Age 15:
The city was loud and cover crowded, and Malik did not like it one bit. As he moved throughout the over-crowded streets, trying to keep the back of the assassin he was shadowing within sight, he decided that he would like Jerusalem a lot more if there were about half as many people.
Noticing the Novice lagging behind him, the assassin turned around and grinned at Malik's obvious discomfort and irritation, pausing in the middle of the road, waiting for him to catch up.
Al Mualim had decided that Malik, Altaïr, and a couple of other Novices in their training group were ready to witness a real assassination. Last year they had visited Acre, Damascus, and Jerusalem, learning how each city functioned, how the Bureaus operated, and how to locate the things or people they needed throughout the cities. Altaïr's shadow mission was in Damascus, Rauf and Abbas were in Acre, and Malik was here, in Jerusalem. For the record, Malik's opinion of the city did not differ much from the first and second times he visited the city, but he didn't like the other cities more.
The assassin whom Malik was shadowing was called Husam al Din, who was only about five years older than Malik, and he had recently become an assassin himself. Husam was intelligent in his work, but he was a little too light-hearted, in Malik's opinion. Malik was sure that it would get him killed one day; it was sad, but true. Assassins needed to be hardened and strong, and if they didn't, and were too kind, they were made into easy targets. It made Malik worry for his little brother. He tried not to too much, but he couldn't help it.
Their mission, or rather Husam's mission, was to locate and eliminate a visiting Templar, who was posing as a nobleman from Western Europe. At least, that is what the information recovered so far had gleaned. They had also learned his schedule and the places he frequented. Husam spoke to Malik about a plan he was thinking of; ambushing the Templar while he practiced his fighting skills in an abandoned church in the Middle District.
All in all, however, Husam was a good teacher on how to behave and act on a mission. He gave Malik lots of helpful hints and tips on how to successfully preform and carry out a mission. Malik had the sneaking suspicion that Husam already had all the information he needed about the Templar, but he was just delaying to help Malik with his training more, for which he was grateful. It wasn't that he needed the help, but he always appreciated the help.
"I hate this city." Malik grumbled aloud when he had caught up to Husam, "I don't know how these people stand it."
Husam laughed good-naturedly and slapped the Novice on his back before continuing to wade his way through the sea of people once more, Malik following closely behind him.
"You'll have to get used to it." the assassin said, looking at Malik from over his shoulder, still smiling, "You'll undoubtedly have to return to Jerusalem sooner or later. in fact, it's most likely you'll be returning here your your first real assassination. And Damascus isn't any better." he added.
"What about Acre?" Malik asked. Although they, Malik's Novice class, had visited each city the previous year, they didn't really have time to look around, or explore, or anything. All they did, pretty much, was go immediately to the Bureaus, learn how they were operated, and then help clean them.
"Acre is... interesting." Husam decided.
"That doesn't really answer my question." Malik pointed out, after a moment's pause.
"No, I suppose it didn't." Husam agreed with a laugh, "But don't worry, you'll visit Acre soon enough, once you're a full member of the order, and you'll see what I mean."
Malik crossed his arms over his chest and grunted in response.
It wasn't long before the two of them had located an Informant, who told the two that he needed to collect some flags about the city, but he couldn't because he had hurt his ankle. As the Informant and Husam spoke to one another, Malik noted that the former shifted his weight from leg to leg a couple of times. The Novice stared at the Informer reproachfully, until Husan suggested that Malik collect the flags.
"For practice." he said simply, an encouraging smile on his face.
Once the teen had collected all eighteen flags in about a minute and a half, he shoved them into the Informant's arms.
"Lazy bastard." Malik thought savagely, before he could stop himself.
"Let's see... Your target is the Templar in disguise, right?" said the Informant thoughtfully, "I have tailed him for a couple of days, and over heard a conversation in which he spoke of leaving Jerusalem in exactly four days. I hope that you find this information useful."
Husam nodded his thanks before he and Malik ran into an alleyway and climbed a latter to reach the roof of a building. The two walked across the homes and businesses of the people of Jerusalem, skirting around guards, when they saw them. Eventually, Malik noticed that they were heading back towards the Bureau.
"I believe we are ready to preform the assassination." said Husam, "Unless you think you need to know more about how to successfully gather information on your target?"
"I think we're ready." said Malik, attempting to be solemn, despite the excitement bubbling in his stomach.
"I'm glad. Then, once he's dead, we can head back to Masyaf." Husam paused, before adding, "Are you planning on becoming a Master Assassin?"
"Of course." Malik admitted, "My friend, my little brother, and I are all going to be Master Assassins together." It may have sounded childish, but it was what the three had been planning since they knew what a Master Assassin was.
Malik frowned, suddenly remembering a conversation he and Altaïr had been going on about how he was going to be the greatest Master Assassin the world had ever seen, and he would cut Malik off every time he tried to speak. Eventually Malik got so irritated that he just grabbed his book and left. He didn't know what was up; Altaïr had been behaving like a real asshole the past few months.
Malik shook his head out of his thoughts when Husam said brightly, "I'm planning on becoming a Master Assassin too."
"Good luck." Malik said sincerely.
The two dropped into the Bureau, Malik not landing quite as gracefully as he would have liked, but he figured that he would get better with practice. Husam lead the way into the office area where the Rafiq was hunched over a book he was reading.
The Rafiq, a man of about thirty five, had black hair and hazel eyes. He looked up as they entered, and Malik could see smile crinkles around his eyes. His eyebrows raised at them, waiting for Husam to speak.
"Safety and peace, Dai Nibras." Husan said respectfully, a glint of humor in his eyes.
Nibras rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. "Have you collected the information necessary for your mission?"
Malik was startled to hear a woman's voice call out from the back room, "Who is it, Nibras?" Malik figured that it was just the Rafiq's wife.
"It's Husam, Kalila." said the Rafiq, not taking his eyes from Husam.
"Hello, mother." Husam called from next to Malik, who looked at him in surprise as he suddenly realized how similar Husam and Nibras looked.
Honestly, Malik wasn't so sure why he was surprised. It was stupid to assume that all assassins were orphans, just because he and Kadar were, not to mention Altaïr, Abbas... Even his own father, and Altaïr's father, had been orphans. But now that he thought of it, he supposed that it was more likely than not that there would be some assassins who still had parents.
"Tell me what you have learned." said Nibras.
Husam took off, explaining what he knew of the Templar, and his plan to ambush him as he practiced fighting with his mace in the abandoned church. As Husam spoke, Nibras closed his eyes and nodded, taking in his plan.
"We will leave at dawn tomorrow and wait for him in the church." Husam concluded.
"It seems good enough. I wish you luck," the Rafiq proceeded to reach around under his desk for a feather before handing one to his son. Then Nibras' eyes fell on Malik, who stiffened. "This is your shadow?"
"Yes sir." Malik said politely.
Husam had let Malik wait on the roof of the Bureau when they first came to the city, at the Novice's request, as much as he wanted to look around inside, for he wanted to be sure to memorize the location of the Bureau and what was on all of the surrounding streets for future reference, when he came there on actual missions. Not only that, but he and the Rafiq had only interacted briefly when Malik and Husam returned to the Bureau for the night. Thus, that was Malik's first real meeting with Nibras.
Nibras studied him for a moment, reflecting back to when the Novices had visited his Bureau the year before. "Yes, I remember you. You were the one who answered all my questions correctly. How are you enjoying Jerusalem, boy?"
Malik bit back the urge to correct him, in that he wasn't a boy any longer. Instead, Malik shifted his feet and lied, "It's fine."
Seeming to sense that he wasn't telling the truth, the Rafiq smiled warmly at Malik. "Don't worry, it can be overwhelming at first, but it's not that bad once you get used to it. Besides, you'll only have to deal with it when you're on mission here."
Malik nodded in agreement, and Husam gripped his shoulder saying, "We aught to get some rest for tomorrow."
Husam started to steer Malik out of the room, but Nibras called them back.
"Oh, and one more thing."
"Yes, father?" Husam said.
"I posted an Informant near that church, in that sector of the city, near that church, and he has yet to return. If you see him, tell him to report back to the Bureau immediately."
"Will do." Husam said, mock saluting.
The next morning, they left at dawn as planned. The Templar usually came to the church around noon, but arriving that early gave the two time to figure out a good hiding place in the rafters, where Husam could air-assassinate his victim.
They found a stable support beam to crouch upon, not too far from a hole in the roof that they had planned to use as an exit, where they waited. In Malik's opinion, the waiting was one of the worst parts of an assassination, and not just because his legs were growing uncomfortably stiff. It was the boredom, mostly, and you have nothing to dwell upon other than everything that could go wrong in the mission. At least, however, Malik was much better at waiting and being patient than Altaïr. More than once in their training had he messed some sort of activity up because he was seemingly incapable of siting still for long periods of time.
As Malik and Husam sat crouched among the rafters, Malik couldn't help noticing that there was something different about the church, since the last times they had been in there. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, until his charcoal eyes rested on a misshapen heap of old sheets in the corner of the room, and he noticed that the air had the stale, but nevertheless present metallic tang of blood.
Malik nudged Husam and pointed at the heap. "What do you think it is?" the Novice asked in a hushed whisper.
Husam frowned. "I don't like the looks of this. Something seems... Wrong somehow."
"I feel the same way." Malik admitted, "What should we do?"
Husam hesitated, thinking over his options in his mind. "He should be here, soon, but... I'm going to go check it out. Whatever happens, do not get involved. Promise me. I don't want you to get hurt for my sake."
Malik shrugged. "I promise."
Husam grabbed the beam with both of his hands, dangling there for a moment before dropping down and summersaulting at the landing. The Novice watched as he crept carefully over to the sheet he was going to investigate. With one fluid movement, Husam tore the sheet off of whatever was under it.
Immediately, the smell of blood intensified. Malik's eyes widened with horror as he and Husam took in the gory mess beneath it. They could tell that the body used to be human, and through the blood, they could identify the uniform robes of the missing Informant that Rafiq Nibras had mentioned. Malik's stomach lurched uncomfortably as the Novice tried not to vomit.
"Well, well." said a voice that was heavily accented in French.
Malik's eyes widened and his head jerked towards the entrance of the church, as Husam did the same. Their target strode boldly through the doors, his mace already drawn. Husam drew his sword into his right hand, and raised it to meet his opponent as the Templar rushed forward. The Templar aimed a blow at Husam's head, but the assassin blocked him, and attempted to jab his hidden blade into the Templar's chest. Malik watched their dance of death, mesmerized, mentally torn between his own moral compass of wanting to help his temporary teacher, and his promise to not interfere.
Eventually, the Templar's mace caught Husam on the backs of his legs, making him fall backwards. Taking the opportunity he was presented with, the Templar brought his mace down heavily on Husam's legs, breaking them with a loud, sickening crunch. Husam howled in pain, trying not to look at the gory mess of flesh and bone that used to be his legs. Through his pain, he made eye contact with Malik, who remained crouched on the beam, horror-stricken, about to jump off to aid his temporary mentor.
"No!" Husam shouted to the Novice, who froze where he crouched once more.
The Templar, who thought Husam was talking to him, guffawed cruelly, "There is no escape, Hashsashin!"
"Run!" Husam screamed.
The Templar swung his mace and Malik cringed, closing his eyes so that he didn't have to see it make contact with Husam's skull, although it did not block out the nauseating cracking sound it made. Malik did not need to be told twice. He ran out of the hole in the roof through which they entered, heading blindly back to the Bureau, cursing himself for his cowardice and wondering how he was going to explain what had happened to Husam's parents, who waited for him back at the Bureau, eager for their son to tell his tale of success.
You may have noticed my use of the word "Hashashin." I am trying to incorporate as many accurate details from the actual hashashins as possible, for example the ceremony of when a Novice becomes a full member of the order, but more on that later. :)