City of Secrets (26 page)

For the second day running, Constantin did no work in his Secret Scriptorium. Feeling was running high in the city and it was just too dangerous. Those in favour of the anti-magic laws were in a fever of spying and informing on fellow-citizens. Those who thought the laws unnecessarily repressive were scandalised by the verdict on the Manoush.

As soon as their sentence had been given, a tall red-haired prisoner had jumped up and condemned the court for being willing to kill them all indiscriminately. ‘Let the men among us burn but release our women and children,' he demanded.

The word was that the Governor was ashamed in the face of such bravery but stood firm on his verdict.

It had never been expected that the first prosecution and execution would involve such a large number. Even if they were burned in groups, a great quantity of fires would have to be built. The whole of the Piazza dei Fiori was filled with men and brushwood preparing for the grisly task.

Constantin saw it on his way to visit the anatomist, Angelo Angeli. He stopped, filled with disgust at what human beings were capable of doing to one another. In the next square preparations were going on for the evening's festivities celebrating the Church's Festival of the Dead. There would be feasting and drinking and fireworks as soon as the evening services were over.

So close, thought Constantin, to the place of execution and so unmindful of what would happen there in two days' time. He had lived long enough to accept life and death as inextricably woven into the pattern of the world but such callous indifference to the fate of fellow human beings shocked him.

Professor Angeli had rooms off the market square. He was delighted to see Constantin. He poured wine for them both and rubbed his hands in anticipation.

‘Have you come about the book?' he asked as soon as it was decent to do so.

Constantin took a volume from his canvas satchel.

‘Here it is Angeli – the
Teoria Anatomica
– I have brought you one copy. Nando has the rest hidden, ready for sale.'

The Professor put on his reading-glasses, the very latest invention.

‘But this is quite wonderful,' he said, greedily turning the pages. ‘The engravings are magnificent!'

Constantin inclined his head and drank deeply from the wine glass.

‘You seem downcast,' said Angeli. ‘Is it always so when you have completed the production of a great work?'

‘It is not that,' said Constantin. ‘It is the coming deaths of nearly thirty people old and young, for practising their religion.'

‘I heard about that,' said Angeli. ‘It is a terrible thing. But they did break the law.'

‘Which they believed to be wrong,' said Constantin. ‘Ah well, you will have plenty of opportunity on Thursday to observe the effect of fire on human bodies.'

‘Do not say so,' said Angeli. ‘It will not be an occasion for rejoicing.'

*

‘We can't just let them die!' said Luciano, pacing up and down the room. ‘They've done nothing wrong. And these are Aurelio and Raffaella's people. Ludo is my friend.'

‘I have no intention of letting them die,' said Rodolfo. ‘The only question is, how best to save them? There is no loophole in the law – it is very clearly worded and they broke it.'

‘Whatte aboute an appeal for clemencie?' asked Dethridge. ‘The Governour seems a decent manne. Mayhap we could appeal to his sense of honour? Atte least for the femayles and childer?'

‘I think that Antonio is deeply regretting passing those laws,' said Rodolfo. ‘But he has very little room to manoeuvre.'

‘I have escaped the fyre myselfe,' said Dethridge. ‘And I shalle notte stand aside and watch othires suffer yt.'

‘That's it!' said Luciano. ‘You escaped to Talia, using your talisman. We must get talismans for all the Manoush, so that they can do a . . . a sort of mass stravagation to my old world.'

‘And then what?' asked Rodolfo, but not unkindly. ‘Who will look after thirty such travellers in your old world and give them food and work? Do you come from such a civilisation that all of them would be made welcome and kindly treated? And could they survive, taken from the rest of their people?'

Luciano saw all the problems, collecting thirty talismans for a start, then explaining to two and a half dozen terrified people about stravagating to the world of the twenty-first century. He had a flashback memory of Eastern European women with toddlers begging on the Tube, carrying little bits of cardboard with a few words giving their history written on them.

What could the Manoush write? They would be the most displaced persons ever in the history of London. And although it would be true that their lives would be in danger if they were sent home, how could they ever explain that to the authorities?

‘Well, perhaps not. But then what are we to do?' he asked Rodolfo.

‘I wolde helpe him collect the talismans,' said Dethridge eagerly. ‘Yt wolde not be so badde to goe agayne. I have seene whatte yt is lyke, now.'

‘I think we must have a different plan,' said Rodolfo. ‘If the Manoush are to be taken away, it must be to somewhere nearer here.'

‘Where?' asked Luciano.

‘Bellezza,' said Rodolfo. ‘If only there were a Stravagante there now. But we are all here.'

‘My wife is there,' said Dethridge. ‘I have taught her how to use the mirror.'

‘And my wife is there too,' said Rodolfo. ‘Leonora can go to her for help.'

‘I'm sure Arianna would want to help,' said Luciano. ‘But we've got to rescue them first.'

Dethridge was counting on his fingers. ‘I have yt!' he said. ‘The execution will be in two days' time. Yf we have enough of our friends to unbind them, I canne warrant thatte we wille be able to do yt. There wille be a riske, of course, bot yt canne be done.'

*

Rinaldo was flushed and excited at the success of the trial, as he saw it. He had sent his long-suffering messenger with a letter to Fabrizio in Giglia, telling him that around thirty ‘pagans' were to suffer the full force of the new laws. Laws that he, Cardinal di Chimici, had influenced the city's Governor to adopt.

He could still not report any success in getting Luciano to incriminate himself by committing magical acts. And he doubted whether he should say anything about Filippo's unintentional short trip to the other world.

The two cousins had experimented with holding the book and hitting each other but with no result except one black eye (the Cardinal) and one split lip (Filippo). They gave up their experiments by mutual agreement, glaring at each other.

The servants gossiped among themselves about how the two noble cousins had clearly been in a fight – and one of them a churchman. It was a matter of great satisfaction to the footman that Matt had attacked.

The di Chimici were no nearer to discovering how stravagation worked but Filippo was definite that he had been transported to another world and that it was connected to the book. Neither man had any idea that the original book had been switched by Enrico.

But Rinaldo had decided to investigate what the spy had told him about Professor Angeli. He paid a visit to the Anatomy Theatre, which was not in use over the three-day holiday, and looked at the room which held the bodies before dissection and examined the mechanism by which the table rose up into the theatre.

The porter who showed him around, a man called Gobbi, explained that the corpses for dissection were those of recently executed criminals, though they must be those born outside the city.

‘What if there are no executions when the Professor wants to demonstrate to his students?' asked the Cardinal.

‘Well, then he would postpone the demonstration till there were some, Eminence,' said the porter. ‘Or use an animal.'

Rinaldo was getting nowhere; he decided to see what the power of silver could discover.

On Wednesday, two days after Chrissie's party, Matt sought out the other Stravaganti in a corner of the common room.

‘You're looking better,' said Georgia.

‘I feel it,' said Matt. ‘I got a good night's sleep last night, instead of stravagating. How about you guys? Have you recovered from Monday?'

‘Yeah,' said Nick. ‘More or less, except that Alice still isn't talking to Sky.'

Sky glared at him.

Matt noticed that the fair-haired girl wasn't sitting with them. She was usually so quiet that he didn't notice whether she was there or not. But now he could see that she was over the other side of the room, having a heart-to-heart with Lucy. She wasn't Matt's type at all but he could see that Sky was a bit upset.

‘Sorry,' he said. ‘I seem to have caused a lot of trouble.'

‘You couldn't help getting caught,' said Georgia. ‘Can you tell us more about it now?'

Ayesha had orchestra practice, so Matt was able to tell them the whole story, not leaving out the beating this time.

‘That's awful!' said Georgia. ‘But you went in Luciano's place?'

‘Maybe that's what you were sent to Padavia for?' said Sky. ‘My mission turned out to be about saving his life in Giglia, though it wasn't by any act of bravery.'

‘I don't know,' said Matt. ‘I'm going back tonight to find out. The thing is, I wonder why my bruises don't show here in this world? Alice told Ayesha that you two got stabbed in Giglia and your wounds came back here with you.'

Sky and Nick exchanged glances, their animosity of a few moments ago forgotten as they remembered how they had fought on the same side in the Church of the Annunciation and both received sword cuts. Surreptitiously they both rolled up their sleeves to show Matt their scars. Sky's was much more noticeable against his dark skin.

‘I don't know why you left your injuries in Talia and we didn't,' said Sky. ‘Maybe it's because our wounds were deep and Brother Sulien had to stitch them?'

All three of them peered at Matt's face.

‘I can sort of feel them,' he said. ‘I mean I know they're there but they don't really hurt and there's nothing to see.'

‘My cousins are brutes,' was all Nick said. ‘I never liked Rinaldo but I thought better of Filippo.'

‘I think he's acting on orders from above,' said Matt. ‘No offence, Nick, but I think your big brother's behind it.'

Georgia put her arm round Nick. ‘You can't help your family,' she said quietly. ‘Remember how nice Gaetano and Francesca are? And Fabrizio and Filippo are their brothers.'

Matt remembered something else. ‘It must have been Filippo who stravagated to the party,' he said. ‘He was holding the book while that thug was hitting me and his face got in the way. Filippo was knocked out but only for a few seconds.'

‘Do you think they know what that means then?' asked Georgia. ‘Do the di Chimici know that all you need is a talisman and losing consciousness while thinking of the other world?'

‘I don't know,' said Matt. ‘But they haven't got a talisman any more.' He drew the book from his jacket pocket. ‘This is the real thing.'

Fabrizio read his cousin's letter eagerly.