"What do you mean by more than half men dead?" Such a comment from Thomas exasperated Isabella. If it was anywhere true, they might have already lost.
"It means what I said. The warehouse is the place which holds the mechanism for the gates. if they can get control of the gates, out they go and we are done for. It will be an escape route for the Italians and their white-coat bastards."
Hearing the situation, Isabella began thinking, what could she do to stop this? What were her options?
A devious grin rose on her face as the two walked through the streets, pointing out her the way with his hand.
"Hey Thommy, can we explode the entire gate with explosives somehow? Is that possible?"
Thomas's eyes narrowed at the sight of such a disastrous idea as he looked at the widely grinning Isabella, who carried him on one shoulder, he knew the mad woman wasn't making a joke.
He lowered his face, and the two kept walking in the rain, soaking their clothes heavily. Isabella took a small peek at his face; he looked like he was fighting another battle in his mind.
A battle he must've lost and something vital with it, and now faced with it again, he was faced with the fear of failure.
He is losing...
Which Isabella, who needed to save herself and Edward, couldn't allow.
"You know it, Thommy, the city is done for. You can't save it now for the better or worse. All you can do is hide it from the world and everyone. You can only save one thing now. There are two choices- either to destroy the gates and have a chance of winning or lose by trying to struggle against far stronger than us."
They had to bend themselves as circumstance demanded, or they'd be broken by them; there were only two choices. There always are only two.
"Thomas!"
Glowing lanterns with specially designed wicks and mirrors in their hands, a group of soldiers wearing guns on their shoulders came running towards Isabella and cried out to Thomas.
"Jonas!, Let go of me. Now, I can walk on my own."
Listening to Thomas, Isabella let go of him, and he walked towards the incoming group of soldiers. The size of the group of soldiers was 25-30. A large group, considering 210 men, was stationed at the area 1 year ago, as Henry had told Isabella.
Now standing on his feet, Thomas began interacting with the young men, all nearly similar in height and slightly taller than Isabella.
"What is the situation? How did they get to the warehouse? Did they blow up the safe?"
Safe....?
To Isabella's surprise, Thomas talked about a safe. He did not tell Isabella anything about this when they spoke; he had given her no detail, even when she was saving him.
"They did not. We did not let anyone sneak in any explosives inside the walls and carefully checked the ships. They must have found a way to breach it in some other way. Maybe through the side walls..?" Jonas was the man who saw Isabella, and Thomas was voicing his opinion.
"Not happening. The side walls are as thick as they could be. And if they have not blown it all over, it means they knew the code for the first part, at least..."
The atmosphere was changed, and each person's mood was trimmed; there was a traitor among them, but they did not know who. Or did they...?
"Mind filling me in all the details? I might be able to might help you out on this."
Isabella left all alone behind the group and called out to them. She felt like an outsider in the territory, and she needed information to survive right now.
A soldier went closer to her and set the lantern at her face, blinding her for a second.
"!! Its the woman in the criminal photo.!!"
Letting her guard down, Isabella was in a vulnerable position. Before she could recover from the blinding lighting, the soldier jumped at her, throwing his lantern. While the others pointed their guns at her.
"Don't hurt her. She is on our side for now." Thomas commanded, and the soldiers followed without any arguments, but their eyes did not hide the shock.
The soldier reluctantly let go of Isabella, who she was about to kick away. She cracked her neck and then her fingers and looked at the faces of rather annoyed and angry soldiers seeing her moving freely.
"I want to inform you that I am allied directly to your senior officer, who is currently unavailable due to unforeseen circumstances and bad weather. I will be commanding you to regain control of this city from the attackers and defend the city..... What are we defending again?"
In a very non-convincing and peculiar speech, Isabella tried to convince me that she wasn't a threat. Still, she did not give off the aura of a sane person because she did not know what was happening.
"You suggested that I blow up the ocean gate while you don't know who is attacking and what we are defending? Didn't Edward give you any details? In fact, where is he hiding?"
"...!!!"
The word 'Edward' rang as loud as the idea of blowing the ocean gate in the ears of the listening soldiers. Edward Kenway allied with Britannia in the war, crushed Saxony's naval forts and earned a regard of noble glory in the minds of the soldiers. To think a criminal was related, in fact, even was in contact with him, shook them even more.
"Thomas, I need you to tell me what is happening in this position. Is Edward Kenway currently inside the city walls? How are you and this woman linked to him in any manner?"
Isabella was surprised that Jonas didn't see Edward. At the same time, they were walking inside the city walls but she didn't bother to ask him.
"Well, for me and Edward-"
Thomas began making vague and ambiguous excuses, telling them that he and Edward were in the city for investigation under King Lucius's order and decided to stay the night here. He avoided mentioning the regional lord's visit and play in the topic.
"Guess King Lucius was correct in sending Edward and me for investigation; maybe it was a whiff from some spies. Edward was feeling a little pain in their legs due to an injury, so we went to the hospital where the attack happened."
Thomas pointed her finger towards Isabella, but his intent was non-malicious from the voice.
"As for this lady. She worked for Edward's crew as a medic a few years back. Why she risked her life coming to such a place is not known to me as of yet, and there are more valuable topics to think about for now-"
A discussion began on the topics, and things got busy. Isabella distanced herself from the group, but she noticed how many were keeping a strict sight of her. She was not being trusted.
Moving into her own thoughts, Isabella thought no one had addressed Thomas with any honorific. It meant that he was not an officially listed officer but had connections to Lucius, and they were close enough. He decided to be Edward's partner. However, it could be a complete blown lie. But there must be some truth in his words; she could close to Edward's history using him and, most importantly, get in touch with Lucy himself.
Thommy might be a valuable guy. Can I get his position if I kill him..?
For Isabella to achieve her ambitions, nothing was off the table.
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