Meanwhile, in Jerusalem
In the sky far off to the east, the first light of day was beginning to form. Throughout the streets of the holy city, considered to be the holiest in the world, people were already up and about with work, training or going to see friends and family. Around the walls of the great city, Saracen guards stood on watch, gazing out over the great landscape that surrounded Jerusalem. Amongst it were several small tent camps where several guards were placed on outpost positions to warn of any incoming attack from the Crusaders.
Since falling back into the hands of Saladin, Jerusalem had begun to return to normal following the change of Christian leadership of the holy city to Islamic leadership as it had been before the First Crusade almost a hundred years earlier now. People of all faiths were welcome into the city and with an army of almost unstoppable Saracens protecting Jerusalem; it looked as though Richard I had very little chance of re-taking the city. For the moment, anyway, the war between the Crusaders and the Muslims was focused mostly on and around Acre, a settlement to the north that the Crusaders had captured. Although the fighting had now died down for now, there were still negotiations continuing between the two leaders over the possession of the Muslim prisoners that had been captured during the Crusader siege of the city months earlier. However, neither side was gaining the advantage in these talks, though, and they were certain to end in further bloodshed before the war was all over.
Jerusalem held many religious sites for Christianity, Islam and Judaism. For Christianity, it was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the place where it is said Jesus had been crucified and buried. For Islam, the Dome of the Rock mosque where their prophet Muhammad had ascended to Heaven and for Judaism, it was, or had been, the Temple of Solomon, named after the king of the Israelites. The Temple of Solomon, however, had not survived the destruction of man and time and had been burned by the Romans centuries before. Many caverns ran through the mountain it was placed on, leading in and out of the temple remains.
In one of the caverns that led into a large room of the temple, coming to an end on a kind of bastion about thirty feet above the floor, a tall man with black hair, a small beard and was dressed in a kind of blue robe clothing, climbed down a ladder that had been left here during reconstruction work some time ago. His name was Malik; a member of the same Assassin's Creed that Altair was part of.
If there was one thing he had discovered very well about having only one arm, however, it was trying to climb with it. His other arm had been amputated after being severely bloodied during a fight here just over a month ago now. That had happened when Malik, his brother and Altair had come here to search for a treasure piece but had run into Robert de Sable at the same time. Altair, who had already broken two of the Assassin's Creeds by this point of their search, had decided to break the last and compromise the brotherhood, ending in him being thrown out of the room, thus causing the remains of the column in what had been the doorway to be nothing but a pile of rubble, and Malik and his brother being left to fight the Crusaders and Robert, resulting in Malik's brother being killed and him losing his arm. He had had a sour attitude towards Altair since then, but, recently, they had made peace with each other, though it had been a very light one.
"Owww!" Malik groaned as he climbed down the ladder, finding it difficult to do so. If there was another thing about having an amputated arm, the socket where it had been would be quite painful.
Luckily, though, the floor was only a few feet below him and, deciding he was not going to suffer any more of this wretched pain from his arm socket, he released his grip on the ladder and fell to the floor, his boots thudding loudly as they hit the stone. He turned and looked around the interior of the room. What he had come back here for was to search for anything that might have been left behind when his brother's body would have been taken away from the temple.
It was then his eyes rested on a small table near the doorway where the remains of the column and stone were. It was only a small wooden one, but it was what was on it that drew Malik's curiousness. It was a small book, too small to be an informational guide or a drawing book. What was it doing here anyway?
He walked over to the table, seeing that it looked to be quite new as it was not broken or the covers looked like they had been bent from handling or whatever, though it was covered in a lot of dust as it had been left here for a while, and, after blowing off the dust, used his hand to open it. The first page had written on it: The journal of Robert de Sable
Malik 'hmmed', his curiousness overtaking his mind, urging him to read on. He turned the next page and read what was on it. Here, he felt a little surprised and a sense of determination from his brain made him want to go on, which he did.
As he read, you could tell he was getting shocked at what he was reading because his eyes were growing wide, followed occasionally by slight gasps and/or whispers of "My God!" He could not believe what he was reading, and this was from Robert de Sable's diary! This was absolutely shocking at what his eyes were seeing in this book. No, something had to be wrong!
It was when he was near the end of the book that he read something that made his eyes grow wide to the point of where they looked like they would burst. It shocked him so much, he stepped back a few paces from the table as if he was afraid the book would suddenly attack him. His mind went blank with disbelief, unable to comprehend what it had just seen.
It was then he realised something.
"Altair!" he muttered under his breath, suddenly realising something. His friend was in danger.
Running as fast as his legs would carry him; he rushed back over to the ladder and climbed it as quickly as he could. He had to get to Masyaf and send a message to his friend and fast before it was too late.