'Caterina is a powerful ally, one of us, indeed. If we help her now, while she is weak, she will aid us in return.'
'Perhaps. But kill Cesare and Rodrigo first.'
The crowd was beginning to disperse, and, apart from the sentries at the gate, the Borgia guards withdrew into the Castel. Soon only Machiavelli and Ezio were left, standing in the shadows.
'Leave me, Niccolo,' said Ezio as the shadows lengthened. 'I have work to do.'
He looked up at the sheer walls of the ancient, circular structure, the mausoleum of the emperor Hadrian over a thousand years earlier, now an unassailable fortress. Its few windows were high up, and its walls sheer. Connected to Saint Peter's Basilica by a fortified stone corridor, it had been the great stronghold of the popes for nearly two hundred years.
Ezio studied the walls. Nothing was completely impregnable. By the light of the torches flickering in their sconces, as night fell, his eyes began to trace the slight ridges, fissures, and imperfections that, however small, would enable him to climb. Once he'd planned his route, he leapt like a cat up to the first hand-and footholds, digging fingers and toes in, steadying his breath, and then, deliberately, unhurriedly, started to scale the wall, keeping wherever possible away from the light cast by the torches.
Halfway up, he came to an opening-an unglazed window in a stone frame-beneath which, on the inner side of the wall, was a walkway for guardsmen. He looked each way along it, but it was deserted. Silently, he swung himself over and looked down, on the other side of the walkway, over a railing into what he quickly saw was the stable yard. Four men were walking there, and he recognized every one of them. Cesare was holding some kind of conference with three of his chief lieutenants: the French general Octavien de Valois; Cesare's close associate Juan de Borgia Lanzol de Romani and a lean man in black-a lean man with a cruel, scarred face: Micheletto Corella-Cesare's right-hand man and most trusted killer.
'Forget the Pope,' Cesare was saying. 'You answer only to me. Rome is the pillar that holds our entire enterprise aloft. She cannot waver. Which means-neither can you!'
'What of the Vatican?' asked Octavien.
'What? That tired old men's club?' answered Cesare contemptuously. 'Play along with the cardinals for now, but soon we shall have no more need of them.'
With that, he went through a door leading from the stable yard, leaving the other three alone.
'Well, it looks as if he's left Rome for us to manage,' said Juan after a pause.
'Then the city will be in good hands,' said Micheletto evenly.
Ezio listened for a while longer but nothing more was said that he reckoned useful-nothing that he didn't already know-so he continued his climb around the outer wall, in his quest to locate Caterina's whereabouts. He saw light coming from another window, glazed this time, but open to the night air, and with an outer sill on which he could partially support himself. Doing so, he looked cautiously through the window into a candlelit corridor with plain wooden walls. Lucrezia was there, sitting on an upholstered bench, writing in a notebook; but every so often she looked up, as if she were expecting someone.
A few minutes later, Cesare came through a door at the far end of the corridor and made his way hurriedly toward his sister.
'Lucrezia,' he said and kissed her. It was no fraternal kiss.
Once they had greeted one another, he took her hands from around his neck and, still holding them and looking into her eyes, said, 'I hope you are treating our guest with kindness.'
Lucrezia grimaced. 'That mouth on her!…How I'd love to sew it shut.'
Cesare smiled. 'I rather like it open, myself.'
'Oh, really?'
Ignoring her archness, he continued: 'Have you talked to our father about the funds requested by my banker?'
'The Pope is at the Vatican just now, but he might need some convincing when he returns. As will his own banker. And you know how cautious Agostino Chigi is.'
Cesare laughed briefly. 'Well, he certainly didn't get rich by being rash.' He paused. 'But-that shouldn't be a problem, should it?'
Lucrezia wound her arms around her brother's neck again, nuzzling against him. 'No-but…it gets quite lonely sometimes without you here. You and I spend so little time together these days, busy as you are with your other conquests.'
Cesare held her to him. 'Don't worry, kitten. Soon, once I have secured the throne of Italy, you are going to be my queen; and your loneliness will be a thing of the past!'
She withdrew a little and looked him in the eye. 'I cannot wait.'
He ran his hand through her fine blond hair. 'Behave yourself while I am gone.'
Then, after another lingering kiss, Cesare left his sister by the door through which he'd entered. She herself, downcast, took the opposite direction.
Where was Cesare going? Was he leaving immediately? From that leave-taking, it looked likely. Quickly, Ezio maneuvered himself around the circumference of the wall until he could take up a position that overlooked the Castel's main gate.
And not before time. As he watched, it was being thrown open, amid cries from the guards of 'Attention! The captain-general is leaving for Urbino!' And shortly afterward, on a black horse, Cesare rode forth, accompanied by a small entourage.
'Buona fortuna, Padron Cesare!' cried one of the officers of the watch.
Ezio watched his archenemy ride off into the night. That was a flying visit, he thought to himself. And no chance to kill him at all. Niccolo will be very disappointed.
TWENTY-FOUR
Ezio turned his attention back to the task at hand. To find Caterina. High up on the western side of the Castel he noticed a small window, set deep in the wall, from which a faint light came. He made his way to it. When he reached it, he saw that there was no sill on which he could rest, but instead there was a narrow transom projecting above the window, which he could cling to securely with one hand.
He looked into the room. It was empty, though a torch burned on one wall. It looked like a guardroom, though, so Ezio hoped he was on the right track.
Farther along on the same level there was another, similar window. Ezio made his way to it and peered through the bars, though there seemed no reason for bars. No one slim enough to escape through this window would be able to climb down a good 150 feet to the ground, and then make it across the open ground to the river and possible safety. The light was dimmer here, but Ezio could see immediately that it was a cell.
Then he drew in his breath sharply. There, still in chains, was Caterina! She sat on a rough bench against one wall, but Ezio could not see if she was also chained to it. Her head was down, and Ezio did not know if she was awake or asleep.
Whatever the case, she raised her head at a thunderous hammering on the door.
'Open up!' Ezio heard Lucrezia cry.
One of the two guards outside the door, who had both been dozing, hastened to obey. 'Yes, Altezza! At once, Altezza.'
Once inside the cell, and followed by one of the guards, Lucrezia wasted no time at all. From the conversation Ezio had already heard, he could guess the reason for her fury: jealousy. Lucrezia believed that Caterina and Cesare had become lovers. He could not believe that to be true. The thought of Caterina being defiled by such a monster of depravity was something his mind refused to accept.
Lucrezia rushed across the cell and pulled Caterina to her feet by her hair, bringing her face close to her prisoner's. 'You bitch! How was your journey from Forli to Rome? Did you ride in Cesare's private carriage? What did you get up to?'
Caterina looked her in the eye. 'You're pathetic, Lucrezia. Even more pathetic if you think I'd live by the
