City of Swords (41 page)

‘If we can find out any news, then all of us can go to try to rescue Ludo,’ said Georgia. ‘Remember we’ll be six Stravaganti – that has to count for something. I’m sure Paolo would help too. Perhaps he could get us some weapons?’

Laura was touched by the unhesitating way this rather alarming new friend had taken up Ludo’s cause.

‘Even so, I don’t think it’s a good idea for six of us to turn up in Talia out of the blue,’ said Sky. ‘Why don’t you and Nick go first tonight and then we can all stravagate tomorrow, when Paolo has had time to organise what we need.’

Vittorio Massi was astonished to be summoned to the Ducal Palace. In the years since his daughter had vanished, he had shrunk from the big broad-shouldered man who had menaced Enrico Poggi to a sunken-eyed wreck of his former self. His wife had died and he no longer worked but existed on handouts from friends and members of the wider family.

So it was a sad sight that met Arianna and Silvia’s eyes when the man was shown in to the small reception room. Luciano and Rodolfo were with them and the spotted cat Rigello, who was never far from the Duchessa’s side.

‘Your Grace wanted to see me?’ he said, eyeing the cat uncertainly.

‘Don’t worry about Gello,’ said Arianna. ‘He is as gentle as a kitten. See!’

She made Rigello lie down and expose his tummy to her tickling hand. Vittorio relaxed a bit.

‘We have called you here because we have some news about your daughter.’

He looked up eagerly but Arianna stopped him from speaking.

‘It is not good news, I’m afraid.’

‘Didn’t think it would be after all this time,’ he muttered.

‘I’m very sorry to tell you that your daughter Giuliana is dead,’ said Arianna, as gently as she could.

The man put his head in his hands.

‘You may have heard that the assassination attempt on the life of the last Duchessa of Bellezza did not succeed,’ said Silvia. ‘I was that Duchessa.’

‘I did hear something of the sort,’ said Vittorio. He couldn’t see what that had to do with his daughter; Giuliana had not been an assassin.

‘But a woman
did
die in that Glass Room,’ said Silvia, ‘and I am afraid it was your daughter.’

‘Giuliana? But why was she in Your Grace’s room?’

‘I employed her to stand in for me,’ said Silvia.

Vittorio was confused but they continued quickly. Arianna beckoned a footman, who brought forward the bag of silver.

‘It can be no compensation for the loss of your daughter,’ she said, ‘but my dressmaker, who was also making Giuliana’s wedding dress, recently found this cache of silver among the folds of the cloth in a chest at her house on Burlesca.’

She handed the money to Signor Massi.

‘I don’t understand,’ he said, looking at the unheard-of wealth in the sack. ‘This is more than her dowry. But that doesn’t matter. Who killed my Giuliana?’

The others exchanged glances.

‘A hired assassin,’ said Luciano. ‘But the order was given by the late Grand Duke, Niccolò di Chimici.’

‘And transmitted by his Ambassador to Bellezza, Rinaldo,’ added Silvia.

‘The one that’s a cardinal now?’ asked Vittorio.

‘That one,’ said Silvia.

It was the one fact that Vittorio seemed to take in: Cardinal Rinaldo had ordered his daughter dead. He couldn’t have cared less about the money.

^*

In Remora the conclave of Cardinals did not take long to reach a decision about choosing a new Pope. No one spoke of the threats and bribes, the menaces and enticements they had all received.

The white smoke curled out of the chimney of the Papal palace and the spokesman for the Cardinals went out on to the balcony to make the big announcement to the crowd gathered in the Campo below.

^*

One of the first things that Georgia and Nick did in Remora, as soon as they had been reunited with Paolo and given Talian clothes, was to contact the Bellezzan Stravaganti through the Horsemaster’s mirrors.

You didn’t say you were coming
, thought-spoke Rodolfo.

We didn’t decide till after you’d left
, replied Georgia.

And it’s not just us
, said Nick, putting his face beside hers in the mirror.
We all want to come and help find Ludo. To save him if we can.

He is lucky to have so many friends
, said Rodolfo.
We have been trying to think of ways to find him ourselves. Perhaps we can combine forces once you are all here
.

Are you all coming to the wedding?
asked Luciano, appearing in the glass. He didn’t know they were talking about a man’s life or death.

Are we invited?
asked Georgia.

All the Stravaganti are coming
, said Luciano.

There was a commotion in the square.

‘They’ve chosen the new Pope,’ said Paolo. ‘I can hear the people chanting.’

Soon they could all hear what name the people were repeating.

‘Oh no,’ groaned Nick. ‘Tell them, Georgia.’

So Georgia relayed the message to Bellezza that Rinaldo di Chimici was now Pope.

^*

The band of kidnappers had taken Ludo beyond Padavia, unaware that he was very familiar with that city and the area between it and Bellezza.

As they got closer to the lagoon, the men became more boisterous and drank more wine at every stop. Ludo pretended to drink but managed to pour away some of each measure on to the ground.

He was sure that they were winding themselves up to an enterprise they didn’t much like and he had little doubt what that might be. If he could remain sober while they were the worse for liquor, the better his chance of escaping.

The horses came out on to the shore and Ludo could see the glittering city floating on the water. He remembered the time he spent there after the rescue from the flames. He had needed to see the water then, to experience the cooling, soothing sight of green waves. It had been as if the flames were still licking round his ankles and he needed quenching.

The men were conferring among themselves.

‘How are we to get over there with the horses?’

Ludo smiled. They had not realised that horses were banned in the lagoon city.

‘Leave them here and take the ferry,’ said one of his captors, pointing down to the place on the shore where the boat waited.

‘We don’t need horses for what we have to do,’ said another.

They had given up worrying about being overheard. They rode the horses down to the water and were told where to stable them until their return.

‘Here for the wedding, I suppose,’ said the ferryman. They had flung a cloak round Ludo’s shoulders, which concealed his tied hands.

When they had stabled the horses, they brought him back to the boat.

‘Our friend is not well,’ one of them told the ferryman, to explain why they had to help him aboard.

‘And like to feel worse,’ said another, before being kicked in the shins.

If his hands hadn’t been bound, Ludo would have hurled himself overboard and taken his chances. He was a good swimmer.

The boat arrived in the north of the city and the group stopped at a tavern for more wine. They couldn’t untie Ludo in such a public place so he went without – something he didn’t mind.

Then they wove their way through the narrow streets and across bridges, getting closer to the centre, marvelling at the canals.

‘Never saw a city like it,’ said one.

They were on a narrow stone bridge when Ludo took his chance. He lowered his head and butted the man nearest him, pushing him into the canal. He got two more the same way and found his way open to run forward and away from his captors.

‘Shoot him!’ cried one. ‘We can’t fail in our mission now.’

Shots rang out, echoing across the water. Without knowing where he was going and without his hands to help him, Ludo jinked this way and that, running down an alley. A musket ball rang on to the stone wall ahead of him and then there was a burning pain in his side. His legs kept running but his mind was closing down. In it there floated the vision of a girl with huge dark eyes and a cloud of dark hair.

^*

By the time the Barnsbury Stravaganti arrived in Remora it was known that the new Pope would go by the name of Candidus the First.

‘What does that mean?’ asked Georgia.

‘White, or without a stain,’ said Paolo.

‘Huh!’ was the response from the Barnsbury Stravaganti.

There were lots of introductions to be made and, once everyone had met Paolo, they set out to visit Gaetano in the palace, which was uncomfortably close to where the new Pope was taking up his throne.

The Prince’s guards were a bit dubious about admitting so many visitors, but Nick gave them a written message to take to his brother and they were soon all in the Prince’s reception room.

‘Gaetano!’ cried Nick, hurling himself into his brother’s arms.

Laura was awestruck. She knew that Nick had been a Talian prince but it was quite another thing to see him clasped in the arms of a powerful ruler.

‘Welcome. Welcome, all,’ Gaetano said, reluctantly letting go of his little brother but still keeping a hand on Nick’s shoulder. ‘Tino! Good to see you again! It was good of you all to come.’

‘We have come to find out what we can about Ludo,’ said Laura, nervous but sticking to the main point. She had scarcely slept since she had heard about the Manoush’s capture.

Gaetano’s face changed. ‘I cannot forgive myself for letting him be taken,’ he said. ‘That was what he feared all along, that Fabrizio’s word would prove false.’

‘Then you think he is already dead?’ said Laura. She could not swallow.

‘No, no, I don’t know,’ said Gaetano. ‘I have sent out men to see what they can find. I and my guards struggled for hours to shed our bonds and then we rode here. I had to attend my uncle’s funeral.’

‘We know you did what you could to keep him safe,’ said Nick. ‘We all know who was responsible for the ambush. But tell me, where is Francesca?’

‘She has joined me now,’ said Gaetano. ‘She will be so pleased to see you.’

‘What about the men you sent out?’ Laura persisted. ‘Did they bring any news?’

Gaetano shook his head. ‘Nothing helpful,’ he said. ‘They found a place where the attackers had definitely camped for a few days, then they headed east.’

‘But that is good,’ said Sky. ‘Could they follow the trail?’

‘It led as far as the shore of the lagoon,’ said Gaetano, ‘and then stopped.’

‘Then they must have gone to Bellezza,’ said Matt.

‘But why would they?’ asked Georgia.

‘I must leave for Bellezza myself tomorrow,’ said Gaetano. ‘Francesca and I will represent Giglia at the wedding.’

‘It would be just like Fabrizio,’ said Nick slowly.

‘What would? What do you mean?’ asked Laura, desperate to understand.

‘Either to take Ludo’s body to the cathedral or to take him alive and kill him in the middle of the ceremony,’ said Nick.

Laura could not help crying out, ‘But why?’

‘He will always hate Bellezza for its independence,’ said Nick, ‘and his rage against Luciano is bound to be worse since he was made to look such a fool at the trial in Fortezza.’

‘Then we should be in Bellezza,’ said Sky. ‘Not here.’