Assassin's Creed: Unity

by Oliver Bowden

  Weatherall’s face was very, very dark. The fury seemed to roll off him in waves. “I would sooner take my own life than allow you to take it, boy.”

  “That’s your choice. Either way your corpse is on the floor when I leave or the girl dies.”

  “And what about the girl?”

  “She lives,” he said. “I take her with me, then let her go when I’m clear and sure you’re not trying to double-cross me.”

  “How do we know you won’t kill her?”

  “Why would I?”

  “Mr. Weatherall,” I began, “there’s no way we’re letting him take Helene. We’re not . . .”

  Weatherall interrupted me. “I beg your pardon, Mr. Dorian, let me just hear it from Ruddock here. Let me just hear the lie from his mouth, because the bounty isn’t just for Élise’s protector, is it, Ruddock? It’s for her protector and her lady’s maid, Ruddock. You’ve no intention of letting Helene go.”

  Ruddock’s shoulders rose and fell as his breathing became heavier, his options narrowing by the second.

  “I’m not leaving here empty-handed,” he said, “just so you can hunt me down and kill me another time.”

  “What other choice do you have? Either people die and one of them is you, or you leave and spend the rest of your life as a marked man.”

  “I’m taking the letters,” he said, finally. “Hand me the letters, and I’ll let the girl go when I’m clear.”

  “You’re not taking Helene,” I said. “You can take the letters, but Helene never leaves this lodge.”

  I wonder if he appreciated the irony that had he not followed me, had he just waited in Versailles, I would have brought him the letters.

  “You’ll come after me,” he said, uncertainly. “As soon as I let go of her.”

  “I won’t,” I said. “You have my word of honor. You may have your letters and leave.”

  He seemed to decide. “Give me the letters,” he demanded.

  Weatherall reached into the trunk, took the sheaf of letters and held them up.

  “You,” Ruddock told Jacques, “lover boy. Put the letters in my bag on my horse and bring it around, then shoo away the Assassin’s mount. Be fast and get back here or she dies.”

  Jacques looked from me to Weatherall. We both nodded and he darted out into the moonlight.

  The seconds passed and we waited, Helene quiet now, watching us over Ruddock’s forearm as Ruddock covered me with the pistol, his eyes on me, not paying much attention to Weatherall, thinking he posed no threat.

  Jacques returned, sidling inside with his eyes on Helene, waiting to collect her.

  “Right, is everything ready?” said Ruddock.

  I saw Ruddock’s plan flash across his eyes. I saw it so clearly he might as well have said it out loud. His plan was to kill me with the first shot, Jacques with the second, deal with Helene and Weatherall by blade.

  Perhaps Weatherall saw it, too. Perhaps Weatherall had been planning his move all along. Whatever the truth, I don’t know, but in the same moment as Ruddock shoved Helene away from himself and swung his gun arm toward me, Weatherall’s hand appeared from within the trunk, the sheath to Élise’s short sword flipped up and away, and the sword itself appeared in his fingers.

  And it was so much larger than a throwing knife that I thought he couldn’t possibly find his target, but of course, his knife-throwing skills were at their honed best and the sword twirled and I dived at the same time, hearing the shot and the ball zip past my ear as one sound, regaining my balance and springing my hidden blade, ready to leap and plunge it into Ruddock before he loosed his second shot.

  But Ruddock had a sword in his face, his eyes swiveling in opposite directions as his head snapped back and he staggered, his second shot going safely into the ceiling, as his body teetered back, then he fell, dead before he hit the floor.

  On Weatherall’s face was a look of grim satisfaction, as though he had laid a ghost to rest.

  Helen ran to Jacques and then for some while we just stood, the four of us, looking at one another, then at Ruddock’s prone body, barely able to believe it was all over and that we had survived.

  And then, once we had carried Ruddock outside for burial the next day, I collected my horse and went to continue loading my saddlebags. As I did so I felt Helene’s hand on my arm and gazed into eyes that were bloodshot from crying, but no less sincere for that.

  “Mr. Dorian, we’d love you stay,” she said. “You could take Élise’s bedchamber.”

  12 SEPTEMBER 1794

  I’ve stayed here ever since, out of sight and, perhaps even where the Assassins are concerned, out of mind.

  I’ve read Élise’s journals, of course, and realized that though we didn’t know enough of each other in our adult lives, I still knew her better than anyone else, because we were the same, she and I, kindred spirits sharing mutual experiences, our paths through life virtually identical.

  Except, as I said before, Élise had got there first, and it was she who had come to the conclusion that there could be unity between Assassin and Templar. Finally, from her journal had slipped a letter. It read . . .

  Dearest Arno,

  If you are reading this then either my trust in Ruddock has been justified, or his greed has prevailed. In either case, if you are reading this, then you have my journals.

  I trust having read them you may understand me a little more and be more sympathetic to the choices I have made. I hope you can see now that I shared your hopes for a truce between Assassin and Templar, and to that end have one final request of you, my darling. I ask that you take these principles back to your Brothers in the Creed and make good on them. And when they tell you that your ideas are fanciful and naïve, remind them how you and I proved that differences of doctrine can be overcome.

  Please do this for me, Arno. And think of me. Just as I shall think of you, until we are together again.

  Your beloved,

  Élise

  “Please do this for me, Arno.”

  Sitting here now, I wonder if I have the strength. I wonder if I could ever be as strong as she was. I hope so.

  LIST OF CHARACTERS

  Albertine, Lucio: scholar

  Albertine, Monica: Lucio’s mother

  Bellec, Pierre: Assassin

  Bernard: informant

  Birch, Reginald: Templar Grand Master

  Burnel, Jean: young Templar

  Calvert, Jean-Jacques: Templar

  Carroll, Madame: Templar

  Carroll, May: Templar, daughter of Madame and Mr. Carroll

  Carroll, Mr.: Templar

  Christian: shoemaker

  de Calonne, Vicomte: French controller-general of finances

  de Flesselles, Jacques: French provost of the merchants

  de Kilmister, Marquis: Templar

  de la Serre, Élise: Templar Grand Master

  de la Serre, François: Templar Grand Master, father of Élise

  de la Serre, Julie: Templar, mother of Élise

  de Launay: governor of the Bastille

  de Molay, Jacques: Templar Grand Master

  de Pimôdan, Marquis: Templar

  de Robespierre, Maximilien: president of the Jacobins

  de Simonon, Marquis: Templar

  Dorian, Arno: ward of the de la Serre family

  Dorian, Charles: Assassin, father of Arno Dorian

  Emanuel: the de la Serre family’s gardener

  Germain, François Thomas: Templar

  Harvey, Mr.: Templar hit man

  Helene: Élise’s lady’s maid

  Henri: gardener

  Hook, Mr.: Templar hit man

  Jackson, Captain Byron: ship’s captain, smuggler

  Jacques: school groundskeeper

  Jean: the de la Serre family’s coachman

  Justine: Julie de la Serre’s lady’s maid

  Kenway, Edward: Assassin

  Kenway, Haytham: Templar Grand Master

  La Touche, Aloys: Templar, a Crow


  Lafrenière, Chretien: Templar, a Crow

  Le Fanu, Claire: wife of Monsieur Le Fanu

  Le Fanu, Monsieur: Templar

  Le Peletier: Templar, a Crow

  Levene, Madame: school’s headmistress

  Levesque, Madame: Templar, a Crow

  Louis XVI, King: king of France

  Marat, Jean Paul: doctor and scientist

  Marie Antoinette: queen of France

  Mills: Jennifer Scott’s footman

  Mirabeau: Master Assassin

  Mother Superior: head of Élise’s convent

  Olivier: the de la Serre family’s head butler

  Poulou, Judith: Élise’s schoolmate

  Ruddock: Assassin

  Ruth: Élise’s nursemaid

  Scott, Miss Jennifer: daughter of Edward Kenway, sister to Haytham

  Selene: servingwoman

  Sivert, Charles Gabriel: Templar, a Crow

  Smith: Jennifer Scott’s butler

  Valerie: Élise’s schoolmate

  Weatherall, Freddie: Élise’s confidant and protector

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Special thanks to

  Yves Guillemot

  Aymar Azaizia

  Anouk Bachman

  Travis Stout

  And also

  Alain Corre

  Laurent Detoc

  Sébastien Puel

  Geoffroy Sardin

  Xavier Guilbert

  Tommy François

  Christopher Dormoy

  Mark Kinkelin

  Ceri Young

  Russell Lees

  James Nadiger

  Alexandre Amancio

  Mohamed Gambouz

  Gilles Beloeil

  Vincent Pontbriand

  Cecile Russeil

  Joshua Meyer

  The Ubisoft Legal Department

  Etienne Allonier

  Antoine Ceszynski

  Clément Prevosto

  Damien Guillotin

  Gwenn Berhault

  Alex Clarke

  Hana Osman

  Andrew Holmes

  Chris Marcus

  Virginie Sergent

  Clémence Deleuze

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