City of Swords

by Mary Hoffman

  ‘I think she has been trying to handle a family grief on her own,’ said the therapist.

  They were silent in the car going home.

  ‘You don’t mind that I told her?’ asked Laura when they got back to the house she had left more than a fortnight earlier. It seemed very quiet.

  For the first time she thought about what it must have been like for her parents on their own in the house while she had been at Isabel’s.

  ‘No,’ said Ellen. She looked much older. ‘Not if it got to the root of the problem. I wish you’d told me first that you were going to though.’

  ‘I didn’t know I was,’ said Laura.

  Her mother went to put the kettle on for tea.

  ‘I’m ashamed that we have to go and talk about it to a stranger,’ she said. ‘I should have realised how much strain you have been under. And how wrong it is that no one outside the family knows about …’

  ‘… about Julia,’ Laura finished for her. ‘That’s been part of the problem. We never say her name.’

  The kidnappers were holding Ludo in a hideout in the woods. They hadn’t injured him, had barely spoken to him, but he was under no illusions about his eventual fate. The little band of men wore no colours, but he was as sure that they were in the Grand Duke’s service as if they had been dressed in di Chimici livery from top to toe.

  The only way he was going to get away with his life was if he could escape. But that was unlikely. His hands and feet were bound, his hands released only to eat, and Luciano’s Merlino-blade had been taken away. Each day was the same: a long, boring confinement to a rough shelter. And each night was restless and uncomfortable; the Manoush had not had enough exercise during the day for sleep to come easily. He was permanently tired but never drowsy.

  And yet – he found he really did want to live.

  He was only twenty-four and apart from the recent deprivations, he was fit and healthy. His heart and mind might have felt despair about the future, but his body revolted against the idea of being held prisoner until he was shot or hanged or stabbed.

  He passed the unfolding hours considering various escape plans.

  ‘So your whole family is going to see the therapist?’ asked Isabel.

  She had called in to see Laura the next day.

  Laura took a deep breath. ‘Not the whole family,’ she said. ‘Look,’ she went on, ‘you might as well know. It seems we have stopped keeping it a secret.’

  ‘Keeping what secret?’ asked Isabel.

  ‘I have an older sister, called Julia,’ said Laura.

  ‘An older sister?’ said Isabel. She had known Laura ever since they had both started at Barnsbury Comp. ‘Then where is she?’

  ‘She lives in a special sort of hospital in the country.’

  ‘Why? What’s wrong with her?’

  ‘She … she had an accident, when she was fourteen,’ said Laura. ‘She’s three years older than me. It was just before I started at our school.’

  ‘Oh my God,’ said Isabel. ‘What sort of accident?’

  ‘She was riding on the back of this boy’s motorbike, without a helmet. They had a crash. The boy was killed outright but Julia, well, she had head injuries.’

  Isabel could not believe her friend had been keeping this to herself for six years.

  ‘You weren’t living round here when it happened?’

  ‘No. It was when we were in Watford. It wasn’t too bad at first,’ continued Laura. ‘She was in a coma but everyone hoped she’d come out of it. And she did eventually. But she was changed. She’s sort of stuck at the mental age of three.’

  ‘Do you ever see her?’

  ‘My parents go once a month, but I haven’t visited the hospital for ages.’

  About the time you started cutting yourself, thought Isabel.

  ‘It was just that … well, at first she looked just the same. You know, my big sister. A pretty, lively teenager. Then, month by month, she seemed to change. Once she was living in the hospital, she became, oh, I don’t know, just someone else.’

  ‘Poor Lol,’ said Isabel.

  ‘It’s worse for my parents, of course, but now they never talk about her. It became impossible to mention her at home so I sort of went along with pretending she didn’t exist. It’s as if she’s dead. And it would have been better if she had died that day on the bike.’

  They both knew it was terrible thing to say and they both knew it was true.

  ‘It was then I first realised that not everyone can be saved,’ said Laura.

  Isabel sat for a long time with her arms round her friend, while Laura talked about her memories of Julia in their childhood. Isabel had her own problems with having a twin, but she couldn’t imagine what it had been like for Laura to lose an older sister in this way.

  ‘So it’s been just me for nearly a third of my life,’ said Laura, sounding exhausted. ‘All their hopes and expectations and only me to carry them out. When all the time there was another member of the family we never talked about. It just got too much.’

  *

  When Vicky opened the door and found Rodolfo and William Dethridge, she thought the worst. Her hand flew to her mouth.

  ‘Oh no! What has happened to Lucien?’

  ‘Have no feare, madam,’ said Doctor Dethridge, removing his hat. ‘Youre sonne is welle. We have ycome to bringe yow youre talismanne.’

  Vicky sagged with relief. She had recognised Rodolfo as the man in black from Lucien’s funeral and the associations for her had been bad.

  ‘Come in,’ she said weakly. ‘Do you want to see the others?’

  It was a rare opportunity so the two Stravaganti climbed the stairs to Nick’s attic.

  ‘Look who’s here,’ said Vicky after knocking.

  Ayesha, the only person present who was not a Stravagante, had met William Dethridge before, with Luciano, so even she took this visit in her stride.

  Georgia and Nick rushed towards the two older men, bombarding them with questions. But Rodolfo sought out Laura.

  ‘How are you?’ he asked, looking at her searchingly. ‘Something has changed.’

  Isabel moved to Laura’s side. She felt very protective of her friend, who seemed to her as vulnerable as a hermit crab between shells.

  ‘They’ve come with my talisman!’ said Vicky, smiling, unaware how nearly this hadn’t happened.

  Suddenly the room seemed full of sunshine. The siege of Fortezza was over and Luciano was going to marry his Arianna. And his mother would be there to see it. Only Laura was sad; she could see no happy ending for Ludo.

  William Dethridge took from his jerkin a miniature. It was an exquisite portrait of Luciano as he looked now, set in a frame of silver and pearls.

  ‘It’s lovely,’ said Vicky. ‘I shall wear it on a chain always.’

  She held it in her hands as if she would never let anyone take it away from her.

  The two Talians exchanged satisfied glances.

  ‘David’s definitely not going then?’ asked Nick.

  ‘No,’ said Vicky. ‘He’s sure that it’s wrong for him. But I’ll tell him all about it.’

  ‘We bring news as well as the talisman,’ said Rodolfo. ‘The Pope is dead.’

  ‘Uncle Ferdinando?’ asked Nick. ‘Oh no. I liked him.’

  ‘The very fat one?’ asked Georgia. She had seen him in Remora.

  ‘Aye, he was a goodly manne,’ said Dethridge. ‘Yet he was notte killed of an apoplexie, though many do believe yt.’

  ‘We suspect foul play,’ said Rodolfo.

  ‘Don’t tell me – I can guess,’ said Nick.

  ‘I’m afraid that your brother, the Grand Duke, was very angry that the Pope forbade him to execute any more rebels in Fortezza. And your cousin the Cardinal was dispatched to Remora as soon as the Pope’s message was received.’

  Georgia didn’t dare say it but she wished the Stravagante would not talk as if Nick was still related to these people.

  It was Vicky who said, ‘I’m afr
aid you are mistaken. Nick has no older brother or cousin – or uncle in the church.’

  Rodolfo bowed his head. ‘You rebuke me rightly. You and your husband are his family now.’

  ‘And not likely to bump anyone off,’ said Nick, putting his arm round Vicky. ‘They are much more law-abiding than the di Chimici.’

  Rodolfo turned to Laura. ‘There is more bad news, I’m afraid. Gaetano was taking the Manoush from Giglia to Remora, where he had to attend his uncle’s funeral, when they were set upon by a group of armed men.’

  ‘Ludo is dead?’ said Laura, at the same time as Nick said, ‘Is Gaetano all right?’

  ‘Gaetano is well but deeply sorry that his prisoner was taken while under his protection.’

  ‘And Ludo?’ persisted Laura. Why couldn’t Rodolfo focus on the main point?

  ‘No one knows what has happened to him,’ said Rodolfo. ‘We haven’t been able to find anything out.’

  Laura felt frozen. Leaving Ludo alive in a remote other world was one thing; imagining him as a mutilated corpse was quite another.

  ‘I must go back,’ she said distractedly.

  ‘It sounds a very dangerous and violent world where my son is living now,’ said Vicky, at last realising what all the others knew.

  ‘I can’t pretend to you that it is not,’ said Rodolfo, ‘but I believe your world is not without its own dangers.’

  ‘Why didn’t Lucien bring the talisman himself?’ she asked.

  ‘He wanted to, but I’m afraid Arianna wouldn’t let him,’ said Rodolfo.

  Preparations were beginning in Bellezza for the Royal Wedding. The great Basilica of the Maddalena was richly decorated and rooms were being prepared for all the nobility expected in the city. What Luciano called ‘Security’ was at a high level, with archers, swordsmen and arquebusiers all enrolled to protect the Ducal couple.

  Enrico had come back to Bellezza with the Cavaliere and was now his devoted slave. He took it upon himself to question all the recruits.

  ‘You saved my life, Cavaliere,’ he said. ‘You can trust me.’

  And Luciano really thought he could.

  Arianna was having her last dress fitting.

  ‘I found something,’ said her grandmother.

  ‘What sort of thing?’ asked Arianna distractedly.

  ‘Some years ago I was making a lace wedding dress for a young woman in Bellezza,’ said Paola. ‘She did not return for a final fitting and your mother knows something about why. The dress remained at the bottom of a chest in my house.’

  Arianna thought she knew what had happened to the other bride and shivered.

  ‘And you’ve found it again?’

  ‘Not just the dress,’ said her grandmother. ‘Rolled inside it was this bag of silver.’ She held out a bag heavy with coins. ‘She must have hidden it there after her last visit,’ she said.

  ‘I believe I know the man she was going to marry,’ said Arianna. ‘I wonder if this was her dowry? It seems rather a lot for an ordinary citizen to have raised.’

  ‘Well, her fidanzato didn’t marry her, did he?’ said the lacemaker. ‘In fact, I believe he blew her to pieces here in the palace. So I don’t think it should go to him.’

  For all that Enrico was now a changed man, Arianna had to agree.

  ‘Then her family should have it,’ she suggested. ‘Leave it with me and I will find out who they were and give it back to them.’

  ‘And tell them where their daughter’s remains lie,’ said Paola. ‘They need to know that.’

  *

  The band of men holding Ludo was on the move. A message had come and they were riding far away from Romula.

  Ludo picked up whatever he could overhear about their plans. He was very surprised to find himself still alive.

  ‘Make a nice wedding present for them,’ was one remark he did not understand. But he could tell the direction they were travelling was to the east. All his experience as one of the wandering tribe was now coming in useful. He was a better tracker and ranger than any of his captors and he kept every detail in his mind, not knowing now what might come in useful later if he got the smallest chance to escape.

  Chapter 23

  Murky Water

  ‘But where would you stravagate to?’ asked Isabel after the senior Stravaganti had left. ‘You know he’s left Fortezza and not reached Romula. And even if you could get to the right place, what could you do against a group of armed men?’

  Laura sagged. ‘You’re right. What else can I do? I can’t just stay here, not knowing if he’s alive or dead.’

  ‘I think we should all go,’ said Georgia. ‘Remora is the closest to where he was last heard of and it’s my city. I can describe it to you all.’

  ‘I’ve been there, don’t forget’ said Nick. ‘And I could see Gaetano.’

  ‘I’ve been too,’ said Isabel, surprising Laura. ‘I went with Georgia once.’

  ‘We’d all need clothes though,’ said Matt.

  ‘Paolo will get them for us,’ said Georgia. ‘Teresa found dresses for me and Laura. We’d all arrive in the stables of the Ram. Oh, I can’t wait. Let’s go tonight.’

  ‘Hang on, said Sky. ‘That makes three of us who have visited before and three who haven’t. What do you think we can do when we get there? Won’t the three who haven’t been to Remora need too much looking after?’

  ‘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 unheardof 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.