Note : Thea Sauer, born on June 30th 1472.
Also forgot to mention last time that Thea and her family had to relocate temporarily to Munich (in Southern Germany) between 1485 and 1487. I made the correction update on the previous chapter, sorry about that.
Venice, May 1491
Neri and Thea had been at the latter's place for a few hours now. Thea's house was quite large, and it also served as a bookshop on the ground floor that 3 other girls helped Thea manage, especially when she is away. The place opened to customers at around 10 am and was closed to them at around 5 pm but the shop mainly operated through deliveries. A relatively humble looking business for a noblewoman but it made Thea happy and it had been very profitable so far, so why not ? Thea's family was still available to help her financially should the need arise but so far she had been doing more than alright as indicated.
Overall, the place was quite cozy. After resting for some time, Neri said that she had to go walk outside a bit to go look for her "friend", leaving her belongings in Thea's care. Thea understood and started to cook some food for Neri so that could eat when she returns, which Neri deeply thanked her for.
Once outside, Neri walked around the city a bit, not exactly sure of where to go. She had heard from those two strange individuals that "Ezio, Antonio and the others" were out of town, and assuming those were the ones she was looking for, that meant that looking for Antonio de Magianis at the San Polo district might be pointless and that she would be staying in Venice longer than expected, which might give her the time to elucidate the murder mystery she had unexpectedly come across in this city. As she had told Thea, she felt there was something far more ominous about this affair than there usually is about unsolved murders.
Did the killer eliminate those people out of rightful revenge like her ? Was it just for fun ? Something else ? And perhaps more importantly, why did that courtesan and other man seem so overly concerned about Ignazio's death to the point of mentioning Ezio (assuming it was the one Neri knew) ? Does Ignazio have any links with Ezio and his associates ? What was really going on around here ? Neri kept pondering over all of these things.
The gruesome murders reminded her of her own actions. While she absolutely did not regret killing and humiliating Alfonso and the others as she thought they fully deserved such punishment for their actions, she believed that she had to be careful and not let her anger overwhelm her in the future, especially the day she confronts Ezio or on the day she exacts revenge on Lorenzo himself. She had to keep that in mind, especially with someone as skilled as Ezio as it might cost her her life if she were to fight him and lose focus due to her rage.
She kept walking and walking, asking herself so many questions and playing a multitude of scenarios in her head, when she suddenly came across someone familiar : It was the courtesan from hours ago, the one who talked about Ezio. The woman also recognized her by the look of it but before Neri could utter a word, the courtesan did.
"You there!" The courtesan asked upon seeing Neri
"Yes?"
"I've seen you before. You were the one who inspected that corpse a few hours ago and showed the piece of paper to one of the guards, isn't that correct ?"
"Yes, it is."
"Why did you do it ?"
"Uh….I just happened to notice that there was something hanging out of his pocket, and was curious to know more."
"I see." The courtesan answered but she was looking at Neri very suspiciously for some reason and she looked at her intensely and in silence for a few more seconds.
Neri then broke the silence "Well, there was something I wished to ask you as well."
"What is it ?"
"I heard you mention someone called Ezio back then. And implied that he was away with a man named Antonio. Were you referring to Ezio Auditore ? He should be around 23 years old at the moment"
"Yes, that's the one. But how did you know ?" The courtesan asked surprised
"I am an old friend of Ezio and I was told I could find him here in Venice and that another man called Antonio de Magianis was one of his contacts. I suppose that's the Antonio you were referring to as well ?"
"Yes that's him."
"So, as I understand they are out of town at the moment, right ? Would it be possible to tell me where they are ? There is something me and Ezio must discuss."
"I'm sorry but I cannot disclose this information. However, what I can tell you is that he will probably not be back in Venice until around 50 days, though my associates and I are hoping that it will be quicker than that. I'm Marta Campi by the way and you are?"
"Nerissa Mancini." Neri said still using her alias
"Alright. In around 50 days or so, go to the Rosa della Virtu in the Dorssoduro district of the city and ask for me there, and then after verifying some things, me and other individuals, I will lead you to Antonio and Ezio in the San Polo district."
"Very well, thank you." Neri said before departing.
So, Ezio won't be here for a while, which could give her the time to try to solve the murder mystery and also write to Madeleine and Camille.
Back at Thea's house, near the fireplace, in Thea's "living room' upstairs, she was reading a book when she saw Neri return.
"Hey Neri ! So how did it go ? Did you see your friend ?" She asked
"Well...I was told he wasn't here and wouldn't be back for around a month and a half or so, so I will be staying in Venice longer."
"Oh, I'm sorry about that."
"Don't be, it's fine. Plus I can get to focus on our little mystery to pass the time."
"Yeah, that's also what I was about to suggest."
"So since I'll be staying longer, I think I should really give you some form of compensation, I don't feel comfortable staying here for free like that." Neri remarked
"Oh no it's fine. 1 month and a half or so isn't that big of a deal for me, you don't need to pay for anything, it would probably be better for you to save some money instead since you weren't supposed to stay this long. I owe you a lot for my necklace, plus I already told you, one does not always meet a person like you, I think it would be nice to have more company. I guess, you could always help out with errands and things of the sort if you'd like. Always nice to have an extra hand" Thea said with a smile
"I understand. I'll definitely help you with tasks whenever you want."
"Great! By the way I left some food for you as promised, it's in the other room right over there."
"Thank you Thea."
The following day, Neri helped Thea around the house regarding a variety of things..
Then after that Thea gave Neri an official city tour. They saw many key places such as the Ponte di Rialto, The Basilica dei Frari and the Campanile San Marco. From the way she was describing those places, Neri could see that Thea was deeply in love with this city, which managed to make her smile as she saw Thea going on and on about Venice's landmarks in an overly excited manner. Then they sat down on a bench somewhere and talked a bit about many topics, then the subject of Neri's family came up.
Neri simply said that when she was 11, her parents and little brother were killed and she went to live in Paris with her aunt and cousin, without giving the specifics and Thea also did not ask further though she comforted her for her loss and since Thea had been so kind and hospitable to her, Neri was planning on telling her the full truth about her past when they got back home, she would have hated to hide something this big to someone who had treated her this well thus far.
When they were on their way back to the house, they once again came across a crowd of people and they looked at each other. Without saying a word, it's almost as if they could read each other's thoughts in that moment, they were thinking internally "Is it another murder ?"
They ran towards the crowd and they were right, the killer had made another victim, but this time with an odd twist for Neri.
"But, that's…." Neri stated quietly, too shocked to immediately finish her sentence
This time, the victim on the ground was Marta, the woman Neri had talked to, about Ezio. Her belly was opened and her guts spilled out, the view was horrifying.
"I saw this woman the other day, and we spoke for a few minutes." Neri whispered to Thea
"You did ?" Thea asked
"Yeah, I'll give you the details when we get home."
"Right"
There was also a carving on her left arm, this time, instead of "LIES", we could read "DECEPTION" on Marta's arm.
There was a guard in front of them and Neri noticed that he was holding a piece of paper. Neri then advanced slightly and she was able to read what was on it, it seemed to be another riddle from the killer with the answer also provided : "What happens when you spend too much time refining the outside ?-You lose the essential elements from the inside"
Elements from the inside ? With her guts spilled out ? Was this some kind of sick joke ? What was the killer trying to say here ? Neri wasn't sure about that but one thing was for certain, Marta freaking out about the death of Ignazio Contarini and hoping that Ezio comes back soon is a clear indication that Ezio and his associates seem to be somewhat targeted by this mystery killer as Marta herself is now dead. But why was the killer targeting them ? Neri didn't know but now she was itching to find an answer.
When they got back home, Neri decided to tell Thea the truth about her past, not just for the reasons already mentioned previously, but also because, if they were to investigate the murders, she had to reveal that there seemed to be links between Ignazio, Marta and her "friend" (Ezio), and so she did.
In Thea's room, Neri sat Thea down and revealed everything to her : her last name being Pazzi and her family's ordeal during the incident of 1483, her moving to Paris to live with her aunt and cousin, her mark and the book, being trained in combat, climbing and acrobatics, returning to Florence and getting revenge recently, who her "friend" really was and why she was here, the links between him and the victims….all of it
It took around an hour and a few tears for Neri to reveal the truth. Thea was astonished but mainly heartbroken at Neri's story.
"I'm so sorry….." Thea said with a comforting tone once Neri was done
"It's alright, it's gotten easier to cope with it, but sometimes I still get a bit overwhelmed, especially at night sometimes."
"I understand, Neri." Thea said putting her hand on Neri's shoulder
Thea then took a look at Neri's palm, specifically her mark and said "Well, though I said you were very special, I definitely did not expect it to be to such an extent", referring to the truth about her mark and the powers that came with it.
"Yeah, that's for sure. This mark and the powers it gave me, as well as the way they feel seem right out of a children's book." Neri said ironically
"I have no doubt." Thea said.
"So, as I said before, Ezio seems to be connected to the individuals that are being targeted by the killer, why do you think that is ? And those riddles, there's clearly some sort of message the killer is trying to transmit." Neri remarked
"Yeah, there's definitely a big message. I'm not sure about the riddles' meanings themselves but we have time to think about it. Let's say we start working on it after dinner ?" Thea said
"Fine by me! We'll need all the energy we can get for this." Neri answered
"Great!" Thea said in response.
Over the next few days, the two girls spent a lot of time theorizing and analyzing all the clues they had on their hands. Thea particularly put a huge amount of effort in the task, even more than Neri had initially expected. Neri also wrote to Madeleine and Camille (a letter written in code already agreed upon between Neri and her family), informing them of everything that had happened since and sent back some of the profit made off of the merchandise she had sold back in Florence for Madeleine while keeping some for herself as Madeleine had told her. She also let them know, they could write back at her to this address as she would be staying here for some time.
Despite discussing many possibilities regarding the identity and motives of the killer, they did not make any significant advancement in their investigation.
Then one day during the afternoon, Neri was taking a walk outside alone and came across someone interesting. It was the man that was with Marta in the crowd, the day Neri and Thea arrived in Venice and just like his now deceased associate, he indicated that he wanted to talk to her as soon as he recognized her. He looked very stressed out.
"You were there in that crowd the other day when that man was killed weren't you ? I was also told that you met Marta some time before she was murdered and that you were looking for Ezio. "
"Yes, that's correct."
"Do you know something about her death ? Is there any extra information you can give me regarding what has been going on ?"
"I'm afraid not, sir." Neri answered
"I see." The man said, looking to the left and to the right, seeming even more anxious.
As the man was about to turn back and leave, his pouch fell on the ground. He didn't notice it at first so he kept walking but then and in a split second Neri got a genius idea. She activated her mark and grabbed the pouch on the ground and held it in her hand for a few seconds. As shown many years ago at the event and with the Isu book , Neri could track far away objects that she had been in contact with for some time, however over time , she noticed that the more she used her mark, the less time was needed for contact between her and in the object in question.
Years ago, she would have needed to be in contact with an object with a bit more time to be able to later track it, but now, she only needed to be in contact with one for a few seconds. Therefore, Neri holding the man's pouch and returning it to him would allow her to later track this man's movements much later, since he was close to Marta, she believes that this might allow her to make good progress on the investigation.
"Excuse me, sir ? I think you dropped this." Neri remarked upon handing the pouch back to the man.
"Thank you miss." He said, before quickly leaving, still as stressed as ever
Later, when she got back to the house, she went to the living room and told her about what happened.
"Wow good job Neri, that was a brilliant idea. So when do you think of tracking this man and get some more info ?" Thea asked
"I was thinking tomorrow night would be good." Neri answered
"Great. Then I'll stay here and keep working on our case while you're away." Thea said
"Understood. You look exhausted though, you should get some rest."
"I know, I worked on this almost all day, but I'm really really invested in this and I deeply want to know who is behind those deaths, I-"
"I know Thea and I do too, but you should definitely not overwork yourself over this. Here, let me take you to your room. I think a good nap might do you some good." Neri said with a smile, while taking Thea's arm to help her walk.
Thea indeed looked like she was about to fall asleep at any moment and let Neri guide her to her bed so that she could get some rest.
However a few minutes later, after leaving the room, Neri started asking herself some questions. While Thea had already told her how passionate she was about mysteries, and Neri appreciated it but after seeing Thea like this, she felt like something wasn't right. Thea's dedication and investment over solving these crimes seemed a bit too high, even for someone with a huge interest in these things, to the point that was apparently exhausting herself over it as she now almost did.
Neri was interested in it of course, due to the strange and theatrical nature of the acts and the links with Ezio, her old acquaintance. But what about Thea ? Was it only about her passion but was there something more ? Was Thea hiding something from her ? Was there something she wasn't telling her ? Neri wasn't sure how to bring that up specifically, but she had to keep those things in mind.
The next day at around 9 pm, Neri was getting ready to move out. She checked with her mark the location of the pouch and was able to visualize it. She therefore put on her hooded black cloak over her main outfit, put on her face mask and took her weapons.
"Good luck Neri!" Thea told her
"Thank you Thea, I can't wait to share what I find with you."
"Yeah, looking forward to it."
Once outside, Neri activated her mark and "eagle vision" and let herself be guided towards the location of the pouch. She traveled by rooftops and after around 30 minutes, she arrived at her location. She was still on the rooftops and right below her, she could see the man with the pouch from yesterday , talking to another courtesan. Neri took care of hiding behind a rooftop chimney, so the two of them could not notice her looking at them from above just by raising their head, but Neri was obviously still able to listen to what they were saying.
"-This has been a difficult situation for all of us but I have a letter I just wrote here intended for Mario to inform him of the situation and I am just about to go and give it to Alfredo in order to have it delivered" The man said
"Very well, go quickly. The sooner Mario receives it, the better." The woman told him
"Alright then, see you later" The man said
The two then went their separate ways but Neri continued to tail the man. If she could somehow manage to stealthily get her hands on that letter at an opportune moment, she might discover a lot of things regarding the links that Ezio's associates have with the secret killer.
Neri continued to follow by rooftops and once the man arrived at his destination, he handed over the letter to another man, which Neri continued to follow as well. Then the 2nd man arrived at the letter delivering service and once there, he was instructed to put the letter in a cart.
The thing is, the cart contained a ton of letters, so if just one letter was to disappear, barely anyone would notice. As a reminder, outside of Neri's special secondary ability which allows her to track far very away objects she was been in contact in the past, her basic eagle vision allows her to mark either living beings or objects with a glowing yellow tint that would stay on them in order not to lose them while following or tracking them, as long as she maintains a reasonable distance from said object or person.
Whereas there is no distance limit when it comes to her special ability, which is why she could locate the book in Naples back when she was in Paris, thus from an extremely large distance. The only thing is that on top of the necessary previous physical contact , her special ability doesn't work on living beings but only objects or other items.
Therefore, before the 2nd man put the letter in the cart, Neri was able to mark the letter with the yellow tint, otherwise, she could have easily lost it among the other billion letters in the carriage.
Neri was still on the rooftops. The 2nd man left and there was only one guy in charge of the cart and no one else around. The letter was still glowing. Then, as she was still observing the situation and thinking of a way to get her hands on the letter, a few minutes later, the man that was supposed to look after the cart, went away temporarily, and Neri immediately seized the opportunity. She went down, advanced towards the cart, took the letter, and immediately went away and climbed back on the rooftops. No one would notice anything. She put the letter in her pocket and journeyed back towards Thea's house.
Once back at the house, she opened the letter and tried to start reading. It was written in code, obviously, and thus Neri activated her eagle vision so that could decipher it, she thus started to read :
"Maestro Auditore, it seems many of our allies and some in our order itself are being targeted by someone who could very well be a templar agent, but we are not certain about who it is and without Ezio and all the others we're in a truly bad position here. Manfredo Albertini, Ignazio Contarini and Marta Campi have all been killed in a very gruesome way. The killer could be the templar spy that was exposed some time ago within our order but who managed to flee. He was from Venice after all and he had the time to gather information about us, especially our dealings with our associates in the city.
I pray your nephew Ezio and the others come back soon otherwise If this continues we could very well lose the influence in the city we tried so hard to gain. As Antonio isn't here I am afraid I might be a target as I am the second highest ranked member of the thieves guild in Venice after him. Then again the killer might just target anyone of us, who really knows. We're thinking of a plan that involves baiting the killer, we'll put it in place in 3 days at around 10 pm, so we could possibly have already captured the killer when this letter reaches you but it would be nice if you could send some reinforcements just in case, we never know. This situation is as stressful as the Carnicelli affair. Hoping to deliver better news in the future. Ugo."
Hold on a second. Templar agent ? As in the Knights Templars ? The order supposed to have gone extinct back in 1314 ? Neri knew there were many rumors about their supposed survival but still, she did not expect to read about them in that letter. However, this letter indeed 100% confirmed that Ezio was aligned with the victims and the killer was carefully selecting his targets.
Also, it revealed that a man named Mario Audtiore, ("Mario" being the man Ugo the writer of the letter said the letter was intended to), was apparently Ezio's uncle and that Ezio's entire entourage was part of some sort of organization that seemed opposed to the "Templars", whoever they might be in this day and age, but what organization was Ezio a part of and what were they goals ? And what was "The Carnicelli affair ?" Whatever the answers were, Ezio and his groups seemed to have some serious influence in the city and Neri had to find out exactly what the nature of that organization was.
Neri then ran to Thea to let her know what she had discovered, however she found Thea was asleep on her desk. Not wanting to wake her up, Neri simply went back to her room to get some rest. She would tell Thea about everything in the morning.
The next day, Thea was updated on the situation and was astonished by the news.
"Wow, that's unbelievable. Knights Templars ? Now I was not expecting that at all." Thea said
"I feel exactly the same. It's quite extraordinary. It also seems like there is far more to Ezio's actions than I previously thought." Neri answered
"And apparently, Ezio's group think that a former spy within their ranks could be our mystery murderer uh ? That makes me even more eager to get the killer's identity, we could learn far more than we previously believed about Ezio and his associates if we could somehow manage to capture and question that killer. Easier said than done though, obviously" Thea said
"Yeah if it is indeed someone from that Templar group mentioned in the letter, then maybe it implies that the reasons for the murders are not just personal but also somewhat ideological, maybe ?" Neri asked
"That's possible."
."I think….I've just realized something." Thea continued
"What do you mean ?" Neri asked
"It's about Ignazio Contarini. I wasn't in Venice at the time but I remember being later told that in September of 1485, The Doge Giovanni Mocenigo died and he was succeeded in the position by a man called Marco Barbarigo who then also died less than a year after his appointment, in August of 1486. Marco was then replaced as Doge by his brother, Agostino Barbarigo and Ignazio entered the council of ten and became highly influential in the government, under Agostino's rule.
The problem is, it was said that Mocenigo and Marco Barbarigo both died in highly suspicious ways and many suspected that they were even assassinated, maybe by political rivals, rumors that persist to this day, especially when you know that Agostino did not get along very well with Marco despite being siblings and i had heard that the two fought very frequently over many things. So, since in the riddle that the killer left on the scene, he mentioned that a knife was the fastest way to get rid of strings, maybe he meant that Ignazio was a puppet, manipulated and used by Ezio's organization for their agenda and that by eliminating him, the killer cut and forever severed those strings. This might also explain the carving on Ignazio's arm that talked about lies. If Ignazio is indeed a puppet, then whoever killed him, was opposed to his role in governmental affairs and possibly on lies he was telling the public in order to help further said agenda.
So since Ignazio was clearly aligned with them and entered the council of ten under the current Doge Agostino, that probably also means that Agostino is somehow aligned with Ezio's group as well and that Ezio's organization might be behind the death of the previous Doge Marco Barbarigo who was Agostino's rival. That's how I see things."
"Wow, you're a genius Thea ! , yeah that totally makes sense!" Neri said in an excited tone
"Thanks! However, It's likely that at the same time, those templars might have also killed Doge Mocenigo for their own reasons and put in Marco, which then probably led to a retaliation from the other side with the death of Marco who was then replaced by Agostino as Doge, someone he clearly did not get along with as I said before. It seems like there was a huge power struggle between these templars and Ezio's team at the highest levels of society but in relatively plain sight. I mean, just the fact that the templars would be willing to send a spy over to Ezio's crew shows us how serious this thing was." Thea answered
"Yeah that's very true. You know it's funny. Back when I was Constantinople in 1485, I heard two italian men discuss the mysterious death of a powerful merchant named Emilio Barbarigo, who was assassinated in his palazzo and they also mentioned that just days after, Doce Mocenigo had died. Just like you, they said that the death of Mocenigo was very suspicious and they even added that there could have been a link between Emilio's and Mocenigo's death." Neri indicated
"True, I had later heard about the death of Emilio as well. Interestingly enough, he was very close with his cousin Marco but not with his other cousin, the current Doge Agostino. I wouldn't be surprised if Emilio's strange death was related to those two groups as well." Thea responded
"I see. But then I wonder. What was the murder of Marta supposed to indicate then ? He carved DECEPTION on her arm and talked about how refining the outside might make someone lose the important elements from the inside. Her belly was cut open and her guts were spilled out." Neri asked
"Hmmm" Thea said pensively
"I mean, she was a courtesan, maybe the killer was denouncing her deceiving people for intel that would help her organization or something ? I mean it's not unusual for powerful men to go to courtesan establishments, let themselves go and slip up on certain things while they're being…..entertained if you can put it that way. I guess that's what refining the outside means ? Constantly presenting herself in a particular way that does not match her true intentions. Not really sure on that front." Neri noted
"Hmm, maybe. I can see that." Thea answered
"Though all of these clues help make the killer's motivations a lot clearer, it doesn't exactly explain why he even left the clues in the first place, does it ? Is he voluntarily provoking Ezio and his team by being arrogant and defiant ?" Neri asked
"I really don't know, it is very curious though."
"Well, in any case, I'm glad we have made so much progress on this affair. Since I can still track Ugo's pouch with my mark and they said that in 3 days, they would try to bait the killer into attacking them so that they could capture him. Let's say we track them at the date and around hour indicated and see how things play out ?" Neri said
"Yeah, you can count on me to accompany you." Thea answered enthusiastically
"Thank you so much Thea."
"Neri ?"
"Yes ?"
"There's something I have to say to you."
"What is it ?"
"Well, remember how I told you that I have been fascinated by mysteries for a while, when we met in Ravenna ? I never exactly told you where that fascination came from did I ?"
"No you didn't. In fact I had been wondering and been worried about that lately with how much effort you put into solving this case. It seems like you were losing sleep over it"
"Well, It's about my father really."
"How so ?"
"I lost my father when I was 14, around 5 years ago now. He had to travel to Castile (Spain) for work related reasons but things didn't go as planned.
His body was found in an alley there and brought back to me and the rest of my family but we never knew who killed him and his death has remained a complete mystery to us. Before leaving for Castile, he gave me the necklace as a gift and back then I just thought it looked pretty and was super happy to have it, but now with what happened, the necklace simply reminds me of him and all of the good moments we had together. Losing him was one thing, but never knowing who had killed him or why, was even more traumatizing.
Thus, since then, solving mysteries and enigmas have become a passion for me, because in a way, it helps me cope with the fact that I'll probably never know the truth behind my own father's death. and if I can't find the answers to that question then maybe solving other mysteries for the greater good in order to help others or doing it to make interesting discoveries, like the stone I found, would be fine by me. It know it sounds weird but-"
"No Thea, it doesn't, I get it. I'm really sorry about what happened, how you must have suffered. You had already told me that the necklace meant a lot to you, now I truly get the scope of it."
"Thanks again for your help Neri, I'll never forget what you did."
"You're welcome." Neri said before giving Thea a big hug
Author's note : This was quite a difficult one to write. Please let me know what you think. I can assure you that you're not ready for the next chapter :)