Spice filled the air and the dirt streets were crowded with gossiping peasants and nobles alike. Beyond the dirt and stone crafted homes the sun was slowly making it's way down the horizon casting a heavenly orange glow to the usually sand colored buildings.
"Run! Run faster!" A breathy voice called a few steps behind him and he tried his hardest do as he is told but the pebbles in the dirt dig sharply into his cloth covered feet.
The road up ahead curved and there are four, maybe five, large manned horses coming straight for him. He skid to a halt and then there were two panting breaths coming from behind him. One of them whining, getting ready for a full on cry.
"They're behind us." A voice whispered angrily into his ear, trying to keep the child behind them from panicking even more. Then the voice grows louder, "You are always doing this!"
"Shut up!" He spoke up with an angry growl, but it wasn't his voice. It slightly older than his own, had a different feel to it.
The language.
The language was completely wrong but he completely understood it.
It takes a moment to think before he turns around to grab the youngest member of the group and pull him to his chest. Yells behind them just grow louder and the galloping closer.
The young boy cries and wraps his legs around his waist and his arms around his neck. He starts sobbing so hard he's hyperventilating into his neck but he ignores it.
He could feel himself grin and the one next to him close his hand around his wrist, most likely in anger to try and get his brother back but it was all he needed to grab his arm and pull him close, his hand moving from his wrist to hold his arm around his waist.
"Hold on tight, you two."
"What are you planning to do, Al-"
The first horse passed by and he jumped through the deadly small gap between the first and the second. The landing didn't go as planned but he let go of the older ones waist and wrapped both his arms around the wailing child so he could throw himself to land on his back.
"Take Kadar and go." Pain shot through his body and he knew the few seconds it would take him to recover were costly.
"No, we have to-"
"Go!" He yelled at the crying. "You two are only slowing me down, bastards." The sentence wasn't even finished when the other grabbed the child and took with a glare.
It was a good thing that they didn't look back because the last of the horses had passed and the guards were on him like hawks. The hands reaching for him turned into angry fists and they were aiming for his face and he knew that they were going to leave bruises darker than the massive one forming on his back.
The first fist collided with the side of his face and…
And he was struggling against the thick blanket that covered him, a scream ripped from his throat.
"Ezio. Ezio!" Worried hands grasped at the crying boys' shoulders and when he opened his own eyes scared brown ones watched him carefully.
"Federico." He cried hard, small arms wrapping around his older brother, much like the child had held onto him, in desperate need of protection.
"Shh, Ezio. You're fine, little brother." The elder male whispered softly into his ear, face buried in messy, sweat soaked brown hair.
The child, Ezio, shook his head frantically repeating 'It hurts' like a mantra. He knew it was a dream, only a dream, but it felt so real and the pain in his back was still there though now only in a mild ache.
"What happened, little brother? Who hurt you?" Federico pulled away slightly so he could watch the younger one, a hand now running through his messy hair.
"I was running. I was running and they were after me." Panic rose in him once again and nails dug into his legs as he tried to remember the images that felt so real. "I was…" His voice grew quiet and eyes filled with tears once again, more afraid now that he realized he couldn't remember. It all felt so real but he couldn't remember the names, or the city, or the reason. It was like a forgotten memory- the pain of it all still so real but the images erased from his mind, and that scared him the most.