Chapter 13

The rain poured, nothing was able to escape its path. It lashed against the windows and pounded on rooftops. It turned earth into mud which then created muddy puddles all over London. The puddles were most common in the more rundown parts and the building sites where the earth had been dug up. Down one dark alleyway where barely anyone ventured lay a large muddy puddle beneath a broken wall. Broken bricks lay scattered around the ground and in the puddle. Lying in the middle of the puddle lay a woman. Evie slowly pushed herself up onto her elbows, her face was covered in a mixture of mud and blood. Letting out a pained breath she pushed herself up further. Her whole body felt like it was on fire. But there was no time to recover she could hear voices above her, she knew it would be the people pursuing her. Forcing her muscles to hold she darted round the corner and out of sight.

"She's not there. Come let's keep looking."

Footsteps echoed then there was silence, apart from the distance sounds of carriages and hooves. Evie doubled over for a moment catching her breath before moving out of alley in a half stagger half limp sort of way.

Trying to keep a low profile whilst carrying a dead body was not the easiest of tasks. Eventually Robert had to give up and place the body in an empty carriage. Taking a seat in the driver's seat, he spurred the horse to move. He rode back away from the Thames and headed towards the City of London. Robert drove round the city for a while which turned out to be an hour or so. Scanning the pavement as he rode gently up the street he was searching. Searching for anyone dressed in a similar way to the man he and Jacob had seen. After a long time scanning up and down the street Robert picked out someone dressed in a red shirt. The man was dressed in the same red shirt that the other man had been wearing, the man who'd been talking to Curtis. The man on the pavement was oblivious to the fact he was being followed. He just came walking up the street, his feet taking him to the place that he needed to go. Shoving his hands into his pockets he darted up the high street then off down a side street. The side street became a deserted alleyway. In the alleyway there were five other Blighters talking in low voices. They looked round as the man approached and it seemed as though they hadn't been expecting him judging by the confused expressions.

"Where's Curtis?" One of them asked.

The man was taken about,"What he's not there?"

"No. The buyer turned up and Curtis wasn't there."

"So how are we going to get our money?"

There was a pause, none of the Blighters knew what to say. They were all skint, they were broke. Since the Templars had been driven out from London the cash flow to the Blighters had become very limited. They did not even have enough money to buy a decent pint in the pub. Curtis has promised them that this buyer would set them up with enough cash to last them a long time.

"So where is Curtis now?" A Blighter asked after a long pause.

"Here he is." A new voice said.

The Blighters turned to see a new man approaching them. The man was carrying something or rather someone. The new man placed the body of Will Curtis on the floor, the Blighters immediately pulled out their guns and pointed them at the newcomer. Robert stepped back and held his hands up.

"I did not kill this man. But I can tell you who did."

One of the Blighters narrowed his eyes, "And who what that be?"

Robert smirked, "Evie Frye."

At the sound of the name the Blighters all glanced at each other. It was clear to Robert that these people knew exactly who Evie Frye was.

"And how are we supposed to believe that?" A Blighter asked, the gun in his hand still pointing at Robert.

"I saw her. Look, we both have something in common here. We both hate those Frye Twins and would very much like to see them both dead. I believe that we can help one another."

The Blighters looked at one another, they were not quite sure whether to believe this man or not. But they could not deny that the very much wanted to see the deaths of both Frye Twins, they were responsible for the Blighters' current situation. Slowly, the Blighters lowered their guns but they eyed the man suspiciously.

"What do you want from us?" A Blighter asked, frowning at Robert.

"I want you to capture and torture Evie Frye." Robert said, "I want you to make her to beg for death."

The Blighters glanced at each other, none of them really knew what to do. Should they just trust a total stranger?

"That's all very good but what do we get out of this?" The Blighter asked.

Robert put a hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small bag. Throwing at a nearby Blighter he smirked. The Blighter opened the bag and his jaw dropped, inside the bag was more money than they had seen a long time. The Blighter looked at Robert in disbelief.

"There will be more then that coming your way. The more you make her suffer the more money you get."

The Blighters looked to one another but they all knew there was no way they would reject this sort of money.

"What if we kill her?"

"No. She does not die until I say so." Robert said, "I want to be there when she dies, I want to end her life personally. So, torture her. Make her suffer. But do not kill her until I say so. Do we have a deal?"

The Blighters nodded.

"Good. As for Jacob Frye, you are to leave him alone. I will deal with him." Robert went on.

"How?"

Robert pulled out a small bottle filled with a colourless liquid, "This is a liquid which will allow me to manipulate Jacob and make him oblivious to what we are doing. It is adapted from those hallucinogenic darts those two poccess. Once he is weakened I shall kill him as well."

The Blighters smirked at each other. It was about time those Frye Twins were punished for what they had done. Drawing out their suffering was exactly what needed to happen. They had to pay for everything and this was the best way to do just that.

"What do you have against the Frye Twins to want them dead so much?" One Blighter asked.

"Let's just say we have history. Now, shall we get to work?"

Rain was just beginning to fall, it started in small droplets but became larger and more frequent in a very short space of time. The people round St Paul's Cathedral went running for cover, although some had been smart enough to bring umbrellas with them so they simply opened their umbrellas and carried on with whatever they were doing. Standing across the street from St Pauls, Evie was leaning against a wall gazing at the scene around her. She did not really have any reason to be at St Pauls, she was not tracking a target or trying to discover anything. She was simply there out of her own curiosity. There was something about simply watching people, seeing what the innocent got up to in their innocent lives, which was intriguing. Evie had been watching the innocent for a good while now and was certainly learning a lot. It had also been rather amusing as she recalled watching a couple's argument mere minutes ago. Apparently, the man had brought the wrong colour shoes for his wife and it appeared to be the end of the world. The women had been howling all the way up the street, telling the man that he'd disgraced her and did not respect her enough to buy her the right colour shoes. Evie had to stifle a laugh, she could not quite believe that the women had been kicking up such a fuss over a pair of shoes. Letting out a sigh she continued to gaze at the people around her, she couldn't help but wonder what life would be like if she had no knowledge of the struggle between Assassins and Templars. Although Evie had to come to the conclusion that knowing her she would most likely get bored.

Evie was so caught up in her musing that she failed to notice the sound of footsteps coming from behind her. A hand grabbed her by her collar and pulled her backwards, where she was thrown to the ground. Looking up Evie saw at least five Blighters staring down at her, all looking rather pleased with themselves. Evie glared up at the Blighters, but said nothing.

"Well well well, look who we've found." One said.

"Who would have thought that we would find you so quickly."Another added.

"Right Lads, you know what we need to do."

The Blighters were choosing their words carefully, they were under strict instructions not to reveal who had ordered them to torture the Assassin. If they did then they knew that they would end up dead. For a few moment the Blighters taunted their victim, throwing all sorts of insults at the fallen women. Evie was ignoring the Blighters' taunts, she had noticed a gap between the Blighter to her right and the wall. If she was quick she might be able to get through that gap and get away before they pounced on her. Out of nowhere a sharp kick was delivered to her ribs, she doubled over as all the air was forced from her lungs. But that had been a mistake, as she doubled over there as a sharp pain on the left side of her ribs. She could feel blood pouring from the wound now inflicted there. The Blighters around her laughed.

"Boys we are going to be eating well tonight."

The Blighters advanced pulling their blades from their jacket pockets. But there was no way that Evie was going to allow the Blighters to attack her. The gap beside her had opened up, it was now or never. The Blighters seemed taken back as Evie suddenly leapt to her feet and sprinted away. She ran down the alleyway trying to put as much distance between her and the Blighters as possible. But the Blighters were giving chase, they were determined to stop her. Emerging from the other side of the alleyway she sprinted across the road, hoping that with all the carriages that trundled up and down her pursuers would lose sight of her. But that plan backfired when a carriage came tearing up the street and one of its wheels collided with her as it drove past, sending her crashing to the floor. She landed on her left side which aggravated the already bleeding wound. But there was no time to stop she had to keep going. Staggering back to her feet she took off again. There was another long alleyway in front of her and it was there that she chose to run down. She wanted to use her rope launcher to zoom up and away but she knew with the amount of pressure it put on her left side it would now be very painful and so it was not an option. Throwing a look over her shoulder she could see that the Blighters were still on her tail. It seemed unlikely that she would ever shake them.

Evie had only made it halfway down the alleyway when there was a loud bang and a searing pain in her right leg. Her leg betrayed her and she fell to the ground. Within a second the Blighters had reached her and rained down punches on her. She felt blood pour from her nose and bottom lip. She could not get away but she had to find some way to escape. A thought crossed her mind, it was her last hope. As a Blighter pulled her off her feet, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a smoke bomb. There was a bang as the smoke bomb met the ground and exploded, thick grey smoke surrounded them in seconds. The Blighter holding Evie dropped her as he doubled over coughing. Evie, taking advantage of the temporary confusion, sprinted further down the alley. She didn't get far before her injuries made her stop running. She limped on knowing that it would not be long until they came after her. Looking over her shoulder she did not see the Blighters, but she also did not see the gap in the wall behind her. Losing her footing she fell backwards through the gap in the wall. It wasn't a particularly long fall but she landed in a muddy puddle and the right side of her head smacked against something hard. She just lay there feeling rain pound against her, all see could do now was hope that things didn't get any worse.

Leaning against the door of his shop, Henry Green was looking out as the rain poured down. He watched how it bounced off the top of roofs and carriages. There was something very peaceful about watching the rain fall. It was reminding him of his home, oh how he missed his home. His thoughts on rain was soon interrupted as a figure caught his eye. The person seemed to be almost staggering down the street. This wasn't really a unusual sight as the nearby pub meant that there were frequently drunken fools staggering from the pub. But this figure was different, the person was very familiar. Henry began walking towards the person, as he got closer he recognised Miss Frye. He quicken his pace over to her, why was she staggering. He broke into a run when he spotted blood.

"Miss Frye? What's happened?"

Miss Frye didn't answer, her face was covered in mud and blood. Her face was pale and Henry had to question how long she'd been walking around like this.

"Miss Frye? Are you alright?"

Once again she did not answer.

Henry gripped her upper arm, "Evie? Evie! Are you alight?"

He'd dropped all formalities, this was not the time to stick to being socially correct. Finally, Evie looked at him, her eyes were glazing over.

"Jacob?"

That was the only word she managed to get out before her eyes fluttered shut. She dropped like a stone but Henry caught her before she hit the ground. He had no idea what had happened, but he had to find Jacob. Securing a limp Evie in his arms, Henry set off. There was no time to lose.