Assassin's Creed: Black Flag

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Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Page 31

by Oliver Bowden


  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

  Hornigold, Benjamin: pirate, helped establish Nassau, d. 1719

  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

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  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

 

 

 


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