Assassin's Creed: Valiance

VI: Cost of Doubt

Coast of Israel
Rayford

The ship bounced on the water with great strength, and no interest in stopping. Rayford felt the cold, fresh, liberating breeze hit his face, he also felt himself go up and down with the ship as he leaned on the bow's railing. He peered through the thick, dense fog and saw something that caught his eye, and raised his hopes.

He quickly made his way to the main mast, and looked up, the crows nest almost higher than heaven. He slowly dug his fingers into the boarding net, trying to put his lessons to practice. Of course, having an old man to teach you to climb wasn't the most ideal, yet Patrice and Faith were always too busy.

As he climbed, he remembered how Col had flat out refused to teach him... he had no idea why he was suddenly different than when they fought together in Naples. He remembered further back, and recalled how he had already been like this for the most part. Perhaps it was just Col trying to be friendly at the time to convince Rayford to join the Templars.

'Always committed to the mission...', he thought and remembered Cheig's words. '...No time for anything else with him.' Luckily Cheig, with plenty of time to spare, was glad to teach him what he knew about climbing. After all, he was a great climber back in his days, he claimed.

'BUT, you won't get far with that armor you carry, they make them lighter now boy, if you weren't aware.' Cheig had always joked. Rayford would always assure him he'd be fine.

But there was some merit to his words, halfway up the mast, he felt sweat starting to break through, his armor suddenly feeling hot, and his breathing turning into small gasps for air.

He pushed through, and in time he reached the crows nest and took in the grand view; the water, and Israel coming in, particularly. He took in the view some more and then called out to the others, beginning his descent. All 4 Templars came out, with Patrice yelling out orders to the sailors, who began lowering the anchor and hauling out precious cargo.

Once the ship docked, Rayford stepped off onto the dock and looked around, seeing the land of Israel contrasting with his memories of Rome, or London. He felt a cold steel hand touch his shoulder, "We have a carriage, we'll ride for Jerusalem once we load our cargo." Rayford waited to hear more but Patrice was already back on the ship helping the sailors with their crates, and eventually paying the captain for allowing them passage on the ship. Rayford simply sighed, already expecting Patrice to say no more than a few words.

He had noticed Patrice was always silent and reserved since the day they met, not even sitting with them on nights that they drank, preferring to instead make battle plans, a noticeable habit of his, tracing back to his time as a French army general before becoming Grandmaster; one of the few things he had openly chosen to share about himself. Rayford believed it to be some sort of intimidation strategy.

Faith was more than happy to drink Patrice's share of ale however. Rayford has always admired his ability to drink a lot (just like his uncle) and yet constantly maintain impressive battle skills (also like his uncle). Most of his battle training had come from Faith, teaching him some tactics he had picked up as a Viking.

Rayford continued to stand on the pier until his thoughts were interrupted when Col bumped into his shoulder, he gave Rayford a look of annoyance, and Rayford realized he was standing in the way of many people trying to bring down cargo. He looked at Col, his back turned as he placed a crate down, he could tell that Col felt the same way he did, though neither had said anything yet. Rayford got back on the ship and began loading some cargo onto the carriage, choosing confrontation for another time. He made quick work of it, and with everything secured, he got on the horse meant for him and they all rode for Jerusalem.