Renaissance

'I'll be quick,' said Ezio.

'Try not to break it,' said Leonardo.

'This is a test flight,' said Ezio. 'I'll go easy. Just tell me again how this bambina works.'

'Have you ever watched a bird in flight?' asked Leonardo. 'It's not about being lighter than air, it's about grace and balance! You must simply use your bodyweight to control your elevation and direction, and the wings will carry you.' Leonardo's face was very serious. He squeezed Ezio's arm. 'Buona fortuna, my friend. You are - I hope - about to make history.'

Leonardo's assistants strapped Ezio carefully into position below the machine. The bat-like wings stretched out above him. He was secured face forwards in a tight leather cradle, though his arms and legs were free, and before him was a horizontal crossbar of wood, attached to the main wooden frame which held the wings aloft. 'Remember what I told you! Side-to-side controls the rudder. To-and-fro controls the angle of the wings,' Leonardo explained earnestly.

'Thank you,' said Ezio, breathing hard. He knew that if this didn't work, in a moment he'd be taking the last leap of his life.

'Go with God,' said Leonardo.

'See you later,' said Ezio with a confidence he didn't really feel. He balanced the contraption over him, settled, and took a run off the edge of the roof.

His stomach left him first, and then there was a feeling of wonderful exhilaration. Venice reeled beneath him as he tumbled and rolled, but then the machine started to tremble, and fall down the sky. It was only by keeping his head, and remembering Leonardo's instructions regarding the use of the joystick, that Ezio was able to right the craft and guide it back - just - to the Pexaro palace roof. He landed the strange craft at a running pace - using all his strength and agility to keep it stable.

'Christ Almighty, it worked!' yelled Leonardo, careless of security for a moment, unravelling Ezio from the machine and hugging him frantically. 'You wonderful man! You flew!'

'Yes, by God, so I did,' said Ezio, breathless. 'But not as far as I need to go.' And his eyes sought out the Doge's Palace and the courtyard that was his goal. He was also thinking of how little time he had, if the murder of Mocenigo was to be averted.

Later, back in Leonardo's workshop, Ezio and the artist-inventor gave the machine a careful overhaul. Leonardo had his blueprints laid out on a large trestle table.

'Let me look over my plans here. Maybe I can find something, some way to extend the duration of the flight.'

They were interrupted by the hasty arrival of Antonio. 'Ezio! I am so sorry to disturb you but this is important! My spies tell me that Silvio has obtained the poison they need, and he's handed it over to Grimaldi.'

But just then Leonardo shouted in despair. 'It's no good! I've been over it and over it and it just won't work! I don't know how to extend the flight. Oh, bugger it!' He swept papers angrily off the table. Some of them wafted into the large fireplace nearby, and as they burned, rose. Leonardo watched, his expression clearing, and at last a broad smile cleared the anger from his face. 'My God!' he cried, 'Eureka! Of course! Genius!'

He snatched the papers that weren't already burnt out of the fire and stamped the flames out. 'Never give in to your temper,' he advised them. 'It can be terribly counter-productive.'

'So what's cured yours?' asked Antonio.

'Look!' Leonardo said. 'Did you not see the ashes rise? Heat lifts things up! How often have I seen eagles high in the air, not flapping their wings at all, and yet staying aloft! The principle is simple! All we have to do is apply it!'

He reached for a map of Venice and spread it out on the table. Leaning over it with a pencil, he marked out the distance between the Palazzo Pexaro and the Palazzo Ducale, putting crosses at key points between the two buildings. 'Antonio!' he cried. 'Can you get your people to build bonfires at each of the places I've marked, and light them in a close sequence?'

Antonio studied the map. 'I think we could arrange that - but why?'

'Do you not see? This is Ezio's flight path! The fires will carry my flying machine and him all the way to his target! Heat rises!'

'What about the guards?'said Ezio.

Antonio looked at him. 'You'll be flying that thing. For once, leave the guards to us. In any case,' he added, 'some of them at least will be busy elsewhere. My spies tell me there's a curious shipment of coloured powder in little tubes which has just arrived from a country far away to the east called China. God knows what it is but it must be valuable, they're taking such good care of it.'

'Fireworks,' said Leonardo to himself.

'What?'

'Nothing!'

*

Antonio's men had the fires Leonardo had ordered built and ready by dusk. They had also cleared the areas around them of any watchmen or idle bystanders who might be inclined to warn the authorities of what was afoot. Leonardo's assistants had meanwhile transported the flying-machine to the Pexaro roof once more, and Ezio, armed with his spring-blade and arm-guard, had taken up his position in it. Antonio stood nearby.

'Rather you than me,' he said.

'It's the only way to get into the palace. You said so yourself.'

'I never dreamed this could actually happen, though. I still find it almost impossible to believe. If God had meant us to fly -'

'Are you ready to give the signal to your men, Antonio?' asked Leonardo.

'Absolutely.'

'Then do so now, and we'll get Ezio airborne.'

Antonio walked to the edge of the roof and looked down. Then he took out a large red handkerchief and waved it. Far below they could see first one, then two, three, four and five huge bonfires leap into flame.

'Excellent, Antonio. My congratulations.' Leonardo turned to Ezio. 'Now, remember what I told you. You must fly from fire to fire. The heat of each one as you pass over it should keep you in the air all the way to the Ducal Palace.'

'And be careful,' said Antonio. 'There are archers posted on the roofs and they'll certainly shoot as soon as they see you. They'll think you're some demon from hell.'

'I wish there was some way I could use my sword at the same time as flying this thing.'

'Your feet are free,' said Leonardo thoughtfully. 'If you manage to steer close enough to the archers and avoid their arrows, you might be able to kick them off the rooftops.'

'I'll bear that in mind.'

'And now you must go. Good luck!'

Ezio sailed off the roof into the night sky, setting a course for the first fire. He was beginning to lose height as he approached, but then, as he reached it, he felt the machine lift again. Leonardo's theory worked! On he flew, and he could see the thieves tending the bonfires look up and cheer. But the thieves were not the only ones aware of him. Ezio could see Barbarigo archers posted on the cathedral roof and on the other buildings near the Doge's Palace. He managed to manoeuvre the flying-machine out of the way of most of the arrows, though one or two thudded into its wooden frame, and he also managed to swoop low enough to knock a handful of bowmen off their perches. But as he approached the Palace itself, the Doge's own guards opened fire and they were using fire-arrows. One caught in the starboard wing of the machine and it immediately burst into flames. It was all Ezio could do to keep on course, and he was losing height fast. He saw a pretty young noblewoman looking up and screaming something about the devil having come to claim her, but then he was past. He let go of the controls and fumbled with the harness buckles which held him in. At the last moment he wrenched himself free and leapt forwards and outwards, to land in a perfect crouch on an inner courtyard roof, past the grille which guarded the palace interior from all but the birds. Looking up, he saw the flying-machine crash into the campanile of St Mark's and its wreckage fall to the square below, causing panic and pandemonium among the people there. Even the ducal archers' attention was diverted, and Ezio took advantage of that to climb swiftly down and out of sight. As he did so, he saw Doge Mocenigo appear at a second-storey window.