London, England
August 1606
"How do women stand to wear this contraption all of their days?" The woman asked as she entered the theater. A man walked with her, the two arm in arm.
The man chuckled as he escorted the woman to a set of stairs leading to the second floor of the theater. "I believe they refer to it as fashion." He spoke. "Quite frankly it's time you wore a dress for once, caro cugino."
The woman looked at him before ascending the staircase. "I have worn many a dress in my lifetime. None of which have gotten me to where I am now." She retorted. "If I wanted to live a life wearing a dress and doing mundane activities day in and day out, I would have seeked shelter from an abbey."
A man stood at the top of the staircase, working for the theater. He was there making sure everyone went to their proper seats. "Tickets please."
The man with the woman showed them their tickets. Two seats in a private box. "Special guests from the play writer! You two should consider yourselves lucky! Your box is down the hall, third door on the left. Enjoy the show."
"Grazie, signore." the woman spoke. the man tipped his hat towards the employee before the two walked towards their box.
"Well, what do you think?" He asked her.
"Circa?"
"Do you think the Templars will be here? Make their presence known?"
"Is my cousin, the great Alejo Auditore de Firenze, scared of a couple of Templars?" She asked sitting in her seat.
The man shook his head as he looked over the balcony looking at the people who came to see the play. He leaned against the banister propping his elbow on the railing. "I am not scared. If there is a Templar presence here we could be out numbered or bare witness to a mass casualty."
The woman looked up to him, adjusting the skirt of her dress. "We will prevent mass casualty." She stood up looking around the theater. She pointed to the stage. "If we see anyone making a move, you can throw a knife at the rope. It would bring the curtain down, then we can jump down from here and hide in the crowd as we make our way to the Templars, capito?"
He looked around not sure if they were doing the right thing. He then nodded. "Sì." He went to sit down. Alejo and his cousin, Elena Maria Merlo de Roma, were grandchildren to the famous master assassin Ezio Auditore De Firenze. However they did not share the relationship that cousins shared, they acted more like siblings. Alejo didn't want Elena Maria in the order. However what he lacked in skills, she gained, and vise versa.
The cousins were in London on an assignment from the Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando I de' Medici. They were sent to London from Tuscany with a cryptic letter. The Duke knew of someone who owed him a favor and it was up to the cousins to deliver the letter, get it decoded, and return to Italia as soon as possible. Of course there were some complications on the way to London. Nothing the assassins hadn't seen before.
There was a knock on the door before it opened. A man in his early fortys accompanied by his wife. The twins stood up smiling. Elena Maria spoke first. "Saluti, ser Shakespeare."
Alejo chimed in. "Madonna." She spoke towards Anne Hathaway, William Shakespeare's wife.
Shakespeare nodded. "Mr. Auditore and Miss Merlo. How is London treating you?"
"Fairly well. Though I would have to say I am beginning to feel the effects of homesickness as we speak." Alejo spoke.
Elena Maria spoke up. "My cousin misses his family. Especially his wife." She spoke.
"Ah, love." Shakespeare spoke. "It will be the death of us all someday." he added. He pulled two pieces of parchment out of his coat pocket. "Here is the letter for the Duke. Translated into English and Italian. The original text was written in Croatian. Seems odd to send an allegiance letter to an Italian Duke written in such a language." Elena Maria took the letters looking at them as Shakespeare talked with Alejo. Anne looked at the writings with the young woman. Shakespeare looked at the women. "Mr. Auditore, care for a walk with me? I may have something that could aid you in your adventures."
Alejo looked at Elena Maria before looking back to their gracious host. "Lead the way." He spoke soon leaving the private box with Shakespeare.
Elena Maria looked up as the two men left. She smirked before looking back at the paper. Anne sat next to the young Italian woman. "William lost much sleep over these letters. You see, not only was it written in Croatian, it was written backwards and the lines were out of order. On the original text you would read the first line, third line, second line, then the fourth. Some of the words were scrambled as well. Someone went to great lengths to ensure The Duke could not read the letter."
Elena Maria compared the texts as Anne explained how Shakespeare had to decipher the letter. "This letter was not intended for the Duke. This letter contains code words, a plan to assassinate Ferdinando Medici."
Anne looked from the young woman to the English text. "How can you tell?"
Elena Maria look to the older woman. "I'm an assassin. This is something I was trained to see. The Templars use code words in their letters, in case they are intercepted."
"Why would they go to such great lengths? Letters like these produce proper evidence to criminalize them." Anne asked her.
Elena Maria folded the letters in her hands. "The Templars seek power over everything. Land, currency, minds. They claim to desire stability, order and power. Humanity can only be saved by people such as my cousin and myself. Assassins came into existence for more than bloodshed and war. We protect humanity's right to free will and suppression. We are not miracle workers, Madonna. We simply wish to protect the rights every person deserves."
Anne grew silent for a few seconds. She closed her eyes in thought before sitting up in her chair. "Spoken like a true politician."
Elena looked at the patrons of the theater as they eagerly awaited the start of the show. She smirked before chuckling. "My fiancé would die happily if he heard those words."
Anne looked back to Elena Maria. She cleared her throat a little before speaking. "Do not take offense to this, however, you are to be married? To who?"
Elena Maria continued to look out watching carefully for any sort of activity. "My padre has paid my dowry. twenty thousand florins, ten paintings costing a total of twenty thousand florins, plus three horses." She informed the English woman. "He is a noble of Venezia, Davino Gucciardo."
Anne nodded. "After the wedding, will you retire from your work?"
Elena Maria took in a breath, collecting her thoughts. She heard an eerie silence befall upon the crowd. Something wasn't quite right. She looked up and saw an archer taking aim at Anne. She stood up, rushing over to stand in front of the woman as the archer release his hold on the arrow. She let out a scream right before the civilians looked up. Within seconds the crowd began to run out of the building, toppling over people and seats.
Elena Maria stood up before looking to Anne. "You must leave now, quickly." She said.
"What about you?" Anne asked. "You are injured. You need to see a healer."
Elena Maria jumped to the top of the railing, breaking the end of the arrow off. "My apologies, Madonna. I must save the people." She had a knife hidden in a secret pocket of the corset. She wrapped her arm around a rope that had parted a decorative curtain around the box. "The show must go on." She grit her teeth before using her injured arm to cut the rope.