Editing Ezio Auditore da Firenze (section)

===Intervention in Spain===

Over the following years, two burdens weighed on Ezio's mind: his unresolved vengeance against Rodrigo Borgia and the loss of the Apple of Eden. Though his longing for the former did not abate, he grew more and more devoted to the Assassin cause and less and less willing to spurn his responsibilities for the sake of his personal vendetta. Thus, from 1488 to 1499, the search for the Apple was of the highest priority for Ezio. Even then, these intermediate years also saw him taking on many unrelated missions for the Brotherhood in order to reinforce their strength and combat the Templars. Among these was his recruitment of Girolamo da Lucca, an assassin-for-hire known as the "Ghost of Florence", but it was his excursion in Spain which would prove to have some of the most far-reaching consequences.

====Two strangers from Spain====
One day in 1491 while Ezio was in Venice, a messenger sent by Antonio asked him to meet him at the Thieves' Guild for some business. There, he was introduced to a Spaniard by the name of Luis de Santángel, who requested that he act as a bodyguard for a friend he feared was in danger, Cristoffa Corombo. Given that this sounded like mercenary work, Ezio was initially reluctant but changed his mind when he was told that Cristoffa would be meeting with a potential business associate known only as "the Spaniard", i.e. Rodrigo Borgia.

He proceeded to the meeting site, sneaking past the guards along the way and arrived just in time to save Christoffa from being murdered by a Borgia soldier. Christoffa barely had time to explain that the Spaniard had contacted him with an offer to fund his westward voyage before the other Borgia guards discovered them. To protect the explorer, Ezio baited them into pursuing him, eventually escaping from them in the city and returning unscathed to the Thieves' Guild.

Antonio relayed to Ezio that Luis wanted to meet with him again in the Garden District should any problems arise, and so Ezio rendezvoused with him and Christoffa there. Because they did not know the Spaniard personally, they were unable to satisfy Ezio's questions, but they managed to convince him to perform another favour by appealing to his desire for more leads. Borgia soldiers had discovered their lodgings and were in the midst of ransacking it for Christoffa's atlas which charted routes to the Orient via the Atlantic Ocean. Ezio, anxious that such information would not fall into Templar hands, agreed to recover the maps for them before the Borgia could find them.

When the Assassin arrived at the hostel, it was still heavily occupied by the Borgia troops. While he was able to sneak into Luis and Christoffa's room, he was spotted by a Guard Captain just as he retrieved Christoffa's atlas and was forced to make his escape via the crypt below. The crypt led him out into the city, where he lost his pursuers just in time to return the maps to Luis and Christoffa as the two prepared to embark on the ship that would take them away from Venice. In their parting exchange, Ezio asked that they bring their own guards should they ever journey to Italy again, to which Luis explained that he would have done so had the Assassins in Spain not been decimated by the Inquisitors of Tomás de Torquemada. This news, along with the fact that Luis knew of the Assassins, shocked Ezio, who was then not aware that Luis was an Assassin himself.

====Saving the Aragonese Assassins ====

The plight of his brethren in Spain distressed him, and, feeling that it was his obligation, Ezio Auditore announced to Antonio that he was postponing his search for the Apple and taking the initiative to rescue them.

Upon arriving in Barcelona, he was casually greeted by a French woman, who was actually in the midst of fleeing from the city guards. The woman swiped his sword from him as soon as she was spotted by the guards again and had to resume her escape, in the process sending Ezio after her as well. After a wild chase across Barcelona's rooftops, Ezio managed to drop down behind the woman and snatch back his sword while she was musing over having shook her pursuers. The French rogue had revealed that she knew of Ezio's identity as an Assassin but refused to share what she knew of his order before she left him.

With this misadventure over, the Assassin set about with his task at hand, meeting with Antonio's two contacts in the city who had information on the local Thieves' Guild which doubled as the headquarters of the Aragonese Assassins. The two directed him to the tallest tower in the center of the city, but when he arrived there, he found that he was too late; the building had already been emptied of Assassins by the Inquisition's soldiers. Ambushed, Ezio fled across the city until he was driven into the catacombs beneath the city, but he could find no respite as the vast underground chambers were also occupied with enemy soldiers. Only by relying on the highest degree of parkour training was Ezio finally able to escape the Inquisition in the sewers, but just as he did so, he ran into a man who introduced himself as the Assassin Raphael Sánchez.

Raphael had uncovered that Gaspar Martínez was the Inquisitor Prosecutor behind the purge, and not long after, Ezio tracked down and assassinated Martínez. The approach had been easy, as Martínez did not know that the Assassins still existed or that the Florentine who questioned him was one of them. Simultaneously, Ezio recognized that the purge had been "too systematic to [have been] a coincidence" and could not believe that Martínez's confusion was genuine. Before he killed him, the Inquisitor had gloated about the imminent execution of one of the men they had recently captured. Without a second to spare, Ezio rushed to the public square where the auto-da-fé was taking place and saved the young Spanish Assassin from a fiery demise.

On Martínez's corpse, Ezio had found a list of six names which Raphael recognized as Assassins of Zaragoza. The two journeyed to Zaragoza, where Raphael instructed Ezio to investigate their first lead, the ''calificador'' Pedro Llorente. At a building where the Llorente's tribunal normally assemble, Ezio located Llorente in the midst of torturing one of the Zaragozian Assassins. Spying through a window in the roof, he watched as Grand Inquisitor Torquemada arrived to check on the interrogation and then to execute the Assassin on the spot. Before leaving with Llorente, the Grand Inquisitor vocalized his gratitude towards Rodrigo Borgia for informing him of this group of atheists, thereby revealing to Ezio that the Inquisition had been tipped off to the Assassins by the Templars.

Ezio's failure to save the prisoner only made him more determined to rescue the lives of the other five. He descended beneath Zaragoza and liberated four of them in a single sweep of the labyrinthine catacombs. Though this raised the alarm for Llorente, his order to heighten security for the last prisoner was to little avail as Ezio slipped into the palace holding him just as Llorente was sealing the gate. Once the Florentine had freed the last captured Zaragozian Assassin and reported these developments to Raphael, he proceeded to the cathedral to assassinate Llorente, testing the Inquisitor's knowledge of the Templars beforehand. Just as Martínez had scoffed at the mention of Assassins, so had Llorente dismissed the Templars' continued existence as "fairy tales".

====Journey to Granada====
Though Torquemada still remained at large, Ezio was prepared to return to Italy, believing that his duty in Spain had been fulfilled with the rescue of its Assassins. Raphael was of another mind; he implored the Florentine to accompany him to Granada and help unravel the conspiracies of the Spanish Templars for a little while longer, feeling that they were on the verge of doing so.

Acquiescing, Ezio hit the road with Raphael, and the Spanish Assassin began his long telling of the ''Reconquista''. When they entered a town in the former territory of the Emirate of Granada, they were hailed by the same French rogue who had stolen Ezio's sword in Barcelona. As before, she traded banter with Ezio before running off to "ambush" a man known only as the Cygnet. Luis, recognizing her target as a Templar financier, instructed Ezio to learn his identity and stop her attack, as it could alert the Templars in the area to their presence. The Assassin pursued her until he had ascertained the location of the Cygnet, whereupon he overtook her to reach the Templar first and whisked him away to safety, ironically protecting an enemy. Moments later, the rogue arrived, vexed, to the scolding of Ezio for risking the security of the Assassins, but he also praised her for her freerunning skills.

The two parted ways again, and Ezio continued his journey with Raphael. As they neared the outskirts of Granada City, Raphael finished his account of the ongoing Granada War, where King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile were conquering the last Moorish state in the hopes of uniting the Iberian peninsula under Christianity. The capital city of Granada was all that was left of Moorish resistance, but despite the imminent defeat, Muhammad XII of Granada seemed ever unyielding.

====A convoluted plot unravelled====
Recognizing that they were approaching a war zone, the two Assassins became more vigilant and split up to sweep the outlying villages of Templars. Ezio assassinated five Templar soldiers alongside ten other of their men, quelling the worst of atrocities being committed in the area. Even still, bands of undisciplined soldiers continued to roam about abusing civilians, and the two split up once more to rescue these people. The fourth such civilian that Ezio encountered cried that soldiers had kidnapped his wife and child, but it was a ruse to lead him into an ambush. When the Assassin followed after him into a Roman amphitheatre, the gates closed around him, trapping him with scores of Spanish swordsmen on the arena floor and archers in the ''caveae''. Despite these incredible odds, Ezio survived, killing all of the swordsmen and fighting his way out of the town to rendezvous with Raphael at a church.

Raphael was not the only one waiting for Ezio there. Beside him was Luis de Santángel, this time introducing himself as a fellow Assassin. Both Luis and Raphael worked for Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, but they suspected that the Templars did as well and that they were vying with them for influence over the Catholic Monarchs. At the same time, they had learned of a Templar spy who was feeding Muhammad XII false information so that he would continue the futile war. While another group of Spanish Assassins led by Benedicto fought to preserve the Moorish state with all their might, Luis and Raphael were of the view that prolonging a war where the outcome was inevitable only served to exacerbate the common people's suffering, bring more bloodshed to the region, and play into the Templars' goals.

As ordered by Luis and Raphael, Ezio located the spy at a Spanish military post that was installed into a deep valley nearby. He overheard his conversation with a subordinate where he alluded to the Templar plot to deliberately prolong the war, confirming Luis's suspicions. Before the spy could enter into a secret passageway that would bring him into Alhambra, Ezio assassinated him and reported back to his allies. With the new intel, Luis and Raphael deduced that the convoluted Templar scheme was part of a broader plan to delay Christoffa's westward voyage as long as possible by constraining Spain's ability to fund it. In this way, the Templars might embark on the expedition first and have advance claim to the wonders that lay beyond.

==== Ending the Granada War ====
Fearing the worst, Raphael's next instruction for Ezio was to find Muhammad XII, and the Florentine made his way back to the military camp intending to reach Alhambra discreetly using the same secret route that the spy had favoured. The tunnel led into the city's catacombs, and as it was used by the Templars themselves, it was swarming with their soldiers. Ezio stealthily dispatched at least ten of these enemies as he navigated the dark chambers. The tremor and sound of explosions from above when he passed under the city alerted him to the recommencement of the siege, and by the time he surfaced at a courtyard outside the palace, night had fallen, fires blazed all around him, and the entire city was under lockdown.

Infiltrating Alhambra, Ezio managed to sneak his way to the throne room where he discovered a Templar knight holding Muhammad XII hostage and gloating over him. He killed the Templar from behind, freed Muhammad XII from his bondage, and asserted with all earnesty that the war was lost, whereupon the emir at last conceded that it was time to surrender. With the emir's blessing, Ezio hurried to the city gates to announce Granada's capitulation, but with no time for the emir to notify his guards, the Assassin was chased by four Moorish guard captains out of the palace at the bottom of the tower's grand staircase.

Out in the city, Ezio could not maintain a low profile as he rushed to the gates. Granadan soldiers everywhere who saw this Assassin dart from roof to roof targeted him as though he were an enemy, and when he at last reached the gate, he was still forced to dispatch some of the defending troops to open the gate for the Spanish. In light of this, the surrender did not go smoothly. The victorious Spanish forces initially marched into the city in an orderly fashion, but spurred on by the Templars, they dissolved into a marauding mob intent on burning down the entire city in the midst of negotiations between Muhammad XII and Queen Isabella. Ezio was forced to intervene again, and he slew all the rampaging soldiers he encountered throughout the city until order was restored. It was then that night, in the aftermath of all that chaos, that Raphael finally disclosed to Ezio that Christoffa's atlas revealed a "new world" beyond the Atlantic unknown throughout Europe.

====Guardian of Granada====
In spite of the fact the Treaty of Granada granted religious rights to the Moors, <sup>[''citation needed'']</sup> news arrived almost immediately that the Inquisition was out in full force rounding up heretics for trial. Outraged, Ezio exclaimed that Queen Isabella should know the truth about Torquemada's violations, but this was a hope that Luis had to dispel, knowing all too well that Isabella would never believe the allegations made against her confessor since childhood. In the meantime, Ezio had to venture out into the city again to rescue civilians from the Inquisition's forces. He observed that their soldiers were arbitrarily arresting and assaulting civilians without any care for the law, and so Raphael ordered him to track down the Inquisitor deployed by Torquemada and assassinate him.

Heeding Raphael's warning that the assassination be executed with utmost secrecy lest it be used to justify even greater repression, Ezio kept to the shadows as he tracked the Inquisitor through the catacombs. There, he came across Grand Inquisitor giving commands to the Inquisitor, Juan de Marillo. The instant his target was left alone, the Assassin struck with a running assassination technique from behind. Down in those dark caverns, with no one around to witness the deed, Juan de Marillo had effectively vanished; Ezio had performed his mission flawlessly.

Contrary to the Assassins' expectations, the end of the war did not change Queen Isabella's refusal to sponsor Christoffa's voyage. It was the turn of the year in 1492, and two months had not yet passed since Spain was unified; the state treasury needed time to recover. A dejected Christoffa ventured out alone to France when he heard of a new offer from King Louis XII, one that both Luis and Ezio could infer was another Templar trap. While Luis resigned to providing half the funds to finally convince Isabella, Ezio left to find Christoffa yet again, catching up with him on the road out of Granada. The irate explorer initially rejected his protection but was put in his place when he was ambushed by Templar knights. Fortunately for him, they were no match for the Assassin.

On 2 January 1492, <sup>[''citation needed'']</sup> Granada's official capitulation ceremony was conducted, whereby formal sovereignty was transferred. That night, Ezio stood on guard outside on the roofs when he was greeted for a third time out of nowhere by the French rogue. She admitted to having been following him all this time for the sheer sake of adventure, much to Ezio's annoyance, but she also had more serious news: there were rumors that Templars were planning to assassinate Queen Isabella at the ceremony. Realizing that the attack could be sprung at any moment, the two raced together to the ceremony hall where, sure enough, they encountered a group of Templar agents outside. Killing the assassins without alarming the attendees, the two ended the night in affable moods, trading mutual respects. The French woman finally introduced herself as Helene Dufranc, a former French Assassin who had left the Brotherhood to pursue an independent life and who had known of Ezio's identity since the very beginning.

====The Inquisition retaliates====
Even after the Granada War had been resolved, Ezio refrained from returning immediately to Italy, having decided to stay with his newfound friends until Christoffa departed on his voyage. In August 1492,  Ezio was at Luis's estate in Zaragoza when he last received news from Luis that Christoffa had set sail from Palos de la Frontera. Expressing gratitude to Luis for having had the opportunity to help him with his endeavours, Ezio politely informed him that it was finally time for him to return to Italy to resume his search for the Apple of Eden. Just as these farewells were being made, however, the palace came under attack by eight Inquisitor soldiers announcing that Luis was under arrest by the orders of Grand Inquisitor Torquemada.

While Luis hid, the soldiers stormed into the palace, positioning Seekers at all exits to block anyone's escape. Ezio Auditore single-handedly slew all the attackers, but Luis remained shaken, realizing that their intent had not been to arrest him, but to murder him in his own home. Recognizing that this was the Templars' retaliation for ruining their plans, the two understood that Raphael was also in danger. Luis had formerly prohibited any assassination attempt on Torquemada, wary of the wider ramifications this could bring, but this overt attack provoked him into changing his mind, and he now gave Ezio orders to neutralize him as soon as Raphael had been rescued.

Without a second to spare, Ezio rushed as fast as he could to Raphael's palace in another neighborhood of Zaragoza. He arrived to find that Inquisitor soldiers were already there and in much greater force than the group dispatched to Luis's residence. Against these odds, the Assassin still managed to reach Raphael, who had been hiding deep within the estate, and save his life. While Raphael did not oppose a retaliatory strike against Torquemada, he advised that Ezio prod him for his affiliation with the Templars before killing him so as to verify how close it truly was.

====Assassination attempt on Torquemada====

Ezio had no intention of waiting another day or conducting any preparations. As he left Raphael's palace, he immediately proceeded back the way he had came, only aiming towards Torquemada's dwelling instead. Though he reacted in haste, he did not abandon caution, making sure that he sneaked past all guards and into the Grand Inquisitor's residence without being seen. Nonetheless, the maximum security of the palace resulted in a bloodbath of an infiltration. In the process of navigating his way through to Torquemada, the Assassin killed at least thirty guards—many of them guard captains.

When he at last came face to face with the Grand Inquisitor, Ezio heeded Raphael's advice to engage in dialogue first, a decision that would cost him a successful assassination. To probe Torquemada for his Templar connection, he criticized him for his alliance with Rodrigo Borgia, calling it an act that "disqualified [him] from [his] God's love". In the brief but heated exchange that followed, Torquemada insisted on Rodrigo's piety while both belligerents insulted one another's moral compass. Finally, Ezio moved in for the kill, but the Grand Inquisitor had been prepared, lowering a portcullis between them which barred the Assassin's advance.

Ezio returned to Luis and Raphael apologizing for Torquemada's escape; his regrets were mollified by his belief that a successful assassination might have only escalated the turmoil in Spain. Apart from that, Torquemada's responses convinced him that the Grand Inquisitor was not a Templar himself but a hypocritical, religious extremist who had been manipulated by Rodrigo. Unbeknownst to the three Assassins, their conclusion was wrong. In fact, Torquemada was the Grand Master of the Spanish Rite, and his operations were well-known to the Spanish Assassins in the south led by Aguilar de Nerha.