"That blade appears to have never seen a drop of blood in its life." Juan laughed heartily and drew his own sword to match his brother. Juan and Cesare had fought each other on many an occasion and knew each other's every strength and weakness in battle. For two brothers so out of balance, they were acutely aware of the other's technique and could foresee their brother's strike before it came. In each encounter they proved themselves to be the others equal, Cesare's superior skill with a blade matched by Juan's cunning and ruthlessness. But for two brothers who had sought each other in competition at every waking moment as youth, they had never once fought with each other against a common opponent. Juan hoped today would soon prove that to be untrue. He was eager for a fight, and some might say he was too eager. A man should never love the fight, but simply learn to expect it. But Juan had a lot of pent up rage he was ready to release on these peasants, and he intended to drag their bodies behind him as far as Squillace. Of course their situation was not of their own doing he supposed, they were poor and hungry and probably had families to feed with the alleged treasure being carried in the coach. But Juan thought, it is just as likely these men had been turned away from their families and took to harassing travellers for malicious fun, or were fugitives on the run, with a taste for blood and riches. Whatever their circumstances, Juan was going to expose their innards to the ground just the same. Cesare did not share his brother's feelings, as was usual in the Borgia household. He wanted this squirmish over as soon as possible and to resume a peaceful journey with his siblings safe and intact. This was a strange feeling for Cesare, as he surely enjoyed the rush of a fight just as much as Juan, but he was in no mood for a slaughter this day.
One of the men made a move to Cesare's right, a fatal move as now Cesare's mind was made up. He was about to lunge with his sword when there was a noise from the carriage.
"What is the holdup out here?" Lucrezia's strained voice spoke through the curtain as she pulled it aside and moved to venture out of the carriage. Cesare, suddenly distracted from the assailants went to stop her.
"Lucrezia what are you doing? Get back inside, this is no business for you." He hissed, attempting to close the curtain back around her. But Lucrezia persisted against her brother's strength and ended up on the ground anyway.
"What is happening here?" She called to the men. The man with the hooked nose now had bulging eyes and a gaping expression to accompany it, and had lowered his sword imperceptibly.
"It's none of your concern sister, just a small matter of dealing with some vagrants." Juan called back to her and motioned subtly to Cesare, with his eyes, to force her back into the carriage. Cesare made a move to do just that but Lucrezia stepped forward out of his grasp.
"Come now brothers, surely you aren't entirely heartless? These poor men are just hungry, aren't you?" Cesare and Juan looked at each other cautiously and at their assailants as they began to give a slight confused nod of the head. Lucrezia pulled out a coin purse from the fold of her gown and went to distribute the gold between the men. Cesare put out a hand to stay her.
"What are you doing you stupid girl, do you want to get yourself killed?" Lucrezia just gave him a look and he removed his hand slowly but accompanied her cautiously towards the men. The hooked nose man looked warily at the approaching girl but took the gold none the less. He wouldn't grieve for the fight now forgotten. The gold was distributed evenly among them with Lucrezia flashing a golden smile at each in turn.
"Thank you miss, you're a kind soul." The pox ridden man gave an uneducated bow and made haste to leave lest the brother's soul was less kind. When they had all left and the guards had begun to relax from their battle-ready stance. Lucrezia turned sharply to Cesare.
"Do not ever call me a stupid girl ever again. I may turn out more intelligent than you think. Do not underestimate me brother."