City of Flowers (24 page)

As soon as she got off the phone to Sky, Alice called Georgia and went round to her house.

Maura O'Grady was used to finding Alice in her house when she got home from work, and if she thought things were a little tense between the two girls, she put it down to teenage hormones and worries about the coming term's exams. She certainly had no objection to Alice staying the night. In fact she was relieved that Georgia was spending more time with her best female friend; it bothered her how often her daughter was with Nicholas.

After a supper of takeaway Chinese – much to Georgia's relief because Maura was a dreadful cook – the girls had an early night. They said they were going to watch videos in Georgia's room.

‘So how exactly does it work, then?' asked Alice. ‘Do you just hold the talisman and say “abracadabra”?'

‘No,' said Georgia, a bit reluctant to go into details. ‘You have to fall asleep with it in your hand, thinking of where you're going in Talia.'

‘And what will it look like when you've gone?'

‘Just the same, I think. My body will still be here. I have another body in Talia, one without a shadow.'

Alice shook her head. ‘So you won't be able to prove that you've been anywhere?'

‘I'll tell you everything about it when I get back,' said Georgia. ‘And you can ring Sky first thing and check it all with him. Then you'll know we're not making it up.'

But she secretly wished that Alice were not there. It was going to be hard getting to sleep with her best friend watching her.

Early next morning Cesare was in the stables as usual but he kept glancing up at the hayloft. He hummed under his breath as he filled the horses' water troughs from a bucket and mucked out the dirty straw. Arcangelo, the big chestnut, was restless and bent his great neck to huff in Cesare's ear.

‘I know, boy,' he said, grinning. ‘She's coming back.'

His father, Paolo, came in with a bundle of clothes. ‘Any sign yet?' he asked.

Cesare shook his head. A small grey cat wound its way round the stable door and leapt on to the ladder to the loft. There was a rustling sound and the cat paused, its ears pricked. The trapdoor was raised and a tawny head appeared.

‘Giorgio!' said Cesare, then stopped, confused. ‘I mean, Georgia. It's good to see you!'

Chapter 18

Flight

While Alice slept and Georgia crossed worlds, Sky was spending the night at the Mulhollands'. Nicholas was so excited about stravagating back to Giglia that he kept them both awake talking about it. And then he fell silent and Sky, anxious that Nicholas was going to arrive in Giglia before him, tossed and turned a lot longer, unable to give up the hold on consciousness that was preventing him from slipping into his other life.

Gaetano had arranged with Sulien to come to the friary early so that he could be there when his brother arrived. It had been over six months since Falco had died in Talia. Gaetano had seen him a month later, riding the flying horse, and he had been told that, for Falco, a whole extra year had passed. Yet he did not know what to expect. There was so much that he didn't understand about the gateway between the two worlds, and he found it hard to believe that his little brother had caught up on him by a year and was now fit and well, able to walk unaided and to ride. But Gaetano clung on to one thing: Falco was coming back.

Sulien was awake and waiting in his cell. It was a bare room – just a cot of a bed, a chest, a table and a chair – whitewashed and dominated by a large wooden cross. The bed was empty and Sulien was sitting in the chair. He rose when the prince entered but Gaetano gestured him back.

‘I shall sit on the floor,' he said, and settled himself with his back to the wall. ‘How long do you think it will be before they come?'

‘It depends on how hard they find it to fall asleep in their own world,' said Sulien. ‘It perhaps will not be easy for your brother. It may be that Sky will arrive ahead of him.'

The two of them sat in silence, waiting. Gaetano rested his arms on his knees and cast his cloak over his head. He must have dozed a little but was woken by a sigh. On Sulien's bed lay a figure stretching and yawning, a young man with curly black hair, worn loose and rather long. He swung his long legs over the edge of the bed and stood up tall and straight.

Gaetano got to his feet, stiff from the wait. Sulien left the cell as the brothers embraced.

*

Georgia had greeted every horse in the stable. Most of them knew her – Arcangelo, Dondola, Starlight and the miraculous Merla. The black winged horse was now fully grown, glossy and well-muscled. Georgia had no doubt she would be able to carry her to Giglia.

‘I have ridden her that far and further,' said Cesare. ‘And I weigh more than you do.' He couldn't stop smiling; he was so pleased to see Georgia again.

‘I wish I could stay and catch up with all your news,' she said, longingly. ‘But I must leave straightaway if I'm to meet the others in Giglia. I'll see you tonight, though.'

Paolo and Cesare led Merla to the meadow where she could take off. The horse was glad to be out so early in the warm spring morning and was already flexing her wings. Georgia was going to ride bareback, so she was glad of a leg-up.

Once astride Merla's back, she looked down on her friends' faces, sad to be seeing them so briefly but exhilarated at being back in Talia and the prospect of another flight on the winged horse.

‘Go safely,' said Paolo.

And Cesare slapped Merla on the rump.

The young mare broke into a trot, then a canter and was at full gallop before she unfurled her mighty wings. With a few lazy flaps she was aloft and Georgia saw the rose-coloured City of Stars dwindling beneath them. She clutched Merla's mane, ready for their next adventure.

*

When Sulien re-entered his cell the two brothers were sitting on the bed with their arms round each other. He smiled at them.

‘Welcome, Prince Falco,' he said.

‘Alas, I am that no longer,' said the new Stravagante, slipping back into his former way of speech.

‘What shall we call you?' asked Gaetano. ‘You'll have to have a new name while you are here.'

‘How about Benvenuto?' said the boy. ‘If I am really welcome.'

‘Brother Benvenuto indeed,' said Gaetano.

‘And now we must give you your disguise,' said Sulien, opening the chest and taking out a set of robes.

‘I hope they fit him,' said Gaetano. ‘He is taller than me now.'

When he was dressed in the robes, Nicholas looked the part of a Dominican novice. He tried pulling the hood up over his face and Gaetano said, ‘No one would recognise you now – even the family. You are so much taller, and of course they would not be expecting to see you.'

‘You made it all right, then?' said Sky and they turned and saw him, already robed, on Sulien's cot.

The two novices faced each other. Nicholas couldn't wait to get out into the streets of Giglia, but he also wanted to spend time with his brother, and the others had to remind him how dangerous it would be to be seen with the prince.

‘You may look very different from when you left,' said Sulien, ‘but you don't want anyone to make the link because of seeing you two together.'

Gaetano stayed with them for breakfast and they met Sandro in the refectory. The boy showed no signs of recognising Prince Falco.

‘Another novice?' he said suspiciously, when Sulien introduced him to the new ‘Brother Benvenuto'. ‘How many are you going to have?'

‘As many as are called,' said Sulien. ‘There is always room in God's house.'

Sandro was disposed to be jealous of the new novice. He regarded Brother Sulien as his personal property and wasn't at all pleased that he had to share him with another young friar. And this Benvenuto seemed much too friendly with Brother Tino, who was also Sandro's own discovery.

When the prince left and the two novices went out into the city, Sandro trailed alongside them, as his dog trotted after him.

‘Where are you going?' he asked.

‘We have a commission to Giuditta Miele, from Brother Sulien,' said Sky. ‘Why don't I meet you later, back up here?'

Sandro recognised that he was being got rid of and remained, sulking, in the piazza outside Saint-Mary-among-the-Vines.

*

It was a glorious day and the sun warmed Georgia's right side as she flew north on Merla. She was wearing a russet-brown dress of Teresa's and it felt awkward riding with a full skirt. But she had bunched it up around her and left her legs bare to the sun. They flew over fields and meadows, the people of Tuschia tiny beneath them, tilling the earth and pulling vegetables like the little figures in a book of hours. The countryside was gently undulating, with small green hills crowned by cypresses and brick farmhouses with terracotta roofs. She could see miniature cattle and sheep and the blue threads of streams winding between green banks.

After about three quarters of an hour of Merla's steady flight, Georgia began to see in the distance the signs of a great city, much bigger than Remora. It was surrounded by meadows of flowers of every colour; Georgia could detect their scent even from this height. Strong defensive walls encircled the city and Georgia looked out for a gap in them, which would show her where to land.

She whispered in Merla's ear and the flying horse began her descent. She landed on the edge of a meadow of bluebells, where two figures waited, as colourful as the flowers. Georgia climbed off the horse, shook out her skirt and clasped hands with the Manoush. Merla whickered a greeting and went with them happily.

‘We shall take good care of her,' said Aurelio, stroking the horse's nose. ‘We are taking her to a small homestead that belongs to the friary.'

He pointed out to Georgia a cluster of buildings in a field, then Raffaella took her as far as the road.

‘It's that way to the river,' said Raffaella. ‘You know how to go from there?'

‘Yes,' said Georgia. ‘Thank you. I'll be back well before nightfall.'

She walked towards the city. On her right stood the great edifice of the Nucci palace, gleaming in its newness, with its vast fringe of gardens. It was her first glimpse of Giglia and she was impressed. Past the little church, she set foot on the stone bridge and smiled as its smells assailed her. She stopped and looked out over the river. It looked like a picture postcard of other people's Italian holidays. But there was no time to look longer; she had to get to her meeting place.

Giglia was very different from Remora, full of grand buildings and squares. Georgia followed the map in her mind and crossed the great piazza with its statues. Soon she reached the cathedral, whose cupola dominated the city and had beckoned her here to its centre from a great distance. She skirted it warily, following it round to the east end. How was she to tell which was Giuditta's bottega among this jumble of little buildings?

*

The statue of the Duchessa was finished. Sky and Nicholas gazed at it in admiration. Nicholas had never seen its subject; he had already been unconscious when Arianna came to Remora. And Sky had met her only once so far. And yet both of them knew the statue was a masterpiece.

Two of Giuditta's apprentices were polishing the marble of the white figure. Arianna stood oblivious of their caresses, grasping the rail of her ceremonial barge. She looked proud and independent, most unlikely to yield to persuasion or intimidation. Her creator stood opposite her, almost a mirror image of determination.

‘She's made the Duchessa look like her,' whispered Nicholas.

‘Only more beautiful,' said Sky.

‘Perhaps,' said Nicholas. ‘But Giuditta is beautiful too – in her own way.'

‘Don't let her hear you say that,' said Sky. ‘I shouldn't think she likes to be flattered.'

‘That reminds me,' said Nicholas. ‘I wonder if Georgia's all right?'

‘I'll go and look for her,' said Sky.

It had been Nicholas's first test as Benvenuto, walking to Giuditta's workshop, and no one in the streets had given him a second glance. He thought that one of Giuditta's apprentices – a blond boy with angelic curls – had stared at him a little too long, but put that down to natural curiosity. Now Nicholas gazed at Giuditta, fascinated. He knew that she had sculpted his memorial statue and it made him feel very peculiar to think about it.

Sky stood outside the workshop in the lee of the cathedral, making sure to stay in the doorway so that his absence of shadow would not be seen. He was soon rewarded by the sight in the distance of a familiar figure with a head of red, white and black hair. He could not greet her out loud, as it would hardly be seemly for a novice to hail an attractive young woman in the street, but he closed his eyes and concentrated his thoughts on her, using the fact that they were both Stravaganti to guide her to him.

He opened his eyes to see Georgia coming towards him, a relieved look on her face. He beckoned her inside the workshop. Franco looked up appreciatively at this new arrival and Sky suddenly saw Georgia through the apprentice's eyes. A tall and quite graceful figure in a simple russet dress, with her dramatic hair colouring, she could be an aristocrat in disguise or a woman of the streets. Either way, she didn't look like a suitable friend for two young novice friars. Giuditta must have thought the same, because she shooed all the apprentices out of the workshop and told them to take a long break.

The Stravaganti were alone together. But not for long. A well-dressed middle-aged woman entered from the street before they could even greet one another properly. She had the air of a wealthy woman who had wandered in to commission a portrait bust of her late husband, perhaps, and was accompanied by a tall red-headed servant. Sky had a vague half memory of having seen her somewhere before. His heart sank at the interruption but Giuditta made no attempt to get rid of the woman.