice, indecipherable at her range.
"I trust Servan," the other said, his voice deep and raspy. "He knows what he's doing. He's been with Le Gardes Françaises for decades. He knows how things work."
Then there was silence again. A baby cried from a distant window.
Finally younger said "D'accord, let's get back to work."
She heard them up the barrels again.
The former Assassin decided to peak out and see if anyone might be watching from the opposite direction. No one. Empty street. So far this was going well. She crept her way back onto the road, again looking at their oblivious blue backs.
The stretch of road did not continue ahead much longer; they would start turning again soon. That was the hardest part of following someone. She quickened her pace slightly and began shifting rightward in anticipation of the left turn.
They began to turn. She did her best to sync her steps with them, in a comically awkward and tense fashion, tight as a vice inside as she hoped neither would see her or hear her while she tried to balance speed and silence.
The first turn was quickly followed by another.
When they were all straight again, she loosened inside. She could see the exit from the city ahead, at the end of a thick stretch of street cut in half by walled gardens. Was that where they were headed?
Élise usually entered Paris from a street a bit further north. She had only been on this stretch of street once, and that had been to gather information on a mark at the Café Rouge (he had departed Paris before she could strike).
"Hold on, je suis désolé, just one more breather."
Élise froze again. Should she take cover behind one of the gardens? Élise swiveled her head and body quickly to look behind her. She could see someone's lantern light, but it was moving perpendicular to her path.
She decided to go for it, this time with a little less trepidation.
When she had tucked herself behind the stone wall and foliage, the younger spoke again. "What I'm wondering is why do we ship all these weapons all the way to Marseille. Aren't there enough anti-royalists here in Paris?"
Marseille. She was not positive that was what she heard, but she knew it was a port city in the south.
"There are, but too many Louis-lovers could get mixed up in that. Very little love for the king in Marseille or Brittany." Brittany. She knew about that place too. It was near Normandy, where Simon-Jacques was born. "But why do you worry so much about how the higher ups are handling things? That's not our job."
"Sorry, I just...sorry."
Then there was quite, just like before. A distant man yelled something indecipherable from another part of the city. A little bug crawled up the cobble stone surrounding the vegetation. After a few more seconds, the younger he said, "Alright, final stretch. Let's go."
'Final stretch.' She liked the sound of that.
Élise once again took her place. She could see the end of the city. There seemed to be a horse drawn wagon waiting, though no other person was visible. Should she try to stow away? Kill them? Or just sneak away with the information? Stowing away would take her to Marsielle if she had heard correctly. Her master would not be happy with losing contact with her, and it would delay her ability to relay information. But it would allow her to know exactly where these wares were being shipped.
As they got closer, and she could see more clearly, there seemed to be cargo already in the wagon, and barely any room for her. She would not stow away. The former Assassin was actually relieved to have that option out of the way.
But should she kill them? That would disrupt their operation, but would, of course, likely alert the guards, and would also alert the Illuminati traitors the Templars were onto their schemes.
Evading the guards would be easy in the dead of the night. But was it more important -
"Jeannot," the older called. "We've got the goods here!"
They were calling to another, likely someone at the wagon. Her instincts told her to hide. She ducked behind another garden.
Tucked out of sight, she heard what sounded like some dropping down from the driver's seat, and a new voice was introduced.
"Great job, gars. Let me open the back for you."
His feet crunched the dirt. Those words meant he would soon be facing the opposite way.
When his feet stopped, she waited half a second and then peaked out. He wore feathered top-hat and striped shirt. He was fishing through his pocket for a key. But from his other pocket a large roll of paper protruded: a map, her intuition told her. Her intuition also told her it was a very important map.