A/N ~~ A new chapter has arrived! And it was so hard to translate! ;_; But I hope that you guys will enjoy it! Thanks to
Xemnas-Girl-Forever, kenokosan, marienola and DanAlaya! I was so glad to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter, especially because it has taking me such a long time to publish!
"What are you doing?" He asked and looked confused at her.
"Listen!" She hissed in a small voice. They listened to the voices coming from the other end of the corridor. The voices sounded familiar.
Kazim caught her gaze. His eyes were widened. "Is that who I think it is?"
Elizabeth leaned up against wall and nodded. "Yes it is. I'm sorry Kazim."
Elizabeth could see Kazim clench his fist. The voices rang in their ears and into their minds. Kazim's face turned from carefree to shock as he and Elizabeth stood behind the corner of the corridor and heard the footsteps belonging to the men they could hear. Both of them knew the owners of the voices as they looked at each other.
"We are losing time Siraj al Din!" Stefano's big, robust voice yelled in a way one would wish that they had stayed home. He sounded like a cave man whose wrath knew no limits. Elizabeth imagined him with a wooden club and with animal skin covering his oversized body. "That woman you caught last night wasn't the European woman I was sent out to find!"
"I know my lord, but that woman is…" Siraj al Din was compared to Stefano a little worm. Elizabeth took a chance as she leaned herself out in the corridor so she could see the men.
"Useless to me! Give me one good reason to keep her here." Stefano answered as his tone of voice spread an unknown fear in the corridor. The voices echoed among the strong stone walls of the prison. It had to be Salihah that they were talking about.
The footsteps stopped. "That woman, my lord, is the sister of the rebel's leader! He will come and get her in one way or the other. As for the man my men caught." He stopped for a moment, and they started to walk again. "His name is Altaïr Ibn La-Ahad; a skilled assassin, so don't underestimate him. It could be your death if you do."
Elizabeth could feel Siraj al Din's words cut deep. "Altaïr." The British woman whispered as she felt a sudden urge to use her hidden blade and kill Siraj al Din, but it would be not only risky but also stupid. She felt physically drained, more fatigued than she had ever felt before.
"An assassin? Here?" Stefano sounded surprised and Siraj al Din nodded. "Does Alexander know?"
"Yes, Lord Stefano. Alexander knows too. He is from the mountain village of Masyaf." Siraj al Din explained as Elizabeth had to restrain herself further. "He was also on the bout from Acre."
"Elizabeth, you are shaking!" Kazim whispered. He sat behind Elizabeth as he watched how fast her hatred grew.
"I know…! But Kazim, who is Alexander?" She asked but he stayed silent. The two rebels weren't safe in the company of a traitor or the Captain of the Limassol guard so she had to be quiet.
"Who is he after?" Stefano's voice suddenly sounded more civil.
"My best guess would be you, my lord. You are highest in command." Siraj al Din's words where like the words of a snake. "However, I have reasons to believe that this European woman you are looking after and he are intimate."
Stefano stopped. "I see. It would make sense." He looked at Siraj al Din. "Well don't just stand there! Find them!" He waved his big arm up in the air. "Lord Waldemar is soon leaving for Jerusalem with the King. I plan to be there with them when we take the holy city."
"Of course, my lord." Siraj al Din answered, bowed in front of the Captain and the voices faded away along with the sound of footsteps. Elizabeth and Kazim stayed behind for a moment in silence.
Elizabeth sighed slowly before taking a deep breath. "Kazim?"
"God has his reasons Elizabeth; he just doesn't want to share them." Kazim paused for a second. His throat was dry. "So Siraj really is the traitor. I hadn't foreseen that." He still sat on the floor and leaned his head forward like he had become sick or something. "And Alexander… Come to think of it I haven't seen Alexander for quite some time."
"I'm sorry Kazim." Their eyes met. "He has been acting very aggressive and impatient since he wanted me to go to Cyprus." She sighed. "But now we got that out in the open, then I only have two question."
"What is that?" His mind was gradually coming back to where it belonged and his senses were returning to normal.
"First; who is Alexander?"
"Alexander is one of Zain's sailors and a good friend. Or at least I thought." His voice still didn't sound like his own, though it was getting closer.
"Why does Stefano want me?"
"Hmm…" Kazim started, frowned a little. "Did you meet him before?"
"Once in the castle in Acre." Elizabeth started. "He didn't really like me."
"I doubt that he even likes his own mother." Kazim stated as Elizabeth looked at him. He was about her height and gangly, with an oversized mouth and an undersized nose. He had long limbs and reminiscent of those failed revolutionary intellectuals in nineteenth-century Russian novels.
Elizabeth grinned. "I guess, but I am sorry about Siraj al Din."
"Don't be. It is not your fault." He took a deep breath and stood up again. "I would rather have the truth then living comfortably in a lie." There was a little silence. "We should get going." Elizabeth nodded, but didn't say anything. It was clear that Kazim was shocked by the fact that Siraj al Din was a traitor. "But Altaïr saved me once and he would possibly do it again if he had the chance. I'm with you."
She smiled. "Thank you." They looked around the corner and saw that there was no one. They hurried down the corridor, both with a feeling of being partly lost. "It was in Jerusalem right?"
"What?" Kazim asked. His fine, wiry hair was beginning to show a touch of gray in front, very young for his age. Tangled on the sides, it was long enough to cover his ears, and it always stayed that length, about a week overdue for a haircut. Elizabeth wondered how such a thing was possible. At times Kazim's eyes would take on a sharp glow, like stars glittering in the winter night sky. And if something caused him to clam up, he would maintain his silence like a rock on the far side of the moon. All expression would disappear from his face, and his body seemed to go cold.
"That Altaïr saved you?" Elizabeth asked. "He hadn't said much about it."
He nodded. "Yes it was. I was about to be executed."
"For what?" She heard him draw a sharp breath, and then every muscle in his body went stiff.
"I'm an assassin Elizabeth, but I was stupid enough to get caught. I was an idiot."
"Yeah, I get that but I don't think that you are an idiot. You just have some pieces that are missing in action." She smiled. "What happened?"
"I was restless, and tried to do a mission by myself. Jerusalem has always been a troubled city, but it was the place I was born. It was the place that I wanted to stay, but after I was saved I went to Cyprus to be with Salihah and Zain." He stopped and sighed. "And now Zain is dead."
"Did you know each other a long time?" Elizabeth also stopped.
Kazim nodded. "Since we were kids, but his family moved to Acre about ten years ago and Salihah went with them." They started to walk again, checking the cells as they passed them.
"Isn't she your younger sister?" Elizabeth frowned.
"Younger? Salihah is five years older than me." Kazim explained as they walked down the corridor, keeping their voices on a low. "Our parents travelled a lot. Our father Arabic and mother Italian we were often seen as something that never should have existed."
"Italian? That is why you speak the language."
He nodded. "Yes, My father was a sailor in his youth and at one point go to Napoli where he met my mother. He stayed for a year and they got married after discovering that my mother was pregnant with Salihah. They moved to Jerusalem and there they decided to have another child."
"You I suppose?"
"Actually no. We had another brother but he died. I of course never knew him but that is why there are many years between me and Salihah." He explained in details as she listened to every word.
The British woman stopped. "So she is also older than me?" Elizabeth widened her eyes. She suddenly felt ugly for no reason.
"How old are you?" He asked.
"29 years old." Elizabeth said, wondering if the old term 'never ask a woman for her age' didn't exist in this time period.
"And I am 28, so she is about four years older than you."
"She is 33?" Elizabeth gasped and Kazim nodded. She sighed. "I knew that I was older then Altaïr, but that Salihah is older than me."
"How old is Altaïr?"
"He is 25 years old." She answered. They looked at each other.
"Wow." Kazim said. "I didn't know. He doesn't act like he is 25 though."
"No he doesn't." She grinned to herself for some unknown reason. It was actually nice to talk to somebody about Altaïr.
He smirked for a second and then suddenly asked: "So you and Altaïr are intimate?"
Elizabeth stopped. "What?"
"You heard Siraj al Din. So are you?"
She signed with a small smile "Yes, every Sunday after confession."
Kazim laughed in silence. "Now let us see." He started to look into some of the cells.
"Any luck?" Elizabeth asked.
"I found it!" He exhaled. "I found her cell!" That was quick Elizabeth thought, but if Kazim had been there before it should be a piece of cake.
Elizabeth could hear a familiar voice but not what it said. "Good work, but what were the chances of that?"
"Small." Kazim said with a relieved smile.
Elizabeth looked at him and returned the smile. "The chances are better to be hit by a horse while you are swimming I guess." She knocked at the door. "Salihah?"
"Yes?" It was clear that she had been crying. "Elizabeth? Is that really you?"
"Hi, beautiful." Elizabeth smiled to her. "Now, how do we get you out of there?"
"I will figure that out. Go and see if you can find Altaïr." Kazim said and Elizabeth nodded. "He shouldn't be too far away."
"Okay." She sounded a little uncertain as she went down the corridor. This place was a lot bigger than it had looked from the outside. Most of the cells were empty, but after turning with a corner she heard a cry she had heard before.
She walked slowly towards the sounds and stopped a few meters from a cell at the end of the corridor. The door was opened for some reason, but there was somebody in there. "Talk you dog!" The man commanded, but whoever he was beating up didn't answer him.
Elizabeth looked pasted the door frame. She widened her eyes at the man lying on the floor, dressed in a white assassin uniform but more than half of it covered in dried and new blood stains. She mouth whispered Altaïr's name without making a sounded as the guard kick the assassin in his stomach. He was panted heavily, trying his best to keep himself from screaming or show signs of weakness.
What should she do? Run back and get Kazim? Without thinking about it she stood up and went behind the guard, expended her hidden blade, covering his mouth with her right hand and stabbed him in the left side of his back. She aimed for the heart and the guard screamed as much he could, but only the rats could heard him as he fell to the floor.
Instantly, she withdrew the blade and just as quickly took out the small gauze pad she had ready in her pocket, pressing it against the wound to prevent the flow of blood. Because the blade was so fine and had remained in his skin for no more than a few seconds, only a minuscule amount of blood could possibly escape through the opening, but she had to take every precaution.
The guard's face lay sideways, pillowed on hay and dirt from the floor. His eyes were wide open in apparent surprise, as if his last act had been to witness something utterly amazing. They showed neither fear nor pain, only pure surprise. Something out of the ordinary was happening to him, but he could not comprehend what it was—a pain, an itch, a pleasure, or a divine revelation? There were many different ways of dying in the world, perhaps none of them as easy as this.
Elizabeth took some deep breaths, trying to remember what reality was. She looked down and realities suddenly hint her in the back of her head with a baseball bat. Had she just kill a man? This was an easier death than you deserved, Elizabeth thought with a scowl. It was just too simple. I probably should have broken a few ribs for you with a five iron and given you plenty of pain before putting you out of your misery. That would have been the right kind of death for a rat like you. Unfortunately, however, the choice was not mine.
She could hear her heart beating. Her blade was covered in blood but that wasn't what concerned her the most as she looked down on the ground.
"Altaïr? Please Altaïr, say something!" She really wanted to yell at the man however that would be high risk behavior if anyone heard her. She kneeled on the floor, pouted her lips as she wondered what else she could do. He was unconscious. It was helpless to wake him up, and his pulse was so weak she almost couldn't feel it. A tear from the corner of her eyelid travelled down her cheek as she felt that all hope was lost. She couldn't wake him up, she couldn't carry him, and the worst part was that she couldn't save him from his pain.
She leaned forward, placing her hand on one of his cheeks, and kissed his other cheek very gently. She moved slowly down to his mouth as she hardened her kisses, closed her eyes hoping that he would react. She opened her eyes again as she reached his lips, his beautiful lips with a scar crossing over them both. She closed her eyes ones more, enjoying her actions even though they were wrong, but she was out of ideas and in the next moment she felt like she was kissing a corpse.
"Mmm…" The noise hadn't come from Elizabeth. She leaned back a little to watch his eyelashes as they moved a little bit, like somebody would when they were in a state of dreaming.
"Altaïr?" She whispered with tears down her cheeks, she sat in silence in the dirty floor and he slowly but certainly opened his eyes.
"Mmm… What? Elizabeth?" He recognized her voice. When his eyes opened some more he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He touched her cheek with his fingertip and dried away some of the tears. "Is it really you?" She nodded as she placed a hand over his. "It must be a dream." He then mumbled, unable to understand what the woman he loved was doing in a prison in Limassol.
She grinned a little as his words, and leaned forward again as she whispered. "Then it is a good dream." She kissed him, this time when he was awake and the kiss brought him back to reality as a true but surprising joy spread throughout his body. He closed his eyes as their lips danced their third real dance together and like every good dance they didn't want to stop. They broke apart to get air and to look at each other but Altaïr still held her cheek with his palm.
He exhaled deeply as his eyes didn't leave hers. "What are you doing here?" He asked in a low, almost rusty voice. The room was dark, of course.
She frowned. "Isn't it obvious?" Her lips parted slightly as she sighed. "I have come to free you."
"Free me?" he questioned and narrowed his eyes.
"Yes. It is my fault that you ended up in here." Elizabeth said feeling her body react to the body lying on the floor.
Altaïr raised an eyebrow, seeing how troubled she was. "I highly doubt that it was your fault and…"
"If I hadn't said anything you wouldn't have been distracted, and you wouldn't have ended up in here." She really needed to calm her nerves. After all, she had just sent a man to the other side. True, he was a loathsome rat who had no right to complain about being killed, but he was, ultimately, a human being.
"Talking about getting in, how did you get in here?"
"That is a very long story, but I will with pleasure tell you everything when we have gotten out of here." Her hands still retained the sensation of the life draining out of him. He had expelled his last breath, and the spirit had left his body.
"Are you alone?" He looked around. There were no sounds coming from the corridors.
"Nope, I have the amazing Kazim with me, and believe me it has been funny so far. Come on."
They stood up slowly and Elizabeth brushed away some of the dirt in Altaïr's robes. "One last question." He asked with a clear sign of sudden pain in his voice. He grabbed his side where his robes were mostly red due to his blood lost.
"Ask then but please hurry, we have to get out of here." She turned around, facing the door.
"Why did you kiss me?"
She stopped moving. "I-"
"Yes?"
She turned around. "I have no excuse." She said to his face. It was clear that he didn't believe her. She started shaking in frustration. "I thought I had lost you alright! You wouldn't wake up! I need to get you out! That is what friends are for!"
Altaïr almost ignored her outburst and he limp a step towards her. "You don't kiss a friend like that! Or at all!" he answered back and caught her gaze. "So why did you kiss me Elizabeth?"
She looked at him, fearing that he had forgot about last night. Had he got amnesia?
To have a tasteful continue...
A/N - I think that this is one of the longest chapters to date. I received this request (from my little sister) of trying to be more detailed about the thoughts of Elizabeth. So I really tried to go into Elizabeth's head this time and adding how the environment was. Please tell me if it was good or bad. Well I hope you enjoyed and if you did please let me know or if there is something else, please let me know too. I will see you some time after my last exam ;D SEE YOU!