Chapter 15: A Draw and Recovery
Characters (in order of first appearance):
Tsunami / Maremoto
Inari / Cannoli
Kaiza / Kaiser (name of a bread-roll, not that of a German dictator)
While Gelato and Rosa were still shocked at Fiera's beauty, he quickly made a hand-sign while Tony wasn't looking, and vaporized into mist. All three of them were surprised, but they looked around cautiously with their guns out in case he rematerialized. Meanwhile, as the sun was moving higher into the sky, the mist was evaporating quicker, even though Disprezzare made it. But it was still thick enough to where they couldn't see anything, and were surprised when Fiera reappeared in front of them in Disprezzare's boat and fired at Freno's chest.
Seeing that Freno was wide open, Tony quickly made the same hand-signs he did during his fight with Spauracchio, and breathed the Prometheus Fire spell directly at the incoming bullet, which melted into liquid lead upon entering the fiery sphere as it projected towards Fiera. But before the fire engulfed him, Fiera teleported away like before and appeared back their boat holding the gun next to Freno's head, causing the others turn towards him.
"Drop your guns, or I'll kill the old man," Fiera said, glaring.
"But aren't you going to kill him regardless?" Tony said dubiously.
"I don't kill anyone," Fiera said calmly.
This surprised everyone.
"How can you not kill anyone when you're an assassin?" Gelato asked.
"I may have been trained by an assassin, but I'm only a tool for Disprezzare to use. He kills the target, and I just help him," Fiera looked down at Freno, who was too scared to move. "Now, are you three going to drop your guns or not?"
Reluctantly, the three dropped their guns to the bottom of the boat. Fiera smiled, and sat down in the boat, still pointing his gun at all of them while he picked up their guns and put them under his feet. The three had no choice but to sit down as well, and watched the mist as battle cries still echoed from the other side.
"I suppose your all wondering how me and Disprezzare came on a motorboat without being heard," Fiera said, looking at all of them.
Everyone was too tense to reply.
"It was my doing. I used Illusion to muffle the sounds of the motor to that of the rolling waves, so you wouldn't have sensed anything unusual, but I'm suprised that someone as experienced as 'Specchio Occhi' Spauracchio wasn't prepared either."
As the sun shined directly overhead, the mist parted, with Disprezzare walking towards them. Gelato thought it was another Acqua Decoy, and got out his knife, leaping out of the boat to stab it. But when the knife penetrated its chest, it didn't fade, leaving Gelato to look up at the angry face of the real Disprezzare. He flung Gelato off, and pulled the knife out.
"Disprezzare!" Fiera cried, lowering the gun.
"No, don't!" Disprezzare said, holding his hand up in protest.
But Tony already acted and punched Fiera on the side of his face, knocking him down. Then he twisted Fiera's hands behind him and pulled out his throwing knife, holding the sharp edge at Fiera's throat. Fiera fought the tears that were welling up in his eyes, as Rosa walked around them and picked up their guns. Meanwhile, Gelato swam back to the boat and climbed in a second time.
"I can't believe I made the same mistake twice!" Gelato grumbled, shivering from the cold air. "How did I do that?"
"Because you're an idiot," Rosa said, throwing Gelato back his gun, and put hers back in its holster.
"Hey! At least I saved Freno's life the first time!" Gelato said, catching it, and once again aiming it at Disprezzare, who was even less impressed than before.
"Where's Spauracchio?" Tony said, trying to keep the struggling Fiera from breaking free.
"The 'Specchio Occhi' letdown is over there," Disprezzare said bluntly, and cleared the mist with a wave of his hand.
A few feet from them, the three were surprised to find Spauracchio trapped in a large bubble made of water which he was having a hard time breathing in it. They also saw that he was badly hurt, and exhausted. Meanwhile, Disprezzare walked back to his boat and picked up the rifle he left in there, and pointed it at them.
"Now I'm really tired, and don't want to have to kill children in order to reach my target, so let's make a trade. You release Fiera, and I'll give back Spauracchio."
"How do I know you're not just going to shoot Freno the moment I let go of Fiera?" Tony said, not loosening his grip.
"If you want proof of my word, I'll drop the gun," Disprezzare said, and placed the rifle down. "And as an added bonus, I'll bring Spauracchio here."
Then he gestured towards the water bubble, and waved it towards him. As if it had a mind of its own, the bubble floated directly to Disprezzare, with Spauracchio still intact. Tony looked at Spauracchio, then at Fiera, and back at the old man. Then he sighed, and lowered the knife while glaring at Disprezzare.
"You win this time," Tony said, and spat towards Disprezzare.
At that moment, the water bubble popped, releasing Spauracchio from it into the water with a loud splash, and lay there floating on the water in a daze. He would've drowned, but luckily, Freno and Rosa immediately set to grabbing the oars, and rowed towards him. Meanwhile, Fiera climbed back into Disprezzare's boat, starting the motor up again, and they rode off spraying water at them. Then they dragged Spauracchio into the boat, and quickly rowed towards the docks on the island of Riva, which was much closer than they expected.
Once on shore, Spauracchio coughed up water and took deep breaths. As Freno took care to hide the boat, the three stood guard in case Malacca had sent some thugs to surprise them. Fortunately, there was no one about. When Spauracchio was done, Gelato and Tony helped him up, and took a series of detours from the main street, with Freno leading them, and Rosa at his side. Soon, they came to a small house to the north of the main cluster of buildings, where they were greeted by a dark-haired woman and a brunette-haired boy who looked to be about Fogliaragazzo's age. The young woman hugged Freno and kissed him once on each cheek. He did the same to her, and they all went inside, helping Spauracchio onto the couch next to the kitchen. Meanwhile, the boy watched them from a distance, and frowned.
"So you had to bring outsiders here to fix our problem?" the little boy said, folding his arms.
"These people are from the Foglia family, Cannoli," Freno replied, putting a blanket over Spauracchio, who looked at them with his open Specchio Occhi eye. "And they are also our guests, so please, treat them with respect."
Cannoli pouted, "How am I supposed to believe that three kids and a gray-haired freak are members of the famous Foglia family? They look like push-overs to me."
"Well for your information," Gelato growled, towering over Cannoli. "If it weren't for us, your daddy would've been dead already!"
"He's my grandfather, you idiot!" Cannoli said, glaring up at Gelato. "And just because you're bigger than me doesn't mean you can intimidate me!"
"We'll see about that!"
But before Gelato could raise his right hand, Rosa stopped him just as Spauracchio had coughed and raised his head slightly. Everyone listened attentively, even the young woman whom Cannoli ran to. As he spoke, his voice broke up.
"I apologize for the…unexpected drop-in, Miss, and would greatly…appreciate it if you could let us…rest here for a bit," he said, his eye struggling to stay awake.
"Oh, it won't be too much trouble," the young woman said, smiling courteously. "We can move you into Cannoli's room, the rest of you could stay in the attic upstairs, and Cannoli will sleep with me."
"But I don't wanna move out of my room!" Cannoli whined.
"That's very kind of you," Spauracchio replied, breathing slowly. "But…this couch will do fine. Gelato, Tony, and Rosa will…guard the house while I rest. Is that…understood?"
"Yes, Capo!" the three said, and took positions throughout the house where they could see what was going on outside, but without being seen.
While they took breaks during watch, they learned that the woman was Maremoto, Freno's only daughter and Cannoli's mother. She had come to live with her father after her husband had gotten killed in an uprising by the citizens to oppose Malacca, led by an outsider named Kaiser. No one knew where he was from, but he grew close with the people, including Cannoli, who looked up to him as an idol. But unfortunately, the uprising was completely annihilated by Malacca's men, and Kaiser was killed in the process, leaving Cannoli and all the other people with very little hope for a savior, until Freno decided to build the bridge.
But even then, the people were skeptical, thinking that Freno would die just as quickly as Kaiser did. So while Spauracchio was recovering, they received no visitors. Even the neighbors avoided him, all out of fear that they would get mixed up and killed as well. Tony guessed why they weren't getting attacked now was because Disprezzare was also recovering. The least he expected was spies, but there were none, probably because Malacca knew where Freno lived, and didn't want to strike until it was appropriate, but when nobody knew.
When Spauracchio was rested and well enough to walk, he took the three out into the backyard and breathed in the salty air. Then he told them that even though he was mostly recovered, he still needed time to regain his full strength, as the Specchio Occhi eyes drained a lot of nature energy from their users, according to Tony. But Spauracchio pretended he never revealed his eye to them, and covered it up with the eye-patch the way he did before.
End of Chapter 15