Editing Ezio Auditore da Firenze (section)

==== Pilgrimage to Masyaf ====

:''"None of you leave until the Assassin is dead. Do you understand?"''
:―Leandros sending his men after Ezio.<sup>[src]</sup>

In May 1510, Ezio set out from Rome on horseback, accompanied by Bartolomeo d'Alviano and fifteen of the general's mercenaries. After fifteen days, they arrived at Bari, on the eastern coast of Italy. At Bari, Ezio chartered a ship, a freighter called the ''Anaan'', and set sail for Corfu, located between Bari and Athens.

Along the way, the freighter was attacked by pirates, as it was carrying a valuable cargo of spices. Ezio joined the crew in fighting off the pirates and assisted in capturing the pirates' captain, a man Ezio would later come to know as Al-Scarab. The ''Anaan'' arrived safely in Corfu, and Ezio promptly made arrangements to sail to Athens, and from there to Crete, and then Cyprus. Not long after departing from Crete, Ezio's ship ran into a storm, and was forced to dock at Chios for minor repairs.

Finally, Ezio arrived at Cyprus, where he spent some time exploring the island, including the Templar's archive. However, as he experienced more delays, it became apparent that the Venetian authorities stationed in Cyprus were intervening with his journey. Finally, Ezio took matters into his own hands and attempted to "acquire" a small ship of his own, so he could continue on to Masyaf.

No sooner had he found a seaworthy vessel was he attacked by a mysterious man, whom Ezio thought he recognized. The commotion caused by their fighting attracted several members of the island's Night Watchmen, and Ezio, along with his mysterious assailant-turned-ally, fought off the guards. As the last man fell, Ezio was stabbed in the side and fell unconscious. When he awoke, Ezio found himself on a ship headed for Acre, manned by none other than the pirate captain he had defeated some months earlier.

Ezio arrived in the city of Acre ten months after leaving Rome. After spending a week there, Ezio was informed that the road to Masyaf was filled with foreign bandits and mercenaries. He also wrote a letter to Claudia, informing her of his journey so far and that, should he not survive, she should not seek vengeance. Shortly thereafter, he continued his journey to Masyaf.

Ezio arrived at Masyaf in March 1511, and found the town to be crumbled and largely abandoned. Upon making his way to the fortress, Ezio was ambushed by the town's Byzantine Templar garrison, under the command of their captain, Leandros. Outnumbered, Ezio nonetheless attempted to fight his attackers, but was distracted by visions of Altaïr and captured. The Templars took the defeated Assassin and lead him onto a plank to be hung from the fortress' watchtower. However, as Leandros put the noose around Ezio's neck, Ezio attacked Leandros, threw the noose about Leandros' neck, and eventually escaped along the outside of the tower.

Ezio quickly made his way back to the battlements, where he retrieved his weapons. He then made his way beneath the castle, to the doors of Altaïr's library, where he learned from a worker that Leandros had the journal of Niccolò Polo in his possession, which supposedly led to the keys needed to open the library's door.Ezio left the fortress and pursued the Templar Captain, who had escaped by carriage.

Ezio managed to hold onto a rope trailing from the carriage, and dragged himself up to the carriage itself. Leandros escaped onto the carriage of one of his men, and the chase continued, with each carriage jostling for space on a narrow cliff path.

Eventually, a well-placed bomb sent Ezio's carriage over the edge, severely injuring him, though he persistently continued to follow Leandros. Fighting his way through a nearby village, Ezio eventually confronted and assassinated Leandros. After learning that the Templars were searching for the Masyaf Keys to open Altaïr's library, Ezio rather brusquely gave Leandros his last rites, before claiming the journal for himself.