Paying the Piper [La Storia Della Arcana Famiglia fanfiction]

Chapter 7

It was dark and silent in the market. The man slowly made his way to the stall where Elmo had said he had stashed the papers. He found a small bag there and opened it. Inside there were some papers tied up with a piece of string. He untied it and scanned the pages quickly.

Gli Amanti.... The words of Il Mato.... The mysteries of Il Mondo and also the truth about the wheel of Fortune....

Greedily he took another paper. The details of all the research and even that of his failed experiments as he had titled them were there.

Then a line caught his eye.

THE SECRET WORDS FOR CONTRACTING AN ARCANA.

Surprised and feeling proud of his good fortune he turned the page and saw two words...............

"SAY PLEASE"

Suddenly he heard a noise behind him. He swung around but it was too late. A fist made contact with his nose and he was flung against the stall. He staggered up and saw a brown haired youth glaring at him. Next to him stood two others.

One was the Hermit as he called him and the other... his expression changed....

"Impossible!" He shouted "I put you to sleep!"

"Ah yes..." drawled the Hermit "But we missed Luca's tea and so we decided to wake him up."

The man growled and reached into his pocket. Suddenly the three of them lunged forward at him but he was expecting that.

He swung the bag he was still holding into their faces and leaped over the stall. With his free hand he pulled out his pipe and blew a shrill tune.

Two of them fell to their feet disoriented while the third lost his balance and crashed into the stall....
He laughed out and ran down the street but he had not gone more than a few steps when two young men steeped out into the street.

He whipped out his pipe and lifted it to his mouth but then suddenly there was a loud explosion close behind him. He watched in shock as a piece of the street was blown up by a huge cannon-like shell but...... It was only a distraction for one of the boys leaped at him and struck the pipe out of his hands.

Then suddenly the brown haired kid who had hit him before ran up to him and grabbed his arm.

Twisting it he asked "How do you know so much about the arcana famiglia?"

The man laughed wildly.

"I was here long before you were.... now move!"

He kicked him hard and then whistled loudly.

The others were surprised to see Pace falter and even as they rushed in the mad man pushed him away. They saw Pace grabbing his coat and holding on but he was dragged for a little while and then kicked away.

The man ran over to his precious pipe and picked it up. Then he turned towards them grinning maniacally  and then..... his expression changed to one of horror.

Pace was standing up and in his hand were the documents he had worked so hard to collect.

"So...." said one of them "You really thought Pace was so weak...."

The man heard a sound behind him. He turned and saw that he had been cornered. While the three young men had flanked him on one side, the two boys with their swords and that overgrown idiot who he remembered as Dante had snuck up on the other side.

He felt like really laughing now, for he finally understood whose trap he had fallen into. They just wanted to bring him out... even the documents were immaterial. Finding him had been their only challenge.......

"So Jolly.... Why haven't you come to play?" He shouted out and laughed again crazily.

Then he lifted the pipe to his mouth and played a sweet tune. Suddenly a sharp wind rose out of nowhere. The man started to walk away. The others tried to close in but the wind was too strong and it shielded him completely.  They watched as he walked away towards the harbour. The wind died. The market was a mess.

"So Dante..." asked Debito " You sure that it's alright to let him go?"

"Yes..." he replied rubbing his head "That's what Jolly wanted. We got the papers though."

"Yes." said Luca " But I don't like it... Elmo said that only if his pipe is broken can we save Papa and the others. How will we do it now with him running away???"

"Don't worry!" said Dante "Jolly will do something.........."

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