Part VI: La Sfilata del Nuovo Rego

[TalusMoonbreaker]

Previously...

L'Ascensione dell'Architetto Part VI

 

I stood waiting behind the closed main doors to L’Arco della Vittoria that guarded the ingress to La Via Grande which led directly to the Palazzo Reale. Even through the thick stones, I could hear the roar of the people. 

Behind me, Il Guardia Reale, headed by Arama’s brother, Aluysio De Cioto, who was frowning in distrust, obviously not interested in serving a new Rego and only doing this for his sister, stood at attention. Then, a herald with a horn stopped next to me and whispered, “Shall we begin, mio Rego?” 

“Avviare,” I commanded, motioning for my entourage to follow. 

The gates began to open, letting light and the noise of the crowds seep into il cortile outside the main gate. Triumphantly, the horns blared, and with that, we began marching towards the Palazzo Reale and the end of the old era had begun. Luca di Carlo was a Rego without a supporter.

In fact, I was worried for Arama. I looked back briefly at the Captain of the Royal Guard. Wasn’t he supposed to be with his sister? She wouldn’t be safe all by herself. 

I bit my lip and felt myself shrug involuntarily.

As we paraded along the strada, I heard many cries of, “Viva Varlyrio! Viva la Gilda! Viva il Rego!” 

I simply smiled as I walked past the crowds.

Then all of a sudden at one point I saw Arama. For some ragione, she was standing next to Ristoro and Aurelia. I grinned and waved at mio nipote and Arama, who both seemed to be enjoying themselves. Arama smiled sweetly back at me. 

Ristoro, gave a slight nod, but otherwise frowned. Even though he was part of why I had succeeded, he seemed to not want to celebrate the frutti del suo lavoro. 

I made a mental note: I would deal with mio fratello later. A slight glance backwards revealed that Arama had left. Non era preoccupante. If she could make it through the crowd alive she would go to Luca. That was where I wanted her to be. There with her fellow murderer, Luca di Carlo…  

A kilometer later and we had finally arrived at L’Arco dei Rego Varlyrio where many ufficiali and members of the powerful famiglie stood haughtily before the impressive gates. Alesio de Fiori walked out from among them and quitened the gathered throng of Varlyrians from across the guild. 

I wondered if this brought him back to when he had worked to get di Carlo in power, which worked out disastrously for his family. I, on the other hand, intended to honor our alleanza. I had no choice, for now.

“Amici, my fellow Varlyrians,” Alesio smiled, “we are gathered here on this most momentous occasione to witness a new era of our history! As you all have been made aware, our previous Rego, Luca di Carlo, betrayed us.”

I felt Aluysio De Cioto staring at my back and my hand tightened around my sword. I had told Arama that it was only for ceremony. It was the same one that had cut through her side days ago.

Alesio continued, “His closest accomplice was una assassina. Arama di Athena De Cioto!”

I smiled slowly. It wasn’t my fault if there were others who didn’t keep their part of the alleanza, was it? I’m afraid that every word Arama had said had been used against her, and perhaps, her name was the most vilified in all Illaryian on this day, even above that of Luca di Carlo, the treacherous Rego who the people wanted no more of. I thought she was lucky to have escaped with her life… so far. There were guards, not the Royal Guard, on their way to the Palazzo Reale right now. They would keep her safe: and they would make sure she didn’t escape.

I hadn’t explained to the powerful families how to get the populace on our side. They had used the weapons that Arama herself had provided. Did she think a word was going to stop anyone from getting what they wanted? She had confessed herself that it hadn’t stopped her. 

Another powerful family head was speaking now. “…aided in the death of the Tiger of Illaryian! He betrayed his allies who made him the popular Rego that he was!”

There was a pause and an ominous murmur ran through the crowd. Most of them had already heard rumors, but this was real. 

“That is all about to change. I present to you, the architect of Varlyrio, Ilazio Moccenigo, son of the famed Brabantio Moccenigo, cui anima requiescat in pace, and now Rego of Varlyrio!”

The throng cheered joyfully, joined by glorious fanfare from the trumpeter. I then took off my feathered hat and kneeled before Alesio De Fiori as he placed a wreath upon my head. It was heavy to wear, and perhaps an uneasy quiver ran through me. But I would do what was right. For Varlyrio!

I stood and turned to face the crowd as their king. 

“Viva il Rego!”

 

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

 

“Viva il Rego!”

Luca rolled over and jumped out of the comfortable cushions. He had lain down in full clothes, and now he thought he heard a ruckus outside his window in the streets below.

He pulled up his cuffs and leaned out over the street.

“Viva Ilazio Moccenigo! Viva il Rego di Varlyrio!”

Suddenly a girl caught his eye. It was Arama! 

He started. What under heaven was this?

Arama looked back and forth, but there was no way to get into the palazzo quickly. She looked up with decision in her eyes. 

“No, Arama, you’re mad, you can’t do it, hurting like that,” Luca said to himself, bending farther out of the window. 

She was climbing up!

“If you fall you’ll die!” Luca called out. 

“So will the person I fall on,” Arama said impertinently. 

She skipped in through the window and Luca put his arm around her to help her in safely. 

“You always keep my heart in my throat,” he said, taking a deep breath and tossing himself back onto his bed. “‘Viva Ilazio?’ What is this?”

“This means we have to go,” Arama whispered back at him. 

She looked at the window.
“What?” 

“The same way I came in,” she said. 

“Arama, why are they calling Ilazio Rego?”

“Because he is,” Arama said lightly, acting as if Varlyrio wasn’t crumbling under their feet, “don’t worry, I guess he’ll make a good one. Quick, throw a hood on.”

“I don’t carry those things around here,” Luca said with a little disdain.

“Then good thing I brought one for you,” Arama grinned. “Quick, cut your hair, the populace wants you dead.”

“Che cosa? And you?” Luca asked with a worried look. 

“And me,” Arama whispered. 

“Accidenti. What about the Royal Guard?”

“I don’t know!” Arama cried urgently. “Aluysio was supposed to be here! It must have been the Conzagas with a false message. It just makes it that much more dangerous for us. Listen!” Arama cropped off his hair with a knife she had brought. “They’re breaking in below!”

Luca threw a cloak around himself and jerked the hood on and Arama pulled hers farther over her face.

Arama nodded to the window. “I’ll go first,” she said.

“No, neither of you will go, I think.” 

“Accidenti!” Luca’s sword flashed out of his cloak and Arama’s fingers curled around the blade of her dagger. 

“Hello there,” a dark voice suddenly muttered from behind. 

Arama spun around, her hand disconnecting from Luca’s. 

Suddenly she relaxed a little and breathed out tensely. It was Ilazio, dressed handsomely in a velvet cape and plumed hat, alone or so it appeared. 

Luca dragged his sword across the floor up to Ilazio Moccenigo’s collar. Moccenigo didn’t have a sword in his hands. 

Arama whispered into Luca’s ear. 

He frowned and his eyes met Ilazio’s cool ones. Did he have any choice?

“Trust in me,” Arama whispered. 

Luca nodded ever so slightly at Ilazio and pulled back his sword, looking at Arama warily out of the corner of his eyes, his hopes extinguished. This was his last chance, and he was throwing it to the wind. What if the girl was wrong? What if the girl was right?

Arama clasped her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. 

Ilazio stood out of the way, leaving a space open to pass out through the door. 

“Signore di Carlo, Signorina di Athena De Cioto, buongiorno,” he said, nodding his head politely, displaying a certain charm usually reserved for gaining new contracts. “If you will follow me.”

Ilazio was their last option beside the mob. But maybe, maybe if they killed him now they could make it through the window and be lost forever, a pair of incogniti. 

“Don’t,” Arama whispered forcefully into Luca’s ear through his hood.

Ilazio just smiled slowly. He followed after the pair, although Luca was looking back at him and still had his hand wrapped tightly around the hilt of his blade.

Then suddenly, Ilazio stood back. “Stop there!”

Era una dichiarazione, non una interrogare. The pair halted, Arama willingly, even giving a slight smile to Luca, who swallowed and looked up at Ilazio suspiciously from under his brow. 

Then Ilazio just let his limbs relax and smiled kindly at Arama. There was a complacent glimmer in his eyes, and Arama saw it, but it was too late. 

Ilazio merely said in a calm and lulling voice, “Guardie, accompagnaci.”

A contingent of Il Nouvo Guardia Reale, numbering around thirty, jumped out of every crevice and hallway to surround the pair, and Ilazio almost laughed as he stared Arama right in the eyes. 

He made a simple hand gesture and the guards seized Luca di Carli and Arama De Cioto as he escaped the enclosing circle.

“Take them to the dungeon.”

Arama’s knife flew up and she was about to hurl it… but she couldn’t. Did she really want to hurt someone else? Was it really worth it? What would it get her? Revenge?

She looked about with scared eyes. And suddenly her knife was knocked to the floor, a pair of rough arms were around her, and it was too late.

Luca looked at Arama with a doubtful smile. Her reaction sent a sudden thrill into his heart. “Aren’t you taking this too far, Arama?” 

“I don’t…” Arama faltered. Then she turned down her eyes from looking into Ilazio’s hard ones and her voice fell… “I don’t know.”

A wave of fear washed through Luca’s body. Now what? Was this how it would all end?

 

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Spoiler

L’Arco dei Rego Varlyrio

Stained Glass Window

The Lords and Ladies

The Commoners

Il Nuovo Guardie Reale

The High Priest

Luca di Carlo, once Rego

Il Nuovo Rego, Ilazio Moccenigo

Edited July 9, 2022 by TalusMoonbreaker

[W Navarre]

I see Luca di Carli in the window, I think, and there's Arama in the side street! Awesome attention to detail! Maybe you could have done a shot of them to insert in the story at that part  . I like all the figs you made, and your version of Alesio and of Arama especially. And again, there's lots of great details in the floor, the walls, the doors, very nice work! Keep on building, and viva Varlyrio  ! 

[Simon_S]

Crazy how much details you put in there! I love the mosaic on the floor and the houses also look great. The small cheese slope mosaics work really well. Nice work!

[Kai NRG]

I'll definitely have to make time to read the full story but for now, just commenting on a few of the builds--great patterns throughout this one, and the arch and door are both super good.  Lots of good colors in this one too, they make it really interesting to look at. 

[LordDan]

Superb architecture! The buildings all look great, I especially like the detailing with the cheese mosaics on the wall and the stained glass on the side. The patterning on the floor is also great, and the figs are awesome (the guards are my favorites). 

[TalusMoonbreaker]

On 7/7/2022 at 9:38 AM, W Navarre said:

I see Luca di Carli in the window, I think, and there's Arama in the side street! Awesome attention to detail! Maybe you could have done a shot of them to insert in the story at that part  . I like all the figs you made, and your version of Alesio and of Arama especially. And again, there's lots of great details in the floor, the walls, the doors, very nice work! Keep on building, and viva Varlyrio  ! 

Yay! Really glad that you noticed Luca and Arama hiding in the build. Yeah, I would’ve but the dark orange/nougat side is only six studs long so doing a proper shoot would reveal that. Grazie, I had a ton of fun making them, though I didn’t enjoy setting them up multiple times when bumping the table which was quite wobbly, thankfully the build didn’t topple off the table or break in transit. Hehe, my version of Arama looks particularly mischievous! On purpose naturally. I won’t have as much time for building here in the near future but rest assured I’ll make the most of it and build when I can, it’ll be exciting… hopefully. I already have a few ideas, some of which you’ll like… Viva Varlyrio! 
 

On 7/8/2022 at 11:10 AM, Simon_S said:

Crazy how much details you put in there! I love the mosaic on the floor and the houses also look great. The small cheese slope mosaics work really well. Nice work!

Thanks! Those were really enjoyable to design and play around with the colors. I forgot to mention this but the ground mosaic was inspired by Piazza San Marco in Venezia (Venice). 
 

On 7/9/2022 at 12:32 PM, Kai NRG said:

I'll definitely have to make time to read the full story but for now, just commenting on a few of the builds--great patterns throughout this one, and the arch and door are both super good.  Lots of good colors in this one too, they make it really interesting to look at. 

The arch was painful to properly align for the top curved section (and figure out where to attach the flex tube) so glad you appreciate it! Thanks! Making it colourful like Venice and other Italian cities was fun. I think the only not fun part was the arch, otherwise this is probably the most fun I’ve had with a build :).

On 7/14/2022 at 5:07 PM, LordDan said:

Superb architecture! The buildings all look great, I especially like the detailing with the cheese mosaics on the wall and the stained glass on the side. The patterning on the floor is also great, and the figs are awesome (the guards are my favorites). 

Grazie! Cheesy slopes! Even if one can’t really see the stained glass in the main shot I wanted to do one. The guards took a few tries but after a bit of research I got this design, they’re my favorites too! 
 

Edited July 19, 2022 by TalusMoonbreaker

[Grover]

Great build!  Lots of detail here, and the cheese slope use is awesome.  Even better, that lighting with the sunlight coming between the buildings is superb!  I like the detail at the building rooflines, and the use of the white flowers pressed into the decorations looks great.  The dragon handles on the dark door looks great, too.  Very nice work and thanks for including a pic without figs so we get to admire the build!

[TalusMoonbreaker]

6 hours ago, Grover said:

Great build!  Lots of detail here, and the cheese slope use is awesome.  Even better, that lighting with the sunlight coming between the buildings is superb!  I like the detail at the building rooflines, and the use of the white flowers pressed into the decorations looks great.  The dragon handles on the dark door looks great, too.  Very nice work and thanks for including a pic without figs so we get to admire the build!

Thanks! The lighting is curtesy of a rather cooperative sky. I must credit W. Navarre for being the one to get me to take the photos outside.  Glad you noticed all of the little bits of architecture!