Maria thought a lot before reaching Altaïr, what she did only after outside the city walls. He was picking one of the horses. She was willing to help him in this fight and besides, she knew that on the way she could try to discover what he really intend with her…
"Altaïr!" She called.
He looked surprised at her.
"Maria?" He asked, in disbelief. "What are you going here?"
"Following the trail of the dead... " She said "You can't go alone... I mean, you could, but you can't..."
"I have to go, Maria..." He said, returning to untie the horse. "I'm their leader..."
"Then, I will come with you…" She said, walking to the other horse.
Altaïr denied, despite wanting her beside him.
"Maria, I can't ask you to come with me..." He said, knowing this was the end of their trip. "Look, you and I formed a good pair, but we have different destiny and missions... I can't ask you to fight a fig..."
Maria cut him off.
"I know... but I want to, independent of what you think..." She said. "Besides, what will you do if you meet the Templars on the way?"
"I will try to arrive in Masyaf before them..." He said, jumping on the horse. "Ok, you can come if you want... every help is welcome... but we can't lose any more time..."
Maria nodded and jumped on her horse and followed Altaïr's lead, both galloping quickly
X ~ X ~ X
Unlike they believed, they didn't find any Templar caravan on the way. And unlike Maria thought, Altaïr wasn't so open, so she couldn't inquiry so much but one thing was clear: if she wasn't so certain that he had some feelings towards her, she was quite sure know…
She didn't know what to think about that. It had been so long since someone had liked her, she didn't even remember… and now she didn't know what to do… she knew it wasn't like Robert, it was somewhat deeper than that…
"We're here…." Altaïr said.
Maria looked at him and then in front of her, to the gates of a village resting on the base of a mountain. She could see above, a construction like a fortress just above the village.
Altaïr took Maria to the fortress, the home of the Assassins. Maria saw that the majority of the people were at home, only the Assassins were keeping vigil…
As they went up the hill to the main entrance, already on the dependencies of the fortress, Maria thought about what they would do with her if they found out that she was an ex – Templar… probably she would be locked up in one of the cells of their dungeon or they would torture her until death...
"I can hear you thinking, Maria..." Altaïr said.
Maria looked at him, ready to say no, but he already knew the truth.
"You are my guest, Maria... my brothers will treat you well..." He said, ensuring her.
Maria nodded, but remained quiet; then they hear a voice of another man.
"I'm glad you decided to come home, novice…"
Altaïr looked annoyed to the owner of the voice.
"Malik, how many times I will have to tell you to stop calling me like that?" He asked when they arrived in front of the two men.
"Old habits are hard to break… " Malik said. "Who is she?"
Maria noticed that Malik had only one arm.
"She's a friend and a guest..." Altaïr said, looking at Maria. "Maria, these are Malik and Raouf…"
Raouf soon shook her hand, but Malik, suspicious, just looked at Altaïr, as he was crazy…
Altaïr ignored him and said, serious:
"Malik, come, we need to be ready..."
Malik looked at him, walking into the fortes and started to following him, as Maria, Raouf and the others members of the council did the same.
"What do you mean with that?" The man with just an arm said. 'We need to talk, Altaïr... you arrive just like that, at night, after a month and without warming…"
Altaïr cut him off.
"Malik, after we'll talk and I explain everything, but now we have more urgent things to do..." He said, serious. "Come with me…"
Every one followed him to the library above,
"I received information that the Templars are going to do an attack at Masyaf..." Altaïr explained.
The Assassins looked at each other.
"Who told you that?" Perguntou Malik.
"It was Mahmud..." Maria said. "We're in Safita, and had discovered that he worked with the Templars in the city…"
Malik looked at her.
"You're not supposed to be here..." He said.
Maria raised an eyebrow and Altaïr intervened before a fight could start.
"She's here to help..." He said to Malik. "When the attack happens, by surprise, she needs to be here…"
"How do you know it will be a surprise attack?" Abbas asked.
Altaïr looked at him as he was crazy.
"You do remember the last attack, don't you?" Raouf asked to Abbas.
Abbas was quiet. He did remember...
"Just be prepared..." Altaïr said, sighing. "Dismissed..."
The Assassins nodded and let them alone. But Malik stayed behind.
"What is it, Malik?" Altaïr asked, already knowing what he wanted.
"I'm not saying anything, I just want an explanation…" Malik said.
Maria looked at Altaïr, who nodded to her. She sighed and looked back at Malik.
"Two months ago, I was a part of the Templars..." She started. "With Robert's death I started to have problems with them; Altaïr captured me in Acre and as a prisoner, he tried to show me what the Templars wanted, but I wasn't so convinced and when the opportunity arrived I runway and discovered it for myself… I discovered I was wrong all along... it was a disillusion for me…"
Malik nodded.
"In the end, she saved my life..." Altaïr said. "That's all you need to know for now…"
Malik didn't appeared so convinced.
"You know you'll need more than that to convince me, don't you?" He asked her. "Are you planning to stay?"
In the back, Altaïr put his hand on his face a muttered something…
"I don't know what I'm going to do after the Templar menace is over..." Maria said. "But one thing I won't do is return to England…"
"This is ridiculous, Malik..." Altaïr said.
"It's ok Altaïr, really..." Maria said. "I would be suspicious too if I was in his place..."
Malik didn't said anything, just looked down.
"Maria is my guest d whether you like it or not, will be treated as such ..." Altaïr said. "This meeting is over…"
Malik pondered what to say while looking at Maria. In the end, he just got up and exited the library.
"Sorry…" Altaïr said. "He won't bother you again…"
Maria nodded.
"As for the attack…"