Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story. All characters belong to Ubisoft.
A/N: for this chapter Connor wears the Colonial Outfit, without the weird hat. For future reference I pronounce Connor's native name like Ra-doon-ha-gay-don
Chapter Two
The Kenway Manor 1769
I slid out of the bed that I had occupied for the last nine years of my life. I walked over and pulled on the fine yellow-green uniform that Haytham had gotten for me. I had no weapons as the others did, as I had no need for them at the time. I turned and looked at the yellow flag Shay had given me as gift after a particularly brutal combat training session that had left me bedridden for a day. He had said that he had won it through his strength in battle and that I should take it to have the same strength he had had. It was a simple design, just a dark golden yellow with a blade-like symbol dominating the center of the flag. I walked out of my room and down the stairs to the front of the house and through the door
I walked to the front of the lawn where Shay was supposed to be waiting for me, he wasn't there. It was unlike him to be late for our training. It was a sunny day, with the sounds of the birds chirping everywhere. It was a fine day for hunting. Upon looking around I decided to search for him. I walked around the manor, admiring its unnatural beauty. Haytham had made several changes to the manor during my time there. Nothing too noticeable, a room here and there, but changes nonetheless. I eventually found Shay standing out by the river with Haytham. They were both looking out at the river that flowed past the manor.
"What do you think, Shay? Dam it?" I heard Haytham say as I approached
"No, sir," Shay replied as I stood behind them, waiting. "I think we should leave it as it is. That way we can hire people build us a dock and perhaps give the boy a ship of his own. The river could attract many people, sir, if we let them. We could use it to start up some sort of business for the colonists who can't find jobs. That would make them sympathetic to our cause. In my opinion, damming it would be a waste of resources and potential."
"Valid points, Shay. Ever the peoples champion I see," Haytham replied before turning around and looking at me. "Ah, son. You've arrived."
"I see you are still in the habit of stating the obvious, Father," I replied, holding my arms behind my back, a sign of respect according to Haytham. I had grown more accustomed to their language over the years and now spoke it with little difficulty.
"Yes, so it seems," He replied, mimicking my pose. "We have need of your talents before you join our cause. Selah has everything you need to know. Until then you might want to consider coming up with a name that us colonists can pronounce, as you will be traveling to Boston for your mission."
I nodded and turned to go before I thought about the conversation I had overheard. I turned back around, frowning in confusion.
"Father," I asked, "why would you want to block the river? Surely you realize that if you stop it from flowing, the nature spirits will become angry and vengeful against you. Also have you not realized that the fish that I catch comes from this river?" Haytham frowned in irritation.
"Go, meat with Selah," He said, ending the discussion. I turned and walked back to the manor. As I was walking back to the house I saw Selah leaning against the door frame, a small smirk on her face.
"So, what was it this time?" she asked as I approached, her voice teasing. I looked at her quizzically. "You only make that particular expression of discomfort when someone affronts your spirits. So what was it this time? It was the Grandmaster wasn't it?" S
She was following through the house now, towards the place where the former owners of the house had hidden the secret staircase.
"Haytham told me you had the details on what we are doing," I said before she could continue. She nodded and pulled the candle holder on the wall by the secret door. We walked down the stairs and Selah led me through the room and to a table by the wall. On the table were maps of several towns near the manor.
"Our assignment is finding a man," Selah said.
"Could you be more specific, please?" I said. Selah laughed.
"Gladly," She replied. "This man we're looking for has been a major pain in our organization's side. He and his followers have stopped us at every turn in our efforts to heal the turmoil that has been brewing between the colonists and Parliament. Our spies tell us that he will be in Boston for the next week or so. You're good at tracking so I requested that you join up with me for this mission." She had been pointing at a hand drawn picture of a man in merchant's clothing as she was talking. "We'll need to split up to cover more ground. If you do find him do not confront him. Find me and let me deal with it. Any questions?"
"Is that all? Find this man and then report to you?" I asked. This seemed too easy.
"Yes, that is all," Selah said, nodding.
"Let us go, then. I wish to finish this quickly," I said as I walked towards the stairs.
Selah stood up straight from her positions of leaning over the table and followed me. As we walked out of the manor, Selah passed me and led me to the carriage that was waiting out in front of the house. We climbed in and the driver set off.
It took a couple hours to reach the city. And when we got there Selah got out of the carriage and beckoned for me to follow. I got out and followed her through the streets. It much more crowded than I expected. The buildings sprawled as far as I could see with several trees visible from where I stood.
"Come on," Selah said, "the sooner we get moving, the sooner you can get back home."
I nodded and looked at the buildings. I immediately saw what I was looking for, a church tower with a good view of the entire city. It even had a small platform that Selah could stand on, while I could crouch on the cross. I rushed to the nearest building that I thought would be relatively easy to climb, ignoring Selah's complaint as I pushed past her to get to my goal. I ran up a tipped over cart that was next to the building, jumped off of it and onto a lamp rail. I then jumped to another one and climbed up the building, grabbing onto the edge of the roof and pushing myself onto the top of the roof.
I ran along the rooftops, jumping from building to building. A soldier saw me and yelled at me to get down but I just ran faster. I kept running and jumping until I reached the church tower I had seen. I heard footsteps behind me and I turned, expecting to see the soldier. What I saw instead was Selah looking more than a little cross with me. Instead of waiting for her to scold me, I turned back around and grabbed onto one of the decorative beams that was just slightly above my head.
I kept climbing making my up the tower by jumping from handhold to handhold. When I finally reached the top I climbed onto the cross that sat on the very top of the tower. I crouched down, to keep my balance in the winds, and waited for Selah to get here. When she arrived she looked murderous.
"Get down here, Ratoontahaygon," She hissed up at me. She had never been able to pronounce my name properly, but in all fairness none of the other white men could either. "Or I will push you off this tower myself."
"Think for a second, Selah. It would be unwise to kill me now. You do not even know where your target is," I said reasonably. I waited until she stopped looking ready to shoot me with one of her pistols. "I brought us up here because it has a good view of the surrounding area. Your target is supposed to be in this city. I cannot track him in the city and it is too big a ground to cover on foot. So we get bird's eye views until we find him." Selah nodded and began to look down on the streets. I looked down on the opposite side of the tower.
We separated after an hour of looking from the tower. I went to the east and Selah went to the west. I looked for several hours before I saw anything promising. A man that looked like the picture that Selah had shown me. He was walking around with four guards trailing him, shouting about how much the British soldiers needed to leave.
"They treat us like dogs. But do you stand up to them? No! You act like you do not mind them. Did the taxes from three years ago not teach you enough? What of the soldiers that invade our lives?" he shouted as he walked down the street.
"I cannot report anything to Selah if I do not know where he resides." I muttered to myself before I crawled down the building.
I followed the man through the city, keeping to the shadows of the buildings. I listened as he spouted his arguments against the British. We must have passed into a militarized area because as I was shouted at by one of the mercenaries that was patrolling, drawing the attention of my quarry. He turned around and watched me as I backed away from the mercenary. He looked as if he were watching a show. I crouched down ready to fight my out if need be.
I had no weapons so I tried that disarm move that Shay had taught me a few weeks ago on the man's musket. I grabbed at his arm with the intent of twisting it painfully but the mercenary stepped out reach and slammed the butt of his musket into my face. My vision blurred. I staggered, holding my hand to my head.
"Finish him," My prey commanded. "But leave him alive. I want to see what he knows."
The mercenary made to stab at me with the bayonet and I moved my hands to block his swipe. He saw my movement and smirked before quickly whipping the gun farther and faster than I expected, bringing the butt of the gun straight into my unprotected head. My already blurry vision turned into complete black as I passed out.
"What do you mean you lost him?" Haytham asked Selah several hours later in the manor.
They were in the room that Ratonhnhaké:ton had sat while he and Shay waited for Haytham and the others nine years ago. Haytham stood with his arms crossed with a table at his back that had been moved into the room two years ago when Shay had taught Ratonhnhaké:ton indoor fighting. Selah stood across from him chewing on her fingernails in between sentences. Shay leaned against the door frame, listening to the conversation and casually flicking his hidden blade on his right arm in and out, checking to make sure the thin pieces were still aligned properly.
"I mean that we split up to make better time in locating the Assassin and after several hours of searching for the target, I went looking for Ratoontahaygon and couldn't find him." Selah said worriedly, going back to gnawing on her nails immediately after. Haytham sighed.
"Did you have an assigned meeting point?" he asked
"Yes, of course," Selah replied, as it was obvious.
"Grandmaster, I do want to point out that the boy has only been in a city environment a few times," Shay said from his spot, before tapping his hidden blade case with his dagger then listening to the tune it made. "It is very possible that he wouldn't know where to go or how to act in a situation that left him exposed."
"An interesting thought, Shay." Haytham said.
"Wait, he wouldn't know how to act if he got exposed, right?" Selah asked. "What if he got exposed, by the Assassin?"
"Then he would most likely try to fight his way out," Shay said, sheathing his dagger and going back to flicking his blade and shaking his head slightly. "His native pride won't let him do anything else. If he was going against highly trained soldiers then he's either dead or captured."
"We have to get him back," Selah said, determined to rescue who she considered her brother.
"We can't launch a full scale assault against the Assassin. What we can do, however, is send somebody in to get him." Haytham said. Shay looked at the Grandmaster. "Shay, how far have you gotten in the boy's training in stealth and pursuit?"
"Not far, Grandmaster." Shay replied, retracting his blade and keeping it there. "He knows the basics, but he wouldn't make it far in an area that is closely watched. He forgets to look around." Haytham nodded, considering the options.
"We'll go after him," He said. "Selah, my dear, you will search the city with me. Shay, you will go after the fort that the Assassins have built. Is that agreeable?" Both Templars nodded resolutely. "Good, I trust that you will not disappoint."
"We don't plan to, Grandmaster." Shay said, mimicking a conversation that had happened years ago.
"Wake up, boy." I heard somebody command as I opened my eyes. My head ached as I sat up from my spot on the stone floor.
I looked around at my surroundings. Not an easy feat I assure you, as my vision was blurry from the blows I had received to my head. I was in a small cell with only a small cot that looked liable to collapse at any moment everything else was made of wooden, save for metal bars to make up the cell. Outside of the cell was a small wooden room. I looked down at myself and saw that the uniform that had looked reasonably nice this morning was now in tatters. Normally I wouldn't have cared except that Haytham had told me to take care of it.
"Oi, get over here," said the voice.
I turned and saw a man in hooded white robes that had blue stripes going down the edges of the front. He wore a red, cross strap with a leather belt over it. On it sat the same silver symbol that the flag in my room had, along with two holsters with flintlock pistols resting in them, as well as a sword on the side, tucked under the leather. His belt also contained a couple of pouches. On his left arm he wore a dark leather bracer that had a piece of metal attached to the underside of his arm that glinted whenever he turned it into the sparse light. Under his robes he wore a dirty white button up shirt. To finish off the outfit he wore blue, army like, pants and boots.
I walked over to the bars and crossed my arms. The man was unimpressed by my stare.
"This is how it's going to go," he said fiercely. "I will ask you a question and you will answer me."
"Very wel,l let us get this over with," I said, shifting my weight from foot to foot.
"Are you in league with the Templars?" the man asked.
"No." I said monotonously
It went on like this for hours. The man only wanted to know about the Templars, whatever they were. So he would ask me a question after question and I would answer. None of his questions even remotely came close to anything in my life so I told him what I knew.
Eventually the man left and I moved over to the cot before nudging it with my foot, it didn't break. Deciding to test my luck I sat on the wooden cot and landed on the ground as it promptly broke under my weight. So I sat on the floor and waited.
It wasn't until the next morning that any opportunity presented itself. That opportunity came in the form of an incredibly stupid guard. He strutted into the room that morning and set a tray of food on the floor in front of my cage. This in itself wouldn't have been so bad but the man just stood there and then started to boast, as if he was the one who ensured my capture.
"Yep, you went down like a sack a rocks when you were captured." he said leaning against the bars of the cell. "I didn' know a man could drop that fast but once you was hit upside the 'ead, woo wee you sure proved me wrong." He laughed a little at that.
I crawled over to the bread which the man was standing by and in a swift movement, reached through the bars and pulled his legs out from under him. He fell to the ground and hit his head with a crack. I smirked and dragged his body over to me and grabbed the keys that the man had. I then unlocked the door and searched the man for anything of use. All I found was a worn, dull hatchet and a small knife. The man had not kept them in good condition but they were blades and it was all I had. I slid the hatchet and knife under my belt on opposite sides.
I walked out of the door and made my way down the wooden hallway. I saw no one which was good as I wanted to get out of there quickly. But I heard muffled voices down a hall on my left. I slid up against the left side wall and stood still.
"We should burn that hovel to the ground. Why didn't it work the first time." the white hooded man said to an older man with dark skin as they walked down the hall, never noticing me.
The old man was limping behind the hooded man, whom I assumed was his apprentice. He wore a white over coat and an old tattered hat that covered his face. He wore black cotton pants and stockings that were fashionable in England, according to Lee. He carried a wooden cane that he hobbled around on, taking pressure off of his right leg.
"Because that is their sacred land, they wouldn't ever consider leaving it. Why must you go through with this, Richard?" the old man asked. "Relations with the tribe have only worsened. Please cease this folly before you end up dead like all the others. It is not our way. Leave the burning and pillaging to the Templars."
"You are a fool, old man," Richard seethed. "You are blinded by your own failures. I will make this Brotherhood one to remember. But to do that I need access to that precursor site."
The old man shook his head and followed his student down the hall. I stood still and listened for any other noises. After hearing nothing for several minutes, I quietly walked down the hall. I made several wrong turns but still could not find the way out. I eventually I was back where I started, utterly confused. I heard footsteps behind me. I turned and saw a mercenary soldier.
"What are you doin' here?" he asked, his musket raised. I drew the hatchet and knife, more than ready to fight.
I said nothing as I swung at him with the axe. He blocked it with his musket and then swung at me. I blocked with the knife and then swung the axe around to where it sliced through half of his throat, spraying blood on the walls. No use in hiding now. As soon as another guard came they would see the blood. I ran down the hall way that I had seen the old man and Richard go down. As I did I ran past a group of four mercenaries that shouted as I pushed past them. I ran through the halls pushing everyone who was in my way out of it. I eventually found a door that led outside. Only when I did, there was Richard and the old man, standing behind an entire regiment of mercenaries.
"There he is, boys. Go get him," Richard said to the mercenaries as the old man looked on disapprovingly.
I drew the borrowed axe and knife and waited for one of them to make a move. One of the mercenaries complied to my wishes and stepped forward. He swung his two-handed axe at my head with only one hand. I started to roll out of the way but before I knew it I was hit in the head with, luckily, the back side of the axe.
Another one stepped forward and swung his musket at me. I dispatched him with relative ease, burying my hatchet into his head then ramming the knife into the man's eye to wrench the axe free. After that my body reacted on its own. Blocking the soldiers' strikes and then killing them swiftly, though I never did manage to roll under the brutes' axes. So I just stuck to jumping out of the way and then pulling them into the line of fire when the firing squad that had form in the back near Richard shot at me.. After ten minutes of heavy fighting all that was left was the firing squad and a single axe-wielding soldier.
"Well, you sure are impressive." Richard said. "Guess you are working with the Templars, after all."
"I do not know who you are talking about." I said, jumping backwards to avoid the axe that would have sliced me in half.
"Ready… aim…" the firing squad leader yelled. I pulled the axe-wielding man in front of me just as the leader shouted, "Fire!" The man shook as he was riddled with bullets. I then threw myself towards the line, rolled forward and buried the hatchet into the leader's spine. I saw Richard and the old man striding away from the battle. Richard looked like he was sure I would die. The soldiers broke their line and two of them attacked me, drawing my attention away from the two men.
One swung while the other one charged at me, bayonet leveled. I dodged the swing which made the charging mercenary get hit in the back of the head with the butt of the first one's guns, sending him sprawling on the ground. I then slammed the axe I carried into the first mercenary's face and moved his body in front of me as the charging one tried had rolled over and tried to shoot me. The shot hit the first one, killing him instantly. I then ran over to the sprawled soldier and buried the axe into his chest. I stood up and saw that the other soldiers were gone, fleeing back to the fort killed… or by Shay who stood watching my performance.
"You saw?" I asked
"Aye," He replied. "Well done, lad. Now come on, let's get you to the Grandmaster." It was at this time that I could really view where I had been fighting.
We were standing at the top of a small hill that had a small dirt road leading down into Boston. All around us were the bodies of the mercenaries I had killed. Behind me was a stone fort that was at least two stories high. I looked at Shay as he started to pat down the bodies of the dead, as I had not followed him yet. I buried the hatchet and the knife into the body of the last man I had killed. Their owner would be waking up soon. Better he be armed when his superiors learned what happened.
"We should return their spirits to the Great Mother." I said to Shay.
"Aye, we should, but we won't," he replied. I started to object. "Listen we have approximately two minutes before the next shift comes. If we are found here praying for the dead we will be shot on sight. Now come on." We ran down the trail and back into Boston.