Chapter 62 Escape
\[Lilia\]
Aya and I couldn’t help but smile the entire journey to our destination. To have our suspicion right, these hooligans could speak our English, and Kael set off a security convoy for us today. Two other vehicles followed us and another two in front while we traveled in the middle at maintained speed. Kael, being an excessive man, did take this tour of us seriously when he said that I would be going but with a bunch of security following around us. Now I feel like someone’s VIP daughter.
Aya’s face was jammed up against the glass of the window. As she took in the sights that unfolded before us along the route, her jaw dropped in astonishment at each new panoramic scenery.
Italy is such a beautiful country, and each and every architectural masterpiece was just mesmerizing. I even noticed myself having my mouth opened the entire time while I looked at the place we passed through.
We have no idea where we are going first, but as we have written in our itinerary, we came across the magazine we saw on the villa. The very first on our destination was the Basilica di San Vitale and Byzantine Mosaics, Ravenna. I didn’t have any idea how long the travel was going to take from the villa that we stayed in, but the driver didn’t complain when we showed him our lists.
Mr. Caretaker also lent us his wife’s digital camera since we do not have a cellphone, not that we are allowed to have one as well, but he’s a good man for the thought of letting us borrow his thing. I let Aya carry it since I know she’ll be more careful handling it than me.
I didn’t realize that the ride took longer than we anticipated and I kind of dozed off for about thirty minutes before Aya woke me up, announcing that we had arrived at our first stop.
“Lilia, this is so beautiful,” Aya gasps in awe, her arms wide as she walks in a circle while her eyes are fixed on the beautiful mosaic art above the bulleted ceiling of the basilica. I only nodded subconsciously as like everyone else, I was completely engrossed in the extravagant splendor of this ancient art. I simply cannot fathom how artists of that era were able to produce such remarkable works of art without the benefit of the tools and techniques available to them now. They were indeed brilliant and raw with talent.
Unlike me who can only pig out a platter of food in just a single sitting.
“Lilia, stand there. I’ll take a picture for you,” Aya jumps to my side, holding the camera she slings securely around her neck, and then she drags me to a spot where she can capture most of the view and instructs me to strike a pose, which I, of course, comply with. After that, each of us takes a turn behind the camera.
Kael’s men spread out around the place, blending into the crowd. Fortunately, they leave their guns inside the car, and it appears as though they were tourists as well, roaming the place. Aya and I chose to ignore them and instead focus on taking in the stunning works of art that surrounded us before heading back to the car and getting ready for our next destination.
Not a moment later, we were back on the road, and we were busy looking at our pictures in the camera, satisfied with all our shots. We also made a stopover at a fast-food chain and took our late lunch.
I didn’t have any money with me, but Aya was generous enough to share the cash Kael gave her, treating me with food and some souvenirs. I couldn’t help but notice that Kael’s men were on the phone every now and then, probably reporting everything we were doing and where we were at the moment.
I secretly told Aya a while ago, when we used the ladies' room, that I had a plan to sneak around the guards so we could move freely without those leeching eyes that always followed us. They had become too much of a nuisance by the time we reached our next destination, which was Verona's Roman Arena and Historical Center, and they were practically flocking around us as if someone would suddenly jump out of nowhere. At first, she did not concur with this decision, but by the time we arrived there, she changed her mind. The other tourists were throwing us strange looks. They must have thought that we were someone important around here.
Sadly, we didn’t get many good pictures around the largest and best-preserved Roman amphitheaters still in existence. Aya got grumpy, and her mood soured at the moment, so she finally agreed with my plan to sneak under their noses and watchful gazes. Though we only needed perfect timing.
The dusk came fast, and the last place we wanted to visit was the grand canal of Venice. They remarked that at night, when all the lights that ring the canal make the light reflection in the water look ethereal, it is at its most stunning.
We weren’t disappointed, though. It is indeed rather beautiful and meets our expectations. It even goes beyond it. The men rowing the small boats, called gondoliers, were so accommodating and could speak in fluent English, though with a heavy accent. It was adorable to hear, unlike Kael’s hooligans.
This time, Aya and I will carry out our plan of losing those men, and we kind of pleaded with the gondolier to play along with us and promised to give him a fair amount of tip after this. He asked whom we were sneaking, and I pretended that those men were my fathers and they were invading our privacy and freedom, so we ought to lose them off our tails. Kael’s men were on the side of the canal, spread out like they usually do while their eyes fixed on us.
“Okay, la signorina, just tells me what to do,” Flavio, the gondolier’s name whispered, his eyes moving discreetly, noting where the men had stood their guard.
Aya and I exchanged an anxious look for a moment before she nodded to me. I looked around the place where we could make an escape without being detected, and then just in the distance, I saw an arching bridge.
I turn to Flavio and ask, “Do any of these bridges have any sort of hidden passageway?” To avoid giving the impression that Aya and I were plotting something together, all I did was lean in a little bit closer to him and act as if we were snapping a photo of each other with the camera. It's a good thing that this guy knows how to cooperate by keeping his rowing tempo a little bit slower so that the rocking action stays rather consistent.
“Ah, yes, signora, but it leads to the sewers and out the other end of the canal. However, I feel compelled to warn you that the odor is not particularly pleasant,” he informed us in a hushed tone, but enough for Aya to hear it as well. I looked at her, and she was nervously staring at me while I reached the camera as it was my turn to take a picture of her. She gave me a slight nod, confirming that she was okay to take the sewers.
“It’s okay, as long as we don’t have to swim our way there,” I said, looking at the screen, smiling as Aya took poses. Now that I have come to think of it, hesitation came right to my mind, displeased with the notion of us swimming our way and ruining our outfit.
“It can be travel by this small boat, right?” I quizzed out, placing the camera closer to my eyes, and pressed the shutter.
“Oh, si, of course,” Flavio confirmed, rowing the boat again.
“Good, then we’ll take that route,” I replied to him with a slight nod.
We were enjoying the romantic scenery around the canal, and for a brief moment, an imagination entered my mind. I pictured myself out here with Kael instead of being with Aya, and he was the one rowing the boat. We were both happy, and the world seemed to fade around us. The time slowed, and only the two of us existed. An imagination, indeed, and nowhere near to reality. I don’t know, but the mere thought of it sends a sharp pang to my chest, and the words he said to me back to that islet came forth, making me angry once again and one of the main reasons why I wanted to free even just for a short while.
“Let’s just pray, Lilia, that Master Kael won’t kill us,” Aya’s voice took me out of my thoughts, and I gave her a reassuring smile.
“Oh, we’ll be back in the car before Kael finds out we sneak past his security.”
I am aware that she had some inhibitions and that she is not used to the kind of shenanigans that we are engaging in, but the two of us are in desperate need of some fresh air away from the oppression of those ruffians.
“You’re starting to get crazy,” she sniggered, shaking her head, and I laughed along with her before handing the camera back to her.
“And you’re playing along with it.”
Kael would definitely go ballistic once he learned this little escapade, but it’s not like something terrible could happen. Nobody even knows us here or at least even cares who we were.
We are just some ordinary tourists that enjoy the thrill of being foreigners.
“We are here, signora,” Flavio announces the place of our exit. I turn my attention toward the passageway that he was referring to. It was under a huge arching bridge, and right at the side was a grilled passage where I suspected the sewers.
Totally, I am right cause the moment we went through the bridge, Flavio veered us into a blind spot where Kael’s men could not see us. A small lever was right on the side of the mossy grills, and Flavio pulled it up, immediately raising the blockage towards the sewer. We only have a few minutes to make our escape before those goons realize that we have escaped them.
I turned to look at Aya, and I could see her quick breathing and the slight tremble of her hand, clutching the camera tightly while I was feeling exactly the same.
Flavio finally lifted the grills and rowed the boat inside the narrow passageway. The blast of unpleasant smell greeted us, but I kept my stomach from recoiling with the stench and swallowed the sour fluid that refluxed to my mouth, flashing a strained smile on Aya’s grimacing face.
“Let’s enjoy this, Aya, while it lasts.”