Chapter 32
Darkness ended another day, leaving the assassins little choice but to make camp. Their routine was the same; Ezio made a small fire with whatever kindling was available while Alcina tied the horses nearby, allowing them slight room to wander and graze.
It was the same routine the had followed for the past several weeks, only this night they had planned on resting in the comfort of the mountain village, which now was an abandoned field of ash.
Alcina crouched beneath the warmth of her hood and thick blankets, breathing steam into the night. The horses rustled somewhere from behind, tearing grass from the dirt and grinding it with their mouths.
She stared firmly into the orange light, as it spread warmth across the bare and chapped skin of her face. She ignored the sting as she twirled a small metal dart around in her fingers, her mind traveling miles away. Ezio could only watch as he dropped another dry branch into the fire, churning an eruption of sparks into the air.
Her gaze was unchanged as the flickers of light scattered and popped in her midst, darting then dissolving into the cold. He examined her closely, watching her tantalizing fingers thumb and twist the gleaming, narrow spike with skillful ease. Her expression was hard as the fire light played with the shadows across her features, making the pensive crease between her eyebrows more severe.
She had been silent from the moment they left the ruined village; a solemn gaze brooding over her face. He knew what was on her mind, but unsure if he should speak of it.
He crossed his hands in this lap as he ran a thumb over the smooth scar within the crease of his palm. "Are they…" he asked under his breath.
"Yes. They are all dead," her tone was plain and unmoved, her fingers dancing the spike like an art.
"You are certain?" his voice lowered.
"The village was burned, the bodies completely destroyed. It was quarantine. There was no other way," she sighed.
"Why then are you so solemn carina?"
Alcina pushed her thumb to her lower lip in a pensive habit as the cold metal touched against her skin, "Ezio, we are killers. I am no stranger to death, grief or pain… but I find this to be murder in it's truest form. The broken and sick were burnt alive to cleanse the village, while the healthy move on to save themselves. It is heartbreaking to me." She paused a moment, "No one should die that way." She rubbed her arms beneath the folds of her blankets, "Do you feel the same?"
Ezio shifted his weight suddenly as her eyes snatched his. He cleared his throat abruptly as he pondered his response. With a deep breath he spoke, "There are moments, when the death of one, or even a few, means the existence of us all. Such is the legacy of life, of history… and of the creed…. Our creed. But there is no excuse for the death of innocent people. That is why we fight. That is why we work in the shadows, to serve the light." The shadow creasing Alcina's eyes softened as he continued. "I do not claim to understand why these things happen, but you must believe that behind every tragedy, there is good… somehow."
Alcina breathed a pent up sigh that transformed itself into a cloud of steam, escaping her mouth and hovering in the golden light. "Bene," she whispered. The somber emotion hovering upon her shoulders seemed to disperse, bringing a soft smile to the corners of Ezio's lips.
A lone wolf cried somewhere in the distance, making the horses shuffle anxiously.
Ezio's smile widened, "Predatore della notte." He rolled onto his back and crossed his hands behind his head as he pulled a blanket across his body, closing his eyes in the bliss of the night.
"Are we so different?" Alcina snatched the dart in her palm.
He grinned at her smartly, "No."
She looked at him across the flames as his stare stunned her momentarily. The flickering orange heat stung her eyes, but she could not make herself look away.
A memory of the day they met briefly quickened her pulse as she was reminded of the tender moment when she mended his wounds beside a similar firelight. A flush of warmth burned her cheeks as she reminisced over the touch of his skin beneath her fingers.
He flashed a smile at her entranced gaze, making her clear her throat in surprise and advert her attention to her pockets.
She reached her fingers into the folds of material, nimbly taking out a small, glass vile. He watched curiously as she sunk the dart into the cork top and carefully removed the lid. She dropped the metal spike into the vile with a faint clink and sealed it tightly.
"What is that?" he finally asked.
She circled her finger over the lip of the vile, "Poison… infettare," she muttered before tossing the bottle in his direction. His hand snapped it from the air sharply and examined it in the light, propping himself up with his elbow.
Inside the bottle were 7 darts, carefully hollowed out and soaking in the clouded liquid. "You created this?" He could see her faint silhouette through beyond the flames within the vile, fading in and out like a mirage. She nodded through the haze.
"How potent is it?"
"It depends on the dose; a few minutes to an hour. But if it enters through your blood… you will be dead even sooner."
"It is that fast?" He looked up with surprise.
"It is that slow," her tone steady and speaking from experience. "Symptoms do not emerge until it is too late for the remedy. My enemies will not even realize they are already dead… which leaves plenty of time for me to get the answers I need, then leave before I am spotted."
"Is it… painful?" he swallowed.
The shadowed crease between her eyes returned momentarily, "Not at first. But once it spreads… it is excruciating. Those final moments are true agony."
"Why is that…" he breathed
"Because I made it that way," She glared into the fire as she flicked a splinter into the blaze with a pop. "So my enemies can watch everything they once had disappear, slowly, painfully and alone, just as I did."
Moments like this always brought on a strange tightness in Ezio's chest as the harshness of reality dug it's nasty grip into the back of his mind. His rogue angel before him appeared so calm, so delicate and so beautiful… but she was also so deadly, and hungry for revenge.
"You said there were no symptoms until past the point of remedy. Is there even a remedy?"
"No, not yet," a thin smile crept across her face, breaking her cold, killer bearing. "You look startled," she laughed.
Ezio also stifled a chuckle, "I sometimes forget my lady is so dangerous. Luckily…" his voice deepened as he leaned her direction, "…I like danger."
Alcina scoffed as she rolled her eyes, "Spare me the suave, handsome, hero performance."
"So you do think I'm handsome?" he grinned his famous boyish smile.
She pursed her lips into a fake glare before once again letting loose a soft laugh.
He found himself in awe as he stared at her features caressed in golden light. The sharpness of her cheek bones beneath her larger eyes and the beautiful curves of her lips called to him in the darkness.
"Stop," his conscious told him. But he didn't want to stop. He wanted to remember every moment he shared with her, the smell of her hair all the way down to the taste of her sweat. "You will lose her," his mind repeated. But he refused to believe it.
When she began to pensively chew her bottom lip, he nearly lost his mind. But the emotion in her eyes changed from lighthearted to serious as she released her lip from her teeth.
The lust clouding his thoughts was wiped away by the new wave overtaking her eyes, leaving him feeling concerned. "Alcina," he whispered soothingly. She lifted her face to his voice. "What is wrong bella?" She moved her lips to speak but no sound escaped. "Diletta, after all this time, you know there is nothing you cannot say to me," he raised a charming brow in reassurance.
She pulled a strand of hair from her eyes before speaking as the dark crease folded yet again between her eyes, "Ezio, if you could change time, and change that day… would you?"
The flash of dangling feet from the gallows uncontrollably shattered into his mind, leaving Ezio's mouth suddenly dry, the tightness in his chest returning. He had asked himself that question many times in his own head over and over, but had never heard it spoken aloud. Why then was it so hard to answer?
"I…" he cleared his suddenly raspy voice, "I miss my family, I will not pretend otherwise… but I would not be who or where I am had the circumstances differed."
"So you're saying that this is the life you had always wanted for yourself?"
"No, carina, I am saying that my destiny is no longer mine to control." He watched her with skeptical eyes, "Why Alcina? Would you change the past if you could?"
When she didn't answer, he began to dive deeper, "Would you go back and change the past, knowing all that you now know, having achieved what you have, and having met all the people that have entered your life… knowing that even the moments we have shared, may not have even come to pass?" He had done it. He had put his heart before her without even realizing it.
Her eyes darted to his the moment he emphasized the word "we". She looked away just as abruptly as he waited for her reply.
Alcina raised and lowered one shoulder in unison with an unsympathetic eyebrow, then rolled away from his gaze, "Sono stanco, I'm going to sleep."
He shook his head in bewilderment as Alcina buried herself beneath her blankets turning her back to his startled expression.
"Dream beautiful dreams signora," he smudged away a disappointed smile.
He rolled onto his back, gazing solemnly into the sky, his heart feeling somewhat miffed by her unspoken words that had been heard as plainly as ever… she had not chosen him.
He closed his eyes as the sounds around him thrummed in his ears, the occasional snuff from one of the horses, the breathing of the fire, then the distant harmony of wolves singing to one another in the night; their predatory song lulling him to sleep.
…
Translations:
Bene- good
Predatore della notte- predator of the night
Infettare- poison
Diletta- darling
Sono stanco- I'm tired