Assassin's Creed: Brothers Unite (#Wattys2016) |Assassin's Creed Fanfiction|

Chapter 27 Ezio

   James Kidd, I thought. Why does that sound familiar?

   I heard the door open. A moment later it slammed shut and Edward came back into the room with an assassin in gold robes. Oh yeah. That's why it sounded familiar. The lady pretending to be a man. James was soaking wet and panting.

   "What are you doing here?" Altaïr asked. "I thought you were going to stay in Nassau."

   James collapsed on the rug in front of the fire. "The British had the nerve to sink the Royal Phoenix when we entered the harbor."

   "You managed to get this far," Connor said. "I didn't know you knew where Homestead was."

   James stared into the fire. "Its an assassin hideout. You expected me to not know about it?"

   "Mmm," Connor frowned studying James carefully. "Maybe."

   "Connor, 'maybe' doesn't fit where you put it," Aveline said.

   Connor looked up. "Huh?"

   Aveline laughed. "Never mind."

   "You haven't answered the question James," I pointed out.

   She sighed. "No I haven't."

   "Well?" Edward prompted. "Answer the question mate, we haven't got all day!"

   James picked a small stone off of the floor and threw it into the fire. "Nassau's been taken by the English, the Spanish have tried and failed to take Tullum, and every pirate and assassin in the West Indies is running for their lives. Things are falling apart, Edward. We need your help."

   Edward snorted. "I'll wager Ah Tabai wasn't happy about admitting that."

   "He certainly wasn't," James looked around. "Where's Adé?"

   "Shay killed him," Archer said. There was an anger in his voice that made me think he might kill Shay after all. "He took the anchor and ran."

   James suddenly started laughing.

   "It's not funny, Kidd," Edward said. He sounded confused.

   "You'll understand one day," she said. "Which of you said they would kill Shay? There's only one Shay and six of you."

   I understood why she was laughing and smiled. "I don't know. Aveline, Edward, and Arno all said they would. Archer said he wouldn't but..." I trailed off. I didn't know if that was true anymore.

   Archer's eyes were filled with an angry determination when I met his gaze. It was clear he had changed his mind. It didn't look like anyone else had noticed his flash of anger.

   "There's seven of us," Shadiya said from the corner she was leaning in. "But you're right, there's one Shay."

   I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and say, "Obviously." and was glad I didn't.

   James looked away from the fire in surprise. "Picked up another one 'ave ye?" she asked Edward.

   "Not exactly," Edward said. "Archer, would you mind handing me one of those anchors?"

   I frowned. "What are you thinking Edward?"

   Edward grinned. "Shadiya doesn't have an anchor yet. We might not need to take ours off. Shay will get confused." Edward threw the anchor to Shadiya. "We just got two extra people that Shay didn't know would be with us. If we can find Nikolai, Abbas, and Tash, we might be able to throw Shay off our trail."

   Everything fit together in my mind. "Five extra assassins. Plus if Archer decides to wear more than one anchor."

   Shadiya looked at the anchor in her hand. "But how do these things help us?"

   "You need to wear it," Arno explained. "As soon as you put it on, if Shay is wearing an anchor as well, he will be able to find you or say things to you. Ignore him if he does that. We'll be able to find him as long as we don't get confused with all of the extra anchors everywhere."

   Archer cleared his throat. "I know Shay's mind," he said hesitantly. "I'll be able to find him in no time."

   "Great," Edward said. "You can keep track of Shay. Arno, Aveline, James, and I will try to find Nikolai, Abbas, and Tash. Altaïr, you, Ezio, and Shadiya can see about places that we would want to steer clear of. Connor..." he paused. "You can..."

   "Hunt down Haytham and kill him," Arno suggested.

   Connor's eyes gleamed with anticipation. He looked at Edward hopefully. Edward sighed and nodded. "You can hunt down Haytham."

   We split up to do the things that Edward had told us to do. I had a feeling our job would be the hardest because we had a big area to cover in not so much time.