Entry #17
1492
Having left Baltasar after our conversation I made my way back home and picked out some supplies. I made sure to store the gold carefully and replace my throwing knives, my burning powder, and fill my syringe with poison.
Once the preparations were complete I exited via the back door and made my way to the roof tops. I climbed to the highest tower in the district, strangling a guard in the process to get some breathing room, and got my bearings.
I knew that Lombardi was being held in a small run down house near the Palazzo Senatorio, I'd been able to squeeze that information out of my last few investigatins. I also knew that every day a parcel of food was brought there by some insects from the Rosa in Fiore. I would hit two birds with one stone.
I waited patiently outside the brothel until one of its degenerate inhabitants emerged accompanied by two others, clinging to each other for safety, as if that would help. I tailed them across the rooftops, suprisingly there were few guards to cause me trouble that night. Maybe my employer already has some influence in the Pope's city.
As my prey neared the bakery they passed through a dark alley, emboldened by the idea that their little maneuver had actually scared me off. I leapt down from my perch landing right behind them. They froze up for a second from fright which gave me just enough time to kill two of them with throwing knives, then I launched myself at the third, silencing her scream with my syringe. When I was satisfied I stabbed her quickly with a knife, I had no time for my usual procedures tonight. Then I let her body fall gently, landing next to the others.
I quickly collected my throwing knives and returned to the roof tops quietly making my way to their intended destination. I stopped on a nearby building to see what I was up against. Apparently a handful of thieves had been assigned to patrol the surrounding area, they were more agile than the guards I'd faced before but they lacked heavy armor and weaponry which made them easier to take care of.
I leapt to the nearest rooftop and quickly took my position behind a chimney. As the first thief walked over to investigate the noise I pulled him behind the chimney roughly and put my knife through his stomach. Then I peaked around the chimney and spotted my next target beginning to dose off near the edge of the third building over. I put him to sleep permanently when I broke his neck.
The next two guards were off-duty huddling for warmth in an alley next to my final destination while they played a game with some die. They were too focused on their game to notice me and I let my throwing knives take care of them. The last guard, however was nowhere to be found.
"He must be inside..." I muttered, throwing thelimp bodies out of sight into a dark corner of the alley. Then I climbed up the wall and quickly grabbed a window ledge pulling myself up and into the building.
The interior of the building was coated with dust and, with the exception of a faint light coming from an adjacent room, apparently uninhabited. I knew that if Lombardi was here he'd have to be there, and the guard would be with him. Making sure my pulse was steady I made my way towards the light, staying close to the shadows in the event my final opponent should walk into the room.
As I peaked into the next room I found the source of the light, a trap door near the wall which was bolted shut. I bent down, pulled the bolt free, and swung the trap door open revealing a ladder that led into a large chamber under the house. As soon as the trap door was open I heard muffled screaming from down below.
I took the ladder two rungs at a time and set myself down in the room below. The chamber was bare with the exception of a lit furnace, and two tables. One was covered with a variety of grisly instruments; knives, thumbscrews, a cudgel embedded with metal studs, a poker stained with soot from the furnace, and a strange device that looked like a a wheel-lock rifle with a small set of prongs attached to the tip where the barrel should have been.
The other table was supporting a man covered in scars whose limbs had been lashed to the table legs by ropes. Muffled screams emanated from the man's mouth, which had been gagged with an old rag. The man went silent and began studying me, his bloodshot eyes moving frantically. I had found Ilario Lombardi.
"Hold still," I said, grabbing a sharp knife from the other table. He immediately started screaming again. I grabbed him by the throat to silence him and tried to calm him. "Rodrigo Borgia sent me, stay quiet if you want to ever see your estate again." He stopped screaming just as suddenly as he had begun. 'That's better,' I thought. I quickly sliced through the restraints around his arms and legs. Then I helped him sit up.
The scars lining his body were obviously causing him great pain as he cringed as I moved to support him. They were spread across his entire body, even his face had been severely burned leaving him with no eyebrows and a mass of peeling flesh. Only his chin had been spared and that didn't help matters. "Can you walk?" I said. He nodded and reached to remove his gag, then his eyes grew wide and he started shouting again. "What is it?" I asked. He raised one hand and pointed behind me. I spun around, and narrowly dodged a fist aimed at my head.
The last guard had entered the room while I had been busy with Lombardi. He was quicker than the others, and as I tried to get him with my knife he dodged my attack smoothly. The man wore a hood over his face and a strange bracer on his left arm. He also had a thin stiletto in his belt and he drew it quickly.
When I moved to strike again I feinted a slash at his forearm. He moved his dagger to block and I took my chance to aim a kick at his groin. My foot made contact and he swore loudly while bending over in pain. I saw my chance, I stabbed downwards aiming for his back, hoping to pierce one of his lungs. But he recovered quicker than I expected and moved out of my way.
He then lunged at me, his knife ready to plunge through my chest. But my kick had done enough to put a dent in his concentration. I dodged him easily and tripped him with my leg sending him stumbling across the room. His momentum shattered, he accidentaly lost hold of his dagger and it spun off into the dark recesses of the chamber.
My opponent managed to regain his composure and lunged at me again, much to my surprise, without a weapon. As I moved to stab him he brought the bracer on his left arm up to meet my blade. At the time I thought this the last, desperate attack of a dead man; the bracer would never deflect my blade in time, I had won. Then he made an odd motion with his hand, and a blade popped out from under the bracer.
My knife bounced off this hidden blade and I was knocked to the ground by his other hand. "Who are you?" the man said, his knife to my throat. I answered his query with silence, not his preferred response. "It doesn't matter," he said, "The Spaniard isn't getting control of Roma, not while I live." Then he brought his arm up, ready to drive the blade into my throat. My throat tightened. I had come all this way, trained so hard, followed in my father's footsteps, and I would die here, without honor, and without making a difference. I closed my eyes. Then I heard a bang accompanied by a loud crack, and I felt his body crumple on top of me.
I opened my eyes and saw the man's hood was soaked with blood. I rolled his lifeless body off me and saw Lombardi standing over me, the strange instrument I had seen earlier in his hand, coated in blood. He'd removed his gag during our fight and was breathing heavily. "Bruciare all'inferno, bastardo!" he shouted at the now harmless corpse. Then he observed his new weapon, turning it over in his hands. "I might keep this," he said, spinning it in his hand, "Who knew it was good for more than killing livestock?"
His joke brought me back to the present situation. We were in a secret chamber, under an abandoned building, with a dead body, the dead body of a political assassin no less. We had to leave, now.
I stood up, motioning for him to come over, and I began stripping the corpse of his clothes. "Here," I said, throwing the clothes at him, "Cover yourself." He looked down at the clothes disgruntled.
"You expect me to wear these filthy rags?" he said with disbelief. I turned slowly, staring at him through the lenses in my mask. He laughed nervously, "Of course, you're right, no time like the present." With that dealt with I unfastened the bracer from the dead man's arm, an amazing piece of machinery this hidden blade, and noticed a ring on his hand.
When I pulled it off his finger I noticed a strange mark underneath. Here was another mystery about this man. None of the other guards I'd killed had any special markings. I took the liberty of severing the finger and packing it for study. I also brought the blade.
Our preparations complete, I led my new companion out of the building. Thankfully our biggest problem was how talkative the nobleman was now that he'd been freed from his subterranean prison. First he began compiling a mental list of what he would do when he got home, then he started speaking to me about his trials, and finally he kept thanking me for rescuing him and complimenting my combat skills.
"Of course," he said as we neared his palazzo, "I did help. But I won't forget your actions doctore. You have gained a friend in Ilario Lombardi!" he held out his hand, a humorous smile on his face. I shook it and left him at the gates calling for his servants. He would be safe, and hopefully he'd improve his security.
...
It is now dusk the next day. I slept all day after last night and I regret closing the shop for a day. I'll spend tomorrow and the day after working here. I have to be careful so my nightly studies don't affect my duties during the day.
On another note I've analyzed the evidence I retrieved last night. I've sketched a replica of the symbol burnt into the finger and it appears to be some sort crest. I've searched through some texts Balthasar gave me that portray various family crests and have found something similar located in Toscana.
Balthasar is searching for this "apple" in Toscana, could this crest have some connection? Was the kidnapping of Ilario Lombardi a ploy by this "mad monk" to prevent the Spaniard from achieving the power and influence of the Holy See? I will keep these musings a secret, until I know more.
As for the weapon I retrieved last night, it is as intriguing a mystery as the crest. It appears that the blade is activated by a pulley mechanism of some kind. It is very old to still be in good working condition, I'll keep it as a souvenir of sorts.
One thing is for certain. From now on I am in the employ of Rodrigo Borgia. I even received a chest of gold from Balthasar today which he'd received to pay me with. But I must be cautious, I can't let this eclipse Father's work. On a final note I must train more, I can not risk another close-call.