"What happened?" She asked groggily, swinging her legs over one side of the Animus. Mark began checking her blood pressure and other medical things she paid no attention to, then repeated her question. The two doctors talked quietly a little ways from her, but she picked up enough to frighten her. She stood and backed away from the pair.
"No way... No! My heart stopped!? You can't think that's normal, a heart just stopping! I'm not going back into that... that thing! I'll die!" Mark turned and walked toward her, speaking calmly.
"Listen, your heart might not have been beating, but your blood was still running, and every other major organ was functioning perfectly. I saw that for myself, and Doctor Smith did, too. You were still alive."
"No!" She backed up into something, and looked behind her to find none other than her new friend, Johann. He grinned before grabbing her upper arms in his massive grip.
"Going somewhere?" She struggled against him until Mark reached her and pulled her away from Johann, putting an arm around her shoulders.
"It's perfectly safe. You're not going to have to go back in today anyway. I'm going to figure this out myself and fix it right away. Then we'll send you further back, that wasn't a good moment to put you in to start with. And we'll only get you back in when you're ready. Okay?"
"No. She goes back in tomorrow," Smith said bluntly from his computer station.
"It'll take hours to figure out the glitch in the system and fix it. Not to mention contacting Beta and re-synching with them. And if they've run into the same problem, it'll take twice as long to talk them through the repair-"
"Then it looks like none of you will get much sleep tonight. The girl is to stay in her quarters until she's needed. Now get to work, Marcus." The younger man went to take Leila back to her room, but Johann stopped him.
"You heard the doctor. Get to work. I'll take care of the girl. Mark eyed him warily, then turned to the Animus.
"Just watch yourself. I don't want to see so much as a hair out of place on her head. I'll have you discharged if you hurt this one." This wasn't very reassuring as the burly man shoved her along in front of him to her room. And sure enough, as soon as the door slid shut, one of his hands was over her mouth and the other holding her firmly against him by the waist.
"Scream and there'll be much worse for you than a little fondling, milady," he grunted in her ear. Thankfully he got his fill quickly and without moving past her underwear, then left to return to whatever his duties were. Leila knew that eventually he wouldn't leave it at that, though.
She sat on the bed and looked around until the mixture of boredom and stress left her so tired she curled up on top of the covers and drifted off.
dream
There was a knife to her neck. He had a knife to her and her hands captured in an iron grip, pressed between them, and one knee forced between her legs, couldn't anyone see that? Or was it how close they were and that she'd stopped showing fear years ago that let everyone pass by as he whispered death in her ear? Maybe they couldn't even see the knife. He'd pressed her into the shadows of the souk, and his blade was small. Even she hadn't seen it until it was too late to pull her own in defense.
Not that she shouldn't have known he would have one.
"And as you take your last breath into your body..." He was still trying to catch his breath. He'd put up a good chase, but in the end it was her own stupidity that had gotten her caught like this. Her own emotions that had gotten in the way when he'd looked her in the eye, despite the murderous intent in his shadowed gaze. With every panting breath he let exhaled against her skin she wanted him more. Was this why they'd not wanted her to join them? Was this something only women did when they were in danger?
"... and your shame shall be on your father. And on your ancestors for all of eternity." She couldn't help but smile at that.
"My dear, sweet, brother in arms... who do you think pushed me into this life? I came not by choice." His brows furrowed, she knew they would even if she couldn't see his face. He pressed even closer when her hand twitched, testing the strength of his grip. Now she could feel his heartbeat, almost slowed back to normal. But his breath was still hot on her neck even if he didn't know what to say.
"They really don't tell you anything, do they?" This angered him, for the blade dug in and drew a droplet of blood that ran to the neck of her robe. "Let me go."
"And why should I do that?" He pulled back enough so they could look at each other. He was smirking, lusting for the kill.
"You will have the chance to learn what you think you already know." He released her hands, but kept himself pressed against her so she couldn't move. "Come to the place you first saw me tonight. I will be waiting."
dream end
She woke up as suddenly and fully as if she'd never been asleep to begin with. Someone was coming, she thought vaguely, and a few seconds later, the door opened and Mark entered. She sat up and he smiled at her, mumbling a good morning. She smiled faintly in return, climbing to her feet and brushing through her hair to straighten it out.
"Are you already all set up?"
"Well, yes. But don't you want to freshen up, and wake up a little before going in? Maybe have something to eat?" She shook her head. After more than two weeks of living normal life through her ancestors eyes in the twelfth century, she didn't feel the need. Who needs to look fabulous to lay in a relative coma on a slab of metal all day?
"No, I'm fine. Let's just go." He nodded and she followed him out, getting onto the Animus as usual. Now that she thought about it, sitting around in Damascus and going to the market all day wasn't so bad. It was interesting at the least, and judging by the house she lived in and the men that guarded the place and tailed her in public, she was wealthy and apparently important to someone, despite being no older than fifteen or so. Only she didn't think that a woman would live alone back then, and she had no husband as far as she could tell. But then again, hardly anyone had spoken directly to her, and no one at all had referred to her by name.
"Are you ready?" Mark's voice snapped her from her thoughts. She took a deep breath and nodded, waiting for the real world to disintegrate into the memory of her ancestor.
POV CHANGE
The sound of a party woke me. It sounded pretty rowdy, and as soon as I heard a vase crash to the floor followed by a round of laughter, I knew it was father and his friends. They were back again, finally 'home' in Damascus. Anger instantly filled me, and I threw the covers off of the bed, getting to my feet and put decent clothes on. How dare he come here in the middle of the night and make a mess of this place.
I was in the stairwell coming down to the fisrt floor when the room fell silent and I heard an awful moan.
"Please... let me live! I will give you whatever you want!" They were killing someone in my house? How dare father and his friends call themselves scholars then turn around and kill someone here. Wait- assassinate... no, it couldn't be.
I peeked around the corner into the courtyard, seeing it lit by lamps all around. Sure enough, there they were, father and five other men, dressed in their white robes , weapons drawn. They surrounded a bleeding man, the one who was pleading for his life, and before I could take another breath, one of them reached down and pulled him to his feet. Once the poor soul was upright, there was a sword through him, and his lifeless body was thrown back down. I shook my head in silent horror, backing away in preparation to run for the city guard's post, but I stepped on the tail of the cat I'd not noticed sleeping nearby.
It let out an angry yowl, and I knew I had to escape, for assassins would surely be after me now. I ran back upstairs and barricaded the door to my room as heavy boot falls trailed me up the stairs. As they began to struggle with the door, I used the heavy metalwork jewelry box to break the window. I cut my arm climbing out, but paid it no mind as I started to climb upward onto the roof. Once I was on my feet again with the rooftops of the whole city sprawled before me, I heard them crash into my room. Soon they'd be up here, following me, I knew, so I ran.
I didn't get to clamber over many of the neighbors houses or run along beams that spanned alleys before I spotted a guard on a roof in the distance. Barely having the breath, I opened my mouth to call to him when I came up short, caught by the back of my collar. A hand clamped over my mouth, and I was whisked behind a rooftop garden, out of sight.
"So it was my daughter after all," Father grinned. I elbowed the man who held me as hard as I could, and though he let go, another grabbed me. "I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere," he said coldly. He stepped forward and smashed his fist into my stomach, taking my breath completely. I fell to my knees, released completely, and gasped,
"You bastard..." His response was another sinister smile. When one of the others spoke up, I found that my father must be the leader. The head of the assassins in Damascus...
"Al Mualim, sir... what should we do with her?"
"She knows who we are. Kill her," another chimed in. But father shook his head.
"No. She may be of use to me yet. To all of us." He crouched next to me, taking my chin in his hand and forcing me to look into his eyes. "It's time you lived up to your name, Samirah. It's time you started to entertain the brotherhood."
A/N: there's some more. as you may have noticed, the ancestor is put in first person, and Leila is in third. there's some more coming up inside the animus before it switches back, so keep that one in mind! i hope you liked it!
