Chapter 28
The blue mosaicked building was quite unlike anything else I had ever seen in the game so far. Apart from its stunning architecture and colour scheme, it was also rather innovative. Whilst hiding from a sizable cluster of guards, we had jumped into what appeared to be a bathroom. I had instantly felt the warm floor through my soft leather boots, and further inspection had revealed that the floor was indeed heated. While the technology to heat floor probably would've been present at this time, my school history studies had mainly focused on ancient Rome and Greece, and so I couldn't be sure if having it here in this bastardised version of 12th century Jerusalem was historically accurate or not.
Once the chatter of the latest set of guards disappeared down the hall, Altair lead us back out.
"Wouldn't it be more assassiny to, you know, actually assassinate some of these guards, rather than hiding like a common thief?" I asked.
"No," Altair replied sternly, "because, a) assassinating all these guards is simply impractical, b) would attract too much attention, from the pile of bodies, if not the noise, and c) assassiny is not a word."
"Wow, using grammar as an excuse. How assassiny," I remarked.
Altair rolled his eyes. "Come on. We've already made it downstairs. Elise's room should be close."
"Aye aye captain, but in which direction are we headed?" I asked, "All this jumping and hiding has completely confused my usually flawless sense of direction."
Altair looked like he could've laughed, "flawless? I suppose that's one word."
I scowled, "Shut up. And you didn't answer my question."
Altair poked his head out the door, examining the hallway. "Well, since the staircase we came down is there, I'd think the room we need to go to is…right in front of us."
"Well that was easy," I couldn't help but point out.
"Don't start going on about it's so easy it must be an ambush. You're starting to sound paranoid," he replied, "besides, I wouldn't exactly call this whole exercise easy. I lost count of all the times we were nearly caught."
"…I suppose. There are a surprising amount of people running around here," I conceded.
"Exactly. So while the halls are actually clear for once, do you think we could stop wasting time and actually go interrogate Elise? It's only the whole reason we're here."
"Ok ok, no need to be snippy. Lead on," I said quickly.
Without any more hesitation, Altair took one last glance down the hall before stepping out and stepping up to the door. One hand on the ornate handle, he put his ear to the wood, listening for…something, I presume. Moments later, he glanced back at me and nodded, in what I assumed was supposed to be some sort of signal he had forgotten to explain earlier. I nodded back, not really knowing why, and stepped out of the empty bedroom. The assassin turned back to the door and turned the handle, slowly pushing it open.
Elise's room was expensively decorated, as was to be expected considering her position. While women in this time weren't exactly seen as equals, mistresses of powerful men were lavished with riches and…gold-leafed wallpaper, apparently. But amongst all the over-the-top trappings and almost blinding reflection of gold decorations was a large four poster bed. No prizes for guessing why it was the centre piece of the whole visual feast that was the room. But it was what we found gently snoring on said bed that was most relevant for us.
I followed Altair closely as we stalked into the room, having closed the door behind us. Elise was what you might expect a concubine to look like. She was obviously pretty, with delicate features. Unfortunately, those delicate features were suffering from a major case of 'cake-face'. I guess Robert likes them clown-like. All she was missing was a red plastic nose.
"Do we wake her up?" I whispered to Altair.
"Well we're hardly going to get any information out of her while she's sleeping," he muttered back, "Unless she starts snoring in morse code or something."
"Oh, that would be so cool."
I could see him roll his eyes from under his hood.
"So…how are we going to wake her up?" I asked, "Throw a cup of water on her face? Poke her awake? Sit there with a knife hovered over her face and wait for her to wake up normally, so when she does, she practically craps herself?"
"…what? No! Those are all stupid ideas."
"Then what are we going to do?"
Elise groaned and flickered her eyes open.
"…talk until the noise disturbs her," Altair was quick to step forward and put a hand over mouth, preventing the clearly freaked-out woman from screaming.
And really, who could blame her for trying? Being woken up only to find two strangers hovering over you, and dressed in assassin robes no less. I felt sorry for her. But business was business.
I tried to smile warmly, "Hello. Elise, right?"
Altair looked up, "Let me handle the talking."
I held my hands up and backed away, "By all means then, go."
Altair glanced back at the panicky woman, "…are you Elise?"
She nodded, her eyes frantic. She was clearly terrified.
"I don't think your usual techniques are going to work," I advised Altair.
"What are you talking about?"
"She's a girl. Your usual combo of threats and roughing up isn't really appropriate here," I protested, "Or necessary."
After a few moments hesitation, Altair rolled his eyes and focused back on Elise, "We're not here to hurt you. We just need information."
From the way her eyes were welling up, I could see Elise wasn't convinced. I sat down next to her on the bed.
"We're trying to take out Robert. We were told you might be willing to help. He's the guy you…service, right?" I hoped relating to her as a fellow woman might help.
She nodded, which was difficult with Altair's hand over her mouth. He seemed to sense it too. "If you promise not to scream, I'll let you go. We just want to talk."
Altair's seldom-seen calm and reasonable voice seemed to work. She nodded once more, and as promised, he released her head, stepping back. The mistress wiped her eyes with the palm of her hands, smearing her makeup. "Who are you?" she asked fearfully.
"We're assassins, on a mission to find the Piece of Eden before the Templars," I announced proudly. I could see Altair glare at me in my peripherals. Were we not supposed to give out our secret mission statement in interrogations?
"…really? What's the Piece of Eden?" she asked, confused.
"That's not important. What's important is that you give us information," Altair jumped in quickly.
She shrugged, "What do you want to know?"
"What do you know about Robert's plans for the funeral? What is he planning?" Altair asked, getting back to business and attempting to keep the menace out of his voice. A real struggle, I'm sure.
Elise shook her head, "I don't know. I'm just a mistress, he doesn't tell me these things."
I could see Altair start to get frustrated, so I jumped in, "Surely you'd know something. Anything about his work. Maybe he likes to gloat after sex?" I suggested.
"Only about how good he thinks he was. But in reality, I've had to fake it more times than I can count," she revealed.
I smirked, my undeniable eagerness for gossip intrigued; "Really now?"
She nodded, smirking slightly, "I've seen jackals better hung than him."
"Well this is all just fascinating," Altair interrupted, clearly not finding this info on Robert's sex life as interesting as I was, "but it is completely irrelevant. Do you know anything at all about the funeral?"
She seemed to think for a moment, "…I may have something that could be useful."
I grinned at Altair as Elise got up and walked over to her vanity table, opening a draw and pulling out a piece of folded parchment. "I stole this from his office a few days ago when I was looking for some spare paper," she handed it to Altair, "I don't know if it's helpful, but I thought it was interesting."
Altair opened up the parchment to reveal an undeniable map of the rich district, and the buildings where the funeral was to be held, to be specific. And marked on the map were distinct black crosses.
"This is a map of where de Sable and his guards will be stationed," Altair interpreted incredulously.
I could barely believe it either, "Wow, really? Seems like we've really hit the jackpot."
"So you're really going to kill Robert?" Elise asked, sitting back down on the bed.
"That's the plan, yeah," I nodded.
"Thank god," she sighed.
"…I take it you don't like him?"
She shook her head, "he's violent, unreasonable and a selfish lover. I used to be the top prostitute at the Desert Nights brothel. I had my pick of the clients. This sort of treatment is just not on."
"…wow, top prostitute?"
"I was the best. Men would come all the way from Acre just to see me."
"That's impressive," I remarked.
Altair was still studying the map, "If we come in from the south side, we should be able to utilise this gap in the guards…"
"So Elise, what do you think you'll do once we kill Robert?" I asked, enjoying this opportunity to finally talk to another girl.
"Well, if I can get out of here without being caught, I'll probably go into hiding in Damascus. I have connections there."
"What'll happen if you're caught?"
"I'll be killed," she replied bluntly.
"…wh-"
"If Robert is killed, the Templar's backup plan is to kill everyone connected to him so his predecessor can start afresh. And that includes his mistresses."
"…well that seems a bit harsh," I remarked sympathetically, "And wasteful."
Elise shrugged, "it is their way."
Altair finally finished with the map and rolled it up, tucking it away into one of his many pockets, "Ok, is there any more information you have that may be useful?"
Elise shook her head, "As I said before, he doesn't tell me anything about his work and that's all I have of his."
"So we're done here?" I glanced at Altair for confirmation.
"Almost," he replied, flicking out his hidden bladein an all-too-familiar move.
"Hold on, I gave you what you wanted." Elise said quickly, backing away.
"Yeah, she was very helpful," I pointed out.
Altair glanced at me sternly, "You know the rules. She knows too much, especially after your little chat."
I swallowed. Great, so it's my fault that Elise has to die. But wait, maybe it's my talkativeness that can also save her.
Elise backed away further, knocking over perfume bottles and brushes as she walked into the dressing table.
"But Altair, let's just stop for a minute to consider what we're doing," I tried to buy some time.
"We're making sure this exchange can never get back to Robert. It would greatly hurt the mission if it did," he replied, not taking his eyes off the target of the moment.
"Yes, but do you really think she'd tell him? Quite clearly she hates Robert, perhaps as much as we do," I pointed out.
"And you really think she's being entirely truthful here? Look at how easily she volunteered information. And any prostitute worth their salt can act."
I glanced back at Elise. Had she really been lying the whole time? Was she really just saying all that to gain my trust? Damn my willingness to trust perfect strangers.
"I swear to you I'd give anything for Robert to die," she pleaded, "I'm not working with him. Please, spare my life!"
"I can't take that chance," Altair replied, stepping forward and grabbing the front of her shirt, pulling her within stabbing range.
I saw as her eyes welled up fearfully. Sweat ran down her forehead and her pupils were massively dilated. If all those episodes of 'Lie to me' had taught me anything, it's that this woman was showing all the signs of being terrified. And my intuition told me to trust her.
I stepped up, "Please, Altair. I think she's telling the truth. You don't need to do this!"
He looked back at me irritably. "I told you last time; it's part of the Creed to cover your tracks. Despite what you think, it's too dangerous to let her live."
"But just look at her! Do you really have to kill her, like you did all those other interrogation victims? It's not her fault she has to sleep with the enemy!"
Altair seemed to fully register Elise for the first time, as if some sort of emotionless veil that usually allowed him to mercilessly take the lives of others had been lifted.
His expression softened. He seemed almost regretful, "…We can't jeopardise the mission. I don't see what other options we have."
I stepped forward again, "There are always other options…and if we can't think of any in the next five minutes, then you can kill her. Let's just take a moment to think about it, ok?" I put my hand on his, not-so-subtly prying his fingers off Elise.
My little speech seemed to work, as moments later he released her, dropping the woman back onto the bed.
Elise curled up, thoroughly shaken by her brush with death but too afraid to run and seemingly unsure about what to do next.
"You realise we're taking a huge risk here, going against standard procedure," Altair reminded me.
"I know,"
"I don't like this,"
"I know,"
"How are we going to make sure she doesn't just go running off to de Sable?" he asked me.
"We could always just trust her not to,"
Altair looked at me as if I was crazy. "Trust her? Do you realise what you're saying? Why should we trust her? And why would she listen to us?"
I sat down next to Elise. "Have a little faith, Altair. Besides," I glanced at Elise, "you know that if you did say anything, we'd find a way to come back and finish this, right?"
She nodded quickly.
"I mean, even if we're dead, the Brotherhood would send more assassins. They'd hunt you down like a dog. Not even Robert and the Templars would be able to protect you. You'd never be safe again," I continued, driving my point home.
"Yes, I understand," she nodded quickly, "And I wouldn't say anything to him anyway. I long for day his lifeless corpse is strung up like an ugly tapestry."
I grinned. "See, we can trust her," I told Altair cheerfully.
But Altair didn't seem as convinced, "…I'd still be happier if we killed her."
I sighed, "Not everything needs to be solved with blades, you know. It's thinking like yours that starts wars."
"In case you've forgotten, we're in the middle of a war. Against the Templars. Of which this woman is in their service. Excuse me if letting a potentially dangerous person live doesn't sit well with me," he explained, before adding, "or the Creed, which we're supposed to be following, I might add."
I glanced back Elise, who had resumed looking fearful. It was pretty clear she had no desire to just sit back and die. Yet Altair demanded her blood as insurance for her silence. Surely there was a way to make both people happy…
"Elise, how often does Robert come to you?" I asked suddenly, an idea forming in my mind.
"Every morning, usually. He spends his nights with one of the other mistresses."
"He has other mistresses?"
"There are three of us in total. But the other two wouldn't be of any use to you. One's a mute and the other a child they picked up off the streets. She can't even read."
I ignored the news that Robert was apparently also a paedophile and focused on the plan, "Do you think he'll still come to you tomorrow morning?"
She shook her head, "No, he said something about needing get ready for the Funeral. Joked about me having a day off. Ha! I can't even leave this building. The bastard."
"So…if you're not here tomorrow, you won't be missed?"
"...I suppose not," she conceded, "look, if you're going to kill me, can you at least do it painlessly? Surely my cooperation has earned me that much."
"That can be arranged," Altair remarked, flicking out his hidden blade again.
"Hold it, Stabby," I pushed his hand away, "I think there may be another way to make you disappear, with your life, and without you in a position to rat us out to the Templars."
Altair shot me a wary look, "You'd better not be about to suggest another-"
"I think we should smuggle her out of the city," I announced finally.
Elise clapped her hands together, "You'd really do that? Oh, I like this idea."
The assassin sighed, "We really don't have time for this."
"Sure we do. The funeral isn't until tomorrow. And the nearest gate is only a few blocks away. It would be much easier than Tobias' troupe of offspring. It would take an hour, max."
"And a simple stab through the heart would take less than a minute," he countered.
"Yes, but then there's always a chance her body would be found by a maid or something, right Elise?" I glanced at her for confirmation.
"Definitely. Anyone could walk into my room for some reason. And finding my corpse would attract far more suspicion that simply not finding me at all," she replied, probably making all that up for all I knew, but it was Altair she needed to convince.
"Then it's settled, we'll smuggle Elise out of the building and to the gate," I concluded finally.
Altair sighed, massaging his temples. He was outnumbered. "Fine. But if this doesn't work, I'm never listening to you again."
"Deal," I grinned. I had no idea why he was listening to me now, but I loved the power.
I waved to the brown-robed Elise as she rode away on a chestnut mare. I liked Elise. If we'd met under different circumstances or for more than an hour, I reckon we would've been good friends. And she was an ex prostitute. I'd always wanted one of them as a friend. I imagine they had the most interesting stories.
"Are you satisfied?" Altair asked. I could hear the resentment in his voice.
"Very," I replied, "we ensured the silence of an interrogation victim without resorting to violence, and we have one kick-arse map. I think we practically have everything we need now to go and take out Robert at the Funeral."
"We still don't know what exactly he's planning," Altair reminded me.
"And what are the chances that we'll find that out from anyone but Robert himself? I think we should be happy with what we have."
"I suppose…are there any more information missions on the mini map?" he asked.
I pulled it out gladly. It was still a thrill to have it working again. I didn't have to constantly feel guilty and make up excuses anymore. "There are only three icons left on the map. One of them the bureau, one that looks like a pickpocketing mission and the third…" I brought the screen closer to my face, squinting, "…I can't tell. But it's something. We should probably check it out."
Altair nodded, "Which is the closest?"
"The unknown mission. It's a only few streets away."
"Lead on then."
Mini map in hand, I jumped off the straw wagon and past the unmanned gate, dodging down an alley as a small patrol of guards walked past. There was a light thump against the wall next to me as Altair followed. Checking the coast was clear, we stalked out of the alley and back into the main streets. We blended in with the crowd as we walked, following the flashing icon on the map. I wondered what it could be. Another 'save citizen'? Maybe one of those merchant-stand destruction missions I'd heard about, although those were only supposed to be on the PC version of the game. The destination alley came up and I pulled Altair around the sharp corner.
I slowed to a halt, "…this is where it's supposed to be. But there's nothing here. I don't understand."
Altair put a finger to his lips and took a few more steps forward, scanning the dark alley.
"What do you think is-"
"Shush! Can't you read signals at all?" Altair demanded.
Before I could defend myself, a large red blur jumped out from a dark niche in the wall and grabbed Altair around the throat. I stood frozen, watching as the assassin struggled to free himself from the Templar Knight. Finally, Altair managed to elbow the knight in the stomach, causing him to release him. He dropped to the ground, gasping for air. The Templar, recovering much faster than him, pulled out his sword.
In a rare moment of clarity, I remembered the bow and quiver I'd been lugging around all day and grabbed an arrow. Fumbling slightly, I managed to fit it on the bow and quickly pulled back and released in the general direction ahead of me without really aiming (probably not the smartest idea ever).
The arrow flew up and embedded itself in the wooden wall of the building. Not exactly the Templar's bulging belly like I had hoped, but it caused enough of a distraction for the knight to duck and for Altair to roll away, getting back to his feet and pulling out his own sword.
Leaping forward, Altair swung his sword against the templar's. From my game-playing days, I remember these battles as the most difficult. These almost-elite knights really made you work for the achievement of killing them all. The amount of times I had died trying with just one…
But Altair, it seemed, didn't have nearly as much trouble on his own. After watching them clash steel on steel for a few moments, the assassin finally won the advantage and knocked the templar's sword from his hand. Without hesitation, he stepped in and skewered the man through the chest, pulling back and letting him fall to the ground unceremoniously. For all our joking around and conversations, I had almost forgotten Altair was a highly-trained killer. It was moments like these that brought no doubt to that fact.
"Well, that solves the mystery of 'What's on the Mini Map?'" I remarked as he cleaned his sword and put it back in the hilt.
"That should be the last of those guys," he replied.
"In Jerusalem?"
"No, everywhere. Or in the game, at least."
"Oh, cool….but where's the achievement pop-up?" I asked.
"Did you really expect it up show up here?"
"…maybe a little bit."
Altair rolled his eyes, "So where's this pickpocket mission supposed to start?"
Hey guys. Happy 2011. I dunno about you, but I've been having a fun new year. And now the next chapter is ready. Huzzah. The end is in sight. I'm actually excited about it. This whole story has been a huge undertaking and I'll be nice to finally finish something I've started.
Fun fact: the original second half the Elise conversation featured a pretty nifty Bioshock reference. But as I wrote that months ago, and since then the mood of the interrogation changed significantly and that exchange and reference didn't fit anymore. But it doesn't matter. It wasn't really that good a use of a reference anyway. I'm must happier with this version anyway.
That's all for now. Thanks so much for the funtasmagorical reviews (and send some more maybe please? ^^;) and I'll see you all on the next chapter
