Chapter Nineteen:

Eastern Journeys

1217

"The Mongols are approaching rapidly from the East," Altair said to us, his arms crossed and his brow furrowed. "We must stop their threat, lest they overtake us."

Malik rubbed his beard, which was now tinged with grey, but his dark eyes had not lost their spark of observations. "We cannot spare an army of Assassins, Altair. We only have enough to guard Masyaf, and be sent on missions. How do you think to accomplish this?"

"The Assassins in the East are willing to help," Altair pointed out.

"So it would seem." Malik put his hand on the desk. "How long do we have until they should reach Masyaf, should you not depart?"

"Four years, I am guessing."

"Then why do you want to leave now?"

Altair sat in his chair behind the desk. "I believe that the Mongol leader, Genghis Khan, has a Piece of Eden."

Maria, in our stunned silence, was the one who spoke up. "You mean… another Apple?"

Shaking his head, Altair replied, "No. A different Piece of Eden. This one shaped as a sword."

"A Sword of Eden…" Darim muttered. "Then we must hurry! Who will be leaving for this journey?"

Altair looked at all of us; Maria, Malik, Sef, Darim and myself. It seemed he had come to a decision a long time ago, but found it hard to tell us of it.

"Maria, Darim, Suna and myself will be leaving to meet with Qulan Gal, the man leading the Eastern Assassins against Genghis Khan. We leave in three days' time, so be ready to leave." Altair looked at Malik. "In regards to my absence, Malik, you will lead the Assassins here until my return."

Malik did not argue. "I will keep them all in line until you do," was all he said.

I looked at Sef, who, I could see, was ready to argue with his father. It seemed that Altair saw that as well.

"Sef, I am not bringing you with me this time. I know you may think it unfair, but I do not wish to take you away from your wife and children. I could not face them, should the worst happen."

Though young, Sef had become a wise man. He shut his mouth, but I could see he was still upset.

"As I said; be ready to leave in three days' time. That is all."

Malik and Maria stayed behind with Altair while Sef, Darim and I went outside to the courtyard. Sef kicked a rock and swore in frustration.

"Damn! How is it that I never seem to go on a simple mission with you two?" he raged. "I have to stay back! Again!"

"This is not a 'simple mission', brother," Darim said in an attempt to calm him down. "Any one of us could be killed. Our father is right in his judgement; he does not want your children to grow up fatherless."

Sef swore again, this time knowing that his older brother was right. He glanced at me, and then sighed.

"Well, sister, what do you think about these arrangements?" he asked.

I looked at my brothers thoughtfully. "I trust the Grandmaster, even though I would rather have all of my family by my side. It just feels better that way." I sighed. "Not much we can do about it. Just listen to him, and do as he says."

"Why do I even ask for your opinions…?" Sef wondered aloud.

Darim smiled and clapped his brother on the shoulder. "Because, little brother, you still want to find ways to beat the Shadow-Step."

Sef started yelling at his brother, something that I rolled my eyes at. This was just another normal day in Masyaf. After thwarting the Templars a few days after my cousin Ahdara left, we had enjoyed a steady peace. A'hd was executed, though we offered him a chance at redemption. In response, he spat at Altair. It was Maria who brought the sword on A'hd's neck, and I had no doubt that it was for me. I hid my eagerness to see A'hd dead for what he did, and didn't let them out until I was alone in my room. Twelve years later, we received a few letters a year from Ahdara, and we were an Order truly hidden in shadow.

"Suna, before you start to get ready to leave…"

I raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Sef?"

"One last race." Sef smiled confidently. "I want to see if old age has slowed you down! How old are you now, dear sister?"

I smirked, though I was pretty sure it was one of the rarer ones that I wore that spelled out, "I am going to kill you."

"Thirty-one, wasn't it?" Darim remarked, pretending he had to think about it. "I truly think she will not be able to beat you, Sef. Her back might throw-out!"

"You know what? You're both on! I'll see you boys at the gates of Masyaf!"

"And where do we race to?" Sef asked.

I pointed to the top of the tower where we performed our Leaps of Faith. "We'll jump off of those. First one to hit the haystacks is the winner!"

"Come, Sef," Darim said, casting a sly grin to me. "Let's show dear big sister how the young guns can run!"

2012

I leapt off of the bed and charged out the door. Damn it! Damn it! Why? As soon as I reached the cockpit, I realized that I was on a plane, and I had nowhere to run. The pilot looked at me with uncertainty, but continued on his course. I excused myself from there, and decided I needed a place to be alone. But where could I be alone?

Jared saw me pacing and cocked an eyebrow. "Yo, Sam? You okay?"

"Sara! Dammit Sara! Why'd you run off?" Walter asked as he grabbed my arm.

"Goddammit don't even—!" I jerked my arm out of Walter's grasp and rubbed my head. I couldn't grasp the situation, and that's coming from someone who's lived almost a millennia!

"What the hell'd you do?" Jared snapped to Walter. "Who the hell's Sara?"

Walter had a good head on Jared, and I could tell it annoyed the latter. "Who are you?" The question was simple, but the look on Walter's face told me that it wasn't for him.

"Jared," he answered, an edge to his voice. "And don't ask for my last name; I don't give it out to people I don't know."

"How do you know Sara?"

Jared glanced at me. "Sara? D'you mean Sam?"

"No, I mean Sara. Sara Taylor. She's right—."

"Okay!" I cut-in desperately. "Can we not do this right now?"

"But—!"

"No 'buts'!" I snapped. When the boys were quiet, I tapped my foot in thought. "Ugh… How to explain this…?"

"You're not going Denver on me, are you?" Jared asked with a smirk.

I glanced up at him and gave him a questioning look. "What? 'Going Denver'?"

"Oh, right! You haven't been around for the last two years!" Jared smiled weakly. "Well… the Templars got a hold of Altair Ibn La'Ahad's Apple of Eden, and they were working on it in a secret base underneath Denver's airport. Unfortunately, it was destroyed, and took the entire airport with it. They blamed it on satellites."

My heart dropped in my chest. "… What? It was Altair's Apple?"

Jared nodded. "Yeah. The one from Masyaf."

"And it was destroyed?"

"Mhm."

"No traces?"

"None that we could find, but, then again, the Templars were almost at the scene, so we had to book-it out of there."

I sat down in one of the seats and rubbed my head. Damn… Damn! Now what? Is my life really tied to that thing? It's destroyed! Gone forever! Fuck!

"Don't worry about it, Sam," Jared reassured me. "It's not like your life depended on it."

I glared at him, stood up, and then walked to the cockpit. "Hey!" I said to the pilot. "Set a course for Denver! Right now!"

He looked at me with uncertainty, but shrugged and did as I said. I need to see this for myself.

"Get ready," I told Jared as I brushed past him. "We're going to Denver."

1512

"Ezio!" I called, and pointed to Ahmet. "We're getting closer!"

I wasn't sure if Ezio nodded, but I directed Sofia to intercept Ahmet's path. She pulled-up beside him and he slammed into us, and the spikes on his hubs ripped our wheels apart. Ezio cut the rope holding his parachute and hit the ground running. I didn't see what happened next, but I was certain that Ahmet wasn't on his carriage anymore.

I saw a rock coming up and grabbed onto Sofia. She quickly wrapped her arms around me and held on for dear life as we hit it and rocketed out of the wagon, right off of the cliff.

Sofia screamed in terror as we plummeted. I righted us and deployed a parachute Ezio had given me, and we both sighed in relief as we gently floated down to the ground.

"Pull your legs up," I instructed her. "If you don't, you could break your legs when we land."

Sofia did as she was told. "Well, this is definitely something out of a book I must have read."

"No book that has been published yet, believe me." When we landed, Ezio had the bag of the Keys in his hand. "Sofia, go to Ezio. I will be nearby."

Sofia smiled at me and hugged me unexpectedly. "Grazie, poco Sofia. You did really well today."

"You didn't do bad yourself," I replied, then smirked and added, "for a Venetian."

She grinned and let me go, then hurried to Ezio. I hid in the bushes as the Ottomans came into the picture, and Selim, Ahmet's brother, revealed himself as the Sultan's successor, and as he murdered his brother.

"Requiescat in Pace," I muttered as Ahmet's body fell from the cliff.

Selim and Ezio conversed for a moment before Ezio raised his sword against the new Sultan. However, Sofia stepped-in and stopped him. I wondered what had made Ezio so quick to raise his blade, but I decided to ask him about it when he didn't look so angry.

Ezio eventually came to the bush I was hiding in when Selim ordered his Ottoman army away. "Sofia, we are heading to Masyaf immediately," he told me solemnly. "Are you coming? I thought you'd want to finish your pilgrimage."

"Si," I said, and hopped out of the bushes (much to Sofia's surprise). "I will come. See you at the port?"

Ezio nodded. "I'll get Azize to watch Sofia's shop while she is away with us. Dogan will be able to hold off any more Byzantines that threaten the Ottoman Empire."

"Dogan is the one taking Yusuf's place?"

"Si." Ezio inclined his head towards a few stray horses from Ahmet's carriage, who had found their way down the cliff. "Can you ride bare-back?"

"Can you, old man?"