"Hali, wake up!" Called Bello into Hali's door. During the winter, she had a strange tendency to sleep late. He wondered why, but opted to ignore it and banged.
"I am up! I am up" he heard her groggy voice through the door.
He chuckled "hurry downstairs, breakfast will be cold!" he said, leaving and going down. He hadn't told her that they had a big mission today, because it was a surprise. After a few minutes, she came down and ate with him and Cristiano - the trio not really talking so much as just eating like they had no cares in the world.
Ezio entered the room with an unusually serious expression - something that struck a chord with the trio - that meant that something bad was about to happen- or has happened.
"Christiano, you have a mission to attend to" Ezio called him out
"oh, uh, si, singiore" Christiano pushed his plate away, and sped-walked out of the dining hall. Bello and Hali looked at one another in slight worry. If Ezio wasn't even saying good morning, this must have been very bad.
"Bello, Hali, I have a mission for you" Ezio started. They both nodded to him for him to continue, and pushed their own plates away. "While I was out, something that I was delivery was taken from me. It is of utmost importance" he continued. "I am currently far too preoccupied with current matters, and need the two of you to retrieve it."
"Perdon, Maestro" Hali intervened. "um, what is it that was stolen?" she asked.
"… it is in a small, wooden box with a lock on it. No matter what you do, you are not to open it or touch what is inside" he said- not exactly answering her question. She sighed and nodded, allowing him to continue. "The box might be on its way to France, so I suggest going to Fiumicino." He surmised. "any questions."
Bello stood "yes, maestro… What are we to do if we encounter the thief?"
"Do what you have been trained to do. Bouna fortuna, apprendisti." He nodded to them before abruptly turning around and leaving the room.
"I have never seen maestro so tense. Whatever he lost must have been very important" Hali surmised, standing up.
"We better get it back then" Bello nodded. "I'll meet you at the gate, we both need to get our armor and weapons" Hali nodded at him as they went their separate ways to prepare.
After a little bit of time, Hali met a fully equipped Bello at the door, and they head out to the stables to get their horses. Hali picked a Brown horse by the name of "Helen" and Bello picked a spotted horse named "Will"
"how long will it take us, again?" Bello asked
"it is a short ride from here. Not long at all" Hali assured him as they both got on their horses. Hali led the way as they traversed the not-so-harsh landscape to the lovely port town. They placed their steeds in a stable close to the actual port, and began to look around.
"Remember, he said it might be on the way to France" Bello recalled
"So first thing's first, look for the French ships?" Hali surmised.
"Yes. I see two of them on the far side of the dock" Bello pointed to the large trade boats, with the French flags proudly waving. They made their way there, not moving too fast as to not look suspicious. Hali and Bello looked up at the large boats as they arrived, and looked to one another- silently agreeing to split up and search the boats separately. Hali made her way onto the boat easily, and quickly found her way to the storage area- remembering the layout of the ship that she came in. She searched carefully for the box that Ezio described, but didn't find it. She surmised that if it was so important, perhaps it was kept in the captain's quarters. In searching the captains quarters, she found a box matching the description under the captains bed, and looked at it- not looking at what is inside just as Ezio ordered. She nodded to herself that this must have been the box, and attempted to sneak out of the captains quarters.
Nope
A good half of the crew saw her holding the box, and the assault began. Hali whistled loudly- a call for help to Bello, and tried her best to fight off the crew- which actually wasn't that difficult because the men on board weren't very good fighters. She dodged and stabbed and made her way to the starboard of the ship, were the gangplank was set up. She was almost home-free! But as she made her way there, a tall, burly man blocked the way. Mierda. She backed up slightly, and the man cracked his knuckles- probably to prepare himself to beat the shit out of her. He didn't get the chance to, though, and he abruptly fell to the ground with a dagger embedded deep in his skull. Bello stood on the gangplank with a disgusted face.
"Rude" he said, crossing his arms. "You don't even think about hitting a lady" He smirked, waving Hali over as he walked off the gangplank. She jumped behind him and they disappeared into the crowd- happily disappearing from the remaining crew that was looking for them
"Grazie Mille again, Bello. That is the second time you have saved me" Hali said gratefully.
"Actually, it's the third, if you count that time Christiano wanted to take you to the brothel with him to meet the other girls." Bello reminded with another smirk, as he saw Hali giggle.
"but still, thank you, Bello" Hali thanked as she firmly held the box. Bello eyed it
"what do you think is in there?" He asked her, gaining nothing more than a shrug in response "oh come on, don't tell me you're not curious"
"of course I am" Hali said "but I shall not ask because Maestro said not to." She eyed him
"oh, come on, we can take a peek" he said, his curiosity being piqued.
"Bello! No!" Hali was surprised "Where is your honor?"
"para para" Bello held his hands up "calm down, mi dispiace" He apologized awkwardly "I'm just curious"
Hali sighed "I apologize…" she said "I just have a poor feeling…" she started.
"You have a bad feeling?" Bello raised an eyebrow "why so?"
"I do not know" she answered "but let's hurry up. I wish to return to Maestro's"
"si" Bello responded, and followed right behind her as she picked up the pace. They eventually took the roofs, and made it back to the estate in record time.
The two apprentice assassins knocked on the door to Ezio's office in the cool hours of the winter afternoon, and they heard an "Avanti" from inside. They came in, and placed the box on the assassin's desk. He looked very pleased.
"Hali, Bello, I am very impressed." He stated, taking the box. "Congratulations on this successful mission. You can get back to your daily duties and miscellaneous missions." He dismissed them quickly, much to Hali's confusions. She left with Bello though, and the two bought two mugs of hot ale to drink as a celebratory drink.
"That was strange" Hali pointed out as she sipped the ale. She diluted hers with the water from the piazza fountain and sipped the lesser ale.
"you can say that again" Bello responded, sipping the non-diluted ale. He never understood why she did that. This was good ale, and diluting it just made it lukewarm and dull.
Hali sighed "But we succeeded" She smiled and tapped her mug with his. He chuckled and did the same, and they took gulps of the warm, spiced Ale. It had been a successful mission, yes, but…. Hali was still bothered "Bello?" she looked to him as he was finishing his ale. He already looked a bit buzzed.
"What is it?" he asked with a tired look.
"Never mind. I'll ask you tomorrow" Hali sighed, and finished her own Ale. "come on, lets get back home" she got up, and helped him up. She had to watch him now, he wasn't at 100 percent.
She led him home, and made sure he got to his room for a nap. Both of them were tired, and the alcohol hadn't helped. After putting him to sleep, Hali went to bed herself and rested well.
Hali awoke a few hours later to the sound of a knock on her door.
"Hali!" Christiano knocked "Hali wake up! Avanti!"
"alright alright" she grumbled at his voice. She opened the door and Christiano was at her door, holding his arm tightly as blood seeped into his white clothing. "adoni shelei oy vey!"she exclaimed in Yiddish and gaped "what happened?" she squealed.
"Hali, I came to you hoping for no screams" he breathed deeply and heavily. How long had he been bleeding?
She grabbed his good arm and pulled him into her room, leaving the door open and sitting him on her bed. She went through her herbal bag – rushing almost frantically to find a specific herb to ease pain and when she found it, she puts it in water and went over to him, ripping off his sleeve using her hidden blade and breathing quickly in a freak out. What the hell was up with her? Christiano couldn't take this sudden panic attack, and grabbed her hand- which was dabbing the blood "HALI" he clenched- getting her attention at last. "Calm. Down" he said simply. "I am not dying. I'm fine. I just need the blood stopped and the pain ebbed." He said plainly "please, just stay calm." She nodded. She had freaked out, hadn't see.
"i… I apologize. My mother came home like that once and almost died, I suppose it simply dredged up old memories" she bowed her head a bit in regret for her panic. Christiano simply nodded at the new information- understanding.
"it is alright" he pat her head "how about those herbs you placed in the water bowl?"
"Oh, yes!" she got up, and went to where the herbal leaves had been soaking. She came over to him and layered the herbal leaves on his skin. He shivered at the cool feeling, but smiled as relief came almost immediately. She then wrapped his arm up, and smiled at her work. She knew her skills would come in handy. He smiled at her and stood up
"Grazie, Hali" he nodded "I am in your debt" He acknowledged as he began to walk away to the door
"wait, what are you doing?" She went up behind him, confused at this encounter overall.
"I have to finish the mission I was given" He replied vaguely
"Christiano you can't do that! You're injured!" she put and hand on his shoulder and her roughly shrugged her off
"go back to sleep"
"Christiano!" She replied to him angrily accidentally grabbing his bad arm and she watches him as he seethed in pain and she lets go "ah- I'm sorry!" she apologized.
"Just go back to sleep." He tries not to sound angry as he walks out of the room- leaving Hali extremely confused and unfortunately unhappy. She goes to Bello's room, and after knocking for a few moments, realizes that he's not there. She realized that he must be in his room of snakes, and nervously made her way to his snake room.
Thank you all for waiting so long for this chapter! I've had some serious art block
alrightie, so, the plot thickens. Lets see what our heroine can figure out! Tune in! I'll have the next chapter up as soon as I am able