Chapter 1: The monster in the swamp part 1
Malik wasn't the strongest fighter nor the fastest runner, and he didn't have much talent for magic either. Luckily he was very agile, proven when a wolf the size of a small horse lunged at him. He avoided the snapping jaws by a hairs width. The beast looked mangy, smelled of rotting flesh and sported a set of teeth which could easily tear someone's head or limb off. The creature had been attacking farms surrounding Monteriggioni for weeks now, leaving a trail of bodies both human and cattle in its wake.
This wasn't a normal wolf, not with glowing green eyes and black drool dripping from its mouth, which was the reason why Malik was facing it in the middle of night near a wheat field. He drew his silver longsword. Runes ingrained directly into the blade glowed a faint red in the darkness.
He needed to think quickly about his next move before the beast attacked again. Fighting a creature like this was simple in theory. Just keep stabbing it with a silver sword until it goes down, but that's the thing it's a theory. In actuality, previous experience has taught him that there's so much more to do than just swing his sword around or he might end up having less limbs than he had before he entered fight.
What mattered here was his main strengths: his intelligence and ruthless personality in the hunt. He looked coolly at the wolf, measuring his next move carefully. The canine turned around since its previous attack now growling with its teeth bared. The beast charged again towards him, mouth foaming, while making guttural noises.
He reached quickly with his left hand for his weapons belt, which was hidden beneath his black cloak. In a fraction of a second, he pulled out a small bomb from a pouch while never letting his gaze falter from the monstrous canine. Looking away was dangerous in the business of monster hunting.
With a quick flick of his wrist he threw the bomb with great accuracy right into the wolf's face. It wasn't much of an explosion since the bomb was small, but enough to momentarily blind and distract the beast. The explosion made the wolf stop in its tracks with a spine shattering howl. It lowered its head and attempted to scratch it furiously with its front paws, drawing blood from its own face in the process.
Malik didn't stop to marvel at the actions of the beast, since he knew he might have only moments to act. He charged sideways to flank the beast's exposed side with an expression of utter concentration. When he had nearly reached the wolf, he ducked and slid under the canine, slicing through the soft tissue of its stomach. The nasty gash rained blood on him.
He emerged from the other side of the beast considerably more blood-soaked than before. He made a disgusted face for a brief while before springing back to action. The wolf's gut was now hanging open in the air, sticking with grass and leaves from the sticky surface. The beast howled and growled in agony mixed with rage, but Malik was faster than the now badly wounded beast. He successfully avoided the bone crushing jaws directed towards him while staying within close quarters to the animal.
He used the wolf's erratic movements against it to push his sword through the beast's throat until it cleaved through its neck and the runeworks lit the creature on fire. His right hand was covered in sticky blood right down to his shoulder while more blood sprayed onto his black robes from the puncture wound on the creature's front side. The beast's movements slowed down until Malik found himself bearing the weight of the monster.
Considerably more force was needed to pull his sword out, since gravity was working against him pushing the large wolf against his sword, making him bear the full weight of the corpse practically on top of him. He managed to extract the sword with a struggle before being burned by the flames that were slowly spreading all around the monster. He kicked the body for good measure while a subtle smirk set on his features. The sword needed to be cleaned before sheathing so it wouldn't be ruined, but he couldn't do that until he knew the monster was properly disposed of.
He sat down on a fence, which surrounded the wheat field, and stared at the burning corpse of the monster. He had blood splatter on his face which he could feel slowly drying, leaving an itch. Malik knew that at the moment he looked more like a mass murderer or a butcher than a respected citizen of Monteriggioni but he didn't care. At the moment, as the adrenaline coursed through his veins, sending shivers down his spine, he felt so much more alive than in those peaceful days between the hunts when Kadar and Ezio insisted on dragging him to the local brothel to 'enjoy' the girls or to drink themselves to oblivion.
The hunt was what he lived for. It was something Leonardo or Kadar could never understand. They thought of monster hunting as a means to an end, which was true, but Malik felt he had been born a hunter and to do otherwise would have been denying himself something integral to his persona. Nothing was more satisfactory than ridding the world of one more monster, doing one more kill, and proving to himself his true place in the world.
He loved prowling the countryside in the middle of a night in search of his target. The thrill of tracking his prey, setting the traps, and the fight itself stirred something deep inside of him. It was those times he usually had the oddest feeling of almost remembering something. They were flashes behind his eyes showing him pictures of things he assumed happened before Leonardo had found him and Kadar at his doorstep.
The pictures often had images of blood and gore, but not always. Today he saw a glimpse of sand dunes basking in moonlight. He tried to catch more of the image, but it seemed to slip away like water trickling through fingers. It was always like this, but for some reason he was the only one to have these lapses.
Kadar never had any flashes from their previous life, which was why after a few times he had seen an image he had stopped telling anyone about them. He had told Leonardo once about his mental flashes, but the artist had just chuckled and told him not to worry about it. Malik was sure the man had a few very good hypotheses, since Leonardo was a genius without a rival, but probably didn't want to worry the still child Malik had been.
He snapped out of his musings when the burning corpse of the giant wolf started spasming, but he didn't move from his spot. His expression hardened into a scowl. The evil spirit was leaving the body and if everything went as it should, everything should be over within the next few minutes without even having to lift his sword as the fire cleansed the spirit. He needed to stay alert in case the spirit proved to be more resilient and malicious; then he would have to face it once more.
It was always like this: fire, salt and silver, the key ingredients for banishing evil while purifying the vessel. A successful hunter knew how to utilise all of these components in several different ways, although he himself enjoyed using the sword above all else since it allowed him to get close up and personal with his enemy.
He then saw the purified spirit leave the burning corpse. The cleansed spirit appeared like a shapeless foxfire above the flames before disappearing into the cool night air. He muttered the obligatory prayers before cleaning his blade with a piece of cloth he carried within his pouches.
Everything around him was silent apart from the crackling of the burning corpse and wheat stalks swishing against each other in the gentle wind. He took his time cleaning the sword from the blood and grime accumulated on it, inspecting it for any new nicks or scratches at the same time. Silver was not nearly as durable a material as steel, yet infinitely more expensive, so neglect wasn't an option. This knowledge was driven into him and Ezio with harsh words from Mario Auditore, which he could still remember years after of the man's death very vividly.
When he was finally pleased with the condition of his sword, he jumped down from the fence and sheathed the weapon to the scabbard hanging against his left hip. The weight of the weapon was a familiar feeling, so ingrained to his being it might just as well be a part of him.
There was a horse nearby which he had used earlier that night to come to the small clearing between the wheat field and the forest behind it in search of the monster wolf. He made it to the horse, checked the tack quickly - finding everything to be as it should be and easily hopped on. The horse was nothing fancy, just a dark bay gelding of average size and build, which suited him just fine.
The beast was dead, spirit cleansed, all that remained was to make it back to Monteriggioni and report to Giovanni Auditore in the morning before going to sleep. The monster hunters lived in the night because their prey also did, but the normal citizens of Monteriggioni didn't, making the life of a hunter sometimes solitary, even lonely.
Malik didn't mind though, because he had always felt like he didn't quite belong. He was wary of people outside of his small circle of friends and family, unlike Kadar who seemed to trust any stranger he met, which sent Malik on the verge of a nervous breakdown at times. Becoming a hunter had not changed much for him apart from sleeping during the day, which he had already grown accustomed to years ago.
He arrived to Monteriggioni after half an hour of hard riding and was greeted by Ezio, who had also arrived from an assignment just before him. A dim light hanging from a wall illuminated the cocky italian. He gave the horse to a stable hand, who must have resented his job from the tired look on his face.
"Malik! My friend, how fared the hunt?" the Italian motioned over enthusiastically with his hands while speaking. Malik noted how the other hunter was considerably less bloody than he himself was. How annoying.
"There was a giant demonic wolf terrorizing the peasants. I found the beast and killed it. End of the story. And hello to you as well," Malik answered with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"You my friend, are too serious; if you keep that expression up you'll end up looking like an old man before turning thirty," Ezio countered while patting Malik on the back, where there was considerably less blood than on his front.
"Yes, yes, yes, so I have been told countless times. Also that I frighten small children with my angry glare and that the village women call me a grouch behind my back," Malik replied with a sigh. This was an age old conversation they had had countless times over the years.
At that Ezio bursted into laughter while Malik looked at the Italian with amusement. The other hunter had a very contagious laughter and it took all of his willpower not to laugh with the Italian.
"Now, what have you been up to all night, since judging by your looks it has not involved any fighting. Or maybe your target frightened the great Falcon of Monteriggioni, so you ran away?" Malik inquired while crossing his arms, attempting to look judgemental.
Ezio's ezpression turned smug beyond reason.
"I have been guarding one of the brothels the whole night."
"You what?! Do you not mean, you have been fooling around with the girls while on duty?" Malik looked on with disbelief.
"No no my friend. There was supposed to be a succubus preying on the poor girls, but it turned out to be nothing. Of course it took me plenty of hard research to find the truth and -"
"Just no. I know the next thing coming out of your mouth is something I would really rather not hear. Are you sure you yourself are not secretly a succubus? It sure would explain a lot." Malik glared disapprovingly.
"Would that be such a bad thing? I would be the sexiest succubus in all of Italy," Ezio declared proudly to the eerily silent night. A dog started barking somewhere. Malik didn't say anything for a while letting the idiocy of the statement sink in.
"You are incorrigible."
"And you, my friend, are still a grouch." Ezio smirked, and Malik gave the Italian a deadly stare before walking to the direction of the villa with the Italian in tow.
The first rays of sun were slowly starting to make their way above the horizon. It would be still a while before proper daylight, before the community woke up, and before the hunters would finally sleep themselves. Plenty of time to make himself presentable to the world, to be rid off all the grime and blood.
Just as they were about to part ways, Ezio nudged him in the side with a playful smirk on his face, which Malik had come to know meant nothing good.
"In the evening come and join me for a sparring match, since I have all this pent up energy in me. I need to get rid of it somehow. I know you have a couple of days free just like I do, so don't even try that excuse."
"No," was Malik's immediate answer. The Italian bested him in every physical way save for his agility, but that was not reason he refused. He could outwit and outmanoeuvre Ezio in a swordfight, but he had just fought a giant monster wolf while the other man had spent his night probably having copious amounts of sex, which gave him the disadvantage, and he absolutely detested losing to anyone. It didn't matter whether the challenge was physical or intellectual; he just hated losing.
"Find someone else. I just fought a giant monster wolf possessed by an evil spirit," Malik interjected before Ezio could start whining.
"Fine. I will fight your brother then," Ezio stated calmly, but his face was full of unmitigated glee. Malik realised he had set himself up for this since the other man knew he didn't want Kadar fighting Ezio. In fact, if possible he would rather Kadar fought no one, but that was simply impossible when his brother was a city guard. Malik also knew that his brother would love to spar with Ezio, but he also knew that the flirtatious Italian was as ruthless when sparring as he was when fighting monsters in the field.
"No!" Malik turned around to face Ezio with his posture full of aggression. The other hunter faced him without even a flinch.
"I will spar with you, but not this evening. I will have a match with you tomorrow and until then you need to find some other outlet for your unspent energy," he all but growled at the Italian. Malik knew he was haggling at this point just to have some advantage.
"I knew you would come around. You know I would hug you, but you are covered in blood and pieces of intestines, so I'd rather not," Ezio beamed.
"Fuck you."
"I love you too," Ezio countered. Then they parted ways with a wave of their hands. Malik made his way to his own private chambers within the villa where he quickly undressed out of his bloody robes in favour of clean ones. He would have to wash his clothes come evening, but for now he was content to throw them in a pile next to his bed, which was starting to look very attractive at this point.
The exhaustion was starting to show on him now that all the adrenaline had drained from his body, but before he could rest, he still had to make his report. His limbs were starting to feel heavy. The blood washed off his face and hands with the water he kept in a basin in his room and a good scrubbing with a wet rag. The water felt cool against his skin helping him feel more awake.
After rubbing his face thoroughly with a rough towel in a further attempt to make himself more aware of his surroundings despite the drowziness he was feeling, he restrapped his sword on his left hip just in case. Giovanni's office was only a few corridors away, but he felt nervous without any weaponry, even in his own home which was surrounded by several magical wards and protective spells. It was a habit which he knew didn't have any rational basis behind it, but he could not stop acting on it.
When he reached the office of Giovanni Auditore, he found Ezio already there giving his report to his father. Malik decided to stay back, leaning against the wall next to the door until the other hunter was done reporting. He didn't bother listening to Ezio's overly dramatic exposition on his investigations in the whore house. Instead he started counting the cracks in the ceiling, which he knew there were 32 of, but maybe the amount had changed since the last time.
He was startled out of his thoughts regarding the cracks in the ceiling when he heard his name being called. Immediately he straightened his posture. Then he trained his eyes on the middle aged Italian sitting behind a massive wooden desk.
"Your report, Malik."
Malik sighed and began explaining the things that had gone down during the night. He wanted to be done as soon as possible and hit the bed for a well deserved rest.
"I caught the beast near a farm house. It would have probably killed either the livestock pasturing outside or one of the people living there if I had not intervened. In the end it turned out to be a wolf possessed by an evil spirit, which I of course drove out of the body and then proceeded to cleanse. I didn't find any other tracks, so it is pretty safe to assume this was the only such wolf causing all the problems in the area. I also burned the body just in case."
"Very good to hear. You may be excused. I'll make a call for you when I need you next time, but you can have couple of days off now."
"Thank you sir," Malik said while resisting the urge to turn right on his heels and rush for his bed. It took all of his willpower to both stay awake and act calmly. Only the scowl on his face betrayed how tired he actually was. Even though he had now gone years without sleeping during the nights, which had come to him surprisingly easily, he had no way of fighting against the sluggishness resulting from the strain of battling monsters that could tear you to shreds if you weren't careful. The stress finally being lifted from his shoulders always resulted in him crashing down hard while acting even crankier than usual.
If anybody had tried to strike a conversation with him while he was on his way back to his chambers, he would have punched them without feeling any remorse and then proceeded to walk over them without caring even one bit. Luckily everyone walking the corridors at the early hours of the morning knew better than that.
As soon as he reached his chambers, he all but threw his gear followed by his clothes to the floor and on top of the chair sitting by the small writing desk he had. He just couldn't give a damn at the moment fell asleep immediately when his head hit the pillow.
Saying it was a weird feeling to wake up in the late afternoon was an understatement because after years and years of doing so Malik still wasn't used to it. It was odd to wake up into a world in full motion and yet he himself was still trying to shake off the last remnants of sleep. The sun would be shining harshly down on the small town, the streets would be buzzing with people running errands around and the air would be filled with aromas varying from fresh bread to sewage waste.
He dressed himself up in his hunter gear sans the heavy cloak, which was simply unbearably hot to wear in the afternoon sun. He took a quick look at himself in the small mirror he had, noting the need to shave soon, but his hair needing to be cutnow. It was starting to get a bit too long for his liking - not long in the sense Ezio had his ridiculous ponytail, but long nevertheless.
His door swung open with a jarring creak. Only one person would dare to enter his chambers without knocking or announcing their presence. Still, his hand went on his sword on an instinct.
"Kadar." Malik frowned.
"Hello brother," Kadar announced cheerfully. His little brother was wearing his city guard uniform, as his shift had probably just ended. He looked way too cheerful for a person with as serious a job as the one he had. Being part of the Auditores' personal guard seemed to mean, most of the time in Kadar's case, causing trouble with Claudia or Ezio, and even sometimes with Federico. Malik's brother was paid for acting like a child while he went around the country killing bloodthirsty monsters.
"Do you have a death wish?" he growled at his brother, crossing his arms in disapproval.
"I knew you would know it was me," was the answer he was given, which made him sigh while stepping closer to his brother. He put his right hand on his brother's shoulder and had to look up into the blue eyes, which was also a thing he would probably never be used to. Malik was the older brother, yet his younger brother was taller and broader than he was; in fact Kadar was bigger than Ezio who also was slightly taller than Malik. It wasn't like he was short, but everyone around him was just impossibly tall.
"You should not be so trusting. Not to me nor to anyone else for that matter. Remember what happened to Petruccio," he lectured.
Kadar nodded in response. Petruccio was the youngest of the Auditores, and like Ezio, he was being trained to become a monster hunter. But Petruccio died during the training, never making it to a full-fledged hunter. It was that point Malik forced his brother to leave the monster hunting training in favour of becoming a guard. Kadar did still retain a basic grasp of fighting monsters.
"And you, my brother, should try to be more social instead of sulking and skulking in the shadows all the time." Kadar jabber Malik slightly in the shoulder. Malik threw his arms in the air while rolling his eyes.
"Yes, thank you for this lovely insight. Why does everyone insist on telling me what I should do? What have I done to deserve all this 'special' attention?" he delivered sarcastically while giving a sideways glare at his brother and crossing his arms. Kadar was grinning, looking like he had won a prize at a contest. Sometimes Malik suspected his brother enjoyed working his temper up.
"But I'm just so so worried about you Malik," though Kadar's voice told a completely different story. His face was also full of smug satisfaction, which kind of gave him away.
"When did you become such an ass? What happened to my sweet little brother, who was full of awe and wonder for the world?" Malik sighed to exclamate his point.
"Maybe he grew up." Kadar looked pointedly down at his older brother, earning himself a smack to his left arm.
"I can still beat you left and right."
"Then why do you never fight me anymore?"
Malik was being goaded to fight against his will, again. What was up with everyone wanting to fight him all of a sudden? Was there a bet going around he was not aware of? Because there had to be, since Kadar had been happy to not spar with him for ages. He didn't want to fight his brother, since he didn't trust himself not to hurt him. Malik had been trained to kill mercilessly without hesitation. The monsters he fought during the nights did not pull punches, so he couldn't do that either, not even in a practice fight. He had to be efficient, precise, and most of all deadly, all attributes very good against killer monsters but so very bad against younger brothers.
"I can not. I promised to spar with Ezio tomorrow evening and today I need to get my clothes washed and find time to meet with Leonardo," he answered, but even to his own ears the words coming out of his mouth sounded more like excuses. Kadar stared hard at him before finally saying,
"You know that is not what I meant, but I don't want to argue with you, since you never stop once you get going." Kadar looked thougthful for a while before adding,
"I can at least come watch you spar with Ezio tomorrow. It should be amusing." The younger brother's face transformed into an unabashed grin.
"Why are you grinning? I do not like the look on your face," Malik said annoyed.
"Like I would miss an opportunity for my brother to be brought down a peg," Kadar said, which in response made Malik's face turn into an angry scowl. Kadar broke into laughing fit.
Malik all but man handled his now giggling younger brother out of his room and slammed the door shut, making sure to lock it. He had just woken up, he was hungry, his second pair of clothes were bloodied and dirty, and his brother had nerve to annoy him. Malik knew his day would be miserable.
After being thrown out of Malik's room, which wasn't that unusual since his brother had never been much of a morning person, or, well even evening person for that matter, Kadar made it to the Leonardo's workshop where he had promised to help the inventor try out some new gadgets.
He was still sour for his brother refusing to spar with him, though he didn't let it show on his face instead wearing a heart-melting smile, which had always gotten him out of trouble. Malik had never mastered the look of complete and total innocence. With his constant frowning and scowling his older brother appeared a rather unpleasant creature. Kadar knew though that his older brother just didn't trust anyone, which in turn made his life at times difficult because he actually liked people.
If he had not ended up a guard, he probably would have wanted to become a merchant, so that he could meet as many people as possible. For a while a he had detested his brother for basically throwing him out of hunter training, but after spending time training to become a guard he changed his mind. He was actually a very good fighter, in fact among the best in the guard.
When he had still been training for monster hunting, he had, to put it bluntly, struggled getting through even the basics. It had been the same for poor Petruccio who got maimed by some lesser demon during a training exercise. As a guard he was good and respected, and most of his time spent guarding meant gossiping with Claudia or riding around the countryside with her.
Besides he was being paid better than his brother, a fact he loved rubbing in Malik's face over and over. Of course the reason for being paid better than his brother was the hard cold truth that Malik wasn't even supposed to be a monster hunter, since the position was reserved usually for the male children, excluding the oldest, of the Auditore family. The reason they were picked for the training was Malik beating the living daylights out of Ezio when all three were still children.
The only person in the entire world who would actually be in some bizarre way rewarded for being a mean dickhead was his brother. His brother had claimed at the time that he had done it to protect Kadar, but he knew better. He knew that his brother possessed a downright evil side to his personality, which sometimes even scared Kadar himself, because in those times he had no idea who this vengeful being claiming to be his brother was.
He stopped to say hello to a courtesan, who he might or might not have associated once or twice. He received a hello back and she even blew a kiss in the air. It was nice. He was still angry at his brother though.
Malik thought he couldn't handle himself, which was load of bullshit. He hated when his brother thought he was made out of glass and might break from the slightest impact. He knew better though; he was a guard after all. He carried a sword and wore more armor than his brother did. He knew for a fact that he was physically stronger than his brother was. He was after all taller and broader, which he knew annoyed Malik to no end.
There was also the fact that Kadar had been trained to fight humans, while Malik knew only how to fight monsters of various kinds. So there was no reason for his brother to attempt to avoid all the sparring with him, because as far as he knew they were very evenly matched. He might even have some advantages over his older brother.
But his brother had decided to spar with Ezio, as if they didn't spent enough time together as it was due to their shared profession. Then again, he could at least enjoy seeing Ezio beat his brother up, which would be very amusing, though Malik might turn out to beat Ezio, which would be less amusing.
Kadar shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts of his pigheaded brother. He was standing at the back door to Leonardo's workshop, the very same door where all of his memories started all those years ago. He and his brother had washed up here from somewhere, but didn't know whence or how they had ended there.
They had remembered only their given names, not their surnames. He remembered being very confused about everything, his brother being the only thing that made any sense in the whole world. Everything else had been big, scary, and strange all at the same time. Everyone had thought they would regain their memories in time, but they just did not, as if that mattered now, since their entire lives were dedicated to this place.
Kadar thought himself to be an Italian. He talked like an Italian, liked Italian cuisine and loved the country like an Italian, despite obviously being of an Arabian descent with his black hair and dark skin. His brother however for some bizarre reason talked with an accent and seemed to revel in being an outsider, making him even more antisocial than all of his horrible character qualities already made him. It was as if Malik didn't even want to fit.
Kadar had reached a conclusion ages ago wherein the only saving grace his brother had was his talent for inflicting injury and his smarts. He remembered Leonardo sitting them both down for lessons in reading, writing, math, and other subjects and hating them, while his brother had an expression of utter concentration on his face. He had found it difficult to sit down for long periods of time when he could be wooing girls with Ezio or spying on some unwitting passerby with Claudia.
Nowadays it seemed the only times he could find Malik not ready to murder someone was when he was working with his brain, whether it was cartography, which was a subject Kadar just didn't understand the appeal at all, or reading a book. All the other times his brother acted reclusive, mean or just downright antisocial with an increasing frequency, making him worried and angry at his brother. But mainly just angry, there was no way he was worried too much, just angry.
Kadar entered the workshop. He was welcomed by the familiar smell of drying paint, ink, and Leonardo's quiet snoring. The inventor had fallen asleep while working on a contraption Kadar could not figure out for the life of him, but it did involve something that looked suspiciously like bat wings made out of cloth and wood. Leonardo probably had not slept during the night, being way too engrossed in his work to remember to sleep or eat, which was something he remembered vividly from his childhood as well.
Leonardo had been his and Malik's caretaker, even though it often felt like they had been taking care of the genius instead. But it had all been good, Leonardo was the kindest person Kadar knew, even if the man knew very little of how to raise children. He and his brother had been left to their own devices for the most part, which had somehow made his older brother feel responsible for him in every conceivable way.
Kadar found a quilt laying on a tiny sofa in the back of the workshop, which he decided to throw on the inventor. There really was no reason to wake him up because his business with Leonardo was not that urgent anyway. Instead he decided, for the lack of anything better to do, to inspect the paintings, which the artist always had several in progress, for any interesting ones. There were a few paintings of horses but there always were, since the man was practically obsessed with them. Kadar appreciated pictures of beautiful ladies with preferably little clothing on them, but this time around there were none to be found.
He then moved onto looking at all the gadgets laying around in various states of completion. This too was something he was very familiar with. Leonardo was very enthusiastic when starting various projects, whether it was art or engineering, but finishing them was completely different thing. He often left several promising ideas half finished, while completing something else with no relevance to anything whatsoever.
But there were also times when the inventor actually managed to complete something revolutionary, which Kadar guessed was what kept the money coming. Leonardo didn't really care about money; as long as he had the materials for his projects he was happy, even if Kadar had seen Malik trying to lecture the inventor on the importance of a steady income more times he could even count. Every time he caught his brother giving a lecture to the inventor, who for the lack of better wording looked like a kicked puppy, Kadar felt shame on behalf of his brother. The inventor had managed to get by just fine for all of his life, so who was Malik to give him any lectures, even if it was just his brother's awkward way of showing he cared.
In the end he decided to sit on the sofa to wait for either the inventor to wake up or for his brother to show up. But after sitting still for a while, he was bored of listening to the sounds of the outside world, which just acted as a reminder to him that could be out there doing all kinds of much more interesting things. He wasn't Malik; he actually wanted to live the life a young man like his brother should too. In fact he felt like he was obliged to go out there, which he then did. Maybe today was his lucky day. Maybe today he would meet the perfect girl and maybe the girl would be impressed by his handsome looks and charming personality.
Yes, today he definitely was going to woo a girl. He decided he didn't give a damn about his miserable brother or his wayward inventor friend.
Ezio was itching for a fight. Not just for any fight, but a proper duel that would challenge him for longer than two minutes. The man he was waiting for to appear in the practice ring at the west side of the villa could give him such fight. He had not had a chance to flex his muscles in weeks, since even the succubus threat in the brothel had ended up being a jealous customer spreading rumours. He did enjoy the 'challenge' of researching the case though because after all there was just no other way for him to find out if there actually was a succubus except to try all the girls out. He grinned to himself at the thought of his 'explorations'.
"With that amount of smugness, I do think you are indeed in a need of a good beating, Ezio." Ezio heard from somewhere behind him the voice and accent he was familiar with. Why his friend spoke with an accent he never could figure out, but it didn't matter much to him. He turned around to face his friend, who just so happened to be facing him with the setting sun behind his back, making it necessary for Ezio to squint his eyes. That bastard.
"Malik." The other hunter crossed his arms while obviously trying to pass some silent judgement on Ezio. The two of them stayed silent just staring at each other for a while. This Ezio knew was already part of the fight, a part he didn't really enjoy, but a part his friend loved to play since he knew it would rile him up faster than any taunt.
"Are you two going to just stare each other to death? Or are you actually going to spar?" a third voice entered the conversation. This voice belonged to Malik's younger brother Kadar.
"No," Malik beat him to it. Always so fast with his words, especially when angered as Ezio had come to know during the years he had known the man. He had afterall made friends with him after having his ass handed to him, not that he would admit it aloud to anyone. Malik was as good at inflicting hurt and injury with his words as Ezio was charming with them, a skill the girls appreciated more than his fighting provess. It also helped that he looked absolutely dashing and there was no shame admitting it to himself.
"No bombs, daggers, crossbows or anything else. Just blunted practice swords and fists? How about it, yes?" Ezio punctuated his words by throwing his gear to the side of the practice yard. Blunted swords still hurt like a bitch when being struck by a direct blow, which Ezio was sure there would be a few of in this fight.
"Fine," Malik said while moving to take off his gear. It wasn't enough for the two of them to just agree not to use the other equipment; they actually had to actually take them off because they might accidentally reach for them reflexively. Utilizing them in afight had been driven into them so hard it came as second nature. Despite his confidence in his abilities, Ezio knew it would be really a bad thing to be hit with a bomb straight to his face, which was a trick Malik often used when fighting creatures.
He then picked up two practice swords from a wooden crate at the side of the area. He threw one at his friend, who caught it with practised ease and took a few swings at the air. Facing each other they positioned themselves in the ring opposite each other.
Ezio took an offensive stance and Malik took a defensive one. Ezio knew it was a trick to lure him into attacking first and to use his momentum against him, but he made the first move anyway. He just couldn't wait any longer for this fight to begin. So he rushed forward aiming for his friend's shoulder, and just as he had predicted Malik changed his stance at the last second, swaying his upper body to the side to avoide his blade. However Ezio's left arm was free to go for a disarming move.
But just as Ezio was about to either be hit in his stomach, or perform a succesful disarming, Malik dropped to the ground and rolled backwards, putting more distance between the could practically feel the adrenaline surging through his veins slowing the world down to an almost sluggish pace. He looked Malik in the eye and saw a challenge burning in them. This had been only a test to see if he was still sharp. He couldn't help but grin when he saw his opponent drop into a very aggressive stance and look cool as ice. The signs were either very good or very bad. Today Ezio decided they were a very good because he wanted to beat someone up so badly.
This round they both moved at the same time and clashed in the middle of the ring. Ezio managed to breach his opponent's defences and was about to land a hit to his upper body, but the damn bugger twisted his body out of the way like a snake, followed by an attempt to circle him to land a blow to his unguarded ribs, which Ezio managed to block at the last second.
The stalemate kept on going for what seemed like hours, but was probably more like ten minutes before Ezio finally managed to land a blow. It wasn't with his sword, but with his left fist connecting with an uppercut to Malik's jaw, which must have rattled the man's brain, since the impact sent him to the dirt. To his benefit, he did recover very quickly by rolling backwards effectively evading the wild sword swing Ezio had followed his punch with.
Ezio's sword hit the dirt and he cursed the weigth he had put behind his swing because he almost toppled over. He recovered as quickly as he could, but didn't see his opponent anywhere. It was annoying despite all the satisfaction hitting the man squarely in the jaw had given him, because apparently he had not hit hard enough, judging by Malik's swiftness.
That train of thought lasted until he tried turning around just to have his legs swept from under him. However before he could react in any way, the world went black.
"You are fucked up in the head, brother."
Malik turned around to face his brother who had said the words while sitting on his bed looking very condemning. His own face was swollen on the right side where Ezio had hit him, making him lose consciousness and attempting a proper scowl made him wince.
"I can not help my instincts," he shrugged, which was true but not the whole truth. He had nearly killed his friend earlier that day; the only thing saving him from doing so had been pure luck. The last part of the fight was a fuzz in his mind, which he could have blamed on blacking out momentarily, but how does one explain the very real feeling of being impaled through the chest when they were actually being punched in the face? The feeling had woken something in him Malik had no idea how to describe, something that mixed fear, rage and bloodlust and was not completely unwelcome. It wasn't the usual battle high he experienced when fighting monsters. No this was related to the fact that he had been fighting a human being, which was terrifying to say the least.
"Do your oh so great hunter instincts also tell you to smile creepily while beating your friend senseless?"
"Ezio is not some defenseless damsel. He knocked me unconscious for a while as well and afterwards attempted to slice me in half. He did so with a smile," he retorted, while cursing himself for showing so much emotion during the sparring. He had felt exhilirated until the point Ezio punched the lights out of him.
"True. He isn't, but I still think you went overboard," Kadar seemed to be insisting just for the sake of insisting.
"Did you ask Ezio's opinion on the matter or are you just passing judgement on me, just because you can?" Malik snapped throwing his arms dramatically in the air. He felt already confused enough with all kinds of feelings inside his head he didn't know how to deal with, even without his own brother passing judgement from some moral high ground he supposedly had.
"I actually did. He laughed at me and said it was all in good sport, but we aren't talking about Ezio here. We are talking about you," Kadar said while narrowing his eyes and pointing his finger at Malik.
"And what about me? There is nothing to talk about. In fact I have all of these maps here, which need to be completed and you sitting there nagging at me is not helping in any way. If any -"
"Yes that's exactly it!" his brother interrupted. "The only thing you do these days is sit inside these walls drawing maps or whatever and when you don't it's chasing after some monster in the woods. The only time I've seen you for months doing anything else is when you decide to beat up your friend to near to death. It's like you are avoiding people on purpose!" Kadar all but shouted at him.
"You know that is not true. I saw Leonardo just yesteday," he attempted to counter.
"Leonardo doesn't count and you know it." It was true, since Malik considered Leonardo to be part of his family.
"I need to stay up nights and sleep during the days; having social contacts on top of that is very difficult. I never was the most social person to begin with. This I admit," Malik defended himself while attempting to stay calm, which he knew he was failing.
"Ezio manages just fine."
"Ezio is a manwhore," Malik retorted, making Kadar snort. He knew he had won this round of arguments.
"I still wish you would socialise more. I think it would do you good to find yourself a woman and fall in love. Maybe spending so much time with only with other men has made you forget how to have other emotions besides anger." The statement made Malik cringe, but not for the reason his brother probably thought.
"And I think your head is full of fluff. Besides I heard from Leonardo that you have not had so much luck with love either. What was the name of the girl again? Katelyn, Katlyn? No, it was Katerina, who slapped you in the face by the well," he teased and the reaction Kadar had was so very precious with his face turning red.
"What?! No! Why do you know that?" Kadar burst with his eyes wide open from disbelief and embarrasment.
"Unlike what you seem to think about me, I actually do pay attention to the actions of my family members. Also I think you would have better chance at wooing Claudia anyways."
"I can't do that! Claudia's not just my best friend, but also my employer," Kadar answered and just like that Malik had turned the discussion from himself into his brother's messy love affairs and to the latest gossip his brother had heard from Claudia. Malik knew his brother couldn't stay angry for extended periods of time, which made him extremely easy to distract.
They kept their banter going until it was so late Kadar had to leave to catch some sleep before his guard shift started in the morning. This gave Malik the time to concentrate on his efforts in cartography – a trade he had learnt the basics of from Leonardo, who had not only noticed his penchant for mathematics, but also his good memory and had taught him the necessary skills. He loved making maps from the beginning, which had driven him to improve on his skills, which now exceeded by far those of his teacher. Leonardo a genius, but he rarely was patient enough to perfect anything, well except maybe horses.
Cartography worked like meditation for Malik in the sense that he could forget all of his inner turmoil while calculating, measuring, and drawing lines on paper. Besides, he was being paid for them which made the work all the more satisfying. His brother never understood the finer points of using quill and ink to create something, but his brother was always more of a man of action. It wasn't like Malik himself didn't enjoy the physical side of things, but he liked to think he knew how to combine both of them.
He worked in peace and quiet in the dim light of several candles surrounding his desk for several hours until someone knocked on his door. Before he could call the person in, the door opened revealing Ezio looking surprisingly orderly considering he had lost a fight just few hours back. In fact Malik was sure he himself looked much worse with his swollen jaw and cheek compared to Ezio who sported only a bruise on his forehead.
Hello Ezio," Malik greeted.
"Hello Malik, my friend. You really gave me a run for my money earlier," Ezio joked light-heartedly.
"If so, where is that money?" Malik quipped, earning himself a laugh from Ezio. For a while he had been worried that maybe he had somehow hurt his relationship with Ezio since Kadar's reaction had been of considerable size. But he should have trusted his gut on this, which told him Ezio knew exactly what he was getting himself into. They were both dangerous men. Ezio was just better at hiding the fact behind his outgoing façade.
"All joking aside, we were summoned. Both of us, so it must be something big, my friend," Ezio said airily. The Italian slapped Malik in the back almost violently, making him drop the quill in his hand. Malik sighed and turned around to cork his inkwell so the precious substance would not dry.
"Let us go then," Malik said. Ezio nodded in return. They walked out of Malik's chambers into Giovanni Auditore's office in a companionable silence. There was little need for words after their exchange earlier in the practice ring, leaving a feeling of mutual respect between them.
"Good morning, boys," the older Auditore greeted while gesturing grandly with his arms. They both greeted the man in return, Malik doing soa in a manner much more polite than Ezio, who was standing next to him with an impatient pose.
"I heard you had quite the spar last evening. A shame I didn't have the chance to see it." Suddenly Malik was all too aware of his swollen jaw, making him grimace and subsequently wince. Ezio gave him an amused look. The bastard had noticed his discomfort, but then again of course he would, he was Ezio. Similarly to Kadar he seemed to exist solely for the purpose of making his life miserable.
"But as you may have guessed, I didn't ask you here to discuss your sparring match. There has been word from Venice, where something has crawled out of the swamps and is now killing people. At first it was people who had been wandering the swamps during the nights, but now the killings happen even within the city. You need to go and dispatch the thing."
"Is there more information. I would really like to know what awaits us, so we could prepare accordingly," Malik asked just in case Giovanni had forgotten something, but he already knew that was unlikely.
"I'm sorry to say, but that is all we know. It could be anything from a demon possessed frog to a full-grown swampa monster or a water hag, which is why I'm sending both of you. You should depart as soon as possible, preferably this afternoon, so we can get this over with. Federico is currently in Venice doing some family business; you may stay with him until the mission is completed. You are dismissed."
"Yes, sir," Malik answered and turned to leave with Ezio on his heels. He felt Ezio throw his arm around his shoulder, which he shrugged away without a word.
"It has been a while since we have gone for a hunt together. I hope you can still keep up with me, so I don't have to rescue you while taking all the glory for myself," Ezio teased and winked at Malik.
"The day I need to be rescued by you is the day I will voluntarily cut off one of my arms, which is never." The Italian just laughed at that and threw his arm over Malik's shoulder for the second time and this time around Malik tolerated the action.
"I will see you at the stable, yes?" Ezio asked playfully. Malik just nodded, before they parted ways only to meet again later on.