Assassin's Creed: Winter's Falling

Chapter 14

Ann tensed as Sol began to stir with the rising sun. She held her breath, wondering which Sol would awaken first. Sol's eyes blinked open slowly. Ann crept closer, the anticipation rising in her chest. She watched Sol's eyes for any sign of life. There was none. Ann sighed; in relief or in grief she did not know which. She reached over and, as carefully as she could, sat Sol up. Sol moved slowly, but not limply. Once she was sitting, she again stopped moving. Ann patted her head. I miss her, the real Sol; Ann thought to herself.

The Templar in charge of feeding them walked up to the cage with the typical piece of bread and wooden glasses of water. He threw the bread into the cage. Ann scowled at him, snatched the piece of bread, and shifted closer to Sol. The man saw the shift and grinned.

"Don't worry," his voice was that of a predator to his prey. "The captain said we weren't going to use her anymore. You've both outlived your usefulness, but the cap won't let us kill you. It's a shame really; I'd have loved to see your pretty little heads roll."

"Now there's a kink I've never heard of before," Ann raised an eyebrow at him. "Who knew decapitation could be used as a means to get off. Oh, well, to each his own. Can't imagine it's easy to find videos for that though."

"Shut it!" The Templar growled and kicked the cage. "The cap told me to give your friend this pain killer. Have her take it."

He put the wooden cups in the cage, and dropped a napkin with a pill on it next to them. He kicked the cage once again for good measures then turned on his heels and left. His final kick unbalanced one of the cups; sending it toppling to the floor. There goes my ration of water, Ann sighed to herself. She crawled over to the pill and examined it. It was a painkiller. How will this help Sol? Is this even safe to give her? It could be poisoned. Well, at least if this kills her it'll be a quick and painless death. Ann shrugged off her doubts, Grabbed the water, and went to give the pill to Sol. She slowly forced her to take the pill. Once Sol had taken the pill, eaten half the bread, and finished the water; Ann sat back to observe her. When nothing happened, Ann turned away. She spent the next two hours shouting profanities at the Templars who were unfortunate enough to have to pass the cage on their way to complete their daily chores.

"HEY YOU! DOES YOUR GIRLFRIEND KNOW YOU'RE WEARING HER SHIRT?" She hollered at a Templar who had made the unfortunate decision to wear a salmon pink button up.

"Ann," A soft voice from behind caught her attention. "That's rude."

Ann turned quickly. Sol sat with her head against the bars; her eyes glazed in pain. Yet, there was life in those eyes now. Sol was back.

"Sol!" Ann quickly crawled to her side. "you're back!"

"The pain is incredible, but it's not as bad as it was before," Sol looked like she wanted to nod to highlight her point, but could not.

"What did they do to you?" Ann asked.

"In... in my head... they put something in my head," She struggled to remember.

Sol opened her mouth as if to say more, but before she could utter a single word another voice from behind them startled the girls. Ann turned to find the woman in the lab coat. The woman was tall and slender. Her hair was dyed a bright, pistachio ice-cream like green, and was tied in a messy pony tail; a single piece of hair from the back was braided and sat over her shoulder on her chest. The eyes where lite blue, like Sol's; but unlike Sol's, her's where a cold and merciless color.

"Oh good," the woman grinned smugly. "The pain killer is starting to kick in."

"Clover..." Sol called out the woman's name without looking at her.