I had writers block on this one so it will be a little shorter than usual. I want to start the next sequence of events in a new chapter.
I hope everyone is still doing fantastic!
Idekbruh and Djone246 – Thank you for your lovely reviews! : )
The bed that Ginevra had slept peacefully in was now empty as Contessina stood at the foot of it for the third time that day. A week ago, her mother had a stroke and barely two days later the old woman had another rendering her permanently catatonic to the point she could not ingest anything. Contessina could see that her mother was giving up after a while and on the morning of August 2nd, Ginevra passed peacefully. The blonde's reaction at first had been to cry and when Lucrezia grabbed her, Contessina had collapsed onto the floor.
Now, the young woman gazed at the empty bed with her hand on her growing child feeling only sorrow. She felt as though there were things left unsaid between her and Ginevra that could never be said now. Her fears about being a mother and of course her jealousy towards Cammillia in the past, but now it was to be forgotten as her mother was no longer there. Her body had already been taken to Ferrara and buried there with the rest of the Alessandri family like she had wanted. There was so much Contessina already missed about her mother, including the no nonsense talk about her faith in God and the like. The woman had a strong belief in God where Contessina did not and that was where they clashed over the years. She wished now that she had understood more about why her mother believed so hard and condemned those who did not.
Reflecting on these things only served to dampen Contessina's mood as the day went on and with nothing to do around the villa, her mourning kept going. She was not angry that her mother had died like she thought she would be, but she was numb. With Giuliano and the Auditore men, she had become rightfully angry because their deaths were unexpected and brutal. They died in a manner that was unforgivable, yet she had taken out her anger on a poor guard in the Palazzo della Signoria. After that, she vowed to never kill again out of anger.
Peaceful death was different. Contessina had the time to process her mother's death before she died and because of this all she felt was the absence. She had grown accustomed to sitting and talking with her mother every day for that was all Ginevra could really do to pass her time. Contessina had thought Ginevra insisting on a walk in the garden could have been the reason for her stroke. If she had not demanded it, would she still be sitting in the chair by the window? There was no way of knowing. Contessina was so lost in thought that she did not hear the footsteps of Piero and Giovanni running in the hall behind her.
"I'm going to get you!" Piero's voice pulled Contessina out of her trance when the child ran past the doors again following his brother. She tuned to look in their direction before gathering up her skirts to go scold them for running through the villa. "Come back you barbarian!"
"Boys!" Contessina said raising her voice as she moved into the hallway and the two children stopped dead. "No running. You know better and your mother is trying to rest."
"Sorry, Zia." They both looked up at her with a pout on her face before she walked up to them and kneeled down to their level. The two boys always considered her their aunt rather than their cousin and she did not mind this at all.
"It is alright." The blond grabbed their hands and smiled. "Perhaps we should go out into the garden and play." Contessina stood up with a hand from each of the boys in hers before leading them through the villa and out to the yard in the garden. "Now, stay where I can see you."
"Si, Zia!" Giovanni was the first one to start running away from his brother with a high-pitched laugh.
"Come back here! I'm going to get you!" Piero said picking up a stick he found before chasing his little brother. "Come back here you barbarian!" They reminded her so much of Ezio it was hard to not remember the days she played with him.
"You will never catch me you dirty Roman!" She smiled as Giovanni turned around before picking up a stick of his own and facing down his older brother. Piero was only a year and three months older, but sometimes they looked the same age. "I will conquer Rome for my people!" He held up his sword as Contessina slowly sat down on the grass with her dark blue dress hem in a puddle around her.
"Oh really? Well I am Caesar; Emperor of Rome and my armies can destroy yours!" Piero said reminding Contessina very much of her husband in his games of imagination as Spartacus. "I will defeat you!" The older boy said before charging at his brother and bringing his stick down on the younger boy with a mighty yell.
"Careful, Piero, try not to hurt your brother." Contessina had to remind them that they needed to be gentle with one another and she did so with a sweet smile on her face. She watched as the boys hit their sticks together as if they were in an actual sword fight when out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a shadow in the hedges.
At first, she thought it was her mind playing tricks, but when she looked harder, she could make out the shape of a man in a traveler's cloak. Contessina found it odd that someone would be watching her play with children, but when he turned away to walk through the gap in the hedge, she knew it was something else. She stood up immediately before calling the boys to her and pulling them close.
"Piero, take your brother inside and find your grandmother." She said in a panic. "Do not come back out." She watched as Piero grabbed on to Giovanni and pulled him away into the house. They had both dropped their sticks on the ground at her feet.
Reluctantly, she gathered up her skirts before following in the direction the traveler went. She knew that it led to the back of the garden into the woods behind the villa which was a perfect way to leave unnoticed. She walked quickly after seeing the tail end of his cloak when he turned the corner around the tall hedges. Part of her knew better than to chase a spy, but she also knew that if she did not find him, he could tell anyone that the Medici family were vulnerable. What did not help was that the hedges made the back garden a labyrinth where there was only one exit.
Turning the corner to her left she caught another glimpse of the brown traveler's cloak before it disappeared again and the man along with it. Now she was out of breath looking for a mysterious person who was likely a spy. She put a hand on her stomach before moving forward and turning the corner to the right where she had seen the man go. When she did, there was no one there, only a long corridor that no one could really hide in. She wondered if it was a figment of her imagination at first, but when she heard voices talking as two gardeners walked around the corner on the far end. Both men held rakes in their hands as their feet crunched on the gravel beneath their feet. When they noticed Contessina out of breath, they looked at one another before making their way to her with concerned looks on their faces.
"Signora, are you alright?" The older of the two men, who Contessina knew as Franco asked her as she struggled to catch her breath. The younger man she had only seen once and that was the day her mother collapsed in the garden.
"Did either of you see a man in a brown travelers cloak run through here?" Contessina asked before putting a hand on her forehead trying to hold back the dizzy feeling that was starting to overwhelm her. "He was..."
"Signora, we have seen no one all day except the stable hand." The young man said. "Are you sure you alright?" He said reaching out to stable her as she began to fall backwards. "Signora!"
"Miguel! Catch her!" Contessina heard before her vision went dark and her body limp.
There was a plan to smuggle provisions and grain into Firenze. Ezio had gathered his allies in the city right after arriving at Leonardo's workshop and they had continued to go off the plan they had started months ago. With the blockades in place keeping people and trade from entering Firenze, there were few options at that point, but there was one that could work. Leonardo proposed using the river as a way to get passed the guards and Riario's men. Moving everything would take several boat trips to the location where Ezio designated as a safe location to load.
Thankfully, the moon was a waning crescent which limited the light on the river as the thieves guided the shallow draft boat down the Arno. Ezio stood at the front keeping his sharp eyes on the banks of the river just in case there were spies keeping watch for any suspicious activity. That was the last thing Ezio needed and it was certainly going to put a block on their plans, however, it seemed their route was clear. He had hoped there would be fog to cover them, but the air was too warm and humid to draw clouds from the sky. He was glad for anything to help with the task at hand.
To blend in more with the darkness, Ezio had found a black cloak to conceal himself so that any light could not reflect off the white of his robes. He also did not want Lorenzo or Riario to know that he was back in Firenze so keeping a low profile was paramount to the plan working. He could see the shapes of Mario's men down the river with the help of his 'gift'. To him it was like a cat or an owl with their night vision although after a while his eyes would ache.
"Easy. We don't want to make a lot of noise." Ezio kept his voice low as he turned to look at the two thieves in the boat behind him. They nodded as the boat was steered to the bank of the river as quietly as possible.
"I thought you were a phantom on the water." Gambalto's voice came out of the darkness when the boat landed and Ezio stepped onto the grassy bank. "Like Charon the boatman. Very unpleasant that sight is." The man said pretending to shudder in the dark. "We only brought one load tonight."
"Anything is better than nothing, brother." Ezio said putting a hand on the mercenary's shoulder before turning to the thieves in the boat. "You know what to do." He nodded to the two men and then to the group of mercenaries standing around the cart full of grain and vegetables.
"Somehow I thought this was going to be more exciting." Gambalto stood watching the men move sacks of grain to the boat which could only handle so much before they would have to return.
"If we are discovered it will be more exciting." The younger man smiled at his friend before grabbing his own sack of grain and bringing it to the boat. "I do not think it can hold any more than this." Ezio counted the sacks in the boat by putting a hand on each one in the darkness.
"One load down, two more to go." Gambalto said as Ezio sent the boat back up the river to Firenze to unload the provisions at the location he and Volpe agreed on. "Maybe if you can find another boat to tow behind this one, we might be able to work quicker with the next shipment." It was not a bad idea on Gambalto's part, but there was a small problem of the number of boats available on the Arno.
"I'll look into it." Ezio said as he watched the boat loaded down with grain make its way slowly up the river.
At the moment, they were lucky no one had seen them and Ezio was thankful the moon was not so bright this time. The next time though, they might not go unseen by anyone. The timing had to be right and the next two loads proved they were working on an hour per direction. This complicated a few things as Ezio would have to find a way to make the trips shorter and while Gambalto's idea of two boat would shorten the time, there was a greater chance of them being seen. This was a dilemma that could be solved if they all thought about it.
Contessina slowly opened her eyes in the darkness of her room. The only light to be had was the candle on her bedside table that barely emitted enough light to drive out the seemingly unnatural darkness that surrounded her. After a moment of gathering her bearings, she removed the covers from herself and sat up before planting her feet on the rug. Without the candle, Contessina felt as though the black air around her would swallow her whole, so she picked it up. For whatever reason, she felt herself being drawn to the garden and she took to finding her way in the darkness with only one small flame to guide her.
The air was still as she made her way down the stairs to the bottom floor of the villa and there was silence all around her. Not even the sound of frogs croaking in the pond outside or the sound of summer cicadas, just the sound of her heart beating in her ears. She was almost to the bottom of the stairs when she felt a hand brush against her back causing her to spin around, but there was no one there. Then there was the sound of footsteps running across the floor back towards the bottom step, so she spun around again only to see nothing.
The blond let out a gasp when the sound of glass crashing against the stone floor was heard in the distance and then the heavy drop of a body. Contessina could not see anything which made her heart start racing until all was silent again. The sinking feeling in her stomach kept her rooted to the step, but at the same time she wanted to find out what was making all the noise. Instead of listening to the trepidation in her gut, she went on to discover the origin of the noises she heard in the pitch-black darkness. When she turned the light of the candle to the direction of the sound a face appeared in front of her and she screamed.
Opening her eyes, Contessina sat up in her bed still hearing the echo of her scream in her ears. The room was dark other than the three or four candles that had been placed on the mantle of the fireplace. Not a moment after waking the door flew open when Lucrezia ran in with a worried look on her face and a lamp in her hand to light her way through the dark villa. She was still in her night clothes and she had obviously heard Contessina scream out in her sleep.
"Contessina!" The woman gave the blond sitting up in the bed a frightful look. "Are you alright? Did something happen?" Lucrezia said putting her lamp on the bedside table before sitting down on the bed next to the younger woman. Contessina had not caught her breath when she felt the older woman put a hand on her forehead. "Breathe child." She put her hands on Contessina's upper arms.
"He found us..." Contessina whispered out after calming herself a little. She could not get the face out of her mind knowing exactly who she had seen, and it was not her husband. The confused look on Lucrezia's face seemed to make Contessina feel as though she were losing her mind, but perhaps it was not so. "Before I passed out in the garden, I was following a man. He was wearing a brown traveler's cloak, but I couldn't see his face." She looked down at her hands in her lap and then put a hand on her rounded belly feeling dread pool in her stomach. "He was watching us."
"Are you sure?" Lucrezia asked her with a serious look on her face and grabbing the blonde's hands. Contessina nodded with clear assurance in her blue eyes and the clever Medici woman put on her thoughtful face before moving off of the bed. "Then you better come with me." She grabbed her lamp off of the table before allowing Contessina to get out of bed and put on her robe.
Lucrezia was a very intelligent woman who had run the Medici bank in her husband's name for some time before her son took over. Even after, she still had a major role within the family and to be honest, Contessina did not think the bank would survive without Lucrezia's knowledge. She was sure her aunt had a plan for everything that came up unexpectedly and if the woman did not, she improvised on the spot. Just as it was that moment when she led Contessina down the halls of the villa to the kitchen with an escape plan in mind.
"Ah, here we are." Lucrezia said coming to the old rug laying on the floor in the storeroom at the back of the kitchen. The room was where all the dry goods were stored, and dried herbs hung in bundles from the rafters making the whole space smell like salt and garlic. The smell was making Contessina queasy enough to want to leave then and there. "Hold this." Lucrezia handed her the lamp before the older woman bent over to pull back the old rug to reveal a trap door in the stone floor.
"What is in there?" Contessina asked looking at the old wooden door that had seen better days.
"It is where Genoese smugglers hid their stash." Lucrezia opened the door with little trouble to reveal a dark pit. "There is enough room down there to hide at least thirty people." Contessina knelt down and peered in with the lamp to see the walls lined with shelves and wine racks; all of them empty of course since smuggling was no longer needed. She looked up at Lucrezia with a thought in her mind and it was fairly obvious her aunt had the same idea.
"Can the door to the storeroom be locked from the inside?" Contessina asked holding the lamp up and looking to the narrow door that was open wide. The door was solid and heavy enough to provide a little resistance if needed.
"From the outside, I'm afraid." Lucrezia said. This meant that someone would have to stay behind while the children and Clarice were hiding in the room below. Contessina's eyes darted back and forth as she chewed on her bottom lip in thought. "But if we were to be attacked, this is where I would want us to hide."
"Zia, someone would have to put the rug over the trap door and then lock the door from the outside." She said looking up at her dark-haired aunt. "Not to mention if the door is locked, we shall be trapped down there for who knows how long before we are discovered."
"Then I shall be the one to do it." The older woman said with a stubborn look in her eyes that Contessina had seem many times before. There was no talking Lucrezia out of any decision she made, but Clarice and the boys were the more important ones.
"It is better if I were to be the one to do it." Contessina said standing up and looking her aunt in the eye with conviction. "Riario means to end the Medici and if that happens then all of Firenze will be in the hands of evil men. I must do what I can to prevent that from happening even if it means my life." Lucrezia's face went from serious to shocked.
"Contessina! What if they kill you? What about your child? You are going to be a mother." The woman said putting a hand on Contessina's abdomen to emphasize her point and the blond knew what she was saying. The thought of losing her child was terrifying, but she was also afraid to lose Clarice and the children as well. She sighed putting her hand over Lucrezia's before nodding.
"Then what do we do, Zia?" Contessina asked feeling hopeless because of her pregnancy. If Ezio even had an inkling about any of this, he would never let her out of his sight again. She was sure he would ride all the way to Pistoia and then never want anything to do with the Medici ever again after taking her back home.
"We will plan accordingly, but for now, you and I both need to rest." Lucrezia said with a small smile as Contessina felt nothing but worry.