City of Swords (31 page)

She wants to come to the wedding.

To stravayge?

Yes. What do you think? Rodolfo said I should ask you.

Yt is a naturall wysshe for a mothire to see her sonne’s marryage in churche.

That’s more or less what she said.

Lette me thynke upon yt, sonne. It wolde notte be the fyrste tyme a stravayger from your olde worlde hadde come to Talie without being summoned in times of trouble.

You mean Alice?

Yonge Alice and othires.

And did you know Alice sold her talisman to an antiques dealer and he stravagated to Giglia by accident?

Judyth did tell mee. She sayde he semed in sympathie with some of our Ordire.

Yes, he is a good friend to the Stravaganti from our old world, thank goodness. But I feel as if the boundaries between my old world and my new are getting thinner all the time.

‘Have you heard what Vicky wants?’ asked Georgia when Laura had told them all she could about her attack.

Laura was glad to have the focus taken off her. No one in the group knew what Georgia was talking about except Nick, and he was morose and silent.

‘She wants to go to Luciano’s wedding!’

Laura noticed that Georgia never referred to him as Lucien, even though she was the only one of them who had known him in his old life. Laura herself was still feeling guilty that she had never passed his mother’s message on to him; and yet in the end he had come back because of what had happened to her. So in a way she had brought about the meeting between mother and son.

‘That’s not going to be easy, is it?’ said Isabel. ‘But I can see why she would want to.’

‘Yes, but how on earth can anyone get her there?’ said Matt. ‘It’s not as if they’re getting married in a registry office in Croydon. This will be a huge do in the cathedral of Bellezza. I doubt it would be over in one day, even if Vicky could get there.’

‘What does it matter where it is?’ asked Sky. ‘Or how grand? I bet Silvia could dress Luciano’s mother up to match the occasion. And no one needs to know who she is or where she has come from. As long as we can find a talisman for her and get the senior Stravaganti to agree.’

‘You talk as if it would be easy for Vicky,’ said Nick, drawn into the discussion against his will.

‘You don’t think it would?’ said Laura.

‘No, I don’t! I’m not talking about the talisman. I wish Luciano would stop coming here and upsetting her.’

It had been said at last.

Nick stared defiantly at the group. ‘I need more coffee,’ he said abruptly and went to join the queue.

The others looked at each other, at a loss what to say to him.

‘Poor Nick – he’s been made very restless by all this coming and going between worlds by people who have no task to perform,’ said Georgia. ‘Every time it happens he is reminded of his old life. Mortimer’s stravagation to Giglia, his family home, was the last straw.’

‘I can imagine,’ said Sky. ‘It was my city too, even if for a short while and I miss it. But I know it would drive me mad to think about it too much.’

‘We all feel something like that,’ said Matt. ‘But I can’t imagine what it must be like for Nick, who lived there with his family all his childhood.’

Nick came back over with a tray of drinks for them all. Somehow he had never quite managed to lose the habits of a prince, though here he had to play servant as well as host.

‘Sorry, everybody,’ he said. ‘I like Luciano just as much as anyone here. In fact I love him like a brother. But none of us – not Vicky, not David, not me – can settle when he comes back. It would really be easier for everyone if he just stayed dead.’

In the midst of all that was happening in Fortezza, Rodolfo had been thinking about Vicky’s request. He wasn’t quite happy about procuring a talisman for her and felt he needed more help about making a decision. After talking to Fabio, when Luciano was out of earshot, he contacted William Dethridge through his mirror.

Maestro
, he thought-spoke when he saw the old Elizabethan’s face.

Maistre Rudolphe
, replied Doctor Dethridge.
Is somme thynge amiss?

Nothing new in Fortezza. But I am worried about this request from Luciano’s mother in the other world. Is it wise to let her have her own talisman, do you think?

Whatte gives ye concerne? We have given talismannes to those who have notte bene chosen bifore.

Yes, and look what has happened! We let Alice have one and she hated what she found in Talia so much that eventually she and young Celestino were forced apart.

Thatte is trow enoghe.

And then Alice gave her talisman away – actually sold it. You heard about that?

Aye, but the persoun she solde yt to is a goodly manne from whatte I canne tell.

But suppose it had not been a good man or a man already sympathetic to the Stravaganti, even though he didn’t know that’s what they were? Suppose someone like Filippo or Ronaldo di Chimici had stravagated by accident from the future?

Ye give me muche to think on
, said Dethridge.
I wol let ye know my mynde anon.

^*

There was a disturbing hush in the city. Word had spread that Ludo was about to surrender his claim to Fortezza and that, after weeks of delay, Lucia would be crowned Princess and ruler over loyal and rebellious citizens alike.

Many of the soldiers had deserted, stripping from their uniforms the favours which would identify them as traitors, and were heading to the Rocca to throw themselves on the Princess’s mercy.

Shopkeepers were sweeping the rubble from the roads and carters were coming to collect it, hopeful that the gates would soon open and let them take it away to distant spoil heaps. It seemed as if Fortezza couldn’t wait to revert to life in peacetime and forget everything that had happened since Prince Jacopo died.

‘It won’t be as easy as that,’ said Fabio, looking out from his workshop door at the silent industry.

‘What do you think will happen?’ asked Luciano. ‘You don’t think Lucia will take vengeance on the rebels, do you?’

‘Not Lucia,’ said Fabio. ‘Though she has advisers that might recommend it. But I can’t see Fabrizio di Chimici letting the rebels go unpunished.’

‘I agree,’ said Rodolfo. ‘And that’s where we might come in.’

‘Why would he listen to us?’ asked Luciano. ‘He hates us. Especially me.’

‘He listens to Gaetano,’ said Rodolfo. ‘And I think we should try to bring Fabrizio’s feud with the Stravaganti to a peaceful end. This might be the perfect opportunity.’

^*

Over in the di Chimici camp, Fabrizio did not seem in a peaceable mood. Although he was glad the siege had ended without further loss of life on his army’s side, he was frustrated at having gathered such a great force without doing more damage to the rebels.

And as for having to let Ludo the upstart go free without any retribution . . . He was sorry that his brother, Gaetano, had persuaded him to such a lily-livered response. He would have liked to string up all the leaders of the rebellion.

It was just unlucky for Enrico Poggi that he crossed the Grand Duke’s path while Fabrizio was seething with frustrated vengeance.

The spy had relaxed his guard a little when he heard that the siege was coming to an end and was sitting in the improvised stables on a mounting-block, whittling away at a piece of wood, when the Grand Duke of Tuschia came personally to fetch his horse. Fabrizio had decided that a good run behind the battle lines would do him and his stallion good.

Enrico scrambled to get out of the di Chimici’s way, but his blue clothes and his pungent smell had given him away.

‘Guards!’ called the Grand Duke. ‘Arrest this fellow! He’s a spy and a murderer. Put him in chains till I can decide by what means he should die.’

‘We’ll go in Laura’s place,’ said Georgia. ‘Nick has been in the castle of Fortezza. He can describe it to me and we’ll stravagate together.’

Nick looked at her gratefully. And Laura was just as relieved. She just couldn’t face stravagating tonight with her arm throbbing and her head still muzzy from the disturbed sleep of the night before. It would do her good to get an early night at Isabel’s and then sleep through for nine or ten hours. She would go the next night.

‘Will you find out what you can about Ludo?’ she asked. ‘I want to know – even if it’s the worst.’

Then she groaned. ‘I have to go and see my therapist,’ she said. ‘I’d forgotten it was Thursday. We’d better get back to your house, Bel. My mum’s coming to collect me.’

Ms Jewell looked at Laura intently when she arrived for her session.

‘You’ve not been sleeping,’ she said.

‘I didn’t get up till midday today,’ said Laura, hoping to throw her off.

‘Then you didn’t get to sleep till late,’ said the therapist.

She was altogether too perceptive. Laura shrugged. But the movement caused her to wince.

‘Have you been hurting yourself?’ Ms Jewell asked.

‘No!’ Laura almost shouted. ‘I’m never going to cut myself again.’

It wasn’t till that moment that she realised what she had said really was true. Hot tears spilled down her cheeks.

Ms Jewell silently handed her a box of tissues. ‘What would you like to tell me?’ she asked.

Laura sobbed herself to a standstill. What could she tell this nice, sympathetic woman?

‘I have seen what real cutting can do,’ she said. ‘I understand now that it’s not the way to solve a problem.’

‘I’m glad to hear it,’ said Ms Jewell. ‘So what will you do instead?’