So, I hope you like this one. Next update will be the final phase, and all will be explained!
Valentino rode harder to the Castello than he ever had before. The rain lashed down on the empty streets of Roma, soaking him right through his thin cloak, but he paid no mind to it – his mind was full of the thundering of the mare's hooves on the cobbles and the fact that another Apple existed.
His Lord had to be told. At once.
He rode across the bridge unmolested, but as he rode to the front of the Castello's bulky and intimidating figure, two guards came out from where they had been skulking out of the rain, rising their pikes and hands and shouting at him to stop. Snarling in impatience, Valentino yanked on the mare's reins sharply: she neighed unhappily as she reared, startling the guards, who stepped back warily as she came back down onto the cobbles heavily. Their boots were splashed by the puddles that sprang up around her feet. Valentino yanked back his hood, feeling the rain strike his face over and over as he reached into the front of his robes and snatching the token around his neck – a cross, studded with rubies. His lord's token. He held it up to the guards, where it glimmered dimly in the rain and spun on its silver chain.
'Fetch Il Lupo for me! At once!'
Their defence having dropped as soon as the token was revealed, one guard nodded and ran into the inner courtyard. The other attempted to take Valentino's reins from him and lead him inside, but he was rewarded with a snarl and a boot to his chest. He staggered back as Valentino whipped the reins and spurred his mare into another gallop, bursting into the Castello just as the first guard opened the doors. At the command of his hands, the unhappy horse skidded to a stop as Valentino came down from her back and began to tug on her reins relentlessly, heading towards the dim figures of the stables – the door to the kitchens opened, throwing out an orange light, and a figure that Valentino recognised rushed out of the warmth, helping him drag the mare to the stables.
'Brother?' Il Lupo shouted at him over the rain. 'What - ?'
'Wake our master!' Valentino shouted back. 'I have news!'
'…And so I came here at once, my lord.'
Valentino stood in front of Cesare Borgia's chair, steadily dripping rain on the expensive carpet. Cesare had been displeased to having been woken at such an hour, but had graciously agreed to entertain Valentino at the mention of news on Assassin activities. Even though he was dressed in breeches and a loose shirt, he still made an imposing and powerful figure, lounging in his wide chair and listening to what Valentino had to tell him, only asking questions here and there as Valentino recounted his listening at the door of the Assassin's meeting as best he could. Valentino finished his recount, and stared at Cesare with awe. How could one man be so calm, when faced with news of his enemy's powerful resources? Such a man was surely a god, and not for the first time, Valentino felt a thrill of pleasure of being in this man's presence – of being wanted in this man's presence.
'So our enemy seeks another Apple.' Cesare murmured at last, inspecting his finger nails idly.
'Si, si, my lord.'
Cesare hummed in thought, rubbing some imaginary speck of dust between his fingers, and then flicking it away. 'Then the question is…what do we do about this?'
And then he held out his hands either side of him, hanging over the chair indulgently and smiling at Valentino with a wicked sort of smile – as if the two of them were sharing a private joke. Valentino grinned uncertainly back at him (it wasn't unlike a chimp grinning in fear) when two blue lights came on in the darkness. They fading in to a harsh glow, and Valentino didn't know why, but he suddenly felt a cold terror – it started from the top of his head and dripped slowly into his boots. He wanted to run away and run forever and never look back but something inside him held him still and whispered softly to his mind that there was no point, because there was no escaping those awful, awful lights.
And then the lights came forward with a whirr. Two metal bodies rolled out of the darkness either side of Cesare's chair, with objects that he didn't recognise sticking out of them, and he saw that the ice blue lights were on stalks that waved with a buzz as they fixed on Valentino. He gape at them, shaking as the adrenaline he would never use surged through him.
And then the metal things spoke.
'WE ARE THE DAL-EKS.' The one on the left said.
'AND WE ARE THE ANS-WER.' Said the other.
And between them, Cesare sat. Smiling, smiling, and smiling.
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