Part 11
We, finally, reached Firenze.
And not a moment too soon; Ezio had been harassing me about the dance the whole ride over.
We left our horses at the stable and started walking through out the town.
I noticed the Ezio kept eyeing a building. And I knew the look on his face when he eyed it.
'Dio. Ci risiamo.'
Finally, we came to a door.
Ezio knocked before we entered.
It was a workshop and, inside, was a man, a little shorter than Ezio, wearing a red hat and cape.
He rushed up to Ezio and tried to hug him and Ezio held him off.
"Ezio! You're still alive!"
"Look at this place! The past two years have been kind to you."
Just then, the man got a sullen face. "But you are not the same at all, are you...?"
Ezio shook his head, depressed.
I slid my hood off to respect the man's workshop. He noticed me and his face lit up. "And who is this?"
I nodded to the man. "Augustina Mignogna. A pleasure to meet you, Signore da Vinci."
"Per favore, call me Leonardo. And the pleasure is all mine, Signora Mignogna."
He, gently, took my hand and, lightly, kissed it.
He turned back to Ezio and asked, "What can I do for you two?"
"I was hoping you might beable to help us with something."
"Anything for you, my friend."
Ezio handed him the Codez page we got from Vieri and Leonardo all but jumped for joy.
He hurried over to his work table and started analyzing the page, working out the code and the pictures.
"I seems to be a manual of sorts...for different... assassination techniques."
We asked to see it and Leonardo explained that, rather than a design like the one on the Codex page that Ezio had brought us two years ago, it was just a series of sketches. Then, he grabbed at Ezio wrist blade and said that it was an inspired idea.
"Can you make these for us while we try what's in these manual fragments?"
"Take it. I'll have my assitant set up some dummies for you both to practice with. Eh, Venecenzo!"
...
When we returned to Leonardo's workshop, the modifications were done.
"Thank you, Leaonardo."
"Non c'`e di che!"
As Ezio was refitting his bracer, he said that we need to "see" someone while we were in town.
Leonardo looked around before whispering, "La Volpe."
"The fox?"
"Shhhhhh!"
"Capisco."
I stepped in. "But where would one find a fox."
Leonardo whispered, "Perhaps, near the Mercato, where the thieves dwell… Sta' attento, I miei amici."
We both patted him on the back before leaving to look for this "fox".
…
As we wander around the city, Ezio purchased new weapons and had his old ones repaired. I refused to purchase any weapons because I didn't need new weapons; what I had was all I had ever needed.
We also went around tearing down Ezio's wanted posters and bribing the heralds into not speaking of him.
"You really got yourself into a mess two years ago."
"I didn't get myself into any mess; I was thrown into it."
Ezio seemed a little more hostile than usual. And I got a feeling it had something to do with who ever was in the building that he kept looking at.
Suddenly, a man ran past us.
Ezio checked. "My pouch. Our money!"
"Oh… your money… I don't have your money!"
The man took off and we followed after him, telling him that if he wanted to live he would give us our money back.
Finally, we had him cornered. He had no where to run.
"We really have no interest in hurting you. So give us back our money and we'll call it even."
"Not so fact."
Ezio and I turned around to find a man in a brown cloak.
I rested my hand on my daggers, ready for anything.
"What do you want? Who are you?"
The man started walking around Ezio and me, saying, "They call me many things; Murderer. Tagliagole. Thief. But you may call me La Volpe. At your service, Messer Ezio and Pardona Augustina."
I knew that anybody who knew our names was dangerous so I whiped out a dagger and threw it at the cloaked man.
He caught it with ease and wasn't even scratched by it.
The cloaked man laughed at my shocked face. "It is good to see that you are as fierce as they say, mio caro. But, in the future, make sure you have all the information you need before you do anything drastic. It could save your life.
I took my hand, pressed the dagger handle into my palm and closed my fingers around it. Then, he turned my hand so that the back was facing up and kissed it.
I still didn't trust him. Of course, that was probably because I hated anyone who lectured me.
Ezio grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me back stepping in front of me. "How do you know our names?"
La Volpe chuckled. "It is my business to know everything in this city. Isn't that why you two are here?"
I took over. "Indeed. We need to find someone; to know where he'll be before he even does."
"Who?"
"Francesco de Pazzi." Ezio growled.
La volpe thought before saying, "There's word on the street of a caravan just arrived from Roma. A secret meeting at sunset tonight. You can learn something of Francesco's whereabouts there."
"Do you know where it is to be held?"
"Ma certo. Let me know when you two are ready and we'll go Oh, yes. Here is your money."
He tossed us our pouch, chuckling all the while.
…
Before we went off with La Volpe, Ezio and I decided to talk it over. To determine if he could be trusted.
"I don't want to trust him but, at the moment he's our only lead."
Ezio said nothing.
"What do you think?"
He still didn't say anything.
"Ezio?"
Then I saw what was distracting him. That damned building.
Fed up, I clapped my hands right in his ear. He covered his ear and scowled. "What was that for?"
"You weren't paying attention. You've been in and out of it all day."
"I'm sorry… I've had a lot on my mind."
He looked at the build again.
"No."
He turned to me, confused. "No what?"
"No. I'm not going to let you go see her, whoever she is."
He laughed, nervously. "What makes you think I want to see someone?"
"You think I'm blind? Or stupid? You've been looking at that building all day and the looks on your face say that there's someone who want to see. Be pure deduction, I figured out that it was an old flame of yours and you've been dying to see her ever since we arrived. Well, let me put you're dying to rest; you're not going to see her."
He looked at me sternly. "You don't give me orders."
I got right up in his face and said, "I've been an assassin far longer than you have to I have superiority over you. If you go out of your way to see this girl, you could blow our cover. Who knows? Maybe the templars know about your two and have set up a trap for your there. You're not going and that's final. Besides, it's for everyone's own good."
I walked away to tell La Volpe that we were ready.
I felt bad when Ezio's galre started burrowing into the back of my head.
'Believe me, Ezio; see her and you will only feel pain.'
Dio. Ci risiamo – God. Here we go again.
Per favore – Please
Non c'`e di che – No problem
Sta attento, I miei amici - Be safe, my friends
Taliagole - Cutthroat
mio caro - my dear
Ma certo - yes