City of Flowers (21 page)

And the jeweller had a second even more secret commission: a smaller crown, for a Grand Duchess, a copy of that to be worn by her lord and master. And if he wondered who was to wear it, since the Duke was a widower, he valued his own life far too much to voice the thought. And he was going to be busy; the Duke had also ordered a choker of pearls and diamonds, a sleeve pendant in the shape of a Bellezzan mandola and two silver collars, ‘large enough for a big dog.'

‘Any particular dog, your Grace?' hazarded the jeweller. ‘Such as I might measure?'

‘They are not for dogs at all,' said Niccolò haughtily. ‘I have ordered two spotted cats from Africa; the collars are for them.'

‘It doesn't matter, really,' said Nicholas for the umpteenth time, but Georgia was inconsolable.

Sulien and Giuditta had both gone. Sky had been feeding Georgia sweet tea for shock but she was still in a terrible state.

‘I do want to go to Giglia with you, more than almost anything,' she was saying. ‘It's just that I can't give up the chance of going back to Remora and seeing Paolo and Cesare again and their family – and the horses. It was what stopped me going mad all that time when Russell was bullying me.'

The doorbell rang again and Sky went to answer it.

‘I understand, honestly,' said Nicholas. ‘I didn't mean to make it harder for you. You know I wouldn't do anything to upset you.'

Someone was following Sky into the room; it was the last person he had expected to find on his doorstep.

‘Hello, Georgia,' said Luciano.

Chapter 16

Mapping the City

The Pope was feeling testy. He was accustomed to being treated as less important than his older brother, the Duke; it had been going on all his life. But he was Pope, after all, and Prince of Remora into the bargain, and he did think he might have been consulted about the arrangements for these weddings, especially since he was going to officiate at them. Now his chaplain, his nephew Rinaldo, was telling him that he would have to travel to Giglia soon after celebrating Mass in the cathedral of Remora on Easter Sunday, in order to be there in time for a great tournament the next day.

In truth, much of his bad humour came from the fact that it was nearly four weeks into Lent and Ferdinando di Chimici hadn't had what he considered a decent meal since Shrove Tuesday. Easter Sunday's dinner was something he had been looking forward to. The Pope was a great trencherman and Lent was a sore trial to him.

‘I shall have terrible indigestion if I travel by coach after dinner on Easter Sunday,' he complained.

‘But, your Holiness,' said Rinaldo, who was well aware of his uncle's weakness, ‘you would not wish to miss any of the feasts planned by your brother the Duke. He has told me himself of the splendour and magnificence of the banquets. Perhaps if you took a light lunch after Mass on the Sunday, you could travel in comfort? I am sure the Duke will entertain you sumptuously when you reach Giglia.'

The Pope was mollified. ‘Tell me about the banquets,' he said.

Georgia was quite hysterical.

‘I know why you've come!' she hissed at Luciano. ‘They thought you could persuade me to swap talismans. I bet you've got that ram with you, and I know it's beautiful, but I'm not going to take it. It's not fair to ask me!' And all the time she was thinking, It's Luciano, after all this time, and I'm all red-faced and teary – I must look a sight.

‘I'm not going to ask you,' said Luciano calmly. ‘I came to tell you I've thought of another way. I haven't got any ram.'

His voice was husky, as if his throat hurt, and Georgia was suddenly seized with remorse, as she remembered how hard it was for him to stravagate in this direction. She wondered if he'd had to go first to his old home and whether his parents had seen him.

‘Give him some of your sweet tea,' she said to Sky. ‘He looks as if he needs it.'

Luciano accepted the tea and looked admiringly at Nicholas, while Georgia escaped to the bathroom to repair the damage done by all the crying.

‘You look amazing, Falco. I should hardly have recognised you.'

‘Thanks,' said Nicholas. ‘Do you think I'll be recognised in Giglia? I mean, I'm a whole year older than I should be, as well as being alive when I'm supposed to be dead.'

‘I think you'd be fine,' said Luciano, ‘except with members of your family. They'd know you but they'd have to see you up close.'

‘I told Sky I'd grow a beard,' said Nicholas. ‘But I can't wait for that. I want to go to Giglia tonight.'

‘Without Georgia?' asked Sky.

Nicholas paced the small kitchen. ‘Of course I don't want to go without her! But you'll be there, won't you? And it doesn't look as if she ever will.'

‘That's why I've come,' said Luciano.

Georgia came back; she was calm now and ready to listen to his idea.

‘It's simple really,' said Luciano. ‘Although we thought there wouldn't be time for you to get from Remora to Giglia and back within one night's stravagation, there's something we've all been forgetting.'

They all looked blank.

‘We've been thinking of doing it by carriage or horse, using the road between the two cities,' he continued. ‘It would take several hours each way on the sixteenth-century highway – it's not like a motorway. But the distance between Remora and Giglia is not so very great – at least, not as the horse flies.'

Georgia saw it in an instant, although the other two were a few steps behind her. She flung her arms round Luciano, no longer embarrassed, and he smiled into her radiant face.

‘Brilliant!' she said. ‘That's it! I could go to Paolo's and see Cesare and the family and then fly to Giglia on Merla. And then do the same in the opposite direction before darkness falls in Talia. I could keep my talisman and still come to Giglia!'

Now she hurled herself at Nicholas and made him dance round the kitchen with her. Everyone was grinning. Suddenly it seemed as if they were all about to embark on an exciting and glamorous holiday.

‘When can we go?' asked Nicholas.

‘Hang on,' said Sky. ‘We've got to plan this properly. If I understand it, you've both got to have proper clothes waiting at the other end and Nick's at least will have to be some sort of disguise. And how is Georgia going to land a flying horse in the middle of a city? They don't exactly have airfields in Giglia, and she hasn't been there before – how will she know where to meet us?'

That slowed everyone down a bit.

‘We can contact Paolo and tell him about Georgia going to Remora,' said Luciano. ‘Rodolfo can do it through his mirrors. And I'm sure we can make some arrangements in Giglia, but Sky's right; you can't go tonight, Falco. Your disguise and cover story are going to take a bit of planning.'

‘How about him being another novice, like me?' said Sky. ‘My black robe has a hood, which he could pull up over his face if there was anyone around who might recognise him. And Sulien could organise that.'

‘Where will I arrive?' asked Nicholas. ‘The only time I've done it before, I turned up in Paolo's stables, because my talisman was Merla's feather, but I don't know where the quill comes from.'

‘I think Sulien brought it from his cell,' said Luciano. ‘But I'll check on that and on the novice friar idea. I can tell Sky when he stravagates tonight.'

‘Oh, this is too frustrating!' said Nicholas. ‘I have the talisman and I still can't go! How long is it going to take?'

‘Not more than a day or two,' said Luciano. ‘I must tell Gaetano, and we Stravaganti need to talk about where you should go and where you should be during the weddings. And Paolo will need to organise some clothes for Georgia. Nicholas isn't the only one who has changed since he left Talia.'

Georgia felt a blush beginning. Luciano hadn't been in Remora when she and Nicholas had made their dramatic stravagation there six months ago and found that their worlds had been separated by an extra year. She knew she was no longer the awkward, flat-chested girl who had harboured a secret crush on Lucien Mulholland. The constant admiration of Nicholas and the increase in her confidence that her adventures in Remora had given her had turned her into quite a different person. In all respects but one. Just seeing Luciano sitting in Sky's kitchen, wearing the simplest white shirt he could find and undisguisably black velvet trousers, she was overtaken by a wave of the old despair. The only boy she had ever really loved was separated from her by hundreds of years and a dimensional barrier she couldn't begin to understand. And yet he had come back to tell her his idea himself, when he could have just explained it to Sky in Talia.

‘I wore one of Teresa's dresses when I went back last time,' she said quickly, to hide her feelings. ‘I expect I could do that again.'

Luciano nodded. ‘We could organise that.' He passed a hand across his face, suddenly weary. ‘I'd better get back. Can I lie on your bed, Sky, to stravagate home?'

‘Help yourself,' said Sky, showing him the way. ‘It's been like an airport terminal in there today.'

When Sulien stepped off his maze the next morning he found two colourful figures waiting silently in the pews. A young man and woman, tall, with long dark hair, wearing the vivid, be-ribboned clothing of the Manoush. Sulien gestured to them to follow him into the cloister. He hadn't met these two before but he knew others of their tribe; now he realised that the man was blind. The woman said, ‘Brother Sulien? Rodolfo sent us.'

Sulien nodded.

‘I am Raffaella,' said the woman. ‘And this is Aurelio. Rodolfo thinks you may need us.'

Before he could ask why, a rather dishevelled and tired-looking Luciano joined them; clearly he knew the Manoush. Aurelio raised his fine head towards him as soon as he heard Luciano's voice. But before they had finished exchanging greetings, Sky too had appeared. The five of them moved to Sulien's laboratory.

Luciano laid out the problems about getting Georgia from Remora to Giglia.

‘She will come on the zhou volou?' asked Aurelio. ‘We can look after the horse for her while she does whatever you need her for in the city.'

‘Where could she land?' asked Sky. ‘She doesn't know Giglia.'

‘There are fields all round the city,' said Raffaella. ‘We just need to agree a suitable place. It must be somewhere where we can keep the flying horse safely hidden until Georgia comes back for her.'

‘It also has to be somewhere she can find by easy landmarks,' said Luciano. ‘You could draw her a map, Sky, showing her what to look for.'

‘The river and the cathedral are the two main landmarks she will be able to see clearly from the sky,' said Sulien. ‘They will guide her course when she flies in from Remora.'

‘And what about the new Nucci palace?' suggested Sky. ‘I bet that's visible from quite high up.'

‘Is it safe to land near there?' asked Aurelio. ‘Is it not from the Nucci that you fear danger?'

‘From what I've heard,' said Sulien, ‘they aren't moving into that palace until the day after the di Chimici weddings. Until then they'll be living in their home near here. Besides, we have a little farm there. It used to belong to the di Chimici family but Niccolò gave it to the friary recently. Georgia's Merla could be kept safe there.'

He fetched paper and pen and unrolled a parchment with a map of Giglia on it. They all contributed ideas, until there was a rough sketch that Sky could memorise and reproduce for Georgia.

‘What about, you know, Nicholas?' he asked Sulien warily, looking at the Manoush. He didn't know quite what to make of these new people, but the friar seemed to trust them and Luciano obviously knew them.

‘Do you know what happened to Prince Falco?' Luciano asked them.