Afterlife
part eight
by Go-Go Spiders
"Federico, I'm depending on you. You are the eldest. Protect the family."
It had only been less than seven days since his father had spoken those words to Federico. Now he, his father, and youngest brother were all dead, Federico himself had returned as a ghost, his mother's mind had seemingly fractured, and his only surviving brother had a large bounty on his head for his capture.
'I'm sorry, Father – I don't think I'm very good at protecting anyone.'
Federico picked out the man who had spotted Ezio, an older man dressed in simple clothes that Federico vaguely recognized - he was a blacksmith that the Auditores had frequented before Alberti had betrayed them. Luckily, the guards hadn't had an opportunity to hang posters with Ezio's face on them around the city yet - unlike the blacksmith, most of Firenze had no idea what Ezio looked like. The heavy crowd in the street was working to Ezio's favor at the moment, since no one could make out exactly who the blacksmith was shouting at. Imitating the actions of several people in the crowd, Ezio looked around curiously, like he was searching for the traitorous Auditore as well.
A group of guards approached the blacksmith, one of the listening to something the blacksmith was telling him. Federico saw the blacksmith point in Ezio's direction.
"We have to go," said Federico hurriedly.
"Where?" Ezio said out of the corner of his mouth. One of the things Paola had taught him was that fast movements, liking running, drew attention. Bolting at the first sign of trouble could actually make it harder to escape, since running away would confirm to suspicious guards that he was the one they were really searching for.
At the same time, Ezio had to get away from the guards. Unlike the majority of the citizens of Firenze, the guards did know his face, and the closer they got to his position, the easier it would be to pick him out from everyone else.
Federico quickly looked around for a way to escape the guards, thankful that he couldn't be seen by anyone else. "Alley on your right." A few people were trickling in and out of the alley, enough to hopefully hide Ezio's actions. From there they should be able to climb up onto the roof. "But you'll need to distract the guards."
Ezio nodded. A smile came to his mouth, and then he reached inside his own coin purse and slowly removed a handful of gold coins. With the half-cape of his father's robes covering his arm, he surreptitiously let the coins drop onto the street behind him. Ezio pretended not to notice the sound of the metal hitting against the stones, walking briskly towards the alley.
"Money!" one man cried out, dropping to his knees to scoop up as many of the coins as he could. A woman, her face and hair streaked with soot, gave a thin, wordless cry and tried to claw the shiny golden coins out of his hand. Soon, there was chaos behind him as passers-by began to squabble over the coins.
The guards pushing their way through the crowd were stopped by the throng of people fighting over the coins, and Ezio slipped into the alley unseen by the guards. When none of the people walking past were looking, he quickly scaled the wall of a building and onto the relative safety of the roof, Federico right behind him.
Ezio crouched down behind a chimney, hidden from any nearby rooftop archers, and watched the group of guards slowly work their way past the mob, pushing and cursing at anyone unfortunate enough to be in their way.
"Where is he?" Federico heard one guard shout.
"He must've gone down that alley!"
The guards went sprinting down the twists and turns of the alley with their swords drawn, not one of them bothering to look up as they ran past Ezio's hiding place.
Federico snickered quietly as the guards came out the other end of the alley and looked around in obvious confusion, still trying to locate Ezio in the crowd. "Oh, if only I could see the looks on their faces..." he said.
After another few seconds of awkward milling around, the guards ran off in the direction of the Palazzo Auditore, apparently thinking that would be the most likely place for Ezio to go.
Federico grinned, watching the guards vanish down the street. Both brothers let out a sigh of relief when they were out of sight.
"Perhaps you should stick to the rooftops for now," said Federico.
Ezio sighed.
Leonardo da Vinci's workshop was only a few rooftops away, although instead of dropping back down into the street and risk being seen by the guards again, Ezio climbed down into the small courtyard to the side of the building.
"There's no door to the workshop," said Ezio after a moment. The only way out of the courtyard was a small stone archway that lead to the street. As the two brothers watched, another group of guards walked past the arch.
"No," Federico agreed. He pointed to two small windows built into the wall of Leonardo's building, one pushed open to let in sunlight and fresh air. "But that doesn't mean there isn't a way inside."
"If I were still a child, maybe," scoffed Ezio, eying the window.
"I have faith in you, little brother." Federico patted Ezio's back. "Christina's window isn't much larger."
With a resigned frown, Ezio squeezed himself in through the open window, silently placing his feet on top of a solid wooden bookcase shoved against the wall inside. Federico simply passed through the wall and bookcase, finding himself in a corner of the workshop.
Federico had never visited Leonardo da Vinci's workshop before. Several paintings in various stages of completion were positioned around the workshop, along with models of strange-looking machines made from wood. Leonardo's long workbench was covered underneath a stack of books, papers, and tools. Leonardo himself was standing in front of the workbench, examining something in one of the books. In front of him was a two-foot-tall clay sculpture of a horse that was obviously still being worked on.
Leonardo frowned, noticing the large hooded shadow suddenly appearing over the pages of his book, and then looked up.
"What on Earth?" he said, staring at the man crouching on top of one of his dusty bookcases. His eyes grew wide as Ezio lowered his hood, allowing Leonardo to get a good look at his face. "My goodness. Ezio Auditore? I, ah, didn't think I'd see you again, especially not after everything that's happened."
"I'm sorry for coming in this way, but I didn't want to be spotted," Ezio said, climbing down the bookcase. "Most of the guards in Firenze are looking for me."
"Oh, it's no trouble at all!" said Leonardo, with a grin. "Welcome back to my workshop!" He drew Ezio into a surprisingly tight hug, if the stunned expression on Ezio's face was any indication. Federico laughed as Ezio awkwardly patted Leonardo's back. "Now, tell me how may I be of assistance? That is why you went to the trouble of climbing in through my window, correct?"
Nodding, Ezio began to remove the hidden blade from his wrist. "I was hoping you could repair this?" He handed it to Leonardo, along with the cuff and scroll.
Federico's fears regarding Leonardo's ability to fix the hidden blade began to fade when he saw the man's eyes light up as he turned the mechanism over in his hands.
"Remarkable," Leonardo said after a moment. "Is it a weapon? Yes, I can see there's a blade," he said without giving Ezio time to answer. He glanced down at his workbench, momentarily setting the hidden blade down on top of a stack of books. He shook his head. "Oh, what a mess. I've spent the whole day working," he muttered to himself, clearing the papers and books off. He set the hidden blade, bracer, leather cuff and scroll down in the center of his workbench, a look of intense concentration settling over his face as he examined the hidden blade.
"If he's able to fix that blade, he's worth every florin Mother paid him for his paintings," Federico said, sitting down on the workbench next to Leonardo.
The clay sculpture in Leo's workshop is the preliminary model for 'Gran Cavallo (Great Horse)', aka 'Leonardo's Horse' - which is also an anachronism, since he wasn't commissioned to work on that statue until 1482 and it would never be completed. But I've always had a soft spot for it, so I wanted to include it.