บท 7: ATTIRE MAKES THE MAN

Joshua 2:1 - KJV

And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there.

25TH September 1192

On the eve of the night before Yosef linked up with Commander Gallo and his squad of elite Templar knights.

He was resting in a hammock, in the backyard of the manor, enjoying the cool night air.

Since he was relaxed and feeling at home. He had put aside the Knights Templar robe or his usual tunic. The manor staff, particularly with the active support of Butler Phillipe, had provided him a soft linen robe to change into.

This robe allowed his skin to breathe in. During the hot days where the temperatures went up to 40 degrees or stifling warm nights, it had kept comfortable. This was a delightful feeling. Inwardly he was guilty to admit it but he loved the soft caress of the fabric on his skin.

These were pleasures he never got to enjoy while in the Cyprus Temple. For once he began to imagine what his life could have been like if he was not born an orphan, with a choice on what his means of livelihood could be. However, it was not to be, born without parents. Brought up in a church orphanage, the only feasible way out of suffering was priesthood or joining the Knight Templars.

With these thoughts racing through the mind of Knight Yosef. He slowly drifted off to sleep and before long. He was dreaming.

In the dream:

Yosef was standing in a plain landscape and it appeared to be late evening, the sun had yet to set. On the horizon in the south was an ancient stone cathedral built in Romanesque architecture, the stones had become dirty brown with age with a few patches of algae. The skies above were gloomy with thick dark clouds being brought along by a strong eastward wind. While he tried to understand where he was, the wind grew in strength exponentially. Ending up, sweeping him off his feet, and sending him tumbling in the air.

Panic and fear gripped Yosef, while he tried to understand where he was, now he was in the sky. In the air, the wind developed invisible hands and tugged at him from head to his toes, felt like this was a suction force trying to tear each limb out of his body. Helplessly he continued tumbling in the air despite his efforts to come to the ground. Too bad, there was nothing he could hold on to.

Suddenly, a heavy hailstorm was unleashed on the land. Yosef was pelted with hailstones weighing several pounds, thus sending him falling back to the ground. The momentum from the impact was great, he went tumbling into the ground which had already become muddy ground in no time.

For a while he rolled in the mud, his skin was burning from the bruises he got from being pelted by the heavy hailstones. When he came to stop and managed to stand up. He was all muddy and dripping in mud, even a pig that had rolled in mud could look more presentable compared to him.

As if by miracle, the trajectory of the hailstones reversed and began heading upwards into the clouds from wherein they originated. Being a dream, Yosef took it to be normal and he was not very much perplexed.

The hailstones were replaced by a thunderous sky, the dark clouds blotted out all the sunlight from the sky, blocking even the sun in the far west. From the deep darkness; fierce white streaks of lightning blasted forth, snaking across the sky to the ground in numerous thunderbolt waves. Dispelling all the darkness in their path.

While the lightning continued to illuminate the dark sky and ground. Something else unexpected happened.

From the dark clouds, wherein hailstones had earlier on receded, thunderbolts flashed by. Droplets of red-colored rain, with a metallic scent of blood, began descending. The formerly muddy ground turned crimson from all the blood. Yosef was truly scared, blood represented life but flowing like this, was a bad omen.

Yosef extended his tongue to taste it. It had a sweet metallic taste, greedily he opened his mouth wide to receive more of this rain. He looked to the heavens to give him more of this blood-red rain. The red blood rain energized him and something told him that he was born to drink blood and be washed in blood.

Having had a fill of this blood-red rain. It left a bitter and burning feeling in his mouth and stomach. Felt like he had consumed red pepper in large quantities. He wished to get water to wash away this burning sensation in his stomach, but the water was nowhere to be found. Just more muddy water from the blood-red rain. The whole ground looked like an abattoir floor. It was nauseating.

In all this blood-red rain, the lightning continued, illuminating the surrounding. He could not bear being in this blood rain-soaked ground anymore. The bruises from the hailstones were still hurting, and his mouth and stomach were on fire. He looked to the south, where he had earlier on seen an ancient-looking cathedral.

Yosef turned to run there for safety.

The more he ran, the farther the cathedral appeared to be from him. Over and over, he ran while tripping on the muddy ground several times, however, he continued to stand up and run to reach the cathedral. It appeared to be the only refugee in sight. Sadly this refugee kept on being farther and farther away from him.

He thought he saw eyes with wicked glee looking at him from all corners, but whenever he turned to see who was looking at him. There was no one to be seen.

Out of nowhere, a bright white fork of lightning materialized from the sky and descended toward him. This fork of lightning struck him with all the ferocity it at gathered. He fell to the ground and rolled in excruciating pain. Fierce fiery pain coursed through every atom and cell in his body, leaving him screaming and tearing up. He wished he had several hands to rub the different parts of his body that were burning up. How he wished he could just fall into an icy pool to stem off this fire.

Yosef yelled and woke up with a start, his cry startled the quiet night. Even the insects which were making noise in the garden suddenly went silent.

He was scared, panting and sweating profusely while he swung slowly in the hammock that he was sleeping in.

He sat back and tried taking deep breaths to cool down. His heart and mind were in turmoil. He tried to ponder on what the meaning of this confusing dream was.

Yosef was taught from an earlier age that dreams were messages from the divine about what was, and what is, but most often of what is to happen. It was a communication from the soul which did not exist in the material realm but in the spiritual realm where time was not a constraint.

Like a pendulum, Yosef's mind swung back and force trying to make sense of this frightening and obscure dream. Unfortunately, he could not make heads or tails of it.

***

Abu Bin Zayyid had not managed to return to the manor in which he had spotted the Knight Templar and the butler entering two days ago. Tonight, he was getting himself ready.

Hidden in a dug-out space inside the rental room, covered by his sleeping mat was a wooden box housing his revered Assassin Order uniform.

Abu Bin Zayyid pushed aside the sleeping mat, and removed a thin layer of sand below, exposing the top layer of the box. He went ahead to open it slowly minus making any noises that could awaken his sleeping neighbors.

All this was done almost in complete darkness. A tiny candle was lit, it was placed inside a stained-glass bottle to mask out the majority of the light. He had bought it from a senior Brotherhood member who had more than one.

Abu's mentor Yakub had told him that stained glass could let light into one's soul, and for the Assassin's Order members. One's faith should exist amid the darkness and also see what's hidden without the need for natural light but supernatural senses which went beyond sight, scent, and touch. A qualified member could come and execute a task in the night or daylight without leaving any mark of his presence.

With practiced ease, and religious devotion. The box was opened, and inside lay his Assassin's Order robe:

A deep dark long robe, with a hood to cover the head and forehead. A thick sash for tying the robe, but also has small vertical pockets for holding small knives, needles, and poisons along its length. On the robe's inner wrists were specifically crafted simplistic bronze, iron alloy short daggers forged by the Brotherhood's most senior blacksmith.

These sturdy and sharp daggers were made based on his arm size and length, and fitted in well like a second skin. What Abu Bin Zayyid loved the most about them besides slitting the throats of his enemies, was their ability to make him climb walls soundlessly.

Abu slowly wore the robe, before wearing also his custom-made dark brown leather sandals.

The sandals were heavy-soled like the Roman cavalry only difference being that they did not use hobnails in the soles, instead, they had soft and durable leather for a quiet and firm grip when walking. The sandal straps extended up to his upper ankle, with straps on the front.

His robe may not have been white as the robe of his mentor Yakub or the other seniors of the Brotherhood. However, Abu believed that he looked dashingly handsome in his attire.

Yakub had told him that the attire makes the man, a priest is complete with a priest's robe, a knight needs his robe and armor and so does an Assassin Order member.

Lastly, he removed the soft leather gloves from the boxes and put them on. Unlike normal gloves, these gloves left the tips of the fingers exposed to not take away the precious sense of touch. They covered the complete palm area, back of the hand, and wrist joints. These gloves had been dyed black to blend in with his robe.

Once Abu Bin Zayyid had finished dressing up in his Assassin Order attire.

He soundlessly jumped through the window and climbed the wall of the rental until he reached the tiled roof. Soundlessly he walked over the roof until the end.

He had borrowed a black horse for the night scouting mission and tied it at the back of the residence. Abu Bin Zayyid jumped over the wall and landed outside the premise with as little sound as possible.

He Climbed on the horse and galloped in the darkness to the manor he had marked. When he reached there, it was dark, and the lights were out. Looked like they had all gone to sleep.

Abu Bin Zayyid climbed the high wall of the manor soundlessly, he dropped inside and hid in the darkest corner as he slowly observed the surroundings and listened attentively to all the minor sounds to form a layout of the activities taking place in the compound as well as inside the manor.

Some rooms in the manor had some light from the candle shining through the ventilation gaps, in the backyard, there was a hammock amongst the tall palm trees. The palm trees were blocking his sight of what was in the hammock. However, he did not think anyone could be outside at this late hour.

The insects filled the backyard with their choruses.

Walking alongside the walls, and in the shadows, Abu Bin Zayyid found one window that was not locked. He opened it quietly and jumped inside the room.

The room he landed in had two people sleeping inside on a mattress placed on the floor. From their figures and sounds, he could tell that they were female slaves. One of them was snoring, making it easy for him to explore undetected.

Before long, he had gone through all the rooms and was in the last one which must be the one for the Knight Templar. However, he was not in his bed, and the bed looked to have not been slept in as it was still made. And there was no scent of a person having laid in it for the last six hours. He wondered where the knight had gone, if he was in the house, he could have seen him, Abu Bin Zayyid concluded that maybe the Knight had gone to the local temple for prayers or fellowship. Looking around, he saw the travel chest the Knight Templar had come with off the ship.

Abu moved to noiselessly open it. During the training days, they had been taught how to soundlessly pick locks and open all types of chests.

But before he could begin opening it, a terrifying deep sound came from the backyard. It sounded like the voice of the Templar yelling at him.

'Had he discovered me and was trying to alert the household members?'

'Or was that his battle cry telling me to come out and face him?' All these questions cropped up in Abu's mind.

One part of him, wanted him to run and go and slit the throat of this knight. However, the sane part told him that tonight he had come on an exploratory mission not to fight.

It was good to know the strength of your enemy before engaging them.

Slowly as he came, Abu crept out of the house into the compound and jumped outside the wall. On this exploration mission, he had learned almost nothing but he told himself to be on the lookout for more clues.

This was just the beginning. Abu Bin Zayyid planned to come back to collect more information and clues.