Numa Al'Khamsin

Numa Al'Khamsin, better known as El Cakr (English: The Hawk), was a member of the Egyptian Brotherhood of Assassins. Some time in the mid 14th century, he came into contact with the Scepter of Aset.

History

Early life

Numa Al'Khamsin was raised in Alexandria by his Assassin father, and followed him in his travels, notably to the Temple of Philae. Numa later became an Assassin himself and took on a young boy, Ali Al-Ghrabe, as his own disciple. At some point, Al'Khamsin also earned the nickname "El Cakr", which he preferred over his true name.

Stealing the Scepter of Aset

In 1340, Numa was summoned by an Assassin elder and traveled with his apprentice to the Island of Philae from Alexandria via the Nile to meet him. Once there, he followed the old man to the Temple of Aset, where the old man showed him a wall painting of Aset and revealed to the younger Assassin that the Assassins had played a role in the fall of the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt a hundred years earlier, by giving the rebels a Piece of Eden, the Scepter of Aset.

Numa examining wall paintings of the Scepter

Since then, Egypt has experienced a period of prosperity under the Bahri dynasty, but the Scepter had been stolen by unknown assailants who had only left the fragment of a dagger's handle behind. To Numa, who wondered why the theft of such an object of decorum was so important, the old man revealed that the Scepter had real powers, as its wielder was imbued with great charisma and influence. The elder then entrusted him with the mission to retrieve the Scepter and Numa returned to the boat where his apprentice Ali was waiting and headed for Cairo, where the Scepter had been stolen.

On the boat, while Numa was in the process of examining his only clue, Ali had the idea to puzzle the dagger fragment together and discovered an emblem, showing it to his master on a drawing, which Numa easily recognized as the Templar cross.

Tracking the Templars

Two days later, in Cairo, not knowing where to find the Templars or even if the Piece of Eden was still in the capital, Numa went to a Hammam in search of information. Engaging in conversation with the regulars, the Assassin pretended to be a soldier of Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad coming from Alexandria. Feigning solidarity, Numa deceived the other men by telling them that the stolen scepter was a fake and that by reinforcing its security the Sultan wanted to fool the thieves into thinking their plot was a success while the real scepter was safe.

One of the men, Hasdin Al-Bellal, suddenly feigned fatigue and concern for his wife in order to leave the Hammam in hurry; Numa slipped away discreetly in order to follow him on the roofs of Cairo as night fell. Unknowingly following the man to the opulent house of Bachir Al-Djallil, Numa heard his apprentice coming behind. Asking why the young boy had followed him, Ali showed his impatience to learn more from his master by blackmailing him into a trade: the promise of taking Ali with him to the house in exchange for the information that the boy had gathered on Al-Djallil during the day.

Numa attacking Al-Djallil

Feigning outrage, Numa accepted the trade and learned from Ali that Al-Djallil was a wealthy silk merchant who was also infamous for having raped and killed dozens of girls with complete impunity, before breaking his promise to his impetuous apprentice. Witnessing the departure of Al-Bellal, Numa jumped to the roof of the house and entered the estate to get the answers. The Assassin neutralized Izmir, the servant of his target and captured Al-Djallil, whom he ordered to be silent under the threat of his Hidden Blade. Khamsin tied the merchant to a chair and began to torture him by threatening to cut off his fingers and inflicting cuts on his flesh. Ultimately, Al-Djallil declared that the Templars and the scepter were on their way to Karnak, after which a disgusted Numa killed him.

Trivia

• Numa is an Arabic name meaning "beautiful, pleasant". Al'Khamsin is an Arabic term that translates as "the fifty"; it is used to describe a sere Spring wind from the desert, blowing in Egypt, understood as "the wind of fifty days".
• El-Cakr, الصقر, is Arabic for "the hawk, the falcon". Usually, it is transliterated as Saqr.
• In the comics, El Cakr is presented as the ancestor of Jonathan Hawk, a non-canon modern assassin.

Gallery

• 
  Numa without his hood

Reference

• Assassin's Creed 4: Hawk