OH BOY! I AM SO SORRY THAT THIS TOOK SO LONG! I went to Spain, got sick, came home, went into quartine, went back to work, got fired, and struggled with writing. This world has gone crazy and I am sooooooooo sorry. Please enjoy and review!
-Moon
Standing outside the home, Connor waited patiently for Catherine. He couldn't figure out why she wasn't there yet. To his left, James stood with a firm expression that his eyes read he was worried as well.
"I thought you said you had her ride ahead." James exclaimed, "why did you let her go by herself?"
"I thought she would come straight here," Connor said, he looked unsure and worried.
James watched the fields from a distance until he saw a rider approached. He gritted his teeth when he didn't see it as her. "If she is not here before soon, I will go out to find her."
The native looked out the distance towards the cornfields. The rider was riding a different horse then Catherine, but the man was wearing Catherine's coat. The rider stopped their horse in front of the two men.
"Sorry I am late," The person spoke as they took their hat off. Catherine could smile at her companions.
Both James and Connor were in awe at the sight of Catherine's new look. Her short hair had been pulled into a low ponytail. She was able to hide her figure in layers of clothes.
"Jesus, Catherine where have you been?" James asked as he watched her climb off her horse, there were splats of blood dotting across her shirt and coat.
"Ran into some trouble," She stated as she tied her horse next to Connor's near the house. "Damn red coats templar shot my horse."
Connor crossed the yard to come to the woman, "you look so different."
"Well, after you left me, I had the idea of not being left out, I thought I go in disguised." James glanced both at Catherine and Connor, she had shot Connor a look of disapproval. The town was beginning to buzz with the edge of battle. Milta men marched to the edge of town towards the green fields.
"It's close to time," Catherine said deeply in a drastic tone
. The three glanced at each other, never before had any of them ever been in close contact battle in a war setting.
It still being early in the morning, with dawn breaking the skyline a pinkish touch. From beyond the horizon towards the edge of town. There were signs of red specks dotting the landscape moving towards Lexington.
She gripped the inside of her palm. "Pitcairn is amongst those men, we will have to figure out a way to get past enemy lines to reach him." Catherine spoked as she walked alongside James.
"We have to report to John Parker. He will be leading the men. James walked along the path towards the fields. The men were divided into two ranks, there had been no more than 80 men ready at the arm. Muskets were being passed out amongst the minutemen. Catherine realized that this was nowhere near enough to face the British. Catherine study the man, there were fierce glares towards their opponents. Behind her, spectators watched from inside their homes behind shutters and curtains. There was a fear in the pit of the assassin's stomach. She prayed that there were no civilian casualties. Memories of the Boston Massacre was an event that she would never forget. She prayed no one would lose a loved one, or a friend, feel the pain she once had in the past.
"Here," James placed a musket into her hands, "You might need this."
Catherine eyed the musket before taking it. In just a short few years ago that she had feared such a weapon. Now, with intense training, she was able to overcome it with the help of Charles Dorian and Connor.
"Thanks," the assassin hung the strap of the weapon onto her shoulder.
"Before we go any further, is everything okay? Between you and Connor?"
"Aye, we just had a small disagreement last night, so that's why I did this." She said as she watched Connor walk ahead of her, speaking in a low whisper. "Some of the men had disagreed with me helping with alerting the troops, so I was supposed to ride ahead."
"Connor is your friend, I am sure, he did not mean any harm with it."
Catherine gritted her teeth in her mouth, she had not told James of her relationship with the native. Because of his own feelings for her, The two men had gotten over their distrust of each other and became eventual associates towards the same goal. They had a good relationship and she did not want to ruin it. Only the person that knew about her and Connor was Achilles. She still knew of James still had feelings for her.
"I know, it's nothing, don't worry about it, James." Catherine patted her old friend on the shoulder.
Connor stopped turned to look at them both, "Are you coming?"
"Aye, Connor," Catherine said as she waved at him passing him.
As Catherine moved up the path towards the Lexington Green, no one noticed her like they normally do. Being a woman dressed in breaks, or trousers were frowned upon on. Her mother, Rose, actually encouraged it when she turned 12 when she saw how hard Catherine would play. The mother was tired of sewing the bottom of Catherine's dresses. She had been played harder since the moment she had met James in the harbor when they were children.
A rasping cough claimed the attention of the young woman towards a man who took charge. He held a handkerchief to his mouth as he spoke, "Stand your ground, men!" He barked the order, "Don't fire unless fired upon! If they mean to have a war, let it start here." His words had an ominous meaning to it.
James walked past Catherine to take a position with one of the men that single him over. He packed his gun for the first shot. Gripping the musket, she stood alongside the men loading her own.
Watching the Red Coats lined up in neat rows like pawns on a chessboard, Connor pointed past Catherine towards a figure on a horse. The rider was towards the rear of the ranks of soldiers. He was dressed in a British officer uniform. "Pitcairn," Connor growled close to her earshot.
She held up her musket, trying to take aim towards the Templar. Trying to line up a shot, there was no possible way to assassinate him with it.
"He will die today," Catherine gave Connor a side-eye look.
"We have to get to him first." James called out to the two assassins, "Good luck,"
"You too," Connor nodded to him.
A demanding voice broke across the fields. "Disperse, you damned rebels!" The booming Scottish voice held high authority. It could only be Pitcairn, "Lay down your arms and leave!"
No one moved forward to do such an order, "I said disperse!" he looked upon his men, "Do not fire!"
Orders were repeated through the ranks of the soldiers, it seemed that the British were not eager to start a battle with the patriots either. Panic and tension covered both sides of the battlefield, that orders were being filled and mixed in the air causing mass confusion.
Catherine aimed towards the British, ready to fiddle with the trigger. The standoff was getting intense, she looked along the side of the minutemen. She noticed a figure that was on the edge of the field away from the troops. A man dressed in black holding a pistol in the air. The sense of the past crawled down Catherine's spine as the sound of a shot exploding from the man's pistol. Chaos exploded between the two troops.
The British began to fire upon the Minutemen, in a sheer number of the fire, men began to retreat from the green. Catherine yanks down to her position behind a stone wall. Parker shouted for the men to hold their position.
Gripping her gun, she fired her one shot hitting a British soldier square in the chest.
"What are you all doing? Hold your positions!" Connor had grabbed John Parker pulling behind the trees with James following. Catherine used a tree as a cover, "traitors! Cowards!"
"They are not returning, you will have to make do for those who have stayed!" Catherine said as she reloaded her gun. She stuffed and packed the gunpowder.
John Parker turned and glared at her, he took in her look, not a second glance. "Boy, don't you dare lecture me on how-" He was cut off in his sentence to see that the British had ceased firing upon the rebels. "RETURN FIRE, RETURN FIRE!"
Catherine's arms were shaking as she took aim again alongside James, her stomach was in knots in her stomach with unrelenting anxiety. Blood pounded in her ears as the world seems to sedate itself. Nothing else seemed to matter as she fired after one shot after another. She gritted her teeth, "Get a grip on yourself, Cormac," the assassin whispered to herself. She pushed herself against a tree. Moments of the 14-year-old girl back in Boston when she witnessed her mother being gunned down and the fired shots of the soldiers. All those moments flooded her brain, but now was not the time to think about itit.
Closing her eyes tight, "Your mother is alive," she wasn't sure if the words echoed to herself, or if she spoke them out loud. Catherine glanced at Connor and John Parker over the conversation.
"You must show this to whoever leads in Concord." He passed a letter under his coat to Connor to take. "Should be a man by the name of James Barrett. Go quickly now, we will try to hold the lines here!"
Catherine backed away from Connor, "I'll come with you to see if any help is needed." she followed Connor beyond the trees towards the road. She
Spectators of the town were leaving buildings and running from their houses and stores in fear of retribution of the British. Connor speed-walked with Catherine to the nearest free horses. Climbing on the saddle they raced down the path.
"Come on! We got to meet with the others in Concord!" James shouted racing past Catherine and Connor, "I will see you both there!
the British troops are advancing further quickly. In the midst of smoke and gunfire, Catherine rode blindly down the road towards Concord. Using her horse to move out of the way to dodge the path of the civilians and Minutemen. Catherine dare not turn around to see the British troops firing upon the men and women who were fleeing to safety.
Catherine gritted her teeth watching the brutality, "I can't believe this happening again."
"It's going to be alright," Connor said, "I know how you are feeling," He looked over towards her. "We will get through this day."
She gripped the reins tightly as they rode past the civilians. What seemed like the longest ride of her life, she arrived in Concord keeping pace with Connor.
Shay gritted his teeth in anger as he wiped his gloved hand of any blood against the dark fabric of his coat. The man's blood had drained from his veins in his neck down the Templar's hidden blade. One of the annoying parts of having such a secretive weapon. In the dead of night, he had killed a man that held information that now seemed useless. He was running in damn circles for the last four years.
He sulked in the open streets of Quebec, not wanting to take the rooftops again due to the snow-covered roofs. The years of training had begun to break for the older Templar, Shay was not the young man who he used to be.
The years had been hard on him, physical and through the soul.
He dared not to think of his daughter, he had snapped when the man who held information about the box mocked him. Called him a failure of a father, allowing his own child to become a victim of the Templars. He gained no information from his target as his own hidden blade injected into the man's neck. He left the corpse to be found in a shed near the backside of the targets home.
The only person who knew where the box was dead, Catherine.
Even in her own death, he couldn't help but praise her as he thought about her wide smile. Her honey-colored eyes glowed with happiness like they did when she was a small child. He stopped in his tracks to take a breath as he leaned against a house. A whirled wind of emotions caught into his throat. He stroked his face hard while feeling the rough stubble, it had been a while since he had last shaved.
He pushed his emotions down to the back of his throat, it would be sunrise soon. He could see the pink touches in the sky, there were people already leaving their houses to start the day.
It was still a walk towards the docks where his ship was anchored. Pushing off the house, he left down the cobbled streets. He ignored the sounds of french conversation, they were normal talks of the day. Nothing that was worth listening into.
A voice spoke out that caught his ear, it was like honey laced with a beautiful Irish accent. One he had not heard in years. The Captain turned his head towards a woman in her mid 40's dressed in men's clothing lined with fur. Her long copper hair pulled back into braid hang down the mid of her back. Her once rich bronze hair held strains of grey which only added to her beauty of age.
The lights of the sun hit her head in a halo-like she was the Virgin Mary herself.
"Rose," Shay's voice broke through her mid-conversation.
From the portion of her face that he saw, her emerald green eyes widen in surprise from hearing her name called. Turning her head slowly to the man she had called her husband for so many years, astonishment broke across her face as she saw Shay.
Advancing to take a step to the left to leave in a run, but Shay was faster, he had grabbed a hold of her wrist before she could leave him.
"How?" Shay's voice broke over a whisper. "How is it that you're here?"
Rose stood quiet, stunned that he had found her.
The Irishman did not know whether to embrace and kiss his long lost wife out of joyfulness to her see alive again or to strike her with anger.
It had been years last seen his wife, his lovely Irish Rose. He reached out to touch her cheek, she didn't flinch, or did she accept it warmly. She stood their just stroking it.
"Shay, what are you doing here?" She asked after what was like an eon, she pulled his hand away from her face.
"What I am doing here? What are you doing here? What are doing here in Canada?" Shay asked. "I thought you were dead, Catherine thought you were dead."
It occurred to Shay, he struck out and grabbed his wife's arm tightly. "Why are you here? Why were not at home with our daughter!?" He felt the feelings of happiness subsided with anger and grief. "Catherine is dead because she thought you were dead."
Rose stiffen as she felt his grip tighten on her arm. "I had to send her away to protect her."
"To Achilles?! To the Assassins, the same ones that tried to kill her when she was just a small child."
Using her quick reflection she twisted her arm out from under his and grabbed unto his wrist. Tugging him, she dragged him down a few houses.
The Templar was shocked at the jerk and sheer quickness of the small woman. She pulled him down the side alley and opened a door that was hidden from the view of the street. Rose pushed her husband into the building. She slammed the door and locked it behind them.
"I know what had happened, don't you dare bring Liam, or Hope up. I know what they did to my daughter."
"Our daughter! I thought we agreed to keep her out of this!" Rose almost screamed.
"I would of if Lee did not make her, or I target! Did you not know of that? Or did your unwavering loyalty to the Templars make you blind to that? You were there when she had her accident, why didn't you protect her?" Rose pushed her hair harshly behind her ears.
Shay watched her tensed position. She was not wrong in her statements. The two stood silently in the small living space. He glanced around the home to see there was only a bed with a fireplace, a desk with a chair with a small stack of papers.
"Why are you here, Shay?" Rose asked after what was like an eternity.
"I am looking for someone that has information that I need."
Rose tucked her hair behind her ear and looked back towards her husband. "What do you need?" She crossed her arms over chest,
"You want to help me?"
Rose flexed a small smile across her lips, "I still care about you." His eyes caught the sight of her wedding band on her left hand. "I can't afford you being around me right now, Shay. I am dealing with something of my own."
Shay nodded he went to open his mouth to ask her questions, but she held her hand up to stop him.
"I ask you to trust me just like I trusted you all those years ago with the Templars."
Years ago when Catherine was just a small baby, he could remember visiting his wife for the first time since his "death". After Rose got over her initial shock about her husband being alive. she was shocked to learn the truth about him working with the Templars, but he asked for her trust.
"Aye, I always will."
"Good, now tell me what you need."
Shay took a deep breath before he explained that he was looking for a man from Scotland with the information that he needed. He was unsure about how Rose would react about how he was still searching for the box. Rose stopped him mid-sentence, she knew what he was talking about.
"Is this about the precursor box?"
"Yes, the same one you hid in our home."
"I made a promise to keep it safe." She cut shortly, "That's not my priority anymore."
Shay could see Rose was starring at her feet before looking at him, "I am going to tell you something because it's unfair for you to be kept in the dark about this. The reason I am out here is to protect Catherine,"
Shay crooked his head towards his wife, "But she is…"
Rose shook her head. "No, she's not. She is healthy and safe away from all this and from what I know, she still thinks I am dead, so I hope she does not come looking for me."
A whirlwind of emotions circled through the man's head as he came to the realization he had a second chance with his daughter. "Where is she?"
"I will not say, she is safe with the Brotherhood in Europe."
"The brotherhood?! Are you crazy."
"She is safer there than here in the Colonies, must I remind you that your associates want her dead. Besides, she wanted to go from what I've been told, she's an adult, not a 14-year-old child."
"Where is she now?"
Rose was silent for a moment, "I don't know, an old associate of mine swept her away, I don't know where she is. She could be in England, France, Spain...She could be anywhere, but she is safe."
"As long as she doesn't come back to the colonies," Shay said, his heart soared at the imagining the sight of his daughter. He remembered the chaos that ensured the result of Azura's death. Hickey was angry, talked about how he wanted to return the favor to Catherine. Shay was grieving himself from the news of Catherine's demise. When the words of an insult left Hickey's mouth, Shay had thrown the Templar against the wall and landed a hard punch. Johnson had torn Shay off him and told him to calm down. He sternly told Hickey to be more sympathetic towards the loss of Shay's child.
He knew that from the next few days that there was a relief from the troubled situation, no one would have to deal with Catherine. No one had said it, but the death of Catherine brought peace amongst the Templars. Shay did not want to be around them after the funeral, so he left to continue his quest for the precursor box.
"I agree," Rose said. "Now about your man, tell me who are looking for."
Shay took a seat in her chair and began to explain.