Freak of Time, History's Game ( I Medici Masters Of Florence)

Chapter 25

Few days later

Riccardo hurried to come back to Florence, where he was ready to celebrate the victory.

The militar mission took much more days than he imagined, he led the vanguard and asked to the opponent faction for a new negotiation. But the Venetians preferred a bloody field battle and only strategy and strong led  the Florentines to gain the victory.

Victory. His mates all shouted that word when they realized they  had won, but Riccardo was calling his wife. Victory. Vittoria.
And she was right what he was missing the most.
He was injured at one shoulder, but again he survived it. He was already recovering, thanks to the optimism he gained from the victory.

Days of heavy rain delayed the journey back to the south.
Riccardo was slightly worried for the news of some soldiers who left when the battle was crucial and they saw him injured. But he disguised himself together with his right hand fellow, giving him his cloak and his horse. That brave man died for him. He had been a good loyal friend and also husband to Riccardo's best friend from childhood, Lisa.
It was a necessary sacrifice. But Riccardo hated that he had to choose that strategy.
Anyway the deserters would have just got shame for their weakness that made them leave instead of keeping fighting.

When Riccardo saw his city from far, his heart was filled with the greatest joy. As Vittoria always told him, bad times and darkness just make brighter the simple good things. Light has no meaning without darkness.
He galloped toward his home, excited to bring the best news to his city.

Soon he noticed some mourning signals.
The deserters must have spread the fake news of a lost battle.
Guards came to meet the group and got shocked when they recognized Riccardo, who felt deeply discomforted.
He ran to meet some of his family guards, who got pale like they were  seeing a ghost. He couldn't blame them for the misunderstanding. Seeing a dead coming back from death would have scared him too.
"I must see my wife" he ordered impatiently "Where is she?".
The men were even more scared and didn't answer.
"Speak! Now! Don't you recognize who I am?".
"Yes sir" the captain of the guards mumble "But sir... We were told you were dead".
"I survived" his shoulder hurt like prooving the truth of his words "Now, lead me to my family. Where's Vittoria? I must see her".
The men just stared at him like they were going to faint or looked away with wet eyes.
"What's troubling you all? I'm your master! What's wrong with you all?" Riccardo shouted losing his temper.

"Riccardo?" A feeble female voice called from the door of the palace.
"Mother!" He called with relief and jump down from the horse to run to hug here "What happened here? Are you alright? What did I miss?".
Contessina walked showly to him with wide eyes full of tears, her trembling hands over her opened mouth.
"You're alive" she mumbled shocked.
He hugged her and kissed her forehead "I am, mother. I'm sorry if the deserters brought the wrong news. I wasn't be able to stop them. But we won, mother. The weather didn't allowed us to come back earlier. Where's Vittoria? I want to see her shocked face too".
The old woman cried and sobbed hiding her face on his shoulder.
"Mother?" He called discomforted noticing that also the guards were crying "It's alright. I'm alive. I'm right here. I'm so sorry I worried you so much".
"Vittoria..." She murmured but the sobs made it impossible for her to tell more.
"Yes?" He urged with a serious tone "What happened to her? Where is she? God, don't tell me you already planned her a new wedding!".
"She's dead" she corrected then regretted her words and fell to her knees in front of him.
Riccardo stared at her in disbelief.

For minutes he stayed there frozen. His fellows silently went away for letting him to deal with that private affair.
"That can't be. You're lying!" he finally said with a harsh tone. He caught the first guard and punched him. The man didn't react.

Rage overwhelmed him when later he learned that his wife fell into depression after he news of his presumed death and let herself drowning into the river. Some people spotter her in the middle of the nights walking in the city, then some nightwatchers saw her body into the water and tried to save her, but it was too late. Her body was nowhere to be found.

Riccardo made catch the deserters and forced them to tell all the truth. So he found out they were conspiring allies of his enemies in Florence. They were paid to betray him. And they chose to hit him where he was weaker, the family he left in his city.
They managed to manipulate the other noblemen, so the victim was the dearest person to him.
Riccardo went mad and hit them with his bare hands. His family wasn't able to stop him. Contessina already knew she had lost him forever.
He ordered to seek her body into the river. Many times people had to pull him away from the deepest water.

Just with his orphan kids he got back his humanity and paternal side. He didn't know how to comfort them, but they were old enough to go on on their own and with their relatives' help.
He couldn't be rude to them. They represented the love he and Vittoria lived. A love that would have bonded them even in death. Because he remembered the many times they promised to each other that as long they were together they would have lived as unstoppable. It implied that they couldn't live long without each other.

Politics managed to destroy them in the end.
His family tried to take control on him to help him out of that desperation and madness. Again they wanted to put him into a cage.

Riccardo pretended to accept it, but at first favorable occasion he ran away and in a cold winter morning he went on the main bridge and jump off from it, reaching the same waters that Vittoria joined.