Hey guys! It is another chapter that is taking place here. Thank you to everyone who took their time to review and to follow this story. I just want to say you guys are awesome! So just for that, I want to let you guys know that I made a playlist for this chapter, one song per chapter to show you my mindset when I was writing each chapter. I like to listen to music when I write, it is my muse! :)

-C

The two raced through the woods at lightning speed until they came to the base of a cliff. Connor grabbed a hold of a rock embedded in the side of the cliff and pulled himself up along the wall of earth. Catherine was unsure to follow, or not, but Connor gave her a questioning look as if he was asking if she wanted to come.

"Go ahead, I will follow behind!"

Connor had climbed halfway up the cliff, but like miraculous weather, a man was tossed over the cliff side dangling by a rope that was tied to his ankle.

"Why?! Someone helped me! Pull me up!"

"Sweet mother of Joseph," Catherine shrieked before climbing up after Connor. The girl was inexperienced when it came to climbing and was careful not to touch any ice. She followed directly behind Connor as he pulled himself over the edge where fighting broke out.

The Irish girl could hear the clashing of the weapons as she yanked herself over. Connor was outnumbered four to one, but he obviously had the upper hand in skill. She had never seen him in this light before. He was so quick and strong with his tomahawk and stone dagger in his hand. Catherine didn't watch for long before one of the men came charging at her with his musket.

A normal person would have ran; knowing, they don't have experience with weapons or fighting. Yet, she wasn't one of them. Catherine quickly threw her arm out and grabbed the sharp blade at the end of the musket. The sharp edge cut into her soft flesh, but she pushed the pain from her mind as she fought over the musket with the man.

Catherine had managed to get a level grip on it before the man did. She bashed the butt in the man face and whipped the gun away. Only a second passed before Catherine pulled the trigger on the man, causing the bandit to fall over and bleed out on the ground.

The smell of gunpowder lingered in the air that caused a flood of unwanted memories to crowd into her mind. For a moment, she thought she was on the streets of Boston again, sounds of musket firing, and cries of Boston's citizens. Her hands were in the view of her sight, her blood made her remembers Rose's blood.

It was like she saw a Ghost, she thought for a moment she saw Rose standing in front of her.

"Catherine!" Connor called her name, waking the girl from her illusion.

Catherine had taken a breath before she got to examine her surroundings. She was back on the cliff side overlooking the homestead property. To her left, she could see a cart that was caught on fire that was slowly dying due to the snow. With the one man taken down, Connor had taken the other three men out. She was amazed she was able to take down the man, but she was blown away he was able to take the three down. The Irish girl was never squeamish around death or the idea of killing someone. Especially since it was helping someone to survive, but her views were changing since her mother's death.

Catherine dropped the musket to run over to help the man that was hanging from the cliff. It took no time to pull the man over.

"Thank you, thank you!" The man joyful cried out on his knees.

Catherine helped the man stand as Connor cut the rope around his ankles, "Are you okay?"

"I think so…They didn't do much besides give me a good scare."

"What did they want?" Connor asked.

The man dusted himself off the snow, "My purse! But it was meager, and decided to punish me for THEIR trouble."He looked at the cart that was in flames along with the dead horse that was on the ground, "Silly, my tools were worth a king's share to the right man." The fumbled man sighed as he gave up hope, "Well, thank you for your help. I should be on my way. It's a long walk to the nearest inn. I thank ya for your kindness."He smiled at the both of as he stretched out his arm to shook one of their hands.

"You have no home?" Connor asked.

The man puffed, "Well I was a proud resident of Boston, and I am not a supporter of his majesty, so I was ran out."

Catherine laughed, "So was I, I was forced out due to the massacre, my mother was killed in it."

"I am so sorry to hear that lass," He sighed, "So much trouble brewing these days."

"There are plenty of those around here that could use the services of a good craftsman if you were looking for somewhere to settle,"

"we can assist to that. We need all the help we can get." Catherine smiled, "You're a carpenter right?"

"Aye, I am, if that is true, I'd be more then happy to settle here." He smiled, "I am Lance by the way,"

"I'm Catherine, and this is Connor."

Lance smiled at the two before walking over to his cart to see what can be saved of his supplies.

A few hours a past before the two teenagers were sitting back in the manor, Achilles was tending to Catherine's wounded hand. He was carefully stitching it while Catherine yelped at each time he inserted the needle into her skin. He was silent until he spoke up, "I remember when your father came back after he frists killed his first man."

Catherine looked u, "I-I wasn't planning on going out to kill anyone today….it just happened...that man needed help, and I wasn't going to stand aside without trying to help."

Achilles looked at Connor, "Can you give us a minute?"

Connor nodded before leaving the two of them alone. "A sense of justice, that is what got you on that roof with Connor."

"And got my mother killed."

Achilles pricked her with the needle, "You got to stop being so hard on yourself, Rose would of not want you to mop and pity."

Catherine yelped as he finished with the last stitched, "Sorry," She watched as he bandaged her. "I've been reconsidering about returning home….I need more time to think."

Achilles looked up at the girl, "Is that the best course of action?"

"Yes….when I was out with Connor today, I got angry when I thought about seeing Lee on the rooftop, and how powerless I was. I was almost struck when we were on the cliff and helping Lance…for one moment I saw my mother...I just need to go home to clear my mind."

Achilles adjusts himself in his seat to push away the supplies after he finishes for me to go home to rethink her bandaging her hand. "You face the possibility that you might come across your father."

"I will avoid him." Catherine clutched her arm, "He's a good father…. Yes, he left me and my mother, but he came to see us through the years. Made sure we were taken care of, he sends me a birthday gift every year."

"You can only avoid the man for so long.."

"I know, but he hasn't been back in years."

"Are you sure that is wise? The Templars maybe searching for you,"

"If they find me, I'll play dumb, I'll just act like I've been out of town with an old friend at her farmhouse with her family. I'll dress like a normal woman,"

Achilles nodded, "Alright, I can see about an escort for you."

"Thank you,"

Later that night, Catherine sat at her desk, drawing with charcoal and parchment. She drew by candlelight while humming a soft tune. Catherine didn't know the time of night it was, but all she felt was simple peace as she drew. On the paper in front of her was a profile view of her mother, smiling. The same one she wore when Catherine hallucinated her on the cliff side.

"Leave her Johnny, leave her…" she hummed

A knock woke her from her drawing daze, "Catherine?"

Catherine turned her head to face Connor who lingered in the doorway, like a cat that was hiding behind a bookcase. "Connor, I thought you were in bed or did my singing wake you?"

"No, I've been awake, but I did hear you."

Catherine laughed, "Sorry, I love to sing, whenever it was late in the evening and we had music playing, I would sing along with the music while the people clapped and cheered." Her smile faltered, "I miss those nights."

Connor walked over to where she saw sitting and saw her works of art scattered around the desk. "Did you do this?" He picked one up, it was a sketching of the homestead, another was a picture of Achilles sitting in his rocking chair looked to be half asleep. "They are filled with so much life."

"Thank you, I always had a gift at it." She slowly pushed her drawings into a pile. She tucked the papers into the desk. "Here, I even drew one of you," Catherine wasn't shy when it came to showing off her works of art, in fact, she was proud of them.

Connor studied the likeness of the drawing, it was just like him. "When I was a young girl, I wanted to do portraits, but I never had the money for the oil pants, so I stuck with charcoal."

"You still have much talent."

"Thank you," He handed it back to her, allowing her to store it with the other drawings. "You have a bit of a journey tomorrow, are you sure you don't want me to come?"

"Yes, I need to go by myself, but if there is the first sign of trouble, I will come back."

He nodded seeming to accept that answer. "I will see you then when you return."

"Good night Connor," the young girl smiled

Connor smiled, "Goodnight…becareful anything could happen."

"I will be," She walked up to him and gave him a one arm hug, "Take care of yourself."