CH 29: Codex pages
As both of us nodded at each other, we began to run again as we jumped and got on the city wall. As three guards stood in our way of to reach Vieri, Ezio drew her sword and I grabbed onto my deadly daggers as I dodged the slash of sword that came at me and span in place before I stabbed him in the back and killed him.
Ezio took care of the guard that attacked her by blocking it with her own sword and spinning it to make him lose control before she pierced his guts. I smirked at our teamwork before I blocked the incoming slash with one dagger and killed he guard using the other.
We then rushed forward once again and reached the tower of the city wall to finally kill Vieri who immediately recognized us two and got ready to fight along with the two expert looking guards beside him :"Ah! There you are. I've been looking forward to this for a long, long time."
Gotta say, the two guards were good. But they weren't good enough. Sure, they were kind of an annoyance in the game, but as game like as I am, this world isn't a game. So using my extremely sharp sword that I had drawn and strong brute force, I slashed so hard that when he tried to block with his sword, the guard's sword broke and my blade killed him!
The other guard wanted to attack Ezio who was fighting Vieri from behind, but that failed as I stabbed my sword straight through his back. And just when I killed him, I saw Ezio finish off Vieri who fell down.
Ezio grabbed his collar and began to question the bastard :"What are you and your allies planning? Is this what my father discovered? Is this why he was killed?" but Vieri was lower than shit even at the door step of death :"I'm sorry, were you hoping for a confession?"
Rage took over Ezio's heart as she grabbed his collar with both hand and began to shake the bastard and swore :"Pezzo di merda (piece of shit)! Vorrei solo che avessi sofferto di più (I only wish you'd suffered more)! Hai avuto la fine che meritavi (You met the fate you deserved)! Spero che bru– ( I hope yo–)!"
I would have let her continue, the poor girl deserved to let out her frustration and rage after all. But that doesn't seem to be what uncle Mario had in mind as he cut in on her outrage :"Enough, Ezio! Show some respect."
Ezio slammed the dead body of the piece of shit to the ground before she got up with rage still in her heart and mind :"Respect? After all that's happened? Do you think he would have shown either of us such kindness?"
But at some times, uncle Mario was a really patient man :" You are not Vieri. Do not become him." As much as I would want to argue with him, that sentence hits too hard to disagree with. He walked to Vieri's body and got on one knee as he closed his eyes.
Mario :"Che la morte ti dia la pace che cercavi (May death provide the peace you sought). Requiescat in Pace (Rest in peace)." Gotta say, hearing that sentence in real life from a real Assassin really hits home.
He got up and held out a letter that he took from Vieri's body for Ezio to take :"Take this. Read it when you have time. Our work here is finished. Let us return to the villa..."
-
After some time, we all made it back to the Villa. Me and Ezio walked together to uncle Mario and dozen of his men just a little away from the training circle with drinks in their hands. Uncle Mario turned to and shouted to the people in the small party :"And here they are! Our campioni (champions), Ali and Ezio!"
The mercenaries raised their drinks as they shouted back :"all hail Ezio and Ali!" Ezio being the tomboy that she can be, walked up to them with a smirk :"I see you wasted no time starting the celebrations."
I laughed out loud beside :"you guys have a real bound with drinks, huh? You really threw your celebration here."
Mario :"And why not?! You two have done us a great service, nipote (nephew) and nipote in legge (nephew in law)! With Vieri dead, la Toscana (Tuscany) will grow quiet once more. Do you know what that means?"
Mercenary 1:" Basta lavorare! (No more work!)"
Mercenary 2:" Si passa tutto il giorno a bere! (We can drink all day!)"
Mercenary 3:" E a puttane! (And with whores!)"
Everyone looked over at him with confusion as he shrugged and replied :"What?! It's true!" everyone laughed besides Ezio who just shook her head. Uncle Mario started walking and gestured for us two to do the same :"Come, Ezio, Ali. Walk with me."
"yes, uncle?" Ezio said before we all began to walk towards the Villa. As we walked, Ezio shared her knowledge :"The Pazzi answer to another; a Spaniard."
Mario:"He is Rodrigo Borgia, one of the most powerful men in all of Europe and leader of the Templar Order."
Ezio:"Which makes him responsible for the murder of my father and brothers."
Mario:"Yes. And he will kill you too, given the chance."
Ezio:"Then I must stand against him if I wish to be free... But not until every other Templar has fallen to our blades. Father's list will guide us."
Mario:"Where will you go next?"
Ezio:"Firenze. Francesco de' Pazzi will share the fate of his son."
Mario:"A sensible next step. No doubt he intends evil for the city. Alright. That's enough grim talk for one night, I'll be in my study if you need me." And that's where he parted ways with us. Ezio turned to me with a worried look.
She opened her mouth to talk, but she just seemed to be unable to bring them out. I reached out my hand and placed it on her cheek as I gently rubbed it :"what is the matter, Ashkim (my love)? You look worried for some reason?"
She tilted her head a little and leaned into my touch as she looked me in the eyes with worry clear in her eyes :"I… this is all just too much. Not for me, but for you. I guess… what I want to say is that… this all has nothing to do with you.
This is all about me. And I'm just worried that… you will think of it as to much to still be with me when your life is in this much danger. I smiled softly at her as I continued to rub her cheek with my right hand.
I reached out to her right hand and placed it on my chest, right on my heart :"Ezio, you need not worry. Just as I have promised you, I will be with you through thick and thin. So there is no need to worry. And besides, this adds real excitement to our lives, don't you think so?"
She chuckled softly at that as she nodded and looked at where her hand was. She moved closer and hugged me as she placed her ear where her hand was just a moment ago and listened to my calming rhythm of heart beat.
I hugged her as well as we just stood there, embracing each other before she raised her head and looked at me with worry cleared out of her eyes and replaced with happiness :"thank you, Ali. I really needed that from you."
She moved her face closer as she started to close her eyes. I smiled as I followed suit and kissed her lips. Well, I say kiss, but it was more of a peck to the lips before she grabbed my hand and pulled :"come on, we should go and see what uncle Mario wants."
I grunted at her teasing and let her pull me towards the marked location on my map. As we walked to the room, we saw uncle Mario leaning onto a small stone that I knew very well about. I smirked but quickly hid it away as he looked Ezio an back to the wall :"Look familiar?"
We both looked the wall that he was pointing to and saw several pieces of papers scattered on the wall.
Ezio :"Other Codex pages."
Mario :"Yes. Your father managed to find and translate a few before he..." I then pulled out the Codex page that was translated by Leonardo from my waist bag and handed it to Ezio who then handed it Mario :"Here."
Mario :"This is not your father's work. Someone else has translated it."
"Leonardo da Vinci. A friend." Ezio said as uncle Mario put the Codex page along with the rest on the wall who then walked back and pointed at the wall :"Do you see the way the words cross from one page to the next?"
Ezio :"There is something underneath it all. Some kind of map. Where is it supposed to lead?"
Mario :"Your father and I managed to make out bits of a prophecy scrawled across these pages. It was written by an Assassin like us, who long ago held a "Piece of Eden." His name was Altaïr... He spoke of something powerful and ancient hidden beneath the land."
Ezio :"What is it?"
Mario :"What indeed. Solving that little mystery is exactly why we collected these pages."
Ezio :"Then let me help. It's time I take on my father's work. All of it. We'll start with the page we took from Vieri. Leonardo will decode it for us."
Mario :"Bene (Good). Return here when time permits and we'll add it to the wall."
As we parted ways with uncle Mario and walked outside of his study room, Ezio looked at me with a smirk which I immediately returned with a smirk of my own :"let me guess, your "map" also allows you to discover the location of these Codex pages."
I chuckled as I nodded :"just now, after we were done talking with uncle Mario, I discovered that a new mark has been added to my map. These ones are black colored parchments, so I feel like they will probably be Codex pages. Let's go and see."
With a sigh and a head shake of amusement, Ezio followed me as we made our way to the closest Codex page. But when we reached it, it looked like an ordinary chest. Ezio tuned to me with confusion :"are you sure this is it? This is just an ordinary chest. I don't think something as important as a Codex page will be in it."
I shrugged with a clueless look :"hey, don't ask me, I don't know either. That's where my map shows. Let's open it and see what's inside. If a Codex page is inside, we have a really good luck. If now, then no harm is done."
Ezio shrugged as well before she walked up to the chest and opened it. And whoila! A Codex page was inside! She looked back at me with a confused look which I returned with a shrug of my shoulders and tight lips.
Ezio sighed as she shrugged her hands and gave me the Codex page which I put inside of my waist bag :"sai cosa (you know what)? qualunque cosa (whatever). aprire la strada ai prossimi (lead the way to the next ones)."
I chuckled at her cute annoyed state as I led the way and collected the other three Codex pages and put them all inside of my waist bag before turning to look at her :"alright then, that's all. There isn't any more of these codex pages in Monteriggioni."