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Title: Intercept Chapter XVIII
Author: Shadowwright
Game: Assassin’s Creed
Characters|Setting: Malik al-Sayf, you, unnamed novices, baby|Jerusalem, Third Crusade
Disclaimer: I am not the creator of the characters listed above or the Assassin's Creed world. Any simularities between real life people and any characters are completely coincidental. This piece has not been written with the purpose of selling anything in order to make money, it is written only to entertain fans of Assassin's Creed. While everything is permitted, not everything is beneficial for underage readers and I write for a mature audience.
***The following chapter contains the death of a child.***
Fly, fly little wing
Fly beyond imagining
The softest cloud, the whitest dove
Upon the wind of heaven's love
Past the planets and the stars
Leave this lonely world of ours
Escape the sorrow and the pain
And fly again
Fly, fly precious one
Your endless journey has begun
Take your gentle happiness
Far too beautiful for this
Cross over to the other shore
There is peace forevermore
But hold this memory bittersweet
Until we meet
Fly, fly do not fear
Don't waste a breath, don't shed a tear
Your heart is pure, your soul is free
Be on your way, don't wait for me
Above the universe you'll climb
On beyond the hands of time
The moon will rise, the sun will set
But I won't forget
Fly, fly little wing
Fly where only angels sing
Fly away, the time is right
Go now, find the light
Songwriters
GOLDMAN, JEAN JACQUES/GALDSTON, PHILIP EDWARD/ROMANELLI, R.

You woke up beside Malik, wondering if you had just had a horrible dream. You felt somewhat drowsy and you sat up in bed. Malik woke and sat up with you. Malik rubbed your back and said, “(your name), are you alright?”
You said, “Malik, I had the most terrible nightmare! Why do I feel so drowsy?”
Malik pressed his forehead against your head and said, “It was not a nightmare, my beloved. The physician has given you something to help you sleep…to help calm you. Do you remember the tea you drank before going to bed?”
You started to sob and Malik kissed you.
Malik said, “Do not cry, my beloved. We will do what your physician instructs and all will be well. Go back to sleep now, (your name).

During the next few weeks, Malik gave you tea in the morning and at night. He either took you to the public baths or bathed you from a bowl daily, even if you insisted on doing the latter yourself. Another novice, who had some talent with the Buzuq taught you to play. Everyday, you saw Malik pouring over books written by Al-Balkhi, Al-Razi, Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Al-Majusi, Abu al-Qasim al Zahrawi and Averroes. Anytime that you tried to read over his shoulder, Malik would close the books and encourage you to play the Buzuq. In turn, you would encourage Malik to eat and chide him about being as bad as Altair studying the Apple.
Occasionally, you would ask Malik about your siblings. Malik assured you that your sister was well cared for by other members of the Brotherhood and that everything that could be done to rescue your brother was being done. When you asked where your sister was, Malik told you that she had been taken to Masyaf. When you asked Malik when you could see her again, he told you that you could when Malik was called back to Masyaf. This resulted in a verbal confrontation where Malik found that your rounded stomach made administering discipline more of a challenge. Malik resolved himself to promising you a reckoning once your child was born.
Even in these final weeks of your pregnancy, you insisted that you wanted to continue to deliver messages and do surveillance for the brotherhood, contractions or no contractions. Malik accused you of trying to find ways to start fights with him. One day, You lost patience with Malik because your brother had still not been rescued. Malik and you were arguing when your water broke. Malik looked down at the floor, “(your name)…”
You had your hands on your hips and you said, “What?”
Malik called to one of his novices. When the novice entered the room, they looked like they feared being hit with a thrown object. Malik said, “Go boil some water and bring fresh towels, it is time!” That was when you looked down at your feet and started saying, “Oh no!…oh no!…not right now…”
Malik said, “Do not panic, (your name).”
You said, “That is easy for you to say! You are not about to push something the size of a melon out of an opening the size of an orange! Owww!”
Malik helped you return to your room as wave after wave of contractions seized you. Malik pulled the chair out from away from his desk and set the chair to face the wall. Malik led you over to the chair and turned you to face him. Malik said, “please do as I ask and no arguments.”
You cried out and then nodded. Malik sat down in the chair and you undid your breeches. You stepped out of the soaked garment and kicked the breeches to the side. When the next contraction hit, you gripped hold of Malik’s shoulders and he spoke soothing words to you. You squatted between his legs and started to pant. Malik kissed you on your forehead. You said, “Where is the physician?!”
Malik said, “We can not bring a physic here to the bureau. I have read books.”
You said, “Oh…you have read books! That is so comforting! Owwww!”
Malik continued to speak soothing words to you.
You said, “oh…shut up, Malik. There is no way that I am doing this fourteen times!”
Malik said, “turn around and sit on my lap.”
You panted and said, “That sounds like how I got into this trouble in the first place!”
Malik laughed.
You said, “This is not funny, Malik! Ohhh! Owww!”
Malik said, “Do you want to stand?”
You said, “I think I want to kill you!”
Malik said, “I thought you wanted me to go fall into an abyss…”
You stood up and gripped hold of Malik’s hair. Malik winced and said, “alright, no hair pulling! You are going to make me bald.”
You called Malik something terrible in Aramaic.
Malik said, “I thought I was your beloved.”
You screamed and said, “Not right now you are not! I hate you Malik al-Sayf!”
Malik kissed your swollen stomach.
You said, “Stop that.”
Malik said, “Stop what?”
You said, “You want to do that while I am having our baby?!”
You arched your back and screamed again as another contraction struck. You squatted again between Malik’s legs and panted. “I want a physician! I am going to kill someone if no one will bring a physic!”
Malik said, “You do not have your rafiq’s permission to do that.”
You said in Aramaic, “Fuck your permission.”
Malik said, “No...no no no! I will overlook that because of the circumstances. I did not teach you that word in Aramaic. Where did you learn it?”
About then, a couple of novices showed up with towels and a bowl of hot water. Both of them looked like they would like to leave as soon as they set the water and towels next to Malik. Malik said, “I am going to have you sit down in the chair long enough for me to see if the baby’s head has crowned." After you nodded, Malik vacated the chair for you and he spread your legs long enough to check. Malik said, “The child is breached.” All the color went out of your face. You said, “am I going to die?!”
Malik shook his head and said, “I have seen this before in horses. I just have to reach in and turn the child.”
You said, “You want to do what?!”
Malik said, “Relax, (your name). I know what I am doing.”
You said, “How come I feel less confident than you sound?”
Malik said, “If you do not allow me to do this, then you will die, (your name). Will you let me do this?”
Your face grew red and you did not know what to say. Malik looked at you, waiting for an answer. You nodded and said, “alright.”
You sputtered as Malik stuck his hand up inside of you. You cried out and braced yourself against the chair, pressing your feet against the wall. You said, “Malik, you are so dead after this! I will stab you in your sleep!” The next thing you knew, you heard a baby crying and all you could do was sit there, panting. Malik handed the child to a novice and they wrapped the baby in a towel. Malik took out a knife and instructed the other novice on how to cut the umbilical cord. The novices set about cleaning the baby. Malik said, “the placenta should follow soon with no difficulty.” You gripped Malik’s robe in your fists as he massaged your stomach to encourage the placenta to pass. Once you passed your placenta, both the novices began to clean you and the area around you. While they did so, you looked over and saw Malik holding your child in his arm. He bent forward and kissed his son. Malik did not seem to care that he was covered in afterbirth. Still panting, you smiled at Malik and he said, “What should we call him?”
Malik brought the child over to you and as you took the baby in your arms, you saw that the child was blonde with blue eyes. Your heart skipped a beat. You said, “Malik?” Malik looked at you and said, “(Your name), this is our son.” You furrowed your brow and looked back at the squirming and fussing little boy in your arms. You noticed that the front of your tunic was now soaking wet because your breasts had lactated in response to being jostled. You cleared your throat and said, “Malik, I do not know what to name him. For now, can you take our child so that I can get out of this tunic? I am sure that he wants to eat.”
Malik took your newborn son into the crook of his arm and watched you strip. You caught him looking at the trails of colostrum trickling down your body and smiling at you when you wiped yourself off with a towel. Malik was still smiling when you reached for your child and helped the newborn find your breast. You smiled back and said, “What?”
Malik said, “Oh, nothing.”
You said, “You look like your cat after it has killed a songbird.”
Malik made a face and as he wrapped his arm around your waist, said, “So violent!”
You sighed.
Malik and you both looked down at your newborn son suckling at your breast. Malik started to kiss your neck and you said, “Malik!”
Malik said, “Are you hurting?”
You said, “Yes. Less now that it is over. I think I would like to lie down.”
Malik led you over to your pallet and helped you to lie down. He stripped out of his robes and cleaned himself up. Then Malik laid down beside you and watched you continue to feed your son. Once your son fell asleep, Malik nuzzled your neck and tried to caress one of your breasts. Your breast squirted colostrum in an arc that hit the wall and you said, “Malik!”
Malik’s eyes grew wide, and he said, “Not so loud, our son is sleeping.”
You said, “He drank from the other breast. What are you doing?”
You watched Malik lick off his hand. After he finished licking off his hand, he started to lick the milky substance off you. You said, sotto vocce, “stop that! I am certain that what you are doing has to be sinful.”
Malik said, “There is no one here worried about sinning, my beloved.”
You said, sotto vocce, “I just had a baby!”
Malik said, “Yes, I know. I am very happy to have been responsible for that.”
You said, “You have no shame!”
Malik smiled and said, “Shame or guilt would imply wrongdoing. I have not done anything wrong. Just lie still, I want to help you forget your pain.” Malik tasted your fruit and fed upon their nectar.

You woke later in the night to a dark room and you could feel the warmth of Malik beside you. You listened to his soft breathing and your own and then had a gut feeling that something was missing. You felt the weight of your child on your chest and wondered why your child had slept so long. When you placed your hand upon your child’s back, you did not feel his lungs expand and contract. Alarmed, you said, “Malik!”
You wrapped your arms around your child and sat up in bed. When you held your baby’s face up to your face in the darkness, you did not feel his breath on your cheek. You said, “Malik! Light the lamp! Our son is not breathing!”
Malik said, “What?”
You said, “Malik, our son is not breathing!”
You felt Malik scramble up out of bed and go over to light the lamp. Once he placed the lamp on the stand, the lamp gave light to the whole room. He rushed back over to your pallet and watched you rubbing your son’s back. Malik said, “Lay him down on the pallet.” You did as you were told and started to cry when you saw how cyanic your son was. You said, “Malik…”
Malik said, “I know. He is not breathing.”
Malik placed his fingers at your son’s neck then tilted the baby’s head back. Malik covered your child’s nose and mouth with his and started to gently blow air into your son’s mouth. He repeated this process a few times before drawing back. Malik felt for a pulse. Finding none, he trailed his finger part of the way down your son’s sternum and then rested his fingers just off to the side of your child’s sternum. Malik looked over at you and said, “Place one of your hands here, palm down.” You did as you were told. Malik said, “I want you to take your fist and tap out a rhythm on the back of your hand no harder than you would tap a drum head.” You nodded and did as he told you to do. After a few times, Malik told you to rest and he repeated the process of blowing air into your son’s mouth and nostrils.
The door swung open and a couple of other Assassin’s entered the room. One of them said, “Malik…we heard the yelling…what can we do, Dai?” Malik looked in the direction of his brothers and said, “Go and see if we have a wise woman among our brethren or the novices. Hurry!” Both Assassins left the room like the bureau was burning down around their ears. Malik and you both continued to try and get your son breathing again until you both heard someone at the doorway. One of the brethren stood there and said, “I am sorry, Dai. The only wise woman among our number is now in Masyaf.”
Malik clenched his jaw and nodded. He took your blanket and raised it over your child’s head. You started to cry and shake your head, saying, “No, Malik! No….No…No!” When he wrapped his arm around you and pulled you away from your pallet, you pounded your fists against his back wailing. Malik looked at one of the Assassin’s and said, “Please, take and swaddle our baby.” You heard Malik’s voice catch in his throat when he said, “prepare our child for burial.” You felt Malik bury his face in your hair and join you weeping.

First a brother and now a son, you decided that the loss of your child had to be twice as hard on Malik as it was on you. As you stood on a steppe outside the city of Jerusalem in the cold, you took hold of Malik’s hand and squeezed it. One of the brothers had found an old abandoned eagles nest that had looked like it had not been used in years. Because no one knew what malady may have caused the death of your child, Malik and you had chosen to cremate. After you laid the body of your child in the nest, other members of the brotherhood each walked past by the nest, laying an eagle feather on your son’s pyre. When each had passed over the child, Malik accepted a torch from a brother, stepped forward and lit the pyre. You buried your face in Malik’s shoulder because you could not bear to watch the flames consume your child. A great chill wind blew and caught up the feathers on the pyre and they became airborne. Malik nudged you and you looked to see the feathers take flight on the wind. You noticed that some of the feathers had caught fire. Together, You watched the feathers fly away and you never saw them touch the ground.

Everyone returned to the bureau without saying a word. Once inside, you lingered in the main room near Malik’s counter because you did not want to return to your room without Malik. You watched a novice step into the room and greet Malik. The novice handed Malik a message and Malik opened it and read it. Malik thanked and dismissed the novice. Malik walked over to you with a bittersweet smile on his face. You said, “What is it, Malik?”
Malik showed you the contents of the message and said, “Jibal of Acre writes that he was able to rescue your brother from the Templar. There was some misunderstanding at the docks in Acre about which ships were meant for which Templars. Our brothers took advantage of the confusion to attack the Templar. Your brother was captured. The message states that on the same day, a Templar was captured by Altair. Jibal wrote that he was surprised to discover that Altair’s prisoner was a woman.” Malik looked at you and said, “I wonder if she is the same woman that posed as Robert de Sable…”
You nudged Malik and said, “Well, finish the message.”
Malik smiled and said, “Over the past few months, your brother has been training under Jibal’s tutelage. Also, Jibal mentions that Altair has written to him about Altair’s Templar captive…Her name is Maria Thorpe and after escaping Altair several times…she has chosen to abandon her pursuit of knighthood with the Templar to travel east. Altair wrote to say that he chose to follow her…” Malik just about dropped the message on the floor. He flung his arm up in the air, saying, “When was Altair going to write me and tell me this? How far East? Is Altair back in Masyaf? If not…and Jibal is back in Acre…who is at Masyaf!? That viper, Abbas is bound to be causing trouble if left to his own devices!”
You said, “Malik, calm down. Does the message say anything else?”
Malik said, “No, it does not!”
You said, “Malik, we just lost our child. I really do not want to stay here in Jerusalem without you. If we need to travel to Masyaf, then I will get our things packed.”
Malik shook his head and said, “Wait, a messenger would take ten days to reach Masyaf and return here. I do not like the idea of you riding so soon after giving birth.”
You said, “Why don’t you let me decide what I can or can not do?”
Malik said, “I will not argue with you about this. I will send a messenger to Masyaf.”
You crossed your arms and said, “Alright.”
Malik said, “Alright? Wait…why do you give in so easily?”
You said, “What do you mean?”
Malik said, “do not say, ‘what do you mean?’ to me. You know exactly what I mean.”
You said, “What sorcery is this? Are you now able to read minds?”
Malik narrowed his eyes and said, “What is it that you want?”
You said, “Can I take the message?”
Malik said, “No.”
You said, “then do you have a mission for me here in Jerusalem?”
Malik said, “Your mission is to go to our room and get some rest. We will celebrate your brother’s rescue tonight.”
You said, “I thought we might wait until I was actually reunited with him.”
Malik nodded and said, “We will celebrate then too.”