Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story. All characters belong to Ubisoft unless otherwise stated.

Thank you The-Stupidest-Author-Ever for beta-ing and partially co-writing this with me.

A/N: Connor's still wearing the out fit from last chapter. But don't worry I fully intend for Connor to put on and keep his robes.

Chapter 4

Sequence 2: Boston 1770

I folded the clothes under my arm and walked to the ladder. I climbed down and walked back to the main square, where Shay and Haytham were standing. The square was devoid of life. All around us was evidence of what had happened. Five corpses lay unmoving on the ground, with pools of blood smeared around the ground. A knocked over stall behind me, a few holes in the sides of the buildings over to my left, all left as if to remind everyone what had happened.

"I have killed Richard," I said drawing out the items and presenting them to Haytham. "He had these on him. I hope they are of use to you." Haytham picked up the list and looked it over. He then stuck it into his pocket.

"Thank you Connor," he said. "Shay, I assume that the Morrigan is near here?"

"Aye sir," Shay replied. "It's docked in Harbor."

"Good. Take him and sail back to the manor," Haytham ordered. I opened my mouth to ask why we weren't traveling back in the carriage, but Haytham cut me off and explained. "The Assassins might be angry that you killed their brother. Since we crippled their naval fleet years ago, if you go over sea then it is less likely that you will be attacked."

I nodded and followed Shay through the streets to the harbor. When we arrived at the harbor, Shay led me to a thin black boat with two masts decorated with red sails, identifying it as a small brig. Shay didn't say a word as he stepped onto the deck. I looked at the small crew that milled about on the vessel. Shay walked over to the wheel and spoke to a man in a heavy leather jacket and a broad black hat that looked to made to keep water out of his face.

"I know, Gist," Shay said after a while. "And I don't mean to take her from you but I need her back for one trip."

"Very well, Captain," the man said jovially. "But after that you're going to have to join us at some point. It never really was the same after you left."

"Thank you, Gist," Shay replied, "but I don't know if I'll have time to join you any time soon. I still have things that need to be done here."

"Yes sir, I understand," Gist said, never losing his cheery demeanor. Shay grabbed the wheel and gestured for me to stand on his left side, while Gist stood on his right.

"Studs out, let's get moving!" Shay shouted.

The effect was instantaneous. Every single crew member ran to a section of the boat and began loosening sails, untying ropes or climbing up the rigging. I watched as Shay sailed right out into the harbor and navigated the wide rivers that would take us back to the manor.

The journey took us a little longer than the overland route would have, about three weeks. This was because Shay had to avoid several snow storms that plagued us. Altogether it was an unpleasant trip. When we finally arrived at the harbor I went straight towards the house hoping to catch Haytham there. I walked through the front doors and into the kitchen where I found Haytham sitting on the bench at the wooden table having what appeared to be a cup of tea and reading a report about something. On the table in front of him sat a long wooden box with the Assassin crest on it.

"Welcome back," he said, not looking up from his paper. "I trust the journey was bearable."

"Yes, it was fine," I said shifting my weight from one foot to the other. "The Assassins?"

"Gone to the wind I'm afraid, but the robes you took will be helpful," Haytham replied, finally setting down his paper. "But now that I think about it, you will need these."

He gestured to the box. I walked over it and opened it up. Inside were two bracer-like things and an ornate tomahawk. The blade of the weapon was shaped like the symbol that decorated the box and the handle was well kept but covered with dust, as if it had been setting in a cupboard for several years.

"We found those downstairs. We think they were meant for an apprentice who would have been becoming an Assassin soon after we took this place," Haytham said as I brushed my hand along the handle of the tomahawk.

"Why do I need these?" I asked as I looked over one of the bracer things.

"Those are hidden blades, the signature weapon of the Assassins. And that is an Assassin's tomahawk that we found downstairs," Haytham said, gesturing. "If you couple these with the robes then you make for a pretty convincing Assassin. Try them on."

I slid the bracers onto my arms and turned to Haytham. He looked at me for a second before nodding.

"That's acceptable," the Grandmaster said before taking a sip from his tea and cringing. "Good lord! That is awful! How do they stand that?"

My mouth twitched slightly into a smile. I set the weapons back into the box and closed it. Suddenly I heard shouting and looked up to see a man running up to the window. He seemed to be an elderly gentleman with a graying, black beard and several wrinkles on his face. He was a broad man, obviously used to lifting heavy loads. He wore a red, cone-like hat that was folded over the side of his head and flapped as he ran. He had a thick brown wool shirt that covered a white, cotton undershirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He wore thick blue pants that were tied around his waist to keep them from falling down with leather straps that went over his shoulders to further keep his pants up. Finally, he wore brown boots that just nearly went up to his knees. He ran to the window and pounded on it.

"Help! Help!" the man shouted through the window, though it was severely muffled by the glass. I threw down the tricorn hat that was on my head. Then I ran to the back door and rushed through it. When the man saw me, he ran towards me.

"You, sir, please, you have to help him!" he yelled in a panic.

"Who?" I asked as the man as he started to lead me through the woods.

"There's no time! Please, come! He's in danger!" the man yelled as he pushed past a branch that was in his way.

He led me through the woods, sprinting just ahead of me, a feat that not many could do. Eventually he led me to the river and stopped abruptly. He searched for a few seconds before pointing up stream and gasping.

"Look he's just under the bridge." the man said. I looked and saw a man holding onto a log that was floating down the river quickly.

"Help me!" the man on the log yelled.

I quickly looked down the river and saw several logs that were in the river, stuck on the rocks. I jumped across the logs until I was close enough to grab the man just as he slid off of the log and went under the water. I dove after him and dragged him up and over to shore where he doubled over the mud and coughed. I finally got a good look at the man I had rescued.

He was almost the exact opposite of the man who had run up to the house. Where his partner was broad, this man was very thin and lanky. He had short, fiery red hair and beard. He wore a thin white shirt with his sleeves rolled up, like his partner. He had green pants with a small knife strapped to his belt. He wore boot much like the moccasins that the men in my village would wear. The man kept coughing as his partner ran up.

"What this knob-end is trying to say is that he's forever in your debt, sir," the broad man said as he helped his partner off of the ground and patted him on the back forcefully.

"Who're you callin'... a knob-end?" the thin man asked as he coughed.

"You, ya bleedin' cockroach. Because you are one," the broad man said lightly.

"What were you doing on that log?" I asked the thin man as soon as he had stopped coughing.

"One of the many dangers of lumberin' I suppose," the broad man said.

"We got a camp set up half a mile or so from here. As we're cuttin' timber," the thin man wheezed. His partner slapped him on the back again, causing the thin man to take a step forward to keep his balance.

"We're hopin' to open a mill in the area," the broad man said, still eyeing his partner cautiously.

"I know a good place not far from the manor on the hill. You should ask the owner if he will let you stay," I said, pointing back towards the manor. The men looked at each other, then the broad one laughed.

"I like you already," he said, patting me on the shoulder. "We'll head there now and have a look." I nodded and followed them back towards the manor.

"Very well, those terms seem agreeable," Haytham said after the two men had a talk with him. The three men sat in the Haytham's study. The Grandmaster was sitting behind a very cluttered desk with the two lumberers and a map of the property sitting in front of him. "You can set your mill up at the bottom of the hill, here," he pointed to the spot on the map. From my spot leaning against the wall I could see the thin man smile nervously at Haytham.

"That'll do us well, sir," the broad man said.

"Well then, I think that concludes our business," Haytham said cheerfully.

"Yes, sir. Thank you for letting us stay." the broad said as he and his partner left the room. I watched them go before looking at Haytham.

"Is there anything you need me for?" I asked making to leave.

"Actually there is something I want to talk to you about," Haytham said, getting up from his chair. "That list that you gave me-our sources have determined that the names are that of the remaining Assassins."

He walked over to the hidden room and pulled on the candelabra. He led me down into the room and I saw that the table that had previously been cluttered with maps and pictures of whoever Selah had been targeting was now bare and the wall that it rested against held ten different portraits. I recognized the individual represented by the painting in the center of the nine other portraits.

"That's Achilles," I observed. "But didn't you already defeat him?"

"Yes I did, but it appears that he raised the Brotherhood from its ashes," Haytham said.

"I see," I said, though I did not see how the slaughter of an old man helped anyone.

"These are the new Assassins," Haytham said, pointing to each one in turn. "Francis Nash, Kazimierz Pułaski, Hugh Mercer, David Wooster, Joseph Warren, Richard Montgomery, Johann de Kalb, William Alexander, and John Thomas." I nodded, trying to remember all the names, only for them to mix together.

"Very well, father," I said, trying to pretend that I understood. I stared at the portraits with uncertainty, unsure if these men would pose a genuine threat to my village.

I supposed it didn't matter. They would hurt everyone they came into contact with and they showed how much damage they were willing to cause when they started a war to get what they wanted.

"Excellent," Haytham said. "I will talk to you later." I nodded, looking over the portraits. As soon as he left I looked down at the table where the pouch that I had taken off of Richard lay and leaned over the table with my arms supporting my weight. I closed my eyes and did something I had not done since I had been little.

"Mother, what should I do?" I asked in Kanien'kéha. "I want to protect our village but I am caught in this war that has gone on for centuries. I do not want to fail our people."

I opened my eyes and stood up properly. My eyes flicked towards the pouch and I grabbed it. I opened it and slid the clear orb into my gloved hand. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the globe was not completely clear. It had strange, thin, golden lines that crisscrossed along its surface. I looked at it for a second before it started to glow brilliantly. All of a sudden, bright golden lines moved through the air and the ground seemed to pulse with golden waves. I stared in awe and turned around to see if the whole room was like that.

"You are not what you should be, guardian," a voice said, coming from everywhere at once. I turned around, trying to find the source of the voice.

I saw a woman that looked much like Selah, but without all of her scars and more regal in stature. She had long, black hair that nearly touched her shoulder blades and wore a crown-like thing with a piece of white cloth that lay over her Hair. She wore a spotless white dress and had a long, white scarf wrapped around her arms. Her eyes were a deep gold. I felt like those eyes could see into my past or future. Whatever this person was, she was not human.

"Are you... a Spirit?" I asked, still speaking my native tongue. "Are you answering for my mother?"

"If that is what you prefer," she said cryptically.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"This is where you were before. If you mean to ask what you now see, this is the Nexus." the woman said. "A place where all possibilities are considered."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "How can you see all possibilities?"

"You were meant to walk a different path," she said instead. "A path you ignored. You must be reminded of your true purpose."

"What purpose?" I echoed.

"I will show you," the Spirit said. She disappeared.

Suddenly I saw images flash before my eyes. Things that hadn't happened, things that had, but mostly things I didn't recognize. My village burning with me as a child being dragged away from my mother by Kanen'tó:kon's father as I screamed for my loss. Shay in light grey robes, jumping out of the second story window of the manor as a young black man in tan robes yelled after him, pointing at where Shay was jumping. Me wearing a deerskin tunic tackling Selah on top of the rooftops with the crowd of people from the incident at the Customs House down below us.

Then came the voices to go along with the images. I saw myself wearing that same deerskin tunic, standing in front of the manor with Achilles opening the door from the inside.

"I was told you could train me," the image of myself said.

"No," Achilles refused.

I saw a man in white and red robes being held by two men in armor, screaming in rage.

"I'll kill you for what you've done!" the man yelled in an accent I did not know.

I saw a blonde man in a blue jacket with a leather vest over it and a bald black man stand in the jungle in front of a Mayan ruin.

"For years I've been rushing around, taking whatever I fancied, not giving a tinker's curse for those I hurt," the blonde man said.

I saw the same man standing over an old man in a blue jacket. They were in a stone cavern that had golden lines flowing across the walls.

"You would see all of mankind corralled into a neatly furnished prison," the blonde man voice said.

I saw shay standing over an old man in grey robes with Haytham beside him.

"You have become a monster, Shay. Hell welcomes traitors like you," the old man gasped, glaring at Shay coldly.

"Maybe I have," Shay agreed sadly.

I saw Selah cringing away from Haytham in a large bedroom.

"I wish you all to Hell!" she screamed

I saw Achilles standing in front of a man wearing Richard's robes in the entrance hall of the manor.

"Welcome to the Brotherhood," the old man said.

Then I saw same man with the same robes burying a hidden blade into Haytham's neck as the Grandmaster choked him.

"Don't think I have any intention of caressing your cheek and saying I was wrong," Haytham gasped.

I saw a man in a white hooded shirt and blue pants standing in a blue glowing cave surrounded by a young man, a young woman, and an old, gray-haired man, all of whom were dressed in clothing I had never seen before.

"I know I was really nice to you but actually, I'm just another Templar plot-twist and, yes, I would like very much for you to be controlled by a magic space wizard so that you can murder me!" hooded man yelled.

I clutched my head as the visions and words kept assaulting my brain. As quickly as they began, they stopped and the woman reappeared.

"You see? You are not what you were supposed to be," she said.

"I do not understand," I wailed. "Nothing you showed me made sense."

"You were to be the Guardian-the Protector. But your purpose was corrupted by things we could not control, and now you have become the Ravager," she explained monotonously.

As she said these words I saw a few more images. An engraved green circle made of jade and an image of a gravestone with the words Connor Davenport on it.

"And now, you will pay the consequences for it. Farewell, Ravager. May your end be swift." the strange woman said before she vanished

The gold webbing vanished and I found myself sprawled on my back in the room where I had picked up the orb. I sat up and grabbed the orb that sat a few feet away. I picked myself off of the ground and set the orb back in the pouch on the table. I sighed, thinking about what I had seen.

What did it mean? Why would the Spirit come but not give any real advice? I had more questions than answers because of her visit. Eventually I heard heavy footfalls coming down the stairs. I turned my head and watched as Shay slowly came down the stairs.

"Connor? What are you doing here, lad?" he asked as he came into the room. "Wouldn't you rather hunt than be in here?" Still shocked by what I had seen I nodded silently and walked up the stairs and out of the room.

I climbed the stairs to my room and grabbed my bow and quiver that I had made from sturdy wood I salvaged from a fallen tree during a hunt with Shay a few years ago. I strung it and slipped it across my back, where I could easily grab it if need be. I set down my hat, grabbed some snares, and jogged out of the manor.

I rushed into the forest where the sounds of the lumberers setting up camp filled the air. I could already tell that there wouldn't be much game that day. After setting a few of the snares around the edge of the woods, I climbed up into the trees (a feat that my father couldn't manage for some reason) and waited for something to pass underneath me. I slipped my bow off of my back when I saw a rabbit that was unaffected by the noise of the men. Perhaps it had been deaf and couldn't hear them. Regardless of whether or not it could hear, it would still have made enough for a stew at least. I notched an arrow and drew back the string to where my thumb touched my ear.

"He's not worth the shot," Selah yelled up from below me, scaring away the rabbit. So it wasn't deaf then. I scowled and released the tension on the string and slid the arrow back into the quiver I wore on my back. I slid my bow back unto my back, next to the quiver, jumping from the tree after I did so.

"He could have made a stew for dinner," I argued as I stood up from the crouch I had landed in.

"Are you joking? That thing was so thin it was only worth a side dish," she laughed.

"If the Spirits deem for us to only hunt the frail then we should not refuse their gifts," I said automatically reverting back to defending the Spirits. Selah looked like she was going to laugh.

"Well it looks like it's back to salted beef, oh, mighty hunter," she teased. I scowled again at her and headed to my snares before walking back to the manor. Selah laughed a little at my disapproval and jogged to catch up with me.

I walked up to one of the snares that hadn't caught anything and quickly disassembled it. Selah stood behind me as I worked and occasionally looked around, as if trying to not think about what the wire and spring was used for. We went around like this with the only highlight being the discovery that one of my traps had snapped instead of catching the animal. The bait I had set out had been eaten.

Eventually I had collected all of the snares I had set and was organizing them to where they lay neatly together. I set the materials in my coat pocket and started to walk among the trees, thinking of what I remembered of the valley where my village lay. Selah had gone back to the house, saying that watching me collect snares was boring. I walked back to the manor after a while. When I arrived I saw Shay standing in front of the house with his arms crossed. He saw me and my lack of any animals and he grinned devilishly.

"Four hours. A bit long for no haul in return," he said. "Maybe those Spirits of yours aren't as giving as you claim." I probably put on my "Spirits offended" face as Selah called it, but I opened my mouth to protest, only to be cut off by Shay. "Come on. I've got something to show you."

"What is it?" I asked

"Come with me and you'll find out, won't you?" Shay replied.

He walked away, down towards the mouth of the river. I didn't know what else to do but follow him. He led me a small shack at the mouth of the river that appeared abandoned. Shay opened the door to the shack and went inside. I looked in over his shoulder. There was nobody there, just an old desk and an old chair that sat in the middle of the room. Shay went to the desk and pulled several rolls of worn paper out of a drawer. He then turned around and walked out of the house and pointed up the river a little ways, towards a large broken boat.

"There she is," Shay said cryptically. I looked at the boat then back at Shay, confused. "She could be the fastest in the Atlantic if you give her a little love."

"She?" I asked. "Who is she?" Shay gestured to the boat.

"The Aquila, lad!" Shay exclaimed, glaring at the boat a little. "The Ghost of the North Seas!"

"The boat," I stated in confusion. How could an inanimate object be labeled as she?

"B-boat?" Shay sputtered before pinching the bridge of his nose. "She's a ship! Little rafts are boats. This here, she's a beauty, a master of the seas. And make no mistake of it." I nodded, abashed at my miscommunication.

"So what is so important about this b-um, ship," I asked, quickly correcting my mistake.

"Since we've got a steady supply of wood now, I thought we might want to fix her up a bit. Make her yours," Shay explained. "You're probably going to need her for hunting the Assassins anyway."

"And why did you need the papers?" I asked, gesturing to the rolls of paper Shay held in his hand.

"These are blueprints. I used them to make the Morrigan the Bane of the Seas," Shay explained "So if we can find someone who would be willing to make them for us, then we can make the Aquila a force to be reckoned with."

"Once we get started how long do you think before it-she is ready to sail again?" I asked, once again correcting myself.

"I'd wager several months of hard labor," Shay said thoughtfully.

I nodded. "Shall we start, then?"

Six months later.

Time seemed to pass quickly after that. Days became weeks, weeks became months. During this time the snow melted and I became stronger, faster-in both body and mind. As my skills grew, so too did I. No longer was I a boy but now I had reached my fifteenth summer. It was the middle of summer before Shay had fixed the ship. He had refitted it with cannons and what he called puckle guns. He had repaired the ship beautifully, with no small amount of help from myself and Selah, and had finally deemed the ship ready to sail, provided that he could find men to crew her.

I was sitting in the crook of a tree on the day that I was to meet Shay by the dock that had been roughly constructed to safely get to the "hunk of rotting wood" as Haytham so fondly called it. I was supposed to be hunting for any spare meat I could find in the woods, but I had given up. I was too early for most animals bigger than a rabbit to be out of hibernation. I sat in the tree with my eyes closed, listening to the sounds of the forest. What I heard was something that interested me greatly.

"Connor, come on. Shay wants us down at the docks," I heard Selah call.

I opened my eyes and looked down, expecting to see her at the base of my tree. She wasn't there. I looked around and saw her crouching on one of the branches that was close to me. She was looking at me expectantly with her hands hovering at her sides. I nodded silently, slid my feet under me, and jumped down from the tree, rolling with the impact so as to not break anything. Selah jumped after me but didn't have to roll to break her fall.

"I am eager to see what Shay has done," I said, walking towards the mouth of the river with Selah close on my heels.

When we reached the docks we saw what Shay had done to the ship. It was a two masted brig that seemed to be built for combat not speed like the Morrigan. It had a massive pole sticking out of the front with white triangular sails that stretched out in between the front mast and the pole. It had rigging so high I could have sworn that there were birds that would fly straight into it and get tangled up in the ropes. The ship was painted white on the portions that were above the water with a dark blue on the majority of what was under the water. Shay was standing on the deck with his arms crossed, looking over his work. He turned his head at the sound of our boots crunching on the pebbles that littered the ground by the dock. He grinned broadly and raised his arms as if he wanted to hug us.

"Come aboard," he said. "Come aboard and meet the Aquila." I stepped onto the gangplank and walked onto the ship with Selah following.

"Is she... sturdy?" I asked Shay cautiously, causing Selah to laugh at my trepidation.

"Aye, she'll sail without sinking," Shay said. I nodded and walked about the ship, looking it over.

"Oh, good! Now you'll be able to kill yourself even more efficiently. Why stay on dry land to die when you can just crash into a rock and get torn to splinters," Haytham's voice called from the shore. Shay laughed at the Grandmaster's annoyance.

"If you don't like it you do not have come aboard," he said.

"I plan on it," Haytham replied before turning to look at Selah. "My dear, we have found them."