Chapter 16:

The silence around the four rogues was heavy as they crept slowly through the underbrush, scanning the warehouse below them. Guards milled around either on watch, or helping two assassins load weapons into a cart. At the sight of these two assassins, James felt his blood run cold and a flare of anger coursed through him. They were the two who had been in Mentor Ah Tabai's hut on the day that he had been killed. They were two of Dalton's three closest assassins. James had killed the third on the same day that they had gotten into this mess.

James took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them, he was looking with his sixth sense; and as he had figured, the two assassins working for Dalton were the two that they were after. James watched them as they moved inside of the warehouse and began picking up more of the weapons before handing them off to guards. James looked at Edward.

"We should strike when they are inside the warehouse," he whispered.

"That would be best. Edward replied in an equally low voice. Without switching off his sixth sense, James scanned the immediate area surrounding the warehouse. James smirked; Dalton had finally gotten smart. There were a lot of guards.

"We're going to need a distraction," James said, scratching at his beard. Before he could say anything else, Patrick clapped him on the shoulder.

"I got it lad," he said. He stood, stretched, crept into the surrounding foliage. James watched him go.

"Okay," he said after only a few seconds. "Anne, Edward and I are going to need the men on the towers taken care of." He pointed to the four watch towers, each containing two men.

"Do you think you can take care of them?" James asked.

Anne gave him a dirty look. "Of course I can," she hissed. She gave him a nod, then moved off. James and Edward waited in contemplative silence.

It took only a few seconds before they saw the guards on the tower closest to them go down. James watched Anne's shadow as she, keeping to the dark, slowly went back down the ladder, towards the next tower. In what felt like only five minutes, the place was clear of anyone who would see them from any of the towers.

"Okay," James began. "Now we just wait for-" he was cut off by the sudden scream that pierced the air. And then they saw Patrick O'leary charging the warehouse, sword drawn. He impaled one of the two guards closest to his position and drew a flintlock from his belt, destroying the face of the other.

"What in god's name is he doing?" James hissed.

"Doesn't matter," Edward said. "He's got them distracted, it's now or never." Keeping to the shadows, much like Anne, James and Edward moved fast towards their prey. Through his sixth sense, James watched as the two assassins drew their swords, preparing for whoever was attacking to break through.

When they reached the warehouse, both quickly gave the structure a look-over. On one side, just below the roof was a rectangular window. It was open.

James motioned to Edward and pointed at the window. Edward nodded. James went first, easily scaling up the side of the small, squat structure. He slipped in through the window and dropped silently behind a stack of crates. Edward dropped next to him and the two prepared themselves.

From his belt, Edward pulled a smoke bomb. He lobbed it hard at the ground by their target's feet. There was a blast, and the warehouse filled with its smoke. The two brothers drew their blades and activated their sixth sense before moving in for the kill.

Patrick O'leary was having a blast. He felt at ease with a sword in his hand; he loved being able to end a life with just one swing of his blade. He was never happier than when he was in a fight, dropping enemies and spilling blood. And if he should die in battle, well he would die a happy man.

These thoughts went through Patrick O'leary's head as he stood surrounded by several guards, all preparing to attack. And when the first swing came, he was ready. He blocked the blow easily, and lunged, skewering the guard's organs with his sword. He pulled back just in time to avoid a slash aimed at his neck. He arched his sword to the right, imbeding the weapon in another man's neck. He drew his hidden blade and stabbed it into a throat as a third guard charged him from his left. He pulled his weapons from the limp bodies and turned to the last three.

The ex-Templar was too focused on these three guards, that he did not see the large brute of a man charging him from behind. Nor did he sense the axe swinging at him until it was too late. He attempted to spin around and dodge the attack, but came up short as the large Axe's blade smashed into his side, burying itself in his ribs.

He gripped the Axe's head and pulled it from his body, letting out an involuntary cry of pain as the blood spilled from him like a small river. He threw the axe to the ground and slowly moved back, now on the defensive as the guards began to surround him again.

But it then there was the blast of a flintlock and the large brute who had wounded Patrick collapsed to the floor in a pool of his own blood, slowly expanding underneath his head. And then Anne was there with him, preparing for the fight that was bound to be over with very quickly.

James and Edward stood over the two traitorous assassins' dead bodies, searching them for anything that could be of value.

James let out a victorious shout and produced a piece of paper with a note scrawled hastily on it. He read it quickly. "Dalton knows what we're doing. He's figured out where we've been hiding. He's planning an assault on Great Inagua. If we hurry we might be able to kill him while he's sailing out of Tulum."

It was as Edward was opening his mouth to reply when the pain-filled cry pierced the air. That was quickly followed by a gunshot. And that, followed by the clang of swords returned. Edward and James exchanged worried glances. James kicked open the warehouse's front door and ran out into the night.

He looked around and spotted Patrick and Anne. But what he saw did not fill him with relief. It instead filled him with a kind of dread. There was Patrick, holding his arm to his blood soaked left side. The crimson liquid spilled past and around his arm. His attacks were mostly defensive and it seemed as if he were having a hard time even moving.

"Come on," James said, once again drawing his Syrian Sword and charging the guards fighting his lover and his friend. He stabbed one guard from behind, another fell as Edward brought his swords down onto his skull.

The he remaining men quickly fell underneath the combined strength the four of them had to offer. And after several short minutes, the fighting momentarily ceased. Patrick took several deep and ragged breaths, almost collapsed. James helped him stay on his feet.

"Come on, we need to get you out of here," he said. But Patrick shoved himself from James's grasp.

"Get movin' laddies, I ain't done ere," he rasped out.

"What?" James wasn't sure if Patrick was even still whole in the head.

"Reinforcements, they're on the way," even as Patrick spoke, the sounds of footsteps began to drift into the warehouse's grounds. "I been killin' assassins and associates of assassins for years; I loved every minute of it. I'm gonna' die doin' what I love. 'Sides, I ain't gonna' make it far with a wound like this."

James shook his head. "No, come on mate. Let's-" he was cut off by the force with which Patrick shoved him back. Edward caught him.

"It ain't a question! Get goin'!" Edward pulled James, and practically dragged him away from Patrick. James fought, trying to get back and save the Irishman, although he didn't know why he wanted to so badly. But together, Edward and Anne got James away from there.

The last he saw of the Irishman was him swinging his sword and opening the throat of one of the guards attacking. But he moved to slowly to block the next attack, and he was run through. James let out a wail of outrage and fury as Patrick O'leary fell to his knees, and collapsed back onto the floor, dead.

AN: Well, Patrick died. That attack probably didn't go as planned. But anyway, what did you think? What is in store for these rogue assassins next? Just how far will James be willing to go to put Louis Dalton down? Will that happen anytime soon? Can't tell you, that would be considered a spoiler.

~Exangellion