City of Swords (4 page)

Princess Caroline and her younger daughter left Lucia and Guido alone together in the
salone
.

‘Is there a problem with the announcement?’ asked Guido. ‘I don’t know how these things are done in Fortezza. You remember that I come from Bellezza, where Duchesse are elected.’

‘Even though your present Duchessa inherited the title when her mother died?’

‘Not inherited, was elected,’ Guido corrected her. He did not put Lucia right about the old Duchessa’s being dead; not many people knew that Silvia was still alive and living in Bellezza.

‘Well, it’s a formality, but as soon as my father has been buried, a herald comes to the balcony of the castle and must read out a decree about the succession,’ she said.

‘There will be no argument, surely?’ said Guido. ‘As you are your father’s older daughter? You are his indisputable heir under the law.’

‘There are some in Fortezza who believe that a woman should not inherit. But as long as there is no rival claimant, then yes, I will become Fortezza’s ruling Princess.’

She looked sadly at Guido and he wondered if she was just grieving for her father or for something else.

Laura was not used to having so much attention focused on her. She pulled nervously at her sleeves and answered as briefly as possible, but that didn’t matter to Nick, who pounced on her main news and told the others what he thought.

‘So it’s Fortezza,’ he said. ‘And poor old Uncle Jacopo. I mean he was a sort of cousin really but we all called him “uncle”. He was a good sort.’

‘And he is the father of the woman whose husband was killed at their wedding?’ asked Ayesha, who had joined them.

‘Yes,’ said Nick. ‘That was my brother, Carlo. They had just got married.’

‘Sorry, Nick,’ said Ayesha. ‘I keep forgetting you are related to all these people.’

‘He used to be,’ said Georgia firmly. ‘He doesn’t have any brothers in this world. Or dead uncles.’ She put her arm round him protectively.

‘Jacopo had two daughters though?’ said Isabel, trying to change the way the conversation was going. She knew that Nick was terribly conflicted still about which world he lived in.

‘Yes,’ he said calmly. ‘Lucia was married to my brother – briefly – and the younger one, Bianca, is married to my cousin, Alfonso, Duke of Volana. He’s OK.’

‘You mean all these Fortezzan di Chimici are “good” ones?’ asked Matt.

Isabel was quiet, thinking back to a few weeks ago when the Barnsbury Stravaganti had got together and compared notes on their Talian experiences. For Laura all this talk was just a blur of names. She had met only Fabio on her stravagation with the paperknife – her ‘talisman’, as her friends had called it – and he wasn’t a royal prince.

‘So are you going back tonight?’ Sky asked her.

Laura jumped. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I mean, why was I taken there? Why do you think I found this talisman? You all seem to have had something very important to do in the cities you went to.’

It had been like last-minute cramming for an unexpected exam. Ever since Isabel and Georgia had found out about the knife, Laura had been bombarded with facts about Talia, talismans, Stravaganti, di Chimici . . . It was like being given a very complicated game with no manual – only lots of experienced users all trying to tell you the rules by talking at once.

‘Any idea why Fortezza, Nick?’ asked Georgia.

He frowned. ‘None at all. What danger could there be? I’m really sorry about Jacopo, but Lucia will become the city’s ruler and there’s no threat in that.’

‘Maybe Fabrizio will try to make her marry another di Chimici?’ suggested Matt. ‘After all, Filippo is still free.’

‘Who’s Fabrizio?’ asked Laura. ‘I’m afraid I’ve forgotten.’

‘My oldest brother,’ said Nick. ‘Oh, and he is also the Grand Duke of Tuschia.’

Fabio had closed his shop for the day out of respect for Prince Jacopo, even though he often worked on Saturdays. But he lingered round it all the same. Suppose the new Stravagante returned that morning? He must be there to meet her. He felt very responsible for this vulnerable new traveller in time and space. When he had travelled to Laura’s world, he had found it bewildering and scary, and she must feel the same in his.

The rusty-haired Manoush came strolling along the Street of the Swordsmiths. Both men were at a loose end and soon went into a tavern that was almost opposite Fabio’s workshop; he could keep an eye on his doorway from there.

‘So,’ said Ludo, ‘the old Prince is dead.’

Fabio nodded. He had taken to the young Manoush when they last met but he didn’t understand why he was interested in the death of the city’s ruler. Ludo’s people did not believe in people owning or ruling any part of any land. Perhaps he was just making small talk to be friendly.

‘He was a good man,’ said the swordsmith. ‘But we have his daughter, Lucia, to take his place.’

‘And what is she like?’ asked Ludo.

‘As far as I can tell, a good person and a worthy successor,’ said Fabio.

‘But we can’t tell, can we?’ said Ludo. ‘What do ordinary people know about princes and princesses? They have their secrets and their dark sides, I’m sure.’

Fabio was a bit taken aback. ‘I dare say, but we have no reason to think ill of Princess Lucia. She seems a beautiful and tragic young woman and I’m sure that ruling this princedom will be arduous for her. But I don’t doubt she is up to the task. It is what she has been brought up to from birth, after all.’

Ludo smiled, showing his wolfish teeth. ‘I’m sure you are right,’ he said.

‘But who is this coming out of your smithy?’ he suddenly asked. ‘She does not look like a Talian.’

Fabio jumped up and crossed quickly to his workshop, cursing himself for his inattention.

Laura stood hesitantly in the doorway, her nightclothes marking her out as an alien in Fortezza. She smiled cautiously when she spotted Fabio but looked alarmed that he was with someone else. Without Fabio’s knowing how it happened, Ludo followed them both into the workshop.

‘Ludo, this is Laura – a friend of mine,’ said Fabio. He could not think what else to do.

Ludo bowed and took Laura’s hand in his; gravely he brushed her fingers with his lips.

‘I am Ludovico Vivoide, known as Ludo,’ he said. ‘And I think I know where you are from.’

Laura had no idea what to do or say with this extraordinary person. He was glamorous in a way no real male had ever seemed to her, with the charisma of a celebrity, though he was apparently just an ordinary Talian.

‘You must find her some more suitable clothes,’ he was saying to Fabio. ‘Were you not expecting a Stravagante?’

‘I did not know in advance if it would be a male or a female who found the talisman,’ said Fabio. ‘I have a dress in my
studiolo
for you, Laura.’

He thought for a moment, then turned to Ludo. ‘How do you know about the Stravaganti?’

‘I have met several,’ said Ludo. ‘Matteo, Luciano, Georgia . . .’

Laura was silent, translating the names into people she knew at school – all except the mysterious Luciano. She had been told he used to be Lucien Mulholland, but she could barely remember him and certainly didn’t understand how he now lived in another world.

Ludo was gazing at her intently. ‘Low-ra,’ he said softly, turning her name into something exotic and unrecognisable, as Fabio had.

^*

Throughout Talia the news was spreading about Jacopo’s death. For most people, whether citizens or rulers, it came from messengers who had ridden hard from Fortezza in all directions. But for a group of Talians, the members of that Brotherhood known as the Stravaganti, the message arrived more quickly, through a system of mirrors which they used to communicate.

Not all of the Brotherhood were men; there was Giuditta the sculptor in Giglia and Flavia the merchant in Classe. But in Bellezza a group including three male Stravaganti was looking into the mirrors in the Ducal Palace.

Officially Senator Rodolfo Rossi had handed over the rule of the city to his daughter, the Duchessa, after the Battles of Classe. But, although he was no longer Regent, he still lived in the palace with his wife and it was in his rooms that the group gathered to hear the news from Fortezza.

With the Senator was Doctor Dethridge, the Elizabethan alchemist who had started the whole business of stravagation, and his foster-son, Luciano, who had once been a student at Barnsbury Comprehensive in the other world.

Arianna was also there, the young Duchessa, who was going to marry Luciano, and Silvia, the old Duchessa, who had already married Rodolfo – twice! They were a strange extended family but one who got along well. Arianna was leaning over her father’s shoulder and not wearing a mask, although all unmarried women in Talia over the age of sixteen were supposed to in public.

And leaning against
her
was a large spotted cat.

In one of the mirrors was the face of Fabio.

The Prince is dead
, he was conveying to the watchers.
And the new Stravagante has arrived.

I grieve for Prince Jacopo
, Rodolfo sent back to him.
A good man, a loving father and a fair ruler.

Even though he was a di Chimici
, thought-spoke Fabio.

All in the room knew how implacably that family had pursued the Stravaganti – and not just because Luciano had killed one of them.

When a man dies, we must evaluate him for what he was, not what family he belonged to
, said Rodolfo.

Tell us about the Stravagante
, said Arianna, who was not as experienced at mirror-communicating as the others, because she was not a Stravagante herself. She could do it best when Luciano’s face was in the mirror’s glass.

It is a young woman – Laura
, said Fabio, pronouncing it in the Talian way, so that the first syllable rhymed with ‘now’.

Arianna immediately looked towards Luciano. He had known all the other-world Stravaganti so far – at least by sight.

He shook his head.‘I can’t remember any Lauras,’ he said out loud, using the English pronunciation.

And here is another thing
, said Fabio.
I don’t know if I should have prevented it but she has met one of the Manoush. And he knows what she is.

Which one?
Rodolfo and Luciano thought-spoke at the same time.

He is called Ludo
, said Fabio.
And he seems to know some of you.

We met him in Padavia
, said Luciano.
But it is too long a tale to tell now
.

Did he say what he was doing in Fortezza?

No, but I have met him twice. And he seems to have taken to Laura.

Were there others with him?
asked Rodolfo.

Not that I have seen. He seems to have travelled alone
.

That is very unusual for a Manoush
, said Rodolfo.