Assassin's Creed: Firewall

Enter the Dragon

 They could not return to the road just yet, not with the raiders still so close, yet neither could they lie low and wait between it and the destroyed village. So they were forced to go further from Masyaf, trekking around the village to avoid leaving a trail that could be followed. Altair kept the horse to rockier paths, avoiding the sand and any hills that might bring them too high. They both remained quiet, ears straining for any sound of horses or men that may be just out of view. Time passed achingly slow in that manner, and still they pressed on. Aimless in their wandering, waiting for the raiders to hopefully move far away. The only way to know for sure when they had gone would be to turn back to the road, but Altair was not willing to risk it just yet. Not until it was nearing dusk did he dare turn the horse back on the path to Masyaf. Emma had no idea how he knew which was the right way anymore, but she was only half relieved that they had come across no one in their wanderings.

The closer they moved to the road, the stiffer Altair became. Emma could see it in his shoulders, feel it in the nervous prancing the horse was doing in response.

"Surely they've moved on by now. Would they really sit around all day on the off chance someone might wander through?" She asked quietly, breaking the suffocating tension. His stiff posture was making her nervous, which only made her agitated. This much caution had to be overkill. Right?

"If they had any inclination an Assassin was around, they would remain for days on the off chance of catching him. I have seen them pass on a rich caravan to give chase to a lone Brother." Alright, perhaps it wasn't overkill.

Emma didn't say a word after that, focusing her energy on scanning the hills and crevices for any sign of life. Any sign that they were being watched. Her Sense was quiet, indicated nothing, but she wasn't willing to trust it implicitly. Not out here.

As if he'd planned it that way, it was full dark by the time the horse's hooves struck the road again. A New Moon hung dark and obscured, granting not even the illusion of light. An army could be a hundred yards away and no one would ever know. They had no way of seeing if any raiders lay in ambush. But nor could the raiders hope to see them.

The stars were on full, brilliant display, but Emma's eyes were searching the darkness around them. Hooves clopping through the compacted dirt seemed impossibly loud, as if announcing their presence to the world.

There, far on the horizon was an almost imperceptible glow. It had to be over a mile away, down in a natural low spot. The longer she looked at it, the brighter the glow and more numerous it became. First there was one, then two, then three, then six.

"Is that them? Or a decoy?" She pointed towards the fires, belatedly realizing he might not even be able to see the gesture. Whether he did or not, he saw the flames.

The tension flowed from his back. "That would be them. The Mongols do not care who sees them at night, for they only light fires for half their men, so that enemies will underestimate their numbers."

Six fires she could see. Going conservatively, there could be ten men a fire. If they sparked timber for only half their men, then there could be upwards of a hundred and twenty raiders. Emma's gut knotted. It was certainly a force to be reckoned with. A small army that would require one in turn to stand against them. Did Masyaf even host that many Assassins? What if they only had half as many fighters?

Then again, from what she had seen, the Assassins were not warriors. Guerilla attacks, using cover and their skills at disappearing, special tactics would even the odds very quickly. Gang members outnumbered officers, that didn't mean they stopped pursuing them. Slightly shaking her head, she forced the thoughts away. Now was not the time to be making battle plans. Now was the time for getting by unseen. While the raider camp appeared some distance from this portion of the road, she would not be surprised if they had scouts watching the path in the darkness.