If I knew everything about Altair Ibn La'Ahad from the beginning, would I have thought differently? Maybe I would not have labeled him directly as a self-righteous, arrogant young man or thought as low about him like I did for a while. I doubt it, but I regret my missteps, though he had hurt me more than once.

"Wake up!", a rough deep voice woke me from my restless sleep. I blinked up into the face of a soldier and stifled a yawn.
"Would you finally stand up, you little brat.", he hissed and stepped into my stomach to strengthen his words. I groaned slightly with pain and doubled over.
The man grabbed me roughly by the arms and pulled me to my feet with a jerk. Luckily my legs were not asleep; otherwise I would have surely fallen to the ground again.
Mercilessly the man dragged me through the cell in which I had slept for the last week.

I tripped and hit my knee hard on the floor.
Without paying attention to me, the man went on and my legs were dragged across the floor. I was already sore when I managed to get back on my feet, which was not easy when you don't have your hands for help..
The dungeon in which my cell was, was dark, damp and also kind of scary. I looked through the many cells that were nearly all occupied, and saw a wounded man. He looked as if they had tortured him more than one time.
Despite my current situation, in captivity of the Templars, I was deeply relieved that I had not been treated the way these poor wounded people were.
After a while I was led through a stone corridor, where the man stopped in front of a large wooden door and knocked.
Hearing a "come inside" the guard threw the door open and pushed me inside a great room. I stumbled and fell to the ground in front of a heavily-armed man.
I looked up slowly into the man's face. His head was bald, and his brown eyes fixed me. He crossed his arms over his chest, where a big red cross emblazoned.
"What's your name?" He asked with a deep voice. I hesitated.
"Answer." He said loudly, and I jumped.
"Ayla." I answered a little intimidated. This man made a very wealthy impression on me.
He grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me to my feet and yet I was still a head shorter than he was.
Still the man stared at me. I avoided his eyes and looked at my feet. The Templar grabbed my chin and I could no longer avoid his eyes. I made up my courage and bid his piercing gaze defiance with my own unwavering glance.
"Ayla. What shall I do with you? "He said, baring his teeth in a comical attempt to grin.
"Let me go." I replied. The man began to laugh.
"Well, I cannot do that, as you might know." He said. My heart sank lower and lower. What did I ever do to this man that I was here, held against my will.
"Why not? I have not done anything to you. "I asked desperately.
"Your father had sympathies with the Assassins. And assassins are my enemies. If I let you go now, these dogs will find and interrogate you for information about our Order. "He said and smiled apologetically.
"My father is dead I have nothing to do with Assassins." I explained.
"This is why I will not have you executed. Your face is far too gorgeous. No, I have something better planned for you. "He laughed and I felt queasy. Something about his emphasis on the word "better" had me deeply disturbed.
The soldier that brought me here laughed loudly behind me.
"What if I may ask?"
"Do you know Tamir? His wife died recently. He needs a new one. ", the man explained. My heart skipped a beat. Of course! Who didn't know him? The well-known black-marketeers, who created the Templar weapons.
"You want to marry me to a dealer?" I screamed in panic. The man's hand darted to my cheek, and the solid bang echoed through the room. I gasped and held my aching cheek.
"Do not dare to shout at me again stupid brat! Yes, you will go to Tamir and he will take you. You should be happy; with this pretty face you will probably be treated honorably. "He said and gave me a further disapproving look.
I remained silent. At the moment I was too confused and shocked to talk.
"Tomorrow you shall bring Tamir the girl and give him greetings from Robert de Sable." He ordered the soldier, who nodded and brought me back to the cell.
I sat in the darkest corner and pulled my legs to my chin.

The next day I was not woken up less coarse, the only difference was that my eyes were bounded with a piece of cloth. Apparently they did not like that I could see the oh so beautiful fortress.
They pulled me and I followed them blindly. After a while I heard the voices of other people and assumed that we were now in some busy street.
Then the soldiers took off my blindfold and I realized that we were in the marketplace in the poor district of Damascus.
A little further on I saw the black market dealer, who looked around, surrounded by his guards, a little nervous before his eyes found me and his mouth twisted into a nasty smile.
The soldiers shoved me toward him and lastly took hold of my upper arms.
"Let go," I shouted at the guards, and fought my way out of their grips.
Tamir began to laugh. "A really nice thing you are. Men would buy you for a horde of money." He said, raising his hand to sweep across my cheek.
I spat at his face and glared at him as angry as I could.
"But you're still a little wild. We must change that don't we? ", he said and got rid of the spit in his face. In his place I would have been disgusted, but well, he was probably accustomed to that.
"Say something girl. Let's see if your voice is just as beautiful. "
"Touch me again and I promise you, I scratch your eyes out with my bare hands." I hissed, but the man did not take my warning seriously.
"Your voice would be far better without these empty threats." He said, nodding to his guards, who took me away from the Templars.
The Templars turned around and went the same route back they had probably come.
"Let's go men." Tamir said, and went ahead with the other two guards. But they did not get far, because all of a sudden a knife pierced the back of the one guard in front of me and the man fell to the ground lifeless.
The guards who were holding me loosened their grip and drew their swords.
From the corner of my eye I saw something flash white and then the man behind me lay bleeding on the floor. His neck was a gaping wound that didn't stop bleeding, even when the body's eyes gazed into the air rigidly. A huge pool of blood was spreading that slowly got closer to my feet.
I made a disgusted grimace and could not help but to look at the mangled corpse. When I looked up again, there were two more corpses around me and I saw the person who had killed these men.
Clearly, it was an Assassin. I noticed it in the white robe and pulled low hood. There were several throwing knives across his weapon belt and a scabbard of a short sword hung at his side.
He moved so unnaturally fast and broke the defensive guards within seconds.
Finally, he threw himself on Tamir and yanked him to the ground while I was standing around as if rooted and watched the action wide-eyed.
I saw Tamir's mouth moving, but I could not even hear fragments of the conversation between the two men.
From the left hand of the assassin a blade stepped out and he pushed it in the neck of the dealer who then died in the arms of the white-robed man.
The assassin got to his feet and turned to me now.
Because of the deep-drawn hood I could only see his serious clenched mouth and nose; everything else was in shadows.
Slowly, he came up to me and I realized how proud and upright he held himself. Threatening, he towered himself over me and I had to put my head slightly in my neck to look where I guessed his eyes were.
"Are you Ayla Bint La'Tarik?" He asked with a very pleasant deep voice. I held my breath and nodded quickly. This man was frightening as hell. I do not know, but he had an aura that radiated downright menace.
"Come with me." He said. I shook my head. Never in my life would I go with a stranger, even if it was an Assassin.
"That was an order." He growled, grabbed my wrist and pulled me along behind him.
Meanwhile, the city alarm went off and a horde of guards ran straight for the bodies.
"Let me go," I screamed and tried to shake his hand off, but he did not listen.
He quickly pushed me into a dark, lifeless alley and pressed his hand on my mouth.
"My mission is to kill Tamir and bring you to Masyaf alive. You will not stop me, even if I have to carry you there. Do you understand me? "he hissed, and I just nodded.
"I-I uh why?" I asked hesitantly. The assassin shrugged.
"How should I know. Al Mualim wanted it that way. "He said, crossing his arms over his chest. I remembered the old man who had visited my father from time to time. Although I had not seen him for years, he was regularly until a few weeks ago writing a letter to my father. He had even been so polite and nice to me, asking in a letter how I was doing, after he learned about my father's death. Several times he had told me to come to Masyaf, but I always refused.
Without another word, the Assassin took hold of my hand again and walked through the crowds.
"It would be much faster over the rooftops, stupid brat. "I heard him murmur softly. Hello? It wasn't my fault! Just because he couldn't walk through a street like normal person!

The assassin was getting faster and pulled me accordingly, and more violent, so that I eventually stumbled and fell to the ground.
A few guards who were standing near us, got aware of me and recognized the assassin.
"Assassin!" the guards shouted with drawn swords and ran towards us.
"Incompetent woman," the Assassin hissed and lifted me to my feet, roughly gripping my shoulder. He drew his sword as well and stood in front of me to fight the men.
"The girl! Take the girl. He protects her. " one of the guards exclaimed and separated himself from the fight and to approach me with a menacing grin. With wide eyes, I noticed how he raised his sword and I looked for a weapon frantically, but I was unfortunate. There was no weapon to be seen.
I moved backwards slowly, but slammed against a wall with my back. The soldier approached me grinning and fought my desperate and pathetic blow off.
With his right hand he reached around my neck and pulled firmly, pushing me up a few inches. I gasped for air desperately and tried to loosen his grip on my neck, in which I did not succeed in any way.
Just as I thought I would suffocate, a sword pierced through the man's chest and he slumped to the floor. A little blood splashed on my already dirty clothes and I was immediately overcome by nausea.
The Assassin wrathfully pulled his sword out of the corpse and turned his eyes to me.

"You are by far the most incompetent woman that I've ever seen and now hurry." He hissed an sheathed his sword again.
Who was this ass to talk to me like that? I would have liked to tell this wannabe hero my opinion, but the present situation, his angry look and the thought that he had saved my life held me back.
Without any other incidents we reached the gate and left Damascus with a black horse without being noticed by soldiers.
Elegantly the Assassin climbed on the horse and pointed behind him.
"Get on."
I nodded and not nearly as elegant as the Assassin I tried to fight myself on the horse.

The man sighed and grabbed my arm. Without any effort, he pulled me up and put me behind him.
"Good-for-nothing" he muttered again.
"Would you please stop insulting me?" I hissed and noticed how he suddenly tensed.
"I will, when you start to do something productive." he said, and rode off.
Although I would have liked to keep as much distance as possible from this arrogant man, I had no choice but to put my arms around his waist. Otherwise I would have certainly fallen down at this pace.
With every movement the man made, I felt his muscular chest plates under my hands. Unfortunately, I also felt every little weapon he was carrying. Which was not very reassuring, since it was clear that this man did not really like, let alone to bear me.
And so we silently rode through the desert for an eternity.