City of Swords (28 page)

He lunged at her, drawing the short sword from his belt.

‘No!’ shouted Ludo, who had not seen Laura till that moment.

He flung himself on Riccardo, hurling him to the floor, but it was too late to stop him from hurting Laura.

The dark-haired Stravagante stood swaying, looking at the blood coursing down her arm.

‘Laura!’ cried Ludo, reaching to clasp her to him.

But even as he touched her, Laura smiled sadly at him and disappeared.

And woke in the bed next to Isabel’s, dripping blood and with her arm throbbing. It was so much worse than anything she had ever done to herself. Her gasp of pain woke Isabel, who could not for the moment think what was going on.

‘Hide the talisman,’ Laura said, clenching her teeth against the pain.

Isabel was still half asleep, but she took the little sword and buried it in her chest of drawers under a pile of underwear. She noticed there was no blood on the blade and felt relieved.

‘What happened?’ she said, looking appalled at Laura’s right arm, which she was clutching with her left. The bright blood was seeping out from under her fingers.

‘Ludo’s bodyguard,’ said Laura. ‘But no one’s going to believe that, are they?’

Realisation sank in for Isabel. It was obvious they were going to have to get help for Laura’s wound. But how could she tell her parents what had happened? And would Laura’s parents believe she hadn’t done it to herself?

‘What shall I do?’ asked Laura. ‘It hurts like hell.’

‘Wait, let me think,’ said Isabel. ‘Perhaps Vicky would help us?’

She rummaged for her phone.

‘But I don’t know if we’ll get away with it.’

Ludo had Riccardo in a headlock.

‘What did you do that for, you fool? Laura is my – my dearest friend.’

‘I’m sorry, Capitano,’ the guard choked. Ludo released him. ‘I didn’t know. But there is no way she could have got into the room without my knowing. She just . . . appeared out of nowhere. And she was holding a dagger. I had to protect you. It’s my job.’

Ludo groaned and put his head in his hands.

‘She is the last person in the world I would want to see hurt,’ he said. ‘I can understand you were just doing what you thought was right, but to see her covered in blood! And if I hadn’t stopped you, you’d have killed her!’

‘But, Capitano, where is she now?’ Riccardo gestured to the bloodstains on the carpet.

Ludo could not answer him. He wished he knew.

‘It’s not natural,’ said the guard. ‘There is some evil magic at work here. And I must say one more thing.’

Ludo looked at him wearily.

‘I think your “friend” is a spy,’ he said. ‘I saw her on the walls of the Rocca with the Princess and her guard when I was coming back here from my guardhouse the day before yesterday.’

Ludo looked up.

‘I don’t know how she could have got inside, Capitano, any more than I know how she could have got in here unseen. But believe me, she is not to be trusted.’

Chapter 17

Complications

The doctor in A & E had Laura’s notes by the time they got to see him.

‘Self-harmer,’ he said, not unsympathetically.

‘But not this time,’ said Laura. ‘I swear it.’

She was desperately afraid that he would tell her parents and that she would be locked up somewhere without her talisman.

But fortunately the doctor, who was new to Bart’s, assumed Vicky was Laura’s mother and addressed her as Mrs Reid. She didn’t correct him.

‘For what it’s worth, I believe her,’ said Vicky.

‘So do I,’ said the doctor. ‘It says here that Laura is right-handed and her last wound was typically on her left arm. This one is on her right – a defence wound to protect her face or chest.’

Laura slumped with relief, even though her arm was still hurting unbearably.

‘So it was an attack,’ said the doctor. ‘Have you called the police?’

‘No!’ said Laura and Vicky simultaneously.

‘But why not? Did Laura know her attacker?’

‘No,’ said Laura truthfully. She didn’t remember ever seeing Ludo’s bodyguard before. ‘He disappeared afterwards.’

That was not strictly speaking true. It was Laura who had gone away; fainting in Talia while holding the talisman had brought her straight back to London.

‘But you could describe him?’ asked the doctor.

Male, around twenty, about five foot ten, black hair, brown eyes, dressed in sixteenth-century armour
, thought Laura.

‘No,’ she said out loud. ‘It was dark.’

‘But you must report it,’ said the doctor. ‘The police need to know exactly when and where it happened so they can keep an eye out for your attacker. You know how bad knife crime is in some parts of London. Mind you, I didn’t think it was such a problem in Islington.’

‘You’re right, of course,’ said Vicky. ‘We’ll let the police know. But for now, can you just get on with patching her up? She’s in a lot of pain.’

‘Of course, Mrs Reid. Now, Laura, I’m going to give you a nerve block and that will stop the pain. You were lucky he just missed an artery.’

You are never to do that again
, raged Arianna into the mirror.
You must promise me not to go back into the di Chimici army
.

Luciano held up his hands.
I won’t, I promise. I have set up a mirror with Gaetano and I shan’t need to go back
.

It wasn’t what she wanted to hear. She wanted him to promise because she had asked him, not because his mission had been accomplished.

How is Rodolfo?
she asked.

Much better.

Luciano did not tell her about the exchange of cannon fire, which had made Fortezza so much more dangerous a place to be, whether within or without the walls.

Silvia wants to see him
, Arianna sent to him.
But you should know that I haven’t finished being cross with you!

Luciano smiled. He understood Arianna’s frustration at being cooped up in Bellezza while all the action was going on in another city. And he imagined Silvia felt the same.

He handed the mirror to Rodolfo and turned away to find Fabio. ‘Where is Laura?’ he asked.

‘She hasn’t been here today,’ said Fabio. ‘Perhaps the cannon assault was too much for her?’

‘Have you checked with the castle?’ asked Luciano. ‘She might have gone straight there.’

Fabio shook his head. ‘No. I’ll have to wait for Rodolfo to finish with the mirror.’

Like someone waiting to use a computer
, thought Luciano.

But before they could contact the castle, a messenger came from Ludo, not to collect weapons from Fabio but to hand him a note.

Laura was wounded by my bodyguard
, the hastily scrawled message read.
She just disappeared. Tell me if you hear anything of her. Ludo.

‘She must have lost consciousness,’ said Luciano. Rodolfo joined them.

‘Is there a reply?’ the messenger asked.

They showed Rodolfo the note. He pushed the hair away from the wound on his forehead, which was itching.

‘Say we have not seen her,’ he said, ‘but tell him not to worry.’ He turned to Luciano.

‘I must go, mustn’t I?’ said Luciano. ‘To find out what’s happened to her.’

At the Evans house there was a lot of surreptitious activity. Once Isabel had phoned Nick and got Vicky to agree to take Laura to the hospital, a massive clean-up operation had been needed. Isabel had bundled up sheets and towels and taken them down to the utility room, blessing the fact that the washing machine was so far away from where her parents slept.

But she had woken Charlie up.

‘What’s going on?’ he asked, ambling into the kitchen in his trackpants. ‘Why are you doing the washing in the middle of the night? Did you wet the bed?’

Isabel punched him.

‘No, seriously,’ he said, rubbing his arm. ‘Are you OK?’

Isabel thought for a split second about keeping him in the dark, but realised it might be useful to have another ally in the house.