Sordello nodded gravely, his yellowish eyes holding hers. "He was alive
when I last saw him, Madonna."
She let out a long breath. The ache of fear in her stomach eased. Even
if the battle were lost, Daoud would manage to live through it and get
back to her. Perhaps Sordello was his messenger.
She felt safer on her feet. She pushed herself up and moved slowly
toward the door leading to the balcony outside. Downstairs, Scipio
started barking again.
"Capitano," said one of the archers. "Are we to stand here talking all
night? There is a whole town for the taking here, and we are missing our
chance."
"Hush, Juliano," said Sordello. "You see before you two very important
and wealthy followers of the late King Manfred. What they can offer us
by way of ransom will be far more than the trinkets you could pick up
raiding some merchant's home."
"Ransom?" Tilia spat. "What right does a furfante like you have to
demand ransom of me?"
"Why, Madama, is that not exactly what scoundrels do?" Sordello laughed.
He sat down in the spot Sophia had just vacated on the bed, laying his
glistening sword ostentatiously across his lap. Sophia saw that he
carried a long dagger in a sheath hung on his right side. He surveyed
them all, grinning.
_God, this is torture! If only I could find out what has happened to
Daoud._
"You have three choices, Madama Tilia," Sordello said. "You may leave
here. Outside this house you can take your chances with the victorious
warriors of Charles d'Anjou, who have fallen upon Benevento like
ravening wolves. Can you hear the screams? Or you can stay here under my
protection, and it will not cost you even one denaro. And in the morning
I will present you, all legally and properly, to King Charles, who will
be most grateful to me for the service. He is exceedingly eager to round
up all of Manfred's principal servants. Some he is beheading, some he is
hanging. You, former Eminence, will probably pay at the stake for your
heresy and witchcraft. As for you, Madama Tilia, if a rope stout enough
to hang you cannot be found, you may spend the rest of your life
shedding your excess flesh in a dungeon."
Ugolini sat hugging himself and shuddering. Tilia opened her wide mouth
to speak, seemed to think better of it, closed it again. But red coals
sparkled in her eyes.
_That's better, Tilia. Keep the anger hidden until you can use it._
But Sophia's fear for Daoud grew again at the thought that he might be
Charles's captive, awaiting execution. Why would Sordello tell her
nothing?
"Has David been captured?" she ventured, turning from the doorway to the
balcony.
Sordello smiled at her, just as Scipio downstairs broke into another
burst of furious barks. In the candlelight, Sordello's face turned a
deep orange with sudden anger.
"Find that damned dog and kill it!"
"Wait!" said Tilia. "That is Giancarlo's hound, Scipio. We put him down
in our room to guard our belongings."
"Just what I thought," said Sordello. "That is why I wish him killed."
"But he is a thoroughbred boarhound," Tilia went on, "and since it
appears Giancarlo has lost him, let him be part of our ransom. He is
easily worth several hundred florins."
"I have always loathed that dog," said Sordello. "I would gladly kill it
just to avenge myself on Giancarlo for killing the Tartars."
In the midst of her terror Sophia felt a stab of surprise. "The Tartars?
Dead? Giancarlo killed them?" Did that mean Rachel was free?
"Yes," growled Sordello. "And if I find him, I will personally repay him
by cutting him to bits, starting at his toes. For that and for the many
other injuries he has done me. But Madama Tilia is right. The hound is
doubtless worth too much money to kill. I will take it, then." He
gestured to his two men. "Have these two display their possessions for
you. Do not harm the dog. Or them, for that matter. I want them back
here intact when you are done, so I know I am getting an honest
inventory."
"I do not know whether we can satisfy you," said Tilia. "We did not
bring everything we own with us. If you would help us get to Lucera, we
could make you princely rich."
Sordello leaned back and crossed his legs. "But Lucera is far from here,
and there may not be time for us to collect what you have there. In a
few days King Charles will unleash his locusts and scorpions far and
wide throughout this land--his bailiffs and judges and clerks and tax
collectors and men-at-arms--to lay hold of every speck of gold and chip
of precious stone. For now, please help my men collect what you have
with you. I am sure you have plenty. That cross on your handsome bosom,
for instance. I suspect a man might buy himself a small castle with
that." He reached out, and Tilia stepped back, but into the grip of one
of the archers.
Tears sprang from her eyes and trickled down her painted cheeks. "Please
let me keep it just a little longer. If I must part with it, in the end
I will, but it is very dear to me."
Sordello waved grandly. "For now, then. Go now with these fellows. And
mind you, hold nothing back. They are Venetians. You can't hide anything
valuable from a Venetian."
Indeed, thought Sophia, remembering tales of how the Venetians had
looted her beloved Constantinople years ago. As she watched the
shuffling Ugolini and the dauntless Tilia leave with Sordello's two men,
she felt her knees trembling so hard under her gown that she could
barely stand.
She would be alone with Sordello.
"Be wary of the dog," Sordello called after his archers. "But be careful
not to hurt it."
"Sì, capitano." The door closed with a thump.
"And now, Sophia," said Sordello, lifting the sword from his lap and
laying it carefully on the bed, "we settle accounts."
"I do not know what you mean by accounts," said Sophia, making her voice
as cold and forbidding as she could. "But before anything else, the
truth, if you can manage it. I have seen you serving Simon, and I have
seen you serving David, and now you say you are on the side of Charles
d'Anjou. Who do you truly serve?"
Sordello stretched his booted legs and crossed them, leaning back in the
chair. "Myself, Andrea Sordello, of course. Men may command part of me,
but only I own all of me. In the beginning I was to serve Simon,
reporting secretly to Anjou. In Orvieto David was my master. He offered
me--a rich reward. But then he threatened to kill me. I fled Orvieto,
following Simon. After that I was mostly Simon's man. A little bit
David's man. I sent him information from Perugia and Viterbo, and he
sent me money. But first, last, and always, my own man."
"Why are you here, then?" Sophia let her hand rest on the door handle as
if she might rush out on the balcony and call for help. She hoped
Sordello would expect her to do that rather than try to use a weapon on
him.
Sordello stood up, smiling. "Madonna, you are not aware how I have
suffered because of you. Suffered with longing. You owe me much for
that." He strolled over to the fire, picked up a big log from the pile
next to the hearth, and set it on the burning wood.
_Oh, may God shrivel his phallos!_ Sophia felt her stomach burn at the
idea of this repulsive man lusting after her. She turned quickly, facing
the balcony door, so that he could not see her grope in the bag at her
belt for the tiny crossbow and the box of darts Daoud had given her. How
quickly, she asked herself, could she take the crossbow out, get a
poisoned dart from the box without scratching herself, load it, draw the
bow, aim and shoot?
_He could be across the room and tearing the thing out of my hands
before I got all that done._
Helplessness made her tremble.
Having made sure of the location of crossbow and darts, she turned to
him again, gripping the skirt of her gown to hide the shaking of her
hands. "If you find me attractive, I am flattered, of course, but it is
no fault of mine."
"You do not wish to escape from Benevento? You wish to be turned over to
King Charles's judges?"
"I have nothing to fear from them."
He bared his broken teeth. "Do you think they will have trouble finding
something to accuse you of? Not if I tell them what I know." Then he
raised a finger. "It was David of Trebizond who told me where to find
you. And you keep asking about him. I always suspected, when I was
serving David at Cardinal Ugolini's, that there must be something
between you two."
"If there is any spark of mercy in you at all, do not play with me like
this. Tell me if he is alive."
She wanted to seize him by the arm, but she was afraid to get too close
to him.
The light of the one candle in the room cast shadows like black blots on
Sordello's grinning face. "Play with you? Ah, but if there is a spark of
mercy in _you_, then you will play with me. _Then_ I will tell you
everything you want to know. Being alone with you like this, I burn so
with desire, I would do anything, good or evil, to possess you."
Scipio's thunderous barks, bursting out suddenly, made her jump. She
heard male voices cry out, alarmed, then Scipio's rumbling snarls. Then
silence.
Sordello glowered at the floor. "God's beard! I almost hope they did
kill that brute."
To distract him a little longer from herself, Sophia said, "You had
better hope Scipio does not hurt _them_."
"What do I care if they suffer a few bites? The dog is worth more than
they are." He looked up at her. "Do you know anything about journeys to
paradise?"
"I do not know what you are talking about." Was that a name for some
carnal pleasure he wanted to have with her?
"Come away from that balcony door," Sordello said.
"The air is fresher here." From the street she heard swords clanging,
men screaming and cursing, and hooves pounding. There was fighting
nearby.
"Our French friends, quarreling over their loot," said Sordello. "Do you
stand by the balcony door because you fancy being rescued from _me_ by
_them_? They are animals, like that dog downstairs. What I feel for you
is far more profound than the desire to rape some conquered woman. I am
a trovatore, after all. I will prove it to you. Just let me see you
unclothed. Like Mother Eve. I will not touch you. Undress yourself, and
I will tell you what you want to know about the man called David."
She wanted to spit in his face. She was desperate to know what he could
tell her, but even if he did tell her about Daoud, how could she put any
trust in him? If Daoud was alive he would find his way to her, or she to
him. She had nothing to gain by cooperating with Sordello.
"You disgust me!" she cried. "I wish you were not even able to see my
face, let alone the rest of me." And she turned away from him, her hand
dipping into the leather bag.
She heard his heavy footsteps thudding on the wooden floor. And another
outburst of barking from below.
"I wanted you to give yourself to me willingly," Sordello said. "But if
you refuse me, I will take you. And while I am doing it, I will tell you
about the man David."
Terror seized her and shook her as if she were a rag doll. The way that
filthy pig said that--it must mean something bad had happened to Daoud.
She felt paralyzed by fear and grief.
Then, sudden rage made her want to strike out at this man who was
hurting her so. She had the box of darts open now. She must be very
careful of the poisoned tips.
The door to the room crashed open.