David (29 page)

At my next meeting with the
compagnacci
, the atmosphere was charged.

‘We have heard from Giovanni,’ whispered Gherardo, who now seemed to consider me a friend.

‘Have we?’ I said, a little mockingly; it had been only a matter of weeks that this young cousin of Monna Lisa had been in the conspirators’ confidence.

It was lost on him. ‘The Cardinal is going to have a secret meeting with Altobiondi and Visdomini,’ said Gherardo.

This was some progress at last.

‘Gabriele,’ said Altobiondi, coming to greet me, ‘I see you have heard our news. We are to ride out and meet the new head of the de’ Medici family.’

I wondered that he couldn’t see how puffed up he was with pride at his connection to the great family and his closeness to a cardinal.

‘I shall need a band of strong supporters to accompany me,’ Altobiondi went on. ‘Would you be one of them?’

‘I am no soldier,’ I said, wondering if I should do this thing or try to get out of it. ‘That is to say I am not experienced with weapons.’

‘I hope we shan’t need them,’ he said. ‘Sharp eyes and strong muscle – that’s what is required. We leave the day after tomorrow.’

So it was an order, not a request.

When I told Angelo, he was willing enough to release me from a few days’ service, but worried about my safety.

‘You must let your
frateschi
friends know what you are doing,’ he said. ‘If they find out any other way, they might suspect you have really gone over to the other side. In fact, take today off too and go and see them straight away.’

His nervousness had infected me and I set off immediately for the house near San Marco, forgetting my resolve never to call uninvited. But, luckily, Gianbattista was there and I didn’t have to face Simonetta alone.

‘This is a wonderful opportunity, Gabriele,’ he said. ‘Of course you must go. And you must get as close to the Cardinal as you can.’

‘I think I am to be part of Altobiondi’s bodyguard,’ I said, ‘so that should not be difficult.’

‘Excellent,’ said Daniele, who seemed to spend most of his time at Gianbattista’s house. ‘I think you should assassinate Cardinal de’ Medici! We can make all the arrangements for you. All you’d have to do is the actual killing.’

Chapter Nineteen

The Giant Walks

I had never ridden a thoroughbred horse before. You can’t live in the countryside surrounded by farms and not have some experience with horses but the brown mare they gave me to ride out on as one of de’ Altobiondi’s band of followers was nothing like the placid great beasts I had sat astride at haymaking.

She was called Brunella and was as skittish as a flirtatious woman, seeing dangers in every pebble by the wayside and every little bird that flew across our path. I tried gently rubbing the spot between her ears and she eventually calmed down enough to walk in a straight line. But I could see she was going to cause me problems on a day when I already had enough to think about.

Kill the Cardinal! That’s what the
frateschi
wanted me to do. And if I did, amidst all his supporters out at the old de’ Medici hunting lodge where the meeting was to take place, what would be the outcome for me? Instant reprisal and death if I was lucky. Long slow torture to reveal the names of my fellow conspirators if I was not.

I thought of Savonarola and shuddered.

‘You have a lively mount,’ said Gherardo, who had been thrilled to be picked as one of the bodyguard.

Brunella had spotted a particularly menacing twig on the path and was dancing sideways away from it.

‘I’m not used to riding a gentleman’s horse,’ I admitted. ‘She is a handful.’

‘Do you think we’ll really be needed on this expedition?’ Gherardo asked.

‘No,’ I said, and truthfully. Because the
frateschi
were expecting me to do their dirty work there was no likelihood of their attacking the riders, even though they knew all about our meeting with the Cardinal.

Gherardo didn’t question my reasons – just nodded. I wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed. For all that he was a cousin of the tranquil Lisa del Giocondo, he was a hotheaded young man and I would have thought he would relish a fight.

We neared the lodge after a few hours’ riding and I could see that the Cardinal was already there. He had travelled in a carriage, with two hunters being led behind. Perhaps he really did intend to hunt when the meeting was over?

It was a grand building for such a practical purpose, more like one of the villas the de’ Medici had had built for themselves all around Florence and only a little smaller. Cardinal de’ Medici had evidently sent a small army of servants ahead of him, because they were swarming everywhere, laying out food and drink.

I thought of the packet of white powder in my jerkin.

‘Poison would be best,’ Daniele had said. ‘Because it could not be so easily traced to you. But if you can’t get close enough to put it in Giovanni’s drink, then just stab him.’

I had the dagger they had given me too, not knowing that I already had a blade in my boot – the one Angelo had given me soon after my arrival in Florence. Altobiondi had furnished me with a weapon too. There would be no shortage of means to kill the Cardinal, only the will to do it.

And here he was – my first de’ Medici!

I was a bit disappointed. The Cardinal was fat and heavily jowled like a much older man, though he was in fact less than a year older than Angelo. And when I saw the feast laid out for us Florentines I could guess how he had become that way. He spared no expense on the luxuries of his table and set to with a will as soon as the delegation was seated, after a quite perfunctory grace.

One other thing delayed him and that was that he had a taster! So much for Daniele’s poison; it was ludicrous to suppose I could administer my packet of powder to such a well-defended man. One servant stood at his right, to sample every dish of food and every goblet of wine, while another, burly and well armed, guarded his other side.

Giovanni de’ Medici grew impatient with his taster, scarcely giving time to see if he had any ill effects from the food and drink before plunging into it himself. But after a long and indulgent meal, he leaned back in his chair, satisfied – at least for now.

Those of us who were there to protect the Florentines had been seated much further down the table but had still made a good meal. Now that the preliminaries were over, the Cardinal withdrew, with his bodyguard, to a private room, to talk to de’ Altobiondi, Visdomini and the rest, while we younger ones took up a position outside the doors.

It was a long afternoon and we had eaten and drunk well. If there had been any attack, we would have been easily overcome but our most serious problem was boredom. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who slid to the floor and dozed.

At last the double doors were flung open and the Florentine delegation came out. We were all smartly on our feet then, looking alert and ready to do whatever was asked of us. The Cardinal passed us and then stopped, looking up at my face.

‘Who is this young man?’ he asked in his rather surprising deep voice.

‘It is Gabriele, a loyal supporter of Your Eminence’s family,’ said Visdomini.

‘Really?’ said Giovanni, looking at me as if he too would like to draw me. ‘Nice-looking boy.’

He gave me a gold coin. I was as near to him as if we were about to perform a dance. This was the moment in which, if I had wanted, I could have drawn out any of my weapons and stabbed the head of the de’ Medici family to death.

But I didn’t.

It wasn’t fear that stayed my hand. It was just that I didn’t want to kill him. It was clear that he would not be a leader like his father, that he was a worldly and self-indulgent man, who thought more of his bodily pleasures than he did of God.

But was that a reason to kill a man? I bowed my thanks for the coin, which would join my hoard under the mattress, and he had passed on out of the doorway.

Later, as the delegation was mounted up, I saw the Cardinal himself, now in hunting clothes, on his own fine grey mare. Brunella, no calmer than she had been in the morning, went mincing up to Giovanni’s mount and I was too poor a horseman to guide her away.

The Cardinal laughed at my inexperience and reined in beside me. He took my chin in his pudgy hand.

‘Sweet boy,’ he said, as our horses nuzzled each other, giving me another assassin’s gift of a chance. ‘Come to me in Rome if you ever need help.’

Everyone was looking at me and I was embarrassed but Brunella saved me from bloodshed or something else by shying away. I showed all the regret I could manage in my face as she took me out of harm’s way and the Cardinal laughed.

‘Gabriele is a great favourite,’ said Altobiondi. ‘But not the world’s best horseman.’

And then the parties separated, the Florentines headed for home and the Roman delegation for the chase. I hadn’t wanted to kill the de’ Medici myself but I wouldn’t have grieved if he had been gored by a wild boar.

Back in Florence, we went with the
compagnacci
back to their houses and I handed Brunella to Altobiondi’s stableman with some relief. As the horses were led away, a servant ran out from the house to give his master an urgent message. Clarice was in labour. Altobiondi rushed indoors.

He had already invited us in to dine so we hung around uncertainly, wondering whether we should leave. But a message soon came that we should all stay.

‘I hope to have another son before we have finished dining,’ he said, greeting us in his
salone
. ‘You must all join me in drinking his and my wife’s health. The child is rather early but Clarice is strong and in good hands. We shall drink to a happy outcome.’

I would have made some excuse but then he sent for little Davide. He was brought in by his nurse, bemused by suddenly arriving in the midst of so much male company. Everyone made much of him and I could see that Altobiondi was fond of the boy. When he put Davide on to his lap and told him, ruffling the boy’s curls, that he would soon be a big brother, my heart lurched.

I knew it was best for Davide to have a father, and a wealthy and loving one at that, but I felt a much greater desire to plunge a dagger into Antonello de’ Altobiondi’s chest than I had earlier towards the Cardinal.

The little boy clambered down, his shyness gone, and toddled about the room, accepting caresses and sweetmeats from his father’s friends. He came to me in turn and I wondered if he recognised me. I hadn’t seen him for nearly a year. He put his arms up to me and I picked him up. Altobiondi laughed.

‘You should marry and get a son yourself, Gabriele,’ he said. ‘Fatherhood would suit you.’

I felt a fraud in so many ways. But I let the child snuggle into me and I stroked his hair tenderly.

‘They still don’t know where they want to put it,’ said Angelo. ‘But it won’t be anywhere on the Duomo. So we’ve got to work out how to get the thing to the Piazza della Signoria.’

He had invited the Sangallo brothers, with their engineering skills, to come and help solve the problem.

The ‘thing’ was the seventeen feet of heavy marble that stood in the workshop, towering over us behind its scaffolding. We all looked at it and I certainly felt daunted as to how it could possibly be moved to anywhere else. The Piazza della Signoria was only about five hundred yards away but at the moment it would have been impossible even to get the Giant out of the workshop; we’d have to break down the wall above the doors. I myself had to duck my head to get through them.