Change of plans

They stepped onto the dock and Maria for a few seconds felt an odd sense of homecoming, odd because she still thought of England as home. Acre was as grey as ever, the sea walls and the buildings, even the sky managed to look grey in Acre a lot of the time. The dock was a hive of activity, in itself not unusual at this early hour but what was unusual was that it wasn't only fishermen and sailors.

There were what looked to her like hundreds of men all scurrying back and forth carrying cargo being off loaded from three ships, all bearing the Teutonic coat of arms on their sails. Maria heard the guttural tones of a German accent barking out orders in both German and English. The owner of the voice was a man she was unfamiliar with, a middle aged, heavy set man wearing the uniform of the Teutonic Knights.

She turned to address Altair but his attention was elsewhere, she followed his line of sight, he appeared to be looking at group of sailors resting on a low wall. Then a scholar whom she hadn't noticed before emerged from the group, walking in their direction. He passed them by without a glance but by then Maria had already resumed watching the dock workers labours.

Turning to Altair she said, "Perhaps finding out what is in those boxes might be a good idea." She was talking to herself, Altair was gone!

Altair walked toward St John's gate he would likely catch up with his brother on the other side of the wall. He was almost through and off the docks when he suddenly stopped. He had forgotten she was with him!

'Damn!' He made his way back to her, annoyed that he was now thinking in her language, she was not going to be happy about this...

If looks could kill, he would be lying on the ground choking on his own balls! He took a deep breath and said. "You have rooms in Acre, yes?"

"Yes I do."

"Then you will be safe going there for the time being. I have to attend to a few matters and should be able to join you soon."

"Don't bother assassin. You walked away and left me standing here like some whore you had just finished with."

"Maria you know the streets of Acre better than I do, you will be perfectly safe here. I confess I forgot you were accompanying me for a few seconds ... I am far more accustomed to travelling alone, it was understandable."

"OH, perfectly safe you say! I turned on my people, killing a few of them along the way and now you just drop me here in the heart of their territory and tell me I'll be perfectly bloody safe!" She wasn't shouting but her anger was loud and clear, the assassin sighed and looked seaward, perhaps wishing he had left her somewhere out there.

"Maria... this is unavoidable ... Try to understand. I've been gone for a long time I must go to the bureau."

"I understand, better than you think. I had expected us to part here, both having things to do but you..." she jabbed her finger into his chest, "You spent months dragging me around behind you, expecting me to help. The moment we get back here I'm not only surplus to your plans, I'm a fucking afterthought!"

He tried to speak but she shoved past him, knocking him aside with her shoulder, "I should have expected this."

The gall of the man! First leaving her standing on the dock like unwanted baggage, and then telling her to go and wait for him to have the time to make an appearance.

"I'll escort you to your rooms."

"That won't be necessary after all I know the streets of Acre better than you do! Be about your business Assassin, we have no further need of each other."

"Tell me where your rooms are Maria; it was never my intention to leave you here unattended. We may yet be able to undertake our journey."

She never acknowledged his words, by a look or even a break in her stride. She willed herself not to look back, determined not to give him the satisfaction. She made her way through the narrow back streets of Acre, grumbling to herself.

Why was it so easy for that man to rile her? She could barely manage a conversation with him without losing her cool. He had hurt her on the docks, had made her feel insignificant and yet again she lost her composure. What must he think of her? She wasn't sure what bothered her more, that she cared what he thought about her or that he could actually hurt her feelings.

The walk from the harbour to her rooms wasn't a very long one and once she reached the familiar streets of the rich district her mood lifted. The roof of Cathedral of the Holy Cross telling her she was almost home. The sea mist swirling around her feet, her step lightened as she approached her home.

It had been Robert's idea to take rooms in the city for them to have somewhere private out with the walls of Richard's Citadel and Maria hadn't objected, the more they could do to keep their private relationship quiet the better.

The city was coming to life, people going off to their jobs or the market, she noticed one or two of them giving her curious looks as he passed them but shrugged it off. Walking near a group of soldiers Maria pulled the hood of her cloak as far over her face as she could, the assassin had been good for something it seemed...

She opened the street door of the building which housed her rooms and entered.

On a rooftop behind her the assassin took note of the location before directing his step to the bureau. At least she would be safe for now, he was fairly certain any who had known of her betrayal on Cyprus were dead but her words at the harbour had caused him concern. He was determined to do all he could to keep her safe, whether she wanted him to or not...

Maria climbed the stairs to the first floor of the building, where her rooms were. She had no key but the door had always been loose, with any luck she would be able to shoulder it open until she could find the landlord to get another from him. She jiggled the door handle and it gave way, the door was unlocked. Had she left it that way? She tried to think back to the last time she was here but her life had been in turmoil, it was entirely possible she forgot to lock a door. Putting her hand on the hilt of her sword she pushed the door open and walked inside.

She had only made it a few steps inside when a voice made her jump, spinning to face the intruder, her heart jumping to her throat she drew her sword.

"Maria Thorpe, the proverbial bad penny! What do we have to do to be rid of you?"

Altair dropped down to the floor of the bureau, soundless as always. He entered the main room and as expected the Rafiq was standing behind his counter with all his attention on his stupid bird.

"Safety and peace brother." Altair offered him the usual greeting.

"Upon you as well, Master Altair. It is good to see you home and unharmed. Although it seems my little bureau is the centre of many in our orders attention recently."

Altair approached the old man, "What do you mean?"

"He means that events in the harbour have commanded our immediate attention Altair, may I also welcome you home brother?"

"Malik, it is good to see you, unexpected as it may be." Altair watched Malik move from his seat at the chess board and stand beside him, "Anything to do with a sizeable cargo I saw being offloaded this morning?"

Malik raised his eyebrows, back for a matter of hours and already on top of things... "Indeed it does. What you saw was the most recent of what we so far have counted as 20 ships, fully laden, with Allah knows what. Jabal first reported the matter a week ago and I felt it warranted the highest priority. I travelled to Acre and have been here for 3 days now. As yet we have been unable to ascertain what the cargo is but it is all being stored in three locations throughout the city, all heavily guarded."

Altair knew not to ask stupid questions, Malik would have the places under surveillance, besides hadn't he seen his spy at the docks ... "We have the struck the Templars many heavy blows, I am forced to wonder what they are capable of at this point. We need to get a look at the cargo."

Nodding slowly as though deep in thought Malik replied, "We cannot even look at the ships manifest, they either don't exist or are transported by another means. We have been able to search five of the ships and their captains, nothing... The manifest has never been present."

Jabal added, "They have entire regiments guarding the consignments around the clock, nothing short of a full out assault will show us what they are so desperate to hide."

Altair considered this idea, he could if needed, call upon the numbers of men required for such an assault but that would be disastrous. They would take only one of the locations and at what cost to their numbers. "There is really no way to penetrate their security and take a look?"

He had been to all of the locations, Richards Citadel, the Hospitalier fortress and the Teutonic garrison, and Malik had to admit he had never seen so many soldiers apart from on the field of battle. "Perhaps you could accompany me to these places, we can review our plans. It can't do any harm for us to be sure in our thinking."

Altair had already decided he would be visiting the respective headquarters of the Knights but to have Malik along with him... he usually worked alone. "That would be acceptable we shall depart as soon as you are ready."

"I'm ready now brother."

As they made the short trip from the bureau to the Teutonic garrison Malik went over the happenings in the order while Altair had been on Cyprus. It didn't take long things had been quiet at Masyaf; it seemed everyone was still adjusting to the changes. Malik then decided to broach another matter which had been troubling him.

"I must confess I was more than a little surprised when I received your communication about your plans to travel. To want to extend your absence from Masyaf so early in your leadership..."

"Malik at my age one can never truly be prepared to have leadership thrust upon him. I felt I would benefit from meeting some of the great thinkers of our time, exploring libraries. I believed my travels would make me a better, more rounded man and so a better leader."

"You doubt your own ability to lead our order?"

"Not exactly doubt but I do have concerns. I know I can lead the order, all Master Assassins could. Can I lead it in the way I want to, make the changes I wish to make? It is these things I question."

Malik smirked, "Very noble reasons Altair, it seems I underestimated you. I assumed it had more to do with that woman you were with."

"In truth it had a great deal to do with her. She has seen more of the world than we have, has a better understanding of people too. We limit ourselves to our order and people within it; I think we need to broaden our horizons Malik. The Templar's reach extends far beyond the Holy land brother; we cannot hope to continue fighting them if we don't expand our minds and our reach beyond the boundaries of our home."

Malik rolled his eyes; he had intended his comment to be teasing, trust Altair to miss that entirely.

Both men stopped walking at the exact same time, Altair's eyes taking in the scene for the first time. There were literally soldiers everywhere; Malik had been accurate in his description.

"Since the truce between Salah ad-Din and Richard was agreed it seems they have men to spare. I'm fully aware we need to find out what they are planning but I see no way to penetrate these defences, short of all out attack that is."

Having walked around the perimeter of the building Altair could only agree. "There must be a way." His sharp eyes scanning everything and everyone in the area for any sign of weakness, none existed. The soldiers stopped and searched anyone who tried to approach the building from any direction.

"Richard's citadel and the Hospitalier fortress are no less well protected." Malik's expression remained impassive but his frustration was clear in the low tone he used to address his comrade.

Altair wanted to walk round the building again, perhaps they had missed something but they were already drawing suspicious glances from a nearby guard.

"We should go, there are informants here at various times throughout the day, and if anything happens we will learn of it." Malik too had noticed the attention they were beginning to attract.

By late evening both men were on a path for the bureau having visited all the sites Malik said were housing the mysterious cargo. He had hoped to see something, some chink in their defence but there was nothing.

Looking around at the men and women in their fine clothing he wondered how they would react to a group of assassins storming the fortress they had just left behind them. He knew they would be panic stricken, horrified and reviled by them. In their ignorance they believed the people in the fortress to be their protectors, he had to suppress a mild feeling of disgust, they could not be blamed, it was human nature to trust authority if it kept the peace.

Perhaps he should find a stand and shout at the top of his lungs all that the Templars were planning. They would shake their heads at him and summon a guard to have the madman locked up. He remembered how much it had taken to convince Maria and even then he knew she still harboured some doubts about the whole thing. Whether she didn't fully trust him or couldn't accept the man she loved was capable of such cruelty he couldn't say.

His eyes were naturally drawn in the direction of her building, he had planned to visit her but the day had passed and night was upon them, he doubted she would welcome him at this late hour, he doubted she would welcome him at any hour...

Malik saw a wry smile on Altair's face but decided not to question him. It had been a long day all he wanted now was to wash off the dust and disappointment he had accumulated over the course of the day.

"We should get back to Jabal, get cleaned up and fed. Things might look a little brighter then."

At first Malik's words made no sense to Altair, he had been thinking about Maria. "You could be right, at least we can discuss this with us both fully appraised of the facts."

"Bathe first brother, no offence, but you smell like a fisherman's armpit!"

The Knight stood at the head of the table his arms crossed over his considerable chest, his eyes daring any of the men seated to challenge him. None did.

"I will accept no excuses; I want this to be done right from beginning to end. Follow my instructions implicitly or you will pay with your life. Worry about everything and trust no one. None but the men in this room are aware of the entire extent of our plans, any outsiders will be aware only of the small role they play, it's less dangerous that way."

Gerhard looked at the Englishman with something bordering on adoration. He couldn't help but think their plan would have succeeded much sooner if only they had placed this man at the helm earlier. Everything he said made sense, they had been reckless before and his predecessor had paid with his life, he was determined not to make the same mistakes Sibrand had.

The other men at the table made no arguments and the meeting came to an end, all left at different times and all had travelled to the remote fortress with only their most trusted advisors.

The Hospitalier who had been host of the meeting now hovered in the shadows, hoping the other two would leave quickly and allow him to return to his duties, he had many people to care for...

The Englishman addressed him briefly as he was leaving the room, "Donjon, are you quite certain you don't want me to bring some men to take care of your little problem?" His face was emotionless, the Frenchman thought his expression said a lot more about the man than his words did, and his words said much...

"No, thank you. My little problem is just that, mine... I will continue to deal with it in my own way."

The Knight grunted, pulling his helmet over his head, "Just make damned sure they are gone long before my consignment arrives or you may well find yourself in a sorrier state than they are."

He left pulling the door shut behind him, leaving Gerhard looking non-plussed.

Geoffroy de Donjon clicked his tongue at the idiocy of his Teutonic counterpart, "You are to wait a few moments before leaving remember? The Master does not wish us to be seen together."

Offended by the Hospitalier and his assumption that he hadn't understood the new leader of the Teutonic Knights balled his hands into fists, "I knew that! I was just surprised he didn't say few more words. Now if you don't mind I will prepare to take my leave, good day to you Herr Donjon."

When the door closed for the last time the old Frenchman sighed and slumped into a soft chair in the corner of his counsel room. How had he gotten himself embroiled in this again, he was sure he had refused all entreaties to join the new plots and yet here he was once again doing something he knew in his heart was wrong.

It wasn't as though he couldn't stand up to the men involved, he was no coward but De Sable had talked him into it once before, he at least had made them feel important, valued. This new Templar was a bully and more ruthless than any who had come before. Now with what he had done and what he knew they had a hold over him, one he could never be free of.

He felt a familiar wave of fear wash over his body; it was always the same when he thought of the Piece of Eden. He dreaded the thing, and what it could do. The Master had told them to worry about everything, remembering that made Donjon utter a short cynical laugh, he already did. But the thing that worried him most was that they would succeed with their plans and that the new world order he had once craved more than anything would be achieved.

"Ah well, it can wait for now. I have more pressing matters to attend to my children need food and care." Raising himself out of the chair he let out a long groan as he stood, tired as he was in both body and mind. He smoothed out the pleats of his long black robes and made his way to his children.

A/N

Geoffroy de Donjon was the successor to old Garnier de Naplouse and Gerhard for Sibrand. Like the characters from the game not much is based on real life history. Anything they do in my fic is entirely that ... fiction

Got another one done in between packing for my much needed break, if anyone reads this hope you enjoy.