He led her to the end of the garden, not stopping until they were fully beneath the canopy of a grove of pale silk floss trees. Most of the flowers were still on the branches, but their petals were beginning to fall, carpeting the ground with a fragile silk coat. Maria was tempted to remove her boots and see what they would feel like against her skin, but she quashed the foolish notion and squinted up between the branches to see what position the low moon held in the sky.
"It is very late now, Altaïr, and if we are to travel in the morning we should get some rest."
"We will be back soon enough, Maria. I wanted to get you away from the other people to remind you what things are like between us when there is no one to point out our differences."
Looking around, she had no idea what he was getting at. "It is pretty, but you said you were taking me somewhere else."
"So I have. You said you wanted to go to a place where the words 'assassin' and 'Templar' have no meaning. This is such a place."
Understanding dawned as she recalled his previous response to her suggestion. "You are still an assassin, and I a Templar."
Cupping her hands between his, he pressed further. "Do you feel like my enemy?"
"No, but –"
"Then the words have no meaning."
Slowly raising her eyes to his, she spoke sadly of their circumstances. "This is the only time we can be like this, isn't it? There is no place in the world where we won't be seen as opposites: Christian and Muslim, Templar and Assassin."
"You speak the truth, Maria, that is how we will most often be perceived, but the benefit is we can always have your 'somewhere else.' Simply by closing a door, or walking to the other side of the garden, we can be alone, and then the only thing that matters is how we feel."
Her throat constricted as she began to assimilate what he was saying. "I just – it would be so difficult."
"My mother was a Christian, albeit a Turk, so visibly not so different from the people she settled with, but from what I can remember she always held onto her own faith. You can live among people who think differently to you without having to compromise your own opinions."
Her fingers twitched in his hands; he closed his own tighter around hers.
"Your Mother was not a Templar who had waged war against the very people she was living amongst."
His scarred lip twitched at her words. "That is true, but you are not that person anymore. We both have less than glorious incidents in our past, but are we to allow those to shape our future? The past is something to be learned from and then left behind, Maria."
Maria closed her eyes to enjoy the soft caress of a passing breeze that carried along with it the delicate scent of the silk flowers scattered above and below them. When she once more opened them she was greeted by the sight of the assassin staring intently at her face. There had been no declaration of affection from either party, but both knew well the intent of the other, and Maria's feelings were mixed. If they did this, he would change towards her for better or worse; the line would be crossed. What hung in the balance was a friendship unlike any she had ever experienced, weighted against taking a lover she knew people would never allow her to keep. No matter what he said, life would find a way to separate them.
"If we change how things are between us, it can never be undone."
His hands cupped her face, his thumbs stroking the now flushed skin of her cheeks. "Nor would I ever wish it to be."
His face was inches from hers, and their eyes were locked together. The easiest and most natural thing in the world would be for her to lean into him and kiss his beautiful mouth, but something held her back.
Softly tugging his hands from her face she looked around at her surroundings, this opulent paradise designed to seduce the eyes of any who gazed with envy upon it. "I don't belong in a place like this and I'm glad of it. I was born into a world of privilege, and it took a long time for me to see that everything we had came at a cost, but it was the commoners who worked on my father's land who bore the brunt of that burden, slaving away to pay him the lion's share of what they earned for the right to stay there and work for him for another year."
"Life is full of injustice, which is exactly what we assassins fight to end."
"As do the Templars. Altaïr, I know our logic was flawed, but the reasoning behind it was sound."
"You mean to return to them one day?"
"I mean to continue fighting for what I believe in. I sacrificed much to achieve what I did, and I won't let it end with a whimper."
Moving from the cocoon of the trees, she sat on the edge of a small pond, trailing her fingers through the water and watching the ripples spread across the once-still surface, disturbing the perfect moon reflected there.
Altaïr moved beside but sat a few feet away, not in the least surprised by her unwillingness to let their relationship become more intimate, but he was disappointed. "You believe you have to be with your brothers in order for you to continue your work?"
Keeping her eyes on the water, she nodded slowly.
"I would not hinder you, Maria. Surely you know that."
This time she did look at him, and he saw the resolve in her eyes. "Yes, you would; you, or any man for that matter. I would become a wife, then one day inevitably a mother, and I can think of no bigger hindrance to my plans than a child."
"And you would teach that child to see the world as you do, thus continuing your work, Maria. One person cannot win a war; the battle will be won in the hearts and minds, not with swords, but with words and wisdom."
When she arched her eyebrow he knew what was coming, that which always came when he suggested violence would not win the day. "That deadly little secret you carry on your left wrist whispers another message, assassin, but those who hear it never survive long enough to spread its wisdom."
"We kill who we must and we proselytise when we can. A man can be killed, Maria but an idea, a suggestion lives on. How do you kill what you cannot see or touch? The Templars sought to destroy knowledge, and had Jubair succeeded in burning every text in Dimashq, he would have achieved nothing beyond a gesture. The information would have lived on in the people, and it is those people we must seek to educate."
"You talk in circles, Altaïr, but you know nothing speaks louder than action."
"Then we must find a new way to communicate our message, open our doors to new people from all backgrounds. In this way we will plant the seeds for peace. It may be many years before those seeds bear fruit, and I may never live to see it, but it will happen."
He moved closer to her as he spoke, but it was his desire to reach her mentally which fuelled the movement, and she found herself once more only inches from his hooded face.
"I know you mean what you say, but I cannot agree with it." She yawned and rubbed her eyes.
Lifting himself to his feet, he pulled her up with him, "You need to sleep, and we will have a great many hours to continue this discussion as we travel."
Now face to face with the man who only moments before had her on the verge of submission, she smiled. "I have no doubt you will talk, but I won't be easily shifted from my views."
Once more alone in his room the assassin went over the meeting with Maria. For a second he had believed they would kiss and from there, who knows what would happen? But her fear of an ordinary life had stopped her embracing him. He needed to make her understand he would never extinguish the fires which burned within her, but time would aid him, and if she never accepted it, if all she would ever be was his friend, then he too would accept that.
Lying on top of his bed, he folded his arms over his chest and allowed himself a small smile as he remembered her words about being a wife and mother. The idea of such a fierce woman ever letting anyone control her life was so absurd to him, but it was strange that she couldn't see that no matter where she went or what she did, Maria Thorpe would always choose her own path. It was the thing he loved most about her.
4 months later
She ducked under a wagon and made a dive for the long grass at the side of the road. Altaïr was running towards her at full speed and she wondered how he could keep his footing while moving so damn fast. The guards were close by; she could hear their shouts from a nearby street, but they would never catch him.
He dropped down beside her in the grass and smiled. "You were right; there are some things we should leave alone."
"I'm always right, but you are too thick-headed to accept that."
The guards appeared in the street, looking into barrels and carts for their quarry, and Maria had to hold in a laugh until she saw a long snout in front of her. "Shoo, go away."
The mutt wagged its tail at the woman who had fed him scraps and barked happily. She felt his fingers wrap around her arm and yank her to her feet. "Run for the rooftops."
Her feet were pounding the earth as he dragged her behind him. An arrow flew past her head; she could feel it brush against her hair. "The rooftops- you can't be serious! Altaïr, I'm not a bloody cat."
His fingers held tight enough to mark her skin as he pulled her in front of him and pushed her onto a low roof, his hand indelicately shoving her arse to make her go faster. Joining her there they found a path to the higher roofs and kept running. He came to a sudden stop and changed direction, dragging her into a roof garden.
"Stay low and quiet."
"They are not halfwits, Altaïr, they will look in here."
He grinned. "You never did."
"Why, you –" But her words were cut off with his hand over her mouth.
"Shh."
She heard the guards coming to them and tried to still her pounding heart, sure that any second they would pull the burlap aside and drive their swords into the sitting ducks, but the footsteps passed them by, and minutes later everything was silent.
His hand moved from her head, allowing her to lift it, grinning and still breathless, her cheeks heavily flushed from the exertion of the flight. "How the hell did we get away from them?"
"Some skill, some luck, who can say?"
Their faces were inches apart and their eyes locked together. He made no effort to close the distance between them; if that ever happened it would have to be her doing it. Remembering the time in the garden when she rejected him he said, "We've been here before."
She smiled and drew in a heavy breath. How could she ever have believed he would make her life boring?
"That was somewhere else in another lifetime ..."
Her eyes closed as she brought her mouth to his and felt his lips against hers for the first time; every nerve in her body seemed to be screaming their approval of this decision. She felt his hands once more on the soft flesh of her cheeks and his tongue run along her lips. She knew it would be useless to fight what she felt, and stopped trying. Some things were just meant to be …