Epilogue. Dramatis Personae

Epilogue

From above him on deck the Assassin heard the sounds of a commotion, the familiar drumming of feet that accompanies the approach to land, crew members rushing from their posts to the prow, shimmying up the rigging or hanging off ropes, shielding their eyes to stare long and hard at the shimmering harbours towards which they were sailing, anticipating adventures ahead.

The Assassin, too, had adventures ahead of him. Of course, his would likely be markedly different from the escapades fondly imagined by the crew, which no doubt consisted primarily of visiting taverns and consorting with whores. The Assassin almost envied them the simplicity of their endeavours. His tasks would be more complicated.

He closed Niccolò ’s journals and pushed the book away from him on the desk, his fingers running across the ageing cover, mulling over what he had just learned, the full significance of which, he knew, would take time to make itself known. And then, with a deep breath, he stood, pulled on his robe, secured the mechanism of the blade to his wrist and pulled up his cowl. Next, he opened the hatch of his quarters to appear on deck where he, too, shielded his eyes to cast his gaze upon the harbour as the ship sliced through the sparkling water towards it, people gathered there already to welcome them.

Ezio had arrived in the great city. He was in Constantinople.

Dramatis Personae

Niccolò Polo, the narrator

Maffeo Polo

The Assassins

Altaï r Ibn-La’Ahad

Maria, his wife (né e Thorpe)

Darim and Sef, their sons

Al Mualim, the Master

Faheem al-Sayf

Umar Ibn-La’Ahad, Altaï r’s father

Abbas Sofian

Ahmad Sofian, Abbas’s father

Malik Al-Sayf

Tazim, Malik’s son, also known as Malik

Kadar, Malik’s brother

Rauf

Jabal

Labib

Swami

Farim

Masyaf villagers

Mukhlis, his wife, Aalia, and daughter, Nada

The Crusades

Richard I of England, ‘the Lionheart’

Salah Al’din, Sultan of the Saracens

Shihab Al’din, his son

Altaï r’s Nine Targets

Tamir, black-market merchant

Abu’l Nuqoud, the Merchant King of Damascus

Garnier de Naplouse, the Grand Master, the Knights Hospitalier

Talal, a slave trader

Majd Addin, regent of Jerusalem

William de Montferrat, lord of Acre

Sibrand, Grand Master, the Knights Teutonic

Jubair al-Hakim, chief scholar of Damascus

Robert de Sable, Grand Master, the Knights Templar

In Cyprus

Osman, Limassol citadel captain

Frederick the Red, ranking Templar knight of Limassol

Armand Bouchart, Robert de Sable’s successor

Markos, Resistance

Barnabas, Resistance

Barnabas, imposter

Jonas, a merchant

Moloch, ‘The Bull’

Shalim and Shahar, sons of Moloch

The Bandits

Fahad

Bayhas

Long Hair