Even before he crossed the border into Navarre, Ezio's practiced eye told him that the city was under siege. When he came to a village, most of the locals just shook their heads dumbly when he questioned them, but when he sought out the priest, with whom he was able to converse in Latin, he learned the whole picture.
'You may know that our king and queen have designs on Navarre. It's a rich land, and they want to incorporate it into ours.'
'So they want to take Viana?'
'They've already taken it! It's occupied by the Count of Lerin on their behalf.'
'And the besiegers?'
'They are Navarrese forces. I think they will be the victors.'
'What makes you say that?'
'Because they are under the command of the brother-in-law of the king of Navarre, and he is an experienced general.'
Ezio's heart beat faster, but he still needed confirmation: 'His name?'
'He's very famous, apparently. The Duke of Valence, Cesare Borgia. They say he once commanded the army of the Pope himself. But the Spanish troops are brave. They have taken the fight out to the enemy, and there have been bloody battles in the fields outside the town. I would not go any farther in that direction, my son; there lies only devastation and blood.'
Ezio thanked him and spurred his horse forward.
He arrived at the scene to find a pitched battle going on right in front of him, as a fog grew around them. In its midst Cesare Borgia was taking a stand, hacking down any foe who came at him. And suddenly Ezio him -self had to fight another horseman-a Navarrese, with his crest of a red shield crisscrossed with yellow chains. They cut and slashed at each other with their swords until finally Ezio was able to split the man's right shoulder down to the chest, and he fell, without a cry, to be finished off by Spanish infantrymen.
Cesare was on foot, and Ezio decided that it would be easier to get close to him undetected if he were also on foot, so he dismounted and ran through the fray toward him.
At last he stood face-to-face with his deadly foe. Cesare's face was streaked with blood and dust, and strained with exertion, but when he saw Ezio his expression took on a new determination.
'Assassin! How did you find me?'
'My thirst to avenge Mario Auditore led me to you.'
They sliced at each other with their swords until Ezio managed to knock Cesare's out of his hand. Then, sheathing his own, he flung himself on the Borgia, putting his hands around his throat. But Cesare had learned a few things from Micheletto about the art of strangling and managed to free himself by thrusting Ezio's arms away. Ezio unleashed the hidden-blade, but once again Cesare managed to defend himself successfully, as the battle raged about them.
But then the Spanish trumpets sounded the retreat. Triumphant, Cesare yelled to the nearest Navarrese troops: 'Kill him! Kill the Assassin! Tear the maldito bastardo into pieces!'
But the fog had increased, and Cesare melted into it. The Navarrese soldiers closed in on Ezio. He fought them off hard and long. They left him for dead.
Later, Ezio came to, to find himself in the middle of the battlefield. He was lying on his back. He had to push a corpse off him before he could sit up.
The battlefield lay under a cloudy, bloodred sky. In the distance the sun burned angrily. Dust hung in the air over a wide, unmade road, littered with the dead.
Ezio saw a crow standing on a corpse's chin, pecking hungrily at his eye. A riderless horse stampeded by, driven mad by the smell of blood. Broken banners snapped in the breeze.
Groaning with the effort, he stood up and, painfully at first, walked through the field of the dead. He found that he had lost his sword and dagger, though the hidden-blade and the bracer had not been found and looted.
His first job was to replace his weapons. Near him, he noticed a peasant sifting through the battlefield, looting. The peasant looked at him.
'Help yourself,' he said. 'There's more than enough to go around.'
Ezio looked for fallen officers and knights, as they would be better armed, but in every case someone had got there before him. At last he found a dead captain with a fine sword and a dagger similar to his own. These he took gratefully.
He made his way off the battlefield. He had to find a horse. It would be quicker to get around that way.
He was in luck. Not half a mile from the edge of the battlefield, well away from the Navarrese camp, he came across a warhorse, its back bloodstained, but not with its own blood, and fully saddled and bridled, grazing in a green field. Talking to it gently, he mounted it. It kicked a little at first, but he soothed it quickly and, turning it, rode back the way he had come.
Back at the battlefield, he encountered more peasants gleaning what they could from the bodies. He passed them, galloping up a hill toward the sound of a renewed fight. As the crest of the hill revealed a level plain below it, Ezio saw that he was now much closer to the town. Battle had been rejoined and it was taking place on the plain, close to the battlemented walls of the town, from where cannon fire issued.
SIXTY-FOUR
Ezio steered his horse to one side of the battle, through some olive groves, but there he encountered a patrol of Navarrese troops. Before he had time to wheel around, they had fired their muskets at him, missing him, but cutting his horse down from under him.
He managed to escape among the trees, and, continuing on foot, taking care to avoid the Spanish troops who seemed to be prowling all around, he suddenly overheard snatches of conversation. Creeping closer, he came to a clearing in which he saw one Spanish soldier lying wounded on the ground while another did his best to comfort him.
'Por favor,' said the wounded man. 'My legs. Why won't the bleeding stop?'
'Compadre, I have done all I can for you. Now you must trust in God.'
'Oh, Pablo, I'm afraid! Mis piernas! Mis piernas!'
'Quiet now, Miguel. Think of all the money we'll get when we've won the battle. And the booty!'
'Who is this old man we are fighting for?'
'Who? El Conde de Lerin?'
'Yes. We are fighting for him, aren't we?'
'Yes, my friend. He serves our king and queen, and we serve him. So we fight.'
'Pablo, the only thing I think I'm fighting for now is my life.'
A patrol arrived on the other side of the clearing.
'Keep moving,' said its sergeant. 'We must outflank them.'
'My friend is wounded,' said Pablo. 'He cannot move.'
'Then leave him. Come on.'
'Give me a few more minutes.'
'Very well. We head north. Follow us. And be sure no Navarrese sees you.'
'Will we know when we have outflanked them?'
'There will be gunfire. We'll cut them down where they least expect it. Use the trees for cover.'
'Just a moment, sir.'
'What is it?'
'I will follow now.'
'Immediately?'
'Yes, sir. My comrade, Miguel, is dead.'
Once they had gone, Ezio waited for a few minutes, then made his way north, before veering east, in the direction he knew Viana lay. He left the olive groves and saw that he had passed the field of battle and was now
