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As the sun was setting, we passed a small inn located deep in the countryside. It was all by itself and consisted of just a main building and a stable surrounded by wide, green fields.
"They probably serve dog and call it pork, and I'm sure they use straw for their mattresses." Allura sighed, "But we will stop here for the night." She looked straight at me, "It looks safe." meaning, I would have no where to run to if I tried to escape. "I will introduce you as my daughter and we will sleep together." she stared me down again, "You are a shy daughter, you will not leave my side. Understood?"
I nodded. I guess for being a hostage I was being treated well -- she probably could have tied me up and stowed me in the wagon for the night.
We had dinner. It was a hearty stew, although somewhat tough and tasteless. Allura was a seasoned traveler: whatever she really thought, she turned on her charm and praised the innkeeper.
While we were eating, another traveler came in -- a smaller, middle-age man with loose-fitting clothes, long hair and a long beard. He kept to himself, wore a knit cap, and kept it on while he ate.
Allura tensed up when he walked in, and she didn't relax when he sat down and methodically started shoveling food into his mouth. He looked at us, and looked at us again, but that was no surprise. I slowly got the feeling that I knew this person. His face was not familiar, but the graceful way he used his hands was tickling my memory.
Even before Allura finished, she said, "We should retire." I got the hint. We stood, and the innkeeper lead us to our room. As soon as the door closed and the room latch fell, Allura grabbed my arms and pulled them behind me. Seconds later my wrists were tied behind me. "That man is trouble." she hissed, "You stay here while I deal with him." she put me on the bed and tied my ankles, then she cautiously walked out.
"I am not going to stay a pawn!" I whispered. I could feel the knot holding my wrists, but I could not loosen it. I rolled on my tummy. I'm double jointed and my ankles came easily into reach of my hands. I felt for the knot, and that one I could get loose. Five minutes after Allura left, I could stand.
I looked around, and I didn't see anything in the room that would help me with my wrists. I decided that leaving was more important than looking more, so I opened the door and slipped into the hall with my wrists still bound. The commons area was one way, and a door to the outside the other. For many reasons, the Commons seemed like an ominous place right now, so I chose to go out the exit....
Ouch! I found myself once more in the arms of Allura! She was just outside the door. She grabbed me by the hair and pointed my head up. If I was a helpless pawn before, I was even more so now. I was being lead along, and I couldn't even see where I was walking! She lead me back inside and I shuffled slowly up the hall towards the common room. As we got close, she pulled her stiletto out and pressed it painfully into my throat, then she lowered my head so I could see, and we walked in.
In the center of the room was the stranger. He had a strange cane in his hand with runes up and down the shaft. On either side of him were two of Allura's burliest servants, both lying very still. Two paces away from him, Jimmykins was on his knees, head down, coughing up blood. The other servants were nowhere to be seen.
"Let us pass." said Allura said sternly, she poked me touch harder and I gasped.
The stranger laughed, "And just where would you go? Your servants can't help you, Allura, are you going to walk to safety?"
"I'm not kidding." she said.
The stranger put his foot to the head of one of the fallen servants. He used his foot to twist the servants head around until there was an audible "crunch" from the neck bones. Oh God it was a terrible sound! I prayed the man was dead already! The stranger stared at Allura, "Hurt her, and you won't go so easily."
I felt Allura tense, she was done negotiating, some action was imminent. To my surprise she pushed me away in front of her!
"Oh... I was always so terrible at these macho pissing contests!" she said in her richest voice of displeasure and frustration.
I stumbled and fell to my knees as she pushed me off, but I managed to turn and look at her. I saw her place her stiletto just under her sternum and thrust it up into her heart. She thrust well; the blade went in up to the hilt. As the light left her eyes, she said to me, "I do envy you. Do better than I have." and she fell, lifeless.
The room should have been deathly silent in honor of her death. Instead is was filled with the labored wheezing of Jimmykins and the moaning of the innkeeper's wife. She had apparently been in the commons when the commotion broke out, and had retreated to a corner where she now held her head and moaned.
The stranger pointed at the innkeeper's wife, "Help him." he pointed at Jimmykins. He came to me, took hold of my arms to pull me to standing, then pulled a knife from somewhere to cut the straps on my wrists.
"Are you all right?" he asked gently, and his voice was different... I could almost recognize it. "Your father and the Baron will be here soon. Let me take you out for some air." He lead me out, and for the first time in what seemed like ages, I didn't mind being lead somewhere!
Outside, he spoke differently again, and he momentarily lifted his hat and wig. It was Gunther! I gave him a big hug... a really big hug! I was so happy to see him!
"You're a spy, Gunther! That's so exciting!" and it was exciting! For some reason my heart was now pounding. For some reason my hours and hours of talking with the Baron where now starting to fell like just that, cheap talk.
But, there was just one hitch in Gunther's victory. As Gunther and I wandered and talked, the innkeeper lady came running out to us to say, "She's gone!"
"Who?" Gunther and I said.
"The lady! When my boys and I did a count on bodies to bury, she was not there!"
We all searched carefully for hours, but could not find her. I guess the Black Widow of Milan had not completely emptied her bag of tricks.
It turned out that, "being here soon." meant the night and half the next day. Gunther and I spent the time sleeping, then walking and talking around the inn. I told him science stories and he told me adventure stories. I don't know why, but those stories he told got my heart pounding again, and he seemed quite happy to listen when I spouted science.
The innkeeper cleaned up the mess and at breakfast she told me that she saw Gunther fight in self-defense. "I think that evil woman ordered the servants to jump him after she left the room. When it started, I didn't think he had any chance at all. But after three went down in ten seconds, the rest fled. That man is quite fearsome with his cane."
My father and the Baron rode up in time for lunch. My father was so happy to see me, and I was so happy to see him!! We hugged and kissed!
"The Baron and I had no idea how dangerous Allura was when we left. The Baron suspected her of being a gold digger, and he wanted me along because it only mattered if I became convinced.
"When we got to Milan and started to dig, we found out terrible things! When the evidence was strong enough to convince me, we hurried back. I admit, I was slow to believe. I think there may have been something in the food Allura fed me, too -- some kind of love potion."
I hugged him. "It was a good thing Gunther was here to save me." I said.
"It was." the Baron said, "Gunther is a sharp man.
"Your father didn't mention, but there is irony in this story. If you go to Milan these days, there is a statue of Allura there, in one of the town squares. She, as The Black Widow, is now hailed as a freedom fighter against Milan's Oligarchs. The democrats finally won. But, I think she is still controversial because the statue had more than its share of graffiti. What took us a lot of time in Milan was linking this Black Widow persona to Allura. As far as the people of Milan are concerned, she simply vanished into thin air."
"She said there was a terrible, powerful man ruling in Milan now -- her old lover." I said.
My father and the Baron looked at each other, "We sensed this person, but we did not meet him... or her. We never did find out who was behind putting up the statue. There were bits and pieces... hints of a puppeteer, but, thankfully from what you say, we didn't need to meet him to find out enough to start rushing back."
I looked at the Baron, "She also said you practice the dark arts." for some reason I didn't stop there and wait for an answer, I said, "I know that's not true because there is no such thing as magic."
The Baron looked around, there was no one in sight except for us three. He pointed to a tree that was behind the stable, out of sight of the inn. "What would you think if I could set that tree on fire with a magic spell?"
I laughed, "You're teasing, Baron. Don't forget, I was educated in Venice. I'm not some superstitious rustic. There is only science."
He looked at me, and I saw a light turn on in his eyes... or maybe it was off, it was a switch of thinking some sort. Then he laughed and nodded at Gunther, "Ah, you're so right, Amoletta. There's no fooling you. There is only science." Then he changed the subject, and his tone, "Lets have lunch, then head home."
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