Chapter Text
Her eyes laid on a shield that was on the ground. She kicked it, and as it was thrown in the air, she caught it. Then, like a discus, she thew it at Filippos, aiming for the head. Coming at him with full force, it was enough to knock him on the ground. Looking up, slightly blinded by the sun, he watched Aspasia’s silhouette approach him menacingly. “I am really sorry about this, Filippos. You were a good uncle to me – a brother, even. But I made the promise that I would not let you get away, not after what you've done." If only he had not killed Arwa. She could have forgiven him, maybe. But maybe not. Baldwin was right all along: "It would be foolish of me to let you leave, after everything."
She stepped on his hand, making sure he could not move and dig her heel enough for him to shriek in pain. She probably broke a few of his fingers, which prevented him from using his sword correctly. With his free hand, he attempted to grab her ankle, but Aspasia used her sword to strike him at the elbow. His screams almost brought satisfaction to her. She had wanted to see him in agony for a long time now, and she finally had the opportunity to make him pay for what he had done to their family, to her mother.
She lifted her boot off of his hand. He seemed to feel relief when she kicked him in the jaw. The sound of his bones cracking was followed by another one of his screams. He turned his head to the right, blood rolling down the sides of his mouth. She grabbed that arm on which she had stepped on and twisted the wrist. More bone-cracking sounds. It felt good. “I feel bad for doing this to you, I really do. But I do not believe you felt sorry when you killed my mother. In fact, you were quite happy to see how the rest unfolded after – with my father and the Order, with your pursuit for the piece of Eden.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” he hissed between his teeth. He spat on the ground, blood mixed with saliva. He brought his arm closer to him and attempted to step back when Aspasia kicked him once again in the head. He hit the ground loudly, Aspasia was almost prompted to put an end to the beating. It was too late to stop and spare his life at that point: if she let him leave, he would go into hiding, heal, and come back for her. She could not allow him to come and hurt her or hurt those she cared about ever again.
“Aspasia, please –“called out the soft voice of the little prince Baldwin, as his mother held him close to her to prevent him from joining Aspasia.
“ – Stay back,” she ordered, and she kicked Filippos in the abdomen, provoking him to roll on the side. She made sure the gauntlets she had were secure on her wrists and revealed the hidden blade to Filippos. His eyes, wide open, conveyed nothing but fear.
“I SAID I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT, WHAT DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND, BITCH?!” he screamed, and it was prolonged by screams of agony as she stabbed him with the blade in the foot. It was supposed to keep him on the ground but despite the throbbing pain, he managed to stand up and hold out a sword he picked up from the ground to defend himself.
“SHUT UP!”
Bam! He was whipped in the face. Aspasia jumped on him and attempted to strangle him. He managed to kick her in the stomach and push her over him. She rolled on the side and tried to do so again but Filippos was much faster than her. He quickly stood up and kicked her away from him. He, unfortunately, used the injured foot and hissed in pain as he realized so. Aspasia got up again and jumped on him. She tried to slice his neck but Fillipos held her arm away from his face and kneed her in the abdomen.
Exposing his own hidden blade, the one which Aspasia had gifted to him, he managed to cut through her own stomach, ripping only the fabric, unfortunately. Aspasia threw her body back, avoiding the attack, and upon realizing that there was no pain, she sighed in relief and got up. She could still fight.
"You will pay for what you did to Arwa," she hissed, getting into position.
"Who?" he asked, visibly confused.
"That little girl you murdered in the alley, last night, in Jerusalem. She was my friend and she had a bright future, and you took her away from me, from her father. YOU WILL FUCKING PAY!!" She animated her own anger. Filippos killed people but did not know who they were, their names, nor recognized their faces. Her cheeks turned red. Aspasia quickly hid her face behind her hands and hung her head low. “Why did you do that? …” she asked, sadly. "She was innocent. Why would you do something so monstrous?"
Filippos looked at her with confusion. Aspasia was switching from one mood to the other. Visibly, she was going through a crisis, emotions taking the best of her. She was losing focus on the battle and mourning the death of the little girl she spoke of instead of fighting him.
“This is not the first time, Aspasia,” he revealed to her, “I don’t understand why you’re reacting like this just now? Is it because it was a little kid?”
She sobbed quietly but stopped upon hearing what he just told her. “What? What do you mean by ‘not the first time’? You’ve done it before??”
“Yes!” Filippos exclaimed, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “in Syria. How do you think I acquired food, money, clothes, and new tools?? C’mon, don’t tell me you thought that I…” He paused, seeing how it only made the situation worse. “Shit, you must be DUMB for thinking that ... Oh, wow! You were not there with me when it happened, I give you that, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t kill anyone else! Why would I take an interest in a brat? She was just an orphan who stole your necklace! I brought it back to you! That was my goal!”
“What are you talking about, Filippos? What? Syria? Were you attacked and you defended yourself?”
Filippos was giving her more information than she could assimilate. Her thoughts went from the murders he committed in Syria to his revelation about Arwa and the necklace. She was blocking and she was unable to calm herself down. It was a moment of weakness, which she detested more than anything. Filippos was going to use that opportunity to strike at her.
To kill someone who is innocent, with the only goal to take what they have. He was making confessions, which the King, the Marshall and the Princess could hear. Everything could be used in Court to justify his death penalty. It would not matter, however, because Aspasia had her own justice to serve.
To what she had said previously, Filippos shrugged his shoulders, unbothered. “You are making a big deal out of nothing. We are mercenaries. And let me ask you, but ... are we done with fighting?”
“Not criminals, no. Which is why you shouldn’t be – oh goodness, I will have a heart attack if this keeps up…” She turned her back to him. That was a mistake. She wanted to sit down, as she began to feel sick in the stomach. Aspasia rubbed her face and tried to stop crying. Everything was happening right under her nose and Aspasia saw nothing. She felt stupid, for having been so blind.
Strangely enough, if felt like Filippos still had sympathy for his former sister. Ermis and Akakios had ruined their relationship. Ignorance was bliss but at least now, they could work toward a future as an uncle and his niece. How would things differ, if they did that?
He tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but Aspasia smacked it. Filippos pulled his hand back and stayed like this, looking at Aspasia go through a mental breakdown. It was not the first time that he witnessed that, but it was the first time it was directed at him.
“I didn’t know you would have a problem with it… And that you would not have expected it...”
“This is bullshit.”
“Bullshit, right. But it happened.”
Aspasia kicked her foot in the ground, sending dirt and pebbles flying. She cried some more and refused for Filippos to touch her. He ended up staying with her a bit, but seeing that she would not stop, he walked away. Aspasia was going to come back, calm - he was sure of it.
"Take a deep breath," Filippos encouraged her.
"Leave me alone."
"Aspasia. You are hyperventilating right now. You have to relax. You killed people in the past too, right? How is that different? Just because you gave it a name - a 'mission; - that does not make it any better."
"I fucking hate you," she said. He tried to approach her. He put a hand on her shoulder. Aspasia, swiftly, spun on her heels and dug the hidden blade inside his stomach. Filippos left out a cry. His eyes looked down. Aspasia retracted the hidden blade from inside his stomach and took a step back before Filippos could do the same to her. "Piece of trash. Why would I even bother trying to save you?" And she spat on him. "That's for what you did to my mother," and she kicked the ground so that dirt got in his face, mouth and nose, "and that is for Arwa."
Filippos could not get up from the ground. He shared his fate with his brothers, Aspasia being the only one who remained alive and unscathed. She sighed to herself, and got down on one knee, next to Filippos' body. It was unclear to her whether or not he was conscious at this point. He was losing blood at a fast rate, bleeding from the shoulder where Ermis has injured him, from the stomach and the mouth as well. "I... regret things had to come to this. We... " she searched for the right words, "spend many good moments together and had a great time. I... really wish I had someone like you at camp when I was in Macedonia, to protect me and to be my friend, because I suffered there a lot due to many other factors, and I know you have suffered in your life too."
She removed his hidden blade and used it to pierce him through the heart one last time. This was more symbolic than anything. Filippos's body remained motionless. Aspasia, judging that it was over, got up and looked around her. Three bodies scattered, blood puddles forming everywhere. It was getting darker, the sky was partially navy blue. She sighed to herself and looked up at the royal family who had assisted to everything. She had almost forgotten they were there but was glad that they had not left her. Baldwin was safe, thanks to her, and Sibylla and Tiberias were going to forgive her, now that she had gotten them rid of an enemy.
"Aspasia!" shouted the prince, a smile making its way to his lips.
Aspasia kicked the three bodies, one after the other. None of them reacted, as expected. That was her whole family, they had killed one another like idiots. They never got along, in the past, and today was not going to be the day they would learn how to solve their issues and put their ulterior motives aside. She left out a breath mixed with a laugh. “He’s not going to harm anyone anymore,” she said, “did you hear me? HE’S NOT GOING TO HARM ANYONE ANYMORE!”
“We heard you,” Baldwin said. The little prince was about to escape his mother’s embrace and began running in Aspasia's direction faster than his uncle. He hugged Aspasia with all his might, almost crying. She looked down at the little boy who had visibly been very worried for her well-being.
“Don’t cry, little one,” she chuckled and gave him light taps on the back to make him stop. “You were very brave, Baldwin,” she reassured him, “in face of danger, you remained composed and dealt with it in a fantastic way. Your bravery will come to use to you when you will become king in the future.”
The little prince cried, clutching to her clothes and using them to hide his teary face. He then placed his small arms around her and accepted her pats on his back. “You are braver than most knights I have seen,” Aspasia added, hoping that he would stop sobbing. She knew he would like that compliment. The little prince finally began letting go of her, and when he took a step back, he noticed the red stains on his hands and his shirt. Equally surprised, Aspasia looked at him, then at her own body, and noticed the red that had tainted her clothes.
“Oh no,” he said, “I hugged you too hard, did I not? I am sorry, Aspasia,” he said. "I'm so sorry! I squeezed you too hard!"
“It’s alright, it’s alright! You did not hurt me at all!” she laughed, amused by the fact that he thought his embrace was strong enough to cause her to bleed from the side. “That was not you, that was the evil Filippos. It is alright, you should... maybe was your hands.”
It was like an alarm, it hit her suddenly. All the eyes were set on her. Looking down at her body, some of the fabric had been cut by Filippos. As she inspected it more carefully, she revealed deeper wounds. It was a mistake to assume that Filippos had only ruined her clothes. The weapon had cut through her skin and penetrated it quite deeply. She should have felt it. If left untreated, the flow of blood would only increase. Aspasia could have only one explanation for this. Something was not right with her, fundamentally.
She quickly put her hand on it, almost as if to make sure the blood was truly there. It was warm and wet - there was no mistake. The King jogged to her and almost shooed his nephew away. She gave the prince a big smile to reassure him, but she was not convinced it worked. Baldwin looked worryingly at her, and Aspasia sent him a worried look as well. “We need to get you to the Hospital," he said, "my physicians will patch you up. I have some of the best ones you can find, so they will be able to fix you.”
“You can't fix this, Baldwin," she whispered to him and sent a cautious glance at the other characters who observed the scene but could not hear them. "This wound is worse than I thought,” she broke down in giggles. She would do anything necessary to dissipate the fear in their eyes. She turned her back to them and faced Baldwin so that the others would stop starring at her. Behind her as Sybilla looked at Baldwin’s heads and at Aspasia. What was going on through her head? Was she thinking about their relationship that appeared to be romantic? Or Aspasia's wounds? She must have noted that the young woman was hurt.
Aspasia looked at Baldwin who stood in front of her, his hands holding her by the forearms. “Now is not the time to protest, Aspasia. I am your King and those are my orders.”
He attempted to pull her, but she remained still.
“Baldwin," she said in a serious tone. She paused. "You know very well what this means."
"Let us ask my physicians. They will be able to tell you."
"No. You don't understand. You... I... You know very well that there is no hope for me.”
It had a double meaning. Baldwin seemed to catch it, and he looked behind at his sister and his nephew. Tiberias tried to get them to climb on their horse but they would refuse to move.
“Please tell them to get going,” begged him Aspasia. She did not want them to watch her die. At least not like this.
“I can use some fabric to prevent the blood from – “
“- There is nothing to do, this is it.”
Slap!
Aspasia was in shock. Her hand lifted itself up to her cheek. In the face too, she did not feel anything, when she knew she was supposed to. Baldwin had just slapped her, and she had not seen it coming. “What was that for??”
“For saying nonsense. You have to listen to me. Let me get you there, we can get a horse and take you to the Hospital. I will be careful in guiding the horse so that you don't injure yourself any further!”
“But the Hospital is far away from here. Please, Baldwin, you have to take in consideration my situation. You just saw what happened here. Three people were killed. By me. I did all of this.”
Baldwin shook his head. “You defended yourself and you saved my nephew. You were put in a difficult situation and I have so much empathy and admiration for you.”
“That is a difficult position to argue." She wanted to cry. No one had said that to her before. "They will have some questions when they see three members of the Templar’s Order were killed by a close member of the royal family. Your forces depend on them, you cannot make an enemy out of Lusignan, or Heraclius, or the Vatican. At least not now. You need to defend Jerusalem and you need their men.”
“We will discuss this later. We do not have time to lose.”
He was beginning to sound angrier. Aspasia could have argued until he finally gave in, but she did not want to reveal her fears to him. He would have felt guilty for everything that had happened between them, their short-lived history.
“Baldwin, take your nephew - your heir - to safety. He is covered in my blood, and he is tired after what happened- “
“- Why do you never listen to anyone? Why do you never listen to me? I am telling you we can patch you up if you could just follow me!”
“WHY DO I NOT LISTEN TO YOU? WHY DO YOU NOT LISTEN TO ME?” she screamed louder. She used her index finger to point to her chest then to his chest. That was rude of her, but Baldwin seemed to have excused it in a blink of an eye when he noticed the tears forming in the corner of her eyes.
He placed his hands on both sides of her face and used his gloved fingers to wipe away a few tears that were rolling. He shushed her in an attempt to calm her down and said: “Please do not cry… not now.”
“I cannot go back.”
“Give me a good reason why.”
She wanted to throw a tantrum. She was tired of having to explain herself to others. “Because.”
“Because? What kind of answer is ‘because’?”
She sighed. Looking down at her feet, then at her hands, she noticed the patch of blood was getting bigger. She should have felt the pain or even the warmth of her blood, but that was not the case. The material was absorbing it. She realized that she was wasting time arguing with him. Baldwin and Sibylla were watching. She was suddenly very embarrassed by the situation. If only she could ask them to turn around and walk away, but they waited for their argument to be over.
“Fine.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Baldwin blinked. “You are giving up this easily?”
She scratched the area between her eyebrows. “Please tell them to walk first.” She gave him a serious look, signaling the gravity of the situation That was her initial request to him.
Baldwin did not understand why she asked that of him but he listened to her, and instructed Sibylla to take her son by the hand and walk ahead of them. Tiberias brought their horses to them. As the two of them began to walk toward the horses to follow the Marshall to the city, they looked behind their shoulder to see if Baldwin and Aspasia followed them. Baldwin removed his cloak and attempted to bandage Aspasia with it when she refused it and pushed it away. “What is this attitude of yours? I do not like it how you defy me for the slightest thing.”
“I really love you, Baldwin, do you know that?”
He seemed shocked by her sudden confession. Of course, he knew that they had told each other about their feelings many nights ago. “Of course, I know, Aspasia. I love you too. Please… Do not anger me more. Come with me now.”
She stopped him and held his hand gently. “I am sorry for having yelled at you. It was rude of me. Please forgive everything I have done. I regret every single thing.”
“Aspasia, everything is forgiven…”
“And please understand that there is no hope for me. What I am about to do is necessary…”
Before he could ask her what she meant by it, she lifted her sleeve, exposed the hidden blade, and brought it with much force to her stomach. There was a scream coming from her and a shout from Baldwin which made Sibylla and her son stop and see what had happened.
Aspasia’s body fell limpidly on the ground, but Baldwin was quick to jump to her and support her. He set her on his lap. While he was on his knees, he tried to adjust her body so that she would lay comfortably and he could apply pressure to the wound. He used his cloak to cover it, but it was quickly drenched in her blood – the wound was fatal. He wanted to scream at her, scold her for what she did, but she did not have much time left and he could not bring himself to express to her his anger.
“I bet you are angry with me,” she said, with a stupid smile on her face.
Tears began rolling behind the mask. He swallowed his saliva with difficulty but managed to nod his head. He did not need to add anything; now was not the time to express his anger at her.
“You know me, Baldwin. You know how I am simply incapable of obeying orders. And it goes without saying, you know very well why I did that,” continued Aspasia, in a low voice for only him to be able to hear.
“We could have walked away from this and gotten on the right path.”
She shook her head. “Don’t be silly… You know it was not possible for me. I have done murder, in front of three witnesses. In front of a king. You cannot lie about matters like this to the Court. Not even you could prevent me from going to prison.”
“And you chose death over prison. You would have at least been alive in prison,” replied the King, anger as an undertone, “I could have negotiated for your freedom and gotten you out of there.”
Aspasia was facing a dilemma: admitting to the king she had contracted from him the worst disease known to mankind, or to admit she had been stupid enough to not consider the possibility of escaping prison one day. In both cases, she would bring him nothing but pain. Baldwin did not need reminding that he would not live long enough to be able to bail her out. He was constantly reminded of his death, and he did not need it from her, now. Even if he did succeed in bailing her out, he would have died in the following years and Aspasia would be free but cursed with leprosy and with friends-turned-into-enemies. She would have lived a life in isolation, ostracized by the people, because she was no royal and did not deserve the attention or care that the King received.
“I hope you live many more years,” Aspasia told him, “and have a fulfilling life. I know I fulfilled my purpose. I have with me the key to the piece of Eden.”
She removed from her pocket a small jewel, dirty with dust and blood, and she placed it in his palm.
“I do not know what is its purpose, nor where it came from, but I know it is important to the Templars and to Saladin. Your father defended it with all his life and asked for it to be placed in his hands when he was put in his grave. He must have known something about it. It is said that it yields great powers, but I know that great power can corrupt. I cannot be sure if this will bring peace or destruction, but your father knew that it had to be hidden from the world. This is enough information to know that you need to guard this. The Templars are not to be trusted – they speak of remaking the world as it was before Adam and Eve ate the Apple from the Tree. I do not know what this implies, or what their true goal is, but it sounds like it involves great sacrifice and bloodshed.”
Baldwin was confused but understood Aspasia was just as lost as he was. Both knew there was something wrong at the core of the Order of the Temple. “I will do so,” he promised her, “they will not touch this.” She nodded her head, muttering 'good', and then sighing. “Does Guy know about this … project of reshaping the world?”
“No… Guy is too stupid.” As she said that, a large smile appeared on Aspasia’s lips, almost as if she wanted to laugh at her own jokes. Her face turned more serious in a second. She then said: “but nonetheless, he has shown me that he tends to slip more information than he should. Perhaps you could use him as a pawn…”
“I am not like you Aspasia,” noted Baldwin, “I do not use people as pawns the way you used Filippos. If I present myself too approving of Guy and his ways, he will suspect something and learn of my true intentions.”
She coughed a bit. She tasted blood in her mouth. “You don't have to become like me. You don't need to use him. Guy will do this to himself on his own. Keep the enemy close – have you heard of this saying?”
Baldwin tried to bring her closer to him but maintained a safe distance between their faces as if he was still afraid to transmit her his disease at this time. It was a pointless thing to do, at this point. Aspasia lifted her hand up and touched his mask. He quickly realized what she was trying to do and secured the mask on his face. She wished he did not restrain himself as much. Aspasia blinked twice. “Come on,” she coaxed him, “will you really do this to me now? … You know that, even though I never brought it up during out dispute, I really want to do this.”
Of course she was curious to see what he looked like. He never felt ready to show it to her. He used to be a beautiful child before the disease ate away his flesh.
“The way you see me will shift if I do so.”
“Naturally…” she agreed, “and that is because the way I imagine you has nothing to do with the reality…. Will you show me your face, please? Consider this my dying wish…”
There was a sigh. His lips trembled but he allowed Aspasia to remove his mask. He expected her to have an abrupt reaction – disgust, confusion, fear, sadness. Instead, she looked at his face for a long time, focusing on each part for several seconds. There was almost a small laugh coming from her. Normally he would have taken offence, but it was Aspasia, and Aspasia was always the one to make the most inappropriate remarks in a given situation. “I promise you I was a handsome boy when I was Baldwin’s age,” he joked, referring to his nephew.
“You two do look very much alike. Blue eyes, blond hair… Are you sure he is not your son, perhaps?”
Baldwin sighed in exasperation and chuckled. “Yes, I am very sure,” he nodded his head slowly. "What an odd time to be making jokes."
“I have to ask… if you are missing part of your lips and your cheeks,” she said as her fingers traced the area that was ruined by leprosy, “how do you eat exactly?" She was interrupted by a cough, but she quickly continued, "Do you prefer softer foods, or do you just place the food at the back of the mouth and use your back teeth to chew it?” Then he began laughing at her. “What? Why are you laughing? Do not laugh! You are the first leper I meet, and I have many questions.”
He used his fingers to flick her in the cheek and she laughed at it. It has been a long time since he could joke about his disease with someone. Most people did not dare say anything as such to him. He could not get mad at her, anyway. For someone who was losing a lot of blood by the second, she was awfully energetic and in a good mood. Tears continued rolling down his eyes and Aspasia wiped them one by one, her thumb going over the patches of rough skin. His disease but also battles had left scars and traces.
“I have never believed I would die before you,” Aspasia confessed, “but in the end, this must have been God's will.”
“How so?”
“Well, you know me… My loud mouth, my recklessness … My talent for making enemies. This only makes so much sense…”
Baldwin chuckled at her attempt to make a self-deprecating joke. He hushed her and lifted her body up enough for their heads to be close. She brought her lips onto his. One arm placed around his shoulders and the other one hanging down, next to his waist. She tilted her head slightly to the side, the tip of her nose resting on his cheek. It was a brief kiss, but it was both their first and their last. As her body relaxed, his hand on her wound tensed up. She whispered to him that there was no purpose in doing so, but he had to do whatever he could to keep her alive a few more seconds. She remained like that, her body in the same position, for a few moments, her eyes still glistening and full of colour. Baldwin looked at them, unsure if she was still there with him or gone.
He heard a sigh coming from behind him. His sister had kept the prince against her body, but she had put him in Tiberias' charge and walked toward her brother. Putting a hand on Baldwin's shoulders, she caught a glimpse of Aspasia's body and face and was not sure of what to say or how to react. She tried to say something but could not get the words out. “Let... her go, Baldwin,” Sibylla said in a soft and saddened voice.
“Not yet… Just a little bit longer…”
←→
Following the death of Aspasia, King Baldwin IV returned to Jerusalem and crowned his nephew co-king.
A year later, he finally died of his disease and his nephew led the kingdom with the help of Tiberias.
Not long after, it was discovered that he too had leprosy. The hypothesis was that he must have caught it from Aspasia.
As for the Apple of Eden, it was taken from King Baldwin IV after his death, and although it remained in the Middle East, its whereabouts remained unknown for many years.