Prologue
-Not part of the job-
Altaair walked through the crowded streets of Damascus, dust filled the air and the streets were crowded with people and vendors hawking their wares. his eyes darted from under his hood to make sure none of the civilians or guards were watching him. Suddenly he heard a sound; peering out from beneath his hood he saw a small group of well armed men surrounding a distressed woman. "It's not part of the job" he told himself again and again "It's not part of the job, it's not part of the job, it's not part of the job" yet he found himself sighing and turning down the alley.
He continued to walk down the alley eyeing the men. Three men had created a semi-circle around the fourth who was busy beating the woman. "That's what you get" the man snarled "But I didn't do anything" the woman screamed. People passing by didn't appear to care that the tragedy that was going on. Altaair continued to a secluded spot. Making sure no one was watching he quickly scaled the building. At the top he encountered a guard with a bow in hand staring at him with wide eyes. Before the guard could react, he charged, clapping his hand over the guard's mouth. He tensed his knuckle, causing the blade concealed in his gauntlet to come out with a satisfying shick. He drove the blade into the mans chest, slicing between the ribs and piercing the heart. The guard tensed, then went limp. Relaxing, Altaair put his blade back in the gauntlet and lay the guard down, careful to make sure the corpse didn't fall of the roof.
He ran across the roofs of the buildings, parallel to the armed men. When he came to the building directly across from them he stopped. He took and few steps back, ran forward, and leaped. He aimed for the man inside the semi-circle, He hit him with both knees and knocked him down, breaking Altaair's fall. Once on the ground he tensed his knuckle and drove the blade into man's neck. The other three men stared at him, stunned. Grabbing a throwing knife from the inside of his boot, he stood up and threw it at the middle man's neck. He dropped without a sound. The other two men drew their long swords and charged at Altaair. Not having time to draw his own long sword he grabbed the dagger out of its sheath on his belt and stood in a defensive position. The first man swung the sword horizontally at him with both hands; Altaair ducked and stabbed the dagger into the man's boot, causing him to lean over with pain, quickly Altaair swung the dagger upward cleaving the man's skull, he fell down, blood dripping from the deep gash on his forehead. The last swung at him vertically, Altaair sidestepped and swung his dagger at the man, who whipped his blade around and parried it. Altaair feinted to the left, then stabbed the neck on the right, the man flinched to left then wasn't in time to parry the stab, He fell without a sound.
Looking down at the bodies Altaair heard the shouts of guards in the distance. He ran from the sounds turning his head accepting the womans thanks over his shoulder. He spotted a small group of white robed scholars. He walked into the group his white robe blending perfectly with theirs. As he walked by the oblivious guards he thought "Now time for the job".