The Brotherhood of the Masque

The Brotherhood of the Masque

A Story by Kevin
"

A thief in the night caught red-handed

"

Night moves slowly in Città del Cielo. It's as if time decides to stop when the moon shows her face and when people truly start living. For any other civilian, the night life consists of wild, regrettable parties and alcoholic escapades. For our protagonist, the night is perfect for robbery. Now, dear audience, do not mistake the fact that our hero is a criminal and presume him to be a bad person. He simply does what he needs to survive. And tonight, the stolen item is from the Brotherhood of the Masque. But the Man in Black does not know of such a brotherhood. All he knows about is the valuable masque in an old chest inside of some building.

The protagonist stands one building over, telescope in hand, studying the building. As you know, he wears all black, including a cheap masque of his own and a scarf, covering his mouth. You must be wondering our protagonist's name. His name is Maurizio. Maurizio Russo. He tucks his telescope away and grabs the handle of the whip at his side. Within a blink of an eye, the whip is wrapped around the column of the balcony. Maurizio tests the strength. He looks down and then exhales. With grace, Maurizio swings towards the building. He plants his feet on the side and begins to climb his whip. He reaches the top, unlaces his whip, and attempts to opens the door. Inside the building is beautiful. A red carpet runs throughout the floor and the room's wall is decorated with various expensive items. Maurizio keeps his mind set on the chest. It's an amateur mistake to steal more than what you came for.

With the agility of a cat, the black-clad-criminal darts down the flights of stairs. In the very bottom room, he finds himself. Someone very wealthy must own this place. Above the lit fireplace is a mounted, silver and gold, jewel encrusted rapier. So valuable. All the money that could come from one sword. Maurizio's fingers twitch at the sight of the marvelously crafted weapon. Another observation of the dimly lit room is that the shelves are crammed with books. Not in any fashionable order. Just books, crammed with books and even more books. Maurizio glances at a cooking book next to "The Art of the Rapier". Maurizio chuckles and turns around to find more swords tucked inside a little holder. He draws one and looks at the engraving on the side. "La Confraternita del Masque".

Never heard of this, Maurizio . He sheathes the sword. Who knew he'd be stealing from a "brotherhood" tonight. But still, he hadn’t heard that this brotherhood was quite intimidating and are devoted to justice.

He finds the chest with the masque in it. It's a fabulously crafted masque with a unique pattern on it. This will definitely sell well. But still, Maurizio feel something as he picks up the masque. It isn't guilt...it isn't sympathy...it's....fear? Something Maurizio hadn't felt in years. What is there to be afraid of? The Masqued Brotherhood?  Fear for their wealth? No. Maurizio pushes those thoughts out of his mind. He pulls out a bag from inside of his jacket and drops the masque in there. Bag in hand and no trace that he was here, he gets up and turns towards the stairs. Maurizio's plans of a clean entrance and exit are instantly demolished when he sees a woman in a masque of her own. It's dark red and has a somewhat butterfly design to the left. On the left side of her waist is a sheathed rapier. She draws it and points at Maurizio's bag and then gestures towards the chest. Maurizio shakes his head. The Masqued Woman. Steps closer to Maurizio, her blade pointed at his chest. He reads the blade’s side. It has the engraving "La Confraternita del Masque". “A woman in a brotherhood?” Maurizio mumbles. He notices the Masqued Woman’s hand is shaking. She breathes heavily and she’s looking down. Swiftly, she swings her sword, barely missing Maurizio’s head he dives to the left. The Masqued Woman draws another sword from the holder and swings rapidly at Maurizio, who is forced to draw as dirk of his own to block his right. She thrusts her left sword towards him, but he evades quickly with a back-flip. Close-quarter-combat, Maurizio thinks, I hate it. The woman throws more swords at him.  She draws and throws them so fast that he has to use bizarre movements to dodge. Maurizio finds himself balanced on the volute of the stairs. Apparently he’d offended this female swordsman. Get out of here, He thinks. He darts up the steps and the Masqued Woman follows.  

Maurizio reaches the balcony, sheathes his dirk, and jumps onto a window. He jumps up to the edge of the roof and pulls himself up. The Masqued Woman persistently follows him. She sprints full speed and swings at Maurizio. He ducks and slides to her right. He draws his dirk again and cuts her leg. Barely wincing at the pain, the woman jabs down, furiously. Maurizio barely has time to dodge. He tries to land another cut on her but her skills are too good. He feels kind of bad, attempting to kill someone so skilled. 
"Who are you?" Maurizio asks, "And why can't I kill you?"
"You stole from the wrong people, bastardo!" She replies scornfully. The Masqued Woman jabs randomly at Maurizio. He thrusts his neck back and forth, side to side, barely dodging the blade. How're her free-running skills? Maurizio hatches an idea. He sprints opposite of her, twists his leg around and back flips to a lower building. The Masqued Woman less- graciously jumps and grabs onto the edge of the roof. Maurizio climbs the next building as she follows. Still fighting, he flees. to a higher building. Maurizio underestimates his leap and ends up crashing through the top floor window. "I'm sick of this!" He proclaims as he draws two flintlock pistols out of his jacket and c***s them. The Masqued Woman jumps onto the window and he pulls the triggers. She flies backwards and lands right into a fountain. Maurizio gets up and looks down at the body floating in the water. He doesn't notice the screams of other people in the building. Nor the ones gathering around the limp body. But what else he doesn't notice is that there's no blood from the woman's body. He has no time to inspect and instead climbs the building and runs off into the night.
The Masqued Woman awakens and removes the metallic, armored plate that guarded her torso from under her shirt. She looks past the people circled around her and into the dawning sky. "Bastardo!"


TO BE CONTINUED...?

© 2014 Kevin


Author's Note

Kevin
Tell me what ya think :D

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Reviews

All in all this is an interesting read, I am definitely curious to see where it goes. Your writing is good, but this could probably use a proofread for just a few small grammatical errors, a couple awkward sentences, and to do a few tweaks to improve what is already good pacing.

Posted 10 Years Ago


Kevin

10 Years Ago

Thank you very much. Most of this was written in the middle of the night where my grammar skills sor.. read more
Nusquam Esse

10 Years Ago

Haha, I can so relate! Some of my best writing has been done while sleep deprived... However, it a.. read more
Kevin

10 Years Ago

I'm sure this isn't very coherent. There was something about a basement and the masque being in it, .. read more

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Added on February 24, 2014
Last Updated on February 28, 2014

Author

Kevin
Kevin

Columbia, SC



About
Hi I'm (name censored) but my Pen-name is Kevin. I mostly write comedies and screenplays (with my friends). I'm inspired by movies and music (Green Day, MCR!!!!, and others.) more..

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