Brotherhood

myself an enemy of the Assassins.'

Ezio looked up sharply. 'You know about the Brotherhood?'

The Pope made a tent of his fingers. 'I always needed to know who the enemies of my enemy were. But your secret is safe with me. As I told you, I am not a fool.'

FIFTY

'Your instinct is right. I will guide you and guard you. But I do not belong to you and soon you must let me go. And I have no power over he who controls me. I must obey the will of the Master of the Apple.'

Ezio, alone in his secret lodgings, was holding the Apple in his hands as he tried to use it to help him locate his quarry in Rome, when the mysterious voice had come to him again. This time he could not tell if the voice was male or female, and he could not even tell whether it came from the Apple or from somewhere in his own mind.

Your instinct is right. But also: I have no power over he who controls me. Why then had the Apple only shown him hazy images of Micheletto-just enough to tell him that Cesare's henchman was still alive? And it could not-or would not-pinpoint Cesare's location. At least for now.

He suddenly realized something his inner self had always known: that he should not abuse the object's power by overusing it, that he should not become dependent on the Apple. Ezio knew that it was his own will that had blurred the answers he sought. He must not be slothful. He must fend for himself. One day he would have to again, anyway.

He thought of Leonardo. What could that man not do, if he had the Apple? And Leonardo, the best of men, nevertheless invented weapons of destruction as easily as he produced sublime paintings. Might the Apple have the power not only to help mankind, but to corrupt it? In Rodrigo's or Cesare's hands, had either of those two ever been able to master it, it could have become the instrument not of salvation, but destruction!

Power is a potent drug. Ezio did not want to fall victim to it.

He looked at the Apple again. It seemed inert in his hands now. But as he placed it back in its box, he found he could hardly bear to close the lid. What paths could it not open up for him?!

No! He must bury it. He must learn to live by the code without it. But not yet!

He had always sensed in his heart that Micheletto lived. Now he knew it for a fact. And while he lived, he would do his utmost to free his evil master-Cesare!

Ezio had not told Pope Julius his full plan. He intended to seek out Cesare and kill him, or die in the attempt.

It was the only way.

He would use the Apple next only when he had to. He had to keep his own instincts and powers of deduction sharp, against the day when the Apple would no longer be in his possession. He would hunt down the Borgia diehards in Rome without it. Only if he failed-within three days-to unearth them, would he resort to its power again. He still had his friends-the girls of the Rosa in Fiore, La Volpe's thieves, his fellow Assassins-and with their help, how could he fail?

And he knew that the Apple would-in ways he could not fully comprehend-help him, as long as he respected its potential. Perhaps that was its secret. Perhaps no one could ever fully master it-except a member of the race of ancient Adepts who had left the world in trust to humanity, to make or break it, as their will elected.

He closed the lid and locked the box.

Ezio summoned a meeting of the Brotherhood on Tiber Island that night.

'My friends,' he started, 'I know how hard we have striven, and I believe that victory may be in sight, but there is still work to do.'

The others, all except Machiavelli, looked at each other in surprise.

'But Cesare is muzzled!' cried La Volpe. 'For good!'

'And we have a new Pope who has always been an enemy of the Borgia,' added Claudia.

'And the French are driven back!' put in Bartolomeo. 'The countryside is secure. And the Romagna is back in papal hands!'

Ezio held out a hand to quiet them. 'We all know that a victory is not a victory until it is absolute.'

'And Cesare may indeed be muzzled, but he lives,' said Machiavelli quietly. 'And Micheletto-'

'Exactly!' Ezio said. 'And as long as there are pockets of Borgia diehards, both here and in the Papal States, there is still seed from which a Borgia revival may grow.'

'You are too cautious, Ezio! We have won!' cried Bartolomeo.

'Barto, you know as well as I do that a handful of city-states in the Romagna remain loyal to Cesare. They are strongly fortified.'

'Then I'll go and sort them out!'

'They will keep. Caterina Sforza's army is not strong enough to attack them from Forli, but I have sent messengers requesting her to keep a close watch on them. I have a more pressing job for you.' Oh, God, thought Ezio, why does my heart still skip a beat when I mention her name?

'Which is…?'

'I want you to take a force to Ostia and keep a sharp eye on the port. I want to know about any suspicious ships coming into, and, especially, leaving the harbor. I want you to have messengers on horseback ready to bring news to me here the instant you have anything to report.'

Bartolomeo snorted. 'Sentry duty! Hardly the sort of work for a man of action like me!'

'You will get as much action as you need when the time is ripe to move against the rebel city-states I've mentioned. In the meantime, they live in hope, waiting for a signal. Let them live in hope; it'll keep them quiet. Our job is to snuff that hope out! Forever! Then, if they don't listen to reason, they still won't put up half the fight they would now.'

Machiavelli smiled. 'I agree with Ezio,' he said.

'Well, all right. If you insist,' Bartolomeo replied grumpily.

'Pantasilea will enjoy the sea air, after her ordeal.'

Bartolomeo brightened. 'I hadn't thought of that!'

'Good.' Ezio turned to his sister. 'Claudia. I imagine the change of regime hasn't affected business at the Rosa in Fiore too badly, has it?'

Claudia grinned. 'It's funny how even princes of the Church find it so hard to keep the devil between their loins in abeyance. However many cold baths they say they take!'

'Tell your girls to keep their ears to the ground. Julius has the College of Cardinals firmly under his control, but he still has plenty of enemies with ambitions of their own, and some of them might just be mad enough to think that if they could set Cesare at liberty again, they could use him as a means of furthering their own ends. And keep an eye on Johann Burchard.'

'What-Rodrigo's master of ceremonies? Surely he's harmless enough. He hated having to organize all those orgies! Isn't he just a functionary?'

'Nevertheless-anything you hear-especially if it leads to diehard factions still at large here-let me know.'

'It'll be easier, now that we no longer have Borgia guards breathing down our necks every minute of the day.'

Ezio smiled a little absently. 'I have another question to ask. I have been too busy to visit, and it troubles me, but-how is Mother?'

Claudia's face clouded. 'She keeps the accounts, but, Ezio, I fear she is failing. She seldom goes out. She speaks more and more often of Father, and of Federico and Petruccio.'

Ezio fell silent for a moment, thinking of his lost father, Giovanni, and his brothers. 'I will come when I can,' he said. 'Give her my love; ask her to forgive my neglect.'

'She understands the work you have to do. She knows that you do it not only for the good of us all, but for the sake of our departed kinsmen.'