Story [Assassin's Creed]The Eagle's Blade (set 1191)

Chapter 1

The hot morning sun rose lazily over the sprawling clay and mud brick buildings of Jerusalem. The people of the city, emerging in the marketplaces, or the squares, to chatter among themselves. People had finally started to calm down, after stories of the supposed massacre at the northern cemetery had started to be forgotten by the populace. Walking briskly through the streets, pushing through the crowds, Jabal, a scrawny man with a scraggy beard, made for the souk. He had been working as a 'witness' for the cities' De jure regent Majd Addin, identifying those deemed 'enemies' of the city. But he had been forced back to his old life of gambling and pickpocketing, after Addin had been murdered by those cunning Assassins. He knew that there would be scores of traders, and gullible citizens lining the souk at this time of day, and he was eager to line his pouch with their coin.

He passed into a small alley, to take a little know shortcut that would take him round the back of the souk, where many of the richer merchants liked to set-up shop. As he walked into the shade, he saw a flash pass across the top of the alley. Jabal assumed it must have been a bird or something, and carried on. Suddenly, he heard a large crash from behind him, and wheeled round. Standing up in the middle of the alley, was a hooded man, dressed in a black overcoat, with white robes underneath. Jabal started to realise what this was. Crossing arms casually, he mockingly said to the man,
"Sorry brother, I don't need your words of faith today. Much good they'd do me in these times anyway."

Smirking, he turned to leave again, confident that this scholar wouldn't bother him for coin. He was confidently strolling off, when he felt a sharp jab to his back. Whirling round, he jabbed out at the hooded man, aiming to knock him out in one quick hit, as he did often when his cheating at cards was discovered. But the man had already dodged to the right, and the punch hit thin air. Trying to pull back for another jab, Jabal took another punch, this time to his stomach. Trying to stay upright, he flailed wildly to the right, hoping to sweep the man off his feet. But his hand was grabbed mid-punch, and was pulled back. Falling to the ground, the pain striking through his wrist, Jabal moaned loudly with pain.
"Aggh, what-ah, what is it that you want! I have no coin on me, just the rags I'm wearing.

Jabal stared up at the hooded man, seeing a stony expression beneath the white hood, before the man finally replied.
"It's not what's on your person I'm after. It's what's in your mind. You once worked for Majd Addin, no?"

Jabal struggled to answer, his wrist still in intense pain.
"I-uh, sure, I worked for the man. Got me a nice bit of coin out of it. So what?"

"Tell me what you knew of his plans, his greater intentions."

"Well how should I know!? I just told him who to arrest, I didn't ask why!"
The pain in the wrist sharpened, as the hooded man angrily shouted at him.

"You coward must know soemthing. Talk, or I'll snap the wrist right off."

Jabal broke down at this, simpering to himself.
"Oh please, God no. I'm an honest man, just let me live!"

The man seemed to consider this for a moment, before abruptly releasing Jabal's wrist. Sprawling out on the floor, Jabal started thanking the heavens, and muttering prayers to himself. A quick kick to the ribs stopped his mumbling.
"Well, talk then."

Jabal reached up, as if to answer, when he realised that this was his only chance to make a break for it. As the hooded man knelt down, Jabal tossed a handful of sand in his face, and rolled away. Back on his feet, he made a mad dash for the end of the alley, back to the streets. But the man chasing him was deceptively fast, and stuck a leg out before Jabal could even make it a few feet.
"Talk! Or so be it I'll end your life here and now!"

Jabal knew that pleading or running again wouldn't end in his favour.
"Alright, alright. I do know something. Addin, he met with someone else from time to time, a crusader knight, I think, from his dress. Bald, with scars."

"Where did they meet?"

"A small cavern, in the north of the city."

The hooded man was clearly thinking this over.
"You will meet me outside the northern church, at sundown tonight. And If you're not there, I will find you again, I'll take more than your wrist next time."

Standing up, the hooded man made to leave. Jabal cried out one more time, "Wait, who are you?"

The man turned his head. "I am Malik. Maik Al-Sayf."

It was at that moment, that Jabal spotted that the man who had assaulted him only had one arm, before the man named Malik melted into the crowd, and was gone.