Ezio Auditore, 1503
Ezio leaned against the wall, his arms crossed, as he waited for the last of his recruits to arrive so they could start their mission to finally catch the Banker or at least get a solid lead on him. The Assassin resisted the temptation to fidget; it would do no good after all to let the already present recruits, namely Veronica and her team, get the impression he was nervous when he was simply a bit impatient.
He had wanted to go alone, but had seen reason when Machiavelli suggested a little back-up could never hurt. This mission was too important to take any risks.
And Veronica and her team had already proven themselves on their mission, leading their fellow assassin to safety while disposing of all those that opposed them. Flavio was a brute of a man who could crush an enemy with his bare hands if he decided to, but was much too gentle to do it without being seriously provoked. He really wasn’t cut out to be an assassin, but he was fiercely protective of his family and friends, and decided that joining the Brotherhood was the best course of action to save Roma.
Carlotta was the exact opposite of Flavio. With her petite build and agility, it was easy for her to slip right behind an enemy, take him down and disappear before anyone even realized what had happened - like a true assassin. But she needed to rely on her skills to stay hidden since she wasn’t a very strong fighter, which made her a perfect match with Flavio. That was probably the reason why Veronica had chosen those two for her team.
Veronica… Ezio watched her chatting with Carlotta like it was any other day, probably to show that there was no need to be afraid of the upcoming mission. He’d been surprised to find her gone when he woke up this morning and he’d only gotten to exchange a few words with her before her team joined them in the hall, where she explained that she liked to watch the sun rise over Rome, something he had a hard time to understand since he was more of a night owl than an early bird. Sun settings were much more to his liking.
Finally, the last recruit stumbled through the door in his haste, his robe rumpled and only just pulling up his hood to hide his messy black bed hair, grinning apologetically. Nico, their newest recruit and also the youngest. He still had a lot to learn.
Well, he’d probably get enough practice during this mission.
Ezio pushed himself off the wall and pulled himself to his full height in front of the four gathered recruits. “I’m going to visit a senator today that may be our chance to get to a higher placed Templar. I don’t know what to expect, but this lead is too important to take any chances, which is the reason why I need you to have my back. Stay out of sight and only act when I give the signal to, capite?”
The recruits nodded, their faces serious and their backs straight, ready to help out the man that had saved and recruited them.
The Assassin nodded, satisfied. “Alright, let’s go. The Campidoglio is our destination.”
Ezio pulled his sword out of the stomach of the last guard and after wiping it off, slipped it back into his sheath. Ignoring the senator he had just saved from the violent debt collectors, he turned his back to him and observed the plaza, making sure no other guards had seen his little slaying of their comrades.
Satisfied that the danger was over for now, he finally turned to Egidio. He needed to bring the senator someplace safe, best without further alerting any guards. He could hold his own in a fight, but it was much more difficult to do so while simultaneously defending someone completely helpless.
After explaining his plan to the senator and receiving many thanks, he held up his arm and pointed one finger to the ground beside him. A moment later, Veronica appeared besides him, having seen the signal from her position on the roof behind them.
“I need you to distract the guards while I bring the senator to safety. Wait for my signal, don’t take any unnecessary risks and disappear once we pass. Tell the others.”
She nodded once and ran off to where Ezio had seen Flavio hiding in the crowd. Then he turned back to the senator who had watched the short exchange with a slight look of amazement. “Stay right behind me and do as I say,” he ordered and Egidio nodded, much too grateful for the help to complain about being ordered around. Wise man.
They began the long trek across streets filled with hostile guards and Ezio’s senses were on full alert. One mistake and not only Egidio’s life would be in danger, but his recruits’ as well. He told himself to be patient despite their progress being painfully slow, always having to wait for a group to slip by the guards unnoticed and holding his breath in anticipation of the worst until they were a safe distance away. Then a new group of guards appeared and the game began anew.
It was a very slow process, but they managed to reach the safe house Egidio had told him about without being spotted once, and much to Ezio’s relief, without having to rely on his recruits to distract the guards for them. He knew he could trust them to complete their mission successfully, but he still preferred to keep them out of danger as much as he could, more so seeing as there seemed to be more guards around today than usual, and even worse, most of them were Brutes, wearing heavy armour and heavy weapons.
At that moment he spotted the guards lingering in front of the door and cursed under his breath. Of course it would have been much too easy if this whole thing had worked out without a problem. “We need to move on,” he told Egidio and the tedious trek across the streets of Roma started again.
Then came the moment Ezio had dreaded from the very beginning: four guards blocking their way up the stairs and no crowd to help them slip past them. Ezio automatically looked for the crates and beams leading to the roofs before remembering that that way was out of question for his companion. No thieves, courtesans or mercenaries to be seen either. It seemed he was on his own this time.
He gestured for Egidio to wait, then moved closer to the guards and gave the signal for his recruits to attack. Not a second later Flavio ran past him, his big sword branded and drew all of the attention to him. That was the moment the other three struck.
Veronica jumped from the roof onto a Brute and buried her hidden blade right in the small crack between armour and helmet, taking him out with one hit and then swiftly climbed up the wall to the roof again. Carlotta came out of nowhere and slipped behind another one, slit his throat and disappeared in the shadows of a small alley before the guard had even crumpled to the floor. Nico did the same, just a bit slower than his female companion and had to dodge a sword strike from the only remaining guard before Flavio, using the distraction Nico had provided, buried his sword right through the back of his opponent. The younger one grinned and held up a hand in thanks before nimbly scaling the wall to join Veronica on the roofs while Flavio sheathed his sword again, mumbled what Ezio assumed to be a short prayer under his breath, and then disappeared in the crowd again.
Heaving a sigh of relief, Ezio motioned for Egidio to join him again and hurried up the stairs and away from the bodies before other guards could notice them.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the only situation where he had to rely on his recruits to dispose of the guards to free his way. He wasn’t sure if it was bad luck or if the guards were actively searching for them, but he had an even harder time remaining unnoticed. He was all the more grateful to his loyal recruits, without whom he would have never even made it this far without having to sully his own hands and endangering his charge.
They were only two streets away from their destination, the third safe house after the previous two had been swarming with guards, when their luck ran out. The two of them had just slipped past another group of guards when Egidio tripped and stumbled into the young lady before him, whose group they had used as cover.
“Keep your hands of her!” The man accompanying her shouted, completely misinterpreting the situation, and succeeding in getting the attention of all those around them. This unfortunately included the guards who immediately spotted the senator.
“Get him!”
“Cazzo,” Ezio cursed under his breath, shoved Egidio behind him and drew his sword, taking on a defensive position. But before the guards had even done more than three steps in their direction, his recruits fell upon them without having waited for his signal. Carlotta and Veronica managed to kill their targets, but the other two weren’t so lucky this time.
Flavio’s opponent was as skilled as him in swordsmanship and managed to hold his own against the giant assassin, while also having the advantage of heavier armour that protected him much better. Nico though, had missed the crack between armour and helmet by an inch and his hidden blade had slid off harmlessly of the armour, no deadlier than a fly and the guard he had failed to kill was a hawk he had managed to anger.
As if the situation wasn’t bad enough, a patrol came around the corner at that moment, saw what was going on and ran to help their two remaining comrades, so that his recruits were now outmatched.
That didn’t look good. Ezio glanced around and luckily spotted what he had been looking for: a hiding place for Egidio. He was pretty sure Veronica and Flavio could handle two opponents at once, but Carlotta was no good in an open fight and Nico still too inexperienced. He had to help them.
He grabbed the senator’s arm, pulled him to the hay stack and, ignoring his protests, pushed him in. “Hide here until I come and get you,” he ordered and without making sure that Egidio would obey, turned around on the spot and ran to his recruits’ aid. They had somehow managed to take down one guard, but it still looked bleak since the remaining five were Brutes and Carlotta had already been hurt during the short skirmish. Nothing major, only a cut to the leg, but still enough to slow her down considerably and thus make her unable to fight, her speed her only advantage after all.
Ezio had his sword sheeted again, would it do him no good in a fight against those Brutes, since they tended to blow it out of his hands with one mighty hit anyway. No, it was best to rely on his fists to block and hidden blades to kill.
Judging the remaining distance, he sped up some more and then jumped off to land on the back of the nearest guard that Flavio was holding off at the moment and slipped his blade through the crack in the helmet that allowed them to see.
Flavio heaved a sigh of relief as he was now able to concentrate on his only remaining opponent without having to worry about the other one running off to finish Carlotta, who was leaning against the wall someway off, wrapping her leg with an improvised bandage.
Ezio then turned his attention to the second guard Veronica was trying to hold off, who had turned to him the moment his comrade had fallen and was now circling him, looking for an opening, while the Assassin did the same.
“All that armour and still too scared to attack?” Ezio taunted him, but the guard was too smart to fall for it. He swung his axe in his direction, carefully testing the waters, an attack which the Assassin nimbly dodged, but before he could counter the guard had taken a defensive position again.
Damn it, at this point this would take way too long. He couldn’t risk another patrol coming along, that would be their death sentence. His recruits were already at their end with all the free running and killing they had done today.
At that moment a horribly familiar scream echoed through the street and Ezio felt chilled to the bone. Only his many years of being an Assassin forbid him to immediately turn around - and get his head chopped off in the process. Instead he feigned an attack, drove his opponent a few feet back, then turned tail and put some distance between them while looking for the source of the scream.
It was Nico, as he’d already suspected. What he didn’t expect though was that instead of a flesh wound, a cross bolt was stuck in his shoulder. But in that second, it didn’t matter all that much. If he didn’t hurry, the bolt would be the least of Nico’s worries.
With a loud battle cry that surprised him at least as much as it surprised the guard that halted just a second in his swing that would have been the end of his youngest recruit, he rammed into the side of the Brute, taking him down with him and thus removing the immediate danger to Nico’s life.
His shoulder hurt like hell, but that didn’t matter. He staggered to his feet and drew his sword before the guard had any chance of getting up, hindered by the same armour that was supposed to protect him, and rammed it into his throat. His gaze was already wandering around as he pulled the sword back out, too preoccupied to clean it before he sheathed it again this time.
Then he spotted the crossbowman on the rooftop, already aiming his next shot and his heart leapt to his throat when he realized he could do nothing to stop him. “Nico, take cover!” He shouted desperately as he turned to his newest charge, who only regarded him in utter confusion, the pain from the shoulder wound clouding his senses.
Confusion turned to shock as the next bolt bore his way right through Nico’s armour and into his chest. A feeling of helplessness washed over Ezio as the boy crumbled to the floor, which soon turned into fiery rage.
He kicked the guard he had abandoned earlier and was now closing in again in the gut, not caring about hurting his foot in the process, ducked under the clumsy swing from his axe and bore his two hidden blades into the eyes of the guards, easily taking him out now that he had completely forgotten about being careful.
Ezio then took his own crossbow from his back, loaded it and fired it at the killer on the rooftop before he had even finished aiming, taking him out in one, deadly shot right through the throat.
The feeling of satisfaction he got from this death only lasted for a second before the feeling of dread overtook and he turned to his three remaining recruits. Flavio and Veronica had fortunately managed to take out their own opponents, but instead of vanishing like they’d done every time before, they were standing around, lost, not knowing how to proceed and looking at him for direction.
He swallowed. They relied on him, were his responsibility, so he had to be the leader they now needed and not the desperate man he felt like. “Veronica, help Carlotta in returning to the hideout and get her wound treated. Flavio, you stay with me.”
Veronica hesitated and looked at him, unsure. “What about-“
“I’ll take care of it. Do as I say,” he interrupted her, his tone a bit sharper than intended, but it had the desired effect. The female assassin straightened up, nodded, and made her way over to Carlotta while he turned towards where Nico lay unmoving on the ground.
It were a mere five steps to get to him, but Ezio felt as if the air had turned into spider webs, trying to keep him from moving forwards. He felt like he’d just run a mile when he finally knelt beside the body of his fallen comrade, checking his pulse out of pure habit and feeling the last of his hope, which he hadn’t even known he still had, drain away when there was none.
He closed his eyes for a moment, fighting to stay calm, before he brushed Nico’s eyes closed, thus hiding the terrified expression he wore in his last moments. “Requiescat in Pace,” he mumbled and then turned to Flavio who had silently waited behind him, his head bowed in respect.
“I need you to bring him back to the hideout. Machiavelli will handle the preparations for his burial.”
“What about the senator?” Flavio regarded him calmly, like he was the one in charge and not Ezio, who was too tired to admire the recruit for staying in control when he himself had lost it momentarily.
“I’ll handle it. Now go.”
Without further protest, the giant carefully picked the body up, as if Nico was only sleeping and he didn’t want to wake him up, and went off while Ezio slowly returned to the haystack Egidio hid in, trying to collect himself and focus on his current mission: bringing the man to safety.
He grabbed the senator by the arm and pulled him out, ignoring his complaints and how he demonstratively brushed himself off. “Let’s go.”
His senses were on full alert as they continued their way through the street, feeling as if everything around him was happening in slow motion. He carefully stayed in the crowd, invisible to the guards that were still patrolling the streets, even when they found the bodies of their comrades and started being a lot more alert than before.
He couldn’t afford to make a mistake now or the next one dead would be the senator.
Their destination was just around the corner, the very same corner where another group of guards lingered and didn’t make the impression that they wanted to move anytime soon. There was no way to get past them using the people as cover and even if he took them out, there were too many guards patrolling that even he would have some trouble dealing with all of them.
It was at that moment that his luck finally decided to return to him as a group of courtesans appeared further down the street. He looked at Egidio who had silently followed him after the hay fiasco, trying to decide if he should let him wait here while he approached the group or take him with him, even if they would take a bit longer that way, when the courtesans took the decision from him and flowed right up to them, flirty waving at every man that they passed.
“Messer Ezio,” the most mature looking courtesan greeted him while she linked arms with him. “We heard you may be in need of our help, so we hurried here.”
Ezio smiled charmingly, gladly slipping back into his womanizer role and a bit farther away from the bitter reality of what had happened. “I have never been happier to see you, my ladies,” he said, earning a chorus of flattered giggles as the women winked at him. “But whoever informed you of my predicament?”
“Oh, it was a giant of a man, scary if not for his gentle nature,” a blond courtesan explained, a light blush on her cheeks before she looked rather disappointed. “Another group helped him stay undetected.”
Ezio breathed a sigh of relief. It was good to know that Flavio had found a way to get back without gathering too much attention. He silently promised to thank the recruit for his foresight to send the courtesans to his aid. “If you could distract those guards for me, I’d be very grateful, signorinas.”
“Anything for you, Messer Ezio,” the leader of the group agreed with a last suggestive look in his direction before she and her companions swaggered over to the guards and started their seducing act. Ezio didn’t blame the men for immediately leaving their post.
He took the chance and with Egidio in tow slipping past the engrossed guards and into the little niche where finally waited the door of the safe house for them. The senator eagerly opened the door and both let out a little sigh of relief when Ezio closed it again behind them, finally safe from the guards.
At least for now.
“How much do you owe the Banker?” Demanded Ezio, interrupting Egidio’s tirade of thanks.
He looked a bit desperate. Their successful escape was already forgotten when reminded that his problem hadn’t been solved by a long shot, only delayed. “3000 Florin. He won’t let off until I pay my debt.”
Ezio nodded. “I’ll get the money. Stay safe until I return,” he said and turned his back to the shocked senator, starting to scale the wall. His mission complete, his mind was already focusing on the next thing he needed to do: get back to the hideout and his recruits. The senator and the Banker would have to wait just another day.
Ezio looked from the hooded recruits to Machiavelli, La Volpe, Claudia and Bartolomeo, who had all taken the time to pay their last respects to Nico di Angelo, his newest and youngest recruit, who was lying on a big pyre, worthy of a king, in a deserted field not far from Tiber Island. Yet even though the whole Brotherhood had come together, thus showing that even the least of their assassins was as much part of their family as any other, it saddened Ezio to not see anyone else. Part of the reason Nico had been so willing to join them and fight the Borgia was that he had lost his family to them, which was also the reason Ezio had let him join despite his young age. He wouldn’t have survived a week on his own in the streets of Roma, but he had reminded him so much of himself, twenty-five years ago when he had desperately hung onto his need for revenge to get through the loss of his father and brothers.
Now he wondered if he had made the wrong decision after all. Maybe the boy would still be alive after all if he hadn’t let him join. Or maybe he would have died within a day, trying to take down the murderers of his family with him. Ezio would never know. He had to live with the blood he had on his hands and the guilt, a very familiar feeling that he usually managed to push aside.
His eyes fell on the peaceful face of Nico and wandered down to the pompous ceremonial robes he was dressed in now, a bit too big for his lanky form, making him look that much younger still, and closed his eyes for a moment.
When he finally broke the silence that so heavily hung over all of them, it was only to utter three very familiar words. “Requiescat in Pace.”
He felt there was no need to say more. They all felt the loss of their brother and there was no need to spin glorious tales about him to make them miss him all the more. The burial in itself spoke of their appreciation for him and honoured the dead.
As the others repeated the phrase, he took up the waiting torch and set the pyre aflame before stepping back to stand among his brothers and sisters, silently watching the fire slowly consume the body.
When Claudia grabbed his hand and lightly squeezed it, he held on for dear life, as much to reassure her as to reassure himself that they’d be fine again, someday.
