PART ONE

I
The city was asleep with dreams beneath the clear night skies
The moon was a half-eye watching ‘twixt the stars where it flies
The alleys darkly beckoned with fingers wrought from old lore
As the Assassin came striding—
Striding—striding
The Assassin came striding through the shadows to the artist’s door

II
He’d a white cowl pulled low over dark eyes, a scar down his lips
A cloak of red velvet, and rough hands cocked on his hips
They knew a world much harsher than the peace of the city home
And he walked with steel a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle,
The blades at his wrists a-twinkle, as on them the stars shone

III
Over the rooftops he scrambled and shuffled towards the artist’s back-door
And he rapped on the wood with his knuckles, whilst his foot tapped the floor
He rapped a pattern with his fingers, and who should meet him there
But Toscana’s beloved artist,
Leonardo, Toscana’s beloved artist,
Holding a brush in one hand, his smile ever fair

IV
And deep in the shadows of the city streets a boot scuffed the dirt
Where a lone Templar listened; his face a twisted sneer that promised only hurt
His eyes bore only hatred, his fingers itched to kill
But he knew his part to play,
His pawn’s part to play,
Quiet as death he listened, and he heard the Assassin say—

V
“One kiss, caro mio, for I have a job this night,
But I shall come back, whole and well, before the morning light;
Yet if I am delayed by those who wish to see me fall this day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.”

VI
He leaned into the doorway, his breath a warm flame in the air,
And their lips met in the space, framed by the artist’s fair hair
They held one another in the short doorway;
A lover’s embrace in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet, soft lips in the moonlight!)
Then parted their ways in the moonlight, the Assassin’s step a light sway