Salad's carpentry was not that much different from the bureaus Altair had stayed in when he had gone to Damascus, Jerusalem or Acre. It had a kind of wooden counter along the back wall with shelves behind it and a door in the middle of the back wall, possibly leading upstairs as Altair had seen another floor above this one. Several rolls of carpet hung along the left wall, each comprising of different colours such as red or green but many of them had Arabic words on them. One kind of cream coloured carpet, which hung fully unravelled from a peg near the top of the wall, had a sewn out silver fabric coloured cross in the middle of a white space that was in the middle of the cream coloured area of the blanket. Another door leading into a smaller room was on the right wall. A wooden table was placed in the middle of the room with a small cup of water place on it. A book lay next to it and a small chandelier-like object hung from the ceiling with several burning candles on it, giving the room a dimly lit glow.

"Al Mualim told me you would be arriving," Salad said to Altair as he walked past him away from the door. "Come, sit down,"

Altair thanked him and walked over to the table and sat down in front of it, crossing his legs. Salad walked behind the counter and took out a small jug from underneath it and another cup and walked back over to the table and poured one for Altair.

"Here, you might need this," he offered, holding out the cup to Altair, who took it.

"Thank you," he replied and drank it. The water felt good as it slid down his throat. His own canister of water was almost empty and he had nearly run out of money to buy another. Salad had just saved him the trouble of doing so.

As he set it down, Salad closed his book and put it under the table. "Al Mualim sent an eagle message, telling me that you killed Robert de Sable," he said and Altair nodded.

"Yes," he replied. "Now, however, I've come here looking for his lieutenant who knows where this tenth Templar is,"

"Well, that will not be easy, Altair," Salad told him, taking a sip from his cup of water. "I do not know exactly who this lieutenant of Robert is, but I know he is someone of high valour in Corona,"

"Of high valour?"

Salad nodded. "Yes. As I said, I do not know exactly who he is, but I think I have something that may lead us to who he is,"

Altair leaned in a little towards Salad, intrigued by what he was telling him.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Well," Salad began. "Several days ago, just before you arrived, two men in Crusader uniforms arrived here in the city to speak with the king, most likely on that they were wishing to reside in the kingdom on their journey back to their homes,"

Altair nodded. "I did hear about Richard's men being dismissed," he said.

Salad nodded. "Anyway," he continued. "When they left later that day, I was coming back from the mosque, and as I used to be a part of the Creed, I managed to overhear them talking next to a shop. They said that the lieutenant of Robert has promised them something very great if they did not take a reprisal against him or the kingdom in return. What exactly, I do not know, but…" he trailed off and looked around for a moment as if thinking someone had sneaked in here and was listening to their conversation. Then, he leaned in close to Altair and lowered his voice until it was almost a whisper. "…I think we could be dealing with the king himself here,"

Altair went a little wide-eyed. Now that was shocking. Sure he had dealt with rich people before. I mean, look at that rich merchant he had dealt with in Jerusalem or the many leaders of groups or hospitals like the one in Acre. But…but never did he think it was actually a king he would have to go up against. Not that it would be any harder, or at least he hoped it would not, but it was just really shocking though. This was literally a first time for him to probably having to end up killing a king if he was Robert's lieutenant.

"The king," he repeated to himself as Salad leant back away from him, nodding at his reply.

"Yes," he said. "Though, I have said to you, I think this could be the king we're dealing with, I'm not entirely sure, but I believe it could be,"

Altair paused for a moment, lost in thought as he took in what had just been explained to him, before looking up at Salad.

"Then we must deal with him quickly," he said, rising to his feet. Salad, however, got his feet as well and put a hand on Altair's shoulder.

"No, Altair, you stay here for today," he said. "You've had a long journey and you need to rest,"

"No!" Altair insisted, looking into Salad's brown eyes. "Look, we are near the end of our task to stop this Templar threat. We cannot waste any time!"

"Altair, no!" Salad told him sternly. "You need to rest and you will! Remember what Al Mualim said to you: A mind that has rested well-"

"-Will be ready for It's task," Altair finished the sentence, nodding. "I know. I remember Al Mualim saying that to me many times when I joined the Creed,"

"And so you will hear it once again," Salad told him. "Now, go into that room and get some rest. Try and stay there for today and begin your task tomorrow. Besides, you never know if anyone who might have seen you today will have become suspicious about your presence here,"

Altair nodded in agreement. That was true what Salad was telling him. The guard that had taken his horse from him when he arrived did look suspicious about him when he arrived earlier. Yes, maybe it was best if he stayed here for the day. Hopefully, by tomorrow, the people here would have just dismissed him as another monk or scholar and forget about him.

"Alright, I shall go rest," he said to Salad.

"Good," he replied and Altair walked over towards the next room, but stopped.

"Wait, just before I go in there, I need to ask you something, Salad," he said, turning to face him.

"Ask it then," Salad replied.

"Al Mualim has said that there is a kind of healing incarnation here in the city that makes it healthy and prosperous from plague," he explained. "Do you know of anyone who could have given this?" he asked hopefully.

Salad shrugged. "I do not know I'm afraid, Altair," he answered a little guiltily. "I know of this healing incarnation, but all I know is that someone here had given it to the hospital, but…that's it I'm afraid."

Altair looked down at the floor, nodding a little. "Right," he said. "Well, thank you, brother," he added and walked into the next room.

The room was rectangular shaped and much smaller than the main room. A single bed was placed against the side wall opposite the door. The walls were bare bricks that were a light orange kind of colour and a small window was on the right wall at the other end of the room near the top of it just below the ceiling, allowing a single flow of daylight to flood into the room. A small wooden desk was placed next to the bed on the wall across from it and on it was a small burnt out candle. On the floor at the end of the room were several small carpets rolled up around a single rug and on the wall at the end was a kind of Quranic recitation.

Altair walked to the rug and sat down, crossing his legs and moving so he was facing the Quranic recitation on the wall and closed his eyes and began to meditate.

For now he would rest and clear his mind to prepare for the searching of Robert's lieutenant.