Assassin's Creed: Renaissance

Chapter 44

He drew a greatsword from the rubble and swung it a few times, growling. "Aha! You're all right! I've always believed you'd be all right, Bianca! Come see...what's your name?"

"Ezio Auditore."

Bartholomew showed a thoughtful look. "Of course. You are already famous, Ezio."

"I am very honored."

"What brought you here?"

"I also have some unfinished business with Silvio Barbaig. I think he's been in Venice long enough."

"Sylvio! That wretch! He deserves to be flushed down the gutter!"

"I thought I might depend on your help."

"After your rescue? I owe you my life, and it's no problem to help."

"How many people do you have?"

"Sargeant, how many survivors are there?"

The sergeant who had spoken to Ezio earlier ran forward and saluted. "Twelve, Captain, including you and me, and this gentleman."

"It's thirteen!" Bartolomeo shouted, waving Bianca.

"Against two hundred enemies," Ezio said.He turned to look at the sergeant. "How many of your men have they captured?"

"Most of them were captured," replied the man, "and we were totally unaware of their attack. Some escaped, but Silvio put many more in chains."

"You see, Ezio," said Bartolomeo, "I have to go myself and gather up those men who managed to escape. I will clean up the field, bury the dead on our side, and regroup the troops. During this time Here, can you go and rescue those people being held by Silvio? You seem to be very good at this kind of thing, don't you?"

"indeed."

"Bring them back as soon as possible. Good luck!"

Ezio strapped on his ancient weapons and headed towards the arsenal to the west, but he doubted that Silvio had kept all of Bartolomeo's men there.While rescuing Bartolomeo, he did not see any other prisoners.When he came to the arsenal, night had fallen, and he hid in the shadows, listening to the conversations of the soldiers guarding the outer wall.

"Have you ever seen a bigger cage?" one of them said.

"No. And those wretches are packed like sardines in their cages, and I don't think Captain Barto would treat us like that if he was the victor," said his companion.

"Of course he will. And, keep those big ideas to yourself, if you want to keep that head on your shoulders. If you want to keep the head on your shoulders, you might as well just get rid of them. Why don't we just lower the cage to into the pool and drown them all?"

Hearing this, Ezio tensed up.Inside the arsenal were three wide rectangular pools, each large enough to accommodate thirty warships.Those pools were at the northern end of the Arsenal, enclosed by thick brick walls and heavy wooden roofs.Needless to say, the cages—a larger version of Bartolomeo's cage—hang from chains over one or more of the pools.

"Drowning 150 well-trained soldiers? That would be a waste. It seems to me that Silvio must be trying to persuade them to surrender," said the second soldier.

"Well, they're mercenaries just like us. So why not?"

"That's right! We just need to soften them up a bit. Let them know who's in charge."

"hope so."

"Thank God they didn't know their leader had escaped."

The first guard spat. "He can't escape very far."

Ezio turned and walked away, towards the side door he had found earlier.There was no time to wait for the shift, but he could tell by the distance of the moon from the horizon that he still had a few hours.He flicked out the wrist blade—his favorite is still the plain blade—and slit the throat of the fat old guard that Silvio had placed there, before the man's blood spilled on his clothes. Push him away before going up.He made the sign of the cross over the corpse, then hastily wiped the blood off the blade with weeds, and replaced it with the Baneblade.

In the light of the crescent moon and scattered stars, the interior of the arsenal looked very different from the day, but Ezio knew where the pools were, so he made a beeline for them.He walked around the walls, keeping an eye out for Silvio's men, and finally came to the first pool.Through the wide open arches he looked ahead at the dark pool, but he could see nothing but warships bobbing and sinking in the dim starlight.The same was true for the second pool, but when he came to the third pool, he heard human voices.

"It's not too late to turn to the light. As long as you say those words, you can save your life." A sergeant under the judge shouted in a mocking tone.

Pressing himself against the wall, Ezio saw a dozen soldiers throwing down their weapons, holding wine bottles, and looking towards the dim ceiling where three huge iron cages hung.He discovered that some invisible mechanism was slowly lowering the cage to the surface of the water below.And there are no warships in this pool.There was only dark and greasy water, and there seemed to be some kind of terrible creature swimming in it.

One of the soldiers was not drinking and seemed to be constantly wary of his surroundings, looking tall and formidable.Ezio recognized it immediately, it was Dante Molo!That is to say, after the death of his master Marco, the giant turned to Marco's cousin, the judge Silvio - after all, the latter had already clearly expressed his favor for Dante.

Ezio cautiously circled the walls until he came to a large open box: inside contained a series of gears, pulleys, and ropes that appeared to be Leonardo's design.This unit is hydraulically driving the cage down.Ezio pulled the ordinary blade out of the leather sheath on the left side of his belt and tucked it between the two gears.The device stopped, but the cages were within inches of the water.Immediately the soldiers noticed that the cage's descent had stopped, and several of them ran to the machine that controlled it.Ezio threw out the Shivlane, slashing at whoever came.Two of them fell into the water with a short scream and sank into the greasy black water.Meanwhile, Ezio ran towards the others along the edge of the pool, and they all fled in panic, except for Dante, who remained on guard, towering over Ezio like a tower.

"Now you're Silvio's lackey, aren't you?" Ezio said.

"A living dog is better than a dead lion," Dante said, reaching out to knock Ezio into the water.

"Wait!" Ezio ducked to avoid the blow, "I have nothing against you!"

"Oh, shut up," Dante said, grabbing Ezio by the back of the neck and smashing him against a nearby wall. "I have nothing against you." He saw that Ezio seemed to faint. "Stay still. I have to remind my master, but if you cause me any more trouble, I'll come back and send you to the fish!"

Then he left.Ezio shook his drowsy head and stood up feebly.Those in the cage yelled, and Ezio saw one of the soldiers groping back again, ready to remove the blade he had jammed in the device.Glad he hadn't forgotten the knife-throwing technique he had learned in Monteriggioni, he drew a knife from his belt and hurled it with deadly precision.The soldier fell to the ground, groaning, his hand reaching in vain for the throwing knife lodged between his eyes.

Ezio retrieved a barbed harpoon from the wall behind him, then leaned over the water, pulling the nearest cage towards him in a dangerous move.The cage door was only locked with a bolt, and he pulled the bolt, releasing the people inside, letting them fall to the shore one after another.With their help, he pulled through the two remaining cages and freed the prisoners.

In spite of their torment and exhaustion, they cheered him on.

"Come on!" he shouted, "I'll take you back to the captain!"

They overwhelmingly broke through the enemy forces guarding the cistern, and made their way back to St. Peter's Square without incident, allowing Bartolomeo and his men an emotional reunion.During Ezio's absence, all the mercenaries who had escaped Silvio's massacre returned, and the camp was once again orderly.

"Hello, Ezio!" said Bartolomeo. "Welcome back! For God's sake, well done! I knew you could be trusted!" He took Ezio's hands. "You are indeed a most powerful ally. I almost feel—" But he stopped, and changed the subject: "Thanks to you, my army has been restored to its former glory. Our friend Sylvie Oh will soon know what a mistake he has made!"

(End of this chapter)