the-secret-crusade-oliver-bowden

‘Oh?’ said Shahar.
‘Is it true what I have heard,’ she pressed, ‘that the Templars wish to
use the Apple, the Piece of Eden, for ill? Not to enlighten the people, but
to subdue them?’
He smiled indulgently as though explaining things to an adorable but
simple-minded child. ‘People are confused, Maria. They are lambs
begging to be led. And that’s what we offer: simple lives, free of worry.’
‘But our Order was created to protect the people,’ she persisted, ‘not
to rob them of their liberty.’
Shahar curled his lip. ‘The Templars care nothing for liberty, Maria.
We seek order, nothing more.’
He was walking towards her. She took a step back. ‘Order? Or
enslavement?’
His voice had taken on a darker tone as he replied, ‘You can call it
whatever you like, my dear …’
He reached for her, his intentions – his all-too obvious intentions –
interrupted only by Altaïr bursting into the room. Shahar wheeled,
exclaiming, ‘Assassin!’ He grabbed Maria by the shoulders and tossed her
to the floor – she landed painfully. Altaïr decided he would make the
bully pay for that.
‘My apologies, Shalim, I let myself in,’ he said.
Shahar grinned. ‘So you’re looking for Shalim? I’m sure my brother
would be happy to join us.’
From above there was a noise and Altaïr looked up to a gallery where
Shalim was approaching, smiling. Then two guards came through the
open door, ready to pounce on Maria who, standing now, whirled,
snatched one guard’s sword from its sheath and used it against him.