Despite losing his Templar partners, or minions in this case, in the fight, Al Mualim did not look very angry with them. On the contrary, he actually looked relaxed as if the deaths of the other Templars did not matter to them. Altair, however, knew very well that an outside expression of someone was not to always be taken. He probably knew that Al Mualim was in fact very angry with the two for killing the other Templars but he had to hand it to him, he was doing very well in hiding it from them.
As his feet touched the stone ground that was the courtyard, Rapunzel, with Pascal still on her shoulder, stopped at the bottom of the steps he had climbed down and was pushed up against the wall and stayed there as if she had been stuck to it with glue. They watched as the old man walked over to Altair and Eugene, stopping in front of them, and, with a simple raise of his hand with the treasure, they were lifted back onto their feet.
"Impressive," he commented on their fighting. "Though, I did not expect you Altair to struggle against them. After all, I thought by fighting and killing them as they were mortals would have taught you some of their moves,"
"Why don't you let me go and I can show some of them to you!" he snapped, glaring furiously at Al Mualim, who rolled his eyes.
"Now, now. There's no need to be like that," he said in a kind of voice that made him sound like a parent trying to stop their child from getting angry.
"Say, how did you get down here so quick anyway?" Eugene asked him.
"Teleportation, boy," Al Mualim replied, holding the treasure to prove his point. "How do you think I received Altair's message and got here so fast," he added.
The two men looked at each other with an obvious sign of impression amongst their features, but still they knew that this thing was under the control of a madman and they had to stop him.
"Now," Al Mualim said, taking out his sword with his other hand. "Do you two have any final words?" he asked them.
"Yes!" Altair hissed. "You lied to me! Called Robert and the other Templars' goal foul and all along it was yours as well!"
Al Mualim humped and looked down at the treasure with an admirable gleam twinkling in his eyes.
"I've never really been one for sharing," he said. "And I did not plan to start or limit it to anything besides my comrades in finding this precious artifact,"
"Well that just shows that you're a horrid old man!" Rapunzel barked at him, her voice filled with anger. This, unfortunately, caused Al Mualim to snap his head in her direction and glare at her, which was dangerous at this moment in time.
"Silence, you stupid girl!" he snapped and to make sure she got the message, he held the treasure up to Rapunzel and it glowed a brighter orange colour. At once, she was forced back against the wall almost as if someone with incredible strength had thrown a boulder at her. The pain flared up and down her body and she cried out.
Eugene went crazy upon seeing this and he struggled fiercely against the orange light keeping him in place.
"You…!" he growled, stuttering as he tried to break free in vain. "When I get my hands on you…!"
Al Mualim chuckled. "Oh, please, save your breath and energy," he said, unhindered by Eugene's threats. "Just be lucky I am in a good mood, boy, or else I will have to do the same to you, only much more painful!"
"You won't succeed in hurting or controlling anyone else!" Altair piped up defiantly. "Even if we are killed, others will find the strength to stand against you and your insidious plan,"
Al Mualim sighed. "And this is why so long as men maintain free will; there can be no peace,"
"I killed the last men you spoke as such,"
The old man humphed in a kind of amused way as if he was impressed with what Altair had just said to him, which he kind of was but he knew very well it would not save him.
"Bold words, boy!" he said sternly. "But they are only that. Just words!"
"Then let us go," Altair replied in a calm voice. "And we'll put words into action against you just like we had done with your comrades,"
Upon hearing these words, Al Mualim cackled loudly, stepping back a few paces and throwing his head back. Oh, this was highly amusing. Even after everything that had happened to Altair, he still held his action first, questions second way of dealing with things!
Altair glared at him, knowing that he was laughing at him, but remained defiant. "Tell me, master!" he sneered. "Why did you not make me like all the other assassins? Why did you not control Eugene and Rapunzel as easily as you have done with the rest of the kingdom? Why did you allow us to retain our minds?"
"Who you are and what you do are twined too tight together," Al Mualim explained, stepping forward, stopping just a few feet in front of the two. "To rob you three of any one of those two would have deprived me of the other. Plus, those Templars and that lieutenant of Robert had to die." He paused for a moment, looking down at the treasure as if he was seeing the faces of those he had ordered to be killed run though his mind with guilt and he sighed. "But the truth is: I did try," he continued. "Such as with you, Altair, in my study when I showed you the treasure. But you were not like the other assassins, you saw through the illusion. As with these two-" he nodded to Eugene and Rapunzel. "They were under your way of thinking and were able to see through the illusions as well. Plus, she has the incarnation that has given her some added mind protection from this,"
Eugene and Rapunzel stared at each other with wide eyes; though a feeling of luck reached the pair of them. Wow! That was lucky they had Altair was here or they, or probably him, would have ended up like the others in the kingdom in the city.
"Wait, did you say illusion?" Altair asked, confused.
"Yes, Altair," Al Mualim replied matter-of-factly. "That's all it has ever done. This Templar treasure, this Piece of Eden, this Word of God," another pause hung in the air for a moment as if he was letting the three take all of that in before he continued. "Do you all understand now? The story of Moses parting the Red Sea. It was never true! Water never did turn to wine! It was not the machinations of Iris that spawned the Trojan War, but this!" he held up the treasure to them to prove his point. "it was illusions! All of them!"
"Then what you plan is no less an illusion!" Altair pointed out. "To force men to follow you against their will!"
"Well is it any less real than the phantoms the Saracens and the Crusaders are following now in the Holy Lands and fighting this bloody war over! Those damn craven gods! The ones who retreat from this world that man might slaughter one another in their names?" another pause as he let them take that in. "They live amongst an illusion already, just like this kingdom with It's people all following these gods!"
"At least we do it peacefully!" Eugene piped up bravely. "Besides, we actually know that these gods wouldn't want us to slaughter people in their names,"
Al Mualim humphed. "Good point, boy," he commented. "But, alas, these gods man follows in the Holy Lands do nothing to stop this slaughter if it said in these holy books that they forbade killing," he held up the treasure and his eyes stared into it, overwhelmed with admiration, drunk on power. "So I am simply giving them another. One that demands less blood from man,"
"At least they choose these so called 'phantoms'," Altair said to Al Mualim, causing him to look away from the treasure at him, but all he got in reply was a surprised, but sarcastic sounding chuckle.
"Oh do they, aside from the occasional convert or heretic?" he asked sarcastically.
"It isn't right for you to do this," Altair continued to press against his former master.
"He's right!" Rapunzel said to him. "What you're doing is against their will!"
Al Mualim sighed. "Now logic has left you all. And in It's place, you embrace emotion," he shook his head disappointingly. "I am disappointed with you all, especially you Altair,"
He was unnerved by what his master was saying to him. He probably knew what was coming to them now.
"So what is to be done to us, then?" he asked.
"Neither of you will not follow me and I cannot compel you," Al Mualim answered, his tone dropping lower as if he was becoming sad over what the decision from this would be.
"And you refuse to give up this scheme of yours!" Altair growled.
"It seems then we are all at an impasse,"
"No, an end,"
Al Mualim heaved a heavy sigh and looked down at the ground for a moment as if regretting what he was going to do before he placed the treasure into a small pocket in his robe.
"I will miss you, Altair," he said sadly. "You were my very best student. I know I will never find another as skilled as you,"
"I don't think he'll take it as a compliment right now," Eugene muttered, though Al Mualim's eyes now focused on him as if remembering he was still there.
"Ah, yes, now what to do with the thief?" he said, stepping over to Eugene. "Do you know, where I come from, we hang thieves!"
Eugene went a little wide-eyed upon hearing that word. He had narrowly escaped hanging here once already and that had been when he was a thief. This time, though, he would have no thugs coming to his rescue like last time. This time, he was almost on his own. He gulped, fearing what was coming next, probably expecting some invisible rope to appear and hang him from mid-air.
To his amazement, though, Al Mualim stepped back a few paces until he was about four yards from him and reached into his belt and took out a small ragged bag that was tied shut with a bit of string. He untied it and threw a wave of what looked like dust onto the ground before pulling out the treasure once again.
"Former deceased!" he boomed. "I command you: rise!"
As if in response to his words, a kind of whirl wind began to blow around the best, making it rise into the air. As it did, the orange light appeared in it and the dust began to take the form of a Human. The three watched with wide-eyes as the old man was literally creating someone in front of them. It was really shocking to see what the treasure could actually do besides controlling peoples' minds.
After about ten seconds, the orange light shined brightly in the air for a moment, dazzling the four, before it fades away into thin air. When they looked back, Eugene went wide-eyed and Rapunzel muttered: "Oh no!" under her breath, her voice filled with utmost shock and fear. Pascal gulped, his eyes also wide as dinner plates.
Standing where the dust had been was a woman who was slightly taller than Rapunzel with curly black hair, pale green eyes and was dressed in a kind of red dress with small boots on. In her hand was a tiny dagger and a cloak draped from around the neck of her uniform down her back.
This was Mother Gothel, Rapunzel's former 'mother' until a few months ago when Rapunzel had learnt she was the lost princess and Mother Gothel had fallen out of the tower window in trying to take her away and turned to dust as she aged within a matter of seconds.
She opened her eyes and breathed a breath of fresh air. "It's so good to be alive again," she whispered before setting her eyes on Eugene and she gave a small smile. "Well, well, well. Look who I have here," she said, raising her dagger.
Eugene gulped with fear as she approached. Thankfully, the orange lights holding him and Altair where they were disappeared and they began to back away as she approached with Al Mualim following not far behind, both of them raring to put an end to these two.
"Who is this?" Altair asked him.
"Rapunzel's former 'mother' and she really hates me!" he replied, fear rising in his voice.
"You got that right," Gothel added, gripping her dagger tighter.
The two men were eventually stopped by the edge of the courtyard that dropped down to the pond and the lower section of the courtyard below. They were trapped!
All of a sudden, Gothel lunged at Eugene with her dagger. He yelled out and jumped backwards in an effort to avoid being cut open, only to fall into the pond below with a splash. At the same time, Al Mualim charged at Altair and swung his sword at him, which Altair dodged by ducking and diving past him, quickly getting up and placing hiss word out in front of him and backing away, ready to deflect another attack from Al Mualim.
In the pond in the lower part of the courtyard, Eugene's head broke the surface with a gasp and he wiped the water sliding down his face from his hair. That was lucky, but now he had to find a weapon to defend himself before Gothel got to h-
SPLASH! The pond's water shifted violently as something else landed in it nearby. Eugene was rooted to where he was for a moment, as if curious to see who, or what, had just jumped in. Then, as if she was some kind of monster, Gothel rose up from underneath it and swung her dagger at Eugene, her eyes blazing with rage and a want to kill the man who had, to her, kidnapped her daughter.
"Stay still!" she barked as Eugene literally jumped out of the pond, his clothes and body dripping wet, and backed away from the pond as Gothel emerged, her hair now draping down her face and back, giving her the look of some mentally crazed person, and began lunging herself at him again.
Eugene, thankfully, was able to dodge her attacks but he knew he could not keep this up forever for if she cornered him or if he got tired, or worse, if Al Mualim joined in if he got rid of Altair, then he was as good as dead. He had to find a weapon of his own quickly. The frying pans were on the upper part of the courtyard and Rapunzel would not be able to get to them, and neither could he because Gothel was trying to block his way and stop him from getting past her.
Darn, I hope something good comes to help me he mentally said to himself as he backed off from Gothel to avoid another swing from her dagger.
Meanwhile, on the left steps of the upper courtyard, Altair swung his sword with all his might at Al Mualim, who dodged the attack by jumping backwards, chuckling.
"I cannot believe you of all people cannot even touch me, Altair," he laughed. "And you were my best student, capable of defeating entire groups of enemies,"
"You only last because of what you have, master," Altair replied defiantly. "Hardly an inspiration of greatness for you," he sneered.
Al Mualim humphed at this, obviously annoyed, but not put off completely by his former student's taunt to him.
"Even without this, you would have much difficulty beating me, boy!" he snapped. "I have stood up to many men before, all of them many times more skilled with a blade than you, and, as you can see, I am still alive,"
"Then why do you use this treasure when you boast this greatness of yours?" Altair taunted.
"Well, as you know, even the greatest warrior can be defeated sometimes," he replied, his tone not quivering with fear as if he was trying to make up some excuse. "Now, prepare for your end, Altair,"
"Not before yours,"
Al Mualim charged at him again, swinging his sword up at him with all his might. Altair jumped backwards and then quickly retaliated with a strike of his own sword, which was halted by Al Mualim as he raised his. The two men began to push against each other as hard as they could, determination running through them to overpower the other. Even though Al Mualim was older than Altair, he did still have a strong power behind him that was keeping him from being overpowered by his younger enemy.
After a few moments, Al Mualim swung a punch at Altair, hitting him in the cheek and sending him staggering sideways half falling to the ground with a hand slammed over his face. Luckily, Altair was able to dodge another attack from Al Mualim and he quickly retaliated by sliding his leg across the ground and slamming it into his. Al Mualim let out a yell as he fell backwards and slammed into the ground, the treasure rolling from his hand away from him. Altair saw it and immediately went for it, but as he ran past Al Mualim, the old man grabbed him around the ankle and pulled him back, causing Altair to trip over his former master and fall on his side to the ground next to him.
"Too slow, boy!" he growled as he picked himself up from the ground.
Whilst the two were battling, they were unaware that Al Mualim dropping the treasure had suddenly caused the orange light holding Rapunzel and Pascal to the wall of the castle to disappear. Breathing a sigh of relief, she massaged her back.
"Jeez, that hurt," she gasped.
A grunt drew her attention to Al Mualim and Altair, both of whom were now standing up and facing each other with dangerous eyes, their weapons in their hands, ready to use them at any advantage they got. Al Mualim had the treasure in his hand, which he was grasping tightly and holding the hand with it a little further back from Altair as if to make sure he did not attack him and grab it.
It was then he saw Rapunzel. "You little…!" he growled and moved his hand to point the object towards her. Rapunzel went wide-eyed and Pascal squeaked and covered his hand with his front paws whilst clutching down tightly on Rapunzel's shoulder, both of them expecting to be picked up and thrown back against the wall.
It never came.
At the last moment, Altair lunged at Al Mualim, seeing that his focus on him was no longer on him for the moment. Al Mualim, however, saw him coming and brought up his sword to stop him where he was. Although he still had the treasure, he was now focused back on Altair. Rapunzel and Pascal breathed a sigh of relief in unison. That was lucky Altair had struck at the right time.
"AAAHH! Will you stay still, you fool!"
Upon hearing Gothel's voice, Rapunzel ran over to the edge to the upper courtyard to see Eugene duck and dive away from Gothel as she swung her dagger at him again. She screamed at him and lunged again, but Eugene was able to dodge her once more. However, Rapunzel saw him wipe sweat from his forehead, meaning he was getting tired. Gothel was feeling the same way but it looked as though her anger and determination to kill Eugene was giving her some infinite amount of energy. She would get him eventually when he was a sitting duck. Rapunzel knew it was up to her to help her lover, but how?
Pascal poked her on the cheek and pointed over to the remains of the pile of crates on the side of the courtyard with his tail. Rapunzel looked and her eyes lit up with glee.
"Pascal, you're a genius!" she exclaimed, rushing over to the pile of crates.
Scattered about on the ground were several more frying pans. She grabbed two and ran back over to the edge of the upper courtyard edge, her mind racing with adrenaline.
"I hope this works," she muttered to herself as she stopped at the edge of the upper courtyard.
Below, Eugene backed away from Gothel as she approached him, dagger at the ready, but he was stopped by the pool, which he almost fell into if he not managed to keep his balance. The mad woman lunged at him with her dagger, but he dived sideways and she fell headfirst into the pond with a loud splash, sending violent ripples across the surface of the water and throwing some of it across the stone floor of the courtyard. Her head broke the surface a moment later, and this time she looked as though she was really about to explode like a supernova. Her face had turned a purple colour, making her look like a beetroot, and her fists were shaking like mad. Oh, when she got her hands on Eugene…boy was she going to make him pay!
It was then Rapunzel struck.
"Hold on, Pascal," she whispered to him and, before he could reply with a squeak or anything, she jumped down from the ledge and landed on Gothel, sending them back into the pond. The frying pans fell out of her hands and were left floating on the surface of the water.
"Rapunzel!" Eugene exclaimed in fear, rushing over to the pond, praying she was okay.
Just as he reached it, Gothel broke the surface of the pond again, but this time Rapunzel was clinging onto her back like some kind of animal infant clinging to It's mother. Gothel grunted as she tried to force her off.
"Get…off…me!" she snarled.
Finally, she shook herself sideways and Rapunzel lost her grip and fell into the pond. Gothel snatched up her dagger and glared furiously at her with her penetrating eyes.
"You little brat, Rapunzel!" she growled. "How dare you do that to me! I am your mother!"
"You were my mother," she replied. "But you kidnapped me and now your following that crazy madman!" she added, the madman being Al Mualim.
"You should be thanking him," Gothel said sternly. "He is making sure I can protect you as I did before from people like him!" she pointed at Eugene, who had grabbed one of the frying pans from the pond, and without another word, she climbed out of the pond and began thrusting her dagger at him again.
Eugene blocked several of her attacks, but found himself backing away towards the end of the courtyard. Rapunzel climbed out of the pond, grabbing the other frying pan, and rushed to Gothel. However, she heard her coming and ducked, quickly knocking Eugene over with a swing of her legs into his, and then shot back up and grabbed Rapunzel's arm, stopping her where she was.
"That's not a nice thing to do to your mother, Rapunzel!" she hissed. Rapunzel's green eyes went wide as dinner plates, fearing what she was going to do next.
All of a sudden, Pascal jumped down from her Rapunzel's head, having climbed onto the back of it when she had charged at Gothel, and clamped his teeth onto her hand. Gothel yelled out and shook him off her with a flick of her hand and then kicked him over to the pond, the chameleon landing with a splash.
"Pascal!" Rapunzel cried, fearful of her friend.
Then, she felt herself be forced to the ground by Gothel and went wide-eyed when she raised a dagger above her. She was going to stab her!
"Rapunzel!" Eugene exclaimed, getting to his feet and rushing over to Gothel, raising the frying pan above his head and bringing it down onto hers as hard as he could.
Unfortunately, it did not have the effect he hoped for. Instead, Gothel just looked over her shoulder with a disgusted look on her face.
"Was that your best shot?" she asked sarcastically. "Then I'll show you mine,"
Before Eugene could react, she kicked him in the knees, sending him backwards onto the ground and then turned back to Rapunzel and thrust the dagger down.
But instead of cutting into flesh, she drove it through the side of her dress and into the ground, though not very far, but enough to make sure that it got stuck.
"Now you stay there, Rapunzel!" she told her sternly. "Remember, this is for your own good!" and with that, she got up, grabbing the frying pan Rapunzel had dropped, and turned away from Rapunzel, heading over to Eugene, who she kicked hard and sent him rolling across the ground as he tried to get back up.
"No! Leave him alone!" Rapunzel cried as she tried to pull the dagger out of the ground, but her mother had forced it into the stone pretty well and she was finding it hard just trying to wriggle it about.
Behind them on the upper part of the courtyard, Altair swung his sword at Al Mualim once again, who dodged the attack and retaliated by swinging his from underneath at Altair, which only just missed him as Altair thrust his body to the side, the tip of the blade only just missing his body by a few inches.
It was then Al Mualim made a move that stunned Altair, and it did not even touch him. All of a sudden, the old man was engulfed in a bright orange light and disappeared into thin air.
"What the…?" Altair exclaimed, glancing around him, remembering that his master had told him and Eugene moments ago that he had gotten to Corona so quickly because the treasure could teleport him. His level of vigilance immediately skyrocketed, fearing now where his master could have gone to, or where he could go to. After all, he could appear anywhere with the treasure he had.
Where are you? Altair thought grudgingly as his eyes scanned the courtyard around him for his master.
"Behind you, idiot!" a voice said and as soon as it finished speaking, Altair was thrown forward to the ground, his weapon dropping beside him.
Quickly turning over, he saw Al Mualim raise his sword above him to bring it down. Instinctively, Altair rolled over, narrowly avoiding the sword as it hit the ground where he had been, and struck the back of Al Mualim's leg, causing him to fall backwards on the ground with a yell, and grabbed his sword and thrust it down at Al Mualim.
Unfortunately, the orange light consumed him again and all Altair's sword stuck was the stone floor of the ground.
He growled. "No! Where are you!" he stood up straight, his vigilance level at It's height again, and stepping towards the edge of the courtyard with his back to the lower part, ready to swing at Al Mualim if he came near him again. Oh, he was not going to surprise him this time.
"Altair help!" he heard Rapunzel shout to him and he looked over his shoulder to see Rapunzel stuck on the ground, trying desperately to get the sword out of her cloak.
Looking further ahead, he saw Gothel cornering Eugene up against the stone railing that went across the back of the lower part of the courtyard. Then, with utmost horror in his eyes, he saw Gothel grab him and force him over the edge of the courtyard, though, thankfully, Eugene managed to grab hold of one of the railings as he was pushed over them, but Gothel would make him lose his grip, and she would enjoy doing so.
"Altair, stop her before she-" she was saying but stopped mid-sentence and pointed past him. "Behind you!" she warned.
Altair looked over his shoulder. Coming towards him was Al Mualim, his sword raised to cut into him. Altair dodged by ducking and doing this kind of spin around him and then pushing his body against his master. Al Mualim yelled out as he flew forward and landed with a splash in the pond, sending violent waves over the edge and across the stone floor of the courtyard. He broke the surface, a look of utmost anger blazing away in his eyes like an inferno.
"You will pay for that, Altair!" he shouted at him, grabbing the treasure that had dropped out of his hand when he had been pushed into the pond.
But it was then he saw a pair of eyes on the side of the treasure and a green skin quickly formed behind it to reveal a chameleon. It was Pascal. Before Al Mualim's mind could process what he was seeing, Pascal jumped onto his shoulder and shot his tongue out into his ear. The move stunned the old man and he dropped the treasure into the pond as he tried to get the chameleon off him.
"Altair now!" Rapunzel shouted to him.
He nodded and dived into the pond onto Al Mualim, knocking Pascal off him as he dragged his master under the pond's surface, throwing water about, some of which hit Rapunzel. The two struggled against one another, determination running through their veins in their bid overpower the other and kill him. Pascal swam to the edge of the pond and climbed out, shaking himself dry and, upon seeing the treasure, extended his tongue out. It hit the side of it and he began to pull it out of the water as hard as he could towards Rapunzel.
"Good work, Pascal," she said to him approvingly.
Just then, a yell from behind caused her to look over her shoulder and, at once, the feeling of victory was suddenly replaced by her worst fear.
Gothel was standing over Eugene, leaning on the top of the stone railing, her hand with the frying pan leaning next to her other arm as if she was a normal person enjoying the view. He was now gripping the end of the stone courtyard floor as hard as he could with one hand; the other was hanging alongside his body all red after Gothel slammed her foot against it when he had been holding on the railings. She stared down at the panic-stricken man with a deathly glare in her eyes, one that also contained a hint of amusement at this. Finally, she was going to kill the man who had taken her daughter from her and almost ruined everything for them.
"You made a big mistake taking Rapunzel away from me, Rider," she said to him, placing her foot on his hand.
"You made the same mistake when you took her when she was a baby," he replied defiantly.
Gothel cringed a little upon hearing that, but said nothing and began to press down hard on his fingers. The pain flared up across his hand and he gasped, gritting his teeth together to try and conceal it.
"Any last words?" she hissed, a hint of amusement in her voice, wanting to see if he would beg or anything before she killed him.
Eugene clenched his other fist as hard as he could, which began to shake as it still stung whenever he moved the fingers on it, and glared up at her meeting her gaze defiantly and swung his hand up, landing it as hard as he could onto her foot, hoping it would cause a painful reaction. Sure enough, that is what happened. Gothel yelled out, throwing her hand up as she hoped on the spot and grabbed her foot with her hands. The frying pan flew up into the air and landed next to Rapunzel with a clatter. She grabbed it. Finally she had a weapon, but she could not get over to Eugene and help him because she was still stuck. She tried again to move the dagger but it was useless doing it on her own. The only way she could help now was to throw the frying pan.
"This is the end for you, boy!" she heard Al Mualim shout, causing her to look over at the pond and see Altair pushed up against the stone wall of the upper courtyard, Al Mualim holding his sword over him to bring it down, using his other hand to hold Altair's arm in place. A small spot of blood was visible on his other arm from where Al Mualim had cut it with his sword as they were struggling underwater.
Upon seeing this, Rapunzel brought back her arm and, with all her might, threw the frying pan towards them. It struck Al Mualim in the back of the head and he yelled out and shot his head round, glaring seriously at Rapunzel, only to go wide-eyed when he saw Pascal nearing her with the treasure.
"Oh no you don't!" he growled, pushing himself away from Altair and climbing out of the pond. He rushed over to Pascal just as he was about to be within arm's reach of Rapunzel and grabbed it from him, causing his tongue to let go of it and him to fall to the ground.
"Thank you very much," he said calmly, putting the treasure in his pocket and stepping close to Rapunzel. Pascal backed away towards her and she grabbed him and tried to back away herself, but was stopped by the dagger. He chuckled and knelt down in front of her, grabbing the neck of her dress. "If I can't heave the incarnation, then neither can you or this kingdom!" he hissed at her. "Goodbye, girl!"
He raised the sword above her. Rapunzel went wide-eyed, paralysed with fear that this could be it for her. It was over for her. She was a goner.
Then, just as Al Mualim was about to bring it down, a sharp pain flared up from his stomach, winding him and making him emit silent breaths as if he had been punched in the stomach. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Altair standing over him, hid hidden blade out with a small glint of blood on the tip of the blade. His shocked eyes looked up into Altair's eagle-like ones as if to say: "I cannot believe you've beaten me!" and he collapsed sideways onto the ground.
Behind them, Gothel, who had recovered from the injury Eugene dealt her and had brought her foot down to his hand, had been about to end his life when her foot suddenly froze just millimetres above his hand. Eugene, who had slammed his eyes shut, waiting for the pain to come and make him lose his grip, this ending his life, slowly opened them to see Gothel's shocked face. She looked like a statue. Then, her body suddenly collapsed into a cloud of dust onto the ground, being covered by the cloak.
At first, Eugene was shocked to see what had just happened, but when he saw Altair standing over Rapunzel and the injured Al Mualim, he breathed a sigh of relief.
It was over. They had won.