Machiavelli and the rest of her entourage. As soon as they saw what was happening, the Orsi troops on the ramparts let out a yell of anger and started to swarm down to intercept, but the Sforza faction was too quick for them. Ezio seized the bow and arrows from the dead guard and used them to fell three Orsi men before he swiftly climbed a nearby wall and started to run over the city's rooftops, keeping pace with Caterina and her group as they rode through the narrow streets towards the citadel.
The deeper they went into the city, the greater was the confusion that reigned. It was clear that the battle for control of Forli was far from over, as knots of soldiers under the banner of the blue snakes and black eagles of the Sforza fought the Orsi mercenaries, as ordinary citizens rushed for shelter in their houses or simply ran aimlessly hither and yon in the confusion. Market-stalls were overturned, chickens ran squawking underfoot, a small child sat in the mud and bawled for its mother, who ran out and snatched it to safety; and all around the noise of battle roared. Ezio, leaping from roof to roof, could see something of the lie of the land from his vantage-point, and used his arrows with deadly accuracy to protect Caterina and Machiavelli whenever Orsi guards got too close to them.
At last, they arrived in a broad piazza in front of the citadel. It was empty, and the streets leading off it appeared deserted. Ezio descended and rejoined his people. There was nobody on the citadel's battlements, and its massive gate was firmly closed. It looked every bit as impregnable as Caterina had said it was.
She looked up, and cried: 'Open up, you bloody parcel of fools! It's me! La Duchessa! Get your arses in gear!'
Now some of her men in the citadel did appear above them, among them a captain who said, 'Subito, Altezza!' and issued orders to three men who disappeared immediately to open the gate. But at that instant, howling for blood, dozens of Orsi troops poured from the surrounding streets into the square, blocking any retreat and pinning Caterina's company between them and the unforgiving wall of the citadel.
'Bloody ambush!' shouted Machiavelli, with Ezio rallying their own handful of men, and keeping between Caterina and their enemies.
'Aprite la porta! Aprite!' yelled Caterina. And at last the mighty gates swung open. Sforza guards rushed out to aid them, and, slashing at the Orsi in vicious hand-to-hand fighting, beat a retreat back through the gates, which quickly slammed shut behind them. Ezio and Machiavelli (who had quickly dismounted) both leaned against the wall, side by side and breathing hard. They could scarcely believe that they had made it. Caterina dismounted too, but didn't rest for an instant. Instead she ran across the inner courtyard to a doorway in which two little boys and a wet-nurse holding a baby were waiting fearfully.
The children ran to her and she embraced them, greeting them by name, 'Cesare, Giovanni - no preoccuparvi.' She stroked the baby's head, cooing, 'Salute, Galeazzo.' Then she looked around, and at the wet- nurse.
'Nezetta! Where are Bianca and Ottaviano?'
'Forgive me, my lady. They were playing outside when the attack began and we haven't been able to find them since.'
Caterina, looking frightened, was about to reply when suddenly a huge roar went up from the Orsi troops outside the citadel. The Sforza captain came rushing up to Ezio and Machiavelli. 'They're bringing in reinforcements from the mountains,' he reported. 'I don't know how long we'll be able to hold out.' He turned to a lieutenant. 'To the battlements! Man the cannon!'
The lieutenant rushed off to organize gun-crews, and these were hurrying to their positions when a hail of arrows fired by Orsi archers started to descend on the inner courtyard and the ramparts above. Caterina hustled her younger children to safety, shouting to Ezio at the same time, 'Look after the cannon! They're our only hope! Don't let those bastards breach the citadel!'
'Come!' shouted Machiavelli. Ezio followed him up to where the cannon were ranged.
Several of the gun-crews were dead, along with the captain and the lieutenant. Others were wounded. The survivors were struggling to trim and angle the heavy cannon to bring them to bear on the Orsi men in the square below. Huge numbers of reinforcements had come up, and Ezio could see that they were manhandling siege- engines and catapults through the streets. Meanwhile, directly below, a contingent of Orsi troops were bringing up a battering-ram. If he and Machiavelli didn't think of something quickly there would be no chance of saving the citadel, but to withstand this new assault he would have to fire the cannon at targets within the walls of Forli itself, and so risk injuring or even killing some of its innocent citizens. Leaving Machiavelli to organize the gunners, he raced down to the courtyard and sought out Caterina.
'They are storming the city. To keep them at bay I must fire the cannon at targets within its walls.'
She looked at him with steely calm. 'Then do what you must do.'
He looked up to the ramparts where Machiavelli stood, waiting for the signal. Ezio raised his arm, and lowered it decisively.
The cannon roared, and even as they did so Ezio was flying back up to the ramparts where they were located. Directing the gunners to fire at will, he watched as first one siege-engine and then another was blown to bits, as well as the catapults. There was little room for the Orsi troops to manoeuvre in the narrow streets and after the cannon had wreaked their havoc, Sforza archers and crossbowmen began to pick off the surviving invaders within the city walls. At last, the remaining Orsi troops had been driven out of Forli altogether, and those Sforza troops who had survived outside the citadel itself were able to secure the outer curtain walls. But the victory had come at a cost. Several houses within the city were smouldering ruins, and in order to win it back, Caterina's gunners had not been able to avoid killing some of their own people. And there was something else to consider, as Machiavelli was quick to point out. They had flushed the enemy out of the city, but they had not raised the siege. Forli was still surrounded by Orsi battalions, cut off from supplies of fresh food and water; and Caterina's two older children were still out there somewhere, at risk.
Some little time later, Caterina, Machiavelli and Ezio were standing on the ramparts of the outer walls surveying the host encamped around them. Behind them, the citizens of Forli were doing their best to put the city back in order, but food and water wouldn't last for ever and everyone knew it. Caterina was haggard, worried to death about her missing children -Bianca, the older, was nine, and Ottaviano a year younger.
They had yet to encounter the Orsi brothers themselves, but that very day a herald appeared at the centre of the enemy army and blew a clarion call. The troops parted like the sea to allow two men riding chestnut horses and dressed in chain-steel hauberks to pass between them, accompanied by pages bearing the crest of the bear-and- bush. They reined in well out of arrow range.
One of the horsemen stood up in his strirrups and raised his voice. 'Caterina! Caterina Sforza! We think you are still cooped up in your dear little city, Caterina - so answer me!'
Caterina leant over the battlements, a wild expression on her face. 'What do you want?'
The man grinned broadly. 'Oh, nothing. I was just wondering if you were missing. any children!'
Ezio had taken up a position at Caterina's side. The man who was speaking looked up at him in surprise. 'Well, well,' he said. 'Ezio Auditore, if I am not mistaken. How pleasant to meet you. One has heard so much about you.'
'And you, I take it, are the fratelli Orsi,' Ezio said.
The one who had not yet spoken raised a hand. 'The same. Lodovico -'
'- and Checco,' said the other. 'At your service!' He gave a dry laugh.
'Basta!' cried Caterina. 'Enough of this! Where are my children? Let them go!'
Lodovico bowed ironically in the saddle. 'Ma certo, Signora. We'll happily give them back. In exchange for something of yours. Something, rather, that belonged to your late lamented husband. Something he was working on, on behalf of. some friends of ours.' His voice suddenly hardened. 'I mean a certain Map!'
'And a certain Apple, too,' added Checco. 'Oh yes, we know all about that. Do you think we are fools? Do you think our employer doesn't have spies?'
'Yes,' said Lodovico. 'We'll have the Apple too. Or shall I slice your little ones' throats from ear to ear and send them to join their pappa?'
Caterina stood listening. Her mood had changed to one of icy calm. When her turn came to speak, she cried, 'Bastardi! You think you can intimidate me with your vulgar threats? You scum! I'll give you nothing! You want my children? Take them! I have the means to make more!' And she raised her skirts to show them her vagina.
'I'm not interested in your histrionics, Caterina,' said Checco, wheeling his horse around. 'And I'm not
