Marco’s Journal : Fools’ Gamble

Fooled ! We were all fooled ! Now I must scribble these words in haste, for once more we wait for battle to start, and I know not if these words will be my only legacy.

Just as Renzo, Lino and the urchins were ready to depart, as I scribbled in my Journal upstairs, I heard a voice calling from the courtyard. It was that villain Gepetto Bardone calling for Ornella:

• ‘Speak to Me !...Come On, Stop Sulking !…Come On, Auntie, Speak to Me !….

• silence

• ‘ Well Today’s the Day!….We are Going in Three hours…’

• ‘If You Want One of Those Things, You’ll have to Come Out…’

• silence

• ‘If You don’t Come Out, We Will Go Without You….’

• silence

• ‘Suit Yourself….In Three Hours...We Go ! ‘

Straight-way I made downstairs to stop them on the threshold - only just in time. We needed a new plan, for it was clear the nuns were going to meet their fate - and the sorcerer – very soon. Clearly there was not enough time to get the urchins away through the sewers, warn Cola at the Black Cat, and get our allies back here before they left. In haste we gave thought and wondered about letting the urchins out of the nearest courtyard gate while we rushed Gepetto’s door. Rosa suggested it might be safer for the children to get out from the sewers and one of the urchins tried to speak up. He choked on his words and I saw Rosa looking strangely at him – just a glance - but full of malice.

At last, after all these hours, I smelled the whiff of sorcery.

The devil is made of lies, Fra. Giovanni tells me, and looks after his own. So it was when I grabbed Rosa suddenly and held a knife to her throat…. for there was no throat there, nor any Rosa with it, just thin air and her...nearby. In a trice the scales fell from our eyes and her walking stick became a broom as she swept sturdy Rocco aside with a gesture and flew on it out of the basement door and off into the endless dark of the sewers.

The Witch Lives ! A Sweeper indeed.

We stood stunned for a moment, and then Renzo said ‘ That was Her. She had us. As soon as we saw her, we knew. But we had no will to resist, or to say anything.’ No wonder I thought he was kind-hearted to take her with the urchins, after her part in their keeping. But this was all spilled milk; she had fooled us all and we must move on. For surely she would fly straight to the sorcerer, or another way out – if she knew the way. In any case, daylight was burning down while we waited like rats in a trap. We must strike, the sooner the better.

First Lorenzo used his arts to get Fra. Giovanni safely out of a window and down to the street thirty feet below, so he could take word of our plight to Cola and our allies. Next we sallied out into the courtyard and hid behind the line of hurdles, while Renzo and Lino got the children out of the tunnel gate and into the streets of the Subura. Then we all pushed back the hurdles and charged for Gepetto’s door. Four large mastiffs delayed us for a few moments, but fled inside Carlo’s door when they tasted steel; Rocco dashed across the courtyard just as the watchman closed the door on the far side. A shoving match ensued, as Rocco tried to force the door open and the watchman tried to drop the bar inside. I managed to jam the back of a falcione in the crack, which gave Rocco a chance to gather his strength and force our way in at last. He chased the watchman up some stairs, while I covered his back from another guard stabbing from a doorway on the left. He was no mug, and it took a few blows from my falcata to back him into the guardroom; eventually he begged for quarter and threw down his arms. I made him an ill-favoured pope-stealing Frenchman from his barbarous accent.

Meanwhile Rocco cut down his opponent and rushed on up the stairs, followed by Astore and, rather more slowly, Father Arturo, who was singing a hymn accompanied from afar by the faint sound of a heavenly choir. Doubtless some holy work, I thought, although it turned out to be the nuns instead. Whilst I disarmed and questioned the French rascal, Rocco and Arturo were led a merry dance above by what turned out to be Gepetto Bardone who had been shooting down into the courtyard at my friends all the while we were forcing our way within. His aspect at home was more of an Italian dancing master, as he evaded Rocco and Astore with various displays of agility which left them chasing him back and forth in vain. Eventually he threw his sword down into the courtyard thirty feet below and made a death-defying swing above the courtyard using a decorative piece of iron-work to escape around a dead end and back into Ornella’s quarters. Truly the devil was looking after his own once more! From there, he could just walk out into the street from the same gate the children had used.

Now we were masters of the whole place, for Renzo, Lino and Lorenzo had forced their way inside Carlo’s door and overcome the two guardsmen within. They had caged the cowed dogs and freed a gaggle of nuns from a prison cell. I rounded up a few servants and put the lot in the same prison cell with our captured guards, after the nuns had bandaged up a few of their wounds. Father Arturo was complaining loudly about a crossbow wound - although it seemed to have done more damage to his priestly shirt than his body. Doubtless the Lord was looking after his own too. Lino had taken several such shots, and Renzo and Rocco had many cuts and bruises, but we all licked our wounds and took stock of our situation.

I explained to the nuns why they had been taken, and who had sent us here to rescue them and thwart the plans of this evil gang. I feared that if we just left this place and took them to safety, the Bardoni would return and the evil they do would just start up once more. The nuns had faith that Providence would watch over us until our allies could arrive and said we must hold fast against our enemies. All of us agreed to take that gamble, although it will be hard to hold this place against a determined gang of rogues. For we could see no other way to truly hurt the Bardoni. Now we have all their goods at hazard, and the nuns beside, and they must try and get them back.

So now we wait within the Bardoni palazzo, waiting for a challenge from outside. Then it will be cold steel once more, although maybe Providence will aid us again. Push will come to shove soon enough, I reckon.