The woman did not bend one bit—or at least, not nearly enough for any notable results. Luciano saw the defiance in her eyes when he was in her cell and realised immediately she did not plan on taking in his words, much less considering them anytime soon. Though he did plan on making similar visits after some time had passed, he was already doubting its effectiveness and started thinking of other ways from the moment he left the underground block.
This fact, though irritating, would not have usually been too substantial for the Templar who seldom held himself back when it came to achieving important goals. However, this time was distinctly different. The main issue was that he saw no other immediate options. There was direct torture using the wide array of tools at the Le Stinche's disposal, something very eagerly advocated by the guard captain Luciano rather detested—but he quickly threw away the idea. He wanted capable allies, not broken servants. One of the Assassins, whom Emerico wilfully tended to, already had a long road ahead of him to total recovery. And time was not something the Templar was lavished in...
Everything changed the next day. An event of great magnitude hit Florence, and news spread throughout the city like wildfire: the Pazzis, accompanied by other conspirators staged a coup against Lorenzo de Medici and his brother Giuliano at the Duomo during one of the most sacred celebrations, High Mass. Though the Medici ruler got away, the latter was not so lucky as his life was brutally taken from him in the ensuing chaos.
The moment the details of the tragedy reached him, Luciano knew exactly: this was the plot the Grand Master aided. The conspirators were all Templars, some such as Francesco de Pazzi were quite close to him throughout his rise in the Order. Worst of all, he was quite certain Lorenzo was also aware of this and was already planning retribution...which meant that the Assassin Brotherhood was getting involved as well. And Luciano de Vicari could not let the Order down when they most needed him.
He told Emerico to stay and oversee both prisoners, while he himself left the prison and delved into the city once again.
————
Two days have passed since the ill-fated conspiracy and its horrible consequences. Luciano did not spend much time in the Le Stinche, being throughoutly occupied—the assassination of Francesco at the Palazzo della Signoria later on the same day meant that there was a considerable void left to fill in the Templar ranks. Especially so since many of the conspirators had chosen to hide or outright flee the city to escape the retaliation.
There was much to be done. Most importantly, the Order sought to regain the upper hand and get one step ahead of their enemies again, which required large-scale reconnaissance, interrogations and many bribes.
One such operation resulted in Luciano getting his hands on a letter taken from a captured courier pigeon. Much to his surprise, it was about the conspiracy like most others—but the two imprisoned Assassins. An inside source wrote in detail about their conditions, emphasising that despite gruelling circumstances, they were both still alive and more importantly, did not compromise the Brotherhood. The last couple sentences urged the recipients to organise a rescue mission as soon as possible.
Luciano recognised the massive opportunity. He quickly ordered a replacement letter to be forged, seemingly coming from the same source but with entirely different content: letting the Assassins know that most unfortunately, their two peers have succumbed to the Templar torture and have expressed willingness to work with their enemies in exchange of freedom. Instead of a rescue, the source now called for a hasty infiltration into the prison and elimination of the dissenters before they could cause the Brotherhood anymore harm.
————
It has been an exact week since the scene and the public arrest of the two Assassins. During this time, they held themselves to their values adamantly and did not speak of any private matters, though there were no harsh attempts made at getting them to confess other than the regular questionings. At least their names were found out—Elena and Alessandro, respectively—and care was taken to keep them separate at all times so that they could not encourage one another.
Heading back to the Le Stinche, Luciano was most surprised to see the warden at the entrance of the underground block. After questioning him, this was the reply:
“The people in here did not see the sunlight in a week at least. They need to be given the chance.”
“Ah, sì. Caring for their well-being, I see.”
“I hope you have no intentions of stopping me, tagliagole.” The man was informed as much to know that Luciano was in one fold with the wanted conspirators.
“It would be very far from me to do so, buon signore.”
“Good. They will have an hour at the yard under constant watch, nothing more.”
As they spoke, the prison guards were bringing out the convicts one by one, leading them forward in a line. Most of them were hardened criminals: fraudsters, rapists, murderers. Elena, especially without her signature Assassin clothing, did not quite fit. Luciano's expression did not change when he saw her, but he could almost feel the accumulating hate she almost certainly attributed to him. He followed the row at the back with the warden, walking mostly in silence.
The prisoners were led to a large open area surrounded by the usual tall stone walls. There were several others there already, mostly those who had better cells or whose sentences were about to expire. The other Assassin, Alessandro was here too, and so was Emerico, the latter quickly making his way towards the Templar.
“Il mio mentore!” he accosted Luciano. “You have been away for a while now.”
“I wish I did not have to, Emerico.” He switched to a quieter tone. “But our Order is more fragile now than ever. We have already lost too many good men, and there are surely more to follow. I wanted to speak to the Maestro about the situation, but he does not want to see me, nor anyone else it looks like.”
“That does sound very distressing...” Emerico expressed his concern. “Things are heating up over here too. There have been a lot of riots in the recent days, more and more people are being admitted in here every day. Many are charged with aiding the conspirators. I was afraid someone will make the connection to you and I...”
“We had no say in this matter. But you are right, we have to be very watchful...”
While they discussed as such, Luciano kept a careful eye on the prisoners about to be released into the yard for their hour of relative freedom, and especially on Elena. He suddenly spotted a form in the line that was not there before. In the next moment, he also saw the flash of a blade in their hand...
“ASSASSIN!” he yelled as loud as he could, then rushed towards the unknown person with a drawn blade, followed by Emerico after he snapped out of his surprise. The Templar knew they came for Elena and Alessandro. Taking one brief glance at the side where the latter resided, he was sure there was another attacker approaching. He just hoped the guards over there would be enough for the time being...
