Meryem had prepared herself for what was about to happen. Her heart raced and she tried her best to calm it; as not to give the men more to feed on. Something caught her ear, the sound of water sloshing against boots... One of the men moved, and then the cold sound of steel hit the air as she felt blood splatter across the side of her cheek. Then another body followed the first to the floor. Amjad began to speak and Meryem felt sick to her gut, she told herself if he wasn't killed soon, she would do it herself. Thankfully she was sparred the blood on her hands as the hooded figure slashed the blade across the Templars throat, sending a large spray of blood across the cabin. By this time the water that had accumulated on the floor was red with the blood from four corpses and her own injured nose. She felt eyes gazing upon her form but she dared not look up; her body and muscles tensing at the proximity of the stranger to herself. After she felt the blanket wrap around her, the ropes cut, and the man helping her stand she felt a little less frightened, but yet kept her distance. He was gazing her over but his hood concealed his own face. Once his eyes returned to her s she spoke. "Please listen, I do not know who you are; or what you want. Who you work for, or why you helped me. I simply suggest that you stay away."
The man was obviously taken aback by her comment. She could see his scarred lip twist into a disappointed frown, it only lasted for a moment however before an emotionless line took control of his face. "Signora, you must understand that I can't simply leave you. I just killed four men in front of your eyes; it would be foolish for me to just let you go." Meryem gave a glare to the man before her hands quickly reached for his hood pulling it back before he could stop her. His face looked surprised at first before leveling out into a devilish smirk. "Well well, it seems that he knew what he was talking about charging you as an assassin..." Muttered the mysterious man as he glanced her over yet again. "You've obviously been trained to take care of yourself. You keep your distance..." His feet began to move around her body circling her like a vulture. "You watch your opponents at every move." He quickly moved to his pouches and before Meryem knew it a blade shimmered in the air not a hands length from her neck. "But your reaction time is a little slow." He then sheathed the blade and pushed her back onto the chair moving across from her, gracefully stepping over the bodies as if mere obstacles. "You will tell me who you are; who you work for, and why these men were harassing you" Meryem felt his dark eyes gazing at her, this time with suspicion. His hands stayed near his pouches and she could only imagine what he would do if she tried to run. So she chose to tell him.
"I was sent to a brothel at the age of eleven to gain insight on Constantinople for my uncle. He forced me there and I worked there, reporting back every week for four years. When I was fifteen Amjad took me from the brothel to the Templars headquarters for proper training... Five long years and I made it." Meryem glanced at the man who has his neck sliced open as she mentioned Amjad; putting a name to a face for the assassin. "By this time I had a slight distaste for them but... It was all I ever knew so I decided to do my work and eat my meat without grudging. One day when I was following a man whom I was to gain information from I was stopped, captured by three assassins and taken to their safe shelter. There they gave me the choice to give them names of Templars, and they give me the names of traitors to the assassins to report back, or death... They showed me the wrongs of the Templars, that all they want is power and control... And they'd use anything to get it... They do anything to get it."She looked down into her lap trying to gather strength, it was obvious she was overwhelmed with guilt. "So I turned my back on the Templars, I worked for a better force... Amjad began to suspect me, so he took me on a trip to get me away... Question me. I imagine you know the rest." She said bitterly and looked at the bodies. It was a good thing they were on an assassin loyalist ship or else they'd be in trouble. Turning her back to the man she held her head thinking of all the trouble she had gotten herself into... Wondering how much the price on her head was, suddenly she was broken from her train of thought by a deep suave voice.
"My name is Ezio Auditore da Firenze." The tone of his voice sounded like an invitation. Turning around the woman looked at him. His hardened disposition vanished and he seemed more open to the her; she figured he most likely dismissed her as a threat. He wore dyed linen, blues and greens, he also had a fur hide on his shoulder, likely that of a rabbit. His eyes seemed less stern, yet held no window to his emotions. He had a large build and an even larger array of weaponry hanging at his disposal. Meryems eyes flickered with curiosity as she spoke. "I am Meryem Ismail."
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"Well then Meryem, I must ask you for your assistance in guiding me to the assassins safe house. I can offer you protection until I handle any Templars that might pose trouble for you." Ezio said smiling down at the woman. His charmful side coming out yet again. "And please allow me to buy you some new clothing, you will need it my dear. For where I am going you are going to have to follow; and I make quite a bit of ground a day." He said running his large rough hand through salt and peppered hair .
"Now about these bodies." He heard the woman say as he smiled.
"Well for these waters, the whole corpses should be no trouble. You go up deck I can handle these." Suddenly the look on the womans face changed to that of anger.
"I can handle it myself!" She protested. "I am not a child, nor a helpless woman. I've handled myself before. I can handle myself on land, I don't need your or any other assassin's help!"
"Like how you handled these men?" Ezio smirked as he saw the woman simmer with anger before she tucked the blanket around her like a dress and grasped the arm of one body. She struggled, but Ezio let her have her moment. By the time she got the body of the smallest man up on deck she had broken out into a sweat, but she soon managed to dump the body over the side of the ship into the rocky waves. "Bravo, molto bene!" Ezio said clapping his hands a smirk on his face, the woman sent him a glare and pushed past him. Ezio shrugged and moved to the mast of the ship leaning against it as he watched her carry the bodies out one by one, laughing each time she had to stop for a break. He chatted with a few of the sailors telling them of the troubles they encountered bellow deck and they gave no trouble, nor concern for the bodies. Finally Meryem came to the fat man, and Ezio fearing for the woman hurting herself walked over, ushered her off and picked the man up, flopping him over his shoulder Ezio carried him up the stairs to the deck and then flopped him into the water with a satisfied smirk. "See now, if you would have let me handle that it would have been much quicker." The woman glared at him before muttering curses in Arabic walking over to the many guildlines holding down the mast and leaned against them as she watched the waves hit the ship. Ezio smirked before deeply frowning. In this light, at just the right angle... She looked like Christina..
