The next morning, Altair woke up with Maria looking at him. Then she smiled and kissed him.
"Good morning…" She said after. "Did you sleep well"
"Good morning…" He said. "Despite the pain, yes… and you?"
"Yeah…" She answered. "This bed is very comfortable…"
Altair nodded.
"True…" He said. "But we need to get up"
"Do we?" Maria asked. "Can't we just stay here a little?"
"No…" He said. "We need to find out where we are?"
Maria nodded and helped him to get up. She saw he was in pain but was hiding it.
"Do you want some medicine?" She asked a few seconds later.
Altair denied. So, they finish changing themselves, with the clothes they had won.
"I'm not going out like this…" He said, picking up the ruffle with one hand and cutting it off with the hidden blade.
"Now yes…" He said. "But there is something missing…"
"You have your hidden blade… what can be…" Maria said, but stopped when they realized what it was.
"The apple…" They said together.
Altair was quiet.
"Where it can be?" Maria asked.
"I probably lost it on the river..." Altair said. "We need to find it before… or someone can be hurt…"
"And we won't be returning home…" Maria continued.
"Let's go…" Altair said.
She nodded.
X ~ X ~ X
When Altair and Maria left their room, they saw Achilles and Connor on the corridor.
"Good morning." Achilles said. "How was the night?"
"It was good…" Maria said, smiling.
Altair interrupted them and asked.
"Connor, you said you were going to show us the state and your village?"
Maria looked ugly at him, but it was ignored. She then looked to Achilles and Connor and apologized.
"I'm sorry, but John s eager to see the rest of the property…"
Connor nodded.
"You can go…" Achilles said. "We'll meet here later…"
"Ok…" Connor said walking to the door.
Maria and Altair followed him.
X ~ X ~ X
During the recognition tour, Altair and Maria were paying attention to what Connor said and showed them. They had also met other people, who lived there.
"All this people were obligated to leave their house in the city…" Connor explained.
"Why?" Maria asked.
"Let's say that we are facing serious problems with the British…" Connor said, explaining a little what was their fight. "Persecutions, prisons, oppression…"
Altair and Maria looked at each other.
"It appears that is happening all over…" She said.
Altair nodded.
"Come, let me show you my village…" said Connor, walking away from them.
They followed him, walking by the trees and ambushes. They saw also some small animals on the way. It didn't take long for them to see smoke and hear some yells and voices from children. Some more steps, constructions made of woods and straws appeared.
The people there started to look at them. Maria felt herself intimidated by them and picked Altair's hand. He looked at her.
"I don't like them staring at me…" She said lowering her voice. "Especially the ones I don't know…"
"You get used to it…" Altair said looking back in front of him.
Connor took them to a big construction in the middle of the village, where there were some people, including the woman who was with the men who saved them yesterday. And there was also an older woman.
Connor said something to them on their language and they nodded. They walked to Altair and Maria. The older woman said something to them on her language and was translated:
"You were luck…" The woman said.
Altair nodded.
"We know…" He said. "I want to thank you for saving us on the river..."
Connor and the woman nodded.
"You can call me Zio…" The woman said. "I'm Connor's mother…"
Altair and Maria nodded again. Connor was about to speak when a wave of energy hit them. Most of the people were hit, less Altair, Maria and Connor.
"John..." Maria said. "Quickly…"
Altair nodded and said to Connor:
"Connor, we need to go to the river… quickly…"
Instead, Connor ran to his mother.
Another wave hit again and the people were starting to scream in pain.
"Why?" Connor asked, looking at him. "What do you know about it?"
"It's something I lost…" Altair explained. "I need to go to it, so I can stop this…"
"What do you mean stop this?" Connor asked.
On more wave of energy hit them. This time, even Maria was hit. She knelt down in pain and looked at Altair.
"Alt…" She stammered.
"Quickly…" He said to the other man.
Connor nodded and they quickly exited the village and walked into the woods, walking quickly. Altair felt pain in his wounds and ribs, but he didn't care…. He needed to save Maria and the others…
As they walked to the river, the waves of energy were becoming stronger. They saw that even the animals were starting to get hit.
When they get near the river, Altair stopped a little to rest a few seconds as Connor saw one of his friends laid on the edge, holding an object.
"Tchii…" Connor said as he ran to his friend.
"Connor, no…" Altair tried to alert.
Connor tried to pick up the object to give to John, but he was repelled and thrown a few meters behind. So, Altair walked to the lad and picked up the object. Immediately, the waves stopped.
Connor looked surprised to Altair as his friend started to get up. Altair looked at Connor.
"You have a lot of explanation to give…" Connor said before getting up.
Altair nodded.
X ~ X ~ X
Altair and Connor walked back to the village quietly. They founded the people confused by what happened. Connor walked to his mother and to the clan mother.
Maria looked from them to Altair and started to run to him. Hugging him, she made him groan in pain between teeth.
"Sorry…" She said apologetically.
Altair nodded and kissed her. Maria kissed him back.
"Are you ok, dear?" he asked seconds later, after they separated.
"Yes…" She said. "I'm glad you made it in time…"
Altair nodded.
At this moment, Connor interrupted them cleaning his throat and said:
"We should go back to the house… Achilles will want to talk to you…"
Altair nodded.
Connor then looked at his mother and said something to her in his language. She nodded and entered the construction.
X ~ X ~ X
As soon they opened the door, they found Achilles waiting for them.
"We need to talk…" Achilles said before turning around to his office.
Altair knowing he couldn't sustain the story they had told yesterday any longer. Maria and he looked at each other before starting walking.
Once in the office, they saw Achilles sitting in front of two chairs.
"Sit…" Achilles said.
Altair and Maria walked to the chairs and sat down.
"Do you know what you have in hands?" Achilles asked him.
Altair became alert.
"Yes…" He answered dryly. "Why?"
"I know what this sphere is and felt its power…" Achilles said. "Years ago…"
Altair raised an eyebrow as his left hand held the apple more tightly.
"What do you mean?" Maria asked confused.
"There are many others around the world…" Achilles said.
Altair remembered the map that Malik and he had seen after the death of Al – Mualim. Besides that, William Lake had one too.
"Besides them, there are other objects and temples… temples that are activated by them…" Achilles explained. "And it was in one of these temples that I felt an energy like that…"
Neither Altair nor Maria couldn't believe in what they were hearing... Temples? Objects?
"How do you succeed to stop it?" Achilles asked again.
Altair cleaned his throat before answering.
"It reacts to my command…" He said.
"And where did you find it?" Connor asked.
Altair thought before explaining:
"The apple… I took it from his previous owner after I killed him… he was my mentor, but was consumed by the power of it…"
Achilles remembered very well what had happened years before… he himself was corrupted by this power, but Shay Comarc put some judgement with a bullet on his leg…
"And you weren't?" Connor asked again.
"I controlled it didn't I?" Altair answered with another question.
Connor became quiet. At this moment, Zio appeared into the office with a wood box on her hand.
"Well, returning…" Altair said. "Power, control and conquest of…"
Altair stopped, then continued:
"Of our land were what moved him…"
Achilles nodded.
"Why do you want to know this?" Maria asked.
Achilles looked at her.
"Because this is a very powerful weapon…" Achilles explained.
Yes, we know it…" Altair said and Maria nodded. "And the people you fight against want it…"
"Yes, our enemies…" Achilles said. "Since a long time ago, we fight people like your mentor… our brotherhood fights the Templars…"
Altair and Maria were surprised.
"Are you Assassins?" Altair asked.
"As much as you are…" Achilles answered.
"How do you know that?" Maria asked without believing.
"I suppose in your left glove there is a hidden blade?" Achilles asked Altair.
Altair turned his left hand and showed him the hidden blade.
"And because of your finger…" The older man said. "It was a costume of the Assassins cut off a part of the finger because of the hidden blade…"
Altair didn't know how to react. He remained quiet, showing his discomfort with all of this. Beside him, Maria was surprised by what she had heard.
"What do you mean by was?" She asked.
Achilles ignored her and continued to speak with Altair:
"Which brings us to another subject… your names…"
"What about them?" Altair asked dryly.
"Your names aren't John and Mary…" Connor said.
"If not, what do you think our real names are?" He roughly asked Achilles and Connor.
Achilles then got up and walked towards his desk. He picked up a closed book with his arm and returned to his chair. Opening the book, he explained while trying to find the right page:
"Your question yesterday was on my mind…"
Achilles then looked at Maria. Altair also looked at her.
"What question?" He asked her.
"I'll tell you later…" She said softly.
Altair nodded. Achilles continued:
"Then, when you were examined by the doctor, I saw the tattoo on your back, because I remembered I had seen it before… I looked on this book and I found it…"
Achilles stopped flipping through the book when he found what he was looking for. Looking at them, said:
"Your real names are Altair Ibn La' Ahad e Maria Thorpe...
At that, neither Altair nor Maria didn't know how to react. How this man could know so much about them?
"How?" Altair asked, puzzled. "How did you find about us?"
"The reason I know too much about you is that on this book there is a page wrote about you…" Achilles said, showing them the book.
Altair picked it up and looked at the page. Beside him, Maria was shocked.
On the page, there were a text and portraits of him and his tattoo. Maria was also portrayed, right below.
"As you can see, it was easy to discover who you really were…" Achilles said.
Altair recognized the text and the drawings. It was from Malik…
"They did it..." He said softly.
Maria looked at him. She knew what he was talking about.
"But… this is impossible…" She said.
"No, impossible is you appear here, almost five hundred years..." Connor said.
Altair looked at him.
"Is this a joke, right?" He asked. "It isn't 1193?"
Connor denied with his head and Achilles said:
"We are in 1772… and this book tells the history of the Assassins…"
"It can't be…" Maria whispered.
Altair looked at her.
"Maria, are you ok?" He asked her.
She didn't answer.
Altair so picked up her hand. It was very cold. Looking again at her, he saw she was paler than a ghost.
"Hey, look at me…" Altair said, putting a hand on her face.
She looked at him tearful for a few seconds and then passed out. Altair hold her before she hit the floor.
"Maria…" Altair said.
Because he was hurt, he couldn't stand the effort and two ended up falling. Altair hit his broken ribs on the floor and almost passed out because of the pain.
Connor and Achilles went to help him. Zio hurried to Maria to see if she was all right.
Even in pain Altair could sit on the floor, with his back on Achilles desk, with his and Connor's help.
"Is she ok?" He asked Zio, very worried.
"Yes…" Zio said to him. "She's just in shock because what she heard…"
Altair nodded, relieved.
"Is it ok if Connor take her to your room?" Achilles asked. "We need to finish our conversation…"
Altair looked at Connor. He hated the idea of another man touching Maria, but there was no other way, since the subject at hand was as much as important to him as she was.
Reluctantly, he nodded.
Zio got up and gave some space to her son. Connor then picked up Maria on his arms and left the room. Zio followed them.
"After Connor, come back here…" Achilles said. Then, turning back to Altair, asked: "How is that even possible?"
"The apple is responsible…" Altair said.
Achilles looked at the apple and nodded… Obvious…
"It has many powers…" Achilles said.
Altair nodded and said:
"Why this happened, I don't know… why it didn't kill us too…"
Achilles was about to ask what he meant, when Connor interrupted them.
"My mother is with Maria…"
"Thank you…" Altair said.
Then, lowering his eyes, Altair said:
"We were attacked by Abbas, an ex- Assassin who turned became a Templar, and two other men… a man whose name I don't know and English named William Lake… they had another apple with them…"
Achilles and Connor nodded. Altair stopped a little remembering a what had happened, then continued:
"Alerted by my apple what was about to happen, I left it with Maria and went to face them… I was captured… and Maria came to help me…"
Altair stopped a little.
He stopped again, for a few seconds.
"When we were with our apples, William and I… we hold the apples, and they met, creating a huge explosion… and then, me and Maria woke up here in a clearing only to be attacked by wolves… the rest you know…"
"It's incredible… Connor said.
"It can be but that's what happened…" Altair said looking at him.
Achilles got up and said:
"I guess it may want something from you… Connor…"
Connor went to pick up the box and returned with it opened.
"There's only one way to discover that…"
Achilles picked up another apple. This one was a little transparent, and gave it to Altair.
"We're going to leave you alone…." Said Achilles before leaving the office with Connor.
