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Chapter 46

Ezio wasn't expecting much activity in L'Arsenale at that time of night, but the district was eerily silent by any measure. The few citizens who walked the streets did so quickly and nervously, without looking up at him as he passed. He noticed a smell with a strength that surpassed the city's usual odor.

When he rounded a corner, he found the reason for all of it.

Multiple bodies were lying in the street, covered in blood. They were the bodies of heavily armed men, likely mercenaries and guards. Their uniforms bore different colors and most of their swords had been unsheathed. Ezio realized that he and the people around him were viewing the aftermath of what must have been a devastating fight.

Was this Bartolomeo involved? Was he alive?

He made his way up to the nearest rooftop and began to scan the streets below for any sign of his target when he was interrupted.

"Please…help," a voice groaned.

Ezio turned around, as the voice came from the rooftop behind him. He leaped over to find the owner of the voice lying in an archer's nest. He was evidently a mercenary, and the colors he wore matched those of the majority of the corpses on the street. An arrow was protruding from his stomach.

"You must be one of Bartolomeo's men," Ezio guessed hopefully. "What's happened here? Where is he?"

He tried to get a closer look at the man's wound in order to see if he could treat it, but the man weakly pushed him away.

"Too late…for me. Listen. Silvio's thugs…attacked," he managed to respond through gasps. "Took him…deeper into the district…north of here. You need…to help him."

Before Ezio could gather more information, the man let out a deep sigh, and was silent. Ezio brushed his eyes closed, whispering, "Requiescat in pace." He was on his own again, but he had a direction, so he began to head north.

He stayed on the rooftops, scanning the streets as he ran. He noticed more of the corpses below him, and took care not to be noticed by the archers on neighboring rooftops, lest he join them.

He began to wonder if Bartolomeo and him men would be of much use after this massacre. Even if Bartolomeo was as fierce a leader as Ezio had imagined, he was short on men. How could they hope to defeat Silvio if Silvio had bested them here?

Of course, it was an ambush, so these men had not been prepared. Was Silvio trying to frighten Bartolomeo and his men with a show of force in order to avoid a full battle? Perhaps he was bluffing and a counterattack would be relatively easy.

Ezio sighed to himself. Zio Mario would know what to do. He had seen his uncle plan for a battle, never fewer than three steps ahead of their opponents. Ezio had marveled at how well his skills translated to a game of chess. Only Maria rivaled Mario there, he remembered. It was one of the few ways anybody could get her to leave her room.

Ezio shifted his focus from his family back to the task at hand. If he was lucky, Bartolomeo would have some plan of his own…if Bartolomeo was still alive, that is.

Suddenly, Ezio could hear some shouting, so he moved in the direction from which it came. Sure enough, it grew louder, and Ezio determined that it was coming from a single source. As he got even closer, he could make out some of the words from the bellowing man.

"…before I cut them off and jam them in your ears! That way, you won't have to hear the screams of Silvio's other men when I do the same to them! Now let me out of here, or I'll jam them somewhere else instead, you pathetic lapdogs!"

Ah, thought Ezio, recalling Antonio's words. Personality, indeed.