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carried her into the forest outside of the city. He built a small pyre of found wood, an altar, and kissed her one last time. Before burning her body, Elijah pulled two silver deneros from his pouch and placed them in her mouth. This was not a custom of his ancestors, but his mother had once told him a story about the great love between Psyche and Cupid.
    In the story, Psyche carried two coins with her into the underworld to pay the ferryman for a ride back across the River Styx and back into this world, so she could be with her true love. Elijah thought Sara must have been planning to find a way back to this world, because that was the only way he could ever find his princess, as she had made him promise he would do.
    A deep, stinging pain set in at the center of his chest as he faced the fact that he had just lost the last person in this world he cared about, and who cared about him.
    Despite what he had promised Sara, he knew that at least for the moment, revenge was the only thing he had left to live for.
    He would find William and he would kill him, even if it took a thousand lifetimes.

Hassan of Alamut
    1195 AD
    “You must let go of your hate, it is the only way you will ever reach your full potential, and to do that you must be firmly grounded in hope. Hope will make you resolute; it will allow you to be steadfast and unshakable in your will. A tree with deep enough roots can grow tall in the most miserable of terrains.”

Chapter 13
     
    Elijah scoured every city to the east and to the north, relentlessly hunting the men who had brutally murdered his loved ones, travelling until he reached the ocean on each side.
    He learned much about the world beyond his narrow peasant existence as he traveled. He watched armies with men numbering in the thousands ruthlessly crush through much smaller forces, with not an ounce of mercy.
    He learned how men fought over gods and religion, bringing war into his homeland and claiming it was their god’s will. Elijah no longer believed in the gods, not even Janus, the god of beginnings and endings. During times of war, the Romans would open the door to Janus’s temple as a symbolic gesture, and his image was worshipped at a small shrine not far from Elijah’s old home. He learned that men would use any excuse to take what they wanted.
    He had seen much fighting, but had been careful not to get involved. On his way back north, he arrived at a city called Cordoba, where he saw a great force gathering and heard the people in the city cheering.
    The Almohad caliph Yaqub al-Mansur was leading an army to retake the lands to the north; they would be marching towards Toledo in the morning. Elijah knew his father would stay as far away from the toils of men as he could, so Elijah decided to get ahead of the army and leave right away, since he was also headed toward Toledo.
    When he reached the pass of Muradal, he saw a large group of men, most of them on foot, surrounding a handful of heavily armored men on horses. The armored men, who were now being forced to dismount, had crosses on the mantles covering their breastplates. The men on foot were also armored, but mostly in silk.
    As Elijah approached, it occurred to him he was about to witness an execution. He watched as the men on horseback were shoved off their horses to the ground. He was reminded how much he hated wicked men who took lives without cause or mercy.
    The landscape was narrow and cavernous. The Christian knights had clearly surrendered because they had no choice; there was nowhere to run. They had allowed themselves to be blocked in on both sides. Elijah thought it was a very stupid move for a group of mounted knights, or any group of soldiers for that matter, to take this route.
    “What have these men done?” Elijah spoke in fluent Arabic. A few men pulled their swords, shocked at how silently he had appeared before them. They relaxed when they perceived an unarmed peasant, probably a local farmer.
    “This is the