Assassin's Creed: Renaissance

Chapter 38

"What about the guards?" Ezio said.

Antonio looked at him. "You steer this thing. Leave the guards to us. Anyway," he added, "some of the guards should be busy elsewhere. My spies tell me there's a ship from some country far to the east— -ship called 'China'- just arrived with loads of weird colored powders in small round tubes. God knows what it is, but I think it must be worth a lot, because they take that cargo very seriously .”

"Fireworks," Leonardo said to himself.

"what?"

"nothing!"

At dusk, Antonio's men piled firewood according to Leonardo's instructions.They also chased away idlers and the like, making sure there were no night watchmen or idle onlookers who might warn those in power.During this time, Leonardo's assistants again transported the flying machine to the roof of the Palazzo Pesaro, while Ezio fitted his wrist blade and bracers and took their place inside the machine.Antonio stood by.

"You're amazing," he said.

"That's the only way to get into the Governor's Palace. You told me that yourself."

"But I didn't think it was possible. I still can't believe it. If God wanted us to fly..."

"Are you ready to signal your men, Antonio?" Leonardo asked.

"Ready."

"Then send the signal, we're about to fly Ezio."

Antonio walked to the edge of the roof and looked down.Then he produced a large red handkerchief and waved it around.Below they saw one, two, and finally five bonfires burning.

"Good work, Antonio. Thank you very much." Leonardo turned to look at Ezio. "Well, remember what I told you. You must fly from one campfire to the next. The heat from each will ensure that you can fly to the Governor's Palace."

"And be careful," Antonio said, "there are a lot of archers on the roof, and they will start shooting arrows when they see you. They will think you are a demon from hell."

"Wish I could use my sword while flying with this thing."

"Your feet are free," Leonardo said thoughtfully. "If you can get close enough to those archers and avoid their arrows, you should be able to kick them off the roof."

"I will remember."

"Let's go, then. Good luck!"

Ezio left the roof and flew into the night sky, heading in the direction of the first campfire.He was already descending as he approached the fire, but the moment he reached the sky above the campfire, he felt the flying machine being lifted by the heat.Leonardo's theory worked!During the flight, he saw the thieves in charge of tending the campfire raised their heads and cheered.Ezio could see the Babaig Archers arranged atop the Cathedral and on buildings near the Doge's Palace.He steered the flying machine away from most of the arrows, though one or two pierced the machine's wooden frame, and he tried to fly low over the roof, kicking several of the archers off.But when he got close to the Governor's Palace, the Governor's guards gathered and shot at him, and they used rockets.One of them hit the machine's right wing, and it burst into flames.Ezio could only try his best to follow the route, and the altitude of the flight was also dropping rapidly.He saw a young aristocratic woman look up, screaming something like "the devil's come to get me", but he flew over quickly.He let go of the joystick, and frantically undid the strap buckle that held his body in place.Freed on the nick of time, he leapt forward, landing perfectly in a crouching position on the roof of the inner court, over the iron bars protecting the interior of the palace.He looked up and saw that the flying machine had crashed into the bell tower of St. Mark's Basilica, sending the wreckage to the square below, sending the crowd into panic and riot.Even the attention of the archers of the Doge's Palace was drawn to them, and Ezio took advantage of this opportunity to quickly climb down from the roof and disappear from their view.Just then, he saw Governor Mocenigo appearing at the window on the second floor.

"What's that?" said the governor.

Carlo Grimaldi appeared beside him. "Maybe it's just a few young people setting off firecrackers. Okay, keep drinking."

Hearing this, Ezio hurried across the roofs and walls, avoiding the sight of the archers as much as possible, and made his way to a location next to the open window.He looked into the window and saw that the governor was drinking the rest of the wine in one gulp.He turned over the window sill, came into the room, and shouted: "Stop, my lord! Don't drink—!"

The Doge looked at him in surprise, and Ezio realized he was a little late.Grimaldi smiled feebly. "You are not as punctual as usual, young assassin! Mr. Mocenigo will be leaving us soon. He has drunk enough poison to kill a bull."

Mocenigo turned to look at him. "What? What did you do?"

Grimaldi made a regretful gesture. "You should have listened to me."

The Doge's body swayed, and if Ezio hadn't rushed forward to support him and let him sink heavily into the chair, he would have fallen to the ground.

"I'm feeling tired..." said the governor, "...it's getting dark..."

"I'm sorry, my lord," Ezio said helplessly.

"It's time for you to experience failure too," Grimaldi said to Ezio, and he flung open the door, shouting, "Guards! Guards! The Doge has been poisoned! The killer is here! "

Ezio rushed across the room, grabbed Grimaldi by the collar, dragged him back into the room, and slammed the door, then locked it again.Seconds later, he heard guards running upstairs and banging on the door.He turned to Grimaldi. "You say failure? Then I'd better do something to make up for it." He popped out the wrist blade.

Grimaldi laughed. "You can kill me," he said, "but you will never defeat the Knights Templar."

Ezio plunged the blade into Grimaldi's heart. "Rest in peace," he said coldly.

"Very good." A weak voice came from behind him.Ezio turned his head to see that the Doge was alive despite his pale face.

"I'll get someone—a doctor," he said.

"No—it's too late. But I'll die more happily if I see my killer go before me. Thank you." Mocenigo struggled for breath. "I've always suspected he was a Templar, but I'm too weak, too gullible... Look in his wallet. Take those papers from him. I'm sure you'll find something useful to your Order in order to My death avenges."

Mocenigo had a smile on his face as he said these words.Ezio watched the smile harden on his lips, his eyes glazed over, his head tilted limply to one side.Ezio put his hand on the side of the Doge's neck to confirm that he was dead, there was no pulse there.Ezio reached out again, closed his eyes for him, whispered a few words of blessing, and hurriedly picked up and opened Grimaldi's wallet.In a small bundle of documents, there is another page from an ancient book.

The guards were still beating on the door, which gradually came loose.Ezio ran to the window and looked down.The courtyard was full of guards.He had to try his luck on the roof.He climbed out of the window and climbed up the wall. The arrow whizzed past him and hit the wall beside him with a metallic sound.Once he got to the roof, he had to face more archers, but they were all defenseless, and he took advantage of his surprise to deal with them.But he had another problem to face.The iron gate that once held him back is now trapping him inside!He ran to the grating, only to realize that it was only designed to keep people out from getting in—the sharp point at the top was curved outward.As long as he can climb to the top, he can turn over without hindrance.He could hear the footsteps of many guards running up the stairs to the roof, so he took a run-up, then jumped and quickly climbed to the top of the iron gate.Then he fell safely across the bars, while the other guards were trapped inside.Their armor and weapons were too heavy to scale the bars, and Ezio knew well that they were not as skilled as he.He ran to the edge of the roof, looked down, then jumped onto the scaffolding next to the cathedral wall and slid down it to the ground.Then, he ran quickly to St. Mark's Square and disappeared into the crowd.

(End of this chapter)