[Chapter four] Reza's Mission

It's been three months since Fallyn gave Reza the pendant from Iran. It's now the last week of the Ramadan and a lot of assassins in Constantinople are fasting but that's not so easy if you are an assassin. Reza, Amir and Sara have spend a lot of time together and have become like best friends. Today a new assassin will arrive, a Christian. There are a lot of Christian-Assassins in Constantinople but compared to the rest of the city it's a small group, nevertheless the Christians are highly respected by the other assassins. But because there have been certain events in the past, such as the Crusades to Jerusalem, there is some tension between these two. The assassins try to overcome these differences, they want to COEXIST.

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"Hey guys, I think that's the ship." Sara pointed to a ship that entered the port. On board was the new assassin, he was from England and came to Constantinople to study and learn from the other assassins. After ten minutes the ship was docked and the boy went ashore. Reza walked towards him as the boy seemed a little lost. Suddenly the boy saw Reza and stepped towards him; "Uhm, excuse me sir, I'm looking for a man called "safari" or something." "It's Jaffari, but I think you're looking for me." Reza said a little annoyed, he hated it when people called him 'safari'. "Oh sorry, my name is Juda." "Come with me and I'll introduce you to the rest." The three assassins introduced themselves and showed the new boy the Galata district. Juda could see the great Galata Tower in the distance, it was the highest point of Constantinople. Amir explained to Juda the system of districts that divided the city, this was very important to the assassins because it allowed them to locate friends and foes easily. After an hour they came across the Galata Mosque; "Isn't it beautiful, Juda?" Sara said as she pointed towards the high minarets. "Sure." Juda replied, looking a bit annoyed at the building. "Oh don't worry, there's also a small church in this district, a lot of Christian-Assassins go there on Sunday." After seeing the district the four went to the hideout. Time passed and although fasting during Ramadan is a daily routine, at the end of the day a lot of assassins were eager to see the sun go down. After sunset they perform prayer and after fifteen minutes everyone gathered for Iftar, first they eat some dates with tea, then they all got warm soup, fresh bread and all sorts of delicious Turkish food. "Ahh, this is great, I've never eaten anything like this." Juda said as he enjoyed the food. "Yeah after a long day of fasting, this is one of Allah's blessings." Yusuf smiled.

-one week later -

Reza, Sahin and Amir were still asleep, like everyone else in Constantinople. Amir now slept in the same room as Reza, because Juda slept in his room. Amir and Reza had become even closer together in this last week of the Ramadan, and now they were sleeping peacefully... "WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" Yusuf yelled, instantly waking the three assassins. "What's happening? Are we under attack?!" Sahin asked as he almost withdrew his hidden blade. "NO IT'S EID-AL-FITR (end of the Ramadan) ALHAMDULILLAH!!!" hearing that turned the boy's faces from annoyed to happy, Amir started to jump like a little kid; "Subhanallah! Subhanallah! Come on Reza, let's party!" Suddenly the boys went from Assassins to being little children, like they were still eight years old. They started to run and jump through the hideout and woke up every sleeping assassin they came across, and as soon as they reminded them that it was the end of the Ramadan, all the assassins started to do the same. Juda was still asleep when Amir and Reza came across his room, Amir started to smile as he looked at Reza. "Let's give him a *ahem* special wake up." Reza nodded; "on the count of three, One for Allah... Two for the Creed... Three for the brotherhood... And four- ah never mind- BISMILLAH!!!!!!!!" They literally kicked the door in and jumped on Juda, wrestling like little wolf cubs. "What's going on?! L-let me go!" Juda shouted, trying to get the two boys off of him. "No, no Templars shall remain!" Reza responded. "I'm not a templ-hmph!" Even before Juda could finish Amir started a pillow fight, Juda quickly grabbed a pillow and tried to fight against the two. Suddenly the fight was interrupted by a yell; "HEY!!!" The three boys looked up to see Sara standing by the door with two other girls. "Oh hey Sara, h-happy Eid!" Reza said as he tried to get Juda on the ground. Sara smiled as she saw the three boys, she knew that Amir had a very childish personality, but to see Reza like this made her almost realize her own childishness. "Come on get up! We all go to the mosque!" Sara continued. Reza got up in no time, realizing how awkward this moment could be.

After their visit to the mosque the assassins returned to their homes to visit their families and have a great feast. At the hideout everybody gave each other gifts and wishing each other the best they could. "Amir, this is for you!" Sara said as she gave Amir a beautiful new robe. Amir gave Sara a great hug; "thank you so much!" Amir immediately put his new robe on, it was a white robe decorated with golden ornaments, a red tulip pattern along the sleeves and his name embroidered on the back. "Here this is from Ezio and me." Fallyn gave Amir a new throwing knive, it had a beautiful silver colored blade and a handle with fine leather. On the blade was the Creed in Turkish calligraphy engraved: 'Nothing is true, everything is permitted.' Another girl gave Sara a new pair of shoes, specially decorated with flower patterns. And so it went on for a entire day, everyone gave each other beautiful gifts and by the end of the day everyone was happy that they had each other.

Two months later Reza was send on a mission to kill a Templar-captain who was one of the five men that led the Templars in the Ottoman Empire, his name was Remi Souccup. Remi was a young man with a shaved head, no beard or mustache, blue eyes, a slightly thin face and a scar on his left eyebrow. Remi was know as a brutal man who never cared about anyone else, money was his only desire. He often used aggressive and violent methods to accomplish whatever he was up to. Reza looked around, he knew it was going to be a long way and he was all on his own. Suddenly he spotted a small group of men at an local outpost, he decided he would be better off with someone who knew the land instead of wandering around. When he arrived he asked if they could take care of his horse. Later that day Reza talked to an old man called Abbas, the elder noticed the Assassin Robes Reza was wearing. "I recognized the insignia, but you're not dressed like a typical Ottoman Assassin." "No, I'm a Persian Assassin." Reza said while taking another date. "Ahh Mashallah! So you're from the great Hashashins (Persian for Assassins). That's why you have that necklace." Reza looked proud at the necklace that Ezio and Fallyn gave him. The old man continued: "How long are you staying here at the outpost?" "Only for tonight" Reza responded. "The old man stood up and pointed to a small window on the second level of the building. "You can sleep in the room up there, it's much better than the stables." "Thank you." rest responded as he followed the man inside.

later that night Reza had gained important information about the route towards Konya, the templars had a base at the west outskirts of the city. "tomorrow a caravan leaves for Konya, they leave at sunrise." a young man said. "before you go Reza, i need to tell you something, meet me at the roof." the man whispered when Reza went to his room. an hour later Reza climbed to the roof where the man was waiting. "i'm from the assassins guilt in Ankara, we're also after Remi. ride with us tomorrow, there are more assassins with the caravan." Reza looked at the horses, his hose had eaten, rested and was ready for the journey. "when will you attack?" Reza asked, the man looked him in the eyes: "three days from now, we have to hurry, and be extra alert."