Chapter Ten: Willow pt. 2

The city flashed by faster than she would have wanted and her feelings were more altered than she expected. She had, unwillingly and without noticing, shed a few tears; probably the first ones she had every shed since her brother's death. The lieutenant, who had kept a professional distance from her as they traveled within the city, immediately got closer to her as they were far enough from the city gate.

"If only I had known that not hearing the end would make you cry, I would have not made you wait." He said to her, his voice very light. He was wearing the proper uniform now – that including the helmet and the sword that characterized knights. Amira laugh at his comment and wiped the last tear from her face before it managed to get to her cheek.

"Would you mind carrying on," she said, almost pleading.

"Only if you say please," he teased her.

"For a member of the Templar Knights, you are must too childish." She complained and he laughed. "Please?" She said mockingly.

"Not all of us are old, cranky men, willow," he replied, getting his horse even closer to the cart. "In fact, some of us are quite entertaining. But that is beyond the point; I am to resume the story. Where did I left off?"

"Where the God was explaining to her the so called curse," she said between giggles.

"So called? Don't you think it's a curse as well?" he asked her, amused.

"No, not entirely, see, even if she could not directly intervene, she could find a way around. Besides, even if you cannot change things, it gives her an advantage. She knows what is going to happen, so she will not be caught by surprise. She will always be ready."

"But the letter from Al Mualim still caught you by surprise," he protested. Her smile quickly faded and he realized he had pressed the wrong button. She did not move. She did not speak. Her eyes remained glued to a random spot on the cart, paying no attention to the world around her. In her head, the words that man had written to her were being heard. 'Your brother is no longer in this world,' that specific phrase resonated in her being. She sighed, forcing herself to snap out of her little trance.

"I would ask you how you know about that, but at this point it would not make a difference. Please, do finish the story." She said, her voice quivering. He looked at her, or so it seemed, his face was still covered by the helmet and as such, discerning his emotions was an impossible task. Reading her, however, was quite the easy task. Even that man could've noticed just how much she was hurting at the time.

"So the girl, the new princess," he begun, apparently not minding her feelings, "left the temple, enraged. She did not want to live that way, you see, to her it was a curse. She tried telling her husband, but he did not believe her. She told her father but he, the only one who witnessed the event, told her that once a deal is made with the gods, it cannot be broken. It was only the first day and she was already feeling so helpless, desperate. After hours of crying and whining, she managed to calm herself down. She had no choice but to accept her fate, as horrible as it may be. That night she went to bed and in her dreams, she saw herself talking to the gods, not as a mortal pleading for mercy but as an equal, a mortal still, but someone who they did not look down upon. When she awoke she realized that, just as her dreams can be horrible they can also be reassuring, like the one she had the night before."

"She never complained about her curse after that night. Even though her dreams were becoming more and more horrible as time went on, she would never become weakened by them. She saw how the town she was born in was turned to cinders. She saw how her father passed away, as a tired old man – a tired but nonetheless happy old man. She saw how her own husband died in battle – as a proud soldier of the empire. She began to notice how slowly, as every day and every year was flying by, she was left alone. She had lost everyone who was dear to her. She only had one person left that mattered, her soon to be born child. She was carrying a child when her husband passed away, the only thing left with her."

"The child was born, a little baby girl, as healthy and beautiful as the mother had been. She was happy for the first time in a long time, for the loneliness had crept away. But her happiness was to not last long, that same night she had another dream. She dreamt that a mad man was to set their mansion on fire, as well as most of the rich district. She had seen how every room caught fire and crumbled to pieces, killing everybody in the place. Engulfed in fear and pain, she woke up, took her baby and got ready to get as far away from the place as she possibly could. But since she could not change the course of her history, the mansion started burning as she tried to escape. She got out of it though, to find every other building in the vicinity burning. She knew there was no escape, not for her at least. The god had told her that she would never be able to change anything unless she was willing to die for it. As she saw the body of her newborn baby, sleeping soundly against her chest even though the noise around them was almost deafening, she decided that it was finally time for her to sacrifice herself."

"She ram, with the baby in her arms, towards the temple of the god that had granted her wish. It was as spotless as usual; the fire which had covered every building seemed to be present in the temple. 'Do you know what this means?' he asked her as she set the baby on the temple's floor. 'Yes.' She whispered softly, kissing her baby lightly on the forehead."

"'You see, all my life I have been the spectator. I have seen everything, I have felt everything, but I have never had a say. I lived with it, I managed to because I told myself that everything happened for a reason; I told myself that sooner or later I was meant to lose them. I enjoyed a life with my father and mother, I enjoyed my life with my husband. I know they enjoyed it as well – through the ups and downs because they had a chance at living. But a baby still has not gotten a chance. And, I don't want it to be my fault that an innocent child dies. You are to take my soul, I am aware, and my body ashes it shall become. But, please grant me one last wish.'" She was, by then, on her knees pleading. 'My selfishness made me ask of you something I did not deserve and even when I got it, I was never able to accomplish such a thing. A princess, it was foolish of me, wasn't it? A princess does not suffer; a princess does not anger the gods. My daughter still has no name, so the last thing I'd like to give her is all I never got. Her name, I want it to mean 'princess'."

"The God, moved because of her sacrifice, agreed to such a thing. It did not take long before the fire entered the temple, burning down everything and everyone around it. The god had one of his messengers pick up the newborn child and carry her away to safety. She was raised by the God who had granted her mother's wish, because he felt guilty for all the tragedy she had made her live through. He realized as she grew up, that her mother's curse had been passed on to her, she could also see things that were bound to come. He tried to undo the curse, but it was wrapped around every inch of her body. He couldn't remove it, he realized at some point, but he could change it. He allowed the girl to weave in the net of time and space. She could, unlike her mother, change the things that were to happen without risking her life. Of course there was a limit to her interference, he could grant her complete control, but it was enough to ease the pain she was bound to feel as her life progressed. Though, no matter how much she could change things, there will come a point where the only way to save what she loves is to give her own life in return. "

"That can't be the end," Amira complained, when she noticed he was not going to keep on talking. "You have got to be kidding me."

"I removed some details here and there, but they don't really matter much. And it's true, her story continues but it is much too long for me to elaborate. I am going to bore you to death."

"Can I ask you some questions then?" she asked, for he seemed to be the kind of man you cannot argue with. He laughed quietly and nodded a yes.

"You never mentioned their names, the girl's and her daughter."

"I know what their name's meant, but I don't know their actual names. The mother, her name was Willow and the girl's, well I guess you can guess. "

"Okay," Amira said. "So why do you call me Willow?"

"I think it fits don't you? You look a lot like the girl described." He said, taking off his helmet and placing it between his legs. She looked at him, he definitely had other reasons for calling her such, and he clearly did not want to share. But, for her to assume that the reason he called her that was because she could do what that woman could was too conceited of her. Besides, such a thing is preposterous, ridiculous and just not possible. That's what she told herself, at least. More importantly, she wanted to know how he knew about the letter she had received. Nobody but Adnan knew of its existence, not even her father. Even if Adnan had spread the word, there was no way they'd know whether or not it caught her by surprise. There was just something about him that made her distrust him.

Silence started to creep in. Besides them, there was nobody else speaking, no one else daring to say one word. With their silence, all that could be heard was the sound of the horse's steady pace and the occasional gush of wind that will sweep by. She was buried in her thoughts, trying to figure out the man that kept on calling her willow.

She gazed up at the sky to see the few clouds that dared present themselves in the sky. The sun was starting its way down, towards the west, though its heat was still present. She closed her eyes and inhaled, around her was nothing but patches of green and brown. The road they followed was surrounded by a thin line of grass as well as the occasional tree or two. It was mostly barren, except for the occasional posts of guards around the kingdom.

The sun was now finally setting and she had not uttered one word and neither had he. So when the man finally spoke, she was startled. His voice was different than the one he used around her, his voice more arrogant, more commanding. It was the voice of a lieutenant, of a knight.

"I am amazed," he said, pulling his horses' reigns, bringing him to a stop. The men around him stopped from advancing and so did her little cart. She quickly turned around to see just what might have made the man speak and quickly realized the reason. "You people found out about her faster than I had expected," the lieutenant spoke. He turned to look at her and smiled reassuringly.

In front of them a man she was too familiar with stood, looking their way. Behind him, the city of Jerusalem could be seen at a distance. There was still quite the large distance to cover, a couple of towns to cross, before arriving at Jerusalem. Her eyes were fixed on the man across from her, refusing to move her glare though his presence was causing her to feel dizzy, nauseated and someone in pain. The lieutenant saw her reaction and cringed a tad, as if feeling her unexpressed pain.

"Aldrich Ainsworth," the assassin spoke in his low voice, almost as authoritative as the knight's. "I am here for the girl, not for you."

Author's Ranting:

So it came to my attention, after an afternoon of reading random articles in wikipedia, that carriages were not invented until the seventeenth century...in England. A little fact that has made me very, very, very annoyed. So, I apologize for my little historical mistake and I promise it will never happen again - at least, not that big of a mistake. As for the story, Altair is back... and he wants the girl. Though I am not sure she wants him.

To DreamCloud93: A really big thank you for all your support. And I would've accepted Adnan's help, too. ;)