Connor hid behind a frozen wooden wall watching all the redcoats scouring the shoreline and ships. He watched them as they hurried about trying to find someone who was no doubt Emilia. "Over here!" He heard someone shout. With his eyes he followed the men to the end of a dock. He observed them chat among themselves before pulling something out of the ocean. Dread filled him. It wasEmilia's hat and coat. Connor's heart sank but he had the feeling that her carelessness would be the death of her. Sighing, he continued to watch them.
"Ahem." said someone behind him.
Connor spun around instantly. It was Emilia alive, saturated with water and definitely very cold. She was without her hat and coat; she used it on the body to make it look like her. He opened his mouth to say something but she put a finger to her lips indicating for him to stay quiet and watch the British.
The men had dragged the clothes onto the dock. They were suggesting how she died. "Looks like she drowned." one said.
"She tried to escape but I guess the cold got her." said another.
Emilia tapped Connor on the shoulder and they started to walk away. She held up a wanted poster of her. "It's not a good likeness. They got me all wrong; my nose is not that big and my hair is not that unruly. I look like a madwoman!"
Connor glancing to her, spoke, "Why did you do that?"
"What? Save Patrick?" Emilia asked disbelievingly.
"Risk your life again." Connor clarified.
"Because it's my fault he's in this mess."
"Even so that was-"
"Reckless, careless, I know." She said, giving off the hint she's heard that many times before. "But at least Patrick and his family are safe and I'm no longer wanted because people think 'Mary' is dead." Emilia paused. "I'll miss that hat and coat mind..."
"You cannot keep risking your life like that."
"I know, Connor," she sighed, "it's a bad habit." They continued through the snowy streets to the house. Snow fell in a horizontal blur covering everything and everyone in thick layers of fresh crisp snow. The flakes danced off Emilia's wet hair as she tried to get warm in the growing cold. Connor glanced over at her and offered if he could do anything to help warm she declined saying she'd be fine.
They arrived they found Patrick and his family in the warm living room with Jake and Betty. Emilia excused herself to get changed into something warmer and drier and when she returned she sat next to Connor who sat next to the fireplace. Her hair was a bit drier but was still damp from the swimming and the melting snow.
"I was just saying now much I appreciate you saving my life, Miss Spurling." Patrick told her.
"It's my fault this happened."
Patrick shook his head. "No, I could've said no to you but I didn't. The fault is my own and I wouldn't change what I said."
Emilia smiled, "Thank you."
"No, thank you." said, Iona, Patrick's Scottish wife. "Without you acting as fast as you did I wouldn't have my husband next to me."
"Then you should thank Betty for alerting me to Patrick's arrest."
Betty blushed as Patrick and Iona thanked her. Jake sat up proudly that his sister assisted with saving Patrick. Connor was happy that everyone was safe. He listened, not understanding most of it, to the jokes about Emilia's death and loss of her coat and hat. Iona also told them that she managed to save quite a few of their belongings while Patrick was in jail.
"Where are you going to go now?" Connor asked after a while. "I doubt you would be able to continue running your tavern."
"We're gonna go back to Ireland," Iona said, "We were always planning to and now we have a reason to."
"Then I hope you have a safe journey."
"Thank you, Connor." Iona uttered. Connor inclined his head at her.
"I would offer you a room but I have some business that will need to be brought home and we don't have any spare rooms anyway." Emilia confessed. Betty and Jake nodded agreeingly.
"That's fine." Patrick said. "We already have passage to Ireland. We'll be leaving at nightfall."
Emilia stood up and stepped towards the man. She held her hand out and he shook it. "It has been a pleasure knowing you, Patrick." Patrick smiled. "If I'm ever in Ireland I'll try and find you."
"You'd better." Patrick said with a wink. Emilia chuckled.
Connor's eyes flickered to the setting sun beyond the frost bitten window. "Emilia." She spun her head to look at him. She followed his eyes to the window.
"Now, if you'll excuse us, we have work to do." Emilia said, clasping her hands together.
Patrick stood up. "So do we." Everyone said their farewells to Patrick and his family and they left.
"Come on, Connor, let's see Tom before we leave." Connor nodded and followed Emilia to Tom's room.
Emilia opened the door to see Tom attempting to sit up. "Tom!" Emilia exclaimed. Tom's guilty eyes snapped to her as they stepped into the bedroom. "What are you doing?!"
"Well..." Tom coughed, "I'm feeling better than I did."
"Even so you should be resting." Emilia said pushing him back into a laying position. "You've been ill for the best part of a week and just because you're feeling a little better doesn't mean you can rush your recovery."
Tom nodded, "Okay, you have a point there, Millie." Tom stared at the Native American who stood a few steps behind Emilia. "Who's this?"
"My name is Connor and I was sent by Achilles to aid Emilia in assassinating Blackwell." He said.
Tom nodded and coughed, "Good. Now you might have thought that assassinating one man is easy but she, and you by the looks of it," he coughed again, "are still apprentices and as much as I would like to oversee and step in if things get bad like Halon did," Tom coughed once more and gestured to himself, "it's just not possible with me like this. So I'd rather have two well, I hope, trained apprentices do this than one."
Connor nodded acknowledging his reason, "I understand."
Tom smiled. "Great, now be on your way, oh! and get good information from him too." Emilia did her best to not look worried for Tom. "I have Jake and Betty to look after me, I'll be fine." Tom and Emilia hugged before she and Connor set off for the tavern.