Assassin's Creed: Renaissance

Chapter 2

"He might worry about us."

"No—he knows we can take care of ourselves," Federico looked at Ezio curiously, "but we'd better hurry up," he paused, "shall we have a competition? Race or something?"

"Where did you go?"

"Well," Federic looked across the moonlit city to a tower not far away, "finishing at the roof of the Holy Trinity Basilica. If you still have the strength—it's far away from home anyway." It’s not far away. There’s just a limit.”

"what?"

"It's not the streets we're going for, it's the rooftops."

Ezio took a deep breath. "Okay. We'll see," he said.

"Very well, little turtle—run!"

Without saying a word, Federico strode up a nearby rough plaster wall with the lizard-like agility of a lizard.He stopped on the roof, looking precarious among the round red tiles, but he laughed a few times and started walking again.By the time Ezio reached the roof, his brother was twenty yards ahead.Ezio picked up speed and gave chase, the excitement of the chase making him forget the pain.Then he saw Federico leap across the black void and land lightly on the flat roof of the gray mansion a little lower.He ran forward a few steps and waited.Ezio looked at the abyss eight stories below his feet, and couldn't help but feel afraid, but he would rather die than show weakness in front of his brother, so he mustered up his courage and leaped out with all his strength, where his body crossed the air. For a moment he saw the moonlit granite street far below him.For an instant he feared he had misjudged it, for the hard gray wall seemed to be rushing right at him, but somehow it suddenly sank again, and he dropped to the roof, although his posture It's not very pretty, but it's still standing after all.He was breathing heavily, but he was in a good mood.

"My brother, you still have a lot to learn," Federico laughed, and then took another step, turning into a shadow, and quickly passed through the chimneys.Ezio also ran, forgetting to be afraid in the frantic pursuit.More abysses appeared before him, some were mere alleys, others were wide avenues.Federico was nowhere to be seen.Suddenly, the tower of the Basilica of the Holy Trinity stood in front of him, and under the tower was the slightly sloping red roof of the church.But as he got closer, he remembered that the church was in the middle of the square, so its roof was much farther away from the surrounding houses than those he had jumped over.But he didn't dare to hesitate now, and he didn't dare to slow down—he could only pray that the roof of the church was lower than his jumping point.As long as he jumps out with enough momentum, into the air, let gravity take care of the rest.For the first second or two, he'll fly like a bird.He tried to get all the consequences of failure out of his mind.

The edge of the roof under his feet quickly approached him, and then there was a void.His body flew through the air, listening to the whistling wind in his ears, tears were blown out of his eyes.The cathedral roof seemed infinitely far away—he had no way of getting there, and he couldn't laugh or fight or hold a woman in his arms anymore.He couldn't breathe.He closed his eyes, and...

He found himself bent over, steadying himself on his hands and feet, but with the actual roof beneath him - and he made it, albeit by a few inches, he managed to land on the roof of the church!
But where is Federico?He climbed to the bottom of the tower and turned to look in the direction he had come, just in time to see his brother flying through the air.Federik landed firmly on the roof, but his weight dislodged a tile or two of red terracotta, making him almost unsteady on his feet.The tiles slid down the roof, only to shatter seconds later on the hard cobbled pavement below.Federico had regained his balance, though, standing upright, out of breath, with a big, proud smile on his face.

"It seems you're not that slow," he said, stepping forward and patting Ezio on the shoulder. "When you ran past me, you were as fast as lightning."

"I didn't even know I was ahead of you," gasped Ezio.

"Okay, but don't try to climb to the top of the tower faster than me," Federico retorted.Pushing Ezio aside, he began to scale the small, stocky tower - the city council's elders were planning to replace it with a more modern design.This time Federico climbed to the top of the tower first, and even had to lend a helping hand to his wounded brother - Ezio was beginning to miss his bed.They stood there out of breath, trying to catch their breath as they looked down at the city, which seemed silent and peaceful in the beige morning light.

"Our life is beautiful, brother." Federico's tone was uncharacteristically serious.

"For the best," Ezio agreed, "and hopefully it never changes."

They stopped at the same time, neither wanting to break the beauty of the moment.But after a while, Federico said softly, "Hope it never changes us too, my brother. Come on, it's time for us to go home. That's our roof over there. God bless, I hope Dad didn't stay all night Be awake, or we'll really be on the roof. Let's go."

He made his way to the edge of the tower, about to climb back up to the roof of the cathedral, but saw that Ezio was standing still, so he stopped too. "What's wrong?"

"Wait a mininute."

"What are you looking at?" Federico said, walking up to his brother.He followed Ezio's gaze, a smile on his face. "You little cunning! You don't want to go there, do you? Don't disturb the poor girl's sleep!"

"No—I think Christina would be up by this time."

Ezio and Cristina Calfozi hadn't known each other for a long time, but they were already close, but their parents thought they were too young to talk about marriage.Ezio disapproved of this, but Cristina was only 17 years old, and her parents had a bad impression of Ezio, hoping that he would curb his rebellious behavior.Needless to say, this made him even worse.

He and Federico had finished buying trinkets for his sister as a Saint's Day gift, and were hanging out in the central market, watching all the pretty girls in the city go from stall to stall, look at the lace here, look at it Ribbon and silk over there.But there was one girl who stood out, more beautiful and more elegant than any girl Ezio had ever seen.Ezio would never forget that day, the day he first saw her.

"Oh," he gasped involuntarily, "look! She's so beautiful."

"Yeah," said my brother who was always practical, "why don't you come over and say hello?"

"What?" Ezio was taken aback, "but after the greeting—what should I do?"

"Oh, you can talk to her. Talk about the things you buy, and the things she buys—it doesn't matter. You see, my good brother, most men are afraid to approach beautiful girls, so you can The men who really have the courage to go up and talk to them have the most advantage. What? You think they don’t want people to notice them, and they don’t want to have a pleasant chat with men? Of course they want to! Besides, you’re not bad looking, and you’re still Auditore family. So go on—I'll get the attention of her girls. She's not bad looking, for that matter."

Ezio remembered standing in front of Cristina, not knowing what to say, admiring her beautiful black eyes, her long, soft auburn hair, and her slightly upturned nose...

She stared at him. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"What do you mean by that?" he blurted out.

"Why are you standing here?"

"Oh...uh...because I want to ask you something."

"what do you wish to ask?"

"What's your name?"

She rolled her eyes.Hell, he thought, she must have heard something like that. "It doesn't matter what my name is." After she finished speaking, she turned and left.Ezio watched her back, dumbfounded, and gave chase.

"Wait!" he said breathlessly, as if he had run a long way, "I wasn't ready just now. I was going to be very charming. And elegant! And witty! Can you give me more Do I have a chance?"

She looked back at him without stopping, but showed a faint smile.Ezio was full of disappointment, but Federico, who was watching from the sidelines, shouted softly: "Don't give up like this! I saw her smile at you! She will remember you."

Ezio mustered up his courage and followed - only carefully so that she would not notice.Three or four times he had to hide behind the stalls in the market, and once in the porch of some house after she had left the market.He managed to follow her all the way, however, and finally came to her door.Then someone he knew blocked her way.

Christina looked at the man angrily. "I told you, Vieri, I'm not interested in you. Well, let me go."

Ezio, hiding in the shadows, took a deep breath.Vieri de' Pazzi!It really was him!

"But miss, I'm interested in you. Very interested," said Vieri.

"Then line up."

Christina tried to squeeze past Vieri, but he moved and stopped her again. "I don't think so, honey. I'm tired of waiting for you to open your legs to me willingly." He grabbed her arm roughly, pulling her closer, wrapping his other arm around her struggling.

"I think you didn't understand her," Ezio said suddenly, and he stepped forward, meeting Vieri's eyes.

(End of this chapter)