"Well, well. Ezio Auditore da Firenze." She gave him her hand to kiss. "How pleasant to meet you properly at last. I've heard so much about you, especially recently. That is, I imagine no one else can have been responsible for the little upsets we have been experiencing here in Rome?" She paused. "It's a pity Cesare is no longer here. He would have enjoyed this."

"I have no quarrel with you personally, Lucrezia. Free Caterina and I will stand down."

Her voice hardened slightly. "I'm afraid that is impossible."

Ezio spread his hands. "Then you leave me no choice!" He closed in on her, but cautiously. She had long fingernails.

"Guards!" she shrieked, turning in an instant from noblewoman to harpy, and slashing at his eyes as-just in time-he caught her wrists. Pulling a length of twine from his leather pouch he twisted her wrists behind her and tied them swiftly, before flinging her to the ground and placing one foot firmly on a fold of her dress so that she could not rise and run. Then he drew his sword and dagger and stood his ground, ready to face whatever guards came running from the direction of the apartments. Luckily for Ezio, they were lightly armed and heavily built and wore no chain mail. Though unable to change his position, for above all he could not afford to have Lucrezia cut and run-and already she was trying to bite his ankle through his boot-he ducked below the swinging blade of the first guard and hacked at the man's exposed flank. One down. The second guard was more cautious but, conscious of the now-snarling Lucrezia on the floor, stepped forward to attack Ezio. He lunged at Ezio's chest-Ezio parried upward, locking the guards of both blades, and simply swung his left hand, dagger pointing forward, at the man's head. Two down. The final man, hoping to take advantage of the fact that both of Ezio's blades were engaged, rushed forward. Ezio flicked his right arm hard-sending the blade of the second guard spiraling up toward the new foe. The final guard had to raise his sword to deflect the blow-but just too late and the flying blade nicked his biceps. He winced with pain but came forward again-sword swinging-at Ezio. Ezio had recovered his stance and deflected the attack with his dagger-freeing his sword hand to slash viciously at the man's torso. It was over. The guards lay dead around him-and Lucrezia was silent for the first time. Breathing hard, Ezio pulled his captive to her feet.

"Now come on," he said. "And don't scream. If you do, I will be forced to take your tongue."

He dragged her toward the door through which Pietro had left, found himself in a corridor, and half pushed, half dragged Lucrezia back down the tower, in the direction of the cells.

"Rescuing princesses from castles now? How romantic!" Lucrezia spat out.

"Shut up."

"I suppose you think you're achieving great things, charging around, creating havoc, killing whomever you wish."

"I said, shut up."

"But does your plan have any form? What do you think you are going to achieve? Don't you know how strong we are?"

Ezio hesitated at a staircase leading down to the next floor. "Which way?" he asked her.

She laughed, and didn't reply.

He shook her. "Which way way?"

"To the left," she replied sullenly.

She was silent for a while, then started again. This time, Ezio let her ramble on. He was sure of where he was now. She squirmed in his grip, and he was concentrating on two things: to keep a firm hold of her and to be alert for any ambush by the Castel guards.

"Do you know what became of the remains of the Pazzi family in Florence once you'd brought them to their knees? Your dear friend Lorenzo, the so-called Magnifico, stripped them of all their possessions and threw them into prison. All of them! Even those who'd played no part in the conspiracy against him." Ezio's mind turned unwillingly to the revenge Caterina had taken against a rebellion against her in Forl. Her measures had far exceeded Lorenzo's-indeed, made them look mild. He shook the thoughts away.

"The women were forbidden to marry and the family tombstones were erased," Lucrezia went on. "Wiped from the history books. Poof! Just like that!"

But they were not tortured and killed, thought Ezio. Well, it was possible that Caterina had felt justified in her actions at the time. Still, her cruelty had cost her some of the loyalty she had always been able to depend on before, and perhaps that was why Cesare had finally been able to take Forl. thought Ezio. Well, it was possible that Caterina had felt justified in her actions at the time. Still, her cruelty had cost her some of the loyalty she had always been able to depend on before, and perhaps that was why Cesare had finally been able to take Forl.

But she was still an important ally. That was what Ezio had to remember. That, and to suppress whatever feelings-real or imagined-he may have felt for her.

"You and your Assassin friends ignore the consequences of your actions. You are content to set things in motion but you are never willing to see them through!" Lucrezia paused for breath, and Ezio gave her a savage yank forward. But that didn't stop her. "Unlike you, Cesare will finish what he started, and bring peace to Italy. He kills for a higher purpose-again, unlike you!"

"The ignorant and the passive make easy targets," retorted Ezio.

"Say what you like," replied Lucrezia, seeing she had touched a nerve. "In any case, my words are wasted here, you ipocrita! ipocrita!"

They had all but reached the cells now. "Remember," Ezio said, drawing his dagger, "if you try to warn your guards, your tongue-"

Lucrezia breathed hard, but was silent. Watchfully, Ezio inched forward. The two new guards were seated at the table, playing cards. Throwing Lucrezia to the ground in front of him, he leapt on them and had dispatched them both before they had a moment to react. Then he spun around and charged after Lucrezia, who had got to her feet and begun to run back the way she had come, screaming for help. He caught up with her in two bounds, clapped a hand over her mouth, and pulled her to him with his other arm, swinging her around and pushing her back toward Caterina's cell. She bit and tore at the gloved hand over her mouth with her teeth at first, then, seeing she was powerless, seemed to give up and went limp.

Caterina was already at the grille, which Ezio unlatched.

"Salute, Lucrezia," said Caterina, smiling unpleasantly. "How I've missed you!"

"Vai a farti fottere, troia-Go fuck yourself, you whore!"

"Charming as always," said Caterina. "Ezio! Bring her close. I'll take the key."

She reached out as Ezio obeyed her order. He noticed that Caterina grazed Lucrezia's breasts as she reached between them and extracted the key, which hung on a black silk cord.

Caterina passed the key to Ezio, who quickly unlocked the door. The same key fitted the padlock securing the chains-Caterina had not, after all, been chained to the wall-and as Caterina divested herself of these, Ezio shoved Lucrezia into the cell.

"Guards! Guards!" screamed Lucrezia.

"Oh, shut up," said Caterina, picking up a dirty rag from the guards' table and using it to gag her enemy. Then Ezio took some more twine and bound Lucrezia's ankles, before slamming the cell door and locking it securely.

Ezio and Caterina looked at each other.

"My hero," she said drily.

Ezio ignored that. "Can you walk?"

Caterina tried, but stumbled. "I don't think I can-the manacles they had on me must have done some damage."

Ezio sighed and lifted her into his arms. He'd have to drop her like a sack if they were surprised by guards and he needed to get to his weapons quickly.

"Which way?" she asked.

"Stables first. Then the quickest route out of here."

"Why save me, Ezio? Seriously. With Forl taken, I am useless to you."

"You still have a family."

"It isn't your family."

Ezio kept walking. He remembered where the stables should be in relation to where they were. It was fortunate that Caterina seemed to be the only prisoner in this section. There were no other guards about. Still, he trod softly and moved quickly, but not so fast as to lumber into a trap. Every so often he stopped and listened. She was light in his arms, and, despite imprisonment, her hair still smelled of vanilla and roses, reminding him of happier times they had had together.

"Listen, Ezio-that night in Monteriggioni-when we...bathed together...I had to ensure your allegiance. To protect Forl. It was in the Assassins' interests as much as mine, but-" She broke off. "Do you understand, Ezio?"

"If you had wanted my allegiance, all you had to do was ask for it."

"I needed you on my side."

"My loyalty and my sword arm on your side weren't enough. You wanted to be sure of my heart as well." Ezio walked on, shifting her weight in his arms. "But, e la politica e la politica. Of course. I knew it. You need not explain."

Within him, his heart felt as if it had fallen down a bottomless mineshaft. How could could her hair still be scented? her hair still be scented?

"Caterina," he asked, his throat dry, "did they...? Did Cesare...?"

She sensed, however dimly, what he felt, and smiled-with her lips, though, he noticed, not with her eyes. "Nothing happened. My name must still have some small value. I was left...unspoiled."

They had reached the main door of the stables. It was unguarded, but firmly closed. Ezio put Caterina down. "Try to walk a little. You must get the strength back in your ankles."

He looked around for a means of opening the door. It had no bolts or handles. But there had to be a way...

"Try over there," said Caterina. "Isn't that a lever of some kind?"

"Wait here," Ezio said.

"As if I had a choice!"

He made his way over to the lever, noticing as he went a square hole in the floor with an open trapdoor above it. To judge from the smell beneath, it must have been some sort of grain store. And, peering down, he could make out a large number of sacks. But boxes, too-boxes of what looked like gunpowder.

"Hurry," said Caterina.

He took the lever in his hands and hauled on it. It was stiff at first, but under the strain of his muscles, it gave a little and then swung over easily. At the same time, the door swung open.

But there were a couple of guards in the stables and they whirled around at the sound of the door creaking on its hinges and rushed toward it, drawing their swords.

"Ezio! Aiuto! Aiuto!"

He sped over to her, picked her up, and carried her toward the hole in the floor.

"What are you doing?!"

He held her over the hole.

"Don't you dare!"

He dropped her down, unable to resist a short snicker at her yell of panic. It wasn't far, and he had time to see her land safely on the soft sacks before turning to face the guards. The fight was short and sharp, and the guards were heavy with fatigue and had been taken by surprise. Ezio's skills with the blade were more than a match for them. However, one of them managed to get a glancing blow in, but it cut the material of Ezio's doublet and didn't reach the flesh. Ezio was tiring himself.

When it was over, Ezio reached down and hauled Caterina out again.

"Figlio di puttana," she swore, dusting herself down. "Never do that to me again." she swore, dusting herself down. "Never do that to me again."

He noticed that she seemed to be walking at least a little better already.

Quickly, he selected horses for them and soon had them saddled and ready. He helped her onto one and leapt into the saddle of the other himself. An archway led off one side of the stables and through it he could see the main gate of the Castel. It was guarded, but it was open. Dawn was approaching, and no doubt tradesmen from the city were expected, to make deliveries.

"Ride like hell," Ezio told her. "Before they have time to realize what's going on. Across the bridge and then make for Tiber Island. You'll be safe there. Find Machiavelli. He'll be waiting for me."

"But we both both have to get away from here!" have to get away from here!"

"I'll follow. But for now I must stay and take care of the remaining guards, create a diversion, a delay, something."

Caterina pulled the reins of her horse in, so that it reared. "Get back in one piece," she said. "Or I will never forgive you!"

Ezio hoped she meant it, as he watched her kick the horse into a gallop. She charged past the guards at the main gate, scattering them. As soon as he saw that she was clear, he rode his own horse back through the stables to the grain and powder store, seizing a torch from its sconce as he passed. This he threw into the hole, and then he wheeled around and galloped back the way he had come, drawing his sword.

The guards had formed a cordon and were waiting for him, halberds raised. Ezio didn't know the horse but he knew what he had to do; he rode straight at the line of guards and at the last minute pulled hard on the reins and, leaning forward in the saddle, dug his heels in. At the same time as the horse charged forward, there was an almighty explosion from near the stables. He was right! It had been gunpowder! The ground shook with the explosion-and the guards instinctively ducked down. The horse, also shocked with the noise of the bang, was more determined to make good her flight. She flew into the air, clearing the line of guards as easily as she might have cleared a fence.

Leaving panic and confusion in his wake, he rode in the direction of the rising sun. His heart swelled within him. He had saved Caterina!

TWENTY-SIX.

Once he was sure he had shaken off any possible pursuers, Ezio turned his horse. He was loath to lose such a good animal, but he took it to the stables where he and Machiavelli had hired horses what seemed like a lifetime ago and turned it over to the chief ostler there. The stables were neat and clean and clearly doing a thriving business, in a district that seemed to have shaken off Borgia control and, for the moment at least, maintained its independence. Then he made his way back toward Tiber Island on foot. The Assassins' secret ferry was waiting at the bank and, once on the island itself, he hastened toward the hideout.

Inside, he found that Caterina had arrived safely. She was lying on a makeshift bed near the door, being tended by a doctor. She smiled when she saw him, and tried to sit up, but the doctor gently restrained her.

"Ezio! I am relieved to see you safe."

He took her hand and squeezed it. "Where is Machiavelli?" There was no return of his pressure, but perhaps she was still too weak.

"I don't know."

La Volpe emerged from the shadows at the end of the room. "Ezio! Good to see you again!" He embraced the younger man. "I brought your contessa contessa here. As for Machiavelli..." here. As for Machiavelli..."

But just then the main door swung open and Machiavelli himself came in. He looked drawn.

"Where have you been?" asked La Volpe.

"Looking for Ezio-not that I am accountable to you," said Machiavelli, and Ezio was saddened to note the tension that still existed between his two friends. Machiavelli turned to Ezio and, without ceremony, asked: "What of Cesare and Rodrigo?"

"Cesare left almost immediately for Urbino. As for Rodrigo, he was at the Vatican."

"That is odd," said Machiavelli. "Rodrigo should have been in the Castel."

"Very odd indeed," La Volpe put in evenly.

If he'd noticed the dig, Machiavelli ignored it. "What a wasted opportunity," he mused. Then, recollecting himself, he said to Caterina, "Oh, no offense, Contessa Contessa. We are glad to see you safe."

"I take none," she said.

"Now that Cesare has gone to Urbino, we must concentrate on building our forces here."

Machiavelli raised his eyebrows. "But I thought we intended to strike now! We should go after him and cut him down where he stands."

"That would be impossible," Caterina said. "I have seen his army. It is massive. You would never reach him."