Chapter 33
"It is mine… so beautiful… so powerful," a chilling voice tugged at Alcina in the darkness.
"Do you think they will come?" another voice echoed so loudly she felt her brain pounding and tearing within her skull.
"It does not matter. If they do, they will die as easily as the others."
"These ones seemed different."
"Their difference is immaterial."
"Si, I suppose everyone is mortal after all."
"Well… almost everyone."
Alcina was paralyzed, the weight of the darkness pinned her to the ground. She tried to scream to the voices, tell them to leave her alone, but her jaw was locked and refused to open. She could feel her vocal cords straining as her lungs burned for air. She couldn't take much more of this.
Then the foreign voices came, booming unknown words into her head; radiating a strange pulse through her system all the way down to her fingertips. Although she did not understand them, it was always the same words spoken over and over in a commanding and foreboding fashion.
A sudden jolt began pulling at her body, shaking her and yanking fiercely at her while the seams holding her mind together were being picked apart.
She awoke with a start, gasping aloud. Her eyes flashed open to see her clammy hands latched around Ezio's wrist. The pulling at her body had been him, simply giving her shoulder a soft squeeze to wake up.
His grip released her with concern in his eyes as he waited for her to detach her sweaty fingers from his arm.
Alcina's eyes fluttered around her as she breathed heavily through her nose to regain her bearing and return her world to normal.
It was daylight, and the ground felt cold and stiff against her tense and sore frame.
"Are you alright carina?" he slipped his hand away the second her frozen fingers peeled from his wrist. "You were talking in your sleep again."
Her eyes burned with the ache of a restless night, "Sto Bene. What was I saying?" She slowly rose to a sitting position as she messaged her temples and lower back.
"I could not understand," he said as he rose and guided the horses into the clearing.
"You already packed?" she huffed with guilt while wiping away a trail of cold sweat from her face. She looked around to find the fire had been extinguished, the blankets rolled and stored, and all signs of life removed from their temporary camp. "You should have woken me sooner."
Ezio only shook his head in pleasant disagreement as he tightened the saddles on the horses and checked that everything was in order.
"We will arrive in Firenze in three days, given the weather and bandits allow."
She understood his unspoken request for her to get moving and forced herself up.
A blunt sensation startled her, making her lose balance momentarily. Her eyes unexpectedly fluttering as she teetered on her feet.
Ezio patted his horse's side warmly before climbing into the saddle. He glanced at Alcina one last time only to witness her standing motionless and staring at the tips of her fingers. "Is everything alright?" he asked while gather the reigns in his hands.
"Everything is fine…" Her half smile seemed believable enough.
He guided her faithful mare to where she stood in a gentlemanly manner and nodded warmly. "We are almost there amore. Not much longer now…"
A nervous smile upturned her lips as she nodded in return; then waiting until his back was turned, wiped away the fresh smear of blood that trickled silently from her nose.
.-.-.-.-.
Three days came and went as Florence drew closer until it finally arrived on the horizon one early, winter morning. The expanding stone walls welcomed them with a familiar chill. The frozen, gray sky seemed to smother the orange rooftops that were once the assassin's most beloved playground.
The sight was almost surreal, awakening memories of both happiness and heartache. They both had to fight the release of long, deep and anxious breaths as the winding road converted to cobblestone and curved toward the main gate of the city.
But something was different, something neither of them expected. The gates were closed and guarded by soldiers, armed and caped in templar crimson.
"Merda," Ezio muttered and jerked the reigns of his horse to the right, cutting off Alcina. Her mare grunted in surprise but followed him closely as he guided them away from sight. "They've been expecting us," he muttered in a hushed voice. "We will have to find another way in."
"Ezio!" Ezio's head snapped in response to a voice from behind the gate. A lanky figure waved fervently from behind the metal bars and standing red bodies.
"Aldo?" he spoke aloud. "One of the thieves of Firenze; he works as eyes and ears for the assassins," he seemed to have read Alcina's questioning mind. Ezio could only gape at Aldo's fervent waving, unsure how to reach his distant comrade.
"Go to him, I will distract the guards."
"Alcina, wait!' but before Ezio could abject, Alcina had sprung from her horse and began charging toward the templar formation.
She began taunting them before turning on her heels and sprinting away from the gate followed by the annoyed hoard. "What are you waiting for?!" she yelled over her shoulder.
"Ezio! Over here!" Aldo gripped his fingers around the frozen bars and pressed his face as close as possible through the metal gaps as Ezio hustled to meet him.
"You always did have good taste in women messer Auditore."
Ezio scoffed and shook his head momentarily, "She can be a handful at times."
Aldo shuddered in the cold as Ezio noted the dark creases below his eyes. The man was clearly not well.
"Aldo, what is happening in there?"
"I was waiting for you, hoping you would come. So were the templars."
"What have they done?"
"It is terrible amico, disease has been sweeping the countryside, so the templars have locked us inside Firenze; no one comes in, or out. We are being 'ruled' within our own walls and being held for ransom. They claim to have a 'cure' for the disease, but only 'the believers' can be saved." Aldo's words hissed through his teeth in a nervous whisper that gave even Ezio chills.
"The believers?"
"Si, the templar leader wishes to rule all of Italia it seems. He fills the people with false hope and fear to gain their allegiance. His soldiers capture anyone who opposes him, and then they are never seen again. The people are going mad with fear. We are losing our minds in here Ezio! You must stop him! For weeks I have been trying to send word, but the guards are everywhere! You must do something amico!" Aldo's white knuckles stretched over the frosty gate that now imprisoned him in his own home.
"I will compagno. Tell me Aldo, do you know another way into the city?"
"There are tunnels the run beneath the city and should lead all the way to the church. But the entrance is outside the city."
"How do I find it?"
"Follow the walls of the fortress. There is a seal marking the entrance. It is hidden for all to see."
"This is a bold and strange move for the templars. What could the Spaniard be planning?"
"They are not led by the Spaniard, Ezio. It is someone else."
"Someone else?"
"Si, his name is Salvatore."
"You are certain!" Ezio's tone sharpened.
A frightening voice bellowed from behind Aldo as bulky hands stripped him from the gate. "Get away from there!"
Ezio's hands reached for his friend, but stopped short between the frosted bars.
"Save us Ezio!" was all Aldo could say as several arms latched onto him and pulled at his shoulders. The assassin watched helplessly through the gate as the guards drug Aldo away and through the empty streets, leaving him with nothing but more questions and a strong sense of guilt in his stomach.
"I will save you mi amico, and I will save you Firenze, my home…" a familiar holler summoned him as Alcina's running figure came gracefully bounding in his direction. He took one last look over his shoulder, but Aldo was gone; stolen away by the guards, then the two assassins sprinted from the entrance, leaving the soldiers far behind.
.-.-.-.-.-.
"Hidden for all to see?" Alcina blurted doubtfully. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"The way it sounds," Ezio retorted.
"Well then how do you propose we find it?" she aggravatingly kicked a frost covered pebble from the dirt.
"All we can do is look carina." Ezio's eyes continued to scan the enclosing walls of the city from top to bottom as their feet crunched across the frozen ground.
"What else did he say?" she pressed.
"He said someone claiming to be Rodolfo Salvatore is controlling Firenze and halting traffic both to and from the city."
"Why? What would posses him to do that?"
"Disease," Ezio warily looked back at her.
Her eyes grew remorseful. "That explains the village," she choked.
There were a few moments of respected silence, neither of them wishing or even needing to speak. This only gave Alcina ample and unwanted time to remember the nasty aroma of death and ashes around her feet.
The more she thought, the more she realized that the village they passed through must be merely one of many homes, charred to the ground to halt the spread of illness. "So many lives," she whispered as she shook her head, her lover answering only with a nod.
They patrolled the outer walls, searching for anything that could be construed or labeled as a marker. After what felt like hours of walking, Ezio finally clambered over to the stone wall and ran his hands over the pale stone.
"There is writing here," he squinted his eyes over the empty span of wall. "There appears to be writing," he noted.
Alcina peered over his shoulder, "I see nothing."
Ezio outstretched his hands over ever crack and crevice in the stone, and then smiled to himself; clearly seeing something she could not. "Step back Madonna."
She raised an unconvinced eyebrow as her hands naturally popped to her hips in a stubborn fashion. She trailed her eyes over the gray and cream colored stone, chipped and even blotched with dead moss.
"Stop staring and start looking," he encouraged.
"I AM looking," she retorted. But after stepping back a few paces and seeing the entire stretch of stone bricks, she understood.
Every crack and groove was strategically placed, forming a giant mural of designs and at the center, the assassin insignia. It was slightly worn away, but still very visible to those who knew what to look for.
"Hidden for all to see," he smiled again. His fingers crawled over deep grooves in the wall as he snapped his wrist to reveal his hidden blade.
"The door is here," He slipped the shining metal into a small crevice that would have looked like a normal slice in the wall to any normal person; but with the turn of his wrist, a metal sewage grate overturned further down the wall, releasing a rush of freezing air.
"How did you…?" Alcina gapped. Ezio only winked at her amazed expression before approaching the entrance to the tunnel, enjoying her awe.
"After you maddona," he extended a hand to her. She almost wanted to refuse his chivalry to spite his glowing pride, but decided to let him have his moment.
He held open the metal grate in wall as she slipped through the opening of the tunnel and disappeared from sight.
Ezio took one last look around before kicking open the grate for himself and plunging feet first into the unknown darkness. The metal trap door clamped shut behind him, locking them both in the ancient and unknown chambers beneath the city of Florence.
.-.-.-.-.-.
The air smelt and tasted old and damp as Alcina slid down a stone slope into the black tunnel, hoping her feet would soon land on solid ground. The floor of her surroundings startled her as she rolled to a stop as Ezio's body slid past somewhere nearby.
They were surrounded by darkness as the chilly air hung ominously around them. Alcina waited patiently for her eyes to adjust to the room, but neither light nor detail entered her world.
She remained crouched were she landed and extended her hands in the blackness, feeling for something solid. "The tunnels do us no good if we are traveling in complete darkness. I cannot see my own feet in front of me," she muttered.
"Don't worry," a hand softly weaved into her own. "I can."
"But how?" she gaped as his warm fingers curled over her knuckles.
"The same way I saw the entrance of the tunnel before you did," he answered.
"I still do not understand," she sighed as he pulled her to her feet. "How can you see these things when everyone else is blind?"
Although she couldn't see it, she knew Ezio was smiling. "My father once told me that 'I had a gift'. I could physically see things that other's could not." Ezio began guiding her through the darkness, pulling gently on her hand while his other hand held and guided her forearm. "He told me it was a family quality, passed down every few generations or so. I suppose it makes sense now that I know my family comes from a line of assassins."
"So you can you see right now, without any light at all?" she asked, clinging tightly to his grip.
"Yes."
Ezio guided them through the tunnels, warning her of every unstable drop and step, leaving Alcina to rely on her other senses. She could hear water dripping around her and an occasional rat rustle nearby and flee from their feet. She could feel the steam from Ezio's breath creeping around her face and neck and occasionally smell his sweet scent over the musk of the cavern.
Of course the air was freezing, but without a howling, mountain breeze, the journey through the caverns of tolerable.
Their pace unexpectedly slowed after some time as Ezio looked around them at the walls. "What do you see?" she whispered.
"There are markings all around us. I am not sure if it is writing or a form of art." Their voices echoed down the tunnel and mumbled back to them in a soft melody. "I wish you could see it," he sighed.
Ezio took her hand and placed it against the wall, her fingers running over the details in the cold stone.
The sound of their steps became a hypnotic thrum of echoes for a span of time that seemed untraceable in the darkness, until an unfamiliar and very loud clap made her jump in Ezio's grip.
The sound had been her own feet on the ground, but something about the noise was different. "Where are we now?" she questioned as a strange sensation burned her eyes. She could feel a sudden cold breeze and a strange empty feeling engulfing her.
"We are in a large room now. A tomb."
Her eyes stung momentarily beneath her fingers as she rubbed away the pain. Something in the room was hurting her. She peered through her fingers until she realized it was a beam of light from above, slicing through the darkness and coloring their world.
She impulsively fled to it and stood in the center of it's rays, amazed by how much she missed the simplest of things. She looked over her hands; they were dirty and frigid, her fingers unprotected within her fingerless gloves.
She looked around at the tomb, as the frozen looks of several stone faces glowered back. The hum of melancholy voices echoed as if the statues themselves were singing hymns.
"We must be beneath the church," she gazed up to the ceiling through the beams of light, her eyes hidden underneath the shadow of her ivory hood, her breath steaming from her lips and crawling to the surface.
"We will cause too make attention that way, we should keep going." The all too familiar and guiding hand extended out to her from the shadows.
She almost muttered, "just a few moments more," as her chilled skin absorbed the small warmth and security of the light. "Si, we need to keep moving." Her fingers trustingly fit into his gloved hand with ease, sending an even warmer rush up her arm and straight to her face.
Then he guided them back into the darkness, neither one of them ever looking back at the light.
.-.-.-.-.
Translations:
Amico- friend
Compagno- comrade