AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The deep roar of pure rage echoed throughout the cavern of bones—but particularly seemed to come from the passage to the left.
Enzo didn’t recognize the voice. The slur, however, he knew well. He turned his glare upon Arlotto.
“Or the left-hand path,” Arlotto blurted.
Enzo suppressed the urge to add another cadaver to the pile of bones.
“Stupid—bastard—catamite!” The shouts echoed down the tunnel. “I’ll carve your eyes out!”
Enzo tightened his grip on his dagger. If they dared to touch his Fiore again—
The crew corrected the sandolo’s course to the left. It slipped through the tunnel in near-silence. No further shouts resounded. Enzo didn’t know if that was better or worse.
“Cover the light,” Arlotto whispered.
Enzo stared at the back of his head. “What.”
“We’re getting close,” Arlotto hissed. “My partner will know something’s amiss if he sees a lantern coming.”
“Sounds like something’s already amiss,” Canello muttered.
Enzo quite agreed. Yet he turned and nodded to Zanetta regardless, and she shut the hood on the lantern. The tunnel plunged into absolute darkness. Enzo held his dagger tighter than ever against Arlotto’s throat. To his surprise, Arlotto made no move toward escape.
And in the absence of light from the sandolo, Enzo beheld a faint flickering glow shimmering across the rippling waters ahead.
The tunnel opened up into a cavern. The sandolo paused just before it left the shadowed archway, halted once again by Ferruzzi and Zanetta’s hands against the skeletal walls. Peering out over Arlotto’s shoulder, Enzo beheld a bone grotto lit by a hooded lantern not unlike his own. Its minuscule light cast a deep gloom over all. What little it revealed—an overturned three-legged stool, a heap of torn rope that glistened crimson, and no glimpse of either Fiore or his pursuer—didn’t bode well.
Enzo turned to Arlotto for an explanation.
“Well,” said Arlotto in a defensive tone. “This is where I left them.”
Enzo levelled a severe look upon him. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t believe you just now.”
“Musico!” The enraged shout echoed throughout the cavern.
Enzo caught Ferruzzi’s eye and jerked his chin towards the bone grotto. “Make landfall.”
All three of the household guard shot speaking glances between them. Nonetheless, they obeyed. The sandolo slipped through the water and broke its silence only when its hull brushed against the bone banks.
Enzo alighted from the sandolo, dragging Arlotto along with him. Their heels crunched on the ossuary ground. Now that he’d entered the grotto proper, he saw certain spots of hollow darkness he’d taken for shadows were really further tunnels leading deeper into the catacombs. Blood stained not just the torn rope but spattered scarlet across the greying bones. There had been a struggle—even a fool could see that. And, given the broken bonds and the captor’s rage, a hope of Fiore’s escape kindled in Enzo’s chest. Whether the blood belonged to Fiore or his kidnapper, Enzo knew not. But Fiore had been here—was still here, somewhere—not yet beyond Enzo’s grasp.
“How would you signal your friend?” Enzo hissed into Arlotto’s ear.
Arlotto drew in a shuddering breath against the dagger blade. Then he cried out in a harsh whisper, “The crabs have shed their shells.”
A marked pause ensued.
“Arlotto?” called the deep voice that had cursed Fiore’s name not moments before. It seemed to come from the left-most shadowed path. “Is that you?”
Arlotto shot a terrified glance over his shoulder at Enzo. Enzo nodded.
“Yes!” Arlotto cried. Whatever efforts he made to keep his voice level didn’t suffice; a slight shrill tremor remained. Enzo only hoped it wouldn’t give them away.
Another pause ensued. Enzo’s heart hung in the balance.
“Do you have the money?” the deep voice enquired at last.
“Yes,” Arlotto said again. His voice sounded stronger this time—perhaps because that much at least was true. In what seemed like an attempt at appeasement, he added, “A hundred zecchini, just as we asked.”
