Chapter Eight

Tamir walked through the main gates of his home, Altaїr couldn't follow him any further. He began to examine the outside of the home, hoping to locate Tamir's room. He was wondering if Aamir would signal him or if he would have to find it himself. Tamir entered the courtyard, gave some orders to the guards and continued inside. As Altaїr circled the building for the third time, he saw one of the messenger hawks from the Bureau; however, it wasn't Omair. Altaїr went across the street, climbed a ladder, and jumped from one rooftop to Tamir's homestead.

When Altaїr climbed through the window he saw Aamir well in charge of the situation: she had killed all the surrounding guards and had Tamir tied up ready to interrogate him. Realizing that he didn't need to do anything, he just sat back and let her take care of it.

"What do you want?" asked Tamir.

"Where's Jubair?" She asked, Tamir looked at her and then at Altaїr.

"Ah, I see, you're the Assassins. Ha, don't think I'll tell you anything!" Aamir punched him across the face. Blood dipped from his mouth, "Child…you don't know what you're getting into."

Altaїr sat on the window seal with his arms crossed. There was no need to do anything, just sit back and enjoy the show; jumping in if needed.

"Tell me where he is or else!" Aamir yelled, Altaїr noticed that she seemed over offensive in dealing with this subject.

"Or else what?" Tamir taunted. Accustomed with proving herself, Aamir grabbed Tamir's shirt collar. With his silk shirt crumpled in her grasp, she lifted him up from the floor. Altaїr, still sitting on the window ledge, was curious on whether or not she was actually going to hit him again. She raised her other hand and formed it into a fist, she came down hard with it hitting Tamir across the face. Blood splattered onto the floor, Tamir was no longer as taunting to say the least. She continued to beat, slap, and kick Tamir as he shouted out for the guards. Of course all the guards were taken care of long before this point in time.

Tamir soon realized this and resorted to shouting out all of the profanities that he could think of. A few moments later Tamir was finally exhausted, Aamir sat Tamir up and pressed him against the wall, moving in close to his face. He could feel her breath on his skin. She was about to ask again, about Jubair, when Tamir spoke.

"It's you…he sent you, didn't he?" He was coughing up blood between words and was breathing heavily as blood dipped from his face onto his silk clothes. She moved her face back some in shock, Altaїr's interest grew as well.

"Who sent her?" Altaїr inquired as he walked from the window ledge to them.

"Yes, I remember you now!" Aamir punched him once more, throwing Tamir to the ground.

"I must of hit him too hard, he's hallucinating!" retorted Aamir, Tamir's hands became untied and now he was on his knees.

"There's no hallucinating…" he laughed, "I figured this would come back to haunt me…" he moved to his feet and chuckled again. He was obviously dazed from the beating, but he seemed to know exacting what he was talking about.

"Listen, child, me and my brothers didn't know what would happen. The 'mission' called for death, and I'm sorry about your father, dear….I'm sure you want revenge, but Jubair has been hiding ever since, I don't know where he's at now. If you go to Jerusalem, you might find some information."

"Then we'll go to Jerusalem……" Aamir's persona changed, she seemed cold and distant. Tamir definitely hit a nerve with her. Aamir calmly walked over to Tamir and wiped some of the blood from his face, took another step in, and finished off Tamir with her hidden blade.

"Let's head back to the Bureau and report, after that we should head to Jerusalem."

They left Tamir's dead body laying there bleeding out on the floor. They did a 'leap of faith' into the bale of hay and then continued back to the Bureau.

Chapter Nine

Walking down the Souk streets, Altaїr noticed that it was unusually quiet for this time of day. Normally, there would be hundreds of people at the shops and roaming around; there would be children at play and even some cattle being moved through the crowd. Altaїr had an uneasy feeling; he kept his thoughts to himself. They continued to walk down the street, when they heard something from behind them:

"There! There they are! Assassins!" shouted a Guard from a rooftop. The both of them turned to see the guard who shouted from behind them; he was an archer. The guard placed an arrow in his bow and pulled the string back, taking his stance. Others joined him. Aamir and Altaїr sprinted away as a rain of arrows fell close behind them; down the street, up the building and across rooftops. But no matter where they ran, there seemed to be an endless wave of guards. Aamir and Altaїr were able to kill a few guards; however, their numbers weren't decreasing.

Altaїr stopped, trying to find the upper hand in this dismal situation; Aamir was on an opposite rooftop that was close to him. She almost seemed to be running blind, but was having no trouble taking care of the guards. One of the archers saw Altaїr's hesitation and drew back his string. He raised his bow to the target and released the string with a loud vibration. The arrow flew strong through the air and distance between them grew closer. Aamir's attention was automatically drawn to the released arrow.

The arrow was about to go through Altaїr's chest. "Altaїr, look out!" shouted Aamir, as she jumped from her rooftop to his, just grabbing the arrow before it pierced him. She did a forward roll and rolled back onto her feet snapping the arrow in her hand. Altaїr was impressed, he'd never seen that before.

"Altaїr, I saw an underground path a few roads back. If we can get there we could collapse the entrance and be done with this."

"Okay, lead the way."

They raced back to where Aamir said the underground path was; they barely made it in and collapsed a few meters of the entrance, stopping the guards in their track. There was a cloud of dust from the collapsing entrance, once the dust was cleared there was very little light, barely enough to see the rest of the path. Altaїr felt along the wall to follow the path heading towards the dim light in the distance.

"Argh!" Aamir fell down to the floor, grabbing her leg.

"What's wrong?" asked Altaїr.

"There's an arrow in my leg…" she moved to lean against the wall. The arrow went completely through her leg, the blood exit the wound and traveled down the arrow's edge and dripped off the arrowhead onto the ground: she couldn't walk.

"Let me take a look…" Altaїr bent down and used his hand to feel around her leg, examining the wound. "Okay, I think I can take it out."

"Do what you need to……."

Altaїr gave Aamir a stick wrapped in a semi-thin rope, to bite down on for when he took out the arrow. Then he laid out some medical paste and a clean wrap to his side. Aamir bit down on the stick as Altaїr broke the arrow as close to her leg as possible then quickly pulled the arrow through the leg. He then proceeded to clean and wrap the wound, she was lucky that the arrow just barely missed her femur. Aamir dropped the stick from her mouth, breathing heavily.

"Are you able to walk?" asked Altaїr.

" I think so….." she answered on an exhale.

Aamir stood up, putting most of her weight on her left leg; however, she wasn't able to walk by herself. Altaїr grabbed her hand and put it over his should and held her by the waist. He practically lifted her off her feet, deciding that it would be easy to carry her on his back he turned away from her and allowed her to climb on.

She hated the idea of having to rely on him but agreed with Altaїr's decision and climbed on his back. He lifted her up and headed down the path.

Chapter Ten

Altaїr stumbled a few times but over all didn't have a problem navigating in the dim light which was slowly diminishing. It was dusk by the time they reached the exit; there was a lush oasis with a lake and even some wild life. It was the outskirts of Damascus and it didn't seem like the guards realized where the tunnel led. They were safe…for now. They still needed to go back to the Bureau to report. Altaїr laid Aamir under one of the trees near the river to re-attend to her wound.

"How do you feel?" he asks as he takes a better look at her wound.

"Just fine…all considering." She moves her hand down her leg to feel the wound; her hand slimmed across Altaїr's. "Oh, sorry." She quickly moved her hand back, she seeming embarrassed.

"So…"Altaїr paused, "what was Tamir saying? He seemed to recognize you?"

"He was just a blabbering, dying old man. It must have been some blood-lost hallucination." Aamir dismissed Altaїr's question, Altaїr nodded his head in agreement. The sun was almost completely set so they decided to stay in the oasis for the night. Desert nights are very cold compared to its counterpart; since Aamir couldn't walk, Altaїr went to collect wood and started a fire. They really didn't have the proper materials to spend the night out; they would have to use each other for body heat.

The fire burned far into the night as Aamir and Altaїr laid next to it. Looking to the sky, Altaїr could point out some constellations. Aamir was lying on her side facing away from him, apparently sleeping. A smile crept across his face as he realized that she's shivering from the cold but was to head strong to say anything. He rolled over next to her and placed his arm around her. She doesn't have much to keep her warm: no fat…no muscle…breast? Altaїr blushed at the thought, it was true though, her whole body was petit. He slid his other arm under her head. Aamir's head fit perfectly in the nook of his arm. Altaїr leaned his body a little more over hers, his arm around her; he felt so comfortable there that he laid his head on her shoulder.

Dream: "Arya! Arya!" a boy yelled from across the Garden. His white robe fluttered in the wind as he stood up on the castle's roof.

"Down here! Come find me!" she yelled up to him. He climbed down from the tall castle and gave chase. This young man was extremely skill and had no trouble giving chase amongst the small statues and brushes. However, the young woman, Arya, had no trouble in evading him. One would even dare to say that she matched his skill, only in climbing and evading though. Their laugher echoed thru the Garden as they ran about. Arya missed her step and was tackled, lightly, by the boy. They rolled down the hill, he rolled on top of her and she puts her arms around his neck giving him a smile.

He stroked her face with his hand and brought his face close to hers. His nose brushed against her cheek as his heart raced: thud, thud. Thud, thud. His breath grew heavy as their lips touched: they kissed. Her kiss was like fresh spring water in the most beautiful oasis lifted above the clouds and beyond Heaven, so far beyond Heaven that not even God could reach it. Their lips parted and his illusion faded; he reaches around her waist and brought his body closer to hers. She removed his hood and gently felt the fuzz from his head. She mentioned that he would need another haircut soon.

A voice called from the Master's room, the voice sounded angry. The boy stalked away from Arya, moving closely to the hill side hoping that the Master wouldn't see him. She followed suit, but heading towards the lower portion of the Garden to be out of sight, not knowing that the Master could see the both of them from where he was.

The next morning Aamir awoke before Altaїr did, there was nothing left of the fire except for some smoldering embers. She noticed that Altaїr's head was lying on her shoulder; it was weird to her that he would find himself so comfortable around her. She threw her arm up and tossed him off of her. Altaїr was startled awake.

"What?" he asked. She just glared at him as she sat up then turned away. "Fine! I'll let your ass freeze next time." he stood up and kicked some dirt towards her. He poured some water on the embers and then continued to bury the evidence of them even being there.

Chapter Eleven

It took a long few hours to return to the city, the city was heavily guarded now after the death of Tamir. It would be hard for the both of them to sneak back in, with Aamir's injury. They agreed that Altaїr would go back to the Bureau and report, letting them know that they would be moving to Jerusalem to continue investigation. Altaїr used groups of scholars to reach the Bureau; he climbed the ladder and reported to Rafik.

"Very well, safety and peace Altaїr." Rafik answered.

"I have something else to ask of you before I go."

"Don't worry, Omair will be fine—"

"Not about the bird, about Aamir."

"What news have you, then?"

"During the interrogation of Tamir, he said that he knew her and something about someone sending her? Could he have meant Al Mualim?"

"Not likely, however that is very interesting, I wonder who he could've been referring to? When, or if I do, I'll send the information to you."

"Thank you, Brother." They bowed to each other and Altaїr left.

Aamir was at the stables outside of the gates attending to their horses when Altaїr showed up. He helped her to get saddled on the horse, he then saddled his horse and they rode to Jerusalem. It took them a long time to reach their destination because Aamir couldn't travel fast in fear of reopening her wound. Aamir appeared to be getting weaker by the day and they still were a day and a half from Jerusalem. Up ahead there was a river with a small village; they headed there in search for an apothecary1.

Aamir collapsed from her horse and hit the ground with a loud thud; Altaїr dismounted and rushed over to her. He pulled her hood back to see that her face was flushed and she was running a fever; her chest raised and fell quickly. His also realized that both her wounds had reopened, blood dripped from the lacerations. Altaїr laced the horses together then saddled Aamir in front of him as they finished the last few miles to the village.

Once there, Altaїr asked for the apothecary; the villagers were very kind to not only direct him to the place but also escorted him there as well. The horses were put out to the stables as he took Aamir inside. The doctor told Altaїr to lay her on the table, the doctor examined her carefully, being respectful to the fact that he was working with a female. He informed Altaїr that she was very weak and that she would need medicine; however, he didn't have any that she needed.

The doctor told Altaїr that if he would want the medicine that he would have to go up on the mountainside to collect small herbal flowers. Altaїr agreed and asked what the flowers looked like.

"They will be a pink flower with four petals; you can usually find them on the cliffs of the mountains. Be careful, though, it can be very dangerous."

It took almost five hours for Altaїr to collect all the necessary flowers to make the medicine. He returned and the doctor made the medicine; Altaїr paid the man and thanked him for his help. He gave some to Aamir, the medicine was so well made that she woke up immediately.

"Uh, what happened?"

"You passed out from a fever and right now you need to rest." She laid back on the table.

Later that night, Aamir bathed in a lake revealing multiple scars on her back. Altaїr was bathing on the opposite side, when he happened to see her. She was resting on a rock obliviously exhausted from the fever; Altaїr swam over to her and taking a washcloth and cleaned her back. He allowed her to lean against him, her back to his chest. Most of her body was submerged underneath the water line.

He wrapped his left arm around her and placed his hand on her left shoulder, her head resting on his shoulder. Altaїr took the cloth and rubbed softly around her neck, unintentionally he brought down his head to her neck. His hand, with cloth, started moving down her body over her breast, he was ashamed to think that they were bigger then he thought. He let go of the cloth, it floated in the vast abyss of the lake, drifting down and down. Aamir turned to face Altaїr, her eyes misty as if she were looking through him. He pushed her against the rock and caressed her entire body,

"Altaїr….." she said under her breath, their bodies met, soft and smooth. Her heart beat with a thud, thunk. Thud, thunk.

Chapter Twelve

The water tenderly rippled from their motion and the moon's reflection shimmered in the lake. Their surrounding grew so quiet that the water's movement was the only thing that could be heard. A couple minutes pasted, Aamir was going flush from the amount of heat coming from their bodies. Altaїr was lost in the moment, his body tingled.

"Altaїr…" she breathed his name again, he stopped.

"What's wrong?"

"Please stop…." She pushed him away.

"Um…I'm sorry Arya." Altaїr pulled out, in a daze.

"What did you call me?" Aamir snapped, waking Altaїr out of his daydream.

"Uh, Aamir!" He moved further away, becoming conscious of what he was doing, putting his hand over his mouth.

Aamir, infuriated, swam to the shore and swiftly dressed herself, slight tears streamed down her face. Altaїr followed her and did the same,

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't know what I was doing!" He tried to resolve the situation quickly.

"Get away from me! I'm still not talking to you for earlier!" she covered her head with her hood. Altaїr was fuming now, despite his prior feelings,

"I've been doing all the work! It was me that pulled that arrow from your leg! It was me that wrapped your wound! And, damn it, it was me that risked my life on the mountain cliffs to get the medicine for your fever! I don't care if you don't talk to me; I don't care if you die!"

Aamir stopped in her tracks, more tears ran down her face. She bit her tongue, saddle the horse and rode away. Altaїr cursed himself as he cleaned up the camp site. It wasn't until now that he noticed the quietness of the surroundings. There was a presents there, a foreign presents.

"Who's there?" he called out…no answer. Again he called out and there was still no answer. Altaїr grew uneasy as he packed the rest of his things and took chase after Aamir. The air grew lighter the farther he went from the oasis, he looked back to the oasis and saw a figure looming from its shadows. When Altaїr stopped his horse to get a better look, a sort of fog came over the figure and the figure disappeared. He put the issue on the 'back burner' and processed to go after Aamir.

She must be hauling ass; I should've got up to her by now. Argh, why did I call her Arya? She's nothing like her, not in the slightest. He couldn't understand his thoughts, he has really even thought of Arya for a…long time. Miles from the oasis, Altaїr found Aamir's horse; however, Aamir wasn't on it. He grabbed the horse and was softly talking to it.

"Where's she at, huh? Where did that woman go?" the horse reared his head to the left then to the right and started to walk away a little and then stopped to look back at Altaїr.

"Sigh, I hate animals." The horse couldn't answer his question. Suddenly, over head, there was squawk that echoed thru the night sky; it was Omair. He was up and flying just as well as before being tossed against a wall. All that Altaїr could think of is that his eyes were about to be pecked out. Omair got Altaїr attention and took him to Aamir; she was passed out on the side of the road, apparently she fell from her horse again due what was left of her fever. He knew that he said he didn't care, but couldn't help to feel sorry for her.

He mounted her on her horse, tying her hands to the saddle, and continued to Jerusalem, by morning they were at the city's main gates. It was certainly a site, not because it was the Holy City, but because it was infested with Templar Knights…the Assassin's mortal enemy.

1 Apothecary: pharmacist/pharmacy.