Assassin's Creed: Renaissance

Chapter 10

Then he turned and returned to the city.Strong determination overshadowed his grief, there was much to do, but first, rest was necessary.He went back to the caretaker's hut and found a reasonably comfortable place to lie down.He tossed and turned, but even in that fleeting dream the image of Christina lingered.

He vaguely remembered where Anita's sister lived, though he had never been there or met Paula.But Anita had been his wet nurse, and he knew he could trust her even if no one else could.He wondered if she had heard about the fate of his father and brothers—if she had, whether she would have told his mother and sister.

He approached the house cautiously by a circuitous route, advancing as far as possible on the roofs so as not to pass the road.Because he believed that Uberto Alberti would send his men to search for it.Ezio could not forget Alberti's betrayal.What happened to the factional strife mentioned before his father's death?Why on earth did Alberti hang his closest ally?

Ezio knew that Paola's house was a street north of the Duomo, but when he got there, he realized that he could not remember which house it was.There were nameplates hanging on the front doors of those houses to distinguish them, but he couldn't stay too long lest he be recognized.Just as he was about to leave, he saw Anita coming from the direction of San Lorenzo Square.

He lowered his hood so that his face was in shadow, and walked slowly towards her, blending in as best he could with the passers-by around him.He brushes past Anita, grateful to see that she doesn't seem to notice him.After walking a few more yards, he turned and walked back after her.

"Anita..."

She wisely didn't look back. "Ezio. You are safe and sound."

"It's hard to say. My mother and sister..."

"They're safe. Oh, Ezio, your poor father. And Federico. And..." She suppressed a sob, "...Little Petruccio. I just returned from Piazza San Lorenzo .I lit a candle for San Antonio and prayed for them. They said the Duke would be back soon. Maybe..."

"Do my mother and Maria know what happened?"

"We thought it best to keep it from them for the time being."

Ezio thought for a moment. "This is the best. When the time is right, I will tell them." He paused, and then said, "Can you take me to see them? I don't recognize your sister's home."

"I'm going there. Just follow me."

He stepped back a little, but followed her all the way.

The façade of the house she entered was as grand and dreary as the other large buildings in Florence, but Ezio was taken aback as soon as he walked through the door.What he saw was beyond his expectations.

He found himself standing in a richly furnished and unusually spacious drawing room.The light here is dim, and the air is dull.Dark red and dark brown velvet covered the walls, interspersed with oriental tapestries depicting various sexually explicit scenes.The room was lit by candlelight, and the air smelled of incense.The furniture here consisted mostly of expensive brocade-upholstered chaise longues, with trays of wine in silver decanters, Venetian glasses, and candied fruit in gold bowls on low tables beside the chaise longues.Most surprising are the people in the room.A dozen or so pretty girls were dressed in green and yellow silk and satin, cut in the fashion of Florence, but with skirts that opened down to the thighs, and the necklines were so deep that they were thought provoking.On the three walls of the room, between the tapestries and curtains, were lined with doors.

Ezio glanced around, bewildered. "Are you sure you're in the right place?" he asked Anita.

"Of course not! And my sister has come to meet us."

An elegant woman was coming towards them from the center of the room. She looked less than 30 years old (though according to Anita's age, she should be 38-[-]), her face was as beautiful as a princess, Dressed more luxuriously than most princesses.But there was a vague sadness in her eyes, which inexplicably added to her sex appeal, and Ezio couldn't help being attracted to her despite his preoccupations.

She held out her bejeweled hand with long, slender fingers toward him. "It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Auditore," she eyed him critically. "Anita thinks very highly of you. I can tell she's telling the truth."

Ezio could not help but blush.He replied, "Thank you for your kind words, ma'am—"

"Please call me Paola," she interrupted Ezio.

Ezio bowed. "I can't thank you enough for your protection of my mother and sister, girl—I mean, Paula."

"It's just a little bit of effort."

"Are they here? Can I see them?"

"They're not here — it's not appropriate for them to be here, and some of my clients are high-ranking officials in the city."

"Excuse me, but is this the kind of place I imagined it to be?"

Paula laughed. "Of course! But I hope it's different from the ones on the pier! It's not open yet, but we're used to getting everything ready - there are often officials stopping by on the way to the office. Your timing is just right .”

"Where is my mother? Where's Claudia?"

"They're safe, Ezio, but it's too dangerous to take you to them now, we can't endanger their safety." She pulled him to a chaise longue and sat down with him.And Anita disappeared into the interior of the house, minding her own business.

"I think," continued Paola, "that you'd better take them out of Florence as soon as you get the chance. But you must rest first. You need to recharge your batteries, and there is a long and rough road ahead of you. Perhaps You'll like-"

"It's very kind of you, Paula," he interrupted softly, "and your advice is right. But I can't stay long at the moment."

"Why? Where are you going?"

As they talked, Ezio gradually calmed down, and the chaotic thoughts in his head came together.In the end, he found himself free from shock and fear because he had made his decision and found his purpose, and he knew there was no turning back. "I'm going to kill Uberto Alberti," he said.

Paula looked worried. "I understand your desire for vengeance, but the Magistrate is a powerful man, and you are not a born killer, Ezio—"

Fate is forcing me to be a killer, he thought, but said it as politely as possible: "Please don't lecture me." He had made up his mind.

Paula ignored him and continued to finish the second part of the sentence: "—but I can make you a killer."

Ezio suppressed his doubts. "Why do you want to teach me how to kill?"

She shook her head. "To teach you how to survive."

"I'm not sure I need your training."

She smiled. "I understand how you feel, but please allow me to sharpen your innate skills. Consider my teachings as another weapon you can use to defend yourself."

She began her training that very day, and brought in an off-duty girl and a faithful servant to help.In the walled garden behind the house, she divided twenty people into four groups of five.They then started wandering around the garden, passing other groups from time to time, talking and laughing at the same time, and several of the girls smiled and gave Ezio a bold look.Ezio, still clutching his precious pouch, was oblivious to their charms.

"Listen," Paula told him, "discretion is the most important quality in my line of work. We have to be free to walk the streets—to be seen and not to be noticed. You have to learn to blend in with us." mingling with other passers-by in the city." She raised her hand just as Ezio was about to protest. "I know! Anita told me you didn't do badly, but you had to do better. I want you to pick one of the groups and try to fit in. I don't want to recognize you at a glance. Think back to your The situation encountered on the execution ground."

Those words stung Ezio, but the matter seemed to him not difficult, as long as he learned to use his prudence.But under her relentless gaze, he found that he was too optimistic.He would bump into people awkwardly, or get tripped over, sometimes causing his chosen group to scatter quickly, exposing him to all eyes.The garden was pleasant, sunny, with birds chirping in the branches of the ornamental trees, but in Ezio's mind it was a labyrinth of streets in an unfriendly city, passing by Everyone can be an enemy.Paula's incessant criticism also irritated him. "Watch out!" she'd say, "you can't walk like that!" "Have respect for my girls! Walk carefully when you're near them!" "You knock people up and down, How do you blend in?" "Oh, Ezio! You can do better!"

By the third day, the annoying comments had diminished, and by the fourth morning, he was able to walk under Paula's eyelids without even making her blink.Finally, after a full fifteen minutes of silence, Paola called out: "Okay, Ezio, I give up! Where are you?"

Satisfied, he stepped out of the group of girls, behaving like those young servants.Paula smiled and clapped her hands, and the others started applauding too.

The training doesn't end there.

"Now that you've learned the art of blending in with the crowd," Paola said to Ezio the next morning, "I'm going to teach you how to use this skill—for stealing."

Ezio looked hesitant, but Paola explained: "It's a survival skill you must have on the road. You can't move without money, and sometimes, your situation doesn't allow you to earn money honestly. I Know that you don't touch a poor man's or a friend's. Think of it as a pocket knife you rarely use—it's always good to have a skill."

Pickpocketing is not so easy to learn.He could sneak up on a girl, but as soon as his hand touched the purse in her belt, she would yell "Stop, thief!" and run away as fast as she could.After he had managed to touch the coins for the first time, he stood proudly for a moment, and then a heavy hand rested on his shoulder. "I'm going to arrest you!" said the footman playing the city guard with a smile, but Paula didn't. "After you have stolen something from someone else, Ezio," she said, "you should not stay any longer."

Ezio was a quick learner, and he came to realize that these skills were necessary for him to fulfill his mission.It wasn't until he managed to get ten girls' purses--the last five without even Paula noticing--that she declared the training was over.

"Go back to work girls," she said, "playtime is over."

"Do we have to go?" the girls murmured, unwilling to leave Ezio, "he's so sweet..." But Paola was unwavering.

She walked with him in the garden for a while.One of his hands was pressed against the bag as always. "Now that you have learned how to approach the enemy," she said, "we need to find you a suitable weapon—a weapon much finer than a sword."

"Oh, what are you going to have me use?"

"The answer is already with you!" She said, and she took out a cracked sword blade and a pair of bracers, the same as the ones Ezio took out of his father's box.Until now, he had thought they were safely stored in the pouch on his body.In shock, he opened the bag and rummaged through it.Sure enough, those things were gone.

"Paula! What the hell are you—"

Paula laughed. "How did I get it? By using the technique I just taught you. But you still have a lesson to learn. Now that you've learned how to steal, it's time to learn how to prevent others from stealing from you!"

Paola handed them back to Ezio, who looked sullenly at the broken blade. "There's some sort of mechanism on it. It just doesn't work," he said.

"Oh," she said, "it is. But I suppose you already know Mr. Leonardo?"

"You mean Da Vinci? Yes, I've seen him before—" He paused, forcing himself not to recall the painful memory, "but how can a painter help?"

"He's not just a painter. Bring these things to him, and you'll see."

Ezio understood her, nodded in agreement, and said, "Before I leave, can I ask you one last question?"

"of course can."

"Why are you so enthusiastic about helping me—helping me who I have never met?"

Paula smiled sadly.In answer, she pulled up one sleeve of her robe, revealing a pale, slender forearm - its beauty marred by a criss-cross of black scars.Ezio understood.She had also been tortured and tortured in her past life.

"I know what it's like to be betrayed," Paula said.

Only then did Ezio realize that the person in front of him had a soul similar to his own.

(End of this chapter)