Rauf rode atop Asadel, a dark brown stallion, glancing at the surrounding woods with a faintly apprehensive expression. His grey hood was pushed back, unusual and very dangerous for him, revealing olive toned skin, short-cropped black hair, and dark brown eyes.
The weapons trainer shivered slightly, wrapping a free arm around his chest: he'd barely every been out of the holy land, let alone to somewhere as cold as this. The furthest away he'd been was Italy and even that had been a lot warmer than this. Thankfully, it had stopped snowing but it still seemed deathly cold to Rauf. There was still a thick covering of clean snow on the ground, making Asadel lift his hooves higher than usual. The Arabian’s strange, prancing gait would have looked almost comical if it weren't for his soft nickers and snorts of distress. Asadel was as accustomed to warm weather as his master and was finding the snow confusing.
Rauf heard a soft noise coming from the undergrowth followed by the sharp sound of twigs snapping. His head snapped to the side, staring the direction of the noise, and he drew a knife from his belt as quietly as he could, hiding it with his sleeve. He jumped as something emerged suddenly from a bush and let out a mirthless laugh when he saw it was a hare, brown fur contrasting sharply with the snow beneath it. He cursed to himself in Hebrew and continued on his way, keeping the knife held loosely, just in case. He also pulled his hood back up, partly for disguise and partly for protection against the growing cold.
He found himself focussing less and less on the path before him and his mind beginning to wonder. He'd heard about this forest, been told what Altair had said. Apparently, it was full of mystical creatures, creatures they couldn’t even begin to imagine. Being the sceptic he was, he couldn’t bring himself to completely trust the word of Altair. He believed what he could see. That was partly the reason he’d been sent here; to gather extra information about this place and see for himself if what the other assassin had said was true. He knew Ezio and Altair had been sent here as well though, as of yet, he hadn’t come across them.
(( I'll do Niccolò's intro later))