[Fic] Dolore - Part III
(La Condottieri)
Il Ladro
La Volpe found out as soon as Giovanni's palazzo was invaded that their plans had gone terribly wrong.
"Where is the evidence you were supposed to give to the Auditore's?" The thief, whose name was actually Fulvio, wrung his tattered old cap nervously.
"I gave it to one of his boys, Volpe, I swear..."
"Then find out what happened to it subito! Innocent lives depend on this."
"Si, Maestro." Volpe didn't even look to see Fulvio leap nimbly out of the window and out into the Florentine night. He stalked down to his thieves' den and started barking orders one after the other. The thieves wasted no time in dispersing themselves out into the streets of Firenze, seeking information and the letters as rats would crumbs.
Volpe, meanwhile, had an urgent visits he had to make.
His first one was to Lorenzo's place, but the fool was away on business. The Master of Thieves snarled fierce curses under his breath, drawing looks from Lorenzo's guardmen as he left. Next he went to La Rosa Colta to find Paola.
"You have a sister in the Auditore household, do you not?" Paola turned around, the tension in her left hand the only sign that she had been startled by La Volpe's intrusion.
"Indeed I so, but I fail to see how this is relevant?" She offered him a sly smile, which promptly fell when he did not return the gesture with one of his own. "What has happened?"
"Giovanni and two of his sons have been arrested for the Pazzi crimes." The Madame gasped at the news.
"And what of Maria and her daughter? And the third son?"
"My sources say that Ezio was not at the palazzo when the guards arrested them. Maria and Claudia, however..."
"...My sister is a smart girl, Volpe. She will know to bring the Auditores here as soon as she can." La Volpe paced in a small oval, trying to find a way to salvage this situation.
"Can you not send for her now?" Paola shook her head ruefully.
"No, if you came to me so swiftly, then you know that there would still be guards there."
"Then send one of your putanas to go and distract them instead of just sitting here on our thumbs!" The thief was not prone to shouting or displays of aggression, but his nerves were wearing down as swiftly as his options.
"And your ratti, are they sitting about as well?" The Madame snapped back with equal bite, forcing the fox to retreat from her a few inches. "Of course I will send them out, amici, and ready room for the rest of the family." She turned abruptly, heels clicking. "You can show yourself out, I'm sure," she called over her shoulder. "The Auditores are not dead yet."
La Volpe could not help but wonder for just how long?
Fulvio found him just as he was headed back to the den, face flush from his mad dash.
"Well? Did you find it?"
"Si, but not where it can help us." The tagliagole waited as his informer took a steadying breath. "Ezio gave it to Umberto Alberti." Volpe nodded, pleased that this much had been accomplished. "But Maestro, he was with a Templar -"
A cold, slippery rage engulfed him then, and his knife found itself pressed perilously close to Fulvio's throat. "Maestro..." The man swallowed nervously, accidentally causing blood to well from beneath his master's fang.
As quickly as it had been drawn the blade was pulled back, allowing Fulvio to press a grimy hand to his neck and sag with relief. La Volpe did not miss the nervous glances the man was giving. He tensed as he heard the sound of a guard calling for them to descend from the rooftops. Barely giving himself time to aim properly, he launched his blade with blinding speed.
The blade did not sever the guard's spine as intended, instead condemning him to breathe from his throat for a few agonizing moments before dying. La Volpe stared dispassionately at Fulvio.
"Find the Auditores. Make sure they make it to Paola's safely at any cost." He slipped away before the thief could say anything.
The rooftops and alleys of Firenze were slick with blood for the next few nights.
fin
dolore - pain