Chapter Six:

The Fallen

Near Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 1943

"Six weeks?!" hollered Katherine as she leapt from the medical cot. "I can't be laying in bed for six weeks! I've a job to do!"

Aboard the HMS Gallant, Doctor Samuel Jackson sighed at the American girl and took some tweezers from his bloody tray. She was seething at him and ready to get up and run, but there was nowhere to go about the ship. And besides, some Assassins who were part of His Majesty's army were standing guard at the door to the medical bay. They'd stop her before she could even think of the word "freedom".

Doctor Jackson calmly had her lay back down and offered her a tightly-bundled cloth. She stuck it in her mouth and bit down, her eyes squeezing shut as he began to lower the tweezers towards her wound.

"You have been ranting and raving for some time, Miss Prince," said the doctor. Katherine felt the stinging flare of the tweezers at the flesh in her wound and bit down harder. Tears pricked at her eyes, threatening to fall. "Honestly, it's a miracle Mrs. Helling managed to drag you here, even with that leg of hers."

One bullet was carefully removed from her shoulder. Katherine could have cried with relief, but there was still one more to go. Instead, she shook with terror. Somewhere further down the wing she could hear a man still whimpering from the wound he'd suffered weeks ago—a wound that literally cost him an arm and a leg.

Doctor Jackson put a firm hand on Katherine's left arm to keep her steady and began lowering his tweezers towards the second of her two wounds. "And I know you deeply desire to avenge your brothers, Miss Prince, but in six weeks the Assassin-hunter will still be active. If you don't care for yourself, in six weeks, you'll be a prone doll with no left arm for your hidden blade."

The good doctor, unfortunately, had to wrestle the second bullet out. Katherine was just glad he'd put a hand on her arm, or she may have made things a bit worse. Once Doctor Jackson had disinfected the wounds and sewn them, he allowed Katherine to sit up. She wiped her face with a nearby blanket to liberate herself of the tears.

"How's Mary?" Katherine asked once she removed the cloth from her mouth.

Doctor Jackson smiled faintly and began wrapping bandages around her shoulder. "I have her in preparation. Mrs. Helling first has to get her other wounds looked at before I can operate."

"Other wounds?" repeated Katherine, and in her head she wondered, Mrs. Helling?

Jackson gestured to his right side, which told Katherine all she needed to know. Whatever was under those bandages was serious, and took precedent over the bullet wounds that were bleeding her.

Katherine gulped and allowed the man to guide her arm into a sling. When it was tied, she cradled it close. "May I see her?"

He pursed his lips and muttered, almost regretfully, "She asked not to be disturbed, and rather that you get your rest."

Katherine looked at the floor and appeared every bit like a dejected child. Since that incident in London, Mary had, on her bad leg, led the American back into the breast of London's busy life and managed to evade the Templars. Once they'd discovered a safehouse, Mary borrowed a vehicle. Katherine insisted on driving to the destination since Mary was bleeding out badly, and after some make-shift tourniquets were applied Katherine let Mary direct her where to go: to the HMS Gallant, an Assassin ship with the banners of His Majesty's royal army. It still participated in war, but usually only in conflicts that involved Templars and many Assassins that were required to carry out a high-stakes mission. As Mary and Katherine were only two people hunting a single, terrifying opponent, they would be unable to make use of the vessel. But it was an emergency, and they'd needed its aid.

"I'll tell you what," said the doctor, "you may walk about the ship for a while, but don't over-exert yourself. The sooner you get in your bed-rest, the better."

An assistant came by to help the doctor pack up and clean his tools while Katherine found her way out the door, glad to see no Assassins following her. Then again, with the amount of Assassins on the ship she was likely to be monitored, even a little bit. The small blessing of freedom was likely to be her last for a while, at least until she was on the brink of cabin fever.

Despite what Doctor Jackson had advised, Katherine decided to find out where Mary was. "Mrs. Helling." Was that an alias? But why would she need one for the Assassins? Joseph Hall had referred to her as MacKenzie, as did Mary herself. Was Mary hiding something, or merely withholding information? Katherine didn't like it either way.

Mary seemed to know something about the Assassin-hunter we encountered... Katherine shivered at the mere thought of him, ignorant of the hot sun on the deck of the ship. He'd felt so dark, as if he'd never once differentiated right from wrong. Killing was his sole reason to live...

What horrid things were being attempted at Auschwitz?

Katherine's thoughts returned to her brothers. Henry and Nathaniel's bodies had been left by the Templars to rot where they died. By the time the Assassins put together a recovery team, they were hardly recognizable, save for their matching tattoos—a brand of the inscription of the year the two boys had joined the army, before the war, as well as the year they had finished their apprenticeship training to become fully-fledged Assassins. Different dates were on their shoulders, but they'd been made to match. She could remember her mother's wails like they'd been screamed only yesterday.

Katherine's mind was clouded with memories, and before she knew it the time had passed by swiftly. A whole hour she'd been on deck staring at the North Sea remembering her brothers with fondness, and then she heard a strange tapping approaching her. She turned to observe the sound and was surprised to see Mary leaning on a crutch with her right side. Her leg was even more bandaged up than before, but she grinned like she'd just won a drinking contest against the hardened sailors aboard the HMS Gallant.

"Och, I'm sorry, lassie," Mary said with a friendly but snide tone. "Did I interrupt yer philosophy time?"

"Mary!" exclaimed Katherine. "You shouldn't be out of bed! You lost a lot of blood—!"

Mary waved her off and limped to the railing. "I'm fine, Miss Prince. It int the worst thing I've ever faced."

Despite that, the Scot did, indeed, look pale. But Katherine knew that Mary had been right: they were peas in a pod, and if Katherine told Mary to get back to bed Mary would jab Katherine with the crutch until she was bruised and back in her own bed.

"I'm glad your leg wasn't amputated," Katherine meekly settled for. "I was worried for a while."

"As was I," Mary admitted, then her own thoughts drifted towards the sea, and Katherine saw a grin on Mary's face she'd never seen before. "Ach, it's good tae be here. I can smell home, feel the wind on my face and taste the sea air that smells of rank fish..."

Katherine, before she'd gone to Europe, had never been to the ocean. But she understood the familiarity of feeling like home. It had barely been a few weeks and, admittedly, she was homesick. The breaks in between the search for the Assassin-hunter was something she did not look forward to.

I still need to send a letter to mother and father, she thought absently.

"So..." Katherine cleared her throat. "The doctor referred to you as Mrs. Helling..."

The smile on Mary's face faded. Being on Mary's right side, Katherine could barely see her other eye, but noticed the change in demeanour. "Aye..." mumbled the Scot. "I go by my maiden name within the Assassins. I'm a married woman, in truth. Mary Helling's the name outside the Assassins."

"You're married?!"

Now that Katherine thought about it, Mary had been avoiding answering that sailor back at the Lamb and Flag when he'd brought up men. She'd noticed the change in her then, too.

"Did you have a falling-out?" asked Katherine.

"No," replied Mary, "but I'd rather not dwell on this, if ye dannae mind."

"Why not?"

"I just..." Mary fell silent, and her right hand rose to touch the bandaged side of her face. She closed her eyes. "Let's just say the wounds are still fresh, lassie. I'd rather not have them become infected."

"And yet you pry into my personal life. You deal blows about my heritage, my family, and about my methods—or at least the methods I can sneak into your hefty curriculum, since you barely even listen to me!"

"I'm sorry, what was that, lassie?" Katherine's face reddened in rage, but Mary's broke into a grin again. "Ach, I'm just pulling yer breeks. So, ye've got a problem with how I'm not listening?"

"Yes!" exclaimed Katherine in a harsh breath.

"Hm. That's a bother." Despite saying so, Mary didn't appear bothered by it at all. "Let's look back, shall we? In Vienna, ye wanted tae stop and read through papers while the man who's sending the Assassin-hunters out ran off laughing. In London ye saw fit tae try and sneak up on an armed and clearly unstable Assassin slowly killing himself with whiskey. And then ye wanted tae get close tae that walking corpse coming after us!"

The impulse to simply stamp her foot was great, but Katherine managed to resist it, at least for the time being. Her curiosity had once again been overpowered by Mary's words.

The young Assassin turned to look at Mary with keen sight in her eyes. "Wait: Assassin-hunters? Walking corpses?"

Mary considered her words carefully. "I've been doing some thinking, Miss Prince," admitted the Scot. "Auschwitz had a terrible reputation from the get-go. The Assassin-hunter attacks began around that area even before it was formally established. The Assassin-hunter never left witnesses or survivors, but now I think I have a theory, strange as it may be." She hesitated again. "What have ye heard of Those Who Came Before? Or Pieces of Eden, for that matter?"

"Only what little the Assassins have deigned to share with me. Even my mother avoids the subject. Why?"

Mary stood as straight as she could (she was still leaning on a crutch, after all) and began to head to the aft of the ship, towards the bridge. "C'mon, ye bairn. It's about time ye got informed."

Katherine grinned wildly and quickly caught up with Mary, due in no small part to the Scot's injury. "Really?" she eagerly exclaimed. "Just like that? No tests or poking or prodding—?"

"I might have ye shut up for a wee bit, if ye dannae mind."

Mary led Katherine to the bridge, where the elder of the Assassins knocked heartily four times on the steel door. It was answered by the ship's mate, Luke Mochrie, who was a second-generation Englishman with his grandfather's Scottish surname. The captain of the HMS Gallant stood nearby peering through a telescope to scan the horizon as the helmsman steered the ship. The latter was called Victor Price, and the former Gregory Wood.

The captain, Gregory Wood, was an acquaintance of Mary, as was evident by the nod Luke received from him to allow them entry. Mary hobbled inside, though not without some difficulty because the bottom of the door was elevated.

"I thought the good doctor was to tell you to remain in bed, Miss MacKenzie," grumbled the captain. "What stubborn quest brings you here?"

While Luke closed the door behind Mary and Katherine, Mary said, "I have a theory about the Assassin-hunter Katherine and I have been chasing. It requires Miss Prince to know fully the machinations of the Pieces of Eden."

The captain's grizzled, white-clustered beard lowered while his mouth tipped into a frown. He gave Katherine a piercing but inquisitive glare. "Mary," he said as he continued to hold the American's gaze, "you shouldn't be offering free passes to the club, you know."

"As I said, Mister Wood, it has everything tae do with our pursuit of the Assassin-hunters."

And much like Katherine, Captain Wood looked to Mary. "Assassin-hunters?" he echoed.

"Aye," said Mary. "Do ye mind?"

After a moment's thought, Wood gestured to the map table sitting in the centre of the bridge. Luke Mochrie pressed a hidden button underneath a corner of it, and the surface slowly rotated until it revealed the Assassin charts and research beneath. It was hidden there so it would be difficult for Templars or the Axis Powers to find anything other than star-charts—Gregory Wood's hobby.

A Master Assassin himself, Captain Wood approached the table and jabbed a finger at London. "I heard you only encountered one back in the United Kingdom," challenged the wayfarer. "So I'm interested to hear what you have to say."

"Well, yer not going tae like it." Mary placed her crutch against the table so she could support herself there. "We got a lead from our friend Andrew Lee. He said Auschwitz was our best bet. As ye know, we were ambushed by Richard Cole and his Assassin-hunter.

"Here's where it confused me: reports say the Assassin-hunter is shorter than the one who attacked us, has a variety of weapons on hand, and fights like a devil. Not only did this hunter have only a gun and sword on hand, but he advanced like a drone. He dinnae even try tae evade mine and Katherine's shots, as if a wound was the least of his concerns."

"I shot him in the head and it only staggered him," added Katherine.

"Aye," agreed Mary. "Any normal person cannae survive that without serious repercussions. I can therefore come tae the conclusion that, at the very least, the Assassin-hunter we encountered was manufactured by the Templars, and I believe it tae have been done with the Piece of Eden we failed tae collect from Adolf Hitler."

Captain Wood's eyes lingered on the map. "... You think they're unlocking the Apple's secrets?"

"Aye. At the very least, we now have evidence that Assassin-hunters are very hard tae kill."

"If any of them can truly be put down," mumbled Katherine.

Mary's eyes were alight with confidence. "The key is Auschwitz. There's no way we can storm the place without provoking German forces and Templar retaliation, so our only option is infiltration. I can have Hall send a few spies into Auschwitz tae gather information, but they'll have tae gain the trust of the Nazi officers tae learn anything more than what horrors we are already aware of."

"And that could take months..." Wood scratched his beard. "Perhaps years. One of these sides may have won the war by then."

"Gives me enough time tae fill Miss Prince in, then." Mary finally turned to regard Katherine. "Throughout history, the Assassins and Templars have not only warred over their beliefs for mankind's direction for the future, but also for powerful artefacts called 'Pieces of Eden'. We believe they can help us tae tip the scales in our favour. If ye recall, people such as Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Ezio Auditore da Firenze and Connor Kenway possessed such things at some point in their lifetimes. And that's only in our Brotherhood. Genghis Khan, King Arthur, Perseus... Each wielded a powerful Piece of Eden crafted by Those Who Came Before—the Precursor Race, if ye will—and commanded their brethren with its power.

"And now, an Apple of Eden is in the clutches of the Templars. But the Precursor Race dinnae just create the Pieces of Eden; mankind is another creation of theirs. There are some people kicking around our age with a high concentration of Precursor DNA. Only those people can properly use the Pieces of Eden. Anyone else would soon be driven mad."

Katherine paused. "And how would one tell who these people are?" she asked inquisitively.

"Well, Richard Cole is one. Ye can usually tell when they have an ability tae look through a person and their intentions. Me, I'm just talented. But people like Richard Cole can harness that ability and utilize it in the form of 'Eagle Vision'. It's a neat little trick. Helped Cole pick me out from the crowd, I'll give him that. But that's the most common form in a small percentage of the human race, but ye get the idea, aye?"

The information made Katherine nod slowly as she processed everything. There was a very humourless smile that graced the corners of her mouth. "I... understand," she said solemnly. "So, now that I know all this, what will we do about Auschwitz?"

"First, you'll heal up," said Captain Wood dismissively. "Miss MacKenzie, I'll send a message to Mister Hall for you. Go get some rest." He turned his gaze to Katherine. "Miss Prince, I suggest taking it easy for a while. Sit on what you've learned and don't jump into anything. We need to proceed with caution."

Katherine awkwardly crossed her arms. "Oh? And what am I going to be doing for the next six weeks?"

"Captain Wood, we're almost to our destination," announced the helmsman.

He smirked. "Good. Prepare to dock nearby. We'll stay a few days to stock supplies."

"Captain?" insisted Katherine.

Captain Wood nodded courteously to her. "Miss Prince, by the request of Joseph Hall you will be spending your rehabilitation back in your hometown. We'll be heading for Philadelphia."

Katherine was in shock. "A-And Mary?!"

"I'm afraid Edinburgh is my stop for now, lassie," said Mary with a cunning grin. "Be careful with yer arm, but when ye're feeling up tae it, come for a visit. By the time we're both fully-healed our contacts within Auschwitz will have found their way intae the nest of things, and then the real work begins."