'Hmmn. Mine's Ugo. She's Rosa, and the guy up there with the paddle is Paganino. We don't like strangers much.'
'Who are you?' Ezio replied, ignoring the last remark.
'Professional liberators of other people's property,' said Ugo.
'Thieves,' explained Paganino with a laugh.
'You take the poetry out of everything,' said Ugo, sadly. The he suddenly became alert. 'Watch out!' he yelled as one arrow, then another, thudded into the hull of the boat from somewhere above. Looking up, they could see two Barbarigo bowmen on a nearby rooftop, fitting fresh arrows to their longbows. Ugo scrabbled in the well of the boat and came up with a businesslike, stubby crossbow, which he quickly loaded, aimed and fired, while at the same time Ezio flung two throwing-knives in quick succession at the other archer. Both bowmen plunged screaming into the canal below.
'That bastard's got goons everywhere,' said Ugo to Paganino in a conversational tone.
They were both short, broad-shouldered, tough-looking men in their twenties. They handled the boat skilfully and evidently knew the canal system like the backs of their hands, for more than once Ezio was convinced they had turned into the aquatic version of a blind alley only to find that it ended not in a brick wall but a low arch under which the boat could just pass, if they all bent low.
'What were you doing attacking the Palazzo Seta?' Ezio asked.
'What's it to you?' answered Ugo.
'Emilio Barbarigo is no friend of mine. Perhaps we can help each other.'
'What makes you think we need your help?' retorted Ugo.
'Come on, Ugo,' said Rosa. 'Look what he's just done. And you're also overlooking the fact that he saved my life. I'm the best climber of the lot of us. Without me, we'll never get inside that viper's nest.' She turned her face to Ezio. 'Emilio is trying to get a monopoly on trade within the city. He's a powerful man, and he has several councillors in his pocket. It's getting to the stage when any businessman who defies him and tries to maintain his independence is simply silenced.'
'But you aren't merchants - you're thieves.'
'Professional thieves,' she corrected him. 'Individual businesses, individual shops, individual people - they all make for easier pickings than any corporate monopoly. Anyway, they have insurance, and the insurance companies pay up after fleecing their customers of giant premiums. So everyone's happy. Emilio would turn Venice into a desert for the likes of us.'
'Not to mention that he's a piece of shit who wants to take over not just local business, but the city itself,' put in Ugo. 'But Antonio will explain.'
'Antonio? Who's he?'
'You'll find out soon enough, Mr Florentine.'
At last they reached another jetty and tied up, moving quickly, since Rosa's wound needed to be cleaned and treated if she were not to die. Leaving Paganino with the boat, Ugo and Ezio between them half-dragged, half- carried Rosa, who had by now all but lost consciousness from loss of blood, the short distance down yet another twisting lane of dark-red brick and wood to a small square, a well and a tree at its centre, and surrounded by dirty- looking buildings from which the stucco had long since peeled.
They made their way to the dirty-crimson door of one of the buildings and Ugo rapped a complex pattern of knocks on it. A peephole opened and shut, and the door was swiftly opened and as swiftly closed. Whatever else had been neglected, Ezio noticed, hinges and locks and bolts were well oiled and free of rust.
He found himself in a shabby courtyard surrounded by high, streaky grey walls, which were punctuated by windows. Two wooden staircases ran up on either side to join wooden galleries that ran all round the walls at first- and second-floor level, and from which a number of doorways led.
A handful of people, some of whom Ezio recognized from the melee outside the Palazzo Seta earlier, gathered round. Ugo was already issuing orders. 'Where's Antonio? Go get him! - And clear some space for Rosa, get a blanket, some balsam, hot water, a sharp knife, bandages.'
A man raced up one of the staircases and vanished through a first-floor doorway. Two women unrolled a very nearly clean mat and laid Rosa tenderly down on it. A third disappeared to return with the medical kit Ugo had requested. Rosa recovered consciousness, saw Ezio, and reached a hand out to him. He took her hand and knelt down by her.
'Where are we?'
'I think this must be your people's headquarters. In any case, you're safe.'
She squeezed his hand. 'I'm sorry I tried to rob you.'
'Think nothing of it.'
'Thank you for saving my life.'
Ezio looked anxious. She was very pale. They would have to work fast if they were indeed going to save her.
'Don't worry, Antonio will know what to do,' Ugo told him as he stood up again.
Hurrying down one of the staircases came a well-dressed man in his late thirties, a large gold earring in his left earlobe and a scarf on his head. He made straight for Rosa and knelt by her, snapping his fingers for the medical kit.
'Antonio!' she said.
'What's happened to you, my little darling?' he said in the harsh accent of the born Venetian.
'Just get this thing out of me!' snarled Rosa.
'Let me take a look first,' said Antonio, his voice suddenly more serious. He examined the wound carefully. 'Clean entry and exit through your thigh, missed the bone. Lucky it wasn't a crossbow bolt.'
Rosa gritted her teeth. 'Just. Get it. Out.'
'Give her something to bite on,' said Antonio. He snapped off the arrow's fletching, wrapped a cloth round the head, soaked the points of entry and exit with balsam, and pulled.
Rosa spat out the wadding they'd placed between her teeth and screamed.
'I am sorry, piccola,' said Antonio, keeping his hands pressed on both points of the wound.
'Go fuck yourself with your apologies, Antonio!' yelped Rosa, as the women held her down.
Antonio looked up to one of his entourage. 'Michiel! Go and fetch Bianca!' He cast a sharp eye on Ezio. 'And you! Help me with this! Take those compresses and hold them on the wounds as soon as I remove my hands. Then we can bandage her properly.'
Ezio hastened to obey. He felt the warmth of Rosa's upper thigh under his hands, felt the reaction of her body to them, and tried not to meet her eyes. Meanwhile Antonio worked quickly, elbowing Ezio aside at last, and finally gently articulating Rosa's immaculately bandaged leg. 'Good,' he said. 'It'll be a while before we have you scaling any battlements again, but I think you'll make a full recovery. Just be patient. I know you!'
'Did you have to hurt me so much, you clumsy idiota?' she flared at him. 'I hope you catch the plague, you bastard! You and your whore of a mother!'
'Take her inside,' said Antonio, smiling. 'Ugo, go with her. Make sure she gets some rest.'
Four of the women picked up the corners of the mat and carried the still-protesting Rosa through one of the ground-floor doors. Antonio watched them go, then turned again to Ezio. 'Thank you,' he said. 'That little bitch is most dear to me. If I had lost her -'
Ezio shrugged. 'I've always had a soft spot for damsels in distress.'
'I'm glad Rosa didn't hear you say that, Ezio Auditore. But your reputation goes before you.'
'I didn't hear Ugo tell you my name,' said Ezio, on his guard.
'He didn't. But we know all about your work in Florence and San Gimignano. Good work too, if a little unrefined.'
'Who are you people?'
Antonio spread his hands. 'Welcome to the headquarters of the Guild of Professional Thieves and Whoremongers of Venice,' he said. 'I am de Magianis, Antonio - the amministratore.' He gave an ironic bow. 'But of course we only steal from the rich to give to the poor, and of course our whores prefer to call themselves courtesans.'
