Revenge (Book 3 in the Rise Trilogy)

Two Injured Assassins

Two Injured Assassins

"I'm going after him," I finally say before reaching down to pick up my sword while trying to not whimper in pain at the soreness of my stomach.

"Riley, don't," Haytham says to me while getting up from the barrel he sits on while we stand on the captain's deck. "You're still injured. He'll be back soon."

I look up at Haytham with annoyance. "I'm not taking any chances. He needs me." I turn away to walk off of the Aquila and then I see him. I gasp and drop my bow and quiver of arrows in my hands and take off running down the dock. "Connor!" I gasp at the sight of him.

Haytham's not far behind me as I fight the throbbing pain my stomach is giving me while running towards my Connor who is bleeding heavily and barely able to keep himself standing and barely conscious as he limps towards us.

Just as he crumbles to the ground, I come to his aid and press my body into his chest to keep him from crumbling to the ground. But he's to heavy for me to support him on my own. I'm falling to the ground with his dead weight on top of me.

But Haytham thankfully gets to us in time. He helps Connor to his feet and throws one of his arms over his shoulders. I take the other and throw it over my shoulder and the two of us drag Connor's limp body back towards the Aquila.

"Get him on the table," I instruct Haytham. He lays his son's body on the wooden table used for emergencies like this inside the lower deck and helps me pull the top layers of his Assassin's robes from his body.

"Have you ever done anything like this before, Riley?" Haytham asks as he tosses aside Connor's robes and moves to pick up a wet rag from the bucket of fresh water from the floor.

"Um... once," I admit as I unbutton Connor's undershirt to reveal how badly the wound in his side really is. The torn flesh from the sharp piece of wood didn't go as deep as I had previously thought, thankfully but it did enough to be a life threatening problem if not treated soon. "I helped Doctor White with a guy's chest wound once when he was injured on one of our voyages. But how much different can this be?" I chuckle a bit desperately trying to lighten the mood.

Haytham returns to my side with a wet rag, some kind of weird needle and thread I saw White use once to stitch up a patience's leg. I suppose like the stitches of the 18th century. "What else do you need?" he asks me while he steps back for me to work.

Connor is not moving. He breaths in and out slowly as if trying to sleep but something keeps pulling him back into consciousness. I panic as he begins to wake up again and breathes heavily while opening his eyes in fright while trying to reach out and grip his bleeding side.

"Connor, calm down," I say quickly as he tries to get up."It's okay!"

"Riley!" he gasps.

"It's me, Connor!" I say quickly as I grab his hands and try to hold him down. "I'm here, just calm down."

His heavy breathing stops and he begins to slowly relax his tensed muscles as he looks into my icy blue eyes with is large golden brown ones that slowly begin to close and he lays his head back down on the table.

I sigh as I step back and try to calm myself down while I turn around to face Haytham who has been very quiet and observant of the two of us in the corner of the room. "Can you go and tell Faulkner to set a course for home while I work on Connor?"

"Yes," Haytham says quietly before slowly exiting the room and closing the door behind him.

I turn around to face Connor who has his eyes open and is watching me quietly as I walk towards him with a look of sadness on my face.

"Are you alright?" I ask him as I soak the rag in the cool and clean water again and move to press it lightly to Connor's forehead to clean away the sweat and dirt he managed to collect.

"I am now," he says softly just above a whisper but there is still a small smile on his face that calms me a bit. "I killed him."

"How did it feel?" I ask him as I wring out the rag and move to clean the blood that is dripping from his side.

"Like the world had just been lifted from my shoulders," he replies.

I reach up and tuck a few blond strands of hair behind my ear and I begin to clean the wound itself which causes Connor to grunt in pain and fidget uncomfortably for a moment. "Sorry," I whisper. I look down at him. "Why don't you try and get some sleep while I bandage you up?"

"Okay," he whispers. "Can you sing for me again?"

I smile as I look down at him. "Last time I did that, I watched you die."

He lightly shakes his head. "I will not die this time."

I sigh. "Okay," I finally say. "Let me think of something." I look up at the ceiling for a moment to run my mind through the songs I last listened to before I shut my phone off that surprisingly hasn't died yet.

I look down at Connor who has closed his eyes again and is breathing softly as if waiting on me. I take a deep breath, clean away the rest of the blood, and begin:

And the blood will dry

Underneath my nails

And the wind will rise up

To fill my sails

I remove the rag from his side and seemed to have stopped the bleeding for a little while and have cleared up the mess to where it's only the hole the wood made.

So you can doubt

And you can hate

But I know

No matter what it takes

I'm coming home

I begin to wrap the bandages around his body, being extra careful when I have to go around his back.

I'm coming home

Tell the world that I'm coming home

I begin to tie off the faded white bandages and continue to sing as I see Connor's body finally beginning to completely relax.

Let the rain

Wash away

All the pain of yesterday

I know my kingdom awaits

And they've forgiven my mistakes

I'm coming home

I'm coming home

Tell the world I'm coming home

I end the song early as I finish the bandaging and Connor seems to have fallen asleep. I smile at his peaceful state and carefully run my hands through his raven black hair again. Turning away for a moment, I walk towards the corner of the room with extra blankets and walk towards Connor with one in my hands. I drape it over his warm body and pull up a chair to sit down beside him.

Not wanting to disturb him, I only rest my head next to his and he doesn't stir enough to awaken at my movements of getting comfortable while I slowly drift into sleep with the song:

I'm coming home

I'm coming home

Tell the world I'm coming...