Meanwhile, out in the forest

In a small clearing next to a river, where the remains of a burnt out fire, having been lit a few days ago by Rapunzel and Altair, sat, a group of four Crusader soldiers stood and waited impatiently with their hands on their swords. One of them was standing by the side of the river, amusing himself by kicking up bits of dirt with his boot into the water. Another was leaning against a tree, tapping his foot against the ground, exhaling deeply in an annoyed manner every so often.

"Oh, this is getting damn ridiculous!" one of the two Crusaders standing in the clearing said, thumping his foot on the ground as if he were a child throwing a tantrum. "What the bloody Hell is that guard doing with him?"

"Wasting our time more like," the Crusader leaning against the tree replied. "Well, at least we can be thankful that we can kill this bastard and get him back for what he's done,"

The first of the Crusaders to speak nodded slightly. "I suppose," he muttered.

Silence fell between them for a moment, pierced only by the occasional twitter of a bird overhead or the running of the river nearby. Another splash came from there as the Crusader kicked a small stone into the water and watched the ripples grow from the point where the stone hit out across the surface of the river.

"How do you think this guy found us then?" the other Crusader standing in the clearing asked.

The Crusader leaning against the tree shrugged. "Only the Lord knows," he replied. "Besides, these guys are assassins, they could have found us with their eyes gouged out no sense of smell,"

"Yeah, I heard a lot about 'em in the Holy Lands," the first Crusader said. "Apparently, one of 'em managed to get to the king and killed his lieutenant,"

"One of them killed Robert?"

"Well that's what I heard, but I think It's just a load of rubbish,"

"It isn't," the Crusader by the river said, kicking a small pebble into the river and turning to face his comrades. "It's true. One of 'em did get to the king's camp and did fight Robert,"

The other Crusaders looked at each other, a little shocked to hear that the rumour they had heard about an assassin being responsible for the death of the king's lieutenant was true. It had been hard for them to gather everything that had happened because they were on the battlefield and most of those who had been at the king's camp at the time of Robert's death were killed in the battle afterwards.

"Well, we got a bit of revenge on our hands," the Crusader leaning against the tree said, pricking the end of his sword with his finger with slight eagerness.

"That's only if that damn captain hurry's up!" the first Crusader to speak growled, looking over to the undergrowth on the edge of the clearing. "What is he doing with him anyway?"

About thirty feet from them on the other side of the large clumps of bushes and trees, Eugene stirred and groggily opened his eyes. As soon as he did, a wave of pain struck him from his stomach area. It felt like it had been hit repeatedly. More pain came from his forehead from where he had a small bruise after one of the Crusaders had hit him in the face when they were taking him away.

At least there's one good thing about pain he mentally said to himself with minor comfort. It let's you know you're alive

It was then he noticed something else. Looking down, he saw ropes tied around him and behind him, as he looked over his shoulder; he saw he was tied to a tree! What had happened? Why was he tied to a tree?

"Oh good," a voice from in front of him said. "Your awake,"

Eugene looked up to see the captain approaching him, his hands swaying by his side and an impressed look on his face. Seeing him, Eugene gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh, It's good to see you, captain," he said. "Now you can free me,"

The captain chuckled at Eugene's words. Eugene looked puzzled. "What's so funny?" he asked.

The captain took a deep breath to calm down and looked at him with a sense of glee in his eyes. "Oh, Rider, you do make me laugh, despite being a thief!"

"What? Captain, w-what are you talking about? Why am I here anyway?"

"Because you're going to be executed," the captain folded his arms and looked over his shoulder at the bushes that led to the clearing. "The Crusaders want your blood, Rider, and now they're going to get it,"

Eugene gave a slight gasp and his eyes grew wide. He struggled against the ropes but to no avail. "Captain, c'mon, you…you have to get me out of here. We have to get back to the city,"

"We will be," the captain looked back at him and Eugene saw the seriousness in his face and the tone it had in his voice. "Just, without you," he stepped closer to Eugene and leaned his face near him, dropping his voice to a whisper. "This is a great day for me Rider. Not only because the Crusaders will go, but because I can finally rid myself of a pain in the neck that is you!" he poked Eugene in the chest hard, making him wince. "You are nothing but a common thief and even though you have changed your ways in the eyes of Corona, your nothing but an idiot!" he stepped back a pace and straightened. "For too long, Rider, I had to put up with you!" he clenched his fist and looked down at it as if reminiscing the times Eugene had caused havoc as a thief over the last few years. "You stole and you humiliated me and the city, made up look weak and useless in our bid to capture a thief! But…" he lowered his fist and looked back at Eugene with an evil smile. "Experience in the Holy Lands taught me how to be cunning and quick like a thief and now I've used that to bring you here,"

Eugene stared at him with wide-eyes, but a question popped into his mind. "The Holy Lands?" he repeated. "When did you go there?"

"Oh, it was about two years ago. I fought there with the Crusaders, but I was disgusted at their vile ways and how they wanted to destroy Islam and make the Holy Lands part of a Christendom empire!" he spat at the ground as if proving his point. "It disgusted me like nothing I had ever seen," he half turned and his voice picked up a little. "But then…I met someone called Robert de Sable, the lieutenant of King Richard I and he taught me a new kind of combat fighting, one with which I could fight easily and be better than all of the Crusaders!" he clenched his fist and it shook slightly as he did. "Oh, I wish he was still alive now! He was a great man, Robert. A great man. He could have easily put an end to this violence with what he had planned for the Holy Lands. All of this fighting could have been ended quickly,"

As he spoke, a sense of realization began to sink into Eugene. Robert de Sable? He had heard that name before, he had heard it when Altair was here and told them about his mission! What shocked him though was that the captain knew him because he had met him in person.

"Unless," Eugene muttered under his breath, the truth finally dawning on him. The captain heard him and looked back at him with a small smile, but an evil one, on his face, meeting Eugene's gaze. "You're the lieutenant!"

The captain chuckled. "I've got to hand it to you, Rider," he replied, stepping forward towards him and patting him on the cheek. "You're pretty smart for a thief. I'm impressed,"

"But…but captain, don't you realise what you brought to Corona and what had done?" Eugene cried. "Y-you were going to sacrifice Rapunzel to the Crusaders and let them take her away! You promised her to them! What's more, you've brought all of this chaos onto the city!"

"All of it was for a good thing, Rider," he replied, stepping a few paces away from him and looking back at Eugene over his shoulder. "First of all: I would never have promised Rapunzel to them, she's way out of their league to be a slave or servant or whatever to a bunch of scum! Admittedly, though, I did use her as live bait-"

"-And risked her life at the same time!" Eugene hissed. The captain glared at him and swung a punch at him, hitting him in the stomach. Eugene felt all of the wind be blown out of him and he keeled forward and would have collapsed onto the ground if the ropes that were keeping him to the tree were not there. He coughed and groaned as the pain flared up and down his body.

"Do not interrupt, Rider," the captain reminded him. "Do not give up your manners, like you thieves always seem to do. Anyway, as I was saying, Rapunzel as the best choice I had because I knew that after Richard would start sending men home once Robert had been killed, they would stop here and that Altair would have come here with them!" an annoyed look came upon his face as if speaking that very name made him furious. "It was the only way in which to use her to get them to stay and then get you three to do the work for me in getting rid of these Crusader leaders,"

Eugene shook his head a little, the shock of this overwhelming him. But questions buzzed in his mind.

"So why did you kill them then?" he asked. "I mean, why did you want to?"

"Revenge," the captain replied. "As I told you a minute ago, I hated them for the way they acted in the Holy Lands and I thought they needed a bit of a taste of their own medicine!" he scoffed. "Soldiers of Christ, my head!" he muttered. "Anyway," he continued. "With them dead, I can finally put the last of my plan into motion by making them go, once they've killed you of course!" he sighed admiringly to himself. "Two revenges in one act, oh I amaze even myself sometimes,"

Eugene glared at him. "You're a monster!" he growled at him. "Altair and Rapunzel and the king'll stop you. They'll know who you are!"

"And how do you think they will learn that?" the captain reminded him, raising an eyebrow. Eugene did not answer. "That's what I thought. Oh, and by the way, Rider," he stepped closer to him. "Altair will soon be gone. You see, I don't know if he's told you or not, but there's something about this Creed of his that even he doesn't know about! He's too ignorant and stupid to see it!" he shrugged. "Oh well, he won't have to. He'll die with his Creed. Now, let's get this over with shall we? I have a group of fools to get rid of and another man to kill and a Creed to destroy,"

He walked around the tree and cut something. The ropes loosened a little but they did not release him completely. The captain reappeared from behind the tree dragging a small shield which the ropes were attached to and began to walk back towards the clearing. Eugene was dragged from the tree across the ground after the captain.

"Oh, by the way, Rider," the captain was saying as they approached the bushes that led to the clearing. "I forgot to thank you for getting rid of Harry for me, even though I had to give you a helping hand. As a reward, I'll make sure the Crusaders'll kill you quickly," as they reached the bushes, they suddenly stopped and the captain looked over his shoulder at him. "Then again, as your thief, maybe not," he chuckled and walked on, pushing through the bushes, some of the branches and leaves hitting Eugene in the face as they went.

The Crusaders looked over at the bushes upon hearing the sound of the rustling and saw the captain emerge dragging Eugene behind him.

"Ah, finally!" the Crusader leaning against the tree exclaimed in a relieved manner. "Thought we'd been abandoned by you!"

"No, I always keep my word," the captain told him, stopping in the clearing and dropping Eugene to the ground with a thud. "Here you go, lads. One assassin all ready to for execution. Just…just make sure he suffers,"

The Crusaders chuckled. "Oh, don't worry about that captain," the first Crusader who had been standing in the clearing replied with a hint of evil ecstasy in his voice. "He'll know no suffering beyond this!"

He grabbed Eugene and dragged him over to the river, stopping him next to it, the captain and the other Crusaders joining them. They forced Eugene onto his knees and readied their blades.

Watching all this from next to a nearby tree was a figure hiding in the shadows of the enormous plant towering over him. It was Altair. He had arrived her on Maximus, who had been reluctant to allow Altair to ride him but had been coaxed into doing so after Altair told him Eugene was in danger. He was tied to a tree a few metres behind them but he had been a little restless about that.

Altair watched as Eugene was forced onto his knees next to the river and the Crusaders gathered around him. Fear filled him. He had to do something or his friend was dead! He looked up the tree and saw several large thick branches overlooking the clearing. Perfect for an ambush. He ran up the side of the tree and reached up, quickly managing to grasp one of the smaller branches above him, which only just managed to hold his weight, and pulled himself up.

I sure hope this works he mentally muttered to himself.