The realisation dawned on him and he exhaled, nodding his understanding. "I see," he said. "It was similar in the lands surrounding my home. Both the Saracens and the Christians would sooner see a man dead than to allow him to lie with another man. One side preferred hanging. The other, stoning. Within the walls of Masyaf, it mattered little. Outside them, the risk was great."

Altaïr shook his head. "I suppose I'd grown used to being within the Citadel. I seldom left within the last years of my life."