For a time after the mission in Damascus, things in Masyaf seemed normal. Of course, Malik sat out a lot and thought about his conversation with Nizar frequently. But that was to be expected. Altair and Abbas quarrelled as always, and Kadar would follow the former around like a lost puppy. It seemed quiet. Almost peaceful even.

The atmosphere, unfortunately, took a drastic nose dive into the ravine one early morning. Malik stood tiredly out in the courtyard, wedged between at least several grown men, after being woken up by Kadar - who had been too frantic to explain the situation. It was still cold out, as the sun hadn't even dipped above the horizon yet. This was very early indeed.

Malik soon found himself not far away from Abbas, mere feet in fact, when Al Mualim appeared on the front steps of the castle. The old man's voice bellowed loud enough for everyone to hear, carried on by the echo the walls produced. "My people, Master Assassins to Scholars, we all know the trust we must put in one another. This trust is what makes us greater than those who chose to attack us and our home. I place my faith in every one of you, because I believe that all of you can be trusted to do your jobs and faithfully. But someone among us has been deceiving us; poisoning the minds of our students."

Curiously, some people looked around. Malik caught a grin beginning to play on Abbas's face. He started to feel his stomach twist, this couldn't be good.

Al Mualim continued on. "I believed him to be a man of honor. Perhaps I let the memory of his deceased friends cloud my judgement. The Bureau Leader of Damascus, Nizar, was a threat to our order and our trust. A threat which has now been dealt with."

Malik's eyes grew wide. "No." He snapped his stare to Abbas as he put two and two together. "No. Abbas! Why would you-?" He went ahead and grabbed him by the shoulders. "He had done nothing wrong!"

Abbas disengaged Malik from him and stated before slinking away into the crowd, "I refuse to let my father's name be slandered, Malik. I do not tolerate liars."

"I will choose the next Bureau Leader very carefully now," Al Mualim went on, Malik was hardly listening now, "Unless told otherwise, return to your normal affairs."

After a few hours, Malik was called to Mualim's library. He silently stepped up and watched the old man writing something. But when he noticed the boy, he looked up and replaced his quill in the ink jar.

"You summoned me?" Malik asked.

He nodded, "I did. As you can assume, this is on the matter of what Nizar told you."

"What about it?" The boy wondered.

"What he told you, almost everything, were lies fabricated by an angry cripple," Al Mualim told him. "The only things I can assure you is true are the incident that led to his placement in the bureau and Faheem's uncanny chess skills. The rest are false. Ahmet did leave the Order, in the dead of night without a word. And your hesitation was only a sign of weakness. If I need to then I will show you the punishment for this hesitation. Failure is not tolerated, and you know this."

"Yes, it was make clear to me a while back," Malik assured. "But what reason would he have to lie?"

"Your curiosity is a dangerous thing, I would watch it if I were you," he warned. "You only need to know that you can trust my word, as I only want what is best for the Order. Nizar was a threat to it, so he needed to be put to death. I did not hesitate, Malik. And from now on, neither will you, correct?" A pause without an answer, the Grand Master repeated, "Correct?"

For the 13 year old, there was something genuinely scary about the situation. What if he said no? Or would hesitate again? Would he be thrown in the dungeons? Or would he be forced to leave the Order?

He didn't want that to happen. Masyaf was his home, and he loved it dearly. That in mind, he answered Mualim with a sincere, "No, Grand Master."

"Good," Al Mualim responded before adding, "You will do as you're told, boy."

"Yes, I will," Malik affirmed.

He was dismissed, and without a moment of hesitation, he quickly shuffled out. On that day, he started convincing himself that he could only trust in the Order and its tenets.

I know. No Altair this chapter. This was more my way of explaining why Malik became so devoted to the creed. I've also been considering going as far as continuing up to the first game, though I'm not sure yet.
Anyways, thanks for what reviews I've been receiving. It always brings up my day when I see your feedback.