presents...
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Call to Duty
The squeaky floorboard spoke, and Antonio knew that someone was approaching his office. He waited for the knock, pushed his chair back a bit and said, "Enter."
The door opened, framing one of the house guards. The young man made a curt bow. "Sir. Please pardon the interruption, but there is a very insistent man here to see you."
"You better have more details than that."
"Yes, sir. He says his name is Nicolo, and that he is a friend of yours from the islands. He is... very large."
Antonio's gaze sharpened. "Nicolo? Well! Tell him I'll be there presently. Seat him in the parlor." The guard bowed again and departed, closing the door.
Nicolo! Antonio had been fond of the big brute. He must be here on the prince's business. The marriage argued that it would be good business. Nicolo announcing himself argued strongly that it would be good business. All the same, he loosened his sword in its sheath and checked the small knife concealed in his boot. Because you never did know.
He paced around his office for a few more minutes, to give the servants enough time to bring in refreshments if nothing else. Finally, he opened the door and strode across the marble entryway to the parlor. "My friend!" he called from the doorway, his arms opened wide.
Nicolo was seated in one of the new chairs, in the middle of taking a drink of wine. He finished tossing the glass back, dropped it onto the table and stood, lifting his own arms - hands empty. "Antonio!" They walked to each other and embraced with much back-slapping.
"Look at you! The dirt from the road is still on you. Don't you want to clean up?"
"Nah," the big half-Eisen shrugged. "I got something for you, from the prince, and I always - "
"You always do the prince's business first," Antonio remembered. "My office, then?"
"Sure. Lemme grab my plate..." Nicolo reached for what was actually an entire platter of antipasti and carried it with him to the office. "Damn, I miss Mantuan ham."
"Don't they ship it to the islands?"
"Ain't the same after it's been on a boat. Don't know why."
They took their seats. Antonio raised both eyebrows expectantly, doing his best to hide his trepidation. "So. What's the prince's business?"
Nicolo reached into his doublet - slowly - and withdrew a sealed parchment. He held it up, then dropped it on the desk. "He wants you back in."
Antonio cracked the seal, opened the packet, and found a familiar document. He stared at it for a moment. "Lord's Hand?" He looked up at Nicolo. "Of course I won't disappoint the prince. You seen this, Nico?"
"Nah. Knew it was a commission, that's all."
"It's a real short appointment. Enough time for one or two jobs, at least the way I do them. But, eh... you're already here. Why'm I back in?"
"Well, if you're in..." Nicolo drew out another letter. "From his Highness. Orders, I guess. And... that's all the business. Unless that letter says otherwise."
Shaking his head, Antonio cracked another seal and read. He rubbed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose. "Bad news?" Nicolo asked, not unsympathetically.
"Not... not really," Antonio replied. "You heard about the marriage?"
"Oh yeah! Yeah, I wasn't sure if I should say anything or not, you know? Besides, prince's - "
"Prince's business first. Yeah. Well. The bride-to-be has a... problem with her grandmother. He's giving me first crack at solving it."
Nicolo's brow furrowed as he worked out the Donati family tree in his head. "That's... your father's wife, right?"
"Yeah." Antonio looked out the window. "Had my mother killed."
"No kiddin'?" Nicolo looked surprised. "And she's lasted this long?"
"I needed a strega. Besides, I'd promised Father. We swore."
"That paper says, you break the oath, it's on the prince's head, not yours."
"I know what the damn paper says, Nico. This is gonna be... gonna take some planning."
"What? Ain't she old? Pillow over her face and she can't see the strands."
"All right, first, there's two doctors and their assistants buzzing around up there, and if I order them out, it looks funny. Second, her son's a judge. Third, yeah, I got my commission which would take care of that, but do you think Principe Alcide wants it known that he's ordering old ladies killed? If he did, he'd have given the job to you. But he gave it to me so it gets done quiet-like. So it's gonna take some planning."
"All right, all right." Nicolo spread his hands in apology. "Natural causes, they're the hard ones to arrange."
"Damn straight. Well! That's business, like you said. You stayin' long?"
"Maybe a few days, but I got some time off and thought I'd go visit home as long as I was on the mainland."
"Wonderful! I'll tell the kitchen extra ham tonight."
Back to Game 20 log.
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