'Now, lie on the bed,' she said. 'I want to make sure you are good and ready for me.'
'Surely you can see that I am.'
'Indulge me. Indulge yourself.'
Ezio smiled. This was better than sleep. Sleep could wait.
Sleep, Ezio found, was obliged to wait three hours. Then she curled up in his arms. She fell asleep before him and he watched her for a while. Nature had indeed been kind to her. Her slender yet curvaceous body, with its narrow hips, broad shoulders, and small but perfect breasts, was still that of a twenty-year-old, and her cloud of fine, fine light red hair that tickled his chest as she laid her head on it carried the same scent that had driven him wild all those years ago. Once or twice in the depths of the night, he woke to find he had rolled away from her, and when he took her in his arms again, she nestled up to him with a tiny sigh of joy and closed her hand round his forearm; but she did not wake. Ezio wondered later if this hadn't been the best night of love of his life.
They overslept, of course, but Ezio was not about to forgo another bout in favor of cannon practice, though a part of his mind reproved him for this. Meanwhile, he could distantly hear the sounds of marching men-clattering men moving at a running march-and shouted orders, and then, the boom of cannon.
'Target practice with the new cannon,' said Ezio, when for a moment Caterina stopped him and looked at him quizzically. 'Maneuvers. Mario's a hard taskmaster.'
The heavy brocade curtains across the windows shut out most of the light and the room remained cocooned in comfortable dimness; and no servant came to disturb them. Soon, Caterina's moans of pleasure drowned out any other noise to his ear. His hands tightened around her strong buttocks-she was pulling him up urgently toward her, when their lovemaking was interrupted by more than just the roar of cannon.
Suddenly, the peace and the softness of the big room was shattered. The windows blew away with a mighty roar, taking a part of the stone outer wall with them, as a gigantic cannonball smashed in and landed, searing hot, inches from the bed. The floor sagged under its weight.
Ezio had thrown himself protectively and instinctively over Caterina at the first instant of danger, and in that moment the lovers transformed themselves into professionals and colleagues-after all, if they were to remain lovers, they first had to survive.
They leapt from the bed, throwing on their clothes. Ezio noticed that apart from the delicious vial of oil, Caterina had concealed a very useful jagged-edged dagger beneath her skirts.
'What the hell-?' Ezio cried.
'Go and find Mario,' said Caterina urgently.
Another ball flew in, shattering the beams over their recently vacated bed and smashing it to pieces.
'My troops are in the main courtyard,' said Caterina. 'I'll find them and get them around the back of the citadel and see if we can't outflank them there. Tell Mario that's what I've decided.'
'Thank you,' said Ezio. 'Stay out of sight.'
'I wish I'd had time to change,' she said, laughing. 'We'd better book into an albergo next time, eh?'
'Let's make damned sure there is a next time,' rejoined Ezio, laughing, too, but nervously, and strapping on his sword.
'You bet! Arrivederci!' cried Caterina, rushing from the room without forgetting to blow him a kiss.
He looked at the ruins of the bed. The Codex weapons-the double-blade, the poison-blade, the pistol-were buried under it, in all probability destroyed. At least he still had his hidden-blade. Even in extremis he would never forget that. His murdered father's last bequest.
EIGHT
Ezio had no idea what time it was, but sense told him attacks usually began at dawn, when the victims were still confused and wiping the sleep out of their eyes. He was lucky that his training had bestowed on him, even after he'd reached the age of forty, the alertness and agility of a wildcat.
Once outside and on the battlements, he scanned the landscape around the little town. The town itself, now below him as he skirted around, was in flames in many quarters. He saw where the tailor's shop was burning and Angelina's house, too.
There would be no birthday party for poor Claudia tonight.
He ducked as another cannonball smashed into the ramparts. For God's love, what guns were their attackers bringing to bear? How could they reload and fire so fast? Who was behind this?
Through the smoke and dust he made out Mario, dodging toward him through crumbling masonry. Ezio leapt off the ramparts to land in a crouch near Mario and ran to join him.
'Uncle! Che diavolo…?'
Mario spat. 'They've caught us on our back foot. It's the Borgia!'
'Fottere!'
'We underestimated Cesare. They must have massed to the east during the night.'
'What must we do?'
'The main thing is to get all the townspeople clear-those who haven't already been killed. We've got to hold them off until we've done that. If they take the town with the people still inside it, they'll kill them all-everyone in Monteriggioni is either an Assassin or an Assassin's abettor, in their eyes.'
'I know the route out. Leave it to me.'
'Good man. I'll muster our defenders and give them everything we've got.' Mario paused. 'Look. Let's take them on first. You go and command the cannon on the ramparts.'
'And you?'
'I'll lead a frontal assault. Take the battle to the bastards.'
'Caterina is going to try to take her forces around the flank.'
'Good. Then we are in with a chance. Now hurry!'
'Wait!'
'What is it?'
Ezio lowered his voice. 'Where is the Apple?' He did not tell his uncle that the Codex weapons had been destroyed by one of the first cannonades. Inwardly he prayed that, by some miracle, his path would cross with Leonardo's again, for he did not doubt that the master of all the arts and sciences would help him reconstruct them, in case of need. In the meantime, he had the hidden-blade still, and he was a past master himself in the use of conventional weapons.
'The Apple is safe,' Mario reassured him. 'Now go. And if you see that the Borgia show the slightest chance of breaching the walls, shift your attention to evacuating the town. Do you understand?'
'Si, zio mio.'
Mario placed his hands on Ezio's shoulders and looked at him gravely for a long moment. 'Our fate is only partially in our own hands. There is only a certain amount of it that we can control. But never forget, never forget, nephew-that whatever happens to you, or to me, this day, there is never a feather lost by a sparrow that is not brushed away by the finger of God.'
'I understand, Capitano.'
There was a brief moment of silence between them. Then Mario extended his hand.
'Insieme per la vittoria!'
Ezio took his uncle's hand in his and wrung it fervently. 'Insieme!'
Mario turned to go.
Ezio said, 'Capitano-be careful!'
Mario nodded grimly. 'I'll do my best! And you-take my best horse and get to the outer walls as fast as you can!' He drew his sword and, with his great war cry rallying his men, ran toward the foe.
Ezio watched him briefly and then ran himself toward the stable, where the old groom whose runaway horse he'd saved only the day before was waiting. The huge chestnut was saddled and ready.
'Maestro Mario had already sent orders,' the old man said. 'I may be past my prime, but no one could ever accuse me of being inefficient. Ma attenzione! This horse is full of spirit!'
'I brought him to heel yesterday. He'll know me today.'
