The next day

Within the small rectangular room of Salad's carpentry, Altair checked his belt, sword and the hidden blade on the device on his wrist. All were working and were there. He was ready to begin his search of Corona for Robert's lieutenant and he had to make sure all his weapons were prepped in case he ran into trouble.

As he stepped out of the room, he saw Salad, who was wearing the same dark blue robes and white hood he had been wearing yesterday, kneeling down barefooted on a dark green prayer rug that was facing southeast. Within Islamic tradition, when one prays, the rug must face Mecca where their prophet had firmly overwhelmed those who tried to destroy Islam in It's earliest days and firmly established it there. He was just about to begin when Altair stepped into the room and he turned to look at his friend.

"I'm ready to begin my task, Salad," Altair said to him.

Salad nodded. "Very well, Altair," he replied. "And remember, if you get into trouble, I shall be here for you to hide you,"

"Thank you, Salad," Altair walked over to the door and began to unlock it.

"Just remember that you must be alone and not be followed when you come here," he added.

"I will," Altair replied, opening the door and looking over his shoulder at Salad. "I shall see you later,"

Salad nodded again. "Good luck, brother. Rid our world of this evil,"

Altair nodded and walked outside, closing the door behind him. The sunlight from the mostly blue sky greeted him, blinding him slightly but he quickly got used to it after raising an arm in front of his eyes. Around him, people were going about their daily activities. Some shopping, others talking to friends or relatives or working in putting up market stalls and opening their shops for the day.

Altair walked back down the path towards the courtyard where he had been pointed in the right direction to Salad's carpentry by that young brown haired woman. When he reached the courtyard, he saw the four young girls playing a game of hopscotch on the pavement near the fountain, but the young brown haired woman was not with them today. Shrugging her whereabouts aside, he turned his head so his eyes searched every bit of the courtyard, taking in the scenery of the market stalls being set up and people walking from one place to another, either alone or with their families or their lovers. He had been right about one thing Salad had told him yesterday. Corona was a peaceful city and, quite frankly, he was enjoying the scenery here. If only Masyaf was like this, then it would be a great place to live.

Snapping back into reality, remembering what he was here for, he walked towards another path that led off into a street towards the castle far off that towered over the kingdom. He walked across the courtyard towards the street, unknowingly drawing the attention of three of the girls who were standing next to the fountain, watching their fourth friend play on the chalk drawn numbered squares on the ground.

"Isn't that the guy princess Rapunzel talked to yesterday?" one of them asked.

"Yeah," another replied. "Wonder where he's going?"

They watched as he walked down the path that led out of the courtyard and down the path. Ahead of him was another courtyard, which was slightly bigger than the one he had just left and there was no fountain in the middle of it and there were two large stone walls on the far end of the courtyard with something colourful on both of them. Hit by a slight sense of curiousness, Altair walked down towards the courtyard. As he went, he passed two men standing next to the entrance to a gift shop.

"Hey, haven't you heard?" one of them asked.

"Yeah, soldiers arrived in the city last night," the other replied.

Upon hearing this, Altair stopped where he was, suddenly taken by the conversation between these two men. However, he knew that he would attract too much attention if he stood where he was and tried to listen. He looked to his left and was saved by a small empty wooden bench next to the building on the other side of the entrance to the gift shop. Quickly, he walked over to it and sat down on it, resting his head against the stone wall and acting as if he was having a rest, though he kept his ears open, listening on to the conversation between the two men.

"How many of them were there?" the second man asked.

"About…sixty," the first man shrugged. "Or seventy, something like that,"

"What are they doing here anyway?"

"Apparently, stopping off for a rest in the city, but I think they might want to try and get back at the king. D'you remember? He sold 'em weapons for their battle in the Middle East,"

The second man shook his head. "Pointless conflict, if you ask me," he commented. "Anyway, I better go. Gotta open my stall in the market later on,"

"Alright, see you,"

The two men walked off, one going back towards the first courtyard and the other walking into the gift shop. Altair got up from the seat and, quickly glancing around to make sure no one was watching, he walked on down the path towards the next courtyard, his mind replaying what he had just heard in the conversation between these two men. So these Crusader soldiers that had been dismissed from the Holy Lands had finally arrived. It was going to be a bit hampering to his mission because it meant more soldiers would be in the city, but…it could also be a blessing in disguise. Salad had told him that two of these men had arrived in the city before and had been talking with Robert's lieutenant. Maybe if he could find them, he could get them to talk, at knife, or sword, point obviously.

Altair had reached the courtyard and immediately saw it was much more spacious than the last one. As well as there not being any fountain or something in the middle of the courtyard, there were only a few market stalls set up around the edges of it and in the middle of the courtyard, kind of engraved into the ground, was a large replica of the sun, but with the flame-like parts coming off it, reminding him of how a young child would see the sun. What stuck him the most, however, was that on the large white walls on the other side of the courtyard were large paintings of people, both of who had a few couples around them, talking admiringly about them. Curiosity filling him once again, he walked over to the stone walls.

Even though he himself was not really a man of art, he had to admit he was amazed by them. One of them, the one on his left, held a portrait of the king, the queen and in in the queen's arms was a young baby girl with shining blonde hair, large green eyes and was dressed in a kind of large purple-like coloured top that almost went down to her knees. On her head was a small satchel crown, obviously signalling she was the princess. As he looked at the baby girl, he could not help but think he had seen her somewhere before, but…but it was hard to point out, but she definitely did look like someone he had seen before.

"The princess is lovely, isn't she?" a young woman with her lover commented, drawing Altair to the next portrait.

This one had only two people on it, one of whom he recognized instantly. The young woman who had pointed him in the right direction to Salad's carpentry was on the wall. Next to her was a younger man of around Altair's age with short brown hair and a small beard and light brown eyes and was dressed in dark cream coloured trousers and a white top with brown boots. Actually, it was upon seeing him, Altair did recognize him as well.

"The wanted posters," he muttered to himself.

On the way here, he had seen several wanted posters attached to trees and the walls of buildings. By the look of it now, though, the man, who he had seen the name Flynn Rider, had probably changed his ways if he was to be here with the princess. Though, they must have gotten something wrong with him in this painting because he was certain he remembered his nose being huge in the wanted posters.

"Good li'le town, innit?" he heard a voice say loudly, causing him to look over his shoulder at the entrance to the courtyard he had come through and go a little wide-eyed.

Two soldiers in white armoured uniforms walked into the town. One of them had a completely bald head and had a hand gripped on the end of his sword, which was put away at the moment. The other had short brown hair and was looking round in a kind of admiringly, but in no way friendly, at the surrounding buildings. Crusaders!

"Oh no!" Altair muttered to himself.

There was a chance they would see him and probably suspect him. He would have to find somewhere to hide or blend in quickly. Looking over at a small pub on the side of the courtyard next to a few houses, he saw another bench outside the open door where the music was blaring out from inside it. Quickly, he walked over to it and sat down, bending his head forward a little so it was looking down at the ground. This usually worked and he raised his head a little to watch the two Crusader soldiers as they stopped near the middle of the courtyard and looked at the painting. The brown haired soldier muttered something to his friend and he laughed loudly, drawing a few un-approving looks from the people in front of them near the stone walls, as well as few others around the courtyard. It was obvious that the people here in the city were not happy with these Crusaders being here. Altair could hardly blame them. With the way these two were acting so repulsively, he would not be surprised if there any tension between them and the city's guards.

"Ooooohhh!" a voice drawled from next to him. Altair looked and was shocked at what he saw.

A short old man with a large white beard and moustache was sitting next to him, groaning slightly as he wiped his forehead dry of sweat, his beer gut extending out over…his nappy? He placed a hand on it and grunted.

"Oh…and I'sss still early in the morning!" he said to himself drunkenly.

Altair could see why he was out here. He had had too much, but what surprised him was that this man was already drunk early in the morning. This place really was strange. He had never seen this before in Masyaf, probably because his home city was multi-cultural with Christians and Muslims and a few Jews and plus there was the Brotherhood that forbade pubs being in the city in case one of their soldiers got too drunk and was kidnapped or became aggressive so this type of drunken behaviour was new to him.

And, unfortunately, he was about to discover how it could affect some people.

The old man turned his head to his side, his half-closed eyes staring at Altair. "H-h-heeeyy!" he said loudly, making Altair go wide-eyed, knowing people would be looking over at them. "Y-your no' from aroun' h-(hiccup)-ere, are ya?" he asked, his voice slurring a little.

"Be quiet, old man!" Altair snapped, turning his head slightly to see the two Crusaders, along with about half the people in the courtyard, looking over at them. He saw one of the Crusaders mutter to his friend and he nodded.

"Wha'! Y-you wan' me to wha'?"

"I want you to be quiet!" Altair snapped through gritted teeth, nervousness rising through him.

"Bi' noisy, in't he?"

Altair held his breath and looked up at the two Crusader soldiers standing in front of them. The drunken old man hiccupped again and placed a hand over his mouth.

"Ex'-(hiccup)-use me!" he groaned.

Altair looked at the old man and then back up at the Crusaders and jerked his thumb at the old man. "I think he's had a bit too much," he said.

The bald headed Crusader smirked in a kind of disapproving manner. "You best keep an eye on 'im then, shouldn't ya?" he said to Altair, nodding at the old man. "'E might get 'urt being in that state,"

"Wha' y-you're gonna look af-(hiccup)-er me?" the old man slurred. He raised his hand and brought down his hand in a kind of disapproving manner. "Ah, I don' need anyone lookin' after me! I-I-I can l-look after my-ysself!"

He tried to get up but he fell off the bench and landed on his side. As painful as it looked, the alcohol running through his system numbed the pain so it did not hurt as much, but the fall combine with the over-drinking was going to give him one bad headache later on today.

The two Crusaders chuckled at him. "Idiot!" the bald headed soldier said.

The brown haired soldier looked at Altair. "So, what're you doin' 'ere?" he asked him.

"I'm…a…scholar," he answered trying to find an excuse. The soldier did not look convinced.

"Then where's ya Qur'an or your 'oly scriptures?" he asked, trying to see if he could get past this man's excuse.

"I don't have them on me. I'm here to see a friend of mine," Altair told him abruptly.

Still, the soldier did not look convinced, but he said nothing more on him. "Alrigh', but I'll be warning ya, mate. I'll be watching ya!" and with that he walked off out of the courtyard through another exit next to the pub, his friend following close behind, still chuckling to himself about the drunken old man, who lifted himself up from the pavement, groaning slightly. He grabbed hold of the bench and, through struggling and almost falling off several times, managed to pull himself back onto it and he slumped down against the back of the bench.

"Oooohh, my head!" he groaned, looking at Altair.

"If I were you, I'd go home," he said to him.

"Nah, I don' need no home!" he replied, is words slurring slightly. "I'll drink all day if I-(hiccup)-h-have to!"

Rolling his eyes, Altair got up and walked away from the drunken old man to continue his search, walking over towards the entrance out of the courtyard next to the two large stone paintings.

As he left the courtyard, two more people entered through the entrance to the courtyard next to the pub. It was Eugene and Rapunzel. On her shoulder was Pascal. They were locked in conversation about the Crusaders in the city.

"Is your dad really that worried about these Crusaders being in the city?" Eugene asked her.

She nodded. "Yes, he explained to me a while ago that before you brought me back here, the city wasn't doing too well," she replied. "And he had to sell ships and weapons to the Crusaders to help get the city back on It's feet,"

"I bet he regrets it now," Eugene commented.

"He does," Rapunzel told him. "But, none of us hold it against him. I mean, anyone else would have done the same,"

Another groan from the bench drew their attention to the old man. Eugene rolled his eyes and Rapunzel giggled at seeing him like this.

"And It's only early in the morning," Eugene muttered. "D'you wanna go on to the stables? I'll meet you there later,"

"Okay," she replied. "Have fun," she added sarcastically.

"I will," and she walked off towards the first courtyard, stopping to look over her shoulder at Eugene as he walked over to the bench and sat down next to the old man, whose half closed eyes looked up at him groggily.

"H-h-hey Eugene!" he greeted loudly.

"Hey, Frederickson," he replied. "Too much?" he inquired expectantly.

"Ah, no! No! I'm no' even star-(hiccup)-ed yet, Euegene m'boy!" he replied. "Hey, is it Rapunzel's birthday tomorrow, cause I can sing for ya if ya want. Jus' gimme a few drinks and I can pu' on a grea' singin' voice!"

Eugene rolled his eyes and looked up at Rapunzel, who met his gaze he giggled. "I'm sure you can," he muttered under his breath.

Rapunzel just sighed happily and walked on towards the courtyard.

"It's great fun with him, isn't is," she said to Pascal who nodded in reply.