the-secret-crusade-oliver-bowden

quick with it.’ The men pressed forward a little. The archers tensed.
‘You’ve a traitor in your midst,’ said Altaïr.
‘And he has hired you to kill me?’ called the King. ‘Come to gloat
about it before you strike? I won’t be taken so easily.’
‘It’s not you I’ve come to kill. It’s him.’
‘Speak, then, that I may judge the truth.’ King Richard beckoned
Altaïr forward. ‘Who is this traitor?’
‘Robert de Sable.’
Richard’s eyebrows raised in surprise. ‘My lieutenant?’
‘He aims to betray,’ said Altaïr, evenly. He was trying to choose his
words carefully, desperate not to be misunderstood. Needing the King to
believe him.
‘That’s not the way he tells it,’ said Richard. ‘He seeks revenge against
your people for the havoc you’ve wrought in Acre. And I am inclined to
support him. Some of my best men were murdered by some of yours.’
So – Robert de Sable already had the King’s ear. Altaïr took a deep
breath. What he was about to say could mean his immediate death. ‘It
was I who killed them. And for good reason.’ Richard glowered but
Altaïr pressed on: ‘Hear me out. William of Montferrat. He sought to use
his soldiers to take Acre by force. Garnier de Naplouse. He would use his
skills to indoctrinate and control any who resisted. Sibrand. He intended
to block the ports, preventing your kingdom from providing aid. They
betrayed you. And they took their orders from Robert.’
‘You expect me to believe this outlandish tale?’ said the Lionheart.
‘You knew these men better than I. Are you truly surprised to learn of
their ill intentions?’
Richard seemed to think for a moment, then turned to one of the men