Enemies At First

Scottland

The plane ride to Scottland was long and uneventful. The wind was blowing and the clouds circled. They had gone through their plan once more before before Sullivan dropped them off. Sam, Nate and Ash were to locate the grave of Sir Francis. James offered to go and help but Ashley didn't want to have to worry about him. Sure he knew a lot, but he wasn't the best at climbing. So he listened to his sister and stayed on the plane with Sully.

When they reached the top of a hill, Nate stopped and contacted Victor via communicator. Ashley took a pair of binoculars and looked for the grave site. "There." She said pointing in a direction while handing Sam the binoculars. "Right, let's go." He said. He then motioned for Nate and they headed down.

They tracked down the mountains and made their way to a shoreline camp. "I thought they were by the Cathedral?" Said Ash while looking the map. Suddenly shouts and gunfire exploded as Nadine's army shot at them. "Get down." Said Sam as he crouched by the supplies. Thankfully there weren't that many so the shoot out was short. They continued and found another camp. This one was set up in an old Monk living quarter. Ash climbed the wall, trying to look for any more Shorliners. Once at the top she found an old wooden door. She looked at it carefully trying to figure something out. "Hey, there's dynamite down here." Shouted Sam. And just like that, Ash got her idea. She hopped down from the wall and walked over to Sam. She grabbed a stick of dynamite and looked at Sam, a devilish grin came across her face. "Let me see your lighter." She asked while holding out her hand. He chuckled anxiously and handed her the metal lighter. She grabbed it, lit it and threw it at the door. The wood exploded and she laughed. "Hopefully no one heard that." Nate said in the background. Suddenly more mercenaries appeared. Thank god they didn't notice the three of them. "Oh shit, hide." Whispered Sam. Ash crouched into the long grass, waiting to attack. A man walked over and about stepped on her, so she grabbed him and put him in a choke hold. He gasped for breath before falling limply to into the cover of the tall grass. They won once more, this time without getting shot at. "Alright. Nicely done...that could've been bad." Sighed Sam. "Yeah. Let's got out of here before anyone checks on them." Replied Nate. They proceeded forward.

After running into more mercenaries, they finally reached the graveyard. "Jesus, look at this place." Sam said with wonder in his eyes. "Welcome to the Saint Dismas dormitory." Nate said while drawing in his journal. "The alleged final resting place of one Henry Avery." Ash said astonished. She had done some research, so she wasn't completely lost. Sam chuckled. "Let's find that grave."

They looked around a little before Ashley spoke. "Okay...crossed cutlasses, skull and crossbones, and the dates 1659 to 1699. Right?" She said. "Wow, look at you go." Said Nate with surprise. "Hey, I'm not completely worthless." She said while running her fingers across a grave. "Nobody said you were. We're just glad you know your stuff." Sam said, elbowing her in the side before walking up to a different grave. Before she could reply, Nate said something. "Guys, c'mere."
"What, did you find it?" Sam asked. Ash walked over to the brothers and looked at the tombstone. It was tall and had the crossed swords at the top. She looked at the skull and crossbones, noticing something was off. "Look at skull. It's not attached to the stone." Ash said pointing at the skull. "Your right, that's not Avery's sigil." Sam said. "Oh, yeah...I mean, the skull should be facing.." Nate cutoff as he looked at Sam with a sudden realization. "Sideways." They both said in unison. Nate then turned the skull so it was facing right. A set of stairs lowered and led into a cavern. "You ready for this?" Sam said looking both at Ash and Nathan. "Let's do it." She said with a smile and jumped down. She had just walked onto the second set of stairs when she heard Sam's voice. "Hell of a women, huh." He said. Nate just snorted and went down the stairs.

Looking around the room, it was dark and full of cobwebs. They had all agreed that this place was a crypt where the people had hid all his loot. We made our way into a room that had fog covering the ground. Ash was the first one in the room, and she was also the first one to notice the statues. "Whoa, looks like the whole gang is here." She said before gawking at the men. "Jesus...Dismas on the left..." Nate started. "Penitent thief." Said Sam. "Gestas on the right.." Nate continued. "Jerk thief." Finished Ash. She walked over and went into the other room. The other side was plain, with only one candle in the center of the wall. "Some kind of lamp." Nate said, scaring Ash. "Ya.....uh hey, smokey, we need your lighter." Ash said holding her hand out. "You know, that hurts my feelings." Sam said while handing the lighter over. "Not as much as it hurts your lungs." Nate added. They all chuckled and Ash lit the candle. The flames spread across the wall, lighting up some holes. Nathan solved the light puzzle and we opened the door to see glass. Ash looked threw it and saw a cave. "That's our nest destination, boys." She said while pointing at the cave. "Great, but there's one problem. Going back that way means we have to go back towards the cathedral." Pointed out Nathan. "And back towards Rafe." Added Sam. They had told Ashley about Rafe and the things he's done just to get this treasure. She just didn't understand why. He has loads of money, so why did he want Avery's riches? Ash didn't notice it but she was standing still, looking at the ground with a confused look on her face. Sam stopped walk, and looked at her. He jogged over to her and tried to get her attention. "Uh, Ashley? Is everything okay in there?" He asked before putting his hand on her head. She shook her head trying to get back to reality. "Uh.. Ya, sorry. Let's keep going." She said before walking past Sam. He shrugged and followed her.

Of course, more mercenaries. How many men does Nadine have? Ash thought as she was crouched in more tall grass. They silently took them out, which was pretty fun. Minus the whole killing part. They lifted the gate and stood at the other side. Shit, my back is killing me. Ash thought. Her wounds from Hamilton hadn't healed up yet and the were burning. She felt dizzy and leaned against a rock, hoping it would pass. Sam and Nate were looking at the crosses just ahead of the cliff. Sam asked her something and noticed she didn't reply. "Ashley?" He asked walking up to her. Her right hand was resting on her left shoulder and she had a look of pain on her face. She soon felt Sam's appearance and opened her eyes, looking at him. "Are you alright? Did something happen?" He asked with a hushed, gentle tone. "It's uh...nothing. Just sore." She insisted and started to walk over to Nathan. Sam stepped in front of her. "What's really wrong, Ash? You can tell me." He said grabbing her hand. She looked up at him, noticing his serious tone and sympathetic look. She sighed and looked back down. She was ashamed to tell him what happened. It was so degrading. What would he think about her if he knew that she wasn't as tuff as she said. "It's my back. Hamilton punished me for not bringing back the cross." She finally said, not being able to deal with the pressure. Though, she will admit, it felt good to talk to someone about it. Even if he didn't understand. "What did he do?" He pushed on. "He whipped me. But that it. It's really not that bad." She said looking back up at him. He had a big frown on his face. She faintly smiled, trying to get him to mimic it. "Really." She repeated. "I want to see." He finally said. "You can, later." She said. "Promise?" He said leaning in closer.
"Promise." She leaned in and kissed his nose. She then proceeded to walk over to Nate. "Tease!" Yelled Sam playfully. Ashley just laughed. Maybe she did love him.