"Qabiha's Assassination"ASSASSIN'S CREED MIRAGE
INT. BATHHOUSE
Basim pursues Qabiha into the bathhouse, and is immediately enveloped in the steam. He staggers on, lost in the mists.
BASIM - PLAYER [ONO_Breaths]
QABIHA
So many years spent searching...
Basim startles at her voice, stalks her through the fog. Blinded, he can barely make out anything - a column, a flash of robes…
QABIHA
Combing ancient tomes and tombs... tracing forgotten histories. Snatching at rumor and at myth.
Basim slashes at a shadow - nothing. More mist.
BASIM - PLAYER [ONO_Breaths]
QABIHA
When all I needed to do was wait...
Basim stops to take a breath- and feels a prick at his neck. Qabiha, materializing from the mist, has a knife at his throat.
QABIHA (crooning into his ear) ... for you... to come to me.
BASIM - PLAYER (breath as Qabiha places knife at Basim's throat) [ONO_Breath]
BASIM - PLAYER [ONO_Breaths1]
Basim, with expert training, twists round and seizes her arm so that the knife hovers between their faces, which are close. She's not the Head of the Order for nothing.
BASIM - PLAYER (Basim pushes Qabiha) [ONO_Exert]
QABIHA (gets pushed and laughs) [ONO_Laugh]
Basim, thrown by this, breaks her holds again, but she twists expertly- Order vs Assassin - and again they're locked together.
Basim breaks her grip, spins, and deftly unhinges his Hidden Blade to her heart. She smiles, admiring, breathless.
QABIHA
Our prodigal scion … has arrived.
He is confused by her smile. She sees, marvels.
QABIHA
Yet he knows not what he is. [laugh] Have you not wondered at your nature? You who see more, who know more…
BASIM - PLAYER (grabs Qabiha) [ONO_Exert]
QABIHA
Even my son knew to ask what you were... when he saw your hand touch and wake the Ancient's Gift.
BASIM - PLAYER [Ono_Breaths2]
Basim's listening, intently.
BASIM - PLAYER (menace, blade back at her heart) What am I?
She steps forward, blade still at her breast, pushing him back.
QABIHA (matching his intensity) Something more than man.
BASIM - PLAYER (betraying his desperation) Enough riddles, speak plainly!
QABIHA [Ono_Exert]
She puts her hand over his. A call to adventure.
QABIHA
Why speak what can be shown? Come with me to Alamut. Beneath its Temple walls lies all the knowledge that you are heir to.
BASIM - PLAYER [Ono_Breaths3]
The accusation rocks him. She sees.
QABIHA
Your so-called brothers would sooner die...
BASIM - PLAYER [ONO_Breath04]
QABIHA (CON’T)
... than see you claim it. But take heart, Basim. We will prepare the way.
She brushes the blade aside, very gently. He lets her disarm him.
She offers him her hand. Warm. Encouraging. Kind.
QABIHA And set you free.
Basim starts to take her hand. Qabiha smiles. Then-
QABIHA [sharp intake of breath]
Her eyes never leave Basim's as she sinks to her knees to reveal Roshan, blade drenched in blood. Basim is stunned- and furious.
BASIM - PLAYER No!
ROSHAN [ONO_Effort]
ROSHAN (as angry at herself as at him)
What poison have you lapped at her lips?
Basim decides to have this fight. Screw it.
BASIM - PLAYER (a challenge)
She said I was something more than man. What did she mean, Roshan? What lies beneath the Temple?
She blanches. Caught. They face each other. Pressure. Finally:
ROSHAN
That is forbidden ground. There is nothing there for you.
She walks to Qabiha, leaving him incredulous at her dismissal and hit harder still by her betrayal. He pursues. She ignores him.
BASIM - PLAYER (anger building)
I told you of the nightmares, the jinni-
Roshan rummages for a feather, unconvincingly distracted.
BASIM - PLAYER
You called it weakness. Told me to mend it- I tried and tried but you hid the way-
Roshan kneels to dip the feather in Qabiha's blood. He follows, seizes her shoulder, gets in her face.
BASIM - PLAYER
You let me struggle alone!
ROSHAN (finally exploding) Not alone!
BASIM - PLAYER [ONO_Stressed]
ROSHAN (tired)
You are not the first to walk the shadows broken, Basim.
The most vulnerable he's ever seen her. It softens them both. A bit.
ROSHAN (listen to me)
Stitch your shattered pieces into a whole. Pour your pain into the brotherhood.
BASIM - PLAYER [ONO_Breaths5]
He’s conflicted. She’s reaching him.
ROSHAN
Purge yourself of the poison she dripped and come home to us. No more than a man. But no less than our brother.
She rises, a bit sore, offers him a hand. He takes it. She holds on.
ROSHAN
Or is it too little for you?
Basim wants to say no. But he thinks of the jinni. The torment.
BASIM - PLAYER (with dread) What if it is?
She steels herself. And now her grip of companionship is a vice.
ROSHAN (soft but iron)
Follow the path she laid out for you. And I will kill you myself.
BASIM - PLAYER [ONO_Breath6]
She looks at Qabiha's body. Basim follows her gaze. His heart breaks. But his jaw sets. They detach. He walks to the door, looks back to see her kick Qabiha's body into the pool. She watches the blood stain the water, her face a mask of dread.