Later that day
"Come in, Altair,"
Altair stepped over to the table where several scrolls of paper and the Apple treasure were placed, scattered about messily on the wooden surface of the object. The sunlight poured into the castle room through the window, lighting it up and giving anyone who looked out it a view of the training courtyard, and the men practicing in it, below and the rest of the castle. Eagles flew by, resting on any high point that their clawed feet could grip with ease. Either side of the window were two large bookcases filled to the rim with books, some old and dusty, others new, having been written, but each having their own tales and perspectives on things.
Standing in front of the bookcase to the left of the window was an elderly man slightly shorter than Altair who was dressed in the same kind of uniform as him, but rather than having a completely white hood, he was donned in a kind of black robe. He had a long grey beard that came down from his chin, stopping just above his chest. He looked to be in his late fifties/early sixties. His name was Al Mualim, the master of the Assassins Creed group and pretty much the leader of Masyaf. Like Altair, he was an experienced warrior, having been even greater than the one who he called his best student when he was younger. Altair was like a son to him, but the recent mission he had given his pupil to kill the Templars had actually been in punishment for breaking the Creed when he had confronted Robert under the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. He had been buried in a book, but when Altair had arrived he slammed it shut and put it back in the bookcase.
As he did this though, a hint of concern did begin to arouse within him. When Altair had first confronted Robert there at the temple, his failure to kill him and to gain the treasure that lay on the table now had earned him the punishment and the mission he had just finished. Even though Al Mualim did doubt now that Altair had made the same mistake twice, he had learned through experience never to have your hopes too high. Doing that too much was certain to bring about failure.
"Were you able to complete your task, Altair?" he asked Altair, walking up to the side of the table.
Altair nodded. "It is done, master," he replied in a kind of low defiant voice. "Robert is dead, and his scheme is gone with him,"
Al Mualim nodded, breathing a quiet of relief from his lips. He had finally learned from his mistake and, in doing so, had secured the Holy Lands from the grip of the Templars. Peace would finally be restored.
"Or so I think, master," Altair added after a moment's pause.
Al Mualim looked up at him, a slight hint of confusion lingering in his eyes, but he tried not to show it to him.
"What do you mean, Altair?" he asked calmly.
"When I killed Robert, master, he said that ten Templars had in fact found the treasure rather than nine," Altair explained. "What's more, he said that if I was to find this Templar, I had to find his, Robert's, lieutenant,"
For a moment, Al Mualim stared at him as if frozen in time like a statue. Altair searched his face, waiting to see how he would react. Though he could not be sure, he did have a hint that his master was just as shocked as he was.
Al Mualim nodded and walked behind his table, holding one hand in the other behind his back.
"I did not expect him to be a threat to us," he muttered, though it was loud enough for Altair to hear him, who watched his master halt behind his desk with disbelief. What? H-he knew about him?
"You knew about him, master?" Altair asked, flabbergasted, causing Al Mualim to look up at him.
"Some time before we officially named Robert as a target, his lieutenant was a young man, like many of the Crusaders here now," Al Mualim explained, sitting down in his chair behind his table. "Young, adventurous and eager to die for his God and for Christendom in the fight against Saladin and the Muslims. As the years passed, Robert came to notice this man's technique for battle as he was a good strategist and leader just like him and appointed him to be his lieutenant and informed him of his 'secret project' which was in finding this treasure that we have here now," Al Mualim held out his hand toward the treasure as if to prove his point and prove it to be a sign of Robert's failure. Altair stood where he was, listening intently to what his master was saying to him.
"What happened to him?" he asked.
"Well," he replied. "When Robert had found the treasure not too long ago now, he feared that if he told his lieutenant, despite his close friendship and loyalty to him, he would be killed, so he said they had found something of great importance in Solomon's Temple. The day after that, Robert had his lieutenant discharged and told him to go back to his home; though with him he took the names of the Templars who had found the treasure. With all the Templars dead, only he knows who this last one is,"
"Then we must find him, master," Altair said eagerly in a determined voice. No more was this Templar threat going to be a menace to the Holy Lands. This time, they were going to end it! "Robert said that you knew where he was,"
"That is true, Altair," Al Mualim replied, getting up from his seat and walking over to the bookcase to the right of the window. He picked out a thick book and walked back over to the table with it, blowing off most of the dust on the cover and using his hand to brush of the rest.
It must be an old book for it to be that dirty Altair thought as his master sat down and began searching through the light brown/cream coloured pages, another sign of It's age.
After about a minute of searching, Al Mualim muttering under his breath: "What page is it again?" he finally found it and turned the book to Altair and pushed it towards the end of the table.
"This is where is lieutenant resides now, Altair," he said.
Altair stepped forward and looked down at the page. It had a large hand drawn picture on it, showing a large castle at the top of a city that seemed to be squashed onto an island in the middle of a huge lake. Surrounding it were several ships and coming off the front of the island was a large stone bridge that connected to a smaller island and then went further on to the mainland. Below the picture was a description of the kingdom with the first words being: Corona, the island kingdom.
"Corona?" Altair muttered, having never heard of such a place before. He looked up at his master, who nodded.
"Yes, it is an island kingdom, as the book says, along the Italian coast to the east of Venice," he replied. "This is where his lieutenant lives Altair, carrying with him the knowledge of the Templars who found the treasure. You must find him and find out who this tenth man is,"
"And then I take it I must take his life when I have found out," he finished the sentence. Al Mualim nodded. "Very well," Altair straightened up. "I am ready to finally complete my task, master,"
"Good, and, in fact, this task has come as a sort of coincidence at this time, Altair," Al Mualim shut the book and got up and walked over to the bookcase to put it back.
"What do you mean?" Altair asked.
"Well…" Al Mualim pushed the book back into the space it had been in before turning back to Altair. "There is a rumour going around that Corona is actually becoming a famous kingdom. Rumours that it has become a city of the healthy, of the clean with a lower death rate of illness than…well, anywhere we could imagine,"
"It does seem like something is at work there," Altair commented.
"There is," Al Mualim replied. "Some kind of cure has obviously been found, though what exactly, I do not know but we must find out as I fear that since Robert's lieutenant is there, he may find it and give it to the Templars to use in their bid to take over the Holy Lands and destroy us and our chance for peace as well,"
"So what would you have me do?"
"Whilst you are searching Corona for Robert's lieutenant, you must find this cure and try to get it or a sample of it. If you cannot get neither, at least try and see what it is. Write back to me when you have found out,"
Altair nodded, but then realised he had one problem to his mission. "Master, what of the lieutenant's guards?" he asked. "I am sure that if I am to kill him, his guards, and most possibly the city's guards, will come looking for me,"
"Do not fear, Altair. There is a solution to that as well," his master reassured him. "There is a carpenter who works there in Corona, an old associate of mine. His name is Salad-al-hunim. I will write him a message of your arrival and tell him that you can use his place as a refuge when you are in Corona,"
Altair nodded. "Thank you, master,"
"That's quite alright," Al Mualim turned back to the bookcase and picked off a small piece of parchment from one of the shelves. "Now go. Free the world from this Templar menace and ensure peace upon the Holy Lands,"
"I will," and with that, Altair turned and walked back along the pathway between several more bookcases and a small barrier overlooking the castle foyer a few metres below. He walked down the steps, passing the exit out into the gardens of the castle at the back of it, and across the foyer to the castle entrance, emerging out into the courtyard to be embraced by the sunlight and the cool breeze blowing through the air. A welcoming feeling, and something he was going to need a lot now he was to be travelling half-way across Europe to Italy.
"I hope now I can end this threat to us," he muttered to himself as he walked towards the castle entrance that led down into the city of Masyaf, ready to leave for Italy as soon as possible.