Chapter 16: A New Day, A New Discovery
Year: 1224
Mongolia
Not much has happened within the year; we just got more information and added on to it. It was almost the end of the year and I was going to be going back to Masyaf tomorrow to live with Sef and his wife and kids. I liked them a lot and they liked me. Mentor told me that I would be doing missions out there for him. I have no clue what kind of missions but I was hoping it would not involve me leaving Masyaf. I wanted to catch up on my training that I was missing out.
I looked around my room and tried to see what I was missing while packing. I looked around one more time and then I saw the chest. The letters! How could I forget the letters? Mother and Father told me that they would be writing to me. I was happy and I told them that this time they could not just stop without telling me why. They laughed and said they would not. I walked over to the chest and got out the letters. I looked at them one more time and packed them in my bag.
I closed my bag and set it at the end of my bed. I looked around once more and walked down the hall to go to the kitchen. I looked in the kitchen to find Maria sitting at the table. I walked over and sat down beside Maria and smiled. She looked up from what she was sowing and smiled at me. I could see it was one of Darim's robes. I shook my head and got up and got some water.
“I know.” Maria said
“How does he even do that?” I asked
“Je ne sais pas! [I do not know] Go ask him.”
I let out a small chuckle, “Je suis bien! [I am good]”
I looked out the window to the back yard and saw Darim practicing on a dummy. I chugged my water and then set my glass on the counter. I walked out the back door and headed towards Darim. I stood a few feet back while I watched him finish his counter attack. He stood back from the dummy out of breath and then looked over to me and smiled.
“How did I do?”
“You are a little rusty.”
“Begad! [really]”
I took out my sword and Darim stepped a few steps back. He was trying to wound the dummy. It was a simple counter attack but where you hit can affect the wound and how long the guard would have to live. The foot work was a bit tricky. I took one step towards the dummy and turned my body so I swiftly turned around so that I was facing the dummies back and then hit the knees enough to wound the dummy and make him fall. From there you can decide to stab your sword into their stomach or hit their shoulder really hard with your sword and pull out or hit their neck and pull your sword out. It really depends what you want to do. I decided to go for the neck.
I moved my arms as quick as they could and stabbed my sword in the dummies neck and pulled my sword out as quickly as I could as I turned in the process to face Darim at the end of the counter attack. He looked at me with amazement in his eyes.
“Okay, where did you learn to be so quick?”
“I use to train on my speed all the time.”
I put my sword back in its holder and then looked up to Darim. He walked over to the dummy examining the wounds. The one to the knees was light enough to wound the guard but the one to the neck was a death wound and was pretty deep too. If the dummy was a real guard, he would be bleeding out a lot and would be dead.
“Impressive.”
I smiled. He looked back to the dummy and then to me. He put his sword in the holder and then looked towards me.
“Honestly, how are you so quick?”
“Smaller steps.”
“Why did not I think of that?!”
Darim smacked his hand to his forehead and I just laughed. He looked over to me and grabbed me by the waist and started to spin me around. I was laughing even more now and he was laughing too. He set me down and we both were laughing. We both sighed and then heard the door open, we turned towards the door and father was standing there with his arms crossed with a smile plastered on his face.
“Those are my 3iyaal. [kids]”
We both walked to the door and walked inside with father. Father motioned us to go to his study. We sat down as father walked in and closed the door. He sat down in front of us and looked at us.
“The Apple has given me more information.”
“Like what father?” asked Darim
“It showed me a new blade design. I want to try it out and see if it works.”
“What does this have to do with us?” I asked
“I want to try this new blade design on your hidden blades if that is fine with you two.”
“D’accord. [okay]”
“Tayeb. [okay]”
“Jai'yedah! Harees, I will work on yours first since you are leaving tomorrow.”
I unbuckled my hidden blade from my arm and took it off. My arm felt bare once I took it off even though I had my robes on. I handed him my hidden blade to him and he took it and walked over to his desk. Darim and I sat there in silence. My father took apart my hidden blade and then did a few things to it. We were there for a few hours before he finished.
“Khod. [here you go]”
I buckled my hidden blade back on my arm and adjusted it so that I would not cut off another one of my fingers. I extended the hidden blade and examined it. It looked like it did before. I did not see anything added it.
“What did you add-on? It looks the same.”
He walked over to me and lowered my arm so that I could see the top. There was a hole at the top. It looked like it contained some sort of liquid. I looked up to my father and then back to my hidden blade. I moved my wrist to put my blade back. I moved my wrist again and saw it come out and the hole was gone.
“It is poison. If you want to poison your target, walk up to them and hit this.”
He pushed a small button that was located on the side so that you could press it against you are leg or side. Once he pushed the button the hole reappeared.
“Prick them enough so that the poison goes into their body. It takes a bit for the poison to work. Once they are poisoned, they will act crazy; they will hurt and perhaps even kill the guards around them. This will be very helpful.”
I put my hidden blade back in the vambrace and then looked at my father. I smiled and then looked over to Darim. It was a good invention and will help us for generations to come. Hopefully the Apple could give us more extensions to the hidden blade. It would be very helpful for us now and for the people in the future.
I got up from sitting down and looked at my father with a smile on my face. I put my hand on his shoulder.
“Merci baaba. [thank you dad] This will be very helpful for me in the future. I hope you plan on keeping the blue prints. This will help generations.”
“I do tifl. Now, you need to finish packing. You have a long journey ahead of you tomorrow.”
I nodded my head and then headed towards the door. I could hear Altaïr talking to Darim. I turned around quickly and smiled and left. Why did I say yes to leave? I love it here. I walked past the kitchen and saw no one there. I thought that Maria was in the bath or in her room. I shrugged my shoulders and headed down the hall. I walked into my room and looked around again. I finished packing. I got out a night-gown and headed towards the bathroom. I saw the door closed and when I was about to knock the door opened and I saw Maria standing there.
“Bonjour Harees. [hello Harees] Were you going to come in here?”
I nodded my head and she moved out of the way. I do not know why but something seemed . . . off I guess. Something was not right. Perhaps I had been in the study too long and I was not thinking straight. I shook my head and walked in as Maria walked out. I turned on the water to fill the bath. I got undressed and got in. What is going on with Maria? Something just does not feel right here and I have no clue why. Perhaps it is nothing; perhaps it is just me.
I hope it is just me.
I do not need to lose my mother twice.