Masyaf
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1191
Kadar stopped beside his brother, who was taking in the scene with as much intensity as Jameel's glare. Was Malik going to let the Novice die?
"Hey, now, whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa." Lex continued backing away from the man, palms up as if held at gunpoint, eyes on the weapon. HIs mind finally dredged up the only Arabic he could remember. "Salaam! Salaam, sala-ah!" He fell backwards as his heel ran up against someone's foot and found himself looking up at Malik. When the man offered him a hand up, he took it. The color drained from his face once more as he shifted his eyes between the two men.
"Stop it. The Novice is with me, so sheath your blade before I drag you behind my horse."
Jameel withdrew the blade, the intimidating piece of metal vanishing beneath his bracer. Even though Jameel was a fellow Master Assassin and knew Malik wouldn't do that to a brother, he didn't take the threat too kindly. He ignored it however, his eyes tilting away from the group, and climbed back up the side of the building. He was fast, no question, moving from ground to roof in no more than five seconds.
After reaching the top, he performed another Leap of Faith, landing in the hay with dead-center accuracy. He needed to; he didn't want to go splat all over the ground. He climbed out of the stack and walked off, picking out bits of hay once again.
"Train him well then."
"With pleasure."
Lex stared after the man, then looked up at the tower. He ran his tongue over his lips, chewed some sand that had gotten into his mouth. It couldn't have been more than twenty, thirty feet tops. A thrill ran through him. Looks fun, he thought as he walked over, found a hand and foothold, and began to climb up. His focus was on where next to place himself, until he scrambled over the top to the diving-board-like plank and looked down. ...High...it's high... The wind set him to shivering; the hay below was a speck of gold.
Malik's eyes widened for a moment as he watched the boy, contemplating whether or not to stop him. He sighed. What was the harm?
"Yallah, boy, jump!" Beside him, Kadar was looking at the crouching figure above as if he'd gone mad.
"Your guts will decorate the ground if you miss!" He faced his brother. "Are you really going to let him do this?"
"Don't hesitate!" The longer the boy wobbled up there, the greater risk of his tumbling down to his death.
Lex took a long breath, steeling his shaking legs as he rose to a stand on the end of the board. It wobbled with him. He flapped his arms a bit, gazing at the golden speck. The wind burned cold at the back of his neck as he drummed up a tune in his mind and stepped off into nothingness.
Then he was falling, the air torn from his lungs so he couldn't even dream of screaming, twisting around to right himself.
It was over in an instant as he found himself in the hay. He stood, staggered, and stared at it like an idiot, the hair sticking up on the backs of his arms and neck. Lex turned his wide eyes to the brothers, gulping.
"Whoa."
He shifted his weight from one leg. It stung, but he kept his mouth shut. The men were glancing toward the west, where the sun was dipping lower.
"Find a place to rest, Novice. We will meet in the training grounds in the morning." Malik gave him a brief nod before the men departed. The boy smiled, then limped toward the inner parts of Masyaf.
When the small figure rose from the hay, the eyes that had traced the quick descent moved away. Jameel was impressed. For a Novice, that wasn't a bad execution of the Leap of Faith. Yes, he was watching. He wanted to make sure the odd boy wasn't going to break a leg or something like the others tended to do. He then noticed night was arriving, the strains of the sunset Call to Prayer coming over the fortress. Perfect. He began to move, still having the energy to do a few night runs before roosting.
That was when Lex spotted him. He weighted his options--wander aimlessly or ask the guy who was a little stabby for directions. He followed after him.
The Red Owl stopped, hearing somebody limping after him. Hm...maybe he did snap a bone after all... Jameel turned around to find it was indeed the strange Novice.
"Yes?"
"Just following along," the boy murmured. He gave a wry smile, a few lines of sweat running down his face. "Pretend I'm not here or something. I wanna see if I can keep up." He was glad he'd still been able to keep up thus far with the massive, annoying pain in his leg. "So, what's your name?"
The man gaped, then answered, "Jameel." He grabbed the kid and continued along. "You've broken something; I can see it. I'll have one of the servants tend to it."
He may not have been a "nice guy" upon first meeting, but now that he wasn't practicing his aggression levels were down. He had no Novice of his own, true, but that didn't mean he couldn't protectively watch over those of others. Since Malik had gone to sleep, he would personally make sure his Novice was in top form when he returned, or as close to it as could be had with a broken leg.
"Name's Lex," was the quick answer from the boy as he was tugged along. He made it a few steps before falling on a knee when his leg gave. "s**t!" He snarled and tried to force his feet back under his body, breathing hard and deep.
Jameel stopped one of the nearest servants that came by and told her to tend to Lex's leg. He handed him to the woman, both handling him as if he weighed nothing, and ordered her companion to fetch the kid some food. This done, the Assassin vanished around the corner, off to practice with his wrist blade now that Lex was in good hands.
