XIII

Simon stood shifting from foot to foot in the graveled yard before the

palace of Pope Urban. An Italian cardinal had just arrived with his

retinue of bishops, monsignori, priests, and monks, and Simon knew it

would be some time before the procession passed all the guards and the

majordomo at the main door.

Alain de Pirenne, beside him, said in a low voice, "I still can't

believe it. We are about to attend a council called by the pope

himself." His blue eyes were huge, and his fair skin was flushed with

excitement. He was dressed in his best, an azure tunic with silver

embroidery at the sleeves and collar, and on his feet poulaines, black

deerskin shoes whose elongated toes came to points. The hilt of the

longsword hanging at his waist was plain, but Simon knew it had been in

the Pirenne family for generations.

"Do not believe it yet, Alain," Simon said wryly. "We were not invited,

and we have not yet been let in."

"Surely they would not keep out so great a seigneur as you," said Alain.

"Especially when you have been faithfully protecting the Tartars for a

month."

"Well, that is what I am counting on," Simon said.

They stood inside a high wall of cream-colored tufa, the same rock on

which Orvieto stood. The wall, topped with square battlements,

surrounded the papal palace. Simon's gaze swept beyond the wall toward

the bluish tops of nearby hills, wreathed in morning mist, then back to

the row of pine trees that stood between the wall and the palace, the

massed green of the needles almost so dark as to appear black. The

palace itself, fortified by six square turrets, was of white limestone.

It must have cost the papal treasury a fortune, Simon thought, to haul

all those big blocks up here. Within this solid edifice, surrounded by

this high wall, atop the impregnable mesa of Orvieto, the Holy Father

was certainly well protected.

The last monk in his gray gown had passed the guards at the door, and

Simon saw more clergymen massing at the outer gate. He took a deep

breath and started up the stairs, de Pirenne hurrying behind him. He

reminded himself, _I am the Count de Gobignon_.

He said as much to the majordomo, who stood before him in white silk

tunic with the keys of Peter embroidered in black on the left breast.

"Ah, Your Signory, I saw your brave battle in the cathedral with that

heretic assassin." The majordomo had a prominent upper lip that made him

look like a horse. "A thousand welcomes to the palace of His Holiness. I

will be happy to tell him that you are attending the council." He showed

big yellow teeth in an unctuous grin.

Then his face fell as he looked down at Simon's belt. "I regret, Your

Signory, but you may not wear your sword in the palace of the pope. Even

though you wielded it most gloriously in His Holiness's service. Only

the papal guards may bear arms within. A thousand pardons, but you must

take it off. You may leave it with the capitano of the guard if you

wish."

Simon's face burned with embarrassment as he realized he was going to

have to disappoint Alain. The scimitar was one of his most precious

possessions, and he would not entrust it to a stranger, even a stranger

in the service of the pope. With a sigh he unbuckled his belt and handed

it, with his dagger and the jewel-handled scimitar, to de Pirenne.

"If only I had thought to bring Thierry with us," he said. "Forgive me,

Alain, but would you be good enough to take these back to the Palazzo

Monaldeschi? Then you can meet me back here."

"Forgive _me_, Your Signory!" the majordomo interjected. "I am desolate,

but His Holiness himself has commanded that no one is to enter after the

council begins."

Simon felt angry words forcing their way to his lips. But he clamped his

mouth shut. This was, after all, the court of the Vicar of Christ on

earth, and he did not dare protest against its customs. He had the

reputation of France to think of. These Italians already thought the

French were all barbarians.

"I knew it was too good to be true," de Pirenne said with a rueful smile

as he turned away. "I will be waiting for you in the yard outside,

Monseigneur."

Simon shared his friend's unhappiness. This would have been something

for Alain to remember for the rest of his life.

"Bring our horses," Simon said. "We can go riding in the country after

the council is over." Alain's downcast face brightened at that. Simon

knew that Alain, born and reared in a country castle, hated being cooped

up in town.

Simon turned away, feeling dread at having to go into the papal court

alone.

* * * * *

The great hall of the pope's palace was long, high, narrow, and shadowy.

Even though it was a sunny day outside, the small windows of white glass

on both sides of the room admitted insufficient light, and had to be

supplemented by a double row of three-tiered chandeliers, each bearing

dozens of candles. The pope could have saved himself the cost of a great

many candles, Simon thought, if he had built his great hall in the new

style, like the king's palace in Paris, with buttresses that allowed for

much larger windows.

But this was Italy, he reminded himself, where there was war in the city

streets, even war against the pope. Large glass windows would offer poor

protection. The King of France did not have such worries.

At the far end of the room a long flight of marble steps swept up to an

enormous gilded throne, empty at present. Down the center of the steps

ran a purple carpet, and over the carpet lay a wide strip of white

linen.

Two rows of high-backed pews faced each other on either side of the

throne. Between them was a table laid with rolls of parchment, an

inkstand, and a sheaf of quills. The pews were as yet empty, but around

them stood cardinals in bright red robes with flat, broad-brimmed red

hats--some of them Simon remembered seeing at the cathedral two weeks

before. Farther removed from the throne and more numerous were the

purple-robed archbishops and bishops. Scattered around the hall were

priests, monks, and friars in black, white, brown, and gray. There must

be nearly a hundred men in the room, Simon guessed. The air was filled

with a buzz of conversation.

He felt the hollow in his stomach and the trembling in his knees that

disturbed him whenever he entered a roomful of strangers. And these

strangers were, most of them, the spiritual lords of the Church. He

looked for a place where he could stand inconspicuously. He dared not

speak to anyone. He felt as if a frown from one of these men would be

enough to send him into disordered retreat.

And suddenly before him there was the frowning face of Cardinal Paulus

de Verceuil. The wide red hat with its heavy tassels seemed precariously

balanced on his head. His gold pectoral cross was set with emeralds and

rubies. The buttons that ran down the front of his scarlet cassock,

Simon noticed, were embroidered with gold thread.

"What the devil are you doing here?"

Simon cast about wildly in his mind for a sensible answer. Nothing he

could say, he was sure, would win this cardinal's approval.

"I--I feel it is important that I know what is decided here, Your

Eminence."

"These deliberations are no business of yours. Your duty is to protect

the ambassadors. You have deserted your post."

Stung, Simon wished de Verceuil were not an ordained priest and a prince

of the Church, so that he could challenge him. That he could do nothing

about de Verceuil's accusation infuriated him.

"The Tartars are safely at the Monaldeschi palace guarded by all of our

knights and men-at-arms. When Count Charles d'Anjou laid this task upon

me, I understood that I was to help advance the alliance with the

Tartars. I cannot do that if I am kept in ignorance." After a pause he

added, "Your Eminence."

That was almost as good as a challenge. Simon felt light-headed, and his

limbs tingled. He wanted to raise his arms and shake his fists.

De Verceuil's face turned a deep maroon, but before he could speak, a

figure also in cardinal's red appeared beside them.

"Paulus de Verceuil! Is this not the young Count de Gobignon, Peer of

the Realm? You are remiss, mon ami. You should have realized that the

French cardinals here in Orvieto would wish to meet one of France's

greatest barons."

This cardinal had a long black beard, and eyes set in deep hollows. He

could easily have presented a dour figure, but stood smiling with his

hands clasped over a broad stomach.

De Verceuil took several deep breaths, and his cheeks returned to their

normal color. "Monseigneur the Cardinal Guy le Gros, I present the Count

Simon de Gobignon," he said in a sour monotone.

Simon immediately dropped to one knee and bent his head toward the ring

the cardinal held out to him. The stone, as big as Cardinal le Gros's

knuckle, was a spherical, polished sapphire with a cross-shaped

four-pointed star glowing in its center. Holding the cardinal's cold,

soft hand, Simon touched the gem lightly with his lips.

_I believe I am supposed to gain an indulgence from kissing this ring_,

he thought. He rose to his feet. He tried to remember what he knew about

Guy le Gros. He had heard a bit about each of the fourteen French

cardinals. Le Gros, he recalled, had been a knight and a prominent

lawyer, ultimately a member of the king's cabinet. Then he had joined

the clergy. He had been the first cardinal elevated by Pope Urban.

"Doubtless you knew Count Simon's late father," said de Verceuil to le

Gros. "Since you served as a counselor to the king."

Simon wanted to shrink out of sight at the reminder of Amalric de

Gobignon. De Verceuil had mentioned him out of deliberate cruelty, Simon

was certain. He felt even more crushed when he saw the pained look that

passed briefly over Cardinal le Gros's features.

"Oh, yes, I met your father many years ago," said le Gros, his light

tone reassuring Simon a bit. "He was a tall man like you, but blond, as

I recall."

The suggestion that he did not resemble Amalric de Gobignon chilled

Simon.

"As a father of unmarried daughters, Cardinal le Gros," de Verceuil

said, "you might be interested to know that the count has no wife."

Le Gros shrugged and smiled at Simon. "His Eminence never misses an

opportunity to remind me that I was once a family man. Perhaps Paulus

envies my wider experience of life."

"Not at all!" de Verceuil protested.

"Or perhaps he thinks it a scandal that a cardinal should have

daughters," said le Gros, still addressing Simon. "At least mine are

legitimate, unlike the offspring of certain other princes of the Church.

As for the high office, it was not my choice. His Holiness commanded

me." He leaned confidentially toward Simon. "He needed more French

cardinals. He cannot trust the Italians to support him against the

accursed Manfred von Hohenstaufen."

"Even more than that, he was hoping you could persuade King Louis to

give his brother Charles permission to fight Manfred," said de Verceuil.

"You failed him in that."

"That case is not closed," said le Gros. "Indeed, what we do here today

may lead directly to the overthrow of the odious Manfred, as I am sure

you both understand." He smiled, first at Simon, then at de Verceuil.

"But should we not be speaking Latin, the mother tongue of the Church?

Some lupus might be spying on us."

In Latin de Verceuil answered, "I fear Count Simon would be unable to

follow us."

"Not at all, domini mei," Simon cut in quickly, also in Latin. "I have

had some instruction in that language." His many and often quarreling

guardians had agreed at least that he should have an education far

superior to that of most other great barons. Having studied for two

years at the University of Paris, Simon had once been the victim of a

lupus, a wolf, an informer who reported students for breaking the

university rule that Latin must be spoken at all times. The fine he paid

was negligible, but his embarrassment was keen.

"Good for you, my boy," said le Gros, patting him lightly on the

shoulder. De Verceuil's lips puckered as if he had been sucking on a

lemon.

A sudden blast of trumpets silenced the conversation in the hall.

Servants swung open double doors near the papal throne, and two men

entered. One was Pope Urban, whom Simon had not seen since the day of

that ill-omened papal mass for the Tartar ambassadors. His white beard

fanned in wispy locks over his chest. The mouth framed by his beard was

compressed, and his eyes were hard. Simon knew that he had been born

Jacques Pantaleone at Troyes in France, not far from Gobignon, and was a

shoemaker's son. Only in the Church could a man from such a humble

beginning rise to such high position. Urban had the face of a man who

could cut the toughest leather to his pattern.

Age had bent the pope somewhat, and he leaned on the shoulder of a man

who walked beside him. This man was so unusual a figure that he drew

Simon's attention away from Pope Urban. Like the Holy Father, he was

wearing white, but it was the white robe of a Dominican friar, and it

curved out around his belly like the sail of a galley with the wind

behind it. He was partially bald, his face round as a full moon, and his

eyes, nose, and mouth were half buried in flesh the sallow color of new

wheat. He nodded repeatedly in response to something the pope was

earnestly saying to him.

"Who is _that_?" Simon whispered, earning himself a black look from de

Verceuil.

"Fra Tomasso d'Aquino," said Cardinal le Gros. "I am told he is the

wisest man alive. Papa Pantaleone has appointed him to conduct this

inquiry, unfortunately."

"Why unfortunately, dominus meus?"

"Bad enough for us that d'Aquino is Italian, he is also a relative of

the Hohenstaufens. His older brothers have served both Frederic and

Manfred."

"A relative of the Hohenstaufens!" de Verceuil exclaimed loud enough for

two nearby bishops to turn and stare at him. "How can His Holiness trust

such a man?"

"Fra Tomasso is not _that_ close a relative," said le Gros. "Papa

Pantaleone hates the Hohenstaufens more than anyone. Have they not

forced him to immure himself here in the hills, when he should by rights

be reigning in Rome? And yet he favors Aquino because Aquino is loyal to

the Church and well informed. Come, let us find our seats." They walked

together toward the pews near the papal throne.

And Simon was suddenly standing alone at the back of the congregation.

Standing at the foot of the steps leading up to his throne, Pope Urban

turned, smiled, and spread his hands in benediction. He intoned a prayer

beginning, "Dominus Deus," very rapidly in Latin and followed with

greetings to all present. He mentioned each cardinal, archbishop, and

bishop by name, then several distinguished abbots and monsignori. His

white beard fluttered as he spoke.

Then Simon heard, "And we greet with joy our countryman, Simon, Count de

Gobignon, who bears one of France's most ancient and honored names."

A stunning brightness blinded Simon, as if lightning had struck right in

front of him. _Ancient and honored!_ In front of so many leaders of the

Church. If at this moment some hidden enemy were to shoot an arrow at

the pope, Simon would have leapt to take it in his own breast with joy.

_What magnanimity!_ Simon thought. He remembered the majordomo saying he

would tell the pope Simon was there. He looked to see how de Verceuil

had reacted to the pope's singling him out, but the cardinal was hidden

somewhere in the rows of red-hatted figures lined up in their pews on

either side of the pope. Simon noticed other prelates staring at him,

then turning away as he looked at them, and his face went hot.

Meanwhile the pope was talking about the Tartars. "We must soon decide

whether it be God's will that Christian princes join with the Tartars

and aid them in their war against the Saracens, or whether we should

forbid this alliance with pagans. We shall have a private audience later

this week with the two ambassadors from Tartary. But today we ask your

counsel. So that all may speak freely, we have expressly not invited the

Tartar emissaries. We ask God to help us make a wise decision." He

introduced Fra Tomasso d'Aquino.

To Simon's surprise, Pope Urban did not then ascend to his throne but

instead came down, disappearing into the midst of his counselors. The

cardinals sat in their pews. The lesser dignitaries sat on smaller

chairs in rows facing the throne. When everyone was in place, Simon

could see Pope Urban in a tall oaken chair at the foot of the steps.

There was no chair for Simon, even though the pope had greeted him by

name. No matter, many of the lesser clergy also remained standing. He

pressed forward through the crowd until he was just behind the seated

men so that he could see and hear better.

The corpulent Fra Tomasso took his place behind the table in a heavy

chair wider than the pope's, though its back was not as high. He called

for Cardinal Adelberto Ugolini. The cardinal, a tiny man with flowing

side whiskers and a receding chin, stood up at his place in the pews. He

in turn summoned from the audience a knight called Sire Cosmas.

Sire Cosmas, an elderly man, walked stiffly to the pope and knelt before

him. Ugolini told the assembly that Cosmas had seen and fought the

Tartar invaders in his native Hungary and was driven from his home by

them.

_The Tartars have long since withdrawn from Hungary_, Simon thought.

_Why did Sire Cosmas never go back there?_

Sire Cosmas was lean and dark, with gray hair that fell to his

shoulders. Over scarlet gloves he wore many rings that flashed as he

gestured.

"They came without warning and all at once, like a summer cloudburst,"

the Hungarian said. "One moment we were at peace, the next the lines of

Tartar horsemen darkened the eastern horizon from the Baltic to the

Adriatic."

Sire Cosmas's Latin was very good, fast and fluent.

Simon stood transfixed as Cosmas described the fall of one Russian city

after another, how the Tartars leveled Riazan, Moscow, and Kiev and

butchered all their people. They would gather all the women, rape them,

and cut their throats. The men they cut in two, impaled on stakes,

roasted, flayed alive, used as archery targets, or suffocated by

pounding dirt down their throats. The details of the atrocities sickened

Simon. On into Poland the Tartars came.

Cosmas's tale of the trumpeter of Krakow, who kept sounding the alarm

from the cathedral tower until Tartar arrows struck him down, brought

tears to Simon's eyes.

Simon found the Hungarian's recital spellbinding. Cosmas had undoubtedly

repeated his account many times, polishing his storytelling skills a

little more with each occasion. It was probably easy and perhaps

profitable for him to remain in western Europe telling and retelling, in

great halls and at dinner tables, his adventures with the Tartars.

_How much is Cardinal Ugolini paying him for this performance?_

The flower of European chivalry engaged the Tartars at Liegnitz in

Poland, Sire Cosmas said, and when the battle was over, thousands of

knights from Hungary, Poland, Germany, Italy, France, England, and as

far away as Spain lay dead and dying on the field and the Tartars were

triumphant. They turned then to meet another mighty Christian army, that

of King Bela of Hungary, at Mohi.

"I fought in that battle," Cosmas declared. "The dog-faced Tartars

bombarded us with terrible weapons that burst into flame and gave off

poisonous smoke, so that men died of breathing it. We advanced against

them and discovered that we were surrounded. Their pitiless volleys of

arrows slowly reduced our numbers all that long day. In the late

afternoon we saw their columns gathering for a charge, but we also saw a

gap in their line. Many of us, myself among them, rushed for that gap,

throwing down our arms and armor so we could escape more quickly. It was

a devilish trick. The Tartar heavy cavalry fell upon those who remained

behind, now few in number, and slaughtered all. The light cavalry rode

along the flanks of those who retreated, shooting them down till bodies

in their thousands littered the road. I was one of the few who, by God's

grace and by feigning death, lived."

The Tartars advanced to the Danube, he went on, burning everything,

killing all the people in towns and villages. They burned Pest to the

ground. On Christmas Day in the year 1241 the Danube froze hard. The

Tartars crossed and destroyed Buda. They advanced into Austria. Tartar

columns were sighted from the walls of Vienna. Europe lay helpless

before them.

"Only the hand of God saved us. He willed that at that very moment the

emperor of the Tartars in their far-off homeland should die," Sire

Cosmas concluded. "All the kings and generals of the Tartars had to

depart from Europe, with their armies, to choose their next emperor.

Those parts of Poland and Hungary they had occupied, they left a dead,

silent desert.

"Since then the Tartars have made war on the Saracens, which pleases us,

of course. But is the enemy of our enemy truly our friend? Permit me to

doubt it, good Fathers. We are no better able to fight the Tartars now

than we were after Mohi. I urge you to let the Tartars and Saracens wear

themselves out fighting each other. Let us not help the Tartars with

their distant wars, losing knights and men we might later need to defend

Europe against those devils themselves."

Sire Cosmas's words chilled Simon. He felt himself almost persuaded that

the Tartars were a menace to the world. It might be a grave error to

work for an alliance with them. And yet, for the sake of his family he

had accepted this mission. He could not back down now. Uneasily he

rubbed his damp palms on his tunic.

There was a murmur of conversation as Sire Cosmas finished and bowed.

Fra Tomasso, scribbling notes on a parchment, looked up and asked, "Did

you say that the Tartar soldiers have the faces of dogs, Sire Cosmas?"

Cosmas shook his head, looking himself somewhat sheepish, Simon thought.

"We spoke of them so because their pointed fur caps made them look like

dogs."

"I wondered, because Aristotle writes of men with animals' heads living

in remote regions," said the stout Dominican. He made a note.

Cosmas brightened. "They do eat the flesh of living prisoners. And I

hope I may not offend your chastity by telling you this, but they slice

off the breasts of the women they rape and serve them as delicacies to

their princes. Raw."

Simon thought of John and Philip and wondered whether they had ever done

such horrible things. He wished he had learned more about the Tartars

before agreeing to pursue this cause.

"To hear of such deeds is not likely to cause concupiscent movements in

normal men," said Fra Tomasso dryly. "Have you seen such abominations

with your own eyes?"

"No," said Cosmas, "but I heard it from many people when the Tartars

were invading us."

"Thank you," said d'Aquino, making another note. He put his quill down

and started to heave his bulk up from his chair. Cardinal Ugolini darted

past him, resting his hand momentarily on d'Aquino's shoulder, and the

Dominican settled back down again.

That cardinal looks just like a fat little mouse, Simon thought. One of

the Italians. And it was he who had brought this Sire Cosmas to speak

against the Tartars. He might well be a key opponent of the alliance.

What would it take to change his mind?

Ugolini beckoned toward the audience, and a tall blond man came forward

now to stand beside him.

_I have seen him before_, Simon thought. _Where?_

"Holy Fathers," said Ugolini, "Providence sends us this man, David of

Trebizond, a trader in Cathayan silks. He has traveled in recent years

among the Tartars. David speaks Greek but not Latin. I will translate

what he says."

Simon remembered at last where he had seen David of Trebizond. Standing

on a balcony and looking pleased as the people rioted against the Tartar

ambassadors. And now here to speak against the alliance.

The back of his neck tingling, Simon thought, _This man is an enemy_.