“Sì,” Ezio replied. “I wonder how much more work we have to do.” He paused reflectively. “Perhaps it will soon be finished.”
“Would that be so bad?”
Ezio was about to reply when he was interrupted by the sound of an explosion—cannon fire, from the direction of the town. He drew his sword, rising in his saddle to scan the ramparts.
“Don’t worry,” said Mario, laughing heartily. “It’s only exercises. We’ve upgraded the arsenal here and installed new cannon all along the battlements. We have training sessions daily.”
“As long as they aren’t aiming at us.”
“Don’t worry,” said Mario again. “It’s true that the men still need to get their eye in, but they have enough sense not to fire at the boss!”
A short while later they were riding through the open principal gate of the town and up the broad main thoroughfare, which led to the citadel. As they did so, crowds gathered to line the street, looking at Ezio with a mixture of respect, admiration, and affection.
“Welcome back, Ezio!” one woman called.
“Grazie, Madonna.” Ezio smiled back, inclining his head slightly.
“Three cheers for Ezio!” a child’s voice rang out.
“Buon giorno, fratellino,” Ezio said to him. Turning to Mario, he added, “It’s good to be home.”
“I think they’re more pleased to see you than to see me,” said Mario, but he was smiling as he spoke, and in fact much of the cheering, especially from the older townsmen, was for him.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the old family seat again,” said Ezio. “It’s been a while.”
“It has indeed, and there are a couple of people there who’ll be looking forward to seeing you.”
“Who?”
“Can’t you guess? You can’t be that preoccupied with your duties to the Brotherhood.”
“Of course—you mean my mother and my sister! How are they?”
“Well. Your sister was very unhappy when her husband died, but time heals most things, and I think she’s much better now. In fact, there she is.”
They had ridden into the courtyard of Mario’s fortified residence now, and as they dismounted, Ezio’s sister, Claudia, appeared at the top of the marble staircase that led up to the main entrance, flew down it, and ran into her brother’s arms.
“Brother!” she cried, hugging him. “Your return home is the best birthday present I could have wished for!”
“Claudia, my dearest,” said Ezio, holding her close. “It is good to be back. How is our mother?”
“Well, thanks be to God. She’s dying to see you—we’ve been on tenterhooks ever since the news reached us that you were returning. And your fame goes before you!”
“Let’s go in,” said Mario.
“There’s someone else who’ll be glad to see you,” continued Claudia, taking his arm and escorting him up the staircase. “The Countess of Forlì.”
“Caterina? Here?” Ezio tried to keep the excitement out of his voice.
“We did not know when exactly you would arrive. She and Mother are with the abbess, but they will be here by sunset.”
“Business first,” said Mario, knowingly. “I am calling a meeting of the Council of the Brotherhood here tonight. Machiavelli, I know, is especially keen to talk to you.”
“Is it finished, then?” asked Claudia intently. “Is the Spaniard truly dead?”
Ezio’s grey eyes hardened. “I will explain everything at the meeting this evening,” he told her.
“Very well,” replied Claudia, but her own eyes were troubled as she took her leave.
“And please give my greetings to the countess when she returns,” Ezio called after her. “I will see her, and Mother, this evening. First I have business to attend to with Mario that will not wait.”
Once they were alone, Mario’s tone became serious. “You must prepare well for tonight, Ezio. Machiavelli will be here by sunset and I know he has many questions for you. We will discuss matters now, and then I advise you to take some time off—it won’t hurt you to get to know the town again a little.”
After a session of deep conversation with Mario in his study, Ezio made his way back into Monteriggioni. The question of the Pope’s survival hung heavily over him, and he sought distraction from it. Mario had suggested he visit his tailor to order some new clothes to replace his travel-stained ones, and first he made his way to the man’s shop, where he found him sitting cross-legged on his workbench, sewing a brocade cloak of a rich emerald green.
Ezio liked the tailor, a good-natured fellow a little older than Ezio was himself. The tailor greeted him warmly.
“To what do I owe the honor?” he asked.
“I think I’m due some new clothes,” said Ezio a little ruefully. “Tell me what you think. Be honest!”
“Even if it were not my job to sell you clothes,signore, I would have to advise you that a new suit would be the making of you.”
“I thought as much! Very well!”
“I’ll measure you now. Then you can pick out the colors you’d like.”
Ezio submitted himself to the tailor’s ministrations and chose a discreet dark grey velvet for the doublet, with matching hose in wool.
“Can it be ready by tonight?”
The tailor smiled. “Not if you want me to do a good job on it,signore. But we can try for a fitting toward midday tomorrow.”
“Very well,” replied Ezio, hoping that the meeting he was to attend that evening would not result in his having to leave Monteriggioni immediately.
He was making his way across the main square of the town when he noticed an attractive woman who was struggling with an unwieldy box of red and yellow flowers—clearly too heavy for her to lift. At that time of day there were few people around, and Ezio had always found it difficult to resist a damsel in distress.
“Can I lend you a hand?” he asked, coming up to her.
She smiled at him. “Yes, you’re just the man I need. My gardener was supposed to pick these up for me but his wife’s sick so he had to go home and as I was passing this way in any case I said I’d fetch them—but this box is far too heavy for me. Do you think you could—?”
“Of course.” Ezio stooped and hefted the box onto his shoulder. “So many flowers! You’re a lucky woman.”
“Even luckier now that I’ve run into you.”
There was no doubt that she was flirting with him. “You could have asked your husband to fetch them for you—or one of your other servants,” he said.
“I only have one other servant and she isn’t half as strong as I am,” replied the woman. “And as for a husband—I have none.”
“I see.”
“I ordered these flowers for Claudia Auditore’s birthday.” The woman looked at him.
“That sounds like fun.”
“It will be.” She paused. “In fact, if you’d like to help me out some more, I am rather looking for someone with a bit of class to escort me to it.”
“Do you think I have enough class?”
She was bolder now. “Yes! No one in this entire town walks with greater bearing than you, sir. I am sure Claudia’s brother, Ezio himself, would be impressed.”
Ezio smiled. “You flatter me. But what do you know of this Ezio?”
“Claudia—who is a particular friend of mine—thinks the world of him. But he rarely visits her, and from what I can gather, he’s rather distant.”
Ezio decided it was time to come clean. “It’s true, alas—I have been…distant.”
The woman gasped. “Oh, no!You are Ezio! I don’t believe it. Claudia did say you were expected back. The party’s supposed to be a surprise for her. Promise you won’t say a word.”