the-secret-crusade-oliver-bowden

11
Tamir, the first of the nine: Al Mualim had been quietly satisfied,
looking from the blood-stained feather on his desk to Altaïr and praising
him, before giving him his next undertaking.
Altair had bowed his head in assent and left the Master. And the next
day he had gathered his supplies and set off once more, this time for
Acre – a city held as tightly by the Crusaders as Damascus was by Salah
Al’din’s men. A city wounded by war.
Acre had been hard-won. The Christians had retaken it after a
prolonged and bloody siege lasting almost two years. Altaïr had played
his part, helping to stop the city’s water supply being poisoned by the
Templars.
He had been unable to do anything about the poisoning that did
occur, though: corpses in the water had spread disease to Muslim and
Christian alike – both inside and outside the city walls. Supplies had run
dry, and thousands had simply starved to death. Then more Crusaders
had arrived to construct more machines, and their attacks had punched
holes in the city walls. The Saracens had fought back for long enough to
repair the breaches, until Richard the Lionheart’s army simply wore the
Muslims down and they offered surrender. The Crusaders had moved in
to claim the city and take its garrison hostage.
Negotiations between Salah Al’din and Richard for the release of the