Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Assassin's Creed
Warning: These chapters are going to move a little fast, but they're setting up for a big chunk of the book and the series. CHECK OUT CHAPTER NINE ~ Now re-uploaded & edited. Thank you! This chapter, however, is self-beta'd
Got to fight another fight
I gotta run another night
Get it out
check it out
I'm on my way and I don't feel right
I gotta get me back
I can't be beat and that's a fact
It's OK
I'll find a way
You ain't gonna take me down no way
Don't judge a thing until you know what's inside it
Don't push me
I'll fight it
Never gonna give in
never gonna give it up, no
If you can't catch a wave then you're never gonna ride it
You can't come uninvited
Never gonna give in
never gonna give it up, no
You can't take me
I'm free
"You Can't Take Me" by: Bryan Adams
Chapter Twelve: The Effects of Guilt
Day one – 29 days left
I spent three days heading due north at a slow and steady pace. When the sun set, I hopped off my horse and loosened its cinch before walking slowly; thoughts plagued my mind. Allies? A Clue? What was going on? I was yelling pretty loudly at Kinja; it would not have been difficult to hear the full conversation between us with my screaming. Eventually I grew too physically tired to move, so I collapsed on a simple blanket in the sand and drank a little water before staring at the stars and attempting to sleep, but it never came: my mind was too preoccupied.
Day two – 28 days left
I got up and packed quickly right as the sun peaked over the horizon. I didn't know where I was going specifically, but the thought of getting to a town soon seemed like a good idea.
Day three – 27 days left
I hadn't slept more than a blink of sleep in two days and I was started to feel exhaustion seep into my bones. Now I remembered why I didn't travel often: it was tiring. Perhaps I should've kept that in mind when becoming jealous at the boys' mission. I put my head down and gritted my teeth against the bright sun and hot wind. My assassin's robes hung off me; soaked in sweat. They kept me from burning in the harsh climate, but acted almost as an insulator for warmth.
A couple hours later, I reached a small town. It looked as if it couldn't support more than 500 people, but was alive and bustling in the dry heat. Woman wore clothes that covered everything on them except their eyes, and men wore light robes that looked considerably more comfortable than what the women were wearing. Some women were carrying jars on their heads and scholars walked with their heads bowed in groups of four.
I took my horse towards the stables and made sure he was going to be properly taken care of.
Day Four – 26 days left
I spent one day just exploring the town after sleeping on a rooftop. There was severe poverty and thieves around every corner. I recalled the one time I almost lost all my money:
I was wandering around the richer part of town, though even there people practically wore rags and were severely malnourished. There were slightly thicker crowds near the bazaar where old fruit, stale bread, and drooping flowers were being sold. A man bumped me from behind and disappeared before I could say a single word. Suspicious, my hand floated towards where my money pouch would've been.
As I suspected, it wasn't there.
My eyes scanned the crowd before I decided to hop up on a roof to examine the people from above. Almost immediately after finding the higher ground, I say a slightly familiar man making his way quickly through the people. I hopped from rooftop to rooftop; buying my time and following him. Eventually he clambered up awkwardly to the rooftops and I took off towards him at full speed. I reached towards a throwing knife in my belt before thinking twice: he was probably starving or had a family. Killing wouldn't be right if he just wanted to survive. Instead I tackled him with a heavy grunt.
He attempted to fight back before I pinned him almost easily. His face was haggard and gaunt.
"Please, have mercy!" He wailed.
"The leather pouch that you stole from me; I want it and all of its contents back and you may go." I growled menacingly.
He flinched but complied. The second I was sure that I hadn't been cheated of any money, I let him go and he shot off.
Day Five – 25 days left
Much like the day before, I found myself wandering around the town. This time I was in the poorer districts. After wandering around until noon, I came across a slightly crowded place inside a large clearing. Large wooden cages sat on multiple stages; each holding separated men and women of different age groups. A white hot rage burned through my chest; nobody deserved to be locked away like animals. It was cruel and wrong.
A little girl screaming caught my attention; a burly man was dragging her away from her mom; who was currently chained up. She was fighting with all her might, but it wouldn't work. Automatically, I walked up towards the large man and tapped him on the shoulder.
He looked me up and down with an unreadable expression. "Yes?" He growled.
"I would like to buy that girl." I stated firmly.
He chuckled. "500."
I laughed. "250."
"450."
"300."
"370."
"325."
He let out a deep breath. "Deal." I shook his hand and kept a repulsed look off my face before handing him the money.
He gave me the screaming girl. She almost immediately started tugging painfully at my hair. I attempted to calm her down while struggling to get her fingers out of my hair. She couldn't have been any older than nine.
Her mom was still calling frantically. I turned towards the caged lady and we made contact briefly. I tried to transmit all my goodwill to her. She must've got the basic concept because she stopped calling and instead straightened proudly, even with tears in her eyes.
"Be a good girl, Cien*!" She called out.
"Mama!" The little girl cried and surged against me with surprising force. I grunted slightly.
"Shh… shh…" I rubbed her back slightly. "I'm here to help you." The words came out of my mouth without a second thought.
She sniffled slightly. "Really?"
I nodded overenthusiastically. Shit. "Don't worry, we'll get those people out of the cages!"
"Tonight?" She whispered.
I nodded again. "Tonight. But first, we need a plan. Can you walk?"
The girl, who I assumed was named Cien, nodded solemnly. "They're kept inside the buildings that were behind them at night."
Later that evening we snuck into the small clearing where the slaves were held. The slave women were supposedly being held in behind a thick wooden door that was locked from the inside, making it practically impossible to get in.
I turned towards Cien. "I need to get inside from the roof. You stay here and look out. If somebody comes bark twice like a dog and I'll do my best. Got it?"
She nodded. I gave her a quick squeeze before scaling up the walls of the slave house. It was easy compared to the buildings back home. A hatch on the top of the building made with rotting wood cracked with a firm kick, allowing me access to inside the building. I glanced around the perimeter before hopping inside the building. There, women were sitting somewhat peacefully in cages. They glanced up with fear in their eyes when I landed on the ground.
The woman I recognized as Cien's mom stood up and held the bars of her cage as I approached her.
"I am here to help you all escape." I kept my voice low and checked the around for anybody who might interfere.
There was ruffling as all the women sat up in attention. I spun in a full 360 at the center of the room and scowled in distaste. It would be impossible to break the wooden beams containing all the women.
"Do any of you see a chunk of metal that can be used as leverage?" I called out.
"In the corner," one of them answered.
I quickly found what I was looking for before I started prying at one of the cages. When I couldn't get it on my own, one of the women started helping. The wood groaned slightly in protest, but didn't budge. Out of breath, I released pressure for a moment. Some looked discouraged.
"Again," I huffed. It took about three tries, but the beam finally shattered, and I ducked out of the way. The woman who was helping me got a large splinter in her arm, but otherwise looked pleased. I took a chunk of wood from the ground and tossed it to another group. "See if that works."
Together, we made excruciatingly slow progress.
Two barks from outside made me freeze. I hushed everyone and with a renewed effort, got to work on the last cage. The last women hopped out. There was a jiggling of the lock at the door and I motioned for everybody to get back. I took out a throwing knife and prepared myself. The door swung open and not a moment afterward the slave keeper fell dead with a knife through his forehead. A woman sobbed lightly, but was shut up. I glanced around the open clearing for more men, but there were none in sight.
I started lugging the keeper towards the back of the room. Cien's mom helped me after a moment. I pointed towards the path that the women should take to escape the town and told them of an abandon village about 3 miles out with limited supplies. They seemed grateful and left quickly.
Cien's mother hesitated, though. "I want to thank you," she started.
"I did what I thought was right."
She nodded. "I love my daughter very much, but…" she trailed off, tears coming to the corners of her eyes. Her skin was dark and her eyes wrinkled around the sides from stess, but she held herself of the noble class.
"But…?" I pushed.
"I cannot support her away from here. I cannot feed her. I cannot help her. It's my duty as her mother to make sure she has the best chance at this world. And with me, constantly running isn't good enough for her. Please, take care of her."
I nodded. She suddenly turned around and lit some flint across the building. It didn't catch as quickly as it would've had there been a fire-starter on it, but it quickly started burning. I wasn't sure where she got it, but the wretched building went up in flames nonetheless.
"Say I'm dead. Say I died a hero. Please, as one last favor." She begged me harshly; her voice low and impatient; the fire was a signal and soon more people would come.
I nodded again; a sick feeling twisting in my gut. The woman smiled lightly before fleeing the scene. I ran away from the vicinity towards where Cien was residing. She looked up at me with hopeful eyes.
"Where's mom?" She asked innocently.
I choked. "She…" I trailed off; suddenly sure what to say. I recalled the earlier conversation with her mother and dipped my head. "I'm sorry. Everybody else got away, but the fire…" tears came to my eyes, but they were tears of guilt for the pain I was inflicting rather than the pain of death. "She was a hero, Cien. You should be incredibly proud of her." Her lips quivered before she started crying softly. "Please don't hate me." I pleaded and took a tentative step towards her. What had I done?
To my surprise, Cien hugged me instead. "You did your best. And one life lost for multiple is sometimes necessary."
I froze and thought of my selfishness when talking to Kinja. "You are wise for your age. It seems like you know more than me." I smiled softly.
We started working our way through the streets with tears running silently down our faces. People were by now running towards the burning slave buildings. Cien and I just walked slowly to the better part of town. An old man stopped us on an abandon street.
"What are you doing out so late, young ladies?"
I was too tired to lie, "We have no place to stay, sir."
He made a 'harrumph' sound in distaste before sighing in a put-upon manner. "Well, if your need for shelter is so desperate you may share a cot in my home for the night… but any night after tonight will cost you!" he warned.
"Thank you, sir." I smiled tiredly.
Instead he 'harrumphed' again and started leading us back to a small house. It was cozy, but rugged; obviously lacking a feminine touch. We said our thanks again before falling into a simple bed and sleeping away our worried. Guilt still plagued my dreams.
Day 6 – 24 left
I woke up with sand in my eyes and rubbed them methodically. When I sat up and looked around, I remembered last night. Cien was nowhere in sight. I sprang out of bed in distress and called out her name. "Cien? Cien! Ciiiiiieeeeen!" I screamed.
"Here!" a small voiced called out from outside the bedroom. Sure enough, there was Cien sitting down like nothing had happened at a small table with the old man from last night.
The man gave me a scowl before returning to his breakfast. I approached the table slowly before sitting down. A piece of bread and some water were shoved in my direction. I ate a piece and sipped at some water.
"Thank you for letting us stay last night Mr….?" I trailed off.
He just snorted. "Names are of no matter, child."
I nodded and studied the table shyly.
"Do you think we can stay here, Anima? Please? Just for a little while?" Cien pouted. It wasn't really like I was planning on leaving, but the idea of staying never crossed my mind.
I glanced at the old man. "What is your boarding fee?"
He shrugged. "How about 15 per week?"
I nodded. "Fair enough."
"He's a doctor, you know." Cien explained enthusiastically.
"Healer. I'm a healer. There's a difference." He old man explained with a practiced patience.
"And what would that be?" I inquired.
"Doctors bleed you as a treatment. Bah, if you lose blood when fighting and it's considered bad, why would you want to bleed willingly? No, no. I work in creating herb mixtures to heal."
"Will you teach us, please?" Cien interrupted. I shot her a glare; I really couldn't afford herbology lessons along with rent.
"As long as you don't make too much noise, you can watch and potentially learn as much as you want." He huffed.
"Thank you again for letting us rent out a room." I changed the subject quickly.
"Sure, sure. It was my daughters." A distant look caught in his eyes and Cien luckily took the hint to leave the subject alone.
Day 9 – 21 days left
Cien and I left one morning into the market to pick up herbs for the old man who had taken us in as apprentices of sorts. While there, we got into a fight.
A group of five men pulled Cien and I into an alley and circled us, knives in hand. Each smiled to each other with perverted grins. Cien shook at the knees and looked terrified; though I'm sure I didn't look much braver than her. I leaned down and told Cien, "Be prepared to run across the roofs. Go home. Don't worry about me."
Everything after that happened at once. One of the men shouted in protest and lunged. I picked up Cien and launched her towards the rooftops. She caught the edge and hauled herself up. I didn't have a weapon on me and faced the first guard with no weapon. The others stood back as I fought. They were better trained than I had expected and I was tired from lack of sleep. Soon enough the first man went down. Two others jumped in at his place. A shadow cast over the alley and I looked up for a moment; almost expecting Altaïr to come to my rescue. Instead Cien had come back with a tall boy, who looked frozen with fear.
My brief distraction was enough for me to get injured. A knife slid deep across my hand, through my wrist, and wrapped around towards my elbow. I felt it hit bone and gagged as a wave of pain quickly turned to nausea. I forced the bile down and instead let out an agonized shriek before returning the blow and killing him. I sidestepped, dodged, and whirled with all my might just like I had been trained to. These men were better fighters than I had ever faced before and I was getting nervous. Finally the last one fell and I clutched my left arm tightly; it was bleeding profusely and I needed medical attention quick.
I motioned for Cien and her friend to come down. They looked at me with awe.
"Where did you learn to fight like that?" The boy asked almost immediately.
I was making my way to the house quickly. "Back home." I answered briefly, starting to sweat from pain.
"Can you teach me?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever kid." I groaned in pain.
I made it to the doorstep before collapsing.
3rd person POV
It was chaos. Nobody knew what was happening, and those who did remained silent. The Mentor stood in front of the audience with a rigid posture.
"Where is she?" He questioned in an icy tone. "Where is she!" He then commanded.
"Sir, I saw her heading North yesterday morning, but that is all I know."
There was a sound of the crowd shifting.
A young assassin stepped forward. "Sir, I talked to her yesterday. She said she would be gone for a month, no longer, no less."
A girl stood up and put her hand on the man's shoulder. "She also said not to go after her."
"And you never told me?" The Mentor addressed the boy.
The boy shifted on his feed, "I told her that I would, but I decided that it wasn't my place to interfere last moment."
This time it was Al Mualim who stepped up. "Perhaps, allowing Anima to run off some energy would be beneficial for us all?"
The Mentor let out a deep breath before nodding. "There will be punishments. Mark my words; one of you will pay for your ignorance."
*Cien = pronounced: Sea-en
A/N: There you go, a longer chapter again. Be proud. Also, anything that confuses you/ needs clarified? PM me so I can fix it!