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Chapter 99

The three of them were awake shortly after the sun rose, as they wanted to make sure they didn't miss Lucio's arrival. Machiavelli spoke to a few of his contacts in the town to find out if they knew anything, while Ezio and Rosa waited in hiding near the main entrance to see if they could spot him coming in.

It got to be the late afternoon before they had any luck. From a few buildings away, Rosa got Ezio's attention as a cloaked man approached the guards at the entrance. Ezio couldn't recognize the figure under his disguise, but he trusted Rosa's assessment. The figure appeared to share a joke with the guards, who laughed with him and moved aside as he passed.

The pair stayed out of sight as the figure passed each of them, then quickly and quietly scrambled to higher vantage points and met on a rooftop.

"Was that him?" Ezio asked.

She nodded. "I've seen him wear those clothes before. We should follow him and see where he leads us."

Ezio agreed, and hopped across to an adjacent rooftop. The kept up with the figure on opposite sides of the street so that they were less likely to lose track of him. He moved considerably more slowly than expected, however, stopping to browse the wares of merchants and to observe the town.

Eventually the figure made its way to the square by the Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta, where they almost lost him in the crowd of people. A smart move, but poorly executed, Ezio thought to himself as the figure slipped into a nearby alley. From the roof they scanned the nearby area to make sure they were alone, and when they nodded to each other in agreement that the coast was clear, they jumped down.

Ezio hid the ground first, blocking the man's path.

"What's this?" the man hissed as Rosa came down behind him. He whirled around and pulled out a knife, but stopped when he recognized her and noticed the dagger she had pulled out as well.

"Rosa, is that you? What's going on?"

"We were hoping perhaps you could tell us," came Machiavelli's voice behind Ezio. "I saw you both on the rooftops," he explained to them.

"What are you talking about?" Lucio asked.

"Drop your weapon," Ezio ordered calmly.

"What? No! First, answer my question!" he spun around to face Ezio now.

"You are not in the best position to negotiate," Machiavelli reminded him.

The courier looked around himself for a moment, then sighed, setting down his weapon and kicking it to Ezio. "Alright, fine. I suppose it was only a matter of time before you caught me."

"So it was you!" Rosa said. "You fed someone information from the letter I sent to Ezio. You're the reason we were attacked!"

"I didn't know you would be attacked, capite? I needed money, and he paid well. My gambling debts were catching up with me. I had no other choice! I had to feed my family!"

"Who paid well?" Ezio asked.

"He said he worked for the Pope. I think his name was Agostino, but that's all I know!"

"Agostino Chigi, the Pope's banker," Machiavelli thought aloud to Ezio. "That would make sense, considering the payments Lucio here and your attackers received."

"Has he paid off any more of Antonio's thieves?" Ezio asked.

"No, only me, but no more! Please, I'll stop immediately, I swear! Don't kill me!"

"It isn't up to us," Machiavelli told him. "It's up to her."

Rosa looked up at them when she realized Machiavelli was referring to her. Then she looked back at Lucio, and then back at them again.

"Niccolò-" Ezio started.

"The life of an Assassin is filled with difficult decisions, Rosa," Machiavelli interrupted him. "The hardest of these is deciding when to spare a life, and when to take it. Sometimes the right answer will be clear, and sometimes it will not. Sometimes there will be no right answer at all, but you will have to make a decision nonetheless."

Rosa looked down at her dagger, and then back up at Lucio, who was looking at her as well.

"Please," he implored her. "If you let me leave, you will never hear from me again. I am not a bad man, I promise you! Show mer-"

His last word was interrupted by a swift movement from Rosa, who plunged her dagger into Lucio's throat. As the courier crumpled to the ground, Rosa stabbed him a couple more times to make sure he was dead (and, Ezio presumed, to make sure he did not live to suffer for long). As she stood over his corpse, not daring to look at it, everything fell silent until she dropped her dagger on the ground.

"Rosa-" Ezio started. He wasn't sure what he was going to say, but he knew he had to say something. Rosa, however, did not wish to hear it. She began walking away, more determined with each step to be alone for the time being. In a few moments, she was out of sight.

"Give her some time to think," Machiavelli advised Ezio, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Ezio looked at the lifeless body. With a sigh, he knelt down and closed the courier's eyes.

"Requiescat in pace."