"Italics in speech marks represents the Arabian language."

:Parseltongue::

Chapter Six: Deception and Denial

Bashir had fallen in love with one of the female servants. The lady in question was an old soul, a widow who lost her Assassin husband many years before Altair and Malik were qualified Assassins. Since women could not own property and were not expected to work, most ended up begging, she'd been sure she'd die on a street corner. But Altair would not see this fate happen and when her husband died, he had offered her a position in Masyaf castle. Officially her title was head servant, but really, she was the grandmother to all the people who dwelled within the castle grounds. She was not afraid to talk back to even the sternest of the Assassins, reminding them to eat and scolding them if they damaged property. And this grandmother had instantly fallen in love with the youngest person in Masyaf castle and had immediately inundated Malik with gifts for Bashir. Blankets and soft toys now decorated Bashir's small space in Malik's room, and Bashir absolutely adored the soft toys, although they were washed often since he kept trying to eat the fabric!

It turned out to be a useful gift from Grandma Zahrah as Bashir was crushing the bear she made in his arms as Mafoi carefully applied drops of his potion to the little boy's eyes. But no matter how gentle Mafoi was, he couldn't prevent the sting of liquid hitting the eyes. Bashir screamed loudly and squeezed his eyes shut, hugging his teddy and hiding his face in Malik's robe. It took a good half hour at least to get Bashir's other eye done, with the adults restraining little limbs and forcing him to open his eyes for the potion to be administered. He screamed again, throwing his toy and when he was released, he fled under a table and refused to come out, sobbing as if he'd been gravely betrayed. And in a way, he had been betrayed, despite his father's best efforts to explain just why this procedure may be done, a toddler would not completely understand just why it had to happen. To Bashir, his father and the healer had pinned him down and made his eyes hurt.

After about half an hour, Bashir had calmed some and although still upset he could not stay angry at Malik. Instead, he clung to Malik's side, adamantly refusing to look at anyone. Malik tucked his loose black robe over his son, rubbing the little boy's back and humming softly.

Mafoi waited patiently, he knew given time the pain would fade and Bashir would calm enough to listen to him talk. "I am just going to look at your eyes now, little one. See if we can make your eyes better." He said, repeating what they'd said to the boy a good half a dozen times before since he'd been brought to the infirmary and had the eyedrops administered.

Finally, after several moments and the promise of some oat biscuits Bashir looked at Mafoi. His eyes were discoloured, but the blue discolouration fortunately did not cover his entire eye but even this slight discolouration made Malik swallowed audibly, wondering what could have damaged his son's eyes and his suspicious nature made him wonder if someone had done this to his child. "Can you fix this?"

"He's young, most of this damage can be fixed." Mafoi tilted Bashir's head upwards to examine the child's eyes more. "What I can tell is a lot of this damage is surface damage and some of it is superficial. I see this sort of damage caused by bright lights. However, what concerns me is that this sort of damage is not usually caused by sunlight. This is usually caused by focused light and if I am right, the fact your son is not blind is a miracle. Your son must have closed his eyes before exposure, because if his eyes had been open, we would be dealing with severe damage to his retinas. Instead, because he reacted quickly enough by clenching his eyes shut, we only have to deal with minor damage to the surface of his eyes."

"So, this damage is not from sun-light?" Malik asked.

"No, I'd say it was focused light, perhaps through a prism or glass." Mafoi commented with a frown on his face. "I can put a potion together to encourage healing of his eyes. Since he is so young his body can replace damaged parts much easier than an adult can. So, fixing his eyes is not necessarily a problem, but working out what caused the damage may give us a clue about why he has such a unique scar on his forehead."

"You think the scar is linked to the damage on his eyes."

"If I am correct, I believe they occurred at the same time." Mafoi replied. "Plus, it is a very unique shape, I doubt the shape of the scar is an accident."

"Are you saying someone scarred this child deliberately?" Malik asked furiously.

"I cannot answer for sure. But I have my suspicions. I may have to reach out to my contacts and find out if similar incidents have occurred before." Mafoi hummed thoughtfully, and then suddenly he looked at Bashir as if the boy had said something to stun him. "I wonder…" Mafoi commented almost inaudibly to himself.

"You wonder, what?"

Mafoi frowned. "I would rather not discuss my theories until I have spoken to my fellow healers. But I must tell you, if my suspicions are correct, your son is more special then you know."

"Your answer makes me more concerned and does not reassure me." Malik replied.

"I cannot give you information until I know more myself." Mafoi replied firmly. "This case seems unique, a particular shaped scar and eyes that may have been exposed to a powerful light, if not for Bashir's quick reaction. As for his short-sightedness, I have checked my books and I found a few cases where I dealt with children with short-sightedness. When they begin to read and engage in more intricate activities, they can begin to get headaches. And it can cause a lot of distress for the child. Although, like with all things, it varies child to child. Some adapt more quickly and are more tolerant to mild pain and others get more distressed and frustrated and take a little longer to adapt." Mafoi explained. "However, if Bashir does have this experience and gets frustrated, I may be able to reduce the stress to his eyes with a potion. Since most headaches are caused by straining their eyes, I can produce a potion to relax the eyes and reduce the strain, it should allow him to shift his focus from reading to noticing his environment without causing any stress to him or his eyes."

"And this has worked before."

"Of course." Mafoi reassured. "We use these healing potions quite often; I mostly use them on adults since they can tell when their eyes are straining and when they need rest of additional support that medical potions offer. When I have used them on children, I will put them on a regime of eyedrops for a period of time, often a few months to help the child's eyes adjust. After a few months the brain begins to take over, adjusting the eyes automatically without the aid of potions. This works for adults too, a small regular dose of potion for the eyes for about a month and the stress and strain is often reduced or erased by rest and seeing the course of medicine through to the end."

"Bashir is too young to be reading, will he need those drops now?"

Mafoi hummed thoughtfully. "I will make a batch for him just in case. He is a curious child; he may start trying to read and study more intricate things before his eyes and brain are truly ready and if his eyes strain it may cause him some distress. If you administer a drop into both eyes when he has a headache, it should relieve the strain and pain he is feeling."

"And if it is not a headache."

"Potions for children are made up of benign ingredients. They will cause no pain to him and after a while they will be filtered from his eyes by his tears or by his blood-stream. I will of course test to see if he is allergic to any ingredients beforehand."

"Am I to trust you with this when you will not tell me what caused that unique scar and the damage to the surface of his eyes?" Malik questioned.

Mafoi sighed. "There are some concerning rumours, about some researchers who've been experimenting with potions and poisons, weapons and fuels to achieve some rather negative effects. Namely, death. They want to find new ways of killing and maiming without having to bloody their hands. Some of those rumours have talked about strange lights produced by their experiments. Some which have a green hue. Although it is all just rumour but there are some villages, particularly isolated villages in England and Europe, who are talking about strangers who visit them, threaten and frighten the people, make some strange glowing lights and leave, leaving behind at least a few dead villagers in their wake."

"And what are these lights?" Malik inquired.

"There are some chemicals and plants that if treated right, will produce their own glow. Though normally it is muted and not enough to be seen from a distance. Such powerful lights witnessed by so many people suggests something larger more powerful. Some sort of fuel. I know some materials glow different shades. If I recall correctly some copper when heated produces a green flame. And if it is copper, why would they burn so much that the flames can be seen by so many?" Mafoi commented. "I suspect they are trying to utilise some poison gas, that may explain the deaths and why so many see lights, if the poison they are using or creating contains enough copper, that light should be green. It doesn't necessarily explain Bashir's scar, but if the light is bright enough, it may explain the superficial damage to his cornea."

"The scar could have been inflicted by someone after or before the damage inflicted by the light, if the rumours are true. But what would these people get out of marking a child with a lightning bolt?"

"That I don't know. And I could be making needless assumptions. So, if you would allow me, I wish to say no more until I have investigated further. I will find out if there are any truths to the rumours I am hearing and then, once I know the truth, I will let you know."

Bashir whined and wriggled in Malik's arms finally growing bored of the adult conversation above his head. "Alright little one, you've earned a few oatmeal biscuits."

"Biskies!" Bashir trilled, looking absolutely thrilled. He waved his arms, growing more and more demanding now Malik has said the magic words.

Mafoi chuckled at Bashir's enthusiasm. "I will let you know what I find Master Al-Sayf. And please know I would never endanger any child, especially yours."

Malik nodded his head accepting Mafoi's explanation and carefully hefting his son onto his hip, Bashir had quickly learnt to remain still and grip onto his father's robes when Malik did this, since Malik only had one arm to carry his son. Besides the promise of biscuits ensure Bashir remained patient and obedient. For now, at least. Although the boy could not help but bounce a little in joy when Mafoi picked up and returned the thrown teddy bear.

Some hours later, the potion had worn off and Bashir's beautiful eyes were clear and bright. He was nibbling on more oatmeal biscuits, since Malik could never tell Grandma Zahrah no. Besides, Zahrah made her biscuits with fresh healthy ingredients, so if nothing else Bashir was getting some of his fruits. Because getting any toddler to eat healthy was a challenge!

Malik smiled fondly at his son before turning to the letter before him. But any joy his son brought him was replaced with concern and worry at the report. Within a few moments, he knew he needed to speak to Altair. He stood and walked towards the door, he turned to his son and said loudly and concisely. "Bashir." Instantly the boy turned his head to look at his father. "Come with me." The boy grabbed his teddy and toddled over to his father, all with a biscuit in his mouth. It was an absolutely adorable sight. Malik smiled fondly. "Do you want to walk or be carried?" The boy looked up, a little confused, Malik smiled and repeated his question knowing that sometimes they spoke too fast for the little boy to keep up with, so he spoke a little slower. "Do you want me to carry you?"

"No!" Shrieked Bashir and he ran into the hallway. Malik chuckled, following sedately behind his son. Soon, he was keeping pace with his little boy, Bashir not able to outpace the longer legs of his father, and soon Bashir was following his father as he had no idea where Malik wanted to go.

Altair glanced up briefly when Malik entered the Grandmaster's personal library. Without saying a word, Malik handed over the letter in his possession and spent the next couple of moments watching Bashir run around the library, hiding behind shelves and poking his head out and giggling when he saw Malik still watching.

"This is concerning." Altair commented. "It seems there are people who now know Bashir is missing and are seeking him out. That they got so close to the Jerusalem Bureau is very concerning and what worries me more is that not even our more experienced Assassins seem unable to track this stranger. They saw him well enough to provide a detailed description and yet they cannot find him." Altair hummed thoughtfully, leaning back in his seat and looking absently ahead. "The description suggests this man is of European descent. Black hair, grey eyes, pale complexion, an expression that made our agents think the man was half-mad. Which begs the question, is this man here to rescue the child or to recapture the child? And how did he evade master Assassins and disappear without a trace?"

"If he is quick enough to evade master Assassins, we must assume Masyaf is not as safe as we hoped." Malik answered. "Either that or he knows Jerusalem's streets like the back of his hand. Only young beggars and expert thieves have evaded Assassins so successfully, and many of Jerusalem's Assassins are ex-beggars and thieves. They should not have lost him so easily."

"Unless he possesses magic to make himself un-noticeable." Altair countered.

Malik sighed. "We have no evidence magic exists."

Altair looked at Malik firmly. "I am telling you, right now, Malik, that your son possesses magic. Only you seem immune, perhaps because he loves you, or because you may have some innate suppressed talent yourself. If Bashir is hiding, he will allow no one but you to find him. If he loses a toy and we cannot find it, it somehow miraculously shows up later. Grandma Zahreh cut his hair, the next day it had grown back. He possesses magic. And someone who uses magic themselves is obviously hunting him."

Malik shook his head in disbelief. Perhaps there were moments of strangeness but they could be explained away by tiredness on Altair, Darim and Sef's part, and aging eyesight on Zahreh's part. He'd witnessed nothing that suggested his son was magical. He was amazing, talented and eager to learn, but not magical. Malik dreaded to think of the future if Bashir did possess magic. There were societies who would see Bashir burn at the mere mention of such things.

"What did Mafoi say about Bashir at your appointment this morning?"

"Many concerning things." Malik confided. "The scar on his head may be deliberate and may have been inflicted at the same time that someone exposed him to light. He is not blind, fortunately, but Healer Mafoi did say that it may be due to lack of exposure, either he closed or blinked his eyes in time or someone stopped him staring at the light. Mafoi also seems to think it is focused light and not sunlight that damaged Bashir's eyes. That someone deliberately exposed my son to filtered light, he suggested light filtered via a prism may be responsible for some surface damage on Bashir's eyes."

Altair looked furious, and Malik was pleased that someone else was as angry as him at this realisation. "Someone did truly hurt the boy?" They had suspected Bashir might have been abused, but learning what abuse could have occurred made their suspicions all the more real and saddening. Such a young child should not experience such strife.

"Mafoi believes so. But he made some odd suggestions and I think he knows exactly what happened to Bashir but did not wish to say. I pushed him and he gave me an explanation, a plausible one but one I strongly suspect is untrue."

"What did he say?"

"Mafoi said that he knew about a group that may be experimenting with chemicals, potions and or poisons. He also said this group may have been visiting villages in England and Europe that are very isolated, frightening the people there with bright green lights and leaving a trail of bodies as they left. Apparently, some plants and materials produce light when heated or treated in specific ways, which may explain the lights the villagers see, but he also said bioluminescence would not be that very bright. Not only that, but he seemed focused on green light, he talked about copper producing green light when heated and gave me a story about the group creating a poison that contained a great deal of copper, enough to turn the flame green. Considering we only know Bashir may have been exposed to some type of light, it was revealing that Mafoi seemed so sure the light was green. That makes me believe he knows exactly what caused it."

"And he did not tell you what it was."

"No, he gave me some excuses about sending missives to associates so he can do some investigations."

Altair hummed. "It may be worth sending some agents to deliver these missives. If we have them read and then deliver the missives, as long as there is nothing that endangers the order, then we can have our agents track and investigate Mafoi's associates."

"That would give me piece of mind." Malik replied. "I dislike entrusting my son's health to this man when it is very apparent that he is not telling us the truth."

"I will also send one of the Masters' to Jerusalem. I believe I will ask Tremblay or Trouche, they have connections to Europe via their bloodlines and may be less noticed if they track the people who are sent the missives to more European settlements."

"Good idea." Malik complimented. "In the meantime, I would prefer that someone stay with Bashir every time he visits Healer Mafoi. I don't trust the man. He is keeping a very important and potentially dangerous secret from us and I don't want him dragging innocents like my son into his schemes."

"Daddy!" Bashir called. Malik turned gaped, and then laughed as his son giggled down at him from the top of the bookcase. "Daddy look!"

"I can see. How did you get up there?" Malik asked. "I look away for a second." He muttered beneath his breath.

"Still think your child isn't special?" Altair asked.

"Oh, he's special. Not magical." Malik disputed. Altair chuckled at Malik's denial and quickly retrieved Bashir from the top of the bookcase. The moment Bashir's feet were back on the ground, he raced off and Malik laughed. "I best follow my son and keep him from any more trouble. I will see you later."

Altair may have said something in response but Malik was already leaving the room and Bashir was screeching with joy as he collided with Darin's legs. Malik laughed and retrieved his son from Darin's arms. The boy's expression was torn between relief and disappointment, but it was apparent Darim was exhausted and filthy, he needed a bath and some rest before he endured Bashir's seemingly endless energy.

"Bashir will still be here when you've had time to rest." Malik reassured the older boy. Smiling at Darim's fond expression as the boy ran a hand over Bashir's hair before turning to leave. Bashir whined when Darim walked away and kicked his legs but Malik held him firmly as he carried Bashir back to his office. Once they were back, he closed the door with his foot and placed Bashir down. The little boy whined and stared at the door for a few minutes before deciding that having a tantrum wasn't worth it and headed over to his toy box. Once the room was filled with childish talking and sounds, the clashing of wooden blocks hitting each other and random giggles, Malek returned to his letters.

Most were inconsequential but a few stuck out as odd. They were documented sightings of a large black dog, a feral dog stalking the streets of Jerusalem, and yet there were no recorded attacks. Nor were there any signs of other similar dogs that size or that colour. So, where had this dog come from? It wasn't necessarily impossible for as dog to grow larger than its parent, but it was rare, not only that but feral dogs were regularly killed by locals for being pests or in desperation because the starving people in the slums needed food. This large dog was either a threat or a good source of food to desperate people, so why had the guard or the starving not captured and killed the beast. The animal had definitely not gone un-noticed, since Malik had these reports in his hand, but it had evaded pursuit. And a large dog the size of a small pony, feral and potentially starving was a threat to the novices of the Assassin Order. Malik would have to see this resolved quickly.

With this in mind, he pulled a piece of blank parchment towards him, dipped his quill in ink and began to formulate a letter to a man who may resolve Jerusalem's furry problem.

Author note:

So, I have rewritten this chapter a few times, there were a few things that didn't seem right! But now I am happy and hopefully you will enjoy this chapter considering we have a new and familiar character and the fact that Mafoi may or may not have been caught out on a lie.

I had a look at information on the killing curse and I found out that it was created in the Middle Ages, which spanned from 500AD to 1500AD, well into the timeline of the Assassin Creed game, the original AC game taking place around the 1100s. So, by this time the killing curse may already have been invented or in the process of being refined and passed on from teacher to student. Since it is a killing spell, I assume the wizarding community would keep it secret to prevent panic and the mass slaughter of innocent witches and wizards by fearful muggles. So, for this story, Mafoi is absolutely likely to know that the killing curse exists and what the spell would look like, but he would be making efforts to keep it a secret. If he suspects that Bashir was a victim of the killing curse, Bashir would be a miracle child and a victim of a dark wizard so Mafoi would be doing a lot of subtle investigating, however Mafoi tripped up in his explanation and revealed more than he should have.

As for Harry/Bashir's eyes, I did some searching about eyes and discovered that exposure to bright ultraviolet light such as sunlight and tanning beds can damage the cornea even when the eyelids are closed. So, a bright enough light can penetrate the protective eyelid. I did not know this! So, rewatching the scene where Voldemort kills Lily shows that powerful spells produce very bright lights (although this may be dramatized by the story teller Hagrid!) so it didn't seem farfetched that some spells illumination could cause damage to young, unprepared eyes.

And some may be excited and a little confused by the appearance of a familiar character. Why is he here in a different timeline? Well, all will be revealed in time, but he has an important role to play in later chapters. I was actually divided between him and a few other notable characters but I felt this particular character worked best for the plotline. I will, of course, explain more of my reasoning and research on why I chose this particular character in later author notes.

Until next time,

Kelral