A/N: This is an adventure story that takes place sometime after Rory was taken by the crack in series 5.

This is the only chapter that doesn't include the Doctor and Amy and it's very short, so I hope it doesn't turn you off too much to reading the rest. (I myself can get antsy when the canon characters aren't in it right away.)

Enjoy!

Prologue

In medieval Italy, there was no shortage of animals. Horses, dogs, cats, pigs and cows were common sights in this time, so no one gave them a second thought.

This is the reason why no one noticed a small auburn coloured cat following a man all around Florence that morning.

The cat knew something was special about this man, she saw it happen. But she had to be sure. She had to be sure she had seen what she'd seen and that she could trust him enough to show him more.

The man the cat was trailing after was a some sort of city official, though the feline did not know exactly who. He was a thin man who wore a white gown, covered with a red cape and topped with a small red hat. His hair was jet black but very short, with a thin moustache and a small patch of hair on his chin. His eyes darted back and forth when he walked, as if suspicious someone was going to jump out at him from the crowd.

The cat had been following this man in the red outfit for about a hour, as he walked the markets of the city. But before him she had pursued a thin black dog who ran about scoping a block of the city for a half hour and even before that she had been after someone else, a little boy who seemed to find himself in opportune places for listening in on conversations. And now she was chasing this red clothed man.

She watched him usually from up high, finding a perch on a wall where she could see a good radius of the area. Now she sat a top a pillar in the Piazza della Repubblica, a marketplace in the city. It was a square beautiful architecture around it, a pathway with stone columns running underneath one of the buildings. It would have probably been a wonderful sight to see, had it not been soiled with rotting meats, angry people and dirty livestock constantly walking through it.

Her sapphire eyes peered into the small stands below, easily able to track the man as he walked through the crowd of lower class, the dirt on their bodies matching the colour of their clothes.

But the red man didn't seem like he even wanted to buy anything. He just kept walking around in circles, not seemingly interested in the products nor the people around.

Suddenly the cat's ears pricked up, hearing the chime of bells signalling that it was noon. It wasn't until now that the man looked the least bit alert of his surroundings, staring up toward the clock tower for a moment. He then stopped meandering about the markets and strode out of the piazza and down the street.

With a twitch of her tail, the cat hopped off the pillar and scampered after him.

He walked toward the large Florence cathedral and into an alleyway. When the cat turned the corner into the alley after him, she saw that he was no longer alone.

A large bald man was standing there. He was obviously not of the same stature as the man in red, his clothes were that of peasants. Not to mention he was covered in mud and smelled of animal droppings. But despite his poor appearance, he had a big enough belly to say that he was well fed, and a grin that said he was in a good, if not somewhat sinister, mood.

'Thank you for meeting me here,' started the man in red, speaking in a calm cool voice.

The large man laughed. 'It was my pleasure, of course! So, shall I be takin' your money from you now?' he replied in a gruff voice.

From behind a barrel, the cat watched the red man fold his hands across his lap and slowly advance on the bald man. 'You know, I didn't actually bring any money for you, so sorry to disappoint.'

The grin faded from the man's face. 'What? You dare break a deal with me? I saw you!' He lifted a grubby finger to the other man's face. 'I saw what you did, I saw how you changed! And if you want me to keep my mouth shut, you best find a way to get me that gold!' he bellowed, causing a few pigeons to fly away from the noise.

The man in red smiled slyly, taking a shiny metal object from beneath the right arm of his cloak. 'Oh, I can think of some other ways your mouth will remain closed.'

Just as he finished the sentence, he pushed the silver into the bald man's gut, adding just a little more red to his ensemble. The peasant grunted and his eyes bulged, then fell to the ground with a loud thud as clouds of dirt lifted into the air.

The cat instinctively shrunk down into the barrel. After of moment or two of shock watching the red man clean off the knife, she quickly turned and scampered off, her question having been answered.

No, she could most definitely not trust him.