Now that I was awake, Altair forced the horse into a gallop. We were able to reach Jerusalem by the time the sun was a few palms over the horizon. Leading the horse to the stable, Altair got down and held out a hand.
"What a polite gentleman you are…" I mocked, but accepted his help nonetheless. My weak legs were even more wobbly after day and night on a horse. "You know what's weird?" I asked him. "My left buttcheek is asleep, and the right one doesn't even know it." I recited Phoebe, from 'Friends', and giggled.
He shushed me as we approached the gates, but I saw his lips twitch. We blended in a group of scholars and passed the guards without any problems. He led me to an alley and turned his back to me. I climbed on my man-tree and he took off climbing, sprinting, climbing, jumping, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing…
"Altair, where are we going?" I asked.
"Up." He grunted.
"Yes, I noticed, bu—oh gods…" I whimpered as I made the mistake of looking down. I heard Altair choke and reluctantly loosened my hold. "Couldn't I have waited downstairs?" I whined.
"You'll like this." He said.
"No, I won't." I said. "The leap of faith is for faithful people only." I looked down again and gulped. "The only thing I believe in is the very hard and solid ground." He just continued climbing.
"We're here." Hey, was he ignoring me all this time? He forced my paralyzed fingers away from his throat and my legs from his waist. He sat me on one of the cross's arms and sat on the other one. "You're not going to fall." He said, grasping my wrist. I desperately clutched at his arm. "Look." He tried to push my head away from his shoulder, but I was too scared.
"Isis." I looked up at him when he said my name. His face was inches away from mine. He had his hood down. I guess no one would recognize him way up here. The setting sun cast red and orange light onto his face, making his eyes look red again. I stared into them, my mouth parting slightly. Right now, I saw every little detail of his face. The stubble on his cheeks darkening his face in a handsome hue making me want to rub my own cheek on it. The tiny beads of sweat on his upper lip making me want to kiss it away. The big scar on his mouth wasn't the only one. There was another small one, like a simple nick, right below his left eye. My fingers itched to caress it.
"Look." He pulled me from my desires when he turned his head to the sun. I kept staring openly. The sunlight wasn't so strong anymore, so he didn't have to squint against it, letting me see more of that insidious red gleam in his eyes. "Isis…" those devishly alluring reds turned back to me, just inches away. "staring is rude." It sounded like a joke, but his expression wasn't revealing any kind of smile. It wasn't frowning either. It was just a mixture of confusion, curiosity and a slight bit of amusement.
"I-I'm sorry." I stammered quietly, but kept staring.
The noise of the city below was dying down due to the late hour, and our height drowned it down to silence.
"What do you see?" he asked, whispering. I remembered him asking that once. I remembered what I sheepishly answered and what his reaction was.
"I see…" I breathed deeply. "I see a man. Not an assassin." His eyes seemed to hold an incontrollable inferno, full of passion. "I know you're freakishly strong and skilled, you're intelligent and frequently use that gift," I took another deep breath. "but you're not happy." He frowned. I decided to make use of my 'psychic skills'. "You question yourself too much. You have to learn that your instincts, your feelings will always be right. People will want to dissuade you, trick you, but you must do only what you think is right." I watched him blink as he processed the information.
"How is it that you know everything?" he smiled. I liked it when he smiled. Those ugly frown lines shifted to crinkly ones on the corners of his eyes, making his smile look boyish and aloof.
"I don't know everything." I smiled back, despite having to repeat that line over and over again.
"Just some things." He said and stretched his smile wider, showing his teeth. My eyes zeroed in on them. They were the most straight, dazzling white a toothpaste commercial could ever wish for. His dark, plump lips the color of bitter chocolate complimented the tanned olive tone of his skin. I felt myself leaning closer to him, but stopped when I felt his breath on my own lips. I raised my eyes to meet his. Those deep reds stared back at me, making me shudder.
"Are you cold?" he asked, barely a whisper anymore. I felt his large hand rub my arm gently. I was going to answer, really, I was.
But he didn't let me.
His lips were even softer than they looked. He glided his hand over my arm and to the back of my neck. I tasted those droplets of sweat I admired earlier, and an unique spicy taste. I pulled away as soon as I felt my body leaning closer to him and let out a shaky whimper.
"What?" he frowned, confused.
"I'm still a little afraid." I looked down and shuddered. When I looked back up and saw him almost a foot away from me and a hurt expression on his face, I realized what he must have understood. "Of the height." I explained, laughing a little.
"Oh." Relief flooded visibly back to his face. "Well, then, we better get down." My laugh stopped and my face went slack. I remembered the way down in the game. No. No way was he going to jump. I narrowed my eyes at his smirk and hugged the cross for dear life. "Come on." He curled his arms around my waist and effectively freed the cross from my vicious grasp.
"If you're going to jump down, you can go alone. I'm staying right here, buddy." I reached for the cross again.
"And how do you expect to get down? By climbing?" he just laughed when I nodded. "You'd slip and fall." And with that he jumped.
I couldn't even scream, I just closed my eyes and sunk my nails in his arms, praying the haystack wouldn't kill us. I felt something warm pop on my cheek and opened my eyes. Altair leaned back and smiled at me. He then hugged me close to his body and maneuvered us around in midfall, so that he was under me. I heard him 'oof' as we hit the surprisingly soft haystack and sunk into its depths.
"You're shaking." I heard his deep voice rumble above my head. I let a small, but slightly hysterical laugh escape me and looked up.
"Did you kiss me while we were falling?" my voice sounded as if I had swallowed chalk. He nodded. "That was the sweetest thing." I smiled. He released my waist and hips and raised a hand. He wiped it on my wet cheek.
"Then why are you crying?" he asked.
"Do you have any idea how scary that was?" I noticed I hadn't stopped shaking. I let out a deep breath and lay back down on his chest. I slapped it weakly when I felt, more than heard, him chuckle. "Don't ever pull a stunt like that again." I begged, looking back up at him. The city was darkening, so I couldn't see much of his face under our little secret cave. I propped myself on my elbows and pulled his shoulders, dragging my body slowly upwards until my face was directly above his. My ponytail had loosened in the fall, making my hair tumble across his face. I pulled it away, caressing his cheek.
"The color of your hair is so different." He took a strand between his fingers and inspected it. How he could see in the dark was beyond me, but it felt nice.
"It's not real. I dyed it."
"With what?" he asked.
"Some chemicals I had back home. My natural color is black." I explained, pushing his hand away from my hair. Leaning down, I captured his lips again. Feeling his tongue poking at my own lips, I met it with mine. It was like licking a battery. I heard him moan softly and felt his fingers splay apart and intertwine with mine. His other arm hugged my shoulders, making our kiss deepen.
When we parted for air, our noses still touched. I spread little kisses across his smiling lips and giggled.
"We should head back to the bureau." He said. "Malik won't be pleased by our tardiness."
"Malik is the Rafiq here?" I perked up at that. Shuffling out of the haystack, I staggered. Damn. I forgot I was still weak. Altair's arms were around me soon enough and hoisted me on his back. He sprinted quietly through the dark, empty streets, then scaled a wall.
"Malik!" Altair called down the closed trapdoor. A shadow came running in from the back room.
"You're late!" he hissed, but opened the door. Altair fell in and I heard the trapdoor close above us.
"Safety and peace, Malik." He nodded at the other.
"Your presence here deprives me of both. What do you want?" Malik put his hand on his hip.
"Al Mualim has aske—"
"Asked that you perform some menial task in a matter of to redeem yourself." Malik started insulting Altair where he knew where it would hurt him. And I did not like that. I squiggled in Altair's hold. He put me down.
"Malik!" I squealed and darted to him. My clumsy weak legs gave way and I toppled on Malik, bringing him down with me. He laughed good naturedly and hugged me with his arm. "How's your arm?" I asked. "Or lack of it?" I corrected. Altair and Malik laughed at my eagerness.
"You made him laugh!" Malik pointed to Altair. "Are you a witch too, dear?" Malik asked.
"Witch?" I tilted my head to the side.
"Dear?" Altair grabbed the scruff of my robe and pulled me up from Malik's lap.
"Oh, I see…" Malik smirked at us. I felt blood rise to my cheeks and giggled. "I'll leave you two for tonight, we shall talk tomorrow." He stood up and went to the back room. "Try not to make so much noise." He called over his shoulder and closed the door behind him.
"He's only joking." I looked up at Altair. "You didn't have to act like that."
"You were the one who told me to act as my feelings tell me to." He snapped.
"Fine." I shrugged. "Just remember that I have feelings too." I sauntered off to the pile of cushions in the corner and flopped down, sighing. I rubbed my eyes sleepily. When I lowered my hands, Altair was crouching in front of me.
"I'm sorry." He said. Something told me those words were not often spoken by him. I sighed and stretched my arms out for a hug. Instead, Altair leaned forward, slipping between them and crushing his lips to mine. He crawled forward, making me lie back on the cushions. He pulled away and looked at me. Before he spoke, I shushed him.
"It's okay. Just remember that Malik is still your friend." He opened his mouth with a questioning frown. "I just know, okay? Now get off me for a minute." He rolled to the side and lay on his back, watching me sit up. I unbuckled my belt and started to take my robe off.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Don't get any bright ideas, mister." I called, pulling my robe over my head. "Fuck, not again! Can you help me?" I pointed to the back of my neck where my robe got stuck on my chain again. I felt fingers on the back of my neck for a moment and a hand pulling my robe off my head. Before I raised it, a kiss was placed just below my hairline. I giggled and turned.
"What's this?" he pulled the chain from under my shirt and inspected the pendant. It was a simple, cheap trip souvenir. This Japanese guy wrote your name on a grain of rice and stuck it in a teeny tiny vial of water, that hung from a chain. I thought it was so cute, I never took it off.
"Just a trip souvenir." I put it back under my shirt and leaned over to him. I pushed him on his back and crawled on top of him, just like we were on the haystack. "Now, where were we?" I grinned down at him. He rubbed his hands on my sides.
"Your clothes are of the strangest materials…" he mused. His hands trailed to my hips and rubbed the sides of my thighs. He looked from my clothes to my eyes and ginned boyishly. I felt his hands grasp the back of my knees and widened my eyes. He wouldn't.
He did. He grasped my tendons and pulled, just like I had on that day with Zahir. I yelped and fell on him. He laughed.
"No fair…" I pouted at him. He kissed my puffed up lower lip. I felt his hands ghost over the back of my thighs and stop right under my butt. I raised my eyebrows at him. He seemed to contemplate what to do. "Well?" I asked.
He didn't grab my butt. Instead, he grabbed the end of my thighs, just below it. He pushed them apart and rolled us over. It all happened very fast, and the next moment I found myself lying on my back, my legs hugging the hips of the man above me snugly. He smirked and leaned on his elbows, looming over me. I put my left hand affectionately on his chest and took his face in my right, rubbing my thumb over the small scar under his eye.
"How did this happen?" I asked.
"Dog." He closed his eyes and leaned into my touch.
"Aww, poor you…" I cooed at him and kissed his scar. "What about here?" I trailed the scar on his chin with my fingers. He kissed their tips and rumbled something. I tilted my head in confusion.
"I ran facefirst into a guard." He looked to the side as if ashamed of his clumsiness. I laughed. "It's not funny…"
"Aww, I'm sorry." I kissed his chin, where his scar ended. He didn't look back at me. I kissed a little higher on the scar. He didn't move. I trailed small kisses, following his scar up to the corner of his lip. "Please forgive me?" I whimpered against the corner of his lip. He turned his head and kissed me fully and deeply.
I let myself go limp and felt one of his arms slide under my shoulders and lift me. Arching my back, I stretched my neck, feeling him kiss his way down my neck. He let me down slowly and lay on top of me, using my breasts as pillows. I smiled and wrapped my arms and legs softly around him. Running my fingers through his short hair, I caressed him a while, before I fell asleep.
I woke up to a comfortable warmth weighing me down. Opening my eyes against the sunlight, I raised my head and looked at the top of Altair's head. I started running my fingers through his hair again. He looked up at me.
"Finally, you're awake." He smiled. I coaxed his head closer and let him kiss me.
"Why didn't you wake me?" I asked.
"I tried." He laughed, kissing my forehead. "You just frowned in your sleep and pushed my head down." I smiled sheepishly.
"How, on this earth, can you make him smile?" Malik called from our right. We turned our heads to see him leaning against the doorframe. "All I ever saw was a cynical smirk."
"Well, you don't have boobs, do you, Malik?" I laughed at the look on both their faces.
"You know that's not why I smile at you, right?" Altair asked me, concerned. I nodded and kissed him.
"I don't want to see that, you know!" Malik yelled. Altair smirked and something malicious sparked in his eyes. He lifted me by the back of my shoulders and latched his mouth to my neck, sucking and nibbling, effectively making me let a little moan escape. We heard Malik scream in frustration, but that didn't stop him. We kept exchanging hot kisses until my stomach growled.
"Now." I pushed him away from me and we sat up. "Talal appears to be a leader of Slavers, kidnapping Jerusalem's citizens and selling them into slavery. He occupies an area north of here, near the Barbican." Malik came back in and listened closely. "He holds his slaves within a warehouse, and later sends them to Acre. He's preparing a caravan for travel. He inspects his stock of slaves daily. Talal is said to favor the bow. In a fight, he'll seek to put distance between him and his enemy, trying to kill from afar." Malik handed Altair another piece of his equipment, the throwing knives, saying a messenger brought it from Al Mualim. He knelt back in front of me after he took it.
"Talal himself should prove little challenge." He said as he adjusted the large belt.
"Little challenge? Listen to you! Such arrogance." Malik snorted at Altair. "Rest, prepare, cry in the corner…do whatever it is you do before a mission. But make sure you do it quietly." He sauntered off to the back room.
I leaned forward and kissed Altair, tongue and all, Malik be damned. He grinned and hid his face under his hood, disappearing on the rooftops. I went to the back room and looked at Malik.
"Now that your mouth isn't busy anymore," I blushed, despite previous demonstrations. "come have breakfast." I followed him into the back room and we sat at the table. We talked, mostly about Altair, through breakfast and cleaning up, then while I helped him with his maps, coloring where he told me to. Soon, bells were heard, and Malik looked up at me with an impressed expression. I was trembling already, and he noticed, smirking at me.
"Before he comes back," he said, putting his feather down. "you should know that you seem to be very dear to him. He may not yet know what he is feeling, but take care of my friend. Putting all his life's pleasures together, I have never seen him like that." Malik bowed slightly. "Thank you for giving him happiness." He said truthfully. I gawked a little at him. I felt tears in my eyes at such a strong display of friendship. Malik seemed to understand my tears flowing quietly down my cheeks. "Wipe those away, or Altair might think I upset you." He handed me a small piece of cloth. I laughed and did as he told me. As soon as I gave him the cloth back, a soft thump was heard outside. I sprang up, making my chair topple backwards noisily on the floor and sprinted to the outer room. I stopped and gasped at what I saw.
"Malik!" I called and rushed over to the red and white lump on the floor. I knelt down next to Altair and turned him over. An arrow stuck out of his right shoulder. Malik came with medical supplies and a bowl of warm water, all perfectly balanced on his one arm. We dragged him to the cushions and bared his torso.
"Altair! Wonderful to see you return to us! And, how fared the mission?" he asked sarcastically.
"The deed is done." Altair answered anyway. "Talal is dead."
"Oh, I know, I know. In fact, the entire city knows! Have you forgotten the meaning of subtlety?" Malik shook a bloody rag in Altair's face. I yanked it from him and continued his job.
"A skilled Assassin ensures his work is noticed by the many." Altair smirked at me.
"No, a skilled Assassin maintains control of his environment!" Malik screeched.
"Shut up, both of you!" I threw the rag in Malik's face.
"We can argue the details all you want, Malik, but the fact remains I've accomplished the task set to me by Al Mualim."
"I told you to shut up!" I yanked the arrow from his shoulder, making him wince.
"You were right again." Altair grinned at me through his wince.
"I know." I smiled at him despite his arrogant posture and took the needle from Malik after he cleaned the wound for stitching. I remembered having flying colors at stitches back in med school. Altair seemed to approve when I finished and he inspected my work. "I studied medicine at home." I shrugged and stood up to help Malik put his things away, but felt Altair yank me back down. I yelped and landed on his lap.
"I haven't thanked you yet…" he growled playfully. Malik rolled his eyes and left, slamming his door behind him. "I can still make her scream!" he yelled after Malik and started tickling me.
"No!" I shrieked and fell back on the cushions. "No, stop, you'll tear your stitches!" I held his wrists.
"So?" he shrugged, suppressing a wince. "You'll just be my nurse again." He had no idea how kinky that sounded to me. I pushed his chest and made him lay back.
"If I'm going to be your nurse," I crawled on top of him and sat on his thighs. "You're gonna have to do everything I say." He lowered his gaze and watched as I trailed my fingers across his smooth chest, followed this pale scar and that one too. Sliding my hands further down, I felt the small bumps and valleys of his abs, until my fingers reached his belly button. I circled it playfully then continued, brushing the hem of his pants. Our eyes met shortly, but he lowered his gaze when I tickled my fingers under his waistband and out again. I slowly trailed the tip of my forefinger over the obvious, until I reached between my own legs. Altair's eyes flickered briefly to mine, as he rubbed his palms on my thighs, hips, and under my shirt, grasping the curve of my waist firmly. I shuddered at the callous digits. He continued following my finger with his eyes when I dragged it up my stomach, lifting my shirt along with my movements, until I let it fall back again and put my finger on my chin in a mocking expression.
"What now?" I whispered, tilting my head to the side. The fingers squeezed and jolted to the side. He rolled over, caging me beneath him, again. I groaned as I felt my head hit the floor and closed my eyes against the swirling room.
"Isis?" I grunted to let him know I was listening. "What's wrong?" I felt him raise his body a little and opened my eyes. He was looking confused at me.
"I hit my head." I pushed at his chest and he rolled away from me, sitting up. I felt him pull my wrist until I was sitting sideways on his crossed legs, his big, warm hands caressing the back of my head.
"Did I hurt you?" he asked. I shook my head.
"I'm just a little weak." Raising my head, I kissed his jaw. "What exactly happened to me?"
"You probably weren't used to the heat." He lay back down and cradled me in his arms. I felt sleepy already.
"Sorry for ruining the mood." I giggled into his chest.
"Hmm…" I felt him shake his head. "Better if Malik doesn't walk in." My face reddened. I completely forgot about Malik. I heard Altair chuckle and decided to change the subject.
"When will I get better?"
"We will leave for Masyaf tomorrow. Zahir will know what to do." I nodded and closed my eyes, breathing in the exotic, spicy scent Altair released.