Her initial surprise soon evaporated and it wasn't long before they reverted back to their initial selves. They bickered for a while, though not as much as they used to. Jacob had changed, he was no longer as reckless as before. Dinner consisted of stale bread he had stolen from one of the locals. As she ate in silence, Jacob recounted his tale.

"I did not scale through the mountains. I intercepted a Templar courier and took his disguise. There was a Templar post along the road. The man provided me with a carriage of my own. Told me I needed to get to Lucy Thorne quickly. I thought the carriage would take me straight to her, straight to you."

She nodded between mouthfuls. He took it as cue and continued,

"Anyways, I entered the mines and started asking around. The men told me Thorne had already left. That was a real shame. But the men in the mines must have been on the lookout for anything suspicious, they asked me about a code word. That's when it all went to hell. I reacted first and started shooting- and accidentally hit a crate full of dynamite." he added the last line with a grin.

She swallowed hard and asked,

" But why did you come after me at all? I was perfectly fine."

Anxiety carried across his next words.

"You didn't write back to me. How was I supposed to know you were alright?"

She shook her head slightly and replied,

"But I did write. Every 4 days, just like we agreed. I even paid more at the post office for faster delivery. Did you not get my letters?"

He shook his head. And added sheepishly,

"So I came all this way due to the unreliability of the postal service."

"But I'm glad you did. I was starting to feel more and more desperate and anxious each passing day. I'm glad you're here Jacob."

What followed was a stunned silence. Evie was his sister and of course they loved each other, but they were never quite expressive of their feelings. For the past few years they had become more and more invested in their own pursuits. Evie usually followed up on the precursor artifacts while Jacob preferred to engage his weapons on the Templar order. Very rarely did they have time to catch up.

Evie's heartfelt statement caught him off guard. But he recovered very quickly and reverted to his usual self as he teased her and called her a delicate flower. She relaxed into her normal self as well as they prepared for the night ahead. Jacob had laid out a plan to search for George. They would scout the mercenaries and identify the leaders and captains among the various squadrons. They would then ambush and kidnap the key soldiers and demand information regarding George's whereabouts. Evie preferred more subtle means but she knew time was critical. The two assassins set to work. They chose a high vantage point and began scouting the small patrols that passed by every four minutes.

"They're awfully disciplined aren't they. I say we let them chase us and set up an ambush."

She had to agree with his plan. Still,

"Let's avoid spilling blood if we can."

"Sure."

The plan worked quite well. They both ran with all their might as the men gave chase. They kept running till they reached a heavily wooded area towards the south of the village and disappeared among the trees. The mercs followed suit but without any light or experience, they were soon lost in the heavy woods. The captain himself was followed by 3 mercenaries that kept close watch on him. The twins charged at them from both flanks. The first men falling to well landed punches. Evie moved towards the captain next while Jacob tackled the third mercenary on the ground. The captain offered next to no resistance. He wasn't a very brave man, he cracked almost instantly and started revealing all sorts of information under Jacob's predatory gaze. Knocking him out the twins headed towards the location the captain had given them. The place was a makeshift barrack, just like the one Evie had seen her first night. The place itself was deserted, just like the captain had mentioned.

Investigation revealed that the place had indeed been used as a place to capture someone. So, the man hadn't lied. This was where George had been kept before.

Evie expressed her thoughts to Jacob,

"Perhaps Thorne moved him just to be careful. The mercenary himself said he had been held here last time. But where did she take him next? You think we can track him?"

"Perhaps. But tracking will be futile in this weather. I thought London's weather was depressing until I saw the ever lasting snow here. It'll have covered any tracks."

She pondered over this. There was truth to his words but she wasn't about to be discouraged. George needed their help. She would find them no matter how. There was only one thing that would help her track. She had been practicing with her Eagle Vision for a while and had been making learning new techniques. It was worth a try.

"Have you ever heard about Ezio Auditore's Eagle sensee? Apparently in his older years Ezio could attune his senses to trace the life essence of people in his surrounding."

Jacob looked at her warily. He had never been a fan of this particular skill even though he was quite good at it. He preferred to not believe much in artifacts and enhanced perceptions, despite having dealt with Starrick and the Shroud of Eden a few years back.

"I don't think my senses are that strong. I doubt I could attune my senses to trace the life essence of people around me." He said the last part with a touch of sarcasm.

She ignored his jab and continued,

"Be quiet, let me concentrate. Maybe I can find something."

He sighed heavily and replied,

"By all means, concentrate all night if you have to. I'll scout ahead, maybe we won't need magic eyes to find some solid evidence."

With him gone she began to look at her surroundings with her enhanced sense. She tried to emphasize on what she couldn't quite perceive. Her mind raced back to Edward Kenway's journal that she had pocketed when visiting the Assassin's residence back in London. Kenway described it as 'using all senses at once'. He had gone to say that it was like 'seeing sounds and hearing shapes'. She tried to visualize the things she saw in a higher plane. She guided her eyes to ignore what she saw immediately and instead forced her mind to perceive the details in the air. Scant traces of wispy smoke began to appear before her. Her head felt heavy but she muttered herself to stay strong and with a mental push, she broke the barrier.

She gasped at what she saw. Everything seemed connected. She could see the life flowing through the trees, tiny insects and their life force, wispy smoke and thin shapes that resembled people. She stared at what she saw in awe for a while before she snapped back to senses. Tearing her eyes from the overwhelming amount of input, she focused on the shapes that seemed to dance in the wind. She felt goosebumps rising as she saw an unmistakable silhouette form and break in front of her. She trained her eyes further and saw a path in front of her marked by a thin wispy line of smoke that seemed to float in and out of existence.

Fearing that she would break the concentration, she simply began running blindly, expect she wasn't exactly blind. Her body seemed to have tuned to her senses and it worked on instinct. She avoided obstacles without trying. In the back of her mind, she heard Jacob's voice. She signaled him to follow him and let her senses guide her. She did not know how long it took her to reach the end of the trail but she felt Jacob's hand in her shoulder as she snapped out of her trance.

"Jacob! I did it, I broke through, I-" She stopped shortly as she heard a low moan behind her. A man was lying in the floor, clutching his stomach.

"Who's that?" she asked Jacob who had a dumb founded look on his face.

He stared at her with unease and replied,

"I did. Did you not see me tackle him to the ground?"

"No..." Jacob looked alarmed now. She cut off his words shortly and replied,

"Look I'm just exhausted having used my senses. Can you just ask him? I'm sure the trail ends here. This is where George must have been brought."

Jacob took a few moments to stare at her and addressed the man infront of them.

"The Assassin, the old man who was kept prisoner, where is he? Did you bring him here?"

The man replied in a pain filled voice,

"No...I just started patrol. No one's- no one's been here for a couple hours."

Evie knew her instincts weren't wrong.

"That's impossible, there was a trail here. I'm sure he was brought here. You said no one's been here for hours. Who was the last person to come here?"

"Miss-miss Thorne. She came here today evening... She's gone now though, she seemed eager to get away...she's gone to meet the overseer of the expedition...I swear that's all I know."

Alarms seemed to go off inside her.

Is it possible? Have I actually picked up a trail belonging to Lucy Thorne?

Jacob strode up to the man and delivered a solid kick to the face. He crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

"Jacob where are we?"

"Some kind of watch tower. The place seems deserted. What do you think? Think you picked up an older trail? Maybe this guy didn't know George was here, maybe he was brought here in secret. What do you think?"

"Let's inspect the place". Jacob agreed.

Just as they were about to make their way towards the door, it opened from the inside and George Westhouse walked out. Immediately Evie noticed the bloodstains on his robes and his tired eyes. He walked towards them in a peculiar manner and Evie rushed forwards to give him a hand.

"George, are you okay? What happened? How did you get out of -" Her question was cut short as George closed the few steps between them with inhuman speed and it was too late when Evie saw the feral look in his eyes. Something was wrong with him.

On instinct, she brought her hands in a defensive position just as George sliced a knife towards her. Her hands seared with pain as the knife sliced through. Behind her Jacob moved towards George. The older Assassin hurled the knife towards Jacob and Evie heard him scream with pain as he collapsed with pain. Panic overwhelmed her but she dare not look behind. George's hands were already moving at supernatural speed as she saw his left fist flying towards her.

She felt his fist collide on her temple and she was lifted off her legs and fell backwards into the cold snow. Her vision blurred as she felt her temple throb with pain. She rolled feebly to see that Jacob was already getting on his feet again. Even through the pain, she felt a surge of affection for Jacob. The knife had pierced through his arm but it didn't look serious. Jacob blocked George's punch and countered with his own. It seemed to have no effect on him as the man pushed Jacob squarely on his chest. Jacob flew backwards, at least 4 feet before landing on the hard snow. He got back up with effort and slowly moved to face his adversary.

Evie tried to warn him, but failed to produce a sound as she saw George run towards Jacob. He grabbed Jacob from behind. The two men tussled as Evie felt the pain reach breaking point. She tried to make a noise again but failed, she could see the two Assassins were slowly moving towards the cliff.

The last thing she saw was her brother and her former Mentor fall off the cliff, still locked in a deadly tussle. Terror and pain overwhelmed her as she fell unconscious again.