Chapter 4
If we were being honest, we wanted to collect our thoughts as we traversed the streets of Istanbul, spending the afternoon acquainting ourselves thouroughly with the Galatia District, not to mention avoiding any trouble along the wasn't too hard, since the city was an immensely crowded one.
Once we were satisfied with our surroundings, we returned to HQ, just as the first lamps were being lit in the dark interiors of the shops. Yusuf and some of his people were waiting for us.
The Turk immediatley approached us, looking pleased with himself, something which came easily to him. "Praise the heavens! Mentor and Master! I am glad to see you again. We feared we had lost you to the vices of the big city."
I laughed and Ezio smiled and spoke. "You are being melodramatic, and as for those vices, we have plenty of our own."
Yusuf nodded. "I hope you will approve of the arrangements we have made in your absence." Yusuf led us to an inner chamber, where a complete new outfit had been laid out for Ezio. Next to it were his weapons, and next to that, my own weapons, which we both donned. They were sharpened and looked as good as new, including new crossbows for the both of us.
"We noticed that you had no hookblades, so we have organized two for each of you."
Ezio and I exchanged a look. "Hookblade?" We both asked simultainiously.
"Yes, here." Yusuf drew back his sleeve to reveal what I had first taken to be a hidden-blade. But when Yusuf activated it, and it sprang forth, he saw that it was a more complex variant. The telescopic blade of the new weapon ended in a curved hook of well-tempered steel.
"Fascinating," said Ezio. "Me like!" I said at the same time.
"You've never seen one before? I grew up using these." Yusuf affirmed.
I shook my head, and Ezio said, "Show us."
Yusuf took two new hookblades from one of the Assassins in attendance, who'd held them at the ready, and tossed one to each of us. Transferring our hidden-blades from our right wrists to our left, under the bracers, we strapped the new hookblades to our right wrists.
I felt its unfamiliar weight and practiced releasing and retracting it. This was about as bad-ass as they came!
"You'd better give us a demonstration." Ezio said from my left, and Yusuf nodded. "Immediately, if you are ready." I nodded when Ezio glanced at me. "As we will ever be."
Yusuf smiled. "Then follow me and watch what I do closely."
We went outside and down the street in the light of late afternoon to a deserted space between a group of tall brick buildings. Yusuf selected one, whose high walls were decorated with projecting horizontal runs of tiled brick at intervals of some ten feet. Yusuf selected one, whose high walls were decorated with tiled brick at intervals of some ten feet.
Yusuf set off toward the building at a run, leaping, when he reached it, onto a couple of water barrels placed close to it, then, springing upward from them, he released his hookblade and used it to grip the first projecting run of tiles, pulling himself up with the hookblade and using his momentum to hook onto the run above, and so on until he was standing on the roof of the building, all in less than a few seconds.
"Damn, this kid's got moves!" I muttered as Ezio and I followed him with little trouble, although it did take a little bit longer, but not much.
"Don't stop to think," Yusuf told us when we had joined him. "Use your instincts and let the hook do the work. I can already see that after another couple of climbs like that, you'll have mastered it. You're quick learners, Mentor and Master."
I shrugged. "We have to be."
Yusuf smiled, and extended his own blade again for us to examine. "The standard Ottoman hook-blade has two parts - the hook and the blade, so that you can use one or the other independently. An elegant design, no?"
Ezio nodded. "A pity we didn't have one of these in the past."
Yusuf shrugged. "Perhaps then you had no need of one. Come!" We spent the next few hours making sure we knew how our new toys worked, then we joined Yusuf on the roof of a huge building. The view took my breath away, but was smart enough to familiarize myself with the city's layout. But another part of my mind, and probably Ezio's, just drank in the glory of the city.
"Welcome to Istanbul, Mentor and Master," said Yusuf, watching our stunned expressions. "The Crossroads of the World."
What I wouldn't have given for a video or photo camera!
"I can see now why they call it that." Ezio said from beside me.
"Many generations of men have ruled this city, but they have never subdued her. Whatever yoke is placed upon her neck, whatever neglect or pillage is visited upon her, she always bounces back."
I nodded. "It sounds like a damn good place to call home."
Yusuf nodded. "It is." Yusuf stepped to the edge of the tower after another minute or two, looked down, then turned to us again. "Race you to the bottom?" He asked, and, without waiting for a reply, threw himself from the parapet in an awesome Leap of Faith. "Son of a bitch!" I said to Ezio, as we watched him plummet like hawk catching its prey, and land safely in a hay wain he'd already singled out, 175 feet below.
"Age before beauty, Fratello!" I said to Ezio, who gave me a rude hand gesture in reply before following after Yusuf.
"I'll make you regret those ill-spoken words, Fratellino." He called over his shoulder before making his Leap of Faith.
Smiling, I took a moment to look at the city again. The Great City, the heiress of Ancient Rome. Constantinople was a thousand years old and had been home to hundreds of thousands of citizens at a time, when Rome and Florence were mere villages by comparison.
I felt a pang of pain and guilt as I remembered my two girls. I had to write to them soon, or I would go insane. I didn't want to be here, but it had been their idea for me to do so.
Then I thought of our faceless enemies, and an old song came to mind: "Bad boys! Bad boys! Whatch'ya gonna do when we come for you?" I sang, before executing my own Leap of Faith.
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