I felt myself tense even more. What game was he playing? Who was the tall man by his side? It struck me that he had a family resemblance to Matthew Hague. Was this his father, Sir Aubrey Hague?
Walpole was waving a reassuring hand. “It is quite all right. Not only was my cousin involved in affairs I keep at a distance, but he was a treacherous man, a man blessed, I’m afraid, with few principles. A man prepared to sell the secrets of those who trusted him to the highest bidder. I was ashamed to see him bear the Walpole name. I think perhaps in many ways you have done my family a good turn.”
“I see,” I called, “and that’s why you’re here, is it? To thank me for killing your cousin?”
“Oh no, not at all.”
“Then to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? As you can see, I have other matters to attend to.”
The torch grumbled as I waved it for effect. From the wedged cabin of the Charlotte came a banging sound as Hague tried to get free. Otherwise, there was a tense hush as the soldiers and the sailors peered at one another along the barrels of their weapons, both sets of men awaiting their orders.
“Well, Captain Kenway, it’s exactly those matters that exercise us, I’m afraid,” called Walpole, “for I cannot allow you to continue on your present course of action. As a matter of fact, I’m going to have to ask you to toss the torch in the sea and come down from there right away. Or, alas, I shall have the men shoot you.”
I chortled. “You shoot me and my men return fire, Sir Robert. I fear even you yourself might get caught in the cross fire. Not to mention your friend—Sir Aubrey Hague, is it?”
“It is indeed, sir,” said the tall man stepping forward. “I come to plead clemency for my son.”
His son had been a disappointment to him, I could see.
“Let me see your fingers,” I demanded.
Hague raised his hands. A Templar ring glittered. My heart hardened.
“And you, Sir Robert.”
His hands remained laced across his stomach. “You’ll see no ring on me, Captain Kenway.”
“Why does the idea tickle you? From what I’ve seen, the Templars enjoy rank and status. How am I to know that I am not addressing their Grand Master?”
He smiled. “Because no power is absolute, Captain Kenway, and my purpose here is not to act as ambassador for one side or indeed the other. My purpose here is to prevent an act of barbarism.”
I scoffed. Barbarism? It didn’t seem to bother them when they were burning my parents’ home. Where was Sir Robert Walpole then? Sipping port, perhaps, with his Templar friends? Congratulating himself on abstaining from their schemes. He could afford to, of course. His wealth and power was already assured.
From the cabin Matthew Hague snivelled and whimpered.
“You have returned to these shores on a mission of vengeance, I take it?” called Walpole.
“There are those with whom I have scores to settle, yes.”
Walpole nodded. “Woodes Rogers being one of them?”
I gave a short, surprised laugh. “Yes. He would be one of them.”
“Would it make a difference if I told you that Rogers currently languishes in debtor’s prison? That the wounds you inflicted on him have left his health in a terrible state of disrepair? That his Order has disowned him? His hot temper, his continued slave trading. He is a broken man, Captain Kenway. I wonder if perhaps you might consider that matter settled?”
He was right. What more harm could my blade do to Rogers other than to put him out of his misery? Either way . . .
“He is not my immediate concern,” I called. “That honour belongs to the man in the cabin below.”
Walpole gave a sad smile. “A silly, shallow boy, influenced by others. You must believe me when I tell you, Captain Kenway, that the principal malefactors in that particular episode are already dead at your hands. Rest assured that Matthew’s current shame is punishment enough for his wrongdoing.”
I took a deep breath. I thought of my mother asking me how many I’d killed. I thought of Black Bart’s cruelty. I thought of Mary Read’s spirit and Adewalé’s courage and Blackbeard’s generosity.
And I thought of you. Torres had been wrong when he said I had nobody. I did have somebody. I had you. You, who shone with hope.
“Today I should like to make you an offer, Captain Kenway,” continued Walpole. “An offer I hope you will find favourable, that will finally draw a curtain across this whole sorry affair.”
He outlined his proposals. I listened. When he was finished, I told him my answer and dropped the torch.
SEVENTY-THREE
Except, of course, I dropped it into the sea.
Because he offered pardons for my men and me, and I saw their faces turn expectantly to me, every one of them a wanted man with the chance of having his slate wiped clean. He offered us all, every man-jack of us, a new life.
And Walpole had offered much more besides. Property. The chance to make something of myself, with business contacts in London. When I’d finally climbed down from the rigging, the soldiers had put down their muskets and the crew of the Jackdaw relaxed; when Matthew Hague had been released and run to his father and offered me tearful apologies, Walpole took my arm and led me away, speaking of who I would be introduced to in London: the Stephenson-Oakley family, a lawyer, an assistant by the name of Birch to help me in my new business dealings.
My mercy would be handsomely rewarded, he assured me. In return he would see to it that I became the man I always wanted to be: a man of quality.
Of course, I had since gained greater expectations of myself. But money, business and a house in London would be a fine foundation on which to build a new and richer life. A fine foundation indeed.
A place I could use to attend to my other business. My Assassin business.
Shall we go, my darling? Shall we set sail for London?
LIST OF CHARACTERS
Adewalé: sailor
Ah Tabai: Assassin
Albert: young boy
Archer: Hague’s draughtsman
Barnet, Captain: privateer
Barrow, Tom: pirate, helped establish Nassau
Birtwistle: Jackdaw’s coxswain
Blaney: sailor on the Emperor
Bonnet, Stede: merchant
Bonny, Anne: barmaid at The Old Avery
Bonny, James: buccaneer, husband of Anne Bonny
Bramah, Captain: ship’s captain
Cobleigh, Seth: son of Tom Cobleigh
Cobleigh, Tom: man who frequents the Auld Shillelagh
Davis, Captain Howell: Welsh pirate, 1690–1719
Dinsmore, Rhona: Assassin Bureau Chief
Dolzell, Captain Alexander: captain of the Emperor, d. 1715
DuCasse, Julien: Frenchman, Templar
Edith: Edward’s landlady
El Tiburón: Governor Torres’s right-hand man
Friday: deck-hand on the Emperor
Hague, Matthew: Caroline’s suitor
Hague, Sir Aubrey: Matthew Hague’s father
Hanley: quartermaster of the Jackdaw
Ibn-La’Ahad, Altaïr: Master Assassin
Jacqueline: prostitute
Julian: associate of the Cobleighs’
Kenway, Bernard: Edward’s father
Kenway, Edward: pirate
Kenway, Jennifer: Edward’s daughter
Kenway, Linette: Edward’s mother
Kidd, Captain William: notorious pirate, d. 1701
Kidd, James: pirate
Maynard, Lieutenant: English sailor on the HMS Pearl, d. 1751
Melling: sailor on the Emperor
Plumb, Captain Abraham: captain of the Princess
Prins, Laurens: Dutch slaver living in Jamaica, d. 1717
Pritchard, Captain Benjamin: privateer, captain of the Amazon Galley
Rackham, Calico Jack: pirate, quartermaster of the Ranger, 1682–1720
Roberts, Bartho
lomew: pirate and The Sage, 1682–1722
Rogers, Woodes: privateer, ca. 1679–1732
Rose: Caroline’s maid
Ruth: prostitute
Scott, Caroline: Edward Kenway’s wife
Scott, Emmett: Caroline’s father
Thatch, Edward: privateer who became Blackbeard, 1680–1718
Thompson: soldier
Torres y Ayala, Governor Laureano: governor of Havana, 1645–1722
Trafford: Captain Dolzell’s first mate
Vane, Charles: captain of the Ranger, d. 1721
Wallace, Dylan: recruiter for the Emperor
Walpole, Duncan: Assassin
Walpole, Sir Robert: cousin to Duncan, 1676–1745
Wilson: Matthew Hague’s minder
Special thanks to
Yves Guillemot
Julien Cuny
Aymar Azaizia
Jean Guesdon
Darby Mcdevitt
And also
Alain Corre
Laurent Detoc
Sébastien Puel
Geoffroy Sardin
Xavier Guilbert
Tommy François
Cecile Russeil
Joshua Meyer
The Ubisoft Legal Department
Chris Marcus
Etienne Allonier
Antoine Ceszynski
Maxime Desmettre
Two Dots
Alex Clarke
Hana Osman
Andrew Holmes
Virginie Sergent
Clémence Deleuze