The Time Contessa (The Time Mistress Book 3)

by Georgina Young-Ellis

  After breakfast, Jake, Lauro, Francesco, and Cassandra walked into town. Cassandra stayed beside Lauro, and Jake was on the other side of Francesco.

  “There are fifty contrade in the city,” Lauro explained, preparing his visitors for what to expect that day, “districts into which the town is divided that are part of larger terzieri, or thirds. They vie with each other in the various competitions.”

  “None of them is greater than the Pantera!” Francesco cried, waving his hat in the air. He was dressed in brilliant shades of blue, red, and white.

  “No! The Aquila is the noblest!” Lauro replied, swishing his yellow cape in Francesco’s face.

  Pantera: panther. Aquila: eagle. Each contrada was represented by an animal.

  “My father and I came to live in the Terziere di Citta, the wealthiest district of city,” Lauro continued proudly, “when we first moved from San Gimignano to Siena. Francesco also lives in this terziere, as does Guerrini, but there are many contrade within it and within each of the three terzieri. The Guerrini clan belongs to the Onda.”

  Wave.

  “It’s represented,” he said, “by a dolphin wearing a crown. When we get into town, you will see on the banner of the Aquila, actually a double-headed eagle—our symbol.”

  In honor of the occasion, Lauro had asked Cassandra to wear Teresa’s yellow brocade gown. Underneath, she wore a white chemise of cool cotton with long, billowy sleeves. On her head was a round, pale golden cap with a broad brim and a gauzy veil that trailed down her back. Jake and Lauro were dressed in doublets, hose, capes, and caps of yellow, black, and blue—the colors of the Aquila flag.

  Once inside the walls of the town, Cassandra took Lauro’s arm. A parade of people dressed in black, red, and white marched toward them on the narrow street. They carried a banner of the same colors, sporting an emblem of an owl. Instruments blared while the people sang.

  “This is the Civetta!” Francesco yelled above the din.

  Suddenly, another contrada came marching in from a side street, carrying a blue and yellow banner depicting a tortoise, creating an impasse for the Civetta. The musicians from each group played louder and louder, each trying to outdo the other.

  “The Tortuca,” yelled Lauro, laughing. “Come, let’s leave them to their contest.” He squeezed along the wall past the battling parades, pulling Cassandra behind him. Jake and Francesco followed closely behind.

  They turned onto another street where tables were laid with red, green, and yellow cloths. The people of the Dragon sat on benches, feasting, laughing, drinking, and singing. Lauro and the others bowed their way around the scene and exited the street onto the Campo.

  Suddenly a group of boys jostled them. Lauro pulled Cassandra close, while Francesco let out a stream of curses and slapped violently at the juveniles.

  “Thieves!” he cried.

  Jake ran to Cassandra’s side. Their eyes met for a moment, and then Cassandra looked away.

  The boys ran on.

  “Pickpockets,” Lauro muttered. “Did they get anything?”

  Jake felt his pockets and declared the little money he’d brought was still on his person. Cassandra had been shielded by the men guarding her on either side.

  “It’s dangerous in the city on pageant day,” Francesco said. “A celebration, yes, but we must be wary.”

  They made their way into the Campo and found places to sit in the temporary wooden risers that had been built around the periphery of the square to allow for viewing of the sporting contests. Lauro called to a vendor and bought a sack of fruit, a loaf of bread, and a few sliced rounds of salami, which he distributed to his friends. “We’re first going to witness the Mazzascudo.”

  Jake translated the unfamiliar word to Cassandra: “mace and shield.” Her anger relented a little. There had to still be time to talk him out of his plan.

  Two men, one representing the Giraffe and the other the Dragon, came forth into the center of the Campo, dressed in full armor. Each carried a shield and a spiked iron ball attached to a short pole by a chain. Hardly waiting for the signal to start, each man swung his mace toward the other, and each met the force with his shield. At first, it was too much for Cassandra to bear looking at, but curiosity eventually forced her to peek. The blows continued mercilessly, sometimes landing not on the shield but making a connection with some part of the armor. Finally, the Giraffe struck the Dragon on the side of his helmet and the man went down. The referee counted ten, and when he didn’t get up, the crowd went wild with cheers and curses while the fallen contestant was dragged away.

  “Is he dead?” Cassandra asked Lauro.

  He shrugged and bit into a pear.

  Next, young men from all the contrade of the city came rushing into the middle of the Campo. The audience and players turned toward the Mangia tower. There, a group of men heaved a large leather ball off its turrets into the midst of the players. They all rushed for it, proceeding to engage in a type of keep-away. It was less violent, in that there were no weapons involved, yet the men crashed into each other with great force, occasionally coming to blows. Cassandra and Jake cheered for the Aquila along with Lauro. The game continued for what had to have been hours, but the crowd never seemed to tire of it.

  “Look, there’s Giuliana!” said Jake.

  She had appeared on the balcony of Palazzo Guerrini, directly opposite where they were sitting, and was waving a blue and white cloth emblazoned with the emblem of the Onda.

  He waved back. “I don’t think she can see me.”

  If the cacophony hadn’t been so overwhelming, Cassandra would have taken the opportunity to speak to Jake then. It was time to put her foot down. Enough of this talk of fleeing with Giuliana. It was too dangerous, and completely unrealistic. If only she could drug him and drag him to the portal exit…it would solve a lot of problems.

  Giuliana disappeared back inside her palazzo. The Tortoises scored a point and the crowd stood to cheer. Cassandra turned to Francesco for his opinion of the game, but he was not there.

  She pounded Jake on the arm. “Francesco’s gone!”

  “What? When did he leave?”

  “I don’t know. I was watching the game. Lauro, Francesco is gone!” Cassandra said, leaning around Jake to talk to him.

  “So?”

  “So….”

  “I’m going to find him,” Jake yelled over the din.

  “He’s probably with Guerrini,” replied Lauro. “He hasn’t had a chance to play dice in many days. But Jacopo, why bother? The crowd is too much.”

  “Giuliana said Piero didn’t like going out in these throngs,” Jake murmured into Cassandra’s ear as he eased past her, “maybe Francesco went to the palazzo to meet him.”

  “I’m coming with you.” She grabbed his hand and they began to make their way through the crowd.

  “No, Contessa. It’s not safe for you, wait!” Lauro yelled.

  But the Owls scored the winning point and the crowd went wild. Jake and Cassandra were thrust into the seething mob, forced to go in whatever direction it pushed them. Was that Lauro calling her name? The voice, imagined or real, was swallowed up in the noise of the screaming fans.

  The bell on the Mangia tower struck one, the hour of sunset. By the time Cassandra and Jake were able to thread their way through the mass of people to the other side of the Campo, it was tolling two. Jake pounded on the door of the palazzo with the heavy knocker but no one came.

  “The servants must be out celebrating. Let’s go to the back entrance; I know how to get in,” said Jake.

  Of course he did.

  The crowd was thinner on the back streets. When they got to the rear gate of the palazzo courtyard, Jake withdrew his knife, inserted it into the lock and jiggled it. It opened. The courtyard was empty, and they scurried across it quickly. The back door to the house was unlocked. Jake quietly pushed it open and they went in. Cassandra followed him through the vast space. He tentatively called Francesco’s name. They continued up to th
e second floor.

  “Maybe they left,” said Cassandra.

  “Giuliana must at least be here. Guerrini never lets her go anywhere. Hopefully, she’ll know where they are. Her rooms are this way.”

  They turned into a long hallway. A murmur of voices and a laugh came from somewhere. Jake’s eyes grew wide, but the two scientists moved toward the sound. It was a man and a woman.

  “That’s Francesco’s voice!” Jake said in a raspy whisper.

  He pushed open a heavy wooden door into a space ablaze with candlelight. There was Giuliana, naked, on a bed covered with a satin spread. She grabbed it to cover herself as Jake rushed in. From the doorway, Cassandra saw Francesco across the room in front of his easel, pencil in hand, poised to draw.

  “What’s going on here?” Jake yelled.

  “Jacopo!” cried Giuliana. “What are you doing here?”

  “What is he doing here?” he shouted, pointing to Francesco.

  “He is drawing me,” she said to Jake.

  Francesco began to speak, but stopped as he looked toward the door.

  There stood Guerrini, knife in hand. Giuliana screamed. Jake ran to her. Cassandra backed toward the wall.

  “I trusted you,” Guerrini said to Francesco in a low growl.

  “You don’t understand, Piero, it’s not like that!”

  Guerrini rushed toward Francesco, but Jake stepped in front of him. Guerrini’s knife plunged into Jake’s stomach.

  Cassandra tried to scream, but no sound came out. Suddenly Lauro was in the room. He ran to Guerrini and wrestled him to the ground. The two men were about the same height and bulk, but Lauro had not been drinking. He pinned Guerrini and held him there while he struggled. Giuliana rushed to Jake and her cover fell away. She knelt before him, unclothed, sobbing. Francesco went to Lauro and pulled him off Guerrini.

  “Let me explain,” Francesco cried.

  “You tricked me,” Guerrini shouted at him, leaping to his feet and pushing Lauro aside. “I thought you loved me, but you tricked me!” He lunged at Francesco again with the knife.

  What did Guerrini mean? It didn’t matter. All that mattered was Jake. Cassandra rushed to examine his wound, forcing herself to stay calm. She had to get him out of there.

  There was a scuffle…grunting, shouting. She was forced to look away from Jake. The knife was now in Lauro’s hand. He plunged it into Guerrini’s chest. Blood spurted forth and Guerrini fell to the ground as Lauro let go of the knife.

  “No!” screamed Francesco. “What have you done!” He threw himself onto Guerrini.

  Jake coughed, drawing Cassandra’s attention back to him. His eyes were barely open, his face growing pale while blood soaked through his clothes. Giuliana sobbed at his side.

  “I killed him.” Lauro stared at his bloody hand.

  “But my brother is still alive,” Cassandra said. “You have to help me get him to safety.”

  “Listen to me, Jacopo,” Giuliana said, grasping Jake’s hands while tears streamed down her face. “Francesco asked to draw me nude simply so he could better understand the female anatomy. He’s almost done with my portrait, but I continued to be his model in order to help him become the great artist he is meant to be. H But h e was in love with my husband, and my husband with him, something I came to accept a long time ago. I was never unfaithful to you. Never!”

  Jake’s eyelids closed.

  Francesco was kneeling by Guerrini, covered in his blood, convulsed with sobs.

  “Giuliana,” said Cassandra. “Give me a sheet.”

  Giuliana pulled one off the bed and threw it to Cassandra. The time-traveler summoned her strength and ripped the sheet in half, then wrapped it around Jake’s stomach as best she could, and tied it tight. “We need horses,” she said as she worked. “We must get my brother to a doctor.”

  “Yes,” Giuliana said. “Maestro, can you carry him?”

  “Yes,” said Lauro. Grunting and heaving, he gathered Jake into his arms.

  “I’m coming with you,” Giuliana cried, grabbing her robe off the bed and pulling it around her.

  “No,” Cassandra insisted. “No, Giuliana. I will send you word. Tend to your husband and to Francesco. It will seem strange if you don’t stay with him. We need to get Lauro out of town as soon as possible too, and we need you here to help buy us time.”

  “Yes, you’re right.” She wiped the back of her hand across her eyes. “I’ll call for the stable boys to prepare a carriage.”

  Cassandra, and Lauro, carrying Jake, followed her through the house, out a back entrance to the stable. Cassandra’s mind whirled.

  “Giuliana, wait. Don’t call anyone. We don’t have time for a carriage anyway, and we must go faster than one would allow. Just give us two horses. Can you carry Jake in front of you Lauro?”

  “Yes,” he replied, pale and trembling.

  Giuliana helped Cassandra ready two horses, and the three of them managed to position the unconscious Jake in front of Lauro on one. Cassandra mounted the other. Without a goodbye, they fled. Cassandra’s last glimpse of Giuliana was of her standing in the dark stable, sobbing into her hands.

  “Lauro,” Cassandra said as soon as they were outside the stable gates. “I know what to do but you must not question me. Do you know a back way out of the city, so we can avoid the crowds?”

  “Yes, follow me.”

  Once they were beyond the city walls, Cassandra took the lead, heading west. She urged her horse faster. Far ahead, barely visible in the twilight, was the hill with the stand of Cypress where she and Jake had emerged from the portal exit.

  “Where are we going, Cassandra? There’s no doctor in this direction!”

  “I know what I’m doing, Lauro. Please, we must hurry.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  How could she explain to him what was about to happen? It was impossible. Lauro would have to help her get Jake to the portal exit; then she would have to leave him there. She couldn’t let him see them disappear into thin air though, and worse, what would become of him if she sent him back to Siena? He would be wanted for Guerrini’s murder.

  “I can’t explain just yet. But tell me, how did you know my brother and I were at Palazzo Guerrini?”

  “I followed you when you left the games. I lost you more than once, but finally I saw you disappear behind the building, and I thought you must be going inside. I must have arrived just after Guerrini himself.”

  The sound of galloping horses thundered somewhere far behind them: riders, moving fast in their direction. “Lauro, can you tell who that is?”

  He looked. “From here, no, but I have no doubt it’s Guerrini’s men. Let’s turn north and go into the forest. We could lose them there and then go on to San Gimignano.” He smacked his horse on its flank and it leapt forward.

  “No! There’s no time! Come this way, I have a plan. We’ll be safe. Come on!” She galloped on. Lauro’s horse made a stamping sound, then she heard it come up behind them.

  “What plan? Cassandra, have you taken leave of your senses?”

  She pressed on, and he had to follow. She ignored his question. “How can Guerrini’s people already know?” she yelled back to him.

  “Word travels in an instant,” he cried breathlessly. “Francesco must have sent someone to come for Guerrini’s body. I don’t think Francesco would seek revenge on me, or maybe he would. At any rate, they’ll kill us if we don’t get help!”

  Adrenaline coursed through Cassandra’s veins. “We’re going to get help. This way.” She urged her horse faster up the hill.

  “Where are we going?” Lauro asked again.

  There was no way to make him understand, and no time. The only thing that mattered was that Jake didn’t die.

  “To a…doctor.”

  “What doctor?”

  “I can’t explain, just follow me and do what I say. What we’re about to do is the only way to save our lives.” She glanced around at him.

  His eyes were round
with fright. “What are you talking about?”

  The pounding of horses’ hooves grew louder. Their pursuers were gaining. Lauro was obviously having trouble riding fast with the burden of Jake in front of him. But the Cypress grove was just ahead.

  “We’re going there.” She pointed to the trees.

  “No. We can’t hide there, they’ll easily see us. We must press on to San Gimignano. I can get help there.”

  The sound of Guerrini’s riders became louder and louder.

  “Just follow me.” She urged her horse the last few meters. “Here!” She jerked the animal to a stop while Lauro’s pranced frantically. She leapt off. “Get down. Get Jake down.”

  Lauro did what she said, terror written on his face. Their pursuers were within a few hundred meters now.

  “Bring him here.” She grabbed Jake’s feet while Lauro had his shoulders. One, two, three four, here: the fifth tree. They had to be within sight now of the vision monitors in 2124. The team would see the shadowy outlines of the horses, her body, and Jake’s limp form, but they would be wondering what to do with this third person. Freeing one hand, she pointed to herself, Lauro and Jake. “Close your eyes, Lauro, close them, and don’t open them for any reason.”

  “What are you doing? Are you just going to sacrifice yourself to Guerrini’s men? I won’t do it, Cassandra. I will fight them all, even if I must die.”

  “No. Don’t let go of my brother.” Her stomach lurched with a dizzying jerk as the transfer began. “Close your eyes. Don’t move. And hold on to my brother.”

  Lauro screamed, and everything went black.

  Chapter One

  “Eyes closed, eyes closed,” Cassandra whispered in Italian.

  She stood holding Jake’s feet, about to collapse. Finally, the greenish glow of the portal chamber doors filtered past her lids. She opened her eyes. Lauro had fainted and was huddled on the floor of the chamber with Jake’s head in his lap. She slid down to join him on the floor.

  The purple decontamination ray passed over them; then the pale-green doors slid open. There were Professor Carver, James, Shannon, Suhan, and Yoshi. Lauro moaned; his eyelids fluttered. Cassandra glanced back at the team and pressed her finger to her lips.