Rough Ride

The black stallion Gemma was astride was her own horse; he had traveled from Sicily with the twins as he was most suited for the Assassin. He was a big, burly creature who was prepared for war & didn't flinch away from the shouts or screams of the dying. She never had to urge him on, it was as if he anticipated his riders every move. Gemma loved him, she had named him Diablo. & he was a devil.

Diablo's hooves pounded into the dirt testily as together, they watched Gemini mount his own borrowed steed as Ezio's roan colored horse trotted up to the twins. "He is yours, Gemma?" Ezio asked, indicating towards the black muscled beast between her thighs.

"Si, one of Sicily's finest," Gemma said proudly, leaning forward to pat the thick neck of Diablo, who snorted loudly & shook out his mane.

"He looks ready to go, so we'll let him lead," Ezio said with an amused smirk on his face, watching horse & rider interact.

Diablo didn't need much prompting to finally get underway. As soon as Ezio gave the signal for her to go, Diablo took off like a shot down the path that would lead him to Monteriggioni. Gemini & Ezio had to urge their horses into a brutal pace just to keep the black stallion in their sights.

"Merde, he is quick!" Ezio shouted over the pounding sound of the two slower animals to Gemini. Gemma's twin only grinned, knowing that she & the animal were taking it easy to allow the men to follow along behind. That was until Ezio spotted an arrow whizzing just past Diablo's flank.

Gemini saw it, too, & the two shared a look of fear for the female Assassin, who seemed oblivious to the threat, before they kicked at their horses simultaneously to make them go faster. Fear spurned them on as they raced to try to catch up to Diablo.

Ezio let off an eagle's cry as Gemini shouted out to her, but she was too far ahead. It wasn't until four horses flanked Diablo on either side, making it eight in total, that she realized something was wrong. The riders of the brown war horses were covered head to toe in armor, as were the horses.

Ezio drew his crossbow & sent bolt after bolt into the woods where the arrows aimed for Gemma had come from, outing their position for Ezio to make easy work of them. But they were no longer a threat, the guards trying to knock Gemma from Diablo were. Her only saving grace at this point was that Diablo was faster.

But the reach of the horsemen's mace were enough to try to knock Gemma off of her horse as she tried to get away from them. Diablo understood the distress of his rider & the horse pushed himself faster as Gemma withdrew her own mace tipped scepter.

Ezio's crossbow aimed at one of the farthest flanking horses & he loosed a bolt towards it, nailing the rider just under his helm & above the heavy metaled collar of his armor. The killing blow sent the rider sprawling & spooked the horse, who reared up with a frightened neigh as its heavy hoof struck the horse next to it, right on its hindquarter. The second horse affected by Ezio's mastery grinded to a halt as its head lowered, causing the rider to comically fall over the horses head to be immediately stomped by the passing, spooked animal. The two riderless horses took off into the woods, encouraging Ezio to continue pushing his own steed to the limit to try to catch up, to help Gemma.

Knowing that Ezio & Gemini were riding right behind her caused Gemma a certain amount of calm calculation. She reined Diablo, who slowed down considerably for her to slam her mace into the back of the head of the guard to her right. She wanted to even it out, & leave one rider on each side for her to make work of, so while the rider was dazed, she pushed Diablo to a fast pace again as she cut hard to the right so that Diablo pushed himself right against the war horse. As if he knew what to do, Diablo's sharp teeth snapped out to bite at the neck of the enemy horse, though it was guarded by the metal. The scare worked, & the horse grew uneasy & slammed itself into the friendly horse to its right, causing both horses to entangle their limbs in each other & crashed heavily to the ground.

Gemma gave a short war cry as she was left with two guards to compete with, who both seemed to be out for her blood. But Ezio had urged his horse on enough that he was right behind the last remaining one on the right side. He stood up on the saddle of his horse & launched himself onto the saddle of one guard, his hidden blade slamming into the unprotected neck of the guard before he was able to throw the guard to the ground. He continued on riding the war horse as Gemma looked to him, her eyes alight with excitement. He was amazed, but his grin fell as he watched the guard on the left hand side reach back with his mace, his aim obvious in knocking Gemma in the side of her unprotected temple to send her flying off of Diablo.

A shot rang out, & the guard paused mid-swing, his body seizing up before blood splatter out from behind his helm & he slumped forward on his horse, dead. Gemini finally reached them, smoke still pouring off of his hidden gun attached to his vambrace where his hidden blades sat. Ezio leaned to the side & grabbed the reins to Diablo & pulled heavily so that the three horses could gallop into the woods at the side of the road to escape the main route.

..::*::..

Once Ezio had been confident that the road was safe, going himself to check them, he entered the protection of the woods on his newly acquired war horse & picked his way back to the twins. Gemma sat at the bank of a small river, lowering her hands into the clear water to splash her face, while Gemini watched her back, always guarding her. His sword pulled out of his sheath as he heard Ezio returning long before he saw him, but gave a short nod as the sharp blade slid back into its home when Gemini saw it was only Ezio returning.

"We should set up camp," Gemini said as he stepped up to the war horse to take its reins so Ezio could hop off.

"I disagree. I say we keep pushing. We can make it to Monteriggioni before dawn," Ezio answered, looking up to the darkening sky above the tree line.

"You want to risk being seen by guards again, completely in the dark?" Gemini asked him in an incredulous tone. Ezio seemed to be reckless, which Gemini was the opposite. He liked to plan every move ahead. Ezio was too much like Gemma.

"I agree with Ezio, we should keep moving." Gemma stood from the bank, drying her hands off on the fabric of her skirts. "We'll be sitting ducks if we set up a camp for too long." She crossed over to Diablo & dug something out of one of his saddlebags before she brought her opened palm to his mouth. The horse munched on the offered sugar cubes, hard to come by & expensive, but Gemma knew he loved it.

"I must protest. If one of us stays on watch all night—""We'll be overrun by guards." Gemini was cut off by Ezio. He opened his mouth to argue even farther, but Gemma had mounted Diablo, who gave a snorting whinny.

"We're going, Gem. Unless you want to stay behind," she grimaced to her brother, as she hated to go up against him, but she knew Ezio was right. They had the chance to use the dark as their cover, not their enemy. They had wasted too much time as it was.

"There is the problem of my horse," Ezio stated, reaching out to pat the steel of the armor on his war horse's neck. "I can hardly ride into Monteriggioni on this; I'll be targeted on sight."

Gemma flushed, but scooted farther in her saddle. "You can ride with me, Maestro." "Are you sure that's a good idea, Gemma?" Gemini asked, but it was too late, Ezio had already climbed up into the saddle behind her & placed his arms around her thin waist. Diablo snorted as his hooves struck the ground heavily. The horse turned his head so his dark brown, almost black, eyes regarded Ezio with suspicion, it seemed. He wasn't used to the additional weight. But he didn't buck him off, which was a relief to Gemma. She knew her animal was finicky, & only let her near him in such an intimate way. She clucked her tongue approvingly to Diablo, who gave another snort as he looked away, unimpressed. His gaze went to watch Gemini mount the white steed he had purchased in Venice, while Gemma looked over her shoulder at Ezio with a grin, who squeezed his arms around her waist.

"Madonna," he breathed against her neck as he closed his eyes, comforted by the closeness of her pleasure. Before he could get too comfortable however, Gemma gave Diablo a soft kick, & the horse raced off towards the road.