Two hours later

The captain of the guards, along with two soldiers, led Altair, with Eugene and Rapunzel close behind, down the dimly corridor of the castle, the flames from the torches on the walls flickering as they burned, making the corridor go dark and light at the same time. The few windows along the walls now portrayed a darkness covered world with a star covered sky that seemed to stretch farther than the eye could see. It was to be another perfect night. Well, weather wise it was.

After the group had arrived back at the city, the captain had insisted he take them to a private room to talk to them first before letting them go. He had said it was to do with something 'important', but what exactly, the others did not have a clue about. Even Altair did not know but he had decided to co-operate. After all, despite the distrust between him and virtually everyone here, he still had a mission to do here so it was best he did not risk losing the chance.

"In here," The captain said as they reached the end of the corridor where a single wooden door was. He opened it and they walked inside, the two guards stopping outside the door closing it behind Eugene and Rapunzel as they walked inside the room.

The room was a quite big. It was a rectangular shape with a large open curtain that led out onto a balcony that overlooked the city. Several tables with maps, of the city and the surrounding countryside, on them were placed against the side of the walls. One of them had a small candle burning on it. More torches lined the walls of this room, lighting it up dimly like out in the corridor.

"Rider, Rapunzel, take a seat," the captain said, nodding over to the few chairs under the tables. The two walked over to them and Eugene drew a chair for Rapunzel and checked the side of her head again to see if the bruise had gone down. He shot another glare at Altair as he did and the assassin just ignored him and looked over at the captain who quickly drew the curtains in case anyone tried listening in on their conversation from outside.

"What is it you wish to talk to us about?" Altair asked in a demanding voice.

"As I told you earlier, something important," the captain replied, walking over to him from the curtains, stopping a few feet in front of him, his hands behind his back. "You're an assassin, aren't you?" he said to Altair in a voice that sounded like he knew the answer to his own question already.

"Why should I tell you?" Altair asked.

"Because of the descriptions of you from many people," the captain replied. "Some weeks ago, a single Crusader leader on his way back to his home stopped here and he told me of these men in white hoods that carried hidden blades. He said you had spoken with King Richard at some location called Assaf,"

Altair paused for a moment, a little shocked that the captain knew all this, but he nodded with a heavy sigh.

"Then I will not mislead you," he said. "He is correct, but I ask you again: why have you brought us here?"

The captain gave a little smirk. "Very forceful, aren't you," he chuckled. "Very well. If you wish to know, then answer this question, Altair. Why are you here?"

"Probably to kidnap, Rapunzel," Eugene piped up, though it was loud enough for Altair to hear, and he shot him a deadly glare, which Eugene returned.

"I would prefer if it was actually to put my blade to yourthroat!" Altair growled at him.

"Alright, that's enough!" the captain intervened sternly. "Now, Altair, why are you here?" he repeated.

"Why should I tell you? I did not tell her," he nodded towards Rapunzel. "I have no reason to,"

"Well, I think you do now, my friend. Because, whether you know this or not, the whole castle has been put on alert of your presence here along with all the guards in the city and if you try and escape from here, you will not find it easy as the whole city will be looking for you and, plus, the fact that you're on an island will not help you either. So you can either tell us why you're here, or you can be thrown in prison or be killed in an escape that won't work. You choose. Either of the three will suit me just fine,"

Altair sighed, shaking his hands and clenching them together as hard as he could in anger and frustration. It was bad enough he had been caught, but now he had to reveal why he was here to these people. That would almost certainly be going against one of the creeds of the Assassins, but then again, next to him being killed or put in prison, he would fail in finally stopping this Templar threat. Maybe for now, as much as he did not want to, he would have to break one of the creeds, but in doing so, he could use his own reason for being here as a bargaining chip as well.

"Alright," he gave in after a few seconds silence. "But we keep this between ourselves and do not…" he looked over at Eugene and Rapunzel. "Tell anyone else!" he told them sternly.

The captain nodded. "Fair enough. Just give me a moment," he replied and walked over to the door. As he went, Altair looked back over at Rapunzel. She winced a little as Eugene touched her head near the wound, which he apologized for.

"Is she alright?" Altair asked.

Eugene glared at him once again. "She would've been fine if you hadn't hit her in the head with that board!" he snapped.

"Look, I did not mean to. I grew desperate!" Altair pointed out. "I'll help!" he offered, but Eugene stopped him.

"Whoa! No, no, no!" he exclaimed, raising his hand at Altair, stopping him as if he were some kind of traffic warden. "You've done enough here, buddy,"

"Guys, please stop arguing," Rapunzel begged, groaning as she placed her hand on her head. It was beginning to hurt again from the headache she suffered earlier.

"Is everything alright?" the captain asked, walking back over to them. "Sorry, I had to get rid of the guards," he told them. "Right, okay, Altair, only us four will know, and we won't tell anyone. Will we?" he looked at Eugene and Rapunzel, who looked at each other for a moment, wondering if they should agree.

Eugene sighed. "Alright, fine," he replied. "Now what are you here for? What made you come here?" he asked Altair.

"I will explain," he began. "I'm part of an Assassin's Creed that is to stop the threat of the Templars in the Holy Lands. I've come here to look for a lieutenant, who has some…let's just say important knowledge that cannot be given out,"

"Who is this person a lieutenant of?" Rapunzel asked.

"Oh, a dead Templar by the name of De Sable," Altair told her.

"Robert De Sable?" the captain asked.

Altair looked at him and nodded. "Yes. How did you-"

"Oh, the Crusader that came through here some time ago said that you had killed him," he told him. "Anyway, go on,"

"Right. Um…this lieutenant of De Sable, as I was saying, has important knowledge that me and my Creed have deemed to be a threat to peace in the Holy Lands and he must be killed,"

"And you think he's here?" Eugene asked him.

"Yes. My master said he had come here a while ago now and is living here in the city. I do not know exactly who he is, but Salad, the carpenter, had said that he had met with the two Crusaders that had entered the city the other day after seeing the king,"

The captain nodded. "Yes, I remember that," he told them. "After they left, I watched them go somewhere on the edge of the city rather than to the bridge. It's a shame I didn't see who it was because I had to check up on guard positions on a tower around the gallows courtyard that was near where they went. Anyway, go on,"

"Well," Altair continued. "These Crusaders seem to know who he is, but with the fiasco I caused today, I doubt they will want to enter the city again,"

"Don't worry about that," the captain reassured him. "We'll make up some excuse. Say we found and killed the guy who killed that Crusader. That should ease them enough to make them come back in,"

Altair nodded. "Speaking of that Crusader, I heard him talking to a friend of his, saying that they were planning on taking the healing incarnation, in this case Rapunzel…" Eugene and Rapunzel gave him a wide-eyed look, unable to believe that someone had actually really tried to kidnap her, and again! She was really unlucky at this period of time. "Away with them," Altair concluded.

"Then we should get rid of them!" Eugene said, standing up. "We should tell the king and get him to get rid of the Crusaders!"

"We can't, Eugene, remember?" Rapunzel reminded him. "Altair needs them to be here,"

Eugene sighed in annoyance, slamming a hand on his face. "I really hope you aren't risking anyone's life here!" he said sternly to Altair, pointing an accusing finger at him. "She's been through enough already," he told him.

"Look, I know that now!" Altair snapped.

"Okay, that's enough you two!" the captain intervened before Eugene could argue back. He looked at Altair. "How many do you think know about this healing incarnation?" the captain asked him.

"Well…" Altair began, thinking hard. "There was that one Crusader who I killed today. He was talking to his friend and said that one of the commanders, someone called Geoffrey, knew about the healing incarnation as well, having spoken to this lieutenant about it," the captain nodded. "Altogether, that would have been three, but with the one I killed today, that leaves two,"

"Then we best get rid of them whilst we're finding out who this lieutenant," the captain said. "Right, I'll go tell the king your back," he said to Rapunzel.

"Hold," Altair said to him, stopping him. "Question for you now. Why are you helping me? Earlier, you had guards and much of the city trying to kill me,"

"Well," the captain sighed. "To be honest, even though I myself am not into killing, except for people who really deserve it," he paused, his eyes moved towards Eugene, which he did not notice, to prove his point to Altair. "It was a Crusader you had slain and me and the king know very well that they can be ruthless and thieving and not the sort of forgivable and forgetful force they would make themselves appear to be. To put a long story short, let's just say the king made a deal with the Crusaders and it did not benefit them in the Holy Lands and he thinks they could take revenge on him and the kingdom,"

Altair nodded. "Okay, that is fair enough," he said.

The captain nodded and looked towards Eugene and Rapunzel. "Right, you two, go and get some rest," he said to them. He then looked at Altair as they [Rapunzel and Eugene] stood up and left the room. "D'you have anywhere to stay?" he asked.

"Yes, Salad is letting me sleep in his carpentry," Altair told him.

"Okay, go back to there and get some rest. I'll send Eugene and Rapunzel to you tomorrow to get started on looking for this lieutenant,"

Altair nodded and walked out of the room into the corridor, the captain close behind. He closed the door behind him and watched Altair walk to the end of the corridor and turn left at one of the corners. When he left, he walked off down the corridor after him, but turned right and walked off towards the king and queen's quarters to report Rapunzel's safe return home.