Lorenzo the Magnificent

Misfortune

,,Wake up sweetheart,'' I heard in the distance. I must had fallen asleep in the moment I lay down on the bed. It was absolutely dreamless night. It also felt like it only lasted a few moments. ,,Wake up,'' I kept hearing when I finally realized what was happening. The old woman was standing above me trying to make me open my eyes. ,,Oh God!!'' I almost yelled out of shock. ,,You need to get on your horse soon.'' ,,Of course. Thank you!!'' ,,You are welcome. Come. The breakfast is already waiting for you. You did not think I would let you leave without a proper breakfast, did you??'' she led me to the table in her small but nice dinign room. There was once again this huge plate full of meal. She had prepared eggs, bread and a lot of vegetables.

I thanked her many times and promised her I will visit her again and pay back what she did for me. She wished me a lot of luck on my way and then I was finally getting in to the saddle again. My butt ached like hell. I only managed to ride for an hour or two and then decided to simply walk next to my horse. I realized I was moving extremely slowly and I was really scared some people looking for me might appear right behind me any moment. So I forced myself to deal with the pain and got back into the saddle. That day felt even longer. Even hotter...if that was even possible. But I also tried not to stop so often so I must had traveled way further than the day before.

I once again arrived to a place where I decided to spend the night. This time it wasn't only one house with a barn. This time I saw several small houses and several barns, even a building which was most likely a church. I knocked on the door of the first house. The peopleliving there weren't as hospitable as the old woman the day before but they let me sleep in the barn and gave me a piece of an half dry bread and a jug full of water. I didn't really mind it. I only wanted a place where me and my horse could rest our heads. I fed my horse with a small piece of the bread and gathered some fresh grass outside the barn so he wasn't starving like I was.

I already started drifting into this truly vivid dream where I could see Lorenzo and Francesco fighting. They were yelling over each other. They must had put all the blame on Francesco. I am sure he is the one blamed for my dissapearing. I tried to stop them but it was like none of them could really see or hear me. I wanted to keep trying when I heard an indeed loud scream. I woke up instantly. I knew it wasn't coming from the dream. There was so much noise everywhere around me. Women and children were screaming. I could repeatedly hear the sound of cold blades encountering. What is happenin?? I could see people running around with torches and swords in their hands. I stood up and pulled out a knife I decided to take with me. And I was glad I did. I slowly walked to the corner of the barn to see what was happening. Men in heavy armors were dragging the people living in all of these houses out. I desperately wanted to help them. But how could I?? I was all alone. And there were so many of them. I am sorry. I quickly tried to untie my horse when I felt a hand on my shoulder. ,,Well well well. What do we have here,'' I heard an unpleasant voice behind me. My heart stopped for a moment but then I grabbed all the courage I had, turned around as quickly as I could and tried to cut the man with my knife. I succeded...to my surprise. But my fame didn't last long. As soon as he yelled, other three men appeared behind him and ready to pacify me, surrounded me. I was not going to give up just like that. The first man held a hand pressed to his cheek where I cut him. The dark blood was slowly streaming down by his face, dropping onto the cold steel of his armor. I was slowly panicking. I faked a dodge in right so they automatically inclined the way, but I surprised them by almost like jumping in left. I did not expect them to be this stupid. I managed to elude the barn only to get caught by more men waiting outside.

Two of them were holding my hands behind my back and made me face the one I had cut a moment ago. ,,You will pay for that,'' he said and slapped me across my face as strong as he possibly could, ,,but now I think our commander will sure be happy to find out that not only old women live in this settlement,'' he smirked and noded at the other men and they started to force me walk into a direction somewhere behind the barn. I decided that this time, no matter what, I will not cry a single tear. ,,Let me go!!'' I kept repeating as we were approaching a robust man sitting on a horse. I couldn't see much of his face. But from what I could see, he seemed bored, even annoyed to be there. I kept kicking around me, not giving them any chance but to knock me on my knees in the end. ,,Commander!! Here...a young woman, all dressed up as a man, was found in one of the barn's trying to escape with a horse,'' one of them reported to the man on the horse. He jumped elegantly down and slowly walked toward us. He took out his sword and lifted up my coat to see what is hiding under it. I kept looking right at him to show him I was not afraid. But in reality I was shaking. He noded at the men and they grabbed me roughly and made me stand up again. He nodded at them once more and they let go of me. The man made a step closer to me, stretched out the sword and flicked it in my direction a few times. I closed my eyes and waited for the pain but none of it came. I could feel the coat I was wearing started to feel weirdly light when it started falling down from me in pieces.

I could hear all the women still crying for help. ,,I see...'' the man murmured. I felt like I knew these words too good but I couldn't place it anywhere. Another scream. I couldn't hold myself anymore. I jumped to the man and tried to grab his sword but he, probably expecting something like that from me, quickly hid it behind his back. I felt helpless. I started bumping with my fists into his chest. No one did anything. Nor the men around him nor he himself. They were probably laughing about how pathetic I looked. ,,Why are you doing this?! Why?! Who do you think you are?!'' I yelled at him from the bottom of my lungs. ,,Enough,'' he murmured uninterested. I know this ''enough''.

He grabbed my shoulders and made me step further from him. I raised my sight and stared at him just like he stared down at me. My heart stopped once again.

That can not be...

,,Dante??'' I whispered with a broken voice and no matter how many times I told myself...the tears started forming in my eyes.