the-secret-crusade-oliver-bowden

57
The next morning, as day broke, Mukhlis, Aalia and Nada went from
house to house, informing the people that the Master was to march up
the hill. Alive with anticipation, the people gathered in the marketplace,
standing in groups or sitting on low walls. After some time, Altaïr joined
them. He wore his white robes and a sash. Those who looked closely
could see the ring of his wrist mechanism on his finger. He moved into
the centre of the square, Mukhlis standing to one side, a trusted
lieutenant, and waited.
What would Maria have said to him now? wondered Altaïr, as he
waited. The boy Malik: Altaïr had trusted him immediately. He’d placed
such faith in him that if he were to prove treacherous Altaïr would be as
good as dead, and his plans to regain the Order shown as nothing more
than the deluded fantasies of an old man. He thought of those he had
trusted before, who had betrayed him. Would Maria have advised
caution now? Would she have told him he was foolish to be so
unquestioning on such scant evidence? Or would she have said, as she
had once, ‘Trust your instincts, Altaïr. Al Mualim’s teachings gave you
wisdom; his betrayal set you on the path to maturity.’
Oh, and I am so much wiser now, my love, he thought to her – to the
wisp of her he kept safe in his memory.
She would have approved, he knew, of what he had done with the