III
To Kill A Man

"Sink the ship if all our men are back. We have to go" Edward called to Ade as he jumped back to his own ship. Mary followed close on his heels. She hesitated and looked back at the ship. She wished she could search it for more information. They had so much to do though and they had no time to search the ship.

"What…did you get your man?"

"No. He was an impostor. We have to go, Ade. Now."

Ade began calling orders and Edward took his position by the wheel. Mary climbed the steps slowly and looked towards Edward who nodded just slightly. She took up her spot to the left of him once more, leaning against the railing, her arms crossed. She turned her head to watch the ship they had just been on sink, holes punched deeply into the hull. If there was a man alive on it, he wouldn't be alive long.

Without really meaning to, she glanced towards the water, where there were some men floating, dead. One was ripped underwater by a shark. Red stained the blue water. Soon more and more sharks showed up, ripping men under the water. One or two screams rang out but were whipped away by the wind. As grotesque as it was, Mary was almost fascinated by it. She forced herself to look away as the sails cracked open and the wind pushed them forward. Edward turned the boat slightly, correcting his course.

"Do you think that letter was true?" He asked her. She was silent a moment, thinking. He must have taken her silence as her ignoring him. "James…"

"I'm thinking Edward. Give me a bloody moment" She sighed. "I don't know but it's all we have. I hope that it's not. To think they'd attack…" She made a disbelieving sound. It was a wonder they didn't act like they were going up past Nassau then. They were already en route and the wind was in their favor so far.

That just meant the storm would come from behind them though.

She knew they could not out sail the storm. Edward knew it too. The sky behind them was already darkened and when she turned to look at it, she saw light streak across the darkened clouds. They were still in open water and could expect to be for some time. There was no outrunning the storm.

"How far ahead of us do you think he is?" Mary asked Edward.

"Too far. We won't catch him before the storm hits" His grip tightened on the wheel. He didn't like the idea of sailing in the storm. Neither did she and she had sailed in quite a few storms – both as a Captain and as a crew member. It wasn't pleasant for either. She had been almost tossed into the ocean once, only the quick thinking of…

She banished the thought from her mind and tried to ignore the sudden vivid vision of kind blue eyes. Those sort of thoughts hurt and Mary Read did her best to ignore them and to not feel that sort of pain.

"Jim?" She glanced up at Edward.

"What?" She snapped with a bit more venom than really necessary.

"Jasyus! I just asked if there was a route you knew of that we could use to cut him off" He let out an annoyed huff. "No need to bite my head off for it."

She wrinkled his nose, but didn't bother to apologize. "I don't think there are any channels we can use – not any that he won't know about. That map you sold them was detailed after all." She supposed her tone was a little bitter when she said that but she couldn't help it. She had lost good friends in Havana that day, though she hadn't been there herself.

"Jim…" Edward's voice was tight and there was a warning in it but he didn't go on. He dropped it and that was probably the smart thing to do. The winds were becoming strong so she supposed it was better they drop it. It whipped into the ship, rocking it. Even those with sea legs stumbled and Mary nearly found herself on her ass. She grabbed the railing last minute and glanced back to check the location of the storm.

"Bloody fucking hell" She cursed.

Edward glanced back and repeated her curse with a few more added on. The storm was nearly upon him. He began shouting orders to close all but one sail. The men were working as quickly as they could but with the winds growing stronger and stronger by the moment. Somehow the men managed though as the last of them was climbing down a strong gall hit them and sent three men flying into the water.

"Ah!" Mary cried and she rushed towards the edge, peering down to see if she could see any of the men. One was there, bobbing and sputtering, trying to fight the waves. She found a rope at her feet and threw it down. She saw soon why he was struggling so, he had his one arm around another man who had gone down but had apparently passed out. "Grab on!" She shouted above the sound of the wind.

Just as she grabbed the rope to begin to pull the two up, the rain hit them at last. It was a freezing wall of water that soaked through her coat and chilled her to the very bone. It didn't take more than two minutes before she was soaked and the rope was slick in her grip. No one could be sparred to help her and the two men. She hung on and they hung on and they all prayed she'd be able to haul them up. Saving two out of three was better than saving none. She had no idea what happened to the third, but she wanted to save these two.

"I got it." Edward's voice very nearly startled her. He grabbed the rope as well and with the two of them, they were able to haul the two lads back onto the boat. The one who had passed out spat up some water, gasping and sputtering for breath, but he seemed alright. She stood to the side panting slightly, trying to keep her back to the wall of rain. Edward had taken the wheel back from Ade and was trying to steer over the waves.

She tried to keep her footing on the now slick deck. She could only watch the men struggle before so long before, without a word to Edward, she was among them. A few times she almost went over the edge but there was always someone there to grab her coat or arm at the last moment. She did the same for countless men as they rushed to make sure the ship would last through the storm. She didn't mind the cold rain so much now that she was used to it, but it did make the temperature drop something fierce.

"Anyone whose cold see if you can't trade out with someone below deck!" Edward called out. "That means you too Kidd!"

"I'm fine, Kenway! Worry 'bout yourself!" she called back. He didn't say anything else and she couldn't see him. She was busy trying to tie something down and couldn't look up anyway. The wind battered them again, turning the rain sideways.

"Wave! Wave!" Someone was shouting just to her left. "It's a big 'um Cap'an!"

Mary turned to look at the wave; it was a big one, rising up as if to swallow them all. It was going to hid them from the starboard side and there was no way Edward could turn them that sharply to hit it straight on.

"Brace yourselves!" She called. "Grab onto something!" She could hear Edward and Ade both calling out similar warnings. She was hurrying back towards the steps, running and in her haste she slipped on the third step, hitting her knee hard off the wood. She sucked on her teeth to keep from yelling out. She had planned to be up on the upper deck again before the wave hit but she could hear it now. It was the roar of a monster, to swallow them all whole. She ducked against the railing, digging her short finger nails into it and praying she didn't get swept into the sea. She felt the wave hit them and the cold water, somehow even colder than the rain, washed over them.

"Kidd? Kidd?" she heard Edward call, above the rain. He sounded strangely worried. "Dammit, Jim! Answer me!"

"Keep your britches on!" She yelled back, coming up the stairs. Her knee hurt something awful. She suspected she had done a little more than just bang it on the stairs. Those stairs were solid. She'd have to check it later, but there was no time during this storm. "I'm here."

"Good" That was all he said and he was focused again.

There was something about watching him sail his ship in this storm that Mary found…she didn't know, admirable? Yes, perhaps admirable was the word she searched for. His face was one of utter concentration and he seemed to not every raise and every dip of the waves around him. He rode out the storm and while it felt like a lifetime, the storm soon blew itself over and peace slowly returned to the sea.

"Christ, how many did we lose?" Edward asked.

"A good few, I'd wager" Ade replied, glancing over the deck. "We need to dock and take count of the damage we took from that storm"

"We'll at least find some shallow water to make repairs in." Edward agreed.

"What about him? What if he gets there-" Mary interjected, but Edward interrupted her.

"We need to make repairs. I'm sure his ship isn't in much better condition" Edward told her sternly. She frowned sharply.

"Edward!" She started forward but her knee throbbed and she stopped before she could limp. She didn't want to show him that she was hurt. Edward must have realized something was wrong.

"Did you fall?"

"That's not important!" she snapped.

"If you're hurt you should take care of yourself" He rolled his eyes. "Really, Kidd."

"Oh rot" She waved her hand. "I'm fine. I just fell during the storm"

"Then walk over to the wheel" He challenged. It was only a few feet, but she knew she'd limp. Her knee was aching something awful and she would be willing to bet it was black and blue. She glared at Edward. "So you did hurt yourself" It wasn't a question this time.

"I'm fine. If I wasn't I'd take care of it" She urged.

"Let me see." He said.

"I'm fine" She insisted again.

"Master Kidd, if you're indeed hurt, you should treat it." Ade's voice was calm.

"Fine." Mary grumbled. She realized they weren't going to let this go. It was probably for the best. If she was limping, it would make it harder for her to hunt down her target. She had a bet with Edward after all and even if she was hurt she wasn't going to lose.

"If you want a bit of privacy, you can go into my quarters" Edward told her and she nodded, planning to do just that. She limped down the stairs carefully as the deck was still slick, and made her way into Edward's private quarters.

Not surprisingly they were lavish. Just like Edward, it was. She took a seat on a chair and took off her boot and rolled up her pants on her left leg. Her knee was swollen some and just as she suspected, it was black and blue. It looked worse than it was though. She rubbed at it, finding it quite sore to the touch. She had done a number on herself with this here.

She dug through her pockets until she found something to wrap her knee with and did just that. It would help keep her from limping as much too. That was what she really needed. As she pulled her pants back down, she wished she had a change of clothes. Being in the cooler quarters had given her quite the chill. With her knew wrapped though she could go back out and show Edward she was fine. Next he'd be insisting she was in no condition to make her kill.

She slipped her boot back on and headed back towards the wheel. She barely limped but Edward still watched her with an eyebrow raised. She narrowed her brown eyes until he laughed. Then she just frowned at him. She glanced around and saw they were passing small islands, but she supposed Edward hoped for a place where the remaining men could get out and stretch their legs on solid land for a bit while repairs were made.

"The winds pushed us quite far and I managed to keep us on course" Edward told her. "We've made some good progress. Though we'll lose it what with wanting to make some repairs" She sighed at that statement. Of course they would.

They were passing an island with only Mayan ruins on it when she saw a ship floating just away from it. Edward saw it too. Clearly the ship was undergoing repairs and it was just so obvious that it was the ship they were looking for that Mary was actually looking for her target on the shore. So they found them! In time too! That was a great relief to her…To allow them to reach Tulum and attack them again was just not allowable. Of course they were on edge now, always ready for an attack but it was impossible to truly be always ready. She was worried that one of those surprise attacks would one day break them.

"There's another shore around the side. If we go there, I might be able to sneak around…" She suggested.

"Not with that leg, you're not" Edward chided. She gave him another glare. Men. With one injury they thought they were down for the count. Her leg wasn't bothering her much at all. She could make a kill with it, easily. Edward managed around the island to the other shore and the men began to prepare to make the repairs. Edward turned to Ade and she came over to listen to what he had to say.

"I'm going to go ashore for a while. See to the repairs, will you?"

"Aye, Captain"

"And make sure that young Master Kidd here stays onboard" Then Edward was gone. He dove into the water and swam to shore and disappeared into the jungle. She watched after him. If she really wanted to go, there was no way Ade could stop her.

"Kidd" His voice was warning.

"You can't really stop me" she told him. He reacted faster than she would have thought, reaching to grab her but she ducked and rolled out of his grasp. Her knee twinged painfully but before he could grab for her again, she was already leaping off the ship, and cutting into the chilled water. She swam to shore and climbed out of the water glancing back towards the ship. Ade stood on the edge, glaring out towards her. She waved and then hurried into the jungle.

She kept to the underbrush, not trusting herself to the trees. She kept quiet in a way that she was excellent at. She could hear some branches breaking underfoot well ahead of her and she hurried forward, silent as a cat. Soon she happened upon Edward, hiding in a bush as he watch a small impromptu camp the men were making a ways away from the beach. Her target was there, standing nervously to the side and watching the going ons. She couldn't move forward anymore else she risked him seeing her as his eyes swept nervously from side to side.

She wondered what Edward planned to do. Just then a solider dropped a box and her target moved forward to curse him out. Edward darted out of his bush at that moment. Sadly, he didn't expect a guard to see and intercept him before he could reach the target who had fallen back and paled. Edward was quickly surrounded though and the man suddenly seemed more confident. Ah, his confidence only came from a group of soldiers.

"Those robes! So you are an Assassin come to slay me!" He snapped at Edward.

"Sorry, mate. I'm no Assassin"

"Then who are you?"

"Just a friend of one."

"I remember you – from Kingston! So you're than Assassin's friend, hmm?" He seemed to be thinking. "Tie him up. We'll keep him for a hostage"

As the guards moved forward to tie Edward up he acted. Mary acted too, rushing from the bushes to take down the two guards behind Edward. Her blades sunk deeply into their necks and when she pulled them out, the men dropped.

"The Assassin!" Squealed her target, once again turning into the timid swine that he was.

"Stand and fight me, you coward!" She called to him, but he was already backing up as his guards came to his defense. What a coward! Lily-livered…

"You aren't supposed to be here!" Edward snapped at her. He had drawn his sword but with the other he had his blade engaged and was already in the thick of the fray, fighting his way towards the whimpering coward of a Templar.

"He's my target, Edward!" She cut down another man and ran towards her target. He tried to run, but she used her sword and cut the back of his leg, just barely as her own knee nearly gave out from the strain. She fell to her knee, gasping in shock. The man was crying out with pain at his bleeding leg. "Oh…shut your bloody gob!" She growled, pushing herself to her feet only to find him facing her, a gun in his hands.

"Die you, Assassin!" He fired and she ducked, the bullet whistling past her. That was it for her knee though, the strain of dodging too much for it. She nearly fell again but the guards were coming. Never go down in a fight. If she went down, she might never get the chance to rise again. She lifted her sword, fending off a powerful blow. She was just fending them off though. She managed to find a solid rock wall to lean against, to take some of the strain off her knee but that left her cornered and far away from her target.

She swung her sword low and then high and the swiped it cross two of the guards' throats, letting them fall to the ground gagging. The last she impaled through the chest and he fell, clutching his wound. She turned towards her target again who looked ready to piss himself in fright. He dropped the useless gun that had still been in his hands and turned to flee.

"No!" She cried. She started after him, her knee complaining the whole way but then suddenly a white robed man cut her off and jumped. She knew he was going to get him, she knew it. Her target fell, Edward crouching over him. She hurried forward, in time to hear his last words.

"So…this is how I die" He rasped. "Ha, the funny thing is that though I was moving to attack your Stronghold, I wasn't the only one. There are more, Assassin. We will wipe your kind out. We will destroy you nasty little vermin. You may have killed me…but more will die…by our hand than by…yours…" He died.

Mary glared down at him and sighed. "Well that's that. I guess my terms never mattered" She was ready to throw her sword down in the sand in frustration.

"No they didn't" Edward was grinning.

She closed her eyes for a moment, the events of the last forty-eight hours crashing down on her. Killing Prinns, the Sage getting away again, loosing this target the first time, almost dying at the hands of his impersonator, the storm and then finally this fight. It was all a lot and Mary suddenly realized how terribly exhausted she felt. She hadn't slept, had hardly eaten…

The world spun and she stumbled, almost as if drunk. She heard Edward say something, she felt his hands on her shoulders. It didn't make any sense. Was he shaking her? She tried to open her eyes but she wasn't sure if she succeeded. It ceased to matter and everything went black.

A/N; I hope this chapter wasn't too confusing for you. Thank you for reading. I look forward to reading any reviews you guys leave me. I'll see you next time.