The Fourth Installment

The spy rubbed his hands together. Now all he had to do was wait. Judging from all he had heard, it wouldn't be long.

But before he could continue this train of thought, he found himself pinned against a tree, two strong arms holding a wicked-looking blade to his neck.

"So, Enrico," The young Bellezzan spat out the name as if it was as filthy as its bearer. "We meet again."

Enrico had been in these situations before. He wasn't exactly scared, more impressed that the boy's speed and stealth had increased so rapidly. "You've gotten better at this. A year ago, I could have spotted you anywhere from a mile away. Now, you know, I barely knew you were coming."

Luciano ignored his dithering. "You reek."

The spy sighed. "That's beside the point. Now, if I were you, I would let me go so we could have a nice, amiable chat."

"Why shouldn't I kill you this minute?"

"Because I have news that could save your marriage. And believe me, that matters to me. With all my heart."

It was getting hard to follow this stream of seemingly random speech. Luciano released his left hand from the dagger, and keeping his right firmly pressing the merlino blade against Enrico's neck, walked from behind the tree to face his captive.

"Prove to me that the Duchessa is alive, and then I will let you speak."

Enrico thought this was fair. "Your lady love, and her guard, are most certainly alive. Drugged asleep, yes, but dead, no. I wouldn't dream of killing them. Well, her."

"Of course not," Luciano said sarcastically. "You want to be known as the hero who overthrew the head of Talia's most dangerous house, not just a diabolical murderer of powerful people."

"Exactly. You learn quite fast."

"So, why are you here?"

Enrico started recalling the speech he had prepared. "Well, first of all, I want to say "congratulations" and "you're welcome."

Luciano scowled. "Oh, yes, I do have a lot to thank you for."

"Yes, actually, you do. I'm so glad you see that. I assume you know as much about the duel as I do, and I won't remind you of who I would be congratulating and being thanked by if things had gone as planned."

"Go on. I find it hard to believe that you came all the way here and attacked the Duchessa just to give me these warm regards."

The spy smiled his unctuous grin. "Ah, yes. Speaking of the Duchessa, I'll get to the point. You should know that I only drugged Arianna because I didn't think she'd like what I'm about to say," he began. Enrico's tone became conversational. "You know, she's a fetching little thing. Hope that baby Luciabella won't be coming too long before the wedding– could ruin the ambience, you know?"

The blade, which had gone a little lax in the last few exchanges, went rigid against his throat. "You will be respectful when speaking of her," Luciano snarled. "And you shouldn't be expecting that baby until about nine months after the wedding."

Enrico looked sympathetic. "You two haven't...? My condolences."

This was infuriating the boy. Enrico was having fun – he was the one with the dagger on an important blood vessel, but Luciano was the one sweating and seething; he was caught in one of Enrico's well-practiced traps.

"Anyways," he continued pleasantly, "You should know that if you keep going on the route your carriage is taking, there won't be any baby, now or later. There's a group of di Chimici loyalists lying in wait for you at the next stop, and they're not taking hostages. I would suggest that you take the trade road that cuts through the Market of Cellaria. You come out about five miles ahead of them and from there, the roads are safe."

Luciano's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Give me one reason to suspect that we aren't just walking into death trap."

The spy rolled his eyes and continued in an exasperated and faux-patient tone, "I'm telling you, I need you and Arianna and your little Lucetta alive. You won't know why for a while, but don't you worry your pretty little heads about that. I'd swear it in blood, if you wanted me too, but look. You live your life, and please just follow my advice and let me live mine. Everything will come out the better for it. Oh – I do believe your escort is waking up. Fine job he did, wasn't it? And I think I'll just be going now–"

Luciano had no intention of letting this happen, but when he heard a very Duchessa-like groan he sheathed the dagger and ran towards the voice.

Enrico, on his spindly legs, sprinted off in the other direction. "Good luck! And don't forget the trade path!"

ooooooooosection breakooooooooo

That was bizarre, thought Luciano. "But somehow, I believe him. Goddess knows why." He pushed those thoughts to the back of his head, and concentrated on helping the groggy guard pointed in the right direction and carrying Arianna, still asleep, back to the house.