The Battle of Viana
Author's note: I wish you enjoy this, whoever might read it. It's not a story per se, more like the way I felt during the second to last memory in AC Brotherhood. Also, a tribute to Ubisoft, who made such an awesome mission.
My name is Ezio Auditore da Firenze. I am the Mentor of the Assassin Brotherhood in Italia.
Even though I am not great a story-teller,I will try...to tell you a story.
A story of a battle with a devil in flesh, one that desguised
himself as man of the cloth once.But I tell you this story not to gloat about his defeat by my hand, but as
a confession.
Cesare Borgia-the former Captain General of the Papal Troops.
I sent him to prison. Condemned for crimes of murder, betrayal,heresy, incest...he did not stay in confinement too much.
No. He had other plans, and when he was captured he made the mistake of implying those plans.
But I only had suspicion...
It was in December 1503 Anno Domine when I began the Investigation of those plans. I spoke to my old friend,
Leonardo Da Vinci, and asked for his advice. I also presented myself with a gift of 3000 florins for him, as he was without a patron.
We talked for several hours, debated what to do with the Apple of Eden-a mysteryous artifact capable of bending the men's mind.
It's power impressive enough that Templar and Assassin alike wanted it.
We agreed on hiding it, though Leonardo said it was pity for humanity to lose such wonder.
But my friend's words revealed to me that I needed the Apple for one more job-finding Cesare.
Surely the Apple could do that, it did things even harder to believe:made copies of myself, controlled Girolamo Savnarola's Lieutenants...
made a God speak to me...and through me.
I took off my right glove and touched the artifact lying on a table in front of me.
My mind was filled with visions, a distant future ...a man called Silvio Berlusconi ruled all of Italia, then a man dressed in strange clothes stood at a window
and people cheered him Mussolini...
I struggled to focus, too far I have gone...Needed to get closer.
After what seemed like hours of drifting through knowledge of the Apple, I found the bastardo.
Only that just a few seconds have passed.
"I must go", I said to my friend as I left.
"What do you intend to do?" Leonardo asked, concerned.
"To plant a seed."
Yes, that was my intention. To hide the Apple. But it took some preparation.
I began searching a safe place for the damned powerful artifact.
I left Roma, journeyed south, then north, east and west to the surrounding sites where it could be kept.
I found no such place. None of them worth the risk.
I returned to the City of Romulus from time to time, to see it blossom under the guidance of my Brotherhood.
And spring turned to summer, and then it turned to fall...
Years passed, no safe place for the Golden Apple.
When I believed it couldn't get worse, my oldest friend, Leonardo had been kidnapped.
Hermeticists, a mad cult took him for his knowledge.
I saved him. And dealt with the worshippers of Hermes.Now all what was left ...to seal away the Apple as I no longer needed it.
May this Piece of Eden never be found by Templars, Hermeticist or any who intend to do ill. In its sacred home it shall be safe.
Requiescat in pace.
By January 25th 1507 I was already prepared for the struggle to come, so I departed for Espana.
All calculations done by the Apple of Knowledge, it was easy to know how to find Cesare Borgia.
Mi amigo...Niccolo Machiaveli helped in the matter, too.
I found the mad dog trying to siege the mighty castle of Viana, in the Navarese countryside. That was in March .
Cesare Borgia was just burning down the stables of the village outside Viana when I arrived, alone.
He, on the other hand had a full squad of men with him, well equiped, just to be secure when burning those stables.
It seemed the time in prison made him cautious. Or paranoid.
As soon as I saw him I attacked.
I charged at full speed towards him and with my hidden blade extended I pressed at him.
I tried to stab the bastard in the throat but he caught my hand and my blade only managed to scratch his neck guard.
He backed off , calling to his guards.
As he was fleeing, and I was fighting his men, a cannonball hit right next to me.
I was lucky, it didn't kill me thanks to the sturdy Armour of Brutus I wore, and thanks to the great number of soldiers that surrounded me.
Their bodies mitigated the power of the blast, only stunning me.
I woke next to a dozen bodies of Navarese , soldiers and unlucky stable boys.
I found a horse, one who had been blessed enough to survive the atacks on the stables.
I closed in on him slowly and calmed him down, then I mounted.
My Senses helped me find Cesare's track. I followed it.
I rode fast to avoid being hit by another cannon ball. Only that my haste did not help much.
As I managed to get close to the village, the horse I rode was trampled to the ground by another cannon ball.
Again the Armour of Brutus protected me, but the horse was dying. So I stayed with him for a few minutes to prepare the white stunt for the other world.
"Couragio, mi amico... Requiescat in pace."
From there I set on foot, and in the village I encountered the defending army of the Castle.
Wearing yellow-green uniforms and poorly equipped for battle against the invaders, they wouldn't stand a chance against me, but I tried to stay my blade.
As much as possible.
I entered the village proper and I eavesdropped on two guards, one in heavy armour and one with a spear, talking.
"I heard Cesare Borgia commands the Navarrese."the spearman said.
"Quien?"
"He once ruled all of Roma." The spearman's voice revealed no fear.
"What happened?" the other man sounded more worried.
"I have heard that an assassin killed all his supporters.
Great rulers rise and fall like leaves in the wind."
"I will give you wind!" the heavy armoured man joked.
They laughed and didn't notice me slip behind their backs and make a silent double assassination to open the path they blocked.
I managed to catch up with Cesare, but I didn't strike because he had an impressive escort.
Then a woman ran up to him and begged for assistance.
"Ayudenme. Mi hijo. Mi hijo esta herido"(Help. My son. My son is wounded.)
Cesare only walked past her, leaving two of his guards handle the problem.
That they did by killing the woman with a dagger in the stomach. Then one of them spat on the poor woman's dead body.
I could stay in the shadows no more. They had to pay for this injustice!
I ran up to the pair of bastardi and stabbed them in the throats with the hidden blades.
I moved so fast they didn't even see me well.
I also couldn't let a couple of soldiers rape a woman.
"Dejame en paz!"(Leave me in peace!)
"I will not hurt you."
I killed the rapists with my blades and helped the shocked victim hide in the shadows of a building.
Hopefully, she wouldn't draw any attention.
From there I moved on, following the track my target left behind him.
I reached an area where the defending forces of Viana were under pressure of the Navarrese attackers.
The Invaders were better equipped, with better morale an outnumbered the other fighting party.
It was a slaughter.
I enterd the conflict on the Vianans' side.
I took a sword from one of their dead soldiers and killed as many enemies I could in one long streak.
Then I rallied the men in yellow-green vests to fight with me.
" This wave is just the beginning. If you do not have a strategy, you will lose.
Follow me! Help me and you will prevail!" I tried to raise their morale.
"Why do you wish to help us?" a man asked pressing his hand against his shoulder wound.
" Because I know you are just defending your home, your families. I would have done the same."
And I did.
And they followed. We climbed a siege tower, killed any bowmen who would shoot down on us.
But the tower caught fire. I managed to leap and and fall into a hay stack, before the tower crumbled. But the other soldiers weren't so lucky.
Never mind. I had no time to mourn their losses.
I made my way through another group of fighting soldiers .
This time the defending army forces seemed to be evenly matched with the invading army.
I was in front of the Castle walls, now, and my Eagle Senses helped me find Cesare.
I couldn't see him from where I was, but my advanced hearing caught the sound of his voice screaming orders.
There was also the sound of metal hit against metal, the smell of blood carried by the wind.
He was on the battlements.
I climbed another siege tower, with much quicker movements this time as I had the fresh memory of the dead soldiers that helped me in mind.
And I reached the battlements.
I fought a small group of soldiers with swords, but their blades were no match for the Sword of Altair I carried.
Then I approached Cesare from behind, still drawing his attention.
"Cesare, the walls surround you. You have nowhere to run."
"Come then, Ezio. Let us finish this."
He called a group of guards with swords and maces, luckily his stronger men were busy with Vianan troops.
I unsheathed the Sword of Altair and waited for one of them to attack.
I countered a sword blow and stabbed my attacker in the chest with my own weapon.
Then I made a chain of kills with my sword and the gun at my wrist.
The chain ended with Cesare who avoided death, in this, I must admit he had some skill.
He succesfully dodged some of my most precise attacks.
But after some time, he was tired.
He turned to call to his troops, and that is when I attempted another stab at his throat.
He caught my hand just in time to move it and avoid death.
But I managed to strip him off of his pauldrons.
"Fortuna (Luck) will never fail me!" he said.
Some of his best men heard his yells and came to his aid.
"Roma, Italia, Espana, they will all be mine!"
Such words he used. The last words of a man desperate for power.
Machiavelli admired him once.But I did not.
He was so desperate for power because he was lacking true power.
And he used such perverted means to achieve his goal: lies, threats and fear, he stole from others...even their lives.
In the end he sacrificed everything and everybody for his own gain.Even his family.Even his loyal and capable men.
He killed Micheleto Corella , his most loyal killer when he was no longer needed.
He forced his sister, Lucrezia, to suck her father's dick only to provide him funds...
"Oh, do you think so?" I said, mockingly.
He gritted his teeth, but stayed back. More men came to back him up.
He pulled out a pistol and shot me. My armour once again protected me.
I had to kill his men to get to him. Despite that, in a few minutes we were face to face once again.
I attacked with my sword, but he avoided my downward slash by moving to the side.
I moved quickly and kicked his knee, then delivered a hit in the head with the hilt of my sword.
That distracted him so I let go of my sword(only for a few moments, I hoped) and grabbed him.
I extended my hidden blade and prepared to stab, again.
I missed. Again. But looking at the bright side, I striped him of his chest guard armour.
Yet I lost the Sword of Altair, and I couldn't just pick it up in the middle of the fight.
Merda!
Now the Elite of Cesare's men were coming. Three swordsmen with better sets of armour and helmets with ruffled crests.
One brute of a man in full set of armour and two agile guards who were teasing me with their quick footwork.
The Brute delivered a powerful axe blow which I managed to dodge, but the weapon ripped my Auditore Cape.
Merda!
I extended the blades at my wrists and I stabbed the man many times in the chest.
Surprisingly, the armour was not as thick as it looked, and he was dead.
I continued the kill chain with the Agiles.
I left the Swords Men at the end as they seemed more experienced.
Cesare mumbled something about my family's name while trying to reload his gun.
I took care of the three guards and focused my attention on the Borgia.
He looked so pityful. Alone. And weak. I almost wanted to spare him. Almost.
But then his sins came back to my mind. I rembered how he surrounded himself with lustful men like Juan Borgia the Elder
and arrogant bastards like Baron de Valois.
I forced my blade on him once more. This time I took him the last piece of armour he had:his neck-guard.
I let him go, move a little. I let him assess the situation. I let him succumb to fear of incoming death.
I disarmed him of his sword. I took away his gun, too.
He was pathethic. He tried to back away, but I caught him by the collar and I began punching him in the gut.
I threw him against one of the battlements walls. He trampled, fell. I took that opportunity to weaken him even more.
I stomped on his knee caps, breaking his legs.
He groaned from the terrible pain he must have felt, but he wasn't content.
"The throne was mine!" he yelled, and from his position he seemed to gaze into the heavens and ask for answers.
"Wanting something doesn't make it your right."
"What do you know?" his tone was very offensive.
"I know that a true leader empowers the people he rules." I learned that myself, from good people.
"I will lead mankind into a new world!" He would rather lead people to hell.
"Che nessuno ricordi il tuo nome. Requiescas in pace."
I lifted him as easily as wind lifts a leaf into the air and held him over the battlements.
"You cannot kill me! No man can kill me!"
"Then I leave you in the hands of Fate!" And I threw him to his death.