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Description
February 3, 1814; North Bend, Ohio

Aveza jumped right back into the fight the moment her body would allow her too. She was eager to hunt down William Henry Harrison and make him pay for all he's done. And so when Connor received word from a contact in Ohio of Harrison’s whereabouts, he immediately sent Aveza to fulfill the mission.

She'd arrived that evening in North Bend, Ohio, a small little village just beginning to spawn out of the frontier. It was here that she was to meet up with Connor's contact, a fellow Assassin named Clipper Wilkinson. It didn't take long to find him, much to Aveza's joy. The sooner her mission went, the sooner Harrison’s schemes could be put to an end.

“I take it you're Connor's girl?” asked Clipper.

“I am indeed,” Aveza said in response. She shook his hand. “Aveza Deryn. Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wilkinson.”

“Please, call me Clipper. And it's a pleasure to meet you as well. Connor talks a lot about you.”

Aveza just smiled and shrugged. She looked over Clipper. He was about as old as Connor. He had on a light jacket with baggy sleeves and a large mantle, and a long rifle was slung over his shoulder. He had a quiet demeanor to him. He seemed shy, but still smiled welcomingly. Aveza could see in his eyes that he was just as eager as her to end the Templars’ plots.

“So, you know where William Henry Harrison is now?” she asked, getting right to it.

Clipper nodded. He pointed towards town. “The man has a mansion near the middle of town,” he said. “He's been cooped up in there for the past few days, planning his next moves.”

“That so?”

“Yes. Apparently, he and his superiors had a bit of a disagreement, and he's planning his resignation from the United States Army.”

Aveza looked at him. “He's giving up?” she asked, surprised. But Clipper shook his head.

“No. Not exactly. Giving up the Army, yes. Giving up his Templar missions, no.”

Aveza nodded sadly. “Ah…” she said.

“Yes… But hey, that's why we're here right? To make sure he can't?”

Aveza smiled at him. “That's right,” she said. She waved her hand in front of them. “Well, lead the way,” she said.

Clipper smiled and motioned for her to follow. The two climbed to the rooftops to reach their destination a bit easier and a bit faster.

Along the way, Aveza asked, “How good are you with that rifle?”

“Can pop a muskrat’s head from a quarter mile nine times outa ten. And ten’s a misfire.”

Aveza smiled. She could tell by his tone that he'd rehearsed that line. He seemed pretty proud of his skills.

“Why do you ask?” he said.

“Because I'll need you to cover me in case things go wrong in there. I'll try to be as stealthy as I can be, but it's better to be safe than sorry.”

Clipper nodded. He quickly inspected his rifle before slinging it back over his shoulder again.

Eventually, the two arrived at Harrison’s mansion. They looked over it from the rooftops, analyzing the best ways to get inside. To Aveza's luck, she saw an open window. Perfect.

Clipper got into his position, aiming his rifle towards the house, ready to snipe any potential threats. He wished good luck to Aveza before she climbed down from the rooftop and darted towards the house.

She crossed the lawn with relative ease. To her surprise, there wasn't much security around, none that she could see at least. Still, she kept her guard up.

When she made it to the house, she made a beeline for the open window. She climbed up the wall until she could grab the sill and silently hop inside. She looked in every direction to make sure she was clear, and then began to stealth her way through the hallways. She kept her senses primed for any signs of guards, and any signs of Harrison.

Suddenly, she ducked back behind a corner when she saw Harrison coming down a nearby hallway. She peaked around the corner to look at him. She scowled at the sight of him. This was the man who murdered her friend, who slaughtered her people, and tried to take their lands. And after all the tyranny he wrought, after all the pain he brought upon innocent lives, here he was, sitting comfortably in his big, fancy mansion. Aveza felt her hatred of this man burn deep within her. Her fingers instinctively flexed, anxious to activate the mechanisms of her hidden blades and ram them into his heart. But she knew she still had to wait a bit. She needed a better shot at him.

He didn't notice her, thankfully. He turned towards one of the doors and walked inside. Aveza considered her options: barge in there and hope he wouldn't notice her long enough for her to stick at blade in him, or stick to stealth for now and play it safe. She chose option B.

She quickly found another route around. She had to leap out another window and climb around the perimeter until she found another window that led into the room that Harrison was in, which appeared to be his office. The window was slightly open, just big enough to aim her pistol through. And so Aveza pulled out her gun, cocked it, and took aim. She made sure to line up the shot perfectly with his skull. She put her finger on the trigger, and then…

Someone knocked on Harrison’s door. He looked up from the book her was reading and called, “Come in.”

Aveza cursed her luck as the arrival of a new witness forced her to withdraw her pistol and watch from the window for another opportunity. Oh well, she thought. Perhaps she could at least eavesdrop on some valuable Templar secrets.

The man who walked in was a bit on the skinny side. He had dark skin underneath his American military uniform. Harrison just looked at him with an expression that said, “This better be worth my time.”

His words, however, were masked with a falsely kind formality.

“Ah, Master Williams,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

The man looked at Harrison silently for a brief moment before pulling out a document of sorts. Was it Aveza's imagination, or was there a trace of fear in this man's eyes?

“Master Harrison,” said the man called Williams. “It's a pleasure to see you again… but I'm afraid the circumstances of my visit aren't too pleasurable themselves…”

Aveza looked over at Harrison. She saw his expression darken a bit. “Oh?” he said. “What do you mean?”

Williams gulped a bit, but hid it by pretending to scratch his neck. “I've come with a message from Grand Master Cormac, sir,” he said, “saying that he's… displeased with your actions over the past few months…”

Harrison’s expression darkened further. “What?” he said, a bit less formal this time.

“He's… he's said that the actions that you've committed while he was away on his voyage are unacceptable, and that they could lead to the downfall of the Templars if they continue…”

Harrison rose sharply out of his seat. Aveza saw Williams flinch a little.

“What exactly is that supposed to mean?” Harrison demanded.

“I… um…”

“The Grand Master has a problem with my actions? He has a problem with me? Hmm? Is that it?”

He started walking angrily towards Williams, whose fear was now evident. “Everything I've done in the past few months has been to strengthen the Templars, to destroy anything that stands in our way!”

“W… Well… the Grand Master belie-”

“If the Grand Master wants to try and tarnish my name with his beliefs, than he should have said it to me in person! Instead of sending you!” He raised his hand to hit Williams. “You sniveling little-”

“That's enough, Master Harrison!” a new voice called from the doorway, stopping Harrison’s punch. The two Templars looked toward the doorway, as did Aveza. To their surprise, there stood Shay Cormac, furious.

“Well well,” said Harrison. “It seems you managed to show up afterall.”

Shay ignored him. He looked at Williams. “Bill,” he said, “you may leave. Wait for me by the carriage.”

Williams didn't hesitate. He quickly got out of Harrison’s way, and sped out of the office, leaving Shay and Harrison alone, angrily glaring at each other.

“I leave for just a few months overseas, and this is what I have to return to?” Shay scolded. “News of you slaughtering Natives? Of taking their lands unjustly? Of enforcing genocide?”

“Everything I did, I did for the Order,” Harrison shouted back. “Those savages were in our way. They refuse to yield to us, and thus they are a threat. And if the Templars are to succeed, then we must conquer any threats to our goals!”

“Our goal is not to conquer, William! Our goal is to assimilate! To teach! To lift the Natives up and bring them to a place where they will be accepted by the Americans!”

”What's the difference between conquering and forcing a people to abandon their culture for the satisfaction of foreign invaders?” Aveza thought coldly.

“No, old man,” Harrison continued. “That's not what we are. That's your delusion, your corrupted vision of our ways that you tried to bring over from your pathetic Assassin friends all those years ago. We aren’t a charity service, we are rulers! That's what we've always been! We've been humanity's guiding hand, the shepherds that lead the stupid sheep and train them to serve our purposes! We take power so that we may better ourselves. And you, old man, seem to have lost track of that goal!”

Shay grit his teeth as he scowled. “Well then, William. You've just given me all I need to hear for me to make my decision.”

He stepped back, stood as tall as his old body would allow, and drew his sword. He pointed the blade in Harrison’s direction. Harrison scowled.

“William Henry Harrison,” said Shay. “You stand accused of betraying the Templar Order and abandoning our principles in pursuit of personal gain. In consideration of your crime, I hereby expel you from our Order and sentence you to death.”

“You dare threaten me, you old dog?” said Harrison furiously. His hand went to his sword. “You dare? I hold more power than any other man in these territories! I'll not let you take it all away from me!”

Harrison drew his sword and lunged at Shay with a yell. He was about to bring his blade down on the older man's head, but to his surprise (and Aveza's), Shay had countered the attack, hit Harrison with the pommel of his sword, and put his head in a lock, all within the blink of an eye. Aveza's jaw dropped. How could he move that fast at his age?

But that wasn't the only surprise. Once Harrison was in Shay’s grip, he tried to escape out of it. But Shay stopped him when he flicked his wrist, and out from under his sleeve sprang an old, rusty blade that he put just below Harrison’s neck. An Assassin's hidden blade. Shay removed Harrison’s Templar ring and put it in his own pocket.

Harrison looked down at the blade, then up at his former Grand Master. He scowled.

“So,” he said. “You held on to that old thing, even after all these years.”

Shay said nothing.

“You know,” Harrison laughed. “If I didn't know you as well as I did, I'd never would've guessed that you betrayed the Assassins at all.”

“I'm truly sorry for this, William,” Shay said. “But I cannot allow the Order to be corrupted by you. We must carry on our plans properly, rightly.”

“Go on then, you wretched dog, do it already!”

Aveza's eyes widened as Shay moved his blade closer to Harrison’s neck, ready to slice it open.

“No!” she yelled. This was her prey, and she wasn't going to let anyone else take Harrison’s life but her. And so, with all her might, she busted through the window and landed into the office with a roll. She quickly punched Shay away. He swore as he stumbled backwards.

“You!” said Harrison as he began to get off the floor. “Assassin wench!”

Aveza just scowled at him and flicked out her hidden blade. Harrison brought up his sword just in time to block Aveza's attack. He quickly punched her in the face and sent her stumbling back. He scrambled to his feet and ran out the door before either Aveza or Shay could recover in time. Aveza and Shay looked at each other for a moment, not saying anything. Was it Aveza's imagination, or was there something in Shay’s eyes as he looked at her? Was it… admiration?

She didn't have the time to think about it though. She needed to catch Harrison before he escaped. She leapt out the window before Shay could say something to her and she jumped down to the ground. She then sprinted to the other side of the mansion, the side where Clipper was watching from the rooftops. Sure enough, she heard a rifle shot as she rounded the corner. To her despair, she saw Harrison speeding away in his carriage. A bullet hole had shattered the back window, but Harrison was still intact. She swore under her breath. She looked up at Clipper, who gave her an apologetic look as he held his still-smoking gun. She gave him a look of understanding. She guessed that was shot ten.

She frantically looked around. Luckily, she saw another carriage, the one with Williams standing in front of it. The Templar was distracted by the speeding carriage that had just rushed past him, which gave Aveza the chance she needed. She leapt up onto the carriage and grabbed the reigns.

“I'm going after him!” she called to Clipper, who nodded. She yanked on the reigns before Williams could turn in protest and she sped off towards Harrison’s carriage.

Aveza sped close behind Harrison, trying to shoot him down every once in awhile. She kept missing, and the chase continued. Eventually, Harrison’s carriage swerved around a tight curve, and Aveza lost sight of him for a moment. She cursed her luck and got to work on quickly relocating him. When she finally found his carriage again, she saw that it was empty, parked outside an alleyway. She decided to slow her horses to a stop some distance away before leaping off and taking to the rooftops.

She made her way across the buildings until she was above the alleyway. She looked down and saw Harrison, who to her surprise, was talking to someone else, someone she recognized: the Templar Andrew Jackson.

“I see. I see,” he was saying to Harrison. “Is understand your plight, my friend. Master Cormac is a weak excuse of a leader. He's corrupted the Templars beyond our true purposes. He's unfit for his position.”

“I tell you, if I ever get the chance, I'll choke that man with my own bear hands!”

“That moment may come sooner than you think. And I believe I can help you out with that.”

“What are you saying?”

“I'm saying, that we'd make much better rulers for this nation than Shay Cormac ever could. Wouldn't you agree...?”

Jackson pulled something out of his pocket and put it in Harrison’s hand. “...Brother?”

Harrison looked down at it. It was a Templar ring. Harrison smiled and put it on. “Why yes,” he said. “I do agree, brother.”

“Good. Good.” The two shook hands, and Jackson gave an evil smile. An evil, creepy smile. It was an expression that made Aveza uneasy.

No. Not uneasy. It made her scared.

“Now,” continued Jackson, “there is still business to take care of before we can begin to work towards this goal. Mainly those savages that the Assassins are so anxious to defend. They threaten our plans. We need their lands, and they won't give them to us.”

“What do you propose?”

Jackson gave that same evil, calculating smile. “Kill them,” he said. “All of them. And once that's done, we only need to find that Precursor temple and the key that goes with it. With the power of the Piece of Eden, nothing will be able to stand in our way.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

“Good.”

Jackson put his hand on Harrison’s shoulder. The two began to walk out of the alleyway. “My friend, stick with me, and we could become the most powerful men this world has seen!”

They left the alleyway. Aveza quickly jumped down from the rooftop and darted in their direction. But to her surprise, they were already gone. She frantically looked all around for her targets, but they were nowhere in sight. They had vanished.

Aveza hung her head with a heavy heart. She should've just let Shay kill Harrison. Instead, she let her need for vengeance cloud her mind, and now Harrison had gotten away, with new allies nonetheless. It was with a heavy heart that she turned and started making her way back to Clipper.

------------

Aveza and Clipper had made it back to a safe place. Clipper had gotten grazed by a Templar bullet, and so he had to have his wounds stitched up.

“I'm really sorry I left you behind,” Aveza said as she helped him with his bandages.

Clipper shrugged, albeit painfully. “Ah, it's no problem,” he said. “You needed to catch Harrison.”

“But I didn't…”

“But at least you tried. And I'm fine, so don't worry. What you should be worrying about is Jackson.”

Aveza nodded. “What do you know about him?” she asked.

“Well, he's a terrible person if you ask me. The man is famous for his ability to slaughter.”

“Most of these American generals are.”

“No. You don't understand. When I say slaughter, I mean slaughter. I've seen him burn down entire towns, skin the citizens’ corpses, and wear their flesh like scarves. The man is ruthless. He won't quit a battle until he's won, no matter how many men he loses or how much damage the fighting causes. He gets what he wants. And if he doesn't, others pay the price.”

“The Natives…”

“Yes. They're definitely the ones who get the worst treatment. He doesn't see them as people. He doesn't even see them as animals like most of his kind. He only sees them as obstacles, obstacles that need to be torn down in order to get what he wants. It's a terrible, terrible thing.”

“Then we have to stop him.”

“Indeed.”

Aveza finished up with Clipper’s bandages. She started packing to leave after she made sure Clipper could handle himself.

“Tell ol’ Connor I said hi,” he said before she walked out. She smiled.

“I will,” she said. “Farewell Clipper!”

“Goodbye Aveza.”

The two smiled and Aveza left. She put her saddlebags onto her horse, hopped on, and began her journey back to the Davenport Homestead.

Description
February 3, 1814; North Bend, Ohio

Aveza jumped right back into the fight the moment her body would allow her too. She was eager to hunt down William Henry Harrison and make him pay for all he's done. And so when Connor received word from a contact in Ohio of Harrison’s whereabouts, he immediately sent Aveza to fulfill the mission.

She'd arrived that evening in North Bend, Ohio, a small little village just beginning to spawn out of the frontier. It was here that she was to meet up with Connor's contact, a fellow Assassin named Clipper Wilkinson. It didn't take long to find him, much to Aveza's joy. The sooner her mission went, the sooner Harrison’s schemes could be put to an end.

“I take it you're Connor's girl?” asked Clipper.

“I am indeed,” Aveza said in response. She shook his hand. “Aveza Deryn. Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wilkinson.”

“Please, call me Clipper. And it's a pleasure to meet you as well. Connor talks a lot about you.”

Aveza just smiled and shrugged. She looked over Clipper. He was about as old as Connor. He had on a light jacket with baggy sleeves and a large mantle, and a long rifle was slung over his shoulder. He had a quiet demeanor to him. He seemed shy, but still smiled welcomingly. Aveza could see in his eyes that he was just as eager as her to end the Templars’ plots.

“So, you know where William Henry Harrison is now?” she asked, getting right to it.

Clipper nodded. He pointed towards town. “The man has a mansion near the middle of town,” he said. “He's been cooped up in there for the past few days, planning his next moves.”

“That so?”

“Yes. Apparently, he and his superiors had a bit of a disagreement, and he's planning his resignation from the United States Army.”

Aveza looked at him. “He's giving up?” she asked, surprised. But Clipper shook his head.

“No. Not exactly. Giving up the Army, yes. Giving up his Templar missions, no.”

Aveza nodded sadly. “Ah…” she said.

“Yes… But hey, that's why we're here right? To make sure he can't?”

Aveza smiled at him. “That's right,” she said. She waved her hand in front of them. “Well, lead the way,” she said.

Clipper smiled and motioned for her to follow. The two climbed to the rooftops to reach their destination a bit easier and a bit faster.

Along the way, Aveza asked, “How good are you with that rifle?”

“Can pop a muskrat’s head from a quarter mile nine times outa ten. And ten’s a misfire.”

Aveza smiled. She could tell by his tone that he'd rehearsed that line. He seemed pretty proud of his skills.

“Why do you ask?” he said.

“Because I'll need you to cover me in case things go wrong in there. I'll try to be as stealthy as I can be, but it's better to be safe than sorry.”

Clipper nodded. He quickly inspected his rifle before slinging it back over his shoulder again.

Eventually, the two arrived at Harrison’s mansion. They looked over it from the rooftops, analyzing the best ways to get inside. To Aveza's luck, she saw an open window. Perfect.

Clipper got into his position, aiming his rifle towards the house, ready to snipe any potential threats. He wished good luck to Aveza before she climbed down from the rooftop and darted towards the house.

She crossed the lawn with relative ease. To her surprise, there wasn't much security around, none that she could see at least. Still, she kept her guard up.

When she made it to the house, she made a beeline for the open window. She climbed up the wall until she could grab the sill and silently hop inside. She looked in every direction to make sure she was clear, and then began to stealth her way through the hallways. She kept her senses primed for any signs of guards, and any signs of Harrison.

Suddenly, she ducked back behind a corner when she saw Harrison coming down a nearby hallway. She peaked around the corner to look at him. She scowled at the sight of him. This was the man who murdered her friend, who slaughtered her people, and tried to take their lands. And after all the tyranny he wrought, after all the pain he brought upon innocent lives, here he was, sitting comfortably in his big, fancy mansion. Aveza felt her hatred of this man burn deep within her. Her fingers instinctively flexed, anxious to activate the mechanisms of her hidden blades and ram them into his heart. But she knew she still had to wait a bit. She needed a better shot at him.

He didn't notice her, thankfully. He turned towards one of the doors and walked inside. Aveza considered her options: barge in there and hope he wouldn't notice her long enough for her to stick at blade in him, or stick to stealth for now and play it safe. She chose option B.

She quickly found another route around. She had to leap out another window and climb around the perimeter until she found another window that led into the room that Harrison was in, which appeared to be his office. The window was slightly open, just big enough to aim her pistol through. And so Aveza pulled out her gun, cocked it, and took aim. She made sure to line up the shot perfectly with his skull. She put her finger on the trigger, and then…

Someone knocked on Harrison’s door. He looked up from the book her was reading and called, “Come in.”

Aveza cursed her luck as the arrival of a new witness forced her to withdraw her pistol and watch from the window for another opportunity. Oh well, she thought. Perhaps she could at least eavesdrop on some valuable Templar secrets.

The man who walked in was a bit on the skinny side. He had dark skin underneath his American military uniform. Harrison just looked at him with an expression that said, “This better be worth my time.”

His words, however, were masked with a falsely kind formality.

“Ah, Master Williams,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

The man looked at Harrison silently for a brief moment before pulling out a document of sorts. Was it Aveza's imagination, or was there a trace of fear in this man's eyes?

“Master Harrison,” said the man called Williams. “It's a pleasure to see you again… but I'm afraid the circumstances of my visit aren't too pleasurable themselves…”

Aveza looked over at Harrison. She saw his expression darken a bit. “Oh?” he said. “What do you mean?”

Williams gulped a bit, but hid it by pretending to scratch his neck. “I've come with a message from Grand Master Cormac, sir,” he said, “saying that he's… displeased with your actions over the past few months…”

Harrison’s expression darkened further. “What?” he said, a bit less formal this time.

“He's… he's said that the actions that you've committed while he was away on his voyage are unacceptable, and that they could lead to the downfall of the Templars if they continue…”

Harrison rose sharply out of his seat. Aveza saw Williams flinch a little.

“What exactly is that supposed to mean?” Harrison demanded.

“I… um…”

“The Grand Master has a problem with my actions? He has a problem with me? Hmm? Is that it?”

He started walking angrily towards Williams, whose fear was now evident. “Everything I've done in the past few months has been to strengthen the Templars, to destroy anything that stands in our way!”

“W… Well… the Grand Master belie-”

“If the Grand Master wants to try and tarnish my name with his beliefs, than he should have said it to me in person! Instead of sending you!” He raised his hand to hit Williams. “You sniveling little-”

“That's enough, Master Harrison!” a new voice called from the doorway, stopping Harrison’s punch. The two Templars looked toward the doorway, as did Aveza. To their surprise, there stood Shay Cormac, furious.

“Well well,” said Harrison. “It seems you managed to show up afterall.”

Shay ignored him. He looked at Williams. “Bill,” he said, “you may leave. Wait for me by the carriage.”

Williams didn't hesitate. He quickly got out of Harrison’s way, and sped out of the office, leaving Shay and Harrison alone, angrily glaring at each other.

“I leave for just a few months overseas, and this is what I have to return to?” Shay scolded. “News of you slaughtering Natives? Of taking their lands unjustly? Of enforcing genocide?”

“Everything I did, I did for the Order,” Harrison shouted back. “Those savages were in our way. They refuse to yield to us, and thus they are a threat. And if the Templars are to succeed, then we must conquer any threats to our goals!”

“Our goal is not to conquer, William! Our goal is to assimilate! To teach! To lift the Natives up and bring them to a place where they will be accepted by the Americans!”

”What's the difference between conquering and forcing a people to abandon their culture for the satisfaction of foreign invaders?” Aveza thought coldly.

“No, old man,” Harrison continued. “That's not what we are. That's your delusion, your corrupted vision of our ways that you tried to bring over from your pathetic Assassin friends all those years ago. We aren’t a charity service, we are rulers! That's what we've always been! We've been humanity's guiding hand, the shepherds that lead the stupid sheep and train them to serve our purposes! We take power so that we may better ourselves. And you, old man, seem to have lost track of that goal!”

Shay grit his teeth as he scowled. “Well then, William. You've just given me all I need to hear for me to make my decision.”

He stepped back, stood as tall as his old body would allow, and drew his sword. He pointed the blade in Harrison’s direction. Harrison scowled.

“William Henry Harrison,” said Shay. “You stand accused of betraying the Templar Order and abandoning our principles in pursuit of personal gain. In consideration of your crime, I hereby expel you from our Order and sentence you to death.”

“You dare threaten me, you old dog?” said Harrison furiously. His hand went to his sword. “You dare? I hold more power than any other man in these territories! I'll not let you take it all away from me!”

Harrison drew his sword and lunged at Shay with a yell. He was about to bring his blade down on the older man's head, but to his surprise (and Aveza's), Shay had countered the attack, hit Harrison with the pommel of his sword, and put his head in a lock, all within the blink of an eye. Aveza's jaw dropped. How could he move that fast at his age?

But that wasn't the only surprise. Once Harrison was in Shay’s grip, he tried to escape out of it. But Shay stopped him when he flicked his wrist, and out from under his sleeve sprang an old, rusty blade that he put just below Harrison’s neck. An Assassin's hidden blade. Shay removed Harrison’s Templar ring and put it in his own pocket.

Harrison looked down at the blade, then up at his former Grand Master. He scowled.

“So,” he said. “You held on to that old thing, even after all these years.”

Shay said nothing.

“You know,” Harrison laughed. “If I didn't know you as well as I did, I'd never would've guessed that you betrayed the Assassins at all.”

“I'm truly sorry for this, William,” Shay said. “But I cannot allow the Order to be corrupted by you. We must carry on our plans properly, rightly.”

“Go on then, you wretched dog, do it already!”

Aveza's eyes widened as Shay moved his blade closer to Harrison’s neck, ready to slice it open.

“No!” she yelled. This was her prey, and she wasn't going to let anyone else take Harrison’s life but her. And so, with all her might, she busted through the window and landed into the office with a roll. She quickly punched Shay away. He swore as he stumbled backwards.

“You!” said Harrison as he began to get off the floor. “Assassin wench!”

Aveza just scowled at him and flicked out her hidden blade. Harrison brought up his sword just in time to block Aveza's attack. He quickly punched her in the face and sent her stumbling back. He scrambled to his feet and ran out the door before either Aveza or Shay could recover in time. Aveza and Shay looked at each other for a moment, not saying anything. Was it Aveza's imagination, or was there something in Shay’s eyes as he looked at her? Was it… admiration?

She didn't have the time to think about it though. She needed to catch Harrison before he escaped. She leapt out the window before Shay could say something to her and she jumped down to the ground. She then sprinted to the other side of the mansion, the side where Clipper was watching from the rooftops. Sure enough, she heard a rifle shot as she rounded the corner. To her despair, she saw Harrison speeding away in his carriage. A bullet hole had shattered the back window, but Harrison was still intact. She swore under her breath. She looked up at Clipper, who gave her an apologetic look as he held his still-smoking gun. She gave him a look of understanding. She guessed that was shot ten.

She frantically looked around. Luckily, she saw another carriage, the one with Williams standing in front of it. The Templar was distracted by the speeding carriage that had just rushed past him, which gave Aveza the chance she needed. She leapt up onto the carriage and grabbed the reigns.

“I'm going after him!” she called to Clipper, who nodded. She yanked on the reigns before Williams could turn in protest and she sped off towards Harrison’s carriage.

Aveza sped close behind Harrison, trying to shoot him down every once in awhile. She kept missing, and the chase continued. Eventually, Harrison’s carriage swerved around a tight curve, and Aveza lost sight of him for a moment. She cursed her luck and got to work on quickly relocating him. When she finally found his carriage again, she saw that it was empty, parked outside an alleyway. She decided to slow her horses to a stop some distance away before leaping off and taking to the rooftops.

She made her way across the buildings until she was above the alleyway. She looked down and saw Harrison, who to her surprise, was talking to someone else, someone she recognized: the Templar Andrew Jackson.

“I see. I see,” he was saying to Harrison. “Is understand your plight, my friend. Master Cormac is a weak excuse of a leader. He's corrupted the Templars beyond our true purposes. He's unfit for his position.”

“I tell you, if I ever get the chance, I'll choke that man with my own bear hands!”

“That moment may come sooner than you think. And I believe I can help you out with that.”

“What are you saying?”

“I'm saying, that we'd make much better rulers for this nation than Shay Cormac ever could. Wouldn't you agree...?”

Jackson pulled something out of his pocket and put it in Harrison’s hand. “...Brother?”

Harrison looked down at it. It was a Templar ring. Harrison smiled and put it on. “Why yes,” he said. “I do agree, brother.”

“Good. Good.” The two shook hands, and Jackson gave an evil smile. An evil, creepy smile. It was an expression that made Aveza uneasy.

No. Not uneasy. It made her scared.

“Now,” continued Jackson, “there is still business to take care of before we can begin to work towards this goal. Mainly those savages that the Assassins are so anxious to defend. They threaten our plans. We need their lands, and they won't give them to us.”

“What do you propose?”

Jackson gave that same evil, calculating smile. “Kill them,” he said. “All of them. And once that's done, we only need to find that Precursor temple and the key that goes with it. With the power of the Piece of Eden, nothing will be able to stand in our way.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

“Good.”

Jackson put his hand on Harrison’s shoulder. The two began to walk out of the alleyway. “My friend, stick with me, and we could become the most powerful men this world has seen!”

They left the alleyway. Aveza quickly jumped down from the rooftop and darted in their direction. But to her surprise, they were already gone. She frantically looked all around for her targets, but they were nowhere in sight. They had vanished.

Aveza hung her head with a heavy heart. She should've just let Shay kill Harrison. Instead, she let her need for vengeance cloud her mind, and now Harrison had gotten away, with new allies nonetheless. It was with a heavy heart that she turned and started making her way back to Clipper.

------------

Aveza and Clipper had made it back to a safe place. Clipper had gotten grazed by a Templar bullet, and so he had to have his wounds stitched up.

“I'm really sorry I left you behind,” Aveza said as she helped him with his bandages.

Clipper shrugged, albeit painfully. “Ah, it's no problem,” he said. “You needed to catch Harrison.”

“But I didn't…”

“But at least you tried. And I'm fine, so don't worry. What you should be worrying about is Jackson.”

Aveza nodded. “What do you know about him?” she asked.

“Well, he's a terrible person if you ask me. The man is famous for his ability to slaughter.”

“Most of these American generals are.”

“No. You don't understand. When I say slaughter, I mean slaughter. I've seen him burn down entire towns, skin the citizens’ corpses, and wear their flesh like scarves. The man is ruthless. He won't quit a battle until he's won, no matter how many men he loses or how much damage the fighting causes. He gets what he wants. And if he doesn't, others pay the price.”

“The Natives…”

“Yes. They're definitely the ones who get the worst treatment. He doesn't see them as people. He doesn't even see them as animals like most of his kind. He only sees them as obstacles, obstacles that need to be torn down in order to get what he wants. It's a terrible, terrible thing.”

“Then we have to stop him.”

“Indeed.”

Aveza finished up with Clipper’s bandages. She started packing to leave after she made sure Clipper could handle himself.

“Tell ol’ Connor I said hi,” he said before she walked out. She smiled.

“I will,” she said. “Farewell Clipper!”

“Goodbye Aveza.”

The two smiled and Aveza left. She put her saddlebags onto her horse, hopped on, and began her journey back to the Davenport Homestead.