Le Conseguenze (Full Story)

[TalusMoonbreaker]

Previously: L'inizio preluding The Tiger of Illaryian

This is a slight repost of my last three mocs/stories which are all connected. But now, they can be read in their proper order with a few things edited to improve the story! Enjoy! Gustare! 

 

                                                                                                                     Le Conseguenze

 

It was late at night, I had said my goodbyes to mia madre and Mirco who would be journeying to Veniera with Marsilia to stay with her family. Aurelia and I were the only remaining residents, the rest of the staff had been released from our service for our funds were running out; it had been the hope that the Rego’s contracts could save us financially, ma ahimè. Because of the recent events, it wasn’t safe for la nostra famiglia anywhere near Illaryian. However, Aurelia couldn’t go back to Veniera and Salvadore was in far off Kaliphlin, so I had to take her with me and protect her. Train her to protect herself, I corrected myself mentally, it would be a dangerous life. I had told her before she went to bed that she must meet me on the bluff overlooking la baia di Illar where Brabantio was buried.

“Ilazio, I know you’re busy brooding, but I need to speak with you before I go,” Marsilia said sweetly as she approached me in the hallway. 

“I was thinking,” I replied softly. “But that can wait. Che cosa?” 

She slipped me an envelope with A mia figlia, Aurelia written on it in bold cursive, sealed with plain wax. 

“Give this to her. She deserves, she needs, to know, Ilazio,” Marsila sighed, then muttered under her breath as she handed it to him. “And do qualcosa about your brother.”

“Concordato,” I replied with the slightest of smiles. I then looked up as she began to walk towards the grand doors. She then turned her head to look back at me, saying, “addio, Ilazio.”

The front door closed softly and I then resigned myself to retire for the night in the mostly empty house. 

 

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The following morning, I walked out into the courtyard of my home for the last time, the bells ringing in the far off distance. The bells reminded me of death, the death of mio padre, Brabantio. It had only been one week since those dastardly events. I remembered my brief conversation with Marsilia, that I must leave la casa della mia famiglia and meet Aurelia on the bluff overlooking la Baia di Illar. A tomb. As I ventured further into the courtyard, I saw a lone figure dressed in a red coat, crowned with slick, black hair, and accompanied at the side by a plain rapier pacing by the ornate fountain.

“Edmondo Ziccardi,” I scoffed, suddenly recognizing the figure. In a louder voice, I shouted, “Ehi, get out of il mio cortile!”

“Ah-ha, the gloomiest of all the Moccenigos, what a surprise!” Ziccardi said, turning around to face Ilazio.

“Is it?!” I replied vehemently. 

“I promise, in all sincerity, Signore Moccenigo, that your stately home won’t go to waste. The council has in fact already found a buyer,” Ziccardi said smugly.

“Who?”

“Bene me! Why, the buyer is none other than me!” Ziccardi said laughing. 

I glowered at him, my anger boiling at this plague of a man, my dead father’s rival, now solely mine.

“You, you dare defile mia villa.”

“Che cosa?” Ziccardi said surprised. He began to back away from me.

I drew my sabre, stared him down, and said, “Don’t act surprised, Ziccardi.”

“Too rash Ilazio, first you attempt to defenestrate our poor, innocent Rego, and now you aim to kill me,” Ziccardi said, a fiendish grin forming on his face. He drew his sword and swished it fancily.

“Oh, this will be fun,” he said, baiting me. “Never thought I’d have the chance to beat up un criminale! Even better, one with an illegitimate niece.”

He let that sink in, forcing me to make the first move out of anger and thus take the blame. Our swords clang loudly throughout il cortile drawing much attention from the townsfolk, who clamored over the wrought iron fences, paying no heed to treating La Villa Moccenigo with any respect.  

“So it is true?! I shouldn’t have let such refuse into mio casa, no less for un baile!” Ziccardi laughed, feigning amusement. “Oh, you must suspect me of his death, ehi!”

“No! For I know that it was the Rego himself!” I replied fiercely while pressing the attack, fighting with aggressività. 

Ziccardi stumbled back, shocked. “Your audacity is impressive. Oh, how the house of Moccenigo has fallen.”

Then, he shouted for all the people from Porto Cagliveri gathered there to hear, “Here is un traditore! Worse accompanied by una bastarda nipote! Shame to the lineage of our beloved Brabantio! The bane of our dear Rego, di Carlo!” 

The people murmured amongst themselves, the sound becoming unbearable. I felt like I had been stabbed, dying… slowly. Then I looked into the crowd and saw mio nipote… Aurelia, betrayal and tears in her eyes. 

“Guardie, un traditore! Guardie!” was the cry started by Ziccardi and then echoed throughout il cortile by the populace, once again convinced of slander against mia famiglia. Guards dressed in the rich greens of Cagliveri began to pour in from the entry, I looked around wildly, beginning to back away. Seeing my retreat, the guards advanced towards me. Ziccardi stood smugly by the fountain, clearly enjoying my, and my family’s, humiliation.

“Run!” I quickly yelled at Aurelia before I ran off to the secret passages that’d get me out of town before the guards could capture me. I hoped that Aurelia would meet me there unscathed, physically at least for I had to deliver to her Marsilia’s letter.

 

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The sun had reached its zenith and I was sweating. I had run the length and breadth of Porto Caglaveri and found myself halfway on the main road out of town, at the base of a guard tower aptly named La Torre del Girovago across the canal from the Piazza degli Architetti. I stared up at its simple stone façade and then refixed my gaze on the door. When I’d recovered, I went up to the door and slammed into it until it caved in. A surprised guard waited inside. Quickly, I parried his clumsy and late halberd strikes, driving him outside. His footing was lost on the rough cobbles and I chose to strike, thrusting my blade into his gut which sent him into the canal with a loud splash. Then, I ran up the winding staircase and threw myself at the two bewildered guards both of whom fell with ease. I fumbled with the keys on one of the fallen guard’s belt because I was sweating profusely and breathing heavily from my nervous adrenaline and physical exertion. 

A filth ridden, slumbering man dressed in stained fine cloth awaited me inside the cell. Thankfully, a bucket of water lay at the door. 

“By Sana Argenta!” He spluttered violently. “Lemme sleep in peace! Andare via.”

His head slumped back down. Again, I emptied the bucket on him, he spluttered, this time his limbs flying as he tried to get up and exact vengeance.

“Oh fratello,” I sighed. “You’re a mess.”

“Ilazio?” he slurred, vaguely recognizing my voice. “Fratello, what’re you doin’ here?”

“While you, Ristoro were partying, I was helping la nostra famiglia. Least you could do after all of these years is say grazie.” 

“Il padre è morto! He’s dead!” Ristoro retorted. “You call that help?”

I looked at him disgusted, mio fratello. Ridicolo. “When did you start caring? When have you ever been a proper husband to Marsilia? A father to Aurelia? A son to papà? Giammai! Never! At least I did something!”

Ristoro looked back at me, shaking his head in denial. 

“How did you end up here anyways?” I spat at him angrily, maybe that would get his attention. 

“Ehi, that. A beautiful Ziccardi girl. Real nasty piece of work her father is though he could rival papà in works of wonder,” Ristoro replied sweetly.

I grabbed him violently and pinned him against the filth-ridden prison cell wall. Too angry to yell, I whispered softly but with malice in every word: “Traditore, your own daughter was at that same baile! I didn’t come here because I want your help but because I need it.”

Ristoro’s eyes darted as he looked at me, nervousness written all over his sweaty, squalid face. 

“I mean to kill the Rego to avenge our father.”

“What?! And you call me un traditore?” he replied, shocked. I let go of him and he stumbled to the ground a roll of drenched parchment. I then paced around the cramped cell, thinking. Finally, I said, “No one saw me last time upon the Tiger, all they saw was a masked assassino, a common sight of late. Only for kidnapping a de Cioto child and shaming l’amato Rego have we been condemned.”

Ristoro sighed as he slowly stood up. “Well, looks like you leave me no choice fratello, ancora fratello. Where’re you draggin’ me?”

“To apologize to your daughter," I replied.

 He said nothing in return as we began our descent down the spiral staircase to the canal-side streets. It mattered not, for I had to deliver Marsilia’s letter to Aurelia and then, I could shift my focus to repairing my fractured famiglia.

 

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It was afternoon when I had finally arrived at the cliff overlooking la baia di Illar, Aurelia was already there, waiting, her legs dangling over the edge. I was relieved to see her safe. Before I went to sit down next to her, I went and knelt at the grave of mio padre. Then, I pulled out the envelope that Marsilia had given me late the previous night as I went to join mio nipote. The sun was fading, spreading its last light over the small harbor jutting out from the turreted walls of Porto Cagliveri, my former home. The water was so beautiful at this hour; it almost made me forget about my fierce vengeance. 

“Aurelia,” I whispered softly as I handed her l’involucro. “This is for you.”

She looked up and accepted the letter, reading the inscription on the front before peeling off the wax. Tears welled up in her eyes as she read the letter from sua madre, even though it had already been revealed earlier this morning, it hurt more from someone she loved than from some mascalzone like Edmondo Ziccardi. After she finished reading it, Aurelia placed the letter into her mail satchel that lay upon the grass. She then hugged me and cried into my black sleeve. When Aurelia had regained her composer, she looked up at me. 

Is it true then? Am I a beast? I could read it in her tear-stained eyes. I nodded my head in reply.

I looked down at her and kindly hugged her. I was lost. What hurt more, the loss of mine father to the accursed Rego or seeing mio nipote feeling like refuse because of the slander of a villain, slander that now everyone in Illaryian would viciously cast upon her? 

“You are no bestia to me, I don’t care how you were brought into this harsh world. You will always be mia adorata nipote, always.” 

I then let her be for a few seconds, then I pulled out a small object, a thin dagger, wrapped in fine velvet.

“I know that you have no wish to spill blood, I applaud you mine niece for that. With this life, if you stick with me, it may be necessary. I am sorry, I can’t lose you too.”

I unwrapped the velvet cloth and handed the dagger to her, now it was my turn to be teary-eyed. Aurelia surprised me.

“Grazie zio.” She slid the dagger into a side pocket of her satchel. 

I knew then that Aurelia would follow me on my dangerous and vengeful path regardless of her aversion to violence. She then got up and headed over to Brabantio’s tomb. I looked out upon the mesmerizing blue bay one last time before joining her at mio padre’s final resting place, his kindly and knowledgeable visage carved onto the tomb’s face. 

“Arrivederci padre. I’ll see you again un giorno, someday,” I whispered with a weak smile to the cold stone and withered corpse hidden beneath. Then, Aurelia and I departed from the cliff to be reunited with Ristoro. With that complete, I had a new goal, a next step to fulfill my deadly oath. By Sana Argenta, and with careful and precise preparation, I would not fail.

          To be continued...

 

Edited June 24, 2022 by TalusMoonbreaker

[LordDan]

Nice to read the full story together! I also really like the build in the 3rd picture down, the texturing and detail is really nice!

 

[W Navarre]

Just reread the last part, and what can I say, it gets me so excited  !