"Don't worry," said Mario, laughing heartily. "It's only exercises. We've upgraded the arsenal here and installed new cannon all along the battlements. We have training sessions daily."

"As long as they aren't aiming at us."

"Don't worry," said Mario again. "It's true that the men still need to get their eye in, but they have enough sense not to fire at the boss!"

A short while later they were riding through the open principal gate of the town and up the broad main thoroughfare, which led to the citadel. As they did so, crowds gathered to line the street, looking at Ezio with a mixture of respect, admiration, and affection.

"Welcome back, Ezio!" one woman called.

"Grazie, Madonna." Ezio smiled back, inclining his head slightly. Ezio smiled back, inclining his head slightly.

"Three cheers for Ezio!" a child's voice rang out.

"Buon giorno, fratellino," Ezio said to him. Turning to Mario, he added, "It's good to be home." Ezio said to him. Turning to Mario, he added, "It's good to be home."

"I think they're more pleased to see you than to see me," said Mario, but he was smiling as he spoke, and in fact much of the cheering, especially from the older townsmen, was for him.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the old family seat again," said Ezio. "It's been a while."

"It has indeed, and there are a couple of people there who'll be looking forward to seeing you."

"Who?"

"Can't you guess? You can't be that preoccupied with your duties to the Brotherhood."

"Of course-you mean my mother and my sister! How are they?"

"Well. Your sister was very unhappy when her husband died, but time heals most things, and I think she's much better now. In fact, there she is."

They had ridden into the courtyard of Mario's fortified residence now, and as they dismounted, Ezio's sister, Claudia, appeared at the top of the marble staircase that led up to the main entrance, flew down it, and ran into her brother's arms.

"Brother!" she cried, hugging him. "Your return home is the best birthday present I could have wished for!"

"Claudia, my dearest," said Ezio, holding her close. "It is good to be back. How is our mother?"

"Well, thanks be to God. She's dying to see you-we've been on tenterhooks ever since the news reached us that you were returning. And your fame goes before you!"

"Let's go in," said Mario.

"There's someone else who'll be glad to see you," continued Claudia, taking his arm and escorting him up the staircase. "The Countess of Forl."

"Caterina? Here?" Ezio tried to keep the excitement out of his voice.

"We did not know when exactly you would arrive. She and Mother are with the abbess, but they will be here by sunset."

"Business first," said Mario, knowingly. "I am calling a meeting of the Council of the Brotherhood here tonight. Machiavelli, I know, is especially keen to talk to you."

"Is it finished, then?" asked Claudia intently. "Is the Spaniard truly dead?"

Ezio's grey eyes hardened. "I will explain everything at the meeting this evening," he told her.

"Very well," replied Claudia, but her own eyes were troubled as she took her leave.

"And please give my greetings to the countess when she returns," Ezio called after her. "I will see her, and Mother, this evening. First I have business to attend to with Mario that will not wait."

Once they were alone, Mario's tone became serious. "You must prepare well for tonight, Ezio. Machiavelli will be here by sunset and I know he has many questions for you. We will discuss matters now, and then I advise you to take some time off-it won't hurt you to get to know the town again a little."

After a session of deep conversation with Mario in his study, Ezio made his way back into Monteriggioni. The question of the Pope's survival hung heavily over him, and he sought distraction from it. Mario had suggested he visit his tailor to order some new clothes to replace his travel-stained ones, and first he made his way to the man's shop, where he found him sitting cross-legged on his workbench, sewing a brocade cloak of a rich emerald green.

Ezio liked the tailor, a good-natured fellow a little older than Ezio was himself. The tailor greeted him warmly.

"To what do I owe the honor?" he asked.

"I think I'm due some new clothes," said Ezio a little ruefully. "Tell me what you think. Be honest!"

"Even if it were not my job to sell you clothes, signore signore, I would have to advise you that a new suit would be the making of you."

"I thought as much! Very well!"

"I'll measure you now. Then you can pick out the colors you'd like."

Ezio submitted himself to the tailor's ministrations and chose a discreet dark grey velvet for the doublet, with matching hose in wool.

"Can it be ready by tonight?"

The tailor smiled. "Not if you want me to do a good job on it, signore signore. But we can try for a fitting toward midday tomorrow."

"Very well," replied Ezio, hoping that the meeting he was to attend that evening would not result in his having to leave Monteriggioni immediately.

He was making his way across the main square of the town when he noticed an attractive woman who was struggling with an unwieldy box of red and yellow flowers-clearly too heavy for her to lift. At that time of day there were few people around, and Ezio had always found it difficult to resist a damsel in distress.

"Can I lend you a hand?" he asked, coming up to her.

She smiled at him. "Yes, you're just the man I need. My gardener was supposed to pick these up for me but his wife's sick so he had to go home and as I was passing this way in any case I said I'd fetch them-but this box is far too heavy for me. Do you think you could-?"

"Of course." Ezio stooped and hefted the box onto his shoulder. "So many flowers! You're a lucky woman."

"Even luckier now that I've run into you."

There was no doubt that she was flirting with him. "You could have asked your husband to fetch them for you-or one of your other servants," he said.

"I only have one other servant and she isn't half as strong as I am," replied the woman. "And as for a husband-I have none."

"I see."

"I ordered these flowers for Claudia Auditore's birthday." The woman looked at him.

"That sounds like fun."

"It will be." She paused. "In fact, if you'd like to help me out some more, I am rather looking for someone with a bit of class to escort me to it."

"Do you think I have enough class?"

She was bolder now. "Yes! No one in this entire town walks with greater bearing than you, sir. I am sure Claudia's brother, Ezio himself, would be impressed."

Ezio smiled. "You flatter me. But what do you know of this Ezio?"

"Claudia-who is a particular friend of mine-thinks the world of him. But he rarely visits her, and from what I can gather, he's rather distant."

Ezio decided it was time to come clean. "It's true, alas-I have been...distant."

The woman gasped. "Oh, no! You You are Ezio! I don't believe it. Claudia did say you were expected back. The party's supposed to be a surprise for her. Promise you won't say a word." are Ezio! I don't believe it. Claudia did say you were expected back. The party's supposed to be a surprise for her. Promise you won't say a word."

"You'd better tell me who you are now."

"Oh, of course. I am Angelina Ceresa. Now promise!"

"What will you do to keep me quiet?"

She looked at him archly. "Oh, I am sure I can think of several things."

"I'm longing to hear what they are."

They had reached the door of Angelina's house by this time. Angelina's elderly housekeeper opened it to them and Ezio placed the box of flowers on a stone bench in the courtyard. He faced Angelina and smiled.

"Now are you going to tell me?"

"Later."

"Why not now?"

"Signore, I assure you it will be worth the wait."

Little did either of them know that events would overtake them and they would not meet again.

Ezio took his leave and, seeing that the day was drawing in, directed his walk back toward the citadel. As he was approaching the stables, he noticed a child-a little girl-wandering down the middle of the street, apparently alone. He was about to speak to her when he was interrupted by the sound of frantic shouting and the thunder of a horse's hooves. Quicker than thought, he snatched up the child and moved her to the shelter of a doorway. He'd been in the nick of time. Around the corner a powerful warhorse came at a gallop, fully harnessed but riderless. In less than hot pursuit, and on foot, came Mario's stable-master, an elderly man called Federico, whom Ezio recognized.

"Torna qui, maledetto cavallo!" yelled Federico helplessly after the disappearing horse. Seeing Ezio, he said, "Can you help me, please, sir? It's your uncle's favorite steed. I was just about to unsaddle and groom him-something must have scared him-he's highly strung as it is." yelled Federico helplessly after the disappearing horse. Seeing Ezio, he said, "Can you help me, please, sir? It's your uncle's favorite steed. I was just about to unsaddle and groom him-something must have scared him-he's highly strung as it is."

"Don't worry, father-I'll try and get him back for you."

"Thank you-thank you." Federico mopped his brow. "I'm getting too old for this."

"Don't worry. Just stay here and keep an eye on this child-I think she's lost."

"Surely."

Ezio raced off after the horse, which he found without difficulty. It had calmed down and was even grazing some hay that was loaded onto a parked wagon. It balked slightly when Ezio approached, but then recognized him and did not run. He laid a comforting hand on its neck and patted it reassuringly before taking its bridle and leading it gently back the way they had come.

On the way, he had the opportunity to do another good deed. He encountered a young woman, frantic with anxiety, who turned out to be the mother of the lost child. Ezio explained what had happened, taking care to tone down the degree of danger the little girl had actually been in. Once he'd told her where the girl was, she ran ahead of him, calling out her child's name-"Sofia! Sofia!"-and Ezio heard an answering cry of "Mamma!" Minutes later he had rejoined the little group and handed the reins over to Federico, who, thanking him again, begged him not to say anything to Mario. Ezio promised not to, and Federico led the horse back to the stables.

The mother was still waiting with her daughter. Ezio turned to them with a smile.

"She wants to say a thank-you," said the mother.

"Thank you," said Sofia dutifully, looking up at him with a mixture of awe and trepidation.

"Stay with your mother in future," said Ezio kindly. "Don't leave her alone like that, capisci capisci?"

The little girl nodded mutely.

"We'd be lost without you and your family to watch over us, signore signore," said the mother.

"We do what we can," Ezio said, but his thoughts were troubled as he entered the citadel. Even though he was pretty sure he could stand his ground, he was not looking forward to his encounter with Machiavelli.

But there was still time enough before the meeting, and to avoid brooding on the course it might take, but also from natural curiosity, Ezio first climbed the ramparts to have a closer look at the new cannon Mario had installed and was so proud of. There were several of them, each with a pile of iron cannonballs neatly stacked by their wheels, beautifully chased in cast bronze. The biggest had barrels ten feet long, and Mario had told him that these weighed as much as twenty thousand pounds, but there were also lighter and more easily maneuverable culverins interspersed with them. In the towers that punctuated the walls were saker cannon on cast-iron mounts and lightweight falconets on wooden trolleys.

Ezio approached a group of gunners clustered around one of the bigger guns.

"Handsome beasts," he said, running a hand over the elaborately chased decoration around the touchhole.

"Indeed they are, Messer Messer Ezio," said the leader of the group, a rough-hewn master-sergeant whom Ezio remembered from his first visit to Monteriggioni as a young man. Ezio," said the leader of the group, a rough-hewn master-sergeant whom Ezio remembered from his first visit to Monteriggioni as a young man.

"I heard you practicing earlier. May I try firing one of these?"

"You could indeed, but we were firing the smaller cannon earlier. These big 'uns are brand-new. We don't seem to have got the trick of loading 'em yet and the master-armorer who's supposed to be installing them seems to have taken off."

"Have you got people looking for him?"

"Indeed we have, sir, but no luck so far."

"I'll have a look around, too-after all, these things aren't here for decoration and you never know how soon we'll need them."

Ezio set off, continuing his rounds of the ramparts. He hadn't gone more than another twenty or thirty yards when he heard a loud grunting from a wooden shed that had been erected on the top of one of the towers. Near it, outside, lay a box of tools. As he approached, the grunts resolved themselves into snores.

It was dark and hot inside the shed and smelled appallingly of stale wine. As his eyes grew accustomed to the dim light, Ezio quickly made out the form of a large man in his none-too-clean shirtsleeves spread-eagled on a pile of straw. He gave the man a gentle kick, but its only effect was for the man to splutter, half awake, and then turn over with his face to the wall.

"Salve, Messere," Ezio said, jostling the man again, less gently this time, with the toe of his boot. Ezio said, jostling the man again, less gently this time, with the toe of his boot.

This time the man twisted his head around to look at him and opened one eye. "What is it, friend?"