His gaze was drawn to the woman now gaining the attention of the stable hands. She had used a piece of Gerhard's shirt to tie up her hair, between that and her somewhat unusual "ensemble" she certainly stood out. She rolled her head and pushed her fists into the small of her back omitting a satisfied "ah" when the desired bones cracked. When she turned to speak she noticed a slight upturn at the side of his mouth.

'What the hell is he smiling at?' Then she remembered her attire and pulled the dress from the belt. "First thing I do when I get inside this city is go home and get my own clothes."

He made his way to a group of scholars beside the gate, "We need to go to the bureau first to find out what has been happening for all we know your rooms are being watched."

She rolled her eyes behind him but their proximity to the gate guards made a reply unwise. She strolled behind the group with her head lowered, biting her tongue 'Idiotic men with their stupid pride and here's me walking obediently behind like them some mongrel cur!'

They passed the guards without incident but why shouldn't they, a respectable group of men with their lackey trailing behind. By the time they got out of sight her temper had escalated to the point it stained her cheeks red. Altair wasn't the most sensitive of men when it came to reading a person's moods but Maria's puckered mouth and creased eyebrows left little room for doubt. He gestured for her to follow him into a quiet side street.

"What is wrong?" He stroked her flaming cheeks, hoping it would soothe her temper but it only seemed to increase her agitation. She slapped his hand away and shoved his body backwards.

"Don't you start treating me like this, don't you bloody dare." Her nostrils flared as she spoke, "We had sex nothing more so kindly refrain from pawing me like some love struck adolescent!"

He never replied but she could see he was confused with possible agitation lurking not far behind; he straightened his head and folded his arms over his chest.

She pointed back to the gate, "Not six months ago I would have ridden side by side with the leader of the Knights Templar right past those bloody morons and now I find myself bowing and scraping hoping to pass for a scholar's floozy."

He raised a hand to scratch his stubbly cheek. Maria paused for him to begin apologising for his part in her lowly circumstances but he remained silent. She scowled and took a step closer to him practically baring her teeth, "And don't you bother telling me where I can and can't go in my own city. I am going to my rooms; I'm taking a bath and putting on my own clothes. If you wish to meet with me after that in order to procure the information you require please feel free to arrange a meeting."

Her planned grand exist was spoiled entirely by the assassin, his hand shot out and he all but lifted her, bodily pushing her further into a recess. He knew she hated being man handled but he would do that and face her fury before he would let her temper put her in harm's way.

Releasing her arm he spoke in a low voice tinged with indulgence, "I am trying to keep you safe Maria and I will do that with or without your cooperation, if you force me to I will knock you out and carry you to the bureau." She opened her mouth to protest but his finger on her lips silenced her, however it did nothing to conceal the challenge in her look. "I understand you have concerns about meeting my brothers but I give you my word you will be safe and treated with respect while you are among them."

Maria said nothing what could she say? He had seen right through her performance, "Maria it's normal that you should be worried but you have to trust me as I trust you."

She shifted her feet trying to figure out where her anger had gone, "They are going to hate me and for good reason Altair; we're enemies."

"I can't promise they will like you Maria but I guarantee they will be treated well."

She looked down at her clothes and pushed her foot forward to inspect her boots, "I really would have preferred to be wearing my own clothes but alright let's go."

He smirked as he stepped closer to her, "Lovesick adolescent?"

Hearing her own words made her wince, "I don't want them to know about us, we have to be detached Altair. I want to be judged on my own merits and not as someone's lover."

Despite her words she met his lips enthusiastically astonished by how naturally their bodies sought to mould together. When his breathing became deeper Maria pulled back, "Not exactly the right time or place assassin."

He stepped back from her but kept her hand in his, "You're right of course."

She paused at the edge of the opening and took a deep breath allowing herself a second to appreciate the irony of her unwillingness to enter an assassins lair, not so long ago she would have given her right arm for this moment but then she would have had Robert with her and her motives would have been altogether different. Altair raised his head to her and held out his arms to show he would catch her; she grinned and leapt to the floor beside him. "I've learned a trick or two from you assassin. Now shall we get this over with?"

Malik lifted his head to greet the new arrival. "Altair it is good to see you unharmed."

He entered the room and now that he was no longer standing in the narrow doorway Malik saw what had been blocked from his view, "Maria Thorpe what a ... pleasant surprise."

Jabal raised his head from his books and looked with disbelief at the woman, the former second in command of Robert De Sable's army no less, now standing in his bureau.

"Safety and peace brothers." He made brief introductions before adding, "I trust you have no objection to my offering Maria safe haven at our bureau for the time being."

Malik licked his lips and considered how to respond, he had phrased it as a question but Malik knew a challenge when he heard one, the question was did he want to meet that challenge? He moved from behind the counter and offered his hand to her. "I'm glad to see you are safe, our Mentor was greatly disturbed to learn of your capture."

She accepted the hand he offered and bowed her head politely "I know my presence here is unexpected to say the least but I'm not a threat to your order Malik."

She was indeed a threat and in more ways than she knew but he decided to deal with one problem at a time. "Speaking of threats I take it Gerhard is no longer a concern?"

Altair answered without thinking, "He is dead but we believe he died with mischief on his lips. He named an unlikely person as the leader of the Templars, unlikely to Maria at least."

Malik waited for the name to be given and was slightly amused to see Altair was waiting for the woman to speak.

"The man he named is Stephen Marshal but I know him and he is a good man. Gerhard was simply trying to deal me one final blow by naming the one friend I have in the world."

Malik ran the name through his brain but nothing came to him, he turned to Jabal. "This is your city do you know anything of the man?"

"He is the son of a great man but he has yet to make a mark on the world, perhaps this would be a good enough reason to take up where his close friend De Sable left off." When he mentioned De Sable's name he deliberated looked at the English woman but she never flinched.

"It's true he was Robert's friend, Stephen served his time as a page at Robert's family home in Anjou and later as his squire but thankfully guilt by association is not enough to convict a man since I would be considered as guilty as he is."

Altair watched as Jabal smirked. He knew Maria would meet any challenge the old man cared to offer, "Maria has asked we investigate him before we cast judgement."

"We always do Maria." Malik spoke with a reasonable tone and Maria had to confess he was being more accepting of her than she would have been of him but his mistrust of her was apparent and logical.

"Altair tells me you have been trying to discover the contents of certain deliveries the Crusaders have taken. I have full knowledge of the inventory and I'm willing to share it with you."

Jabal practically hissed at her, "You really have turned on your brothers I see. How is it that you have been able to gain information that has eluded us woman?"

For the first time Maria fully entered the room and Altair couldn't help but feel a jolt of pride when she approached the desk to meet Jabal eye to eye. "I know what it is because I placed the order; it was to be used to destroy your home. The finest quality weapons from all over Europe and some from the Far East. I have not turned on my brothers, they turned on me. I will never help you harm an honest Crusader but the people you call Templars... I'd kill them myself one by one for the dishonour they have brought upon the name."

Jabal rolled his eyes but before he could speak Maria continued "Before you decide to get all high and mighty about my association with Robert you might do well to remind yourself who you served and how that turned out. If you're going to judge me make sure you are not guilty of the same crimes after all there is nothing lower than a hypocrite wouldn't you agree?"

Malik smiled, she might end up being a problem but he had to admire her spirit. "Well said but if I may bring you back to your earlier and far more important comment, the weapons...?"

She went over all the details previously shared with Altair and Malik listened with growing alarm.

"The castle at Homs would mean they could supply their forces easily, even replenish them without letting up on the pressure of Masyaf." He turned to Altair, "We need to send someone to Homs to see how far along with their plans they are and we need to make sure the weapons never make it anywhere near Masyaf."

Maria cut in, "I am planning to travel to Homs if it would make you feel better you can have one of your men accompany me. The weapons stored in Richard's Citadel are not beyond our reach I know of a way in."

Altair never commented on her plans for Homs but he knew it would be him making the journey with her. "Conrad is heavily involved in this Malik I would suggest we make him our priority. I will learn more details of the plot from him and perhaps it will bring us one step closer to the identity of their Master."

"Agreed I have informants and novices in the city now trying to learn what they can. Conrad was an obvious choice to watch so they should have information for you already."

"I'll go now and learn what I can, I'll return when I have something useful to share."

Malik could have told him he was behaving as an assassin and not their leader but he knew it would be pointless; it was going to take Altair time spent at Masyaf to become accustomed to his new role.

Maria got up to leave with him but he stopped her. "I have to go to the fort Maria you would be recognised immediately."

Unable to disagree she sat back down at the small gaming table watching him go without so much as a glance back over his shoulder. Malik left with him but came returned a few minutes later and took a seat across from Maria. He mused on the fact her appearance wasn't far off his own invented description, she was beautiful. He couldn't imagine her wielding a sword but then he didn't think he would ever meet a woman who cut off all of her hair and posed as a man. She was tucking strands of hair behind her ears and looking extremely uncomfortable, Malik decided to try to help her relax.

"At least it seems Gerhard couldn't do you much harm before Altair caught up with you."

"Not too much thankfully."

He was thinking of something Altair had told him and the more he thought of it the less he could associate it with this timid creature sitting opposite him. "Did you really do what Altair said you did, to Gerhard after he was dead?"

Jabal looked curious so Maria elaborated for him, "I told him I cut off the German's testicles and used them as fishing bait." Both men looked utterly aghast and Maria no longer looked as timid as she had moments before.

Jabal raised his gaze from the counter and looked her up and down. The older man could think of only one reason why a woman would do such a thing and that appalled him even more the fact that she had put herself in a position to be raped. "Perhaps it would be wise if we don't mention the assault in front of the novices; people in this part of the world still don't take kindly to a woman being careless."

"I was careless wasn't I? Risking the honour of my family for the purposes of living the life I want to. Please don't assume that people in this part of the world have a monopoly on stupidity, I find it everywhere I go."

Malik interjected, this was not a conversation he wanted them to have, "Jabal there is no reason to have this discussion the novices are aware only of her being taken prisoner the nature of the offence is not their business."

"But are we not offering her sanctuary, brother and is so doing condoning her behaviour?"

"I'm sorry you are going to have to explain that, my behaviour?"

"What happened to you came as a direct result of you having left your marital home and making this foolish attempt to live like a man. Had you stayed with your husband none of this would have happened and you would have been better off."

Malik dropped his forehead into his hand.

Maria to her credit seemed to keep her calm. "You seem to have done your homework on me I applaud your thoroughness however you are mistaken. Had I remained with my husband I would certainly have died of boredom long before now." Then she got to her feet and Malik lifted his head just in time to see the gleam in her eyes. "You assume you know the nature of the offence if an offence was committed, could it not be that I believed him to be less than a man and undeserving of the very thing which marked him as such? If you had really done your homework Jabal you would have learned that I take that piece from every man I kill."

Jabal made his way around the counter and Malik was sure he would have struck her had he not intervened. "Brother, go and prepare for the novices return. Maria, escort me to the private rooms please."

He took hold of her sleeve and tugged it hard forcing her to break eye contact with Jabal before he led her to the back of the bureau. Once alone he turned sharply towards her, "Do you think this is easy for us? You were not only a Templar but one of the highest ranking Templars in the Holy Land. Trust might have come easily to Altair but you will find the rest of us take longer to come around if we ever do and if you intend to be here and enjoy the protection of my brothers I recommend you learn to control your tongue."

Maria sank into a nearby seat and practised the very advice he had just given her, long enough to come up with a reply that was less insulting than the first thing she thought of. "I'm sorry but I treat people how they treat me. I don't expect you or him to trust me but to feel he can make wild assumptions about my life and then treat me with disrespect... I would rather go to the fort and turn myself in to the first guard I see than accept that sort of treatment."

"I had planned on having a similar conversation with Jabal I won't tolerate that behaviour from anyone within my order." He again found himself taking a seat across the table from the woman and wondering what to say to her. Trust Altair to show up with her and promptly leave them alone to figure it out. Malik scowled and when Maria gave him a questioning look he gave voice to his revelation. "Altair brought you here and left you alone within minutes. He did it on purpose to force us to confront or accept each other."

"I'd wager he expects to come back to blood, guts and tears."

"And we came close to that very thing." He rested his arm on the table and watched her try to look anywhere but his empty sleeve. "You said you know a way into the fort..."

She leaned forward in her seat, grateful for the distraction. "Yes there is a small entrance to the underground cistern near the south sea wall. It has a market stall placed over it and even looking for it you might miss it, nothing more than stones amongst stone."

The door opened and Jabal came in glaring at Maria before he spoke to Malik. "The novices have returned and they have some news regarding her home. It seems it is not being watched so I would suggest she would be safe to return."

Malik groaned inwardly, this stubborn old fool would be the death of him. "Did you not hear the Master say he was offering her the protection of our order Jabal? I for one would not want to be the man who goes against his wishes, Maria stays."

"Actually I would like to go and collect a few of my possessions. There was a woman killed for helping me and I want to make sure her family are taken care of as best I can."

"Altair had already said he will escort you there later in the meantime come and join us for dinner."

About to leave after showing her where she could wash Malik stopped in the doorway, Maria could see Jabal standing behind him. "You cut off their manhood?"

She laughed and pondered how such simple words could have a devastating impact on a man's mind. "No Malik, I only said that to make a point."

Now alone she sat at the small desk and took in her surroundings, nothing much to see but a windowless, dimly lit room with a desk and a wall lined with books.

She was still fuming over what Jabal had said about staying with her husband. He had spent the first few years of their marriage trying to change her to make her more suitable, using force when he felt his words had no affect on her. In the end she stopped him coming to her bed chamber, the only thing she wanted from Peter Hallaton was her freedom.

Peter Hallaton was drunk, not in itself a rarity but the fact that he was drunk and looking for the company of his wife was. Maria had long ago proven herself to be more trouble than she was worth but he needed to sire a child with her, one who could be permitted to grace him name unlike the bastard he had put in the belly of a young servant. He entered her room and approached her servant asleep on a small pallet near the door. She was startled but his hand on her mouth stopped her calling out. She left quietly as directed; not even Maria's personal maid would disobey the lord of the manner.

The heavy linen curtains which shielded her bed from draughts were drawn closed; he separated them and climbed onto her bed. The ropes strung together to hold up the mattress creaked loudly as his full weight leaned on them and Maria bolted upright, alarmed but only until she saw her husband through the gloomy light which penetrated the curtains.

"What do you want? You stink of ale Peter."

He crawled up beside her but she moved to the edge of the bed. "I want the woman I married to do her duty and give me sons." His bottom lip stuck out as he carried on speaking in a petulant tone. "I've been a good husband Maria, I seldom take my hand to you and never did I use a lash to break your spirit as your Father suggested but still you reject me."

"I reject being forced into this life. Let me go Peter, we can have this marriage annulled you are as unhappy as I am."

He moved surprisingly fast for being drunk and got most of his body on tops of her before she could roll out of the bed. "Those spices, are they new? You smell divine Maria, let me taste you."

She pushed him off and got out of the bed, immediately feeling the chill of the cold night air. "Peter I told you our days of sharing a bed are over. We tried and there was no issue conceived, perhaps it's not within me to be a mother." She pulled her housecoat from the peg and wrapped it around her shivering frame and waited for him to sit up.

She knew he was no real threat to her he was basically a good man and Maria felt sorry for him. She had failed him as a wife in every way possible and here she was again offering him the easy way out.

"I merely want what is my right to have Maria. You have a dressmaker who creates the finest clothes for you but you only deign to wear them when I implore you. What is it that you want me to give you to make you happy?"

She joined him on the bed so she didn't have to look at his hurt expression. This was the drink speaking; anything he promised tonight would be forgotten tomorrow. "We can't be happy together Peter. I'm willing to leave with nothing, I will make no claims on your wealth or property and you can find the good woman you deserve."

He dropped his head and sighed perhaps resigned to the logic of her words. "You married above your rank Maria do you understand that you will never find a husband who can offer you the things I have?"

This had been going on for months, her feeding his ego convincing him that she wasn't even worthy of being his wife and Maria was becoming tired of it but what else could she do? If she ran away she would be hunted down and brought back to face the whip as had happened before, expect Peter had spared her the whip on that occasion. "I am aware that I was lucky to have the chance but I don't want a husband or children. I want to travel and see what lies beyond our corner of the world."

"Pack what belongings you have and be gone from my home before dawn Maria. I will see to the annulment." He pulled the fur coverlet from and bed and draped it across his shoulders, "I have wasted all the time I can with you." He left the room and she left his life before the sun had cast its first ray of light onto the earth.

Her Father grudgingly allowed her back in his house but when the question of returning her dowry came up his fury had found a convenient target, her body. She decided she had had quite enough of being the unhappy down trodden Maria Thorpe; it was time for her life to end. She fashioned a garment from leather and linen to flatten out her breasts and gave herself a new name. Taking shears to her crowning glory was far easier than she believed; she used a blade to take the down to the skull. Now wearing the clothes she had exchanged with a stable hand -a set of his clothes for every single item of clothing she owned- He accepted without hesitation, his wife would be the best dressed commoner in all of England.

She departed his house in a similar manner to how she had left to visit her Mother's grave on the morning of her wedding. Her journey today would be much longer and she left knowing she would never return. She made her way to Portsmouth to enlist in the army and sail for the Holy Land believing she would be discovered and thrown overboard before they reached the Mediterranean.

Maria peered through the opening taking in the sweet but slightly overpowering smell of incense. The room seemed to be full of men all sitting cross legged on the floor eating from a small low table that hadn't been there before. Malik noticed her and beckoned for her to sit. She felt like an intruder here, they had been laughing and chatting away merrily until Malik had noticed her and invited her to join. What she wanted to do was to sink back into the other room and vanish but she moved forward and lowered herself onto the ground between Malik and another boy wearing one of the darker hooded uniforms.

He handed her a plate and put some of the flat bread they called pita on it and pointed to a pot of vegetables and chicken. "Please help yourself."

"I was informing the novices that some of them may have to escort me into the sewers Maria."

A few of the boys chuckled and Maria could now imagine what jokes they had been telling before she arrived. She smiled at Malik swallowing down a mouthful of the delicious bread, "I'm surprised you'll be going."

His face darkened and Maria knew he had mistaken her meaning about to offer an explanation to clarify he spoke first, "You think because I am missing an arm I would be unable to perform such a mission?"

Regretting offending the man who had been so surprisingly gracious to her despite his misgiving Maria decided to leave no room for misunderstanding. "I meant about going into such a dark smelly place to begin with, I certainly wouldn't have volunteered." Malik seemed satisfied with her reply but Maria as usual liked to make sure she had stated her case clearly. "You'll find I'm the last person in the world who would think less of you for a missing appendage; I've spent my entire life trying to make up for not having been born with a penis."

The novices all looked up from their plates watching to see how they should react. Malik had lowered his head but Maria could see the rise and fall of his shoulders, she knew he was laughing. He raised his head and held out his chalice to her still grinning, "What is it your people say, cheers?"

She lifted her water and connected it with Malik's, "Cheers it is."

Altair had just dropped onto the floor of the bureau and could hear laughter from inside. Someone was pointing out Tahir to Maria as the man who had so clumsily observed her at her home and Maria was doing her best to comfort the novice. His lips pulled into a thin tight smile, the two people who meant most to him in the world were eating together and he allowed the small hopes he held for his personal future to grow a little more.