Chapter Two:

Twenty Questions

Near Zürich, German Empire, 1943

The Assassins had spared two West Germany passes for Mary MacKenzie and her new companion Katherine Prince, which would allow the two Assassins passage through the German Empire and into what was once Austria, where Vienna was situated. The war-torn German-occupied city was once the capital of Austria, but that title was taken when Austria was, and now the Austrian people had to accept Berlin alone as their capital. Dissent and anger ran rampant through its ancient streets, but it was kept sternly in line by German forces with the power of their weapons and the threats that a concentration camp would pose.

Within the city they would eventually search for traces and clues of the locations and temporary camps that were utilized by the brothers Prince. Until then, Mary and Katherine were stuck on a train to Vienna with checkpoints at every stop. It was not the first time Mary had been through such ordeals, but it was indeed Katherine's first time, as she'd come by ship from the United States to Britain, and from there to the Maginot Line in France. She encountered very little resistance in her arrival, so Mary coached her through everything as they progressed. Thankfully, Katherine, like several others in America, had been coached in the German language as a part of their schooling. It was still considered the second language in America, after all, though Mary assumed the end of the war would have America reconsider, no matter the outcome.

But while the checkpoints continued to run smoothly, conversation did not. Katherine, young and brash, still had some very strong opinions about Mary's taking the lead on the mission Katherine had believed she'd be conducting alone, although Mary knew Katherine held no complaints yet about her decision to make for Vienna. In fact, Mary believed Katherine desired to go there and see where her loved ones had made their final stand. If they had the luxury of time, Mary hoped that they could.

Disguised in dresses of the period rather than their Assassin robes, it was fairly clear Mary wouldn't be hiding her bandages at all, though her story seemed to be accepted among the German troops and train conductor: that a train she'd been on had been bombed, and while scarred, she'd survived. Of course, this was a topic of conversation Katherine wished to pursue, though she was unsure of the amount of time she would need to know Mary to ask, and she tried to be polite about it, but Mary noticed nonetheless. Still, surrounded by other train patrons and soldiers was no place to ask.

Mary had herself and Katherine disembark at Munich with their luggage so they could stowaway on the next train, since their passes wouldn't take them as far as Vienna. Once changed, they had their luggage unwittingly packed by a worker into the train they'd chosen, and they took car to memorize the car it was in. Then they waited for the train further up the rails, and when it began to pick up speed as it left the station, Mary and Katherine leapt from nearby trees and onto the roof of the train cars. Once the two located where their luggage was stored, they opened the hatch and lowered themselves into the car. They waited a while until they felt they were safe to relax, then Mary flopped onto a pile of soft suitcases and lowered the grey hood that was a part of her overcoat.

Katherine sat cross-legged on the floor and watched her partner as Mary closed her eyes, her hands clasped on top of her belly. If Katherine didn't consider the suitcases Mary was about to nap on, she felt Mary could have been the picture of comfort and contentment.

"How old are you, Mary?" asked Katherine in hopes to stimulate some conversation.

Mary opened her only visible eye and smirked at the American. "I'm thirty-three, Miss Prince. And yerself?"

"Twenty-four."

"Och, a young-un."

"I'm not much younger than yourself, Mary."

"I suppose not..." Mary closed her eyes again. "Still. Dannae think yer a bit young tae be oot like this?"

"Soldiers are younger than I."

The Highlander turned her mouth downward, but not in a negative way. Rather, her eyebrows went up. "Impressive retort, lassie. Ye've been doing yer homework."

"Everyone knows the age men can become soldiers. I am a soldier as well, in my own way."

"Aye, I suppose, Miss Prince."

Silence once more hung over the two like the bombs of war, somehow louder though. Once again, Katherine was unnerved by it, but Mary was the one to initiate conversation then, considering she found it only fair.

"What's Bradford, Pennsylvania like, lassie?" she asked.

"Oh?" Katherine shrugged, unsure. "It's... nice. I don't know how to properly... Well, it's booming. There's a big oil thing around there. Lots of people looking for work if they can't fight..."

"Assassin presence?"

Katherine nodded. "Yes. My mother and father own a small oil company down there and run the Assassins from it. Funding, contracts, and the like."

"Och, sounds like magic."

"It's not magical at all."

Mary rolled her eyes. "Not 'magic' magic, lassie! My sort of magic!"

"And what kind would that be...?"

Sighing, Mary replied. "It means 'great'."

"Oh."

"Ach, dannae get discouraged, ye wee sook. I just happened tae slip back into my old accent a while back and I forgot most of my 'properness'."

Mary noticed how Katherine's left hand went to her right bicep, where there was a bulge beneath her dusty brown overcoat. Mary raised an eyebrow at it.

"Ye've got something underneath, aye?"

Katherine seemed to realize her autonomous movement and nodded, then she shrugged her overcoat off and rolled her sleeve up to showcase it. Made of shiny gold, the armband was shaped like a viper and coiled delicately over her skin. Its eyes were made of rubies, and on top of its head was the symbol of the Brotherhood, although with a distinct Egyptian flare to it.

"This was my mother's," she explained. "And my mother's mother's. And it continues on until the fifteenth century." She tapped it lovingly. Clearly it was of great importance to her. "It means that I've proven myself, that I'm good with poisons. I'm called Hayya, like my mother and hers before."

But clearly, Katherine was looking to Mary for some sort of recognition. None ever crossed her face. "Never heard of ye."

"Never?!"

"Naw."

For reasons far beyond Mary's comprehension, that seemed to annoy Katherine. Still, Mary expected she wouldn't have heard of that name. She wasn't a delver into poisons and she certainly couldn't stand the whole "lineage" spiel, the act of passing something important down to one's children only if certain conditions were met. It just annoyed the Scot, so that was possibly the reason why she hadn't heard of her.

"Huh." Katherine leaned back into some suitcases. "So, Mary, what are you?"

"What do ye mean by that?"

"You're a Scottish Assassin, clearly. But I'm wondering where you are in the Brotherhood."

"In the Brotherhood? Right now I'm on a train to Vienna." Clearly, Mary's spot-on answer was not about to be happily received by Katherine, so Mary grinned and continued, "Actually, I'm just a normal Assassin, lassie. Naw master status and naw apprentices tae speak of. I like where I am just fine. Gives me time tae focus on other things. Templars and the like."

"Every Assassin focuses on Templars."

"Och, not like I do, Miss Prince."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Naw."

"Why not?"

"There int any point."

"But I'd like to know who I'm working with."

Mary seemed to consider, and then nodded fairly slowly. "Aye, that's a point right there." The Scot sat up and faced Katherine, and once more Katherine was plagued by the thought of Mary's bandages. "Well lassie, my speciality is tracking down rogue Assassins and bringing them tae justice, whether it be by bringing them back tae the fold or giving them a shot tae the head. Usually it int a shot that does them in, though. I sometimes get... creative. And that's all I'm saying tae that, Miss Prince."

Katherine sighed and rolled her sleeve down once her admiration of her heirloom was finished. "And what made you start focusing on tracking the rogues?"

"The deaths of my parents." Katherine looked to Mary for more. "When I was young I was the daughter of farmers. I was content with that life and not looking tae climb any higher. One night two men came tae our farmhouse and asked for shelter. We gave them the barn for the night with some food. They'd have stayed in the house, but they were armed, and when my da explained they understood. Next morning when I went tae check on them, I noticed more men prowling about. The moment they saw me, they ordered those two men to kill me and my parents. They stabbed me and left me for dead, then killed my ma and da inside while I bled oot on the straw.

"I survived, and later I began pursuing them. I followed them past Edinburgh and straight tae London, and when I found them I killed them. That was when the Assassins met me. The two men who killed my parents were rogue Assassins and had fled London tae escape and regroup with the Templars. With my own resources I tracked them down and made them pay for what they did, and the Assassins were impressed. I trained, and eventually the Assassins realized I had a mind for locating more rogues and recruiting Templars. Ye could say I'm a bit like yerself, Miss Prince. I started with vengeance, but later I realized how empty those deaths had made me feel. All I wanted was tae be with my parents one last time, and those men were my connection tae them."

Mary's words gave Katherine pause, but the younger woman steeled herself and looked Mary dead in the eye with a look of youthful defiance. "I'd do anything to be with my brothers again, but they're dead and I know nothing I do will bring them back. All I have left is vengeance."

"And yer family?" inquired Mary. "Yer ma and da?"

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "They haven't been the same since Henry and Nathaniel's deaths. I want to make things right again."

"Nothing's ever right with the world once a loved one's gone, Miss Prince. It cannae ever truly return tae how it was. Wounds heal faster when they aren't being inflicted elsewhere."

"Oh, don't preach to me. You did exactly what I am. Though how you managed to kill two trained Assassins..."

"And their accomplises." Mary grinned, though Katherine's face displayed her shock. "Dannae look at me like that, lassie. I have my ways. Like I said before, I can get creative."

"Oh, how diabolically vague of you." Katherine crossed her arms. "... Why are you wearing all those bandages, Mary? It impairs your vision from your right eye."

"Ach, these?" Mary's grin shifted into a slight smile. "Little accident back home. Dannae worry about them. I trained for years with a blindfold. I'll hear yer weapon before, anyhow. It's just a matter of the twally coming tae try tae kill me."

Katherine's eyes seemed to brighten. "You're fairly confident of your skills then."

Nodding, Mary replied, "Aye. I've always had a good sense. Dannae where it comes from, but da and I used tae chase thieves from the farm together, and it all came natural since I was a wee bairn."

"I feel the same. All of my training seemed simple compared to others. But I never could defeat my brothers in a fight, no matter how hard I try. I don't know, I suppose even if I had the skill they only needed a single chance to overwhelm me with brute strength. My mother used to joke that my brothers were a team of oxen. No matter how I struggled they would always find a way to pin me."

Mary smiled at that. And beyond her reply of a simple "Aye," there seemed to be a clue of knowledge Katherine wanted to discover about Mary. By now the young woman knew that Mary was not intentionally being mysterious, only that she had rarely worked with other Assassins before and tended to stay on fairly straight terms for the sake of her mission, but Katherine, despite her youth, knew that their relationship would have to be deeper and stronger. After all, they were chasing after a murderer. They would need to trust one another wholly.

"This damned car is baltic..." Mary rubbed her hands up and down her arms. "Should have packed a heavier coat..."

Katherine agreed and slid on her overcoat. Mary began rummaging through the suitcases inside of the car until she found one of hers and yanked it out of the pile, sending the tower of personal effects tumbling down. But Mary was unbothered by it and found the second of her suitcases, the much heavier one, although she was quite focused on the first of her bags once she'd freed her second.

From her first bag, Mary produced a thick woollen blanket and gestured for Katherine to come. Hesitant but cold, Katherine approached and allowed Mary to hand her the blanket, and then Mary took another from the suitcase and wrapped herself contently in it.

"Thank-you," Katherine intoned as she wrapped herself in the blanket. Almost automatically she inhaled, and realized the scent was very much like smoke. When she examined it more closely, she saw some edges were charred, though when Katherine looked at Mary's she noted hers was far more burned than her own.

"Dannae thank me, lassie," Mary replied. "Ye looked like ye needed it. Assassins take care of one another, aye?"

"Aye—I-I mean, yes, they do."

Katherine's response elicited a faint giggle from Mary's side of the car. "Well, Miss Prince, I hope my accent dunnae confuse ye so much that ye forget yer own!"

"You just use the term so much that was all I was thinking about!"

"Och, aye!"

"I'm serious, Mary!"

"Of course ye are! I was just agreeing with ye!"

"With a tone!"

"My dialect has a tone! It's inescapable, Miss Prince!"

Katherine sighed heavily and leaned back into a cluster of suitcases. "I can't keep up this ridiculous banter..."

"Och, dannae put a knot in yer breeks, ye wee sook. I'm only having a spot. Least I'm not blootered."

"I assume you're meaning drunk?"

"Aye! Yer getting it!"

She smiled at the sudden praise. "I'm a fast learner, like I said," she mumbled.

Mary leaned forward whilst tugging the wool blanket more tightly over her shoulders. "Know any other languages beyond yer own, lassie?"

"German. If I wasn't speaking English I have a feeling you'd believe I was German-born. I also know just a bit of French. My mother used to take us for a few trips north of the Canadian border. Cold up there. I don't know how those people live sometimes."

"Never been across the pond quite yet. Though one day I hope tae get my arse over there. Still, I'll go where I'm needed. No sense escaping trouble when I know I'm just gannae find it again. It's in our Assassin luck."

Katherine nodded her agreement. "My mother's said as much."

"Just one more thing, Miss Prince..." Mary leaned back, and once again had her hands clasped over her belly—once more the image of contentment. "Yer bracelet. Keep it covered. I may not have heard of ye, but that dunnae mean no one else has. And whatever ye do, dannae go announcing yerself as 'Hayya' or whatever ye said yer name was. Names like that bring only grief and misery upon those closely associated with it. The relationships ye keep will be in danger. Understand?"

"But—!"

"I'm not saying tae be ashamed of it, Miss Prince. What I'm saying is ye don't yet need tae go parading around to paint a target on yer back for a Templar sniper. For now, just blend in with everything. When we arrive in Vienna, yer German, and I'm a mute. Ye'll do the talking that needs tae be done. That's why we're in this bleeding luggage car instead of a cozy one. But remember to keep yer story straight. Dannae go inventing things far from the truth. We're in Vienna tae visit family, more importantly, their graves. They made a sacrifice within the Austrian-Germany border with their lives."

Katherine nodded. "I understand."

"Good." Mary wriggled around a bit, then seemed to find her ideal spot. "Wake me when we get there. I need some shut-eye."

Again, Katherine nodded, despite the fact that Mary had already closed her only visible eye and could no longer see her. Katherine found an equally comfortable spot somewhere in the car and drifted off to sleep as the excitement of her trip finally settled down, and the seriousness and fear she felt for visiting the place her brothers died crept in, consuming her wholly with dread.

And Katherine wondered if her brothers had found anything. If they had, would the evidence be gone? Hidden? Destroyed? What would her brothers reveal, years after they had been buried?

Katherine's hands balled into fists as she gripped her blanket. She wanted answers. The sooner the Assassin-hunter was brought down, the better. And Katherine wanted the bastard dead, whether Mary desired to bring them in or not.

At that thought, Katherine looked at Mary's prone form, and she wondered what Mary's stake in the hunt was. Could Mary be thinking to convert the Assassin-hunter, or outright kill them? What orders or hidden agendas did the Scot have? And what was her connection to the Assassin-hunter that led Joseph Hall to place her in charge of the operation? She hoped all would be revealed soon.

If there was one thing Katherine hated, it was being kept in the dark. She could never stand it and doubted she ever would.

So Katherine knew her relationship with Mary would be an important one, if she ever wanted to know more than she did.

Or if she wanted to survive an encounter with the Assassin-hunter.