Chapter 44: Fort Paulina (Part II)
Caesar did not hesitate, he let go of Tocino and pounced on the wall, grabbing Giulio's left hand - another arrow was placed on the crossbow, Ezio saw this, and quickly jumped onto the wall and ran towards Caesar, the Templars followed, Caesar's upper body was almost dragged out of the notch by Julio, he gritted his teeth and stared at the Assassin who was close at hand, and he could not even hold his hand to hold the sword.
The Templars only heard a sharp metal crash, and then saw the arrows falling from the sky and the Assassin's Hidden Blade, he did not suspect Ezio's ulterior motives, the hatred between the Orditore family and the Borgia family could not be washed away even if it was washed by the waters of the Mediterranean, Ezio certainly did not have pity for Borgia's son, it could only be an accident, he attacked Ezio's back, forcing the Assassins to turn around and fight, and they fought beside Caesar and Giulio, Caesar was almost breathless with the deep and terrifying killing intent, but Julio had already pulled the dagger out of his boot, pierced it into the gap in the bricks, and climbed the city wall on it.
Tocino had fled, and with a roar, the Assassins were freed from the battle with the Borgia soldiers, and the Templars watched as Ezio threw a hook and leaped down the wall, landing in a deserted corner, and disappearing into the grass before Baglioni's soldiers surrounded him.
"Don't let them go!" Atalante shouted, "Kill them!" β
Neto was shouting, too, but his voice was more intense than his mother's, and the Borgia soldiers threw flaming torches from the occupied walls, and fires broke out in many places, and in the midst of more smoke, Terra's men attacked the stables on Caesar's orders, and they broke the railings, jumped on their horses, and took the reins of the other horse in their hands, and drove all the horses in the stables outward.
The enraged horses scattered some of the Baglioni soldiers, but more men surrounded them with swords, and at that moment a huge thunderclap was heard descending on them, and the ground shook, and some people even fell, and the weapons fell to the ground, and then another, and then another...... With countless wails of fear, a thick smell of sulfur came from the city gates, separated by huge trees, and people could not see what was happening there, only to hear someone shouting the devil.
Leonardo's people may have thought the same thing, and they watched in awe as he placed a box in front of the giant tree that lay between them and his master, the fire spreading into the box with a hissing sound, and then with a loud bang, the giant tree as thick as an adult man's waist was torn apart by an invisible force and thrown into the sky, the broken branches and blades scattered like flying daggers. Before they could stand up under Leonardo's command, they saw a brown horse and its knight leap out of the smoke and fire.
"Let's go!" Caesar shouted that not everyone had followed him, the explosion had completely thrown the horses out of control, some had been trampled to death by the hooves of the horses before Baglioni's soldiers could catch them, and others had been injured by splinters or had lost their minds in the smoke.
They galloped all the way through the winding mountain roads of Perugia, and thankfully, Caesar and Giulio had both studied at the University of Perugia for two years, and they had the Perugia people brought by Terra with them, so that they would not go down the wrong path, and they had been running out of the range of Perugia, and one of the horses suddenly screamed, and fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth and nose, and the horse's retinue was thrown by it, unable to move.
Caesar raised his hand and looked back, he was a little relieved when he saw Giulio, but when he saw the team of less than thirty people behind him, his expression suddenly became very terrifying, and these thirty people even included Leonardo and his two apprentices.
"I'll be back," he muttered, looking at Fort Paulina in the distance, "with fire and death." β
ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
Lucrecia sat absentmindedly in front of the window, and since she was not so willing to be in the same palace as Julia, Pope Alexander VI purchased a small building for her, facing St. Peter's Square, with a glance of the entrance to the Holy City. She carried a white lamb in her arms, and when the painter finished painting and added horns to it, it would become a unicorn, and in the portrait, Lucrecia was not painted as the original identity, but as a virgin and a saint, which is why people of this era rarely left conclusive portraits.
Giovanni. Sforza sat on a chair, the farthest corner of the room from Luclayia, and Ludovico looked at him helplessly: "Can't you be intimate with her?" β
Giovanni studied the engraving on the armrest of the chair intently, without raising his head: "She's a slut." β
"It's a beauty."
"She's a Borgia."
"It's a beauty."
"She doesn't like me, and I don't like her."
"It's a beauty."
Should I say I almost got stabbed by her during the sexual sharing ceremony? Giovanni muttered in his heart, at Ludovico's repeated urging, he had no choice but to stand up, but before he could get to Lucrea's side, Luclecia suddenly jumped up, like a gust of wind, passing through his side, leaving Giovanni stunned and Ludovico with a bewildered expression.
Cheers rang out from the window, someone shouted for Borgia, and Giovanni ran to the terrace, where he saw Caesar and his attendants entering the Holy City from the entrance to St. Peter's Square, surrounded by civilians and scoundrels who greeted him in exchange for the coins they tossed at him. After a few more moments, he saw Lucrea, and her attendant pushed the others away from Caesar, and as soon as Caesar saw his sister, he leaned down and carried her to his horse, and Lucrea kissed his brother on the cheek and looked behind him uncontrollably, and her smile almost made a stone statue weak when she saw Julio.
"I didn't break my promise, did I?" Caesar said in her ear.
"Oh, I never doubted you." Lucrecia immediately said that she saw that Giulio was wounded on his arms and legs, wrapped in a white ribbon, and blood could be faintly seen, but she could not say anything but to suppress this worry and sadness in her heart.
ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
"Look." Giovanni snorted, "I told you she was her brother's mistress, and maybe her father. β
Ludovico's face was not very good-looking, and at any rate, he finally stopped forcing Giovanni to get close to Lucrea: "But after a year," he said, "you must have a child with Lucrea, and the occasional absurdity is nothing, and when she bears you children, her love will be transferred to the child and the father of the child." β
Giovanni was silent, he missed his wife and their dead children, and if possible, he would like to have a hundred children with his deceased wife, and not have a common descendant with the Borgia slut who clearly belonged to him.
Unbeknownst to Caesar, his intimacy with Lucrecia was an inconclusive proof that in the near future it might also hurt his beloved sister, and he sent Lucrea to the bottom of her temporary home, where he went to see his father, angry and ashamed of his defeat in Perugia.
Pope Alexander VI may have been a little disappointed, but considering that Caesar was on his first solo mission, such a mistake was ...... It's a bit big, but it's not unacceptable, who knew that Baglioni's Atalanta would be so crazy, but Alexander VI knew more than Caesar, for example, Atalante probably already knew a few years ago, those death messengers were under him, Rodrigo. Borgia was assigned, and she feared that even if she backed down, she and her son Neto would still die, and it was understandable that she would do such a thing.
Alexander VI was more concerned about whether Tocino of the Baglioni family really colluded with Assasin, although he could jokingly say that where there were Templars, there were Assasin assassins, but they were unaware of the assassin next to Tsasino, and this mistake was quite worth chasing, and seriously, if it weren't for such a stroke of genius from that short-sighted and narrow-minded Neto, they might really have managed to make Tsassino the Grand Duke of Perugia because Terra was dead- Perugia is not only the territory of the Papal States, it is also a sacred place, in addition to the key geographical location and taxes, in the 13th and 14th centuries, the cardinals who had to move here because of the war even elected five popes in the cathedral of Perugia, the importance of Perugia can be imagined.
He told Caesar to rest, and then couldn't help but wail in the room, "Nasty rat," he said of Ezio, "there's no way to get it out or kill it." β
"Are we going to excommunicate Perugia, then?" His secretary, Duarte, asked politely.
"Excommunication what? Let everyone know that Perugia has broken away from the control of the Papal States? Alexander VI exasperated, "I don't want to peel off the skin and let it be left until my Juan grows upβhe is a good lad and will be a good commander, and when the time comes, I will let him lead the army to bring this wicked city to the ground, just as the heavens destroyed Sodom with fire and brimstone (note 1)." β
ββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββββ
On the other side of St. Peter's Palace, in the residence of the Picromini family, Cardinal Picromini carefully examined Giulio's wounds, in an era when there were no antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs, once the wound became infected, it was almost a dead end, so even if people used a soldering iron to prevent this possibility, Giulio carried with him the willow bark water he had extracted, and chewed a little dandelion, at least without fever.
Picomini gave him his ointment, which was so good that even the last bit of pain disappeared, Giulio wiped his body briefly, and fell to the bed, and he did not know if he had really fallen asleep while he was in Perugia, but Caesar was a little arrogant, but the old man with a calm personality was the opposite, otherwise they might not have been able to return to Rome.
Lucrecia's blue eyes appeared in his mind for a moment, and then he was suppressed by Ezio's figure, Giulio had a vague feeling, but the real identity was still in Fort Paulina - although Ezio wore a mask, a person's unique skills and combat habits did not change, and the Templars could recognize him, not to mention Giulio, who had been with him for several years, and he closed his eyes and sighed.
"Why sigh?" Someone suddenly asked in the otherwise silent room.
"I thought my identity wouldn't be more complicated." Giuliano. Medici's illegitimate son, Lorenzo. Medici's adopted son, a disciple of Picromini, and now a martial arts teacher who was an Assasin Assassin, opened his eyes, and in the darkness he could still perceive Ezio's location, which Ezio had said was a gift: "You intended to train me to be an Assassin?" β
"Don't you want to?" Ezio said, "You have unparalleled talent, and you are destined to become an Assassin, Lorenzo. The Medici acquiesced. β
"But he regretted it," said Giulio, "and he seemed to have preferred to see a priest rather than an Assassin." β
"That's because he was afraid that you would compete with Pierrot for the authority of the Medici family," said Ezio regretfully, but "Pierrot may be a good boy, but a good boy can't rule Florence." β
"I thought Florence was a free city."
"No power, no freedom." "This is a phrase that I have only learned for many years, that Florence is a beautiful woman, but she has no armor and a sword, and anyone can take advantage of her, and the Medici is only one of them," said Ezio. β
"It's rude."
"Very fitting," Ezio laughed in the dark, "I would have preferred you to be the Medici's head rather than Pierrot, and Lorenzo and I both know that you are more suitableβyou are like a rose when you are gentle, like a spike when you are cruel, your supporters will be fascinated by the former, and your opponents will be terrified by the latter, and you may become a great man, like your ancestors." β