Fleeting

“I’m sorry…” he said, “I need you both to leave, you’ll be in my way!” he looked back down at his patient and began giving orders to his two apprentices. Altaïr wished the man wouldn’t pause in the middle of his sentences like that! He’d thought she was dead! He pulled Malik from the house and shoved him around the corner where they both collapsed on the back steps of a doorway. There was still yelling drifting in the air from where the scaffold was, because of the panic-stricken crowd the soldiers had had no real hope of tracking them.

“Altaïr…”

“Malik?” Altaïr gazed with great concern at the Dai, he was slouched against the side of the doorway and he looked so broken, “What do you need?”

“Go find Azurelle.”

Swearing profusely, Altaïr stood and began stalking back to where all the commotion had started, he’d forgotten about her completely! The Assassin glanced over his shoulder at his friend, he was probably stunned and he’d snap out of soon enough. Right now though, he had to find Azurelle and make sure she hadn’t been caught up in the stampede of people.

00

The missing girl had taken refuge on top of a small fruit stall, it was the only place she could find that seemed safe and here she was able to tend to her injuries. Her knees were grazed, so was her right forearm, the blue satin was ripped open on both her arms and several places on her front; she’d been pushing through people as she’d made her way toward the stage to watch Nazeera when there’d been a sudden crush. Mostly she’d escaped unscathed until some fat woman who ran like she was chasing down a sweet treat had pushed her to the ground. Azurelle wasn’t sure what had happened, someone had said the soldiers were firing into the crowd but there were no bodies in the now nearly abandoned street.

There were soldiers lurking about, mostly they paid her no attention to her they could tell by her clothing that she was a performer, apparently this made it perfectly acceptable for her to sit on top of a market stall. She watched as the auburn bearded man from the previous day approached her, he stopped a few feet away and cocked his head to the side, “like a little monkey.” He spoke in English before switching back to Arabic, “are you well?”

“I’m not a monkey and I’m fine.” She’d surprised him by replying in English, her eyes watched him warily, “I can speak three languages.” She said it quite proudly; it was not often girls were well educated in these lands.

“German?” he asked, a tiny light of hope in his blue eyes, she shook her head, “it’s a shame,” he replied in her own language now, “my Arabic is better than my English though so no real loss. Either way I was implying you to be like a monkey and not actually one, here,” he said lifting his arms to help her down, “my neck aches from looking up at you.”

She shook her head slowly, “Your neck will ache looking down.” He laughed at her comment, was the Templer trying to trick her or was he genuinely a kind man? It was difficult to tell, Nakim’s warning echoed in her head, ‘Don’t always trust your eyes.’ “Don’t you have to command your men?”

“They are not mine, I’m just borrowing them for a little while, now come down or I will come up.” He was fully aware the tiny structure would buckle under his weight, he was also aware that she knew this too but she also knew it was a viable threat. She edged toward the side and he lifted her down by her waist, “hmm, you are short aren’t you…” Azurelle rolled her eyes in annoyance, she didn’t need telling – it was bad enough when Altaïr would rest his chin on her head! “Just look at you!”

“Yes, I tend to look like this after face diving into the dirt. Well, thank you but I have to go now!”

“Not like that you’re not.” Bosque pulled her toward the platform and picked her up so he could sit her down, “before I became a Templer commander,” he said, his teeth flashing as he smiled at her shocked look, “I apprenticed the village doctor, it’s against my morals to leave you untended.” He pulled a cloth from his pouch, the same sort as the previous day, she wondered how many of those he kept on him, there was a sharp sting on her left knee from the alcohol he’d poured from his canteen onto the cloth. Azurelle hissed in discomfort as he carefully treated each graze and cut on her arms and legs in silence. He pressed the cloth onto her chin, “you should try to keep your head lifted when you fall.”

“I had more pressing matters, like not getting stepped on.” She was growing frustrated with the man; she didn’t see him rushing around helping anyone else, why was he singling her out? “Don’t!” the brunette pushed the cloth away from her when he went to treat a shallow graze exposed by the torn satin on her stomach, Bosque pushed the whisky soaked cloth in her hand. “Do you have a thing for pregnant women? What do you want with me?”

“I feel bad for making your child fatherless.” He said bluntly, he ignored her startled gasp, “I know you’re not as simple as you appear, give Altaïr a message for me.”

“Who?” Azurelle asked with a confused expression.

Bosque chuckled; she didn’t expect him to believe such a blatant lie did she? “The Assassin you were eating with earlier, you know, the one who left you flustered in the street yesterday.” The Templer pulled her down and set her on her feet, he put a silver chain with a cross around her neck, “now go home.” The man strode away from her; she was left standing there and wandering why she was still breathing.

0

Azurelle wasn’t sure where to go, did she go to the bureau or back to the inn? Where had Nazeera gone? Surely she hadn’t been forgotten…deciding she’d just get out of the area first before choosing her destination, she ran away quickly before someone else decided to have a friendly chat. So Bosque wasn’t such a good man, he’d simply wanted a way to get to Altaïr and she’d been the easiest! How long had he been watching her?
The bureau seemed best; if she wandered close to the building she could attract an Assassin’s attention and not reveal the exact location in case she was still watched. Her eyes darted from rooftop to rooftop nervously. Had they even returned to the bureau yet?

It wasn’t long before the streets filled again with people, they were talking about how the festival would still go ahead tomorrow, they gossiped over who had been killed. Azurelle wondered who the poor soul was also and why would anyone want to attack the audience? Every time she saw a flash of white her heart leapt, hoping desperately for it to be Altaïr, so far only scholars had passed by and they hadn’t been pleased at her for interrupting them. “Azurelle!”

A voice called her name from across the street and someone ran towards her, “Nikeel!” the boy stopped in front of her, “Where did you all go?!”

“We ran! After we saw that arrow in Nazeera we panicked! How could this happen?!” he took her hand and tried to lead her back to the inn, “we think it was that Assassin from the mansion! At least he didn’t get you!”

“Wait!” she refused to move, “What did you say about my sister?”

“Don’t you know?” he asked sadly, “she was the one who got hit…that’s why everyone ran! Now come on before the man in white comes for you too!”

“And what would you do about it, boy?”

They both gasped as Altaïr appeared from the shadows. Azurelle rushed to him, “Where is Nazeera?! Is she alive?!” Altaïr looked her over, she was dusty from falling, a small wound on her chin making him push her away at arms length, “Altaïr! Where is my sister?!” what an infuriating man!

“Sister…you-you know him?” Nikeel visibly shook in the Assassin’s presence, he wasn’t sure what to make of Azurelle running to him and the gentle way the man touched her, “he’s an…”

She gave him a cold look, “I know what he is, Nikeel! Go home before you embarrass yourself!” she fled with Altaïr towards the place he said Nazeera was. She asked him again and again if Nazeera was alive, if she was wounded badly but he refused to answer her – he didn’t know! They could get there to find a cold body for all he knew! “Altaïr, your shoulder’s bleeding!”

“So is the other man.”

00

Malik hadn’t moved. He didn’t have the strength to bother, Imran had not emerged from the house with news yet, it had been over an hour now. “Malik!” he turned toward the sound, “Malik, what’s happening? Is she alright?” he felt small hands on his face and grey eyes obstructed his view, “…answer me.” She sounded desperate, obviously she was scared for her sister but he really didn’t want to open his mouth and speak right now.

Azurelle looked up at Altaïr, her eyes beginning to brim with tears, she thought that the other man’s silence meant that Nazeera was gone, “if she were dead, he would be destroying anything and everything.” That was the best hope he could give her right now, the wound had been deep and the black haired woman had bled so much. “We can only wait, Azurelle.” He stood opposite the two, his young lover was distracting herself by trying to comfort Malik and she wanted him to tell her it was alright. It was something that made Altaïr jealous; Azurelle could be so easily placated by the Dai. Something that would take Altaïr many times to get the girl to understand, Malik could do it in a single sentence or gesture. Something glinted in his eye, the sun had reflected off something around her neck.

He knelt in front of the acrobat, she was sat higher than his head so the silver dangled teasingly before his eyes, he glared at the offending jewellery and she noticed, “That Templer I told you about yesterday…he told me this was a message for you.” Altaïr took it off and turned it over and over in his hands, it was simply metal – obviously the fact that it was around her neck in the first place was the message, ‘I can get to you.’ “He also said he was sorry to make my child fatherless.” Altaïr nodded solemnly.

“Did he claim responsibility for the attack today?”

“No…I don’t think he did it, before he would let me go he cleaned my injuries.” She felt Malik shift, his dark coffee eyes settle on nothing in particular. He muttered, barely audible, that the bolt was meant for him – Nazeera was collateral. “I see…” she sounded slightly bemused. Bosque’s behaviour confused her utterly! A large hand caressed the graze on the tiny bulge that Azurelle could now feel herself. “I fell…” Altaïr frowned, his eyes never deviating from the small injury; he seemed to regard it for a long moment before pressing his lips to it gently. He would have Imran check her over before they left.

“Ahem!” the three of them jolted at once, six sets of eyes regarded the doctor anxiously before he continued. “I did all I could…” he said. Malik and Azurelle both took shaky breaths, already drawing their own conclusions but Altaïr waited for the bastard to finish. “She’s very weak, infection could set in, she might not make it through the week but for now…she’s breathing.”

“She’s alive!” Altaïr barely registered the delighted squeal before she hugged him tightly, she released him once she realised he’d had a face full of her cleavage, and she gave him an embarrassed smile, “she’s alive!” tears fell down her face, she was just so relieved! Turning to Malik she shoved him, “Get in there!” he didn’t need telling twice, Malik got up and brushed past the doctor.

“Oh no, you’re welcome! Really it was nothing! Yes, truly, I am just this good at my trade that I can bring back the dead! You are very welcome, Malik! Don’t thank me all at once!” the doctor rambled onto himself; was a little gratitude too much to ask? He looked at the other two, “what?”

“We pay you more than we use you, if you want gratitude, work harder.” Altaïr told him, his tone of voice was only partly serious, “I want you to check Azurelle over,”

“Altaïr! I’m fine!” she whined, why was he making such a fuss when he was the one bleeding!? “He has an injured shoulder, sort him out first!”

“I’m not the pregnant one who fell!” he argued back. The doctor watched them glare at one another before smiling and shaking his head, he had a better idea.

“I will look at the woman – meanwhile, Altaïr, you will fix my door, you know the one you so graciously kicked in!” Azurelle raised her eyebrow at the Assassin, he’d broken the door? She shook her head at him disapprovingly and he huffed petulantly, he hadn’t done it on purpose! “Come now, let’s look at you.” Imran watched her hesitate before following him into the house, “you’re not one of those that hit anyone who isn’t family or the father for touching your belly, are you?”

She pouted darkly and her answer sounded distinctly like a threat, “You’re about to find out.”

000

Reviews keep me keen! So yes…that’s it for today~

Sera22: thank you for the review! Yes, quick paced is a terrible habit I have, I’ve tried for years to slow things down but never succeeded, it’s the same when I draw a comic! My brain is so far advanced in the story that I seem to try to catch up! I guess it’s a style…wow! I have a style!