Chapter 6

We were out of Jericho long before the sun rose to its highest point in the sky.

I was astride my new mare and I was enjoying it. She carried me effortlessly along, her tail swishing away flies that buzzed around her flanks and her perfectly formed grey ears flicking back and forth in rhythm with her movement.

Altaïr and I didn't speak much, save him asking me if I had a name for my new mare. I couldn't give him an answer immediately, so I spent the next few monotonous hours running ideas through my mind.

Altaïr silently coordinated our movements through as much shade as possible. The sun's rays were unbearably intense during the day and neither of us could stand them for any great length of time. I noticed that Altaïr never seemed to remove his hood, no matter the weather but I didn't mention anything. I sat silently as we trotted on. Very silently

I now felt stiff on my horse. It had been many hours and the new clothes I wore were chaffing against my skin. Altaïr had stopped to buy me new attire after my old things had been pulled apart. I'd walked out of the attack with my clothes in tatters. I looked a mess and Altaïr had taken pity on me. I now wore a sort of fabric wrap that encased my body and was tied up with a short string at the left side of my waist. It was figure hugging and short but I wore a new shalwar and kameez underneath it, covering my arms and legs. The whole outfit was rich, breathable cotton in a dark green colour. Altaïr had matter-of-factly stated that it matched my eyes. I think I'd turned around embarrassed at that point.

Two hours into a near conversation less trek, I said tonelessly, "Maysaa."

Altaïr turned his head quizzically. He was riding on my left and brought his horse in closer. "What?"

"Maysaa." I repeated again, with more enthusiasm this time, "That is what I shall call her." I patted Maysaa's beautiful silver neck to emphasise who I was talking about.

Realisation dawned and Altaïr nodded his head. "It is a good name. It suits her."

'Maysaa' meant 'walking with pride'. I'm sure I could have chosen a name that meant 'beautiful' or 'magnificent' or something that described her lovely colouring but Maysaa suited her perfectly. It was the thing I had noted about her when I first saw her. And now, when she moved, it only helped to reiterate that. She did move with such pride. Her long, long legs were straight and beautifully muscled and she walked with a strange human-like sense of assurance. Yes, Maysaa would be her name.

I was happy I'd been able to spend so much time choosing a name. It had preoccupied me for a considerable length of time and any time spent on something different, however trivial, was time not spent on re-living the moments in Jericho. It still made me scared to think about. More scared at the frequency with which such attacks took place.

I looked over to Altaïr for want of something better to do. He seemed preoccupied within the caverns of his own mind. I frowned slightly. I wanted to be a good comrade to Altaïr; he'd done many things for me already, most importantly, saving my life. I was eternally indebted to him for that, even if the circumstances under which we'd met were undesirable. Therefore, I didn't enjoy this lack of conversation. I was eager to start talking, even if I could feel that it was going to be strongly one sided.

"Altaïr, I think we should get to know each other better." I began, trying to sound determined. "This will be a long journey and it would be nice if we could become friends." I hated how childish I sounded but that is how it was. There was no point in beating around the bush.

"There is not much I have to tell you." He replied. "And there is even less that I can tell you." His face was hard and he was not forth giving with any more words.

I frowned further. One sided indeed. I hated the way he seemed to have so much he was hiding. I knew nothing about him save his name, his incredible skill in athletics and his love for horses. And those things were easily found out by anyone.

"Okay, let me try anyway. Tell me if I pry too deep." But I made sure it sounded like I didn't want him to tell me at all. I wanted to pry as deep as possible.

"Where are you from?"

Altaïr looked thoughtful for a minute, considering his answer. I watched him carefully, exasperated that it was taking so long for an answer to such a simple question. Watching him 'carefully' was made even harder by the fact that he was moving up and down with the gentle gait of Khalil.

"I am of an Arabic mother and an English father." He said finally. "But I have always lived in Palestine. I believe I was born in a small city outside Jerusalem and raised there."

"You believe?" I said, voicing my thoughts too loudly.

"Yes, for I don't truly know. I have no living family now. My parents are long dead and my sister is long missing. Probably dead." He said emotionlessly.

Altaïr's face was predominately unreadable but the subject of his sister obviously hurt him. I hastily moved on, sorry that I had brought it up.

"So where do you live now? How do you know Malik?" I continued on.

"I live nowhere of importance and Malik is simply….a colleague." He said cryptically.

"But Malik is a scribe." I said, directing Maysaa closer to Khalil. "Are you one too?" He most certainly did not look like one. And a scribe had no use for the acrobatic skills he possessed.

Altaïr's face suddenly changed, as if he'd been caught off guard doing something that he shouldn't, but he recovered himself instantly before replying with: "Yes. Something like that."

Something about the way his face altered when I mentioned Malik's profession confused and unnerved me but there was nothing I could say, the expression he carried did not exactly invite questions. I pushed it from my mind and drew a breath to speak…-

"My turn now." Altaïr said smoothly, changing the subject. I let out my breath and sighed glumly but let him have his way.

"I want to know about your father."

I stiffened instantly to any mention of my father. He could see that I looked tense and wary so he amended his previous statement: "If you want to, that is."

I began a conversation in my mind. Why was I still afraid of my father? I was many miles away, almost to a place called Phasaelis, according to Altaïr, and my father would have no idea of my whereabouts. I was free, now that Altaïr had snatched me away; I never needed to return to where he was again. The thought alone was unexpectedly liberating. I let out a deep breath and loosened my shoulders. I found the paradox of being stolen to truly be free, vaguely amusing, if ever so ironic.

I recounted the tale to Altaïr of my upbringing and he listened intently. He seemed genuinely interested which was surprising, given how insignificant I was to him. I was simply his ward, as ordered by my cousin. Still, I was happy for the enraptured audience and so I continued.

I kept the tale short though. However happy my audience was to receive me, I wasn't in the mood to go through my whole life story. When I had finished and breathed again, his only answers were vague, unintelligible murmurs but he looked quite angry. Angry over what? I thought to myself. But I didn't dwell. Altaïr was an enigma to me and his emotions were best kept to himself for I certainly did not understand them. I felt a bizarre case of role reversal. I could have sworn that it was meant to me the male who found the females hard to understand, not the other way around. I sighed and patted Maysaa's muscled, grey neck.

I had no way of knowing what time it was. After the first few hours, I had given up counting. I evaluated that it must be around late afternoon as the sun was in a different position, further down in the sky. I also evaluated as such because I didn't want to believe that we had so much time until we camped down. The heat was still unbearable, my thighs were aching uncontrollably from the unnatural position astride a horse and I was hungry and thirsty. I took to distracting myself with thoughts of Altaïr. He was rather distracting after all.

At least that way, I wouldn't have flash backs… I hoped that I was not suffering from shock of some sort because I could not seem to let the incident go. The images stuck in my mind the way a piece of bread would stick to the inside of a parched mouth. They were relentless and bashed away at the corners of my mind, hoping for complete dominance. I had taken to physically shaking my head to distract these thoughts and so I shook it again and returned to looking at Altaïr's lovely profile, the way I had done for the last however many hours when the cavities of my mind were not under attack.

His profile was as perfect as the rest of him; straight and smooth with a defined jaw line and chin. His eyes were still a deep, hazy brown, set quite deep, casting a small shadow under his eyes, but when they caught the light, they almost glowed.

I pursed my lips, irritated. I wasn't amused with my constant appraisal of Altaïr. I was starting to sound like a love sick girl. I clamped my lips further together and pondered. I needed something to clear my mind. I thought for a moment before coming to a wonderful conclusion. It would combat the heat too.

I dug my heels sharply into Maysaa's tough flanks and instantly felt the jolt of speed. Her hooves smashed down onto the ground and he ears were slicked back in response to her pace. She enjoyed speeding along as much as I did. I loved the wind on my face and the adrenalin. I imagined she loved that too.

Altaïr hadn't been expecting any such impulsiveness and I ended up leaving him to inhale my dust. Of course, he was not far behind me, pressing into Khalil with his heels to get him to match the speed of Maysaa.

"Please just bear in mind that if you die. I die four times as painfully." He shouted sarcastically as he came parallel to me.

I laughed freely as he spoke. He was right, what I was doing was fairly dangerous but if he wasn't stopping me then it couldn't be that bad. What Malik did not know could not hurt him, I thought slyly.

Maysaa's mane was flying about nearly whipping me in the face as she pounded along the harsh, almost empty terrain. Altaïr didn't seem to have that problem. He sat a lot taller on his horse than I did on mine. He was still so assuredly placed there. His back was curved expertly over Khalil's neck and he rose and fell in perfect synchronisation, serving to make Khalil's job easier. Meanwhile, across the way, I was having a bumpy, yet enjoyable time. Maysaa was probably despairing at my lack of horsemanship though.

The undulating paths we were speeding down were populated by a spattering of thick, brown vegetation but one tree dead ahead of us was different. Its thin bark was knarled and twisted but its leaves still looked as luscious as ever, a rich green despite the relentless heat. And idea formulated in my head I felt like a competition.

"I'll race you!" I shouted over the wind. "To the tree!" I indicated by throwing my head in the direction of the knarled foliage. It was quite far away and made for a decent race.

Altaïr looked at it calculatingly and smirked before whistling to Khalil and nudging his flanks. Their speed seemed to increase even more yet I thought we had been going as fast as we could. Maysaa looked no worse the wear from the last few minutes of galloping and so, determined to win, I dealt her a sharp kick with my heels and she raced forward eagerly. Altaïr was already a way ahead of me but I was eager to close the gap.

I caught up to him in no time. Maysaa was very fast, almost scarily so and I was gripping the reigns until my knuckles turned white. I noticed with pleasure that the night was beginning to creep in, that meant I would get to make camp soon and rest. The sun was changing colour and starting to dip behind the horizon. Still, it would be light for a small while.

We descended into a large, open area of empty land; it's only inhabitants being bits of foliage and large rocks. I glanced over to Altaïr, who had caught me up in no time and watched him as he bent low over Khalil, reducing the buffeting from the wind. I mirrored his actions and found that I could see more easily without tears being drawn from my eyes by the rushing winds. I egged Maysaa on faster and faster, watching as the designated tree began to grow larger and larger with each pounding of hooves. I noticed with glee that I was quite a way ahead of Altaïr and I intended to keep it that way. I was so fast that he appeared to be slowing down.

I gave Maysaa one last kick in the flanks and she threw on another burst of speed. The tree was now only a little more than three hundred meters away and I could almost taste victory. After the large clearing, the road had returned back to being fairly narrow and this part was surrounded by dense bushes and small trees. I was surprised that I couldn't hear Khalil's hooves anymore; it must mean that I was very far ahead of them. I couldn't help grinning to myself.

Altaïr kept a stony face as he bore his eyes into Asra's back, watching to make sure she had descended down the slope and out of harm's way. She was engrossed in the race and eager to win so she spared him no heed as she and her mount eagerly leapt over the land.

As soon as he had lost sight of Maysaa's silvery-grey behind and knew that Asra was out of earshot, he began to slow down more, pulling at Khalil's reigns with his face taught with anger as he growled, "Come out now! I know you are around here!"

To anyone else, the area would have seemed deserted but to Altaïr, the land was teeming with life.

Most noticeably, the presence of a band of men.

He wasn't sure how many there were but he'd known what he'd seen as he'd ridden past the large area, littered with easy hiding spots. There were men here and he didn't know for what purpose. It certainly wasn't for an idle conversation, he thought grimly.

Suddenly, he noticed a miniscule movement from the corner of his eye. Altaïr was so highly in tune with his surroundings that he would have noticed a mouse cough.

With speed uncharacteristic of a human, he hurled a throwing knife that landed perfectly at the feet of a man, robed in ragged brow sacks as he'd crept out from behind a dense bush, seemingly unnoticed. The scrawny man jumped back as if boiling water had just been thrown at his bare feet.

"No you don't." Altaïr said his voice thick with menace. "If I see you go after that girl and that horse than you will rue the day you were born."

Altaïr kept his eyes locked onto the ragged man as he drew his long sword slowly; it made no sound as it slid out of the leather scabbard. He swung one leg around to dismount…

Then suddenly, as if out of nowhere, something struck the back of Altaïr's head with such unexpected force that it sent him sprawling onto the ground, his head pounding and his vision blurred. In a brief moment of clarity, he watched as Khalil sped off into the trees, his bridle flying wildly, intertwining with his mane; that was a good thing. It had been what he'd wanted him to do. Best to keep him safe.

Altaïr cursed viciously as his head throbbed and stars danced teasingly in front of his eyes, mocking him. He tried to lever himself up but was kicked to the ground by the man in sacs who had deemed it safe to come closer to this now temporarily incapacitated man.

Then the rest of cowards showed themselves.

Hey guys, sorry it's taken so long for the update! School just isn't like what it used to be…. (Yeah…it gets hard…who would have thought) and I also departed for an unexpected skiing holiday. I'm now a pro, in case anyone is interested. Black runs after only 5 days skiing. Oooohhhh yeaaahhh.

Thanks for all my reviews, I really love getting them and thanks to all who have subscribed for alerts and other such cool things, it makes me happy as I love to know that people like my stories! ^_^