Karim Al-Husayni, leader of the Ismaili Federation of the Hashashin, gazed upon the iron-banded chest full of gold with a quiet satisfaction.

The leader of Caliph Sulayman's spy network had brought it to Alamut earlier that day, as a downpayment on the assassination of the former Vizier Marshed, believed to be at Firuzabad with the Caliph's exiled uncle Al-Qahir.

He clapped his hands twice and two of his men bore the chest away to his treasury, where it would sit next to the larger chest of Firuzabadi gold brought to him a few days before by Khalil, Marshed's eldest son, and a former Hashashin himself.

This was exactly the kind of work he liked best: getting paid twice for doing precisely nothing.

He smiled and rubbed his hands together.