Assassin's Creed: A World On Fire

Part One: Chapter 3

I can't breathe.

There's something heavy on my chest. So heavy that I can almost hear my ribs creaking in protest when the weight on me doesn't move. As I struggle to take a breath, the weight shifts. Any air I had managed to take in gets stolen from me as it does.

I know what the weight is, or more like whom it is. It's Kenny and Altaïr. So I can only hope they move before I pass out.

I'm not angry. I can't be when it's my fault I'm in this situation. I mean, I'm the reason we've been thrown at least eight hundred years into the past and ended up like this.

Apparently, the opening here is as high as the one back home. Making it a three-story high plummet straight to the ground. Since Kenny and Altaïr had tried to stop me from falling into the swirl, they've been dragged in along with me.

So we ended up like this, (luckily enough) our fall has been stopped by a cart full of hay (unfortunately) with the boys damn near crushing me to death.

I can hear the eagle cry as it flies above us. Something about that cry just sounds so smug. If it wasn't because I'm a bit busy being squished to death I would have hunted the eagle down. I guess this explains how the eagle has managed to continuously pass through the swirl.

It's high enough for him to pass back and forth undisturbed. While we get spit out and automatically plunge to the floor, the eagle can continue to fly without care.

Finally, after what feels like hours but has probably been no more than a minute, the bodies on top of me move. Once they're gone, I take in a huge breath. Hands pull me from the cart and I cough as I accidentally inhale little pieces of hay.

"Jen! Jennifer, are you okay?" Kenny asks as he and Altaïr lower me to the dirt floor. I continue to gasp for air and cough up hay bits at the same time.

More than just my chest ache. I can feel my right leg throb painfully. I really hope I didn't break it. I point to my leg while I cough. Kenny quickly begins to check it after settling my miraculously still intact glasses on my nose.

Altaïr watches on while throwing looks over his shoulder every few seconds. We've drawn attention and I struggle to get my coughs under control before we draw anymore. Though it's only as my eyes meet those of Altaïr that my coughs subside.

I keep my eyes locked with his as I take a shaky breath through my nose. His gaze is calming in a weird way. I can feel myself relax even though I know I should be panicking.

I mean, I'm in Jerusalem, 1191!

In Altaïr's time stream no less. Where there are Templars and Assassins and thieves and guards and evil little birds that like to throw people into different dimensions.

"It's not broken," Kenny says as he pulls away and gives me a once over. He grimaces when his eyes reach my hair before reaching up and plucking hay from my hair. There's hay in his hair too but the color matches so it doesn't stand out as much as it does in my brown hair.

I run my fingers through my hair to help him get all the hay out. I say nothing as I do because I know he's on the verge of freaking out.

It's noticeable to me only because I know Kenny isn't one to care much for appearances. Neither mine nor his. The fact that he's paying attention to mine points to him being nervous. His hands are also shaking the tiniest bit. They're just small trembles that I wouldn't have noticed if they hadn't been brushing against my scalp.

Kenny's a child genius. He's a twenty-five-year-old college graduate with more than one degree. Still, no matter how smart he is, traveling to another dimension would freak anyone out.