Three chapters in a row. I guess it´s obvious that I have a lot of fun in doing the translation at the moment. ^^
Reviews:
Luthlien: For me the worst thing about stories where the OC is an assassin, is that it often seems like people think that a woman has to be on the same level as a man, to be a match to him. Of course it is also annoying when the OC is always a damsel in distress, but strength isn´t always about physical strength. You can have "weak" body but a strong mind and sometimes I think that this is more important. I really get mad when I read stories where the writer somehow jokes about the "weak" women of this time, who weren´t able to fight like their OC. I guess they forgot that women in the 18th century weren´t on eye level with men. Unfortunately. The society didn´t know it different and it would have been the women in pants and with weapons, who would have been mocked. So bad as it sounds. I even got reviews where I was told that Lillian was a burden to Connor. That he would despise women like her. Only because she is a woman of this time. Maybe not so demeaned anymore, but I always try to write her like she never really got rid of the old values she grew up with. Because I think that´s more realistic than a woman who can knock out somebody like Connor with just one hit. Which doesn´t mean that I don´t like assassin!OC stories at all...and I don´t know why I'm writing this but it came to my mind when I read your review. Long story short: I´m glad if somebody appreciates my decision to keep my "weak" Lillian ;) Thank you.
MohawkWoman: Thank you for the beautiful review. :) "She is his world and he is hers". That really made me happy because this sentence would have never come to my mind. But you´re so right. I guess they both changed each others life for the better, so strange it sounds to say this about my own story. But it´s always what I make Lillian think about Connor. Thank you for making me smile. :)
Reunion
I was woken by soft lips, tenderly stroking over my forehead, my nose, my cheeks and finally my mouth and when I opened my eyes, my gaze met Connor´s, whose loving smile made my heart skip a beat. Did he know what he was able to cause in me with even the smallest gestures?
"Did you sleep well?", Connor asked quietly and his fingertips stroked some strands of hair from my face.
"Like a baby", I smirked but groaned when I raised my head a bit that had rested on Connor´s arm the whole time. The muscles in my neck protested. "Not against your arm, but in the future I would prefer a pillow", I mumbled and chuckling Connor let his hand slide into my nape to knead the tensed muscles with gentle pressure.
"Is it better?", he asked, but my closed eyes and the contented sound that reminded of a cat´s purr, should be answer enough. It was always a surprise what skilled hands this strong man had. Thanks to his massage the pain in my neck was soon a thing of the past and with a satisfied sigh, I sat up and gave Connor a thankful, long and tender kiss which almost woke the need to stay in this cave a bit longer. But we wanted to come home and so we stood up in silent agreement, got dressed and prepared Cobalt for the continuation of our journey.
The sun had already risen and when we left the cave, I let my gaze roam over the nature´s beauty around us. The grass and bushes were covered with tender water drops that partly caught the sunlight, shining through the thick leafy canopy and sparkled like jewels. Everything appeared greener than before and even the air smelled clear and fresh and was filled with the sounds of the forest. You could barely believe that a thunderstorm had raged over the country only a few hours ago. Everything was peaceful and beautiful. I was almost sad as Connor tore me out of my thoughts, but soon this feeling was replaced by joyful anticipation, after he had lifted me on Cobalt´s back and had leaped into the saddle himself. Unhurried he steered Cobalt through the trees towards the road and I couldn´t stop myself from reaching out my hand from time to time, to stroke over some leaves and twigs in my reach. Smiling I watched the water drops gathering on my skin before running down and dropping to the ground. I felt incredibly good and no matter if it was because of this beautiful morning, the even more beautiful night or the chance of being home soon: I enjoyed this feeling and felt that Connor was feeling the same, when I tightened the grip of my arms around his waist and leaned my head against his back. He put a hand on mine and stroked them gently with his fingertips, before he just held them for a while.
We rode through the forest for a few hours and around midday, I believed to recognize some parts of our environment and my heart skipped a beat. Even the air seemed to change, too. With the scent of grass, moss and wood, mingled another scent. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, smiling happily. "The sea", I whispered and when I opened my eyes again, I saw that Connor had turned his head into my direction, a smile on his lips.
"We are home."
It really didn´t take long until we rode around a last bend in the road and my gaze fell onto the first houses of the homestead. I saw some people on the paths, heard these familiar noises, telling me that life was flourishing here and I even believed to smell the scent of freshly baked bread coming from the inn nearby.
"Home", I whispered and couldn´t stop some tears from running over my cheeks. How I had missed all of this.
When we followed the main path, we were already detected by some settlers who gave us wide smiles and greeted us with big hello. It was lovely to be welcomed like this but there was one voice sounding above all others. Maria ran towards us from the tailors shop and when Connor stopped Cobalt, I jumped off the horseback and ran towards my friend, before we fell into each other´s arms.
"Oh Lord, you´re back", Maria uttered and I heard her sob at my shoulder. She clung to me so tightly, as if she believed I could disappear again if she didn´t. But I was also happy to hold her in my arms again. Even though we weren´t friends for a long time yet, she was one of the most important people for me. Like a sister I never had. Carefully I stroked over her back and when we pulled away from each other, I gave her a warm smile.
"I´m also glad to be back again."
Maria nodded and ran her hand over her eyes before she scrutinized me. According to Connor, the strain I had endured weren´t visible anymore. Even the wounds on wrists and ankles were completely healed and right now I was glad about it. But Maria´s gaze was worried nevertheless and when she looked into my eyes, I could see the question in them. She feared the same as Connor.
"Nothing happened to me", I said quietly and she understood. She closed her eyes shortly and uttered a sigh of relief, before she looked at me again and smiled.
"Unfortunately I have to do some things but when it´s fine with you, I would come by later. Or do you want to rest?"
I shook my head. "I´m looking forward to it."
Maria beamed and hugged me again before we bid farewell to each other.
When I turned around to Connor, he had dismounted Cobalt by now and let his gaze roam through the homestead. Surely he had wanted to leave Maria and me alone because after she had also greeted him shortly and had gone on, he looked at me and without more words, we went on towards the manor. My excited anticipation grew with every metre and my thoughts were with Caleb immediately. Was he there? How was he?
Connor and I headed directly to the stables and already from the distance, I could hear Caleb´s voice. "Sit, girl. That´s a good girl. And now lie down."
I smirked. "Is he teaching Cherry some tricks?", I asked amused and almost had to laugh with the imagination of the Shetland Pony sitting on its round backside.
"To be honest...", Connor started, but whatever he wanted to say: It became unnecessary. I heard Caleb´s voice again.
"Noir! Stay here!", he called out and then I saw his blonde haired head, jumping up and down. But my attention turned to something else too quickly. A black monster with a hanging pink tongue stormed into our direction and before I could react, I was torn from my feet. The air was pressed out of my lungs with a snorting sound when I fell onto my back, not able to utter a scared scream anymore. Something rough and wet, which I soon identified as said pink tongue, ran across my face and I couldn´t do anything else but to press my lips together and to writhe back and forth, but the black monster pressed me down with its whole weight so that I couldn´t sit up. But before I could try to push it away from me, Connor´s strict voice sounded next to me and it let me be.
"What the...?", I uttered and reached out an arm to let Connor help me standing up. Not until now I could look at what had attacked me. It was a huge, shaggy black dog, sitting with a hanging tongue on its hind legs, its tail lashing excitedly back and forth on the ground. It was looking at me with big brown eyes, cocking its head as if butter wouldn´t melt in its mouth. I just wanted to get rid of my anger about this attack, as the next followed suit. This time it was a blonde boy who stormed towards me and literally jumped into my arms.
"You´re finally back!", he called out and my earlier shock vanished into thin air. Gently I pulled Caleb closer to me and stroked through his tousled hair. He raised his eyes and beamed at me, but then his gaze became guilty.
"I´m so sorry that they got you. I should have protected you."
I suppressed a sigh. If I wouldn´t know it better, I would think that Caleb and Connor were related to each other. Even though the boy´s eyes were blue, I had the feeling that they copied Connor´s guilty gaze in Philadelphia perfectly.
"You did nothing wrong", I said and stroked over his cheek. "You had to get help and you did. What happened isn´t anybody fault but the men´s."
Caleb looked confused for a moment but then the smile returned to his face again. Luckily he was easier to reassure than Connor.
Caleb pulled away from our embrace and I used the chance to run my sleeves over my face because it felt horribly wet after the dog´s licking attack.
"Now one of you can explain me what this is about." I nodded at the dog whose tail began to wave even faster than before. Caleb stepped next to the animal with a wide grin and I raised an eyebrow when I notice that the dog´s head almost reached his shoulders.
"That´s Noir", he announced. "She strayed after Connor a few weeks ago and we kept her."
"Oh, you did?" My gaze slid to Connor who was glancing at me from the side and shrugged his shoulders.
"She followed me from Boston. Why should I have chased her away? After all what happened, it is probably not bad to have a watchdog. She is very smart and has a gentle nature."
"And she obeys each order!", Caleb added proudly and I looked the dog over sceptically, who was scrutinizing me herself.
"It just looked different", I mumbled.
"It seems like she likes you."
As if Noir wanted to emphasize Connor´s words and to make up for her first impression, she stood up and came to me, her head down and her tail waving. Her shoulders reached to my hips and I was sure that she could place her front paws on Connor´s shoulders, if she wanted to. I had seen dogs like her in London where many Lords owned the so called wolfhounds as status symbols and some of them even used them as hunting dogs. Normally such a huge animal was scaring me, but I had to admit that Noir´s gaze was able to make my heart melt. Hesitantly I reached out my hand and stroked over the big head and Noir seemed to enjoy it. When I raised my eyes, I found myself in front of two expectant pairs of eyes and I knew that they were expecting my decision about the dog´s whereabouts.
"When she comes inside the house, she has to stay away from the furniture. She will eat from the floor, not from the table and I especially don´t want to see her in one of the beds", I said and Caleb´s smile became even wider. The corners of Connor´s mouth twitched, too and smirking I looked back at our newest family member.
An unusual small horse in the stable and an unusual tall dog in the house. I´m not wondering about anything anymore.
"Caleb, would you please go down to the bay and ask Mr. Faulkner to come here?"
The boy gave Connor a surprised gaze but then nodded eagerly. He uttered a short whistle and ran down the path to the bay where the Aquila was docked, Noir by his side.
"Do you really think that Faulkner is able to decode the message?", I asked Connor while he led Cobalt into his box and freed him from saddle and snaffle.
"I hope so. Otherwise we have to find somebody who can and right now I do not know anybody else but him."
I nodded slowly. Although I had often seen that the templars sent partly encoded letters to each other, I didn´t know anything about it. I neither knew somebody who did. At least not in America. So we had to hope that the first mate of the Aquila was able to bring some light in the darkness.
After Connor had put away Cobalt´s tack, we went to the house together and when we entered it, I stopped on the threshold for a moment and let my gaze roam through the hallway. Slowly I walked through every room of the basement and remembered painfully, how I had done it in the night of the attack and had seen the devastation the bandits had left behind. But nothing reminded of it anymore, except of the missing chairs in the dining room and the thinned out shelf of dishes in the kitchen. Everything was clean, tidy and terribly familiar.
"Maria took care of everything in your absence", Connor said, who had followed me the whole time and now was leaning in the doorframe of the kitchen, while I had a look at the room.
"And she did it well", I whispered before a forced smile appeared on my lips. "But it´s more difficult to lift a feather than replace me in the household."
Connor chuckled and I heard him approaching me, before his strong arms wrapped around my waist and he kissed my temple.
"But nobody can really replace you", he murmured and I raised a hand to put it to his cheek.
"Say it again when I have washed the dog´s salvia from my face."
I grinned widely and freed myself from his embrace to go to the bucket of water on the worktop. I dipped my hands in the pleasantly cold fluid and splashed water into my face until I didn´t feel like a licked bone anymore. I grabbed a towel and dried my face, when the backdoor opened and Mr. Faulkner stood in the kitchen shortly afterwards. He smiled as he saw me, stepped to me and pulled me into a firm embrace which was so surprising to me, that it choked me for a moment.
"It´s nice to see that you´re still in one piece, lass", he said and I smirked as he patted my cheek.
"But why the hell are you keeping me away from my well deserved nap, Captain?", the old sailor asked and turned around to Connor who silently indicated to him, that he should follow him. He led Faulkner and me to the study where he pushed some papers on the desk aside, pulled the encoded letter out of his coat and unfolded it on the tabletop.
"Are you able to do something with it?", he asked Faulkner, who sat down at the table, frowning and taking the letter to study it.
"Encoded", he mumbled and I could see that Connor rolled his eyes.
"Can you decode it?", he asked a bit impatient but Faulkner took his time with the answer. He turned the letter in his hands, read the lines several times and finally shrugged his shoulders.
"I´ve already seen many codes, but right now I don´t know anything about this one. But I´m sure that the old man had some scriptures about encoding techniques. Maybe they could help me."
Connor uttered a sigh and ran his hand through his hair. "There are about hundreds of books and scrolls in this house. It will take an eternity to look through them."
"Then we should start as soon as possible", I suggested and earned hopeless gazes from the two men.
Luckily it didn´t take as long as Connor had feared until we had searched the house for the right scriptures. The three of us split up and looked through all books and scriptures Connor´s master had collected. When Maria joined us sometime, she helped us, so that it was late afternoon as Connor and Faulkner withdrew into the study with four old scrolls and a big book and the first mate started to encode the letter. At least he tried his best.
Maria and I withdrew into kitchen in the meantime, where I brew tea and cut the cherry cake Maria had brought to me with Corrine´s best wishes. After I had supplied the men with tea and cake, I sat together with my friend and we spent the time with talking. We spoke no word about the attack and my kidnapping and I was glad that Maria didn´t ask me about it. So we talked about apparently trivial topics. About the dresses she was sewing at the moment, about what we could do in this beautiful weather apart from our work someday, about news in the homestead and I even learned something about the trader´s journeyman from Boston, about whom I only knew that Maria really seemed to like him. She told me, almost in passing, that they had met in the town once and that he had promised to visit her sometime. She talked about it as if it was nothing special but the faint blushing of her cheeks told something else. But I stayed silent and hid my knowing smile behind my cup of tea.
When Caleb entered the kitchen with Noir, we stopped our conversations and I also sliced a piece of cake for him that he ate with shining eyes. Noir lay down next to the fireplace in the meantime and I was really pleasantly surprised by her good behaviour.
"Besides, I have to work on the wood again", Caleb mumbled with his mouth full and when I slapped on his head lightly, he rolled his eyes and swallowed the bite demonstratively.
"Which wood?", I asked him and he looked at me frowning.
"The one I gave you on your wedding day. With our names on it. Noir´s has to be on it, too."
I smirked. "If you´re bringing more animals home, the wood will be full soon. You don't have put Aldah and Cobalt on it yet."
Caleb paused while chewing and cocked his head thoughtfully. "Didn´t thought of them." He shrugged his shoulders. "But there will be some space for them, too."
"And what about the names of the six children?", Maria asked and a mischievous grin flitted across her face while Caleb, as well as I, looked at her in confusion. Maria laughed.
"Well, the names of Connor´s and Lillian´s children. They need some space, too."
I almost choked on my tea I just had in my mouth and swallowed it convulsively, before I started to cough. Maria burst into laughter but Caleb just knitted his eyebrows and looked at her, as if she had lost her mind.
"Where are they supposed to have space here? I have my own room, Connor and Lillian have one and the other rooms are taken. There is no space for six children."
I patted my chest, still coughing and pointed at the bucket. "Caleb, would you be so kind and get some water from the well, so that I can do the dishes later?"
The boy was still looking at the giggling Maria but he nodded slowly, stood up and disappeared outside with an empty bucket.
"Why are you talking about such a topic in front of him?", I asked Maria, as soon as he was gone and my friend wiped some tears from her cheek.
"Oh, please. As if he doesn´t know that it´s possible. I saw him over the last weeks. He feels like a little prince here. He should get used to the thought that he eventually couldn´t be the only child in this house anymore."
"We never really thought about it yet", I mumbled and pushed some crumbs of cake back and forth on my plate with my fingertips. But even from the corners of my eyes I could see Marias amused gaze.
"As if anybody of you two would be against starting a family." She had a sip from her tea and turned the cup between her hands. She wasn´t so wrong. At least Connor had mentioned to me once that he had already thought about having a family in the past. He neither would ask me about my thoughts about it on his own accord. But he didn´t have to.
"Six?"
Maria's grin widened with my question and I had to smirk, too.
"At least." She rested her elbows on the tabletop and pretended to sink into her daydreams. "Four boys and two little girls. But maybe three and three. Just imagine it! What beautiful kids they would be. Connor´s complexion, his dark hair. But all of them have your grey eyes and the girls have your curls."
"And the boys are born tomahawk-swinging?"
"Exactly. Or with little bows and quivers on their backs."
"And hoods on their heads."
We looked at each other and burst into laughter. The tea in my cup almost splashed over before I could put it onto the table safely. Probably we didn´t know ourselves why we were laughing but the imagination of miniature versions of Connor, with little assassin robes and tomahawks in their tiny hands was just so cute. And cute wasn´t a word that suited to Connor himself.
Said man entered the kitchen right in this moment and just fuelled our uncontrolled laughter. Maria and I were almost bubbling over with laughter while Connor stood a bit confused in the doorframe and surely asked himself, what Corrine had put into the cake exactly.
"Are you alright?", he asked slowly and I wiped some tears from my eyes.
"Everything´s fine", I uttered giggling but when Maria paused in her laughter for a moment, scrutinized Connor playfully and finally said: "They are going to be really gorgeous little rascals", I had to put a hand in front of my mouth to stop myself from laughing again. Connor expression finally slipped away and confused he looked back and forth between us.
"Maria, I think we should end this conversation", I said when I had reasonably calmed down and my friend grinned widely.
"But there will be a time when you remember my words. When I have to sew little coats with hoods at the latest."
"Yeah, right", I laughed and pushed Maria to the door giggling, where Caleb just returned with the water and obviously was also confused about our good mood. Maria and I hugged each other in front of the door and I was still grinning when I closed the door and wanted to go back to the kitchen. But the grin faded when I saw Connor standing in the hallway with a serious expression. Was he offended because we had laughed? Did he think that we had laughed about him?
"We just fooled around. It wasn´t about you", I said and smirked, thinking that it had been slightly about him. Connor cocked his head shortly, as if he didn´t understand my words, but then he shook it.
"It is not about it", he said and indicated to me, that I should follow him to the study. I forgot every amusement in an instant when I remembered that Connor and Mr. Faulkner had taken care of more serious matters while Maria and I had fooled around. The old sailor was still sitting at the desk, the encoded letter in his hands. Connor and he had taken everything off the table and had spread the books and scrolls on it, but no one of them looked like they had been successful.
"Did you do it?", I asked anyway. But Faulkner shook his head, gritting his teeth.
"I fear the code is more complicated than we thought. I can´t decode it."
"So we have nothing again?", I asked and felt my heart sink. We wouldn´t find any trace to the gang.
"I fear so."
An embarrassed silence spread and sighing I sank onto a padded chair in a corner of the room.
"And now?"
"We will have to wait, if something happens in the near future. Maybe the bandits spring into action again and we will get a new trace. But maybe we can learn something before", Connor said calmly and he really seemed to be convinced of his words. And so was I.
We thanked Faulkner for his help and after I had accompanied him to the door, I made the dishes in the kitchen while Connor tied up the study and brought the scriptures back to their usual places. The evening was already falling over the homestead and the light-blue sky began to darken. I came home just today but the joy about it suddenly seemed so far away in face of the damper we had got, thanks to the letter. I had been so sure that it was going to help us, but I had been wrong.
Sad I cleaned the kitchen and went back to the study where Connor sat at the table, his head propped on one hand, looking at the encoded letter in his other.
"Do you think it will tell you its secrets if you just stare at it long enough?", I asked and Connor squinched up his face without raising his eyes.
"I was so sure", he murmured and when I stepped to him, I gently stroked the hairline in his nape with my fingertips.
"We will find another trace", I repeated his earlier words but this time they didn´t seem to convince him. Connor sighed and put the letter back on the table.
"I hope so", he said and leaned back in the chair, while my gaze was stuck to the encoded letter.
Until now I had never really seen it and neither I had further looked at it. At least I didn´t know much about codes. But when I now looked at the letter, something about it seemed to be terribly familiar all of the sudden. As if I had already seen it some years ago. I pushed Connor´s arm aside, that had rested on his knees, sat on his lap wordlessly and grabbed the letter, holding it into the light of the oil lamp on the table.
"A chaos of numbers and letters, as you can see", Connor mumbled and thoughtlessly stroked over my back, but I didn´t even notice it. My thoughts were entirely busy with the message. I knew this code.
Hastily I bent forward and searched the desk for something to write with. After finding it, I dipped the stylograph into an inkpot and began to decode the message I had laid next to the empty piece of paper, quickly but concentrated. Connor bent a bit forward and looked over my shoulder but didn´t say a word. It didn´t take long until I put the stylograph aside with shaky hands and for the first time, I skimmed through what I had just written.
New moon in August.
New Port Mill in the presence of all captains.
R.J.
"New moon", Connor mumbled. "It is in about two weeks. With the best conditions, we will need more than a week to reach New Port." He took the paper out of my hand and propped his chin on my shoulder while his eyes flitted over my writing. "If there is a meeting of their leaders, we have to go there and we have to set off soon, if we want to be there in time."
He put the letter aside again and turned me so that I sat sideway on his lap and he could look at me. "Why did you know how to decode the message?"
I bit my lower lip with the question and my gaze moved to the signature which had been the only thing that hadn´t been encoded.
"Because I've thought it up", I said hoarsely.