Faith - Part 1 - The Family Auditore

by tavingtonsbeauty

Esperanza was born to Rodrigo Borgia, but was always treated as a second class citizen by her family. When she runs away she is chaotically thrown into a war she does not know or understand and she is the bridge between the two worlds. Even as her family looks for her another has taken her in and she lives at peace. For now. That will, however, change. Not slash.

12. Arrested – One late Fall Day 1476

The Family Auditore – Chapter 12 – Arrested – One late Fall Day 1476

It had been a month since Giovanni had been forced to flee after very nearly dying. He had recovered well from that, but still the family was on edge. Ezio could feel it, but none of the older members of the family would share with him as to why or what was going on.

Federico and Giovanni were looking at a map in Giovanni's office and speaking.

Ezio walked in and looked at them. Federico smiled at his brother. "Hello, baby brother."

Ezio winced. "Federico."

Giovanni turned to Ezio. "Listen, your mother, sister-in-law, and sister have been looking for you. I'll need you again in a little while, but for now – see if you can't help them."

Ezio nodded. "Are you sure?"

Giovanni smiled. "Yes. Now, if you'll excuse us...?"

Ezio nodded and took his leave.

ZzZ

Ezio sighed and sought out his sister-in-law who was sitting in the parlor.

"How are you?" He asked.

"Good." She smiled as she looked up at him. Her belly was not large yet or at least appeared not to be in the dress she was wearing. It was a French style dress that Giovanni had found for her for her nineteenth birthday.

"Papa said you needed something."

"I asked Federico to fetch me some sweets from the bakery, but he had other business to attend to." She lifted some coins. "Can you go instead?"

He smiled and took the coins and bent to kiss her cheek. "Of course, Miei cari piccoli cognate."

He went to the square to do as she asked. He bought some sweet rolls and a couple sweet confections for her. He smiled. It was the easiest task he had ever had to do.

He returned and she smiled. She rose to her feet slowly. Her abdomen had become more pronounced in the past month. Federico had teased her she was carrying twins. After she had become frustrated by his teasing she had the doctor come. He had told her it was a possibility.

She took the treats and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, caro fratello mio."

He smiled watching her take a bit and close her eyes in pleasure. He chuckled and took his leave of her.

ZzZ

Ezio went into the courtyard. He spotted his younger sister sitting on a bench. "Ehi! Claudia. How are you?"

She looked up and then away. "Bene..."

Concerned for his sister, Ezio asked her what was troubling her. "You shouldn't keep things from me."

Claudia sighed. "It's Duccio."

"What of him?"

She looked up, tears in her eyes. "I think he's been... unfaithful."

"Who told you this?"

"The other girls. I thought they were my friends."

Ezio hissed. "Harpies! You're better off without them."

"I loved him." She whimpered.

"No, Claudia. You only thought you did."

Claudia's voice took on an angry tone as she looked at her brother. "He should suffer for what he's done."

"Wait here. I'll go have a word with him." He smiled and kissed her cheek. "Go find Isabelle. I am sure she would share a treat with you. Will make you feel better."

She nodded and he left the palazzo to find the young fool.

ZzZ

Ezio found Duccio on the good advice of a mutual friend he had found near the Santa Maria del Fiore with another woman. He then witnessed him giving the woman a ring. The woman was not nearly as beautiful as Claudia and in fact was heavier, but Ezio wondered if the poor girl was just liking the attention.

"Oh, Duccio! It's beautiful!" The girl said.

"Nothing but the best for you, amore mio." Duccio smiled.

"But... what of Claudia? I thought you'd been promised to her?"

"Father said I could do much better than an Auditore." Duccio smacked her bottom playfully as she turned from him.

"Birbante! Come, let us walk a bit."

"Walk? I had something else in mind..."

Duccio kissed her bending her backwards. His head moved toward her ample bosom as Ezio walked forward. He had witnessed enough.

"Ehi, lurido porco!" Ezio barked.

"Ezio, my friend!" Duccio smiled putting the girl behind him. He grinned though a little embarrassed.

Ezio punched Duccio in the face. Duccio staggered backwards.

"Ma che ti piglia!?" He gasped touching his lip.

"You insult my sister, parading around with this puttana." He said pointing at the girl.

The woman was taken aback by Ezio's insult. She whimpered and moved away weeping.

"Wh-what are you talking about?!" Duccio asked.

"I saw the gift you gave her. Heard the things you said."

"Maybe your sister shouldn't be so stingy with her virtù."

"You broke her heart." Ezio hissed.

Duccio put up his hands. "Ha! And now I'm going to break your face!"

"You Auditore all talk big, but when it comes time for action? Hah!"

The two circled each other.

"You'll regret ever opening your mouth!" Ezio said lifting a hand and hitting Duccio hard.

"I could have taught your sister a great many things! She's lucky to have someone like me!" Duccio said as he tried to block Ezio's fists. They were gaining a crowd.

"Bastardo!" Ezio said. He landed a hand uppercut to Duccio's jaw and he dropped to the ground.

"Basta! Mi arrendo!" Duccio said lifting a hand. He was bloody and Ezio backed down looking at him.

"Stay away from my sister!" Ezio commanded.

Duccio nodded.

Ezio smiled and left the man a mess in the street.

ZzZ

Ezio found his little brother out of bed. He had been doing poorly recently. Upon noticing Ezio, Petruccio called over to him.

"Eh! Ezio!..." His little brother called.

Ezio approached Petruccio. He knelt down. "What are you doing out here, Petruccio? You should be in bed."

"I want those feathers." The boy said pointing upwards where eagles had dropped their feathers.

"What for?" Ezio asked following his hand.

"It's a secret."

"If I get them for you, will you go back inside?" Ezio asked.

"Yes, I promise."

Ezio set out to collect the eagle feathers from the rooftops for his brother. After collecting three feathers, he returned to his home and handed them over to Petruccio as he knelt before him.

"Here. As promised." Ezio smiled.

"Grazie, brother!" He grinned. "I asked Belle, but she is too fat."

"I would not tell her that and she is not too fat, baby brother." He ruffled the younger boy's hair. "She is pregnant."

"Oh." He blinked.

"You still haven't told me why you want these."

"I will. In time."

Ezio nodded. He looked up and saw Isabelle waiting. Petruccio smiled at her. "Can I have a story, angel?" He asked.

Isabelle looked at Ezio and then nodded. "Of course, dear little brother." She led him into the house with a smile at Ezio who watched her take the boy in hand.

ZzZ

It was getting later in the day when Ezio found his mother by the rose bushes.

"Buongiorno, Ezio!"

"Buongiorno a voi madre. Come state?" Ezio said bowing a little to her.

"Sto bene. And you? Still recovering from last night?" She said a whisper of a smile on her lips.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Of course not." She waved a dismissive hand. "Anyway, I have an errand to run. I'd like you join me."

"Con piacere."

"Come. It's not far from here."

Ezio and his mother walked to their destination together. Maria walked through the crowds with ease as they spoke together.

"I know about your fight with Vieri..."

"What fight?"

"Per piacere, let's not play this game." Maria said.

"He spoke ill of us, of Isabelle. I could not allow him to continue."

"I'm sure he's having a hard time dealing with the accusations against his father. Francesco de' Pazzi is many things – and none of them good. But even I never suspected he'd be capable of murder."

"What will happen to him?"

"I imagine there will be a trial."

"Will father speak at it?"

"He'll have to. He's the one with the evidence."

"Still, I wish there was another way."

"You've nothing to fear. Everyone wants justice done. It is an unfortunate state of affairs, but it will pass."

They arrived at Leonardo da Vinci's workshop. The building was small, but there were sounds of work coming from within.

"Here we are."

Maria knocked on the door and Leonardo greeted them.

"Hello Leonardo." She smiled

Leonardo grinned. "Madonna Maria!" He kissed her cheeks and looked to Ezio.

"This is my son, Ezio." Maria said.

"Molto onorato." Leonardo said.

Ezio dipped his head. "L'onore è mio."

Leonardo lifted his hand. "Let me go and fetch the paintings. I'll be right back."

He went into the workshop, while Ezio and Maria waited for him.

"He's very talented." Maria said.

"Immagino."

"Self-expression is vital to understand and enjoying life. You should find an outlet."

"I have plenty of outlets."

Maria looked at him. "I meant besides vaginas."

Ezio gasped shocked and annoyed she would say such a thing. "Mother!"

Leonardo returned with a box containing paintings. "Back to your house, then?" He asked.

"Sì, sì. Ezio, help Leonardo, will you?"

Ezio picked up the box to carry it.

"So, Ezio, what do you do?" Leonardo asked.

"He's been working for his father." Maria said.

"Ah! You're to be a banker?"

"For now. And you? Art, was it?" Ezio asked looking back.

"Truth be told, it's been difficult for me to settle. Painting is nice, but I often feel like my work lacks... I don't know... purpose. Does that make sense? I'd rather contribute more practically. More directly, Architecture, perhaps. Or anatomy. I'm not content to merely to capture the world. I want to change it."

Maria looked at him in wonder. "Oh, Leonardo! I have no doubt you'll go on to do great things!"

"Vi ringrazio, Madonna. That's kind of you."

They reached the Palazzo Auditore Ezio set the box down and turned to his mother. "Thank you for the help, son. Don't let me keep you from your other duties."

Leonardo smiled. "It was nice to meet you, Ezio. I hope our paths cross again."

Ezio smiled. "Anch'io."

ZzZ

Ezio walked into his father's office. Isabelle was busy working on a paper as Giovanni leaned over her shoulder. He looked up and saw his son.

"Ezio! Come in, son. I need these packages delivered to associates of mine in the city. I also need you to retrieve a message for me from a pigeon coop not too far from here."

"Va bene. I'll get it done."

"Come back here when you're finished. There are some things we need to discuss." Giovanni lifted his hand. "And please, my son, stay out of trouble, hmm?"

Ezio traveled and finally reached an enclosed yard whose address matched the letter, where he met a thief and a courtesan.

The thief looked at him. "You Giovanni's kid?"

The courtesan at his side laughed. "No idiota. He just happens to look EXACTLY like the man."

"Give it here." The thief said. Ezio, confused slightly about the association of his father with the two, handed them the package regardless. "Don't worry boy, we're not contagious." The thief then looked at the courtesan next to him. "Least I'm not..."

Irritated at his remark, the courtesan then elbowed the thief in the chest, and after receiving the package, the two left Ezio. He shook his head.

On arriving to his next location of the delivery, Ezio found a mercenary on a nearby platform, who called over to him. "Here. Over here!"

Ezio climbed onto the platform. "I have a delivery from–"

"–Giovanni Auditore?"

"Yes."

"Were you followed?" The stranger asked looking about.

"No... Why would I be followed?"

"Give me the package."

Ezio handed him the package.

"Tell your father that they're moving tonight. He should as well."

"Who's moving? What's going on here?"

The mercenary left without answering.

"Wait! Come back! Explain yourself!" But the man was gone.

Ezio sighed.

Ezio went to the pigeon coop that was asked of him, before he witnessed several guards running in the direction of his home. He blinked, but passed it off as perhaps there was a disturbance in the square. There were a lot of reasons that would be heading that way.

He went to the pigeons and lifted one out with a message. The message made no sense to him, but he memorized it.

There were also words written on the wall behind the pigeon coop. He studied it a while, but the son was going down. The words 'he who increaseth the knowledge increaseth the sorrow'. He wondered what that meant and pondered it on the way home.

ZzZ

It was late evening.

Giovanni sighed. He was waiting for Ezio's return. Federico was with him. Maria and Claudia were in the parlor, Isabelle was upstairs with Petruccio. He had not been able to fall asleep and so she stayed with him to allow his nursemaid the time to go home early to her daughter's birthday for dinner.

There was a knock at the door. He heard Annette open the door. "Giovanni Auditore! We have a warrant for your arrest for treason against the De' Medici family."

"Impossible. My daughter-in-law is a De' Medici." Giovanni said coming into the hallway.

"Read here." The captain said.

Giovanni looked at the paper from the Gonfaloniere of Florence. "This is an arrest warrant for Petruccio Auditore."

"Oh, my mistake." The guard captain said handing him another.

"This one is for Ezio Auditore."

The guard captain lifted an impatient hand. "We are to arrest you and all three of your sons." The man nodded. "Go find the others."

The guards moved. Giovanni moved to block them. He threw his weight into one guard, but he lashed out and kicked Giovanni in the tender part of his chest. The man of forty dropped to his knees hard and winded.

Federico was brought out and forced to his knees looking about. He struggled as two guards held him.

"Stop fighting, Federico. Save your strength. They…outnumber us."

"You are wise." The guard captain said as he ordered Giovanni bound.

Maria and Claudia came out. Maria tried to fight the guards. One hit her temple and she fell hard to the ground. Federico and Giovanni cried out. Upstairs there was a scream and all eyes went to the landing where a guard was dragging Petruccio into the hall. The boy was not resisting. He did not have the strength, but Isabelle fought. She had been dragged from the room by her hair and she had cried out in pain.

Giovanni closed his eyes in horror as she was shoved against a wall and back handed hard enough to send a shower of blood from her nose in an arch. She dropped to the side, her vision doubled as she whimpered a hand going to her nose.

Federico fought to reach her, but was subdued. Giovanni watched them bring Petruccio down the stairs. Two of the guards were holding their arms and he realized the girl had gone on the offensive with her younger brother-in-law.

Claudia jumped on a guard's back and beat him with her fists, but she was pulled off and shoved into the parlor. A guard picked up the Isabelle as another picked up Maria, all though neither was particularly gentle. Both were dumped in two heaps in the room.

"Leave them be!" Giovanni cried. "Please. My daughter-in-law is with child. She needs to be treated delicately."

"She should go to prison for attacking us."

"Please…no. I beg you." Giovanni said to the captain.

"There is no one else here." The guards whom had been searching said.

"Where is Ezio?" The guard captain asked Giovanni.

"Not here." The man struck Giovanni hard in the face. He grunted. "It is the truth." He said and the man stayed his hand looking at Giovanni's face. He nodded. "Please allow my son to see no harm has come to his wife. She is bleeding and the baby…"

The guard captain was not without a heart. He had a wife carrying a child himself. He nodded and signaled for the guards to allow Federico to check on his wife.

"He has five minutes." The captain warned.

Federico went to his wife and looked her over. "Tesoro." He asked looking at her. Her face was bloody and she looked like hell with a large bruise forming on the side of her face.

"I am all right." She whispered. "I will be."

"You were not harmed in your belly?"

"No. They saw my condition and did not touch me. I think they know causing a miscarriage in a De' Medici woman will end them." She offered a little smile though it looked more like a grimace. "I love you." She whispered.

"I love you too." He kissed her, not caring about the blood and she whimpered at the pressure against her cracked mouth. Tenderly he held her head a moment and kissed her brow. "We will return."

"I know." She whispered.

He pressed a hand to her belly. He could feel the baby or babies as the case might be moving within her. He took a breath and nodded to Claudia. "Take care of her and Momma sister." He leaned close. "And tell Ezio he is being looked for."

She nodded.

He rose to his feet, not wanting to break contact with his wife, but he did and returned to the guards. The captain nodded to the women. "I will see no one molests this house." He said. "Though I see you as traitors, they should not bear the cross of your sins."

Giovanni was helped to his feet. "I thank you. I will not forget this kindness."

The guard nodded and they led the men from the home.

Isabelle and Claudia began to weep. Annette come to them with clothes and salves.

ZzZ

It was dark when Ezio returned.

Ezio returned to his home, after delivering the letters his father had given him. The house was dark, but from the two candles there, he could see the place had been ransacked.

"Father? Federico?" He called. He began to worry when no one answered, and after hearing a quiet noise behind him, Ezio moved just in time to avoid a vase from hitting him.

Annette gasped. "Oh! Ser Ezio! Thank God!"

"What happened? Where is everyone?"

"They took your father and brothers to the Palazzo della Signoria– to prison!"

"And my mother? My sister? Isabelle?"

Claudia called from inside. "Ezio..." she said.

"Claudia! Are you alright?" He saw bruising and felt his blood boil. He embraced her.

"They roughed me up a bit when I would not tell them where you were." She paused. "But mother..."

"She's in shock. They... When she resisted..." She took a breath as they looked at Maria who was staring off and did not appear to hear them.

Isabelle stirred and Ezio went to her. He gently took her hand. He could see her cuts and bruises. "Oh, Belle." He whispered. "

"I am all right, Ezio." She said. "It looks worse than it is."

"I have heard that before." He pressed a hand to her belly. Nothing was moving and he looked up sharply.

She shook her head. "Sleeping." She said. "There was movement and hour ago."

Ezio nodded as he rose to his feet. "It's not safe here. Is there a place you can take them?"

Annette smiled. "Yes. Yes! To my sister's."

"Good. Do that. In the meantime I'll go see my father." Claudia went to Annette.

"Be careful Messer Ezio! The guards were looking for you as well."

He nodded.

ZzZ

Ezio made his way to the Palazzo della Signoria without attracting any attention to himself, and then climbed the prison tower to find his father. He was forced to deal with a guard and throw him from the roof, but then he was in the clear. He carefully climbed up the tower.

Giovanni called. "Ezio!"

"Father! What's happened?"

"Took a bit of a beating, but I'm alright. What of your mother and sister?" He swallowed. "And Isabelle."

"Safe now."

"Annette took them?"

"Yes... Wait. You knew this would happen?!"

"Not the way it did... And not this soon. It doesn't matter now."

"What do you mean? Explain!"

Giovanni shook his head. "There's no time. Listen closely: Return to the house. In my office is a hidden door. Use your talent to find it. Beyond lies a chest, take EVERYTHING you find inside. Much of it may seem strange to you, but all of it is important. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Good. Among the contents is a letter – and with it some documents. I need you to take these documents to Messer Uberto. He was with me in the office this morning."

"The Gonfaloniere. I remember. Now please – tell me what's happening. Are the Pazzi behind this? There was a note at the pigeon coop. It sai–"

They were interrupted by the sound of the door opening behind Giovanni's cell.

"Go Ezio! Go now!"

Ezio nodded and leapt backwards into a haystack he had seen. He then made his way home. He took a breath. This was all so much for him to handle.

ZzZ

Ezio walked into his father's office and used his talent to find the hidden door.

"Father said there was a door here..."

He used his Eagle Vision to find the hidden door in the fireplace and the panel to press to open it. Ezio found the chest Giovanni had mentioned, and he opened it to find the documents. Along with the documents, Ezio also found a broken bracer, a common sword, an old piece of parchment, and a white robe. He put the robes on, sheathed the sword, and took the bracer and the parchment along with the documents, which he held in his hand.

"I need to bring this to Messer Uberto." He said to himself as he looked around the house once more.

As Ezio left his home to speak with Uberto Alberti, two guards confronted him at his door.

"Traditore."

Ezio blinked in confusion. "Hey! What's with the swords? Aren't you supposed to arrest me?"

"No."

"What do you want, then?"

"For you to die."

"Well, that's not going to happen. So why don't we explore other options?" Ezio said backing away from them.

"There are no other options." A guard said looking at him coldly.

ZzZ

Ezio could not believe he just killed two guards. He took a breath to steady himself. How had everything come to this? He blinked.

He was the man of the house for now. He had to protect his mother, sister-in-law, and sister. He had sent them to be safe with Annette's sister. He only hoped that would protect them until he could sort out these affairs. He went to Uberto's home and found too many guards there.

He sat on the roof and listened to them. Uberto was not there, but they had been placed to protect his family due to an outlaw on the loose. Ezio know it was him, but he also knew that his father's friend was the only one who could clear this mess and the letter would help.

He took a breath and went to stay in a tavern for the night. He had the documents with him. He would deliver the papers to the man later tomorrow when he had returned home. Then he would see to the women of this house and see to get them safely out of the town while the dust settled.