Ascendants: Tides of the Morn

Chapter 26

(A picture of Yvain Ballard, here comes chapter 26!)

I looked out at the river Po from the Ponte Umberto I. The bridge was not very old, as it was built around 1907 but it had been one of my favorite places as a human. My parents often took me here to watch the boats sail past and my father used to tell me that he was one of the people who sponsored the building of the bridge. It stood here as a monument of his existence, but I could not remember his face.

"A beautiful sight, Signora Di Santis," a smiling man with dimples but callous eyes walked up to me and leaned against the parapet of the bridge.

The sun slowly set at the horizon and marked the arrival of nightfall. The cardinal red sky was both beautiful and haunting as the red sky almost warned me of the danger I ventured into.

"Beautiful things have a tendency to hide horrendous matters underneath, signor," I answered grimly.

The man nodded and scratched his unshaven face. His yellow wolf eyes had started to shimmer as darkness slowly set and the dark, unruly hair moved in the breeze while he awaited the silent night.

When darkness finally set, he turned to me once more.

"Let's go, bambina. You are expected."

I didn't answer and merely followed him as he took me to an automobile. I must ask myself how the Anarchy was able to acquire such an expensive commodity and started to think that the Anarchist was more than discontented commoners.

I entered the automobile without hesitation and let the Anarchist take me away.

"Aren't you going to blindfold me?"

"What for? We change location for our base every so often so even if you suddenly decide to betray us, all you will find is an empty warehouse," the man answered without looking back at me.

"And you aren't afraid that I might have someone following me?"

"We know you do. Carlo Orsini is watching us with hawkeyes, but we were expecting him. It is a gamble we are willing to take for the prize you offer," the man answer.

I grimaced at Carlo's name. I had told him that this was something I needed to do on my own. If something went wrong, I didn't want the rest of my clan to be dragged down with me. Ardashir seemed to trust me but Carlo was adamant not to let me go off on my own. He had done so with Alessandro which only lead to the death of an old friend. He wasn't going to do the same mistake again.

Though I must admit, it was comforting knowing that Carlo watched over me when I entered the lion's den. Lions that not to mentioned for sure wasn't merry to see me considering the last time I met the Anarchists.

We soon arrived at an abandoned factory. I knew not much about it but many of the old factories were abandoned after the war as they had been destroyed in the bombardments. This was most likely one of them as parts of the factory had caved in and the windows had shattered.

"Watch your steps, we have not cleaned up the old building," the man muttered as I stepped out of the automobile.

"Thank you, signor," I replied and watched the eery building. It was only natural that they would not have cleaned it up as that would draw attention to the place. Something I can only assume that the Anarchists wanted to avoid.

I entered the dark building and could hear glas shattered beneath my feet. Debris covered the floor and in some holes in the ceiling, I could see the starlit night. I was no fool and decided to stand beneath the ray of moonlight entering through the cracks in the ceiling.