City of Swords (9 page)

‘Are you sure?’ asked Fabrizio. ‘Please do not let us cause you any inconvenience. I know you weren’t expecting us still to be here.’

‘It is no trouble,’ said Lucia. ‘But you are all looking very serious. Is there some news?’

‘No, Lucia,’ said Gaetano. ‘There will be no news till this evening. And we are all hoping it will be the right decision for you.’

Lucia smiled and backed out of the room.

‘It’s about time we decided what to do if it is the wrong decision,’ said the Grand Duke. He tightened his hold on the sword he wore at his side.

^*

Laura and Fabio were admitted to a pleasant, almost homely room in the forbidding castle. It looked like a private parlour in which the royal princesses might sit to sew and gossip.

They were still standing when Princess Lucia herself came in, accompanied by Guido Parola.

‘Oh good, you are here!’ she said. ‘Please sit down.’

She asked a footman to bring them wine and pastries, though Laura would have far preferred a cappuccino.

‘Guido has told me about you,’ said Lucia, after the refreshments had arrived and they had been through the formal introductions. ‘And about your . . . Order.’

Laura hoped Fabio would answer for them both, but the Princess was looking at her rather than the swordsmith.

‘I don’t know very much about it, Your Highness,’ she said at last. ‘I’m very new. I’ve only just arrived in the city.’

‘Please call me Lucia,’ she said. ‘Guido does. We are friends, are we not?’

Friends with a princess?
thought Laura. No one would believe this back at school – except the other Stravaganti, of course.

‘I hope so, Your . . . Lucia,’ she said. ‘But I should tell you that I have also met the Manoush and that I, that he, well, we are friends too.’

‘That’s what Guido told me,’ said Lucia. ‘I don’t blame you for that – he is my half-brother, if his story is true.’

‘But I understand,’ said Laura, ‘that whatever I was brought here to do, I must work for you to have your rights. And I don’t understand myself about the Stravaganti. Guido knows them but he is not one. And Fabio here was born and bred in Fortezza and yet he is one too.’

‘There are many of us throughout Talia,’ said Fabio, ‘and our Order grows all the time.’

‘And is mostly dedicated to defeating the di Chimici, I think,’ said the Princess. ‘So why would you be supporting my claim now?’

Laura looked at Fabio.

‘As I understand it, Your Highness,’ he said, ‘the Stravaganti and your family are not bound to be enemies. There are friendships between us as well as enmities. You have met Rodolfo of Bellezza, who is one of our most senior members.’

Lucia shivered and pulled her shawl closer around her as if she felt a sudden draught. ‘I have,’ she said. ‘He and my father worked together to restore order after the massacre in Giglia.’

Laura wondered what it must have been like to see your bridegroom murdered in the church. She shuddered herself.

‘You should know,’ continued Lucia, ‘that my father did not agree with Uncle Niccolò about our family taking over all the city-states of Talia. He was content with what we had.’

‘Really?’ asked Fabio. ‘And he would have stopped him?’

‘That I do not know,’ said Lucia. ‘But if your Brotherhood can help me to keep my title and my throne, you can be sure I will do my best to stop my cousin Fabrizio from carrying out his father’s plans.’

She stood up, slim and straight, a slight figure, but Laura could see that she had a steely resolve and would keep her word.

^*

A crowd had gathered outside the Palazzo della Signoria throughout the day. A few stragglers to start with and then more and more people until the whole square was seething with Fortezzans who had left their work, shut up their shops and headed instinctively to the place where their fate was going to be announced.

Laura was among them, standing with Guido and Fabio, unsettled by the interview with Princess Lucia. She was keeping an anxious eye on the sun, which had not long to go before setting. She did not want to be stranded in Fortezza, but equally did not want to stravagate home before the big announcement.

But as she looked around her at all the jostling people and unfamiliar faces, she couldn’t help wondering what she was doing there, so far in time and space from the life she had always known. What would it matter in Barnsbury if a city in a country that didn’t exist in her world had a princess or a prince for its ruler?

And yet, in a very short time, it had come to matter to her.

A herald came out and blew a single note on a silver trumpet.

And then the twelve members of the Signoria filed out on to the steps. The crowd was silent as a man in red, who seemed to be their leader, stepped forward, holding a parchment.

‘That’s the Signore,’ said Fabio.

The man in red cleared his throat. ‘Citizens of Fortezza!’ he said loudly.

Laura noticed there was no sign of Ludo or indeed of any di Chimici.

‘The Signoria has investigated the claim of Ludo Vivoide, the Manoush, of . . . of Talia to the throne of our city. We find as follows: said Signor Vivoide is in all likelihood the true son of our late beloved Prince Jacopo.’

There was a noise like waves crashing on the shore as the crowd released its breath all together. Some people cheered.

The Signore held up his hand.

‘We also find that said Signor Vivoide is older than Princess Lucia di Chimici by over a year.’

More cheers. It was not looking good for the Princess. Guido had his hand on his sword, Laura noticed.

‘However,’ said the Signore, ‘since Prince Jacopo was not married to Signor Vivoide’s mother and never acknowledged him as his son – indeed probably never knew he had a son – we find that, according to all our traditions and customs, we cannot accept Signor Vivoide’s claim to rule the city. Consequently, we declare that Lucia di Chimici is sovereign ruler of the principality of Fortezza and our legitimate Princess. The Claimant must leave the city by sunset tomorrow and not return within its walls.’

The crowd went mad.

Some were cheering, some were booing, all were clamouring loudly in favour of one ruler or another, shouting ‘
Viva Lucia!
’ or ‘
Viva Ludovico!
’

Laura found that she had been clenching her fists and her jaw was stiff with tension. She tried to relax and take deep breaths but all around her was mayhem.

‘Come,’ said Guido. ‘We must go to the castle.’

‘You go,’ said Fabio. ‘I must get Laura back to my workshop. Look at the sun.’

He was right. Frustrating as it was, Laura had to go with him to the Street of the Swordsmiths and stravagate home without knowing what was going to happen next.

A knocking on her bedroom door woke Laura back in her own world. She had found it very difficult to relax enough to fall asleep in Fabio’s little
studiolo
at the back of the workshop. And when she had got back to her own bed she had fallen into such a deep sleep that she now felt horribly groggy.

‘Hang on,’ she said, grabbing her dressing gown. ‘OK, come in.’

It was her mother. ‘Gracious, you were fast asleep!’ she said, taking in Laura’s tousled hair and bleary eyes. ‘Your friends are downstairs. I told them you were bound to be awake.’

‘Which friends?’ asked Laura, yawning.

‘All of them!’ said her mother. ‘You’ve become very popular all of a sudden.’

‘Tell them I’ll be down in a sec,’ said Laura, hoping a shower would help to wake her up.

Ten minutes later, showered and dressed, her curly hair frizzing up from the damp, Laura found the Barnsbury Stravaganti assembled in the kitchen, together with Ayesha. It did look like a reception committee.

Turning down her mother’s offer to make drinks for them, they all trooped off to Café@anytime, their favourite local meeting place. The owner was so used to them by now that they didn’t even have to order; he just brought their regular drinks over to their usual table.

‘Well?’ said Matt. ‘Spill! What’s the decision?’

‘For Lucia,’ said Laura, feeling suddenly tired again. ‘They said that Ludo was pretty much definitely Jacopo’s son but not legitimate, so he couldn’t inherit.’

‘So Cousin Lucia is to be ruler of Fortezza?’ said Nick. ‘She deserves it.’

‘And what does Ludo deserve?’ said Laura. ‘He didn’t ask to be born but surely he should get something.’

‘Surely if Lucia is “one of the good ones” she will give him something?’ said Isabel.

‘Is that the end of it then?’ asked Sky.

‘It can’t be – or Laura wouldn’t have been chosen,’ said Georgia.

Laura skimmed a spoonful of delicious froth off her drink.

‘I had to come home,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen next.’

Suddenly she felt that she couldn’t cope with any of it. The cup clattered back into her saucer.

‘I don’t think I can go back,’ she said.

‘It’s OK to take a night off,’ said Matt.

‘Yes,’ said Sky. ‘You must be exhausted. Have a good night’s sleep tonight and you’ll feel better.’

‘I don’t mean that,’ said Laura. ‘I think I don’t ever want to go back.’

Chapter 6

A Fresh Wound

Rodolfo Rossi was in front of his mirrors, checking in with the other Talian Stravaganti, as he did at least once a day. His face was graver than usual as he communicated with Fabio the swordsmith in Fortezza.

So Lucia is declared ruler?
he thought-spoke.
That seems as it should be
.

But there is unrest in the city
, Fabio replied.
And it’s spreading to the army.

Shall I come?
asked Rodolfo.

Not yet, Maestro, but I shall keep you informed.

Rodolfo sent a message of farewell and then started contacting the members of the Order in other city-states. It was important for them to know that they might be needed to help in a crisis.

‘What are you doing?’ asked his wife, Silvia, entering the room as he contacted the last Stravagante.

‘Preparing for whatever happens in Fortezza,’ he answered.

She came to sit beside him, resting her hand on his wrist.

‘Must we always be at war somewhere about something?’ she asked. ‘It is only weeks since our daughter escaped death in a sea battle. Are we never to have any rest? To live in peace and relative amity with other rulers?’

‘How can you ask that, you who have been Duchessa of an independent city-state and been assassinated for all the world knows?’

‘I’m just tired,’ said Silvia. ‘Now that you have handed over full rule to Arianna, I want to see her married to her Cavaliere so that we can retire to the country to grow olives and grapes.’