Sitting there in my small room, I stared at the new robes I had hanging up on the dresser door. Mine were out of date, and had not fared well in the many years I owned them. I knew in my head it was time to wear them again, but I was torn. I wanted to help in Rome, but I could not leave Altair here, alone. I wanted revenge. I wanted the Borgia men to pay for taking my friend away. I had so few, and Mario was the only one I had alive.
Standing, I had to do my morning routine. Wash the few pieces of clothes I had, change the sheets under Altair, and make food for myself. It was a routine I have kept for so many years. For so many years I have watched out for him. I have kept him safe. Sometimes I had wished I had left him in the tomb at Masyaf. I cannot keep going on like this.
Grabbing my clothes, I headed to the back of the house. I had purchased it with what gold I had come up with. Most was stolen, yes, but it was for a good cause. My neighbors never saw me, or very little of me. Not aging kind of puts a snag in meeting people. They call you many things when they notice. This is the longest I have stayed in one place. In Acre, I was an orphan. My father was a soldier and killed when he went to fight in the war. My mother died of a broken heart.
Kneeling in front of the wash tub, I scrubbed the blue dress that had become one of my favorites. Blood was splattered on the sleeve of it from the small battle I had fought the day before. I protected my home from the men that wanted to burn it to the ground. I was not about to let that happen. I had worked too hard to keep it.
As the sleeves came clean, I watched the brownish-red liquid wash out of the course fabric. There would always be a trace of the life giving substance in the material, but only I would know. I would know for eternity. Sighing, I grabbed the dress and hung it on the line to dry. Walking back into the house, I headed back upstairs to check on my Grand Master.
Opening the door, I slipped into the darkened room. My slippered feet barely made a sound on the wooden floor. Too many years of training to not be detected had allowed me to walk among the masses and blend in. It was now second nature to be silent. I did it without thinking sometimes. Grabbing the curtain, I pulled it back.
Sunlight filtered into the room. I turned to the small bed. "Good morning Grand Master." Silence greeted my ears. Just like all days. I had prayed to all the gods to let him awake. I was so tired of being alone. Not one of them had answered my plea as of yet.
Gathering up the fresh linen from the closet, I made my way to the bed once more. Setting them on the chair I had placed next to him, I began the exhausting task of replacing the sheets. He had not lost any mass in his many years of slumber. I had not either. The cursed Apple had given us life beyond what a normal human was to live. I had tried to take my life, yes, but it did something to me. I could not die, even at my own hands.
Pulling the sheets out from under his limp body, I turned and placed them in the woven basket by the door. Wiping the shear sweat from my head, I turned once more to finish my task, only to find an empty bed. "Altair?" The solitary word fell from my lips. What in the….?
Something cool pressed up against my neck from behind. "Where am I? Speak quickly woman."
He had not recognized me. Of course, my hair was longer, and my skin was slightly lighter than what it was in Masyaf. "It's me, Grand Master, Alanna." I knew he could not hurt me, but I did not want him to know so soon.
The blade left the tender skin of my neck, and I felt him back away a few steps. Turning, I faced him. His piecing gaze held me. His honey colored eyes glared at me. I was beginning to understand what a small field mouse felt under the intense eyes of an eagle. His eyes had always done that. "Where am I?" He repeated himself.
I cleared my throat. "You are in my home. You have been for quite some time." I made it short and to the point. He would find out soon enough that he was not the same man he was before that night.
He looked at me. I knew he was looking at the dress I wore. It was not the type of clothes he was used to seeing. Fashion had changed many times over in his years of sleep. "What am I doing here?"
I opened my mouth to answer him, when my stomach made its presence known. It growled at me, telling me I had not eaten anything the night before or this morning. "Come. I will tell you what you need to know over breakfast."
I swept passed him, the long skirt of my dress brushed his ankles. I lead him down the stairs to the small cooking area. Many questions ran through my head as we walked it the small room. I grabbed a piece of fruit from the bowl on the counter and motioned him to do the same. "Would you like some tea? It is all I have. I do not keep much here. It is pointless."
He nodded his head, and I grabbed the pot for water. Filling it, I placed it over the small fire I had kept burning since earlier. No words were exchanged the whole time. The man was maddening. He was like a stone wall, and sometimes had the personality of one as well.
We stared at each other. I did not know where to begin, and I believe he was still trying to figure out if I was who I said I was. Always was he suspicious. Never fully trusting anyone. I believe he did not trust himself sometimes. I finally had enough. "What do you want to know, Altair?"
He raised an eyebrow. I had never called him by his name before. It was always master or grand master, never just Altair. "Where am I?"
Sighing, I rubbed my temple. I could tell this was going to be a long day indeed. "You are in my home, like a said before. We are in Monterigionni. It is a small town located in Italy. I brought you here so you would be safe." I leaned against the wall near the fireplace. He just looked at me.
"I would have been safe in Masyaf. We both would have been. Why have you brought us so far?" Ah, the suspicious nature came out again. I was glad I had taken the only weapon they had left him off many years ago. He probably would have run me through already.
"There is more to this tale. You have been asleep for quite some time. The world as you once knew it is no longer. We are remnants of a time long gone." I smiled slightly, but it was not a happy smile. It was sad as I remembered people I had once known that were now nothing more than dust in their own graves.
Confusion crossed his features. "What are you going on about woman? You talk in riddles. Tell me what you know." Man of little words. I had thought he had gotten out of the faze to kill whoever did not tell him what he wanted to know.
Anger clouded my better judgment about yelling at him, but I did not care. He was being dense and I was not about to deal with it. I had watched over him for too many years to hear his mouth. "You are just not listening to me. The apple did something to us that night! Look at me and tell me there is something that is different. I have not aged in many years and neither have you. Do you want to know how long you have been asleep?"
He nodded. "I feel like it has not been long. Maybe a night, but I know it takes longer than that to get here." Now he was catching on. On to the grand ending.
"You have been asleep for 250 years." I knew that would get him.
He looked at me like I had two heads. I knew he would react. What he did next caught me off guard. He rushed me and pinned me to the wall. A blade at my throat. Typical Altair. "You lie. What you say is not possible."
Fire burned my veins. Never in my life have I ever lied to anyone. I was honest to a fault. I may have stretched the truth, but to outright lie I would never do. My knee came up into his groin, doubling him over. I brought my fist into the side of his jaw. He fell into the cabinet. Regaining his balance, he came at me, tackling me into the floor. A fight broke out between us. I did not care. I was mad at him, and he deserved anything I gave him. In turn, for fighting a man, I took anything he gave me.
I felt my face connect with the floor, but he was knocked off my back as I twisted underneath him. I wanted to cause harm to him for the way he talked to me, but I knew I had to restrain myself. Scrambling to my feet, I put some distance between us. Blood spilled from my split lip, and the cut I knew I had on the side of my neck. They would heal in record time.
We came face to face in the small foyer. "Stop." I was breathing hard and so was he. We stared at each other for a moment. "I will prove to you what I speak is the truth. Then you will see what the apple has done to us."
He stood up straight and nodded. Wiping the blood from his mouth, he looked at me. I smirked. He did the same. "You have gotten better."
"I know. When you have had to protect yourself for as long as I have, you tend to pick up new things." I grabbed the door handle. "Come, the villa awaits. Your proof lays there." With that, I walked out the door, and hoped he followed.
I had this done in record time. Once I got into the swing of it, it was pretty fast. I rather enjoyed it. Don't worry, I am hoping to get Ezio into the fray in the third chapter. I have a few more things to sort out before I get Alanna to Rome. Hopefully, I did well on Altair. I wanted him to come off confused and a bit of an ass. Please reveiw and let me know if there is anything I need to change or whatnot. Thanks!