This Rough Magic

After two days Benito was rested, his saddle sores almost entirely recovered, and his appearance returned to that of a Case Vecchie gentleman.

By then, apparently shortly after Benito had fallen into a bed, Kat had returned from Verona, as part of the retinue of Petro Dorma. The Duke Dell'este was expected the following day.

Marco was watching Benito devour his second breakfast of the day, when Kat appeared. She melted into her husband's arms with a sigh of deep contentment, holding him as if she never wanted to part from him, even though Benito knew she couldn't have been away from him more than an hour or two.

Marco always just looked somehow more complete and at ease with Kat at his side, Benito decided. She was never waspish with him either, as she used to be with Benito. Still, she even kissed the prodigal fondly before taking a seat next to Marco.

'I supposed it's to be expected that you would find a unique reason to break your exile,' she said, with a wink. 'How is Maria?'

'She and Baby Alessia were fine when I last saw them. Mind you that was more than a month ago, and they're in a fortress under siege. But Umberto is looking after them.' He paused. 'That's a good man she married, Kat.'

Now Katerina scowled at him, looking far more like the Kat that Benito remembered than the joyous Madonna-like person who was married to his brother. 'You were a fool, Benito.'

He grinned, though to be fair his heart wasn't in it. 'I still am, Kat. But at least she's happy. Be honest, he gives her the kind of stability I can't.'

She sniffed. 'Stability is all very well. But you could have settled down a bit if you'd tried. Anyway. There is nothing you can do about it now. I'm supposed to tell you the Doge and your grandfather want to see you as soon as possible. They're in council with the Patriarch, Sister Evangelina, Brother Mascoli, and several other clerics that I don't know. They wanted to talk to Marco, too.

'I'm coming along,' she added militantly, 'just to see that they don't talk you into doing something dangerous, Marco.'

'Flying with the Lion isn't really dangerous, Katerina. And we had to get someone down to Venice quickly when we heard about Benito's predicament from the Hypatians.'

'Perhaps flying with the Lion is not entirely dangerous,' she said sharply. 'But you know very well what happened to Bespi once you left him! And if it hadn't been that you moved so fast, it might have been you who encountered that ambush, off Venetian soil where the Lion couldn't help you—'

Marco winced; Benito gaped at him, then demanded, 'What ambush? What happened?'

'Oh,' Marco replied, 'Bespi ran into some—trouble.'

'Trouble?' Kat's voice dripped sarcasm. 'He was ambushed, Benito. And the only reason he's alive now is because Marco wasn't with him.' She glared at him. 'And the fact, I suppose, that they couldn't actually set up a good ambush, since they were expecting to catch you before you got on Venetian territory.'

Bit by bit, Benito pulled it out of them. It happened right after Marco left Bespi on the road with their two horses, when he broke through a group of mercenaries who had set up an ambush on the road that showed every evidence of having been hastily set up. Wisely, rather than try to fight, he spurred his horse through them. But he hadn't gotten away without adding more scars to his considerable collection, and it was Bespi's opinion that the only reason the ambushers had broken off was that they had been confused, seeing only one man, and that man looking nothing like Marco Valdosta. He was recovering, but since the mercenaries were aided by something that Bespi had refused to describe, except as 'black magic,' there was no doubt that Jagiellon was involved.

'And if you had been outside the border of Venice, what then?' Kat repeated.

Benito shared Kat's distrust of these magical doings. Perhaps Marco understood and was in control of these forces, but they left Benito feeling like a weak swimmer in an undertow.

* * *

They walked across to the Doge's palace together, where the Swiss guards saluted very respectfully. It was amazing what a difference the clothes one wore made. No one even glanced at the scabbarded sword at Benito's side now. Ha! So much for the fuss about 'concealed weapons.' The same weapon could be carried openly without any comment by the Case Vecchie.

A footman led them up to a large, airy salon where Petro Dorma was in animated discussion with a number of other parts of the state machinery, and several clerics. The Doge broke off his argument to greet them. 'Well, Benito. I thought I told you to stay away from trouble?' As it was said with a broad smile and general laughter, Benito knew that at least he wasn't still in Petro's bad books.

'Nonetheless, you have given us something of a legal conundrum,' said the one hawk-nosed secretary. Benito recognized the voice from the Council of Ten interview. 'You are still legally banished. And there are a small group saying no matter who you are and what you have done, or whatever the reason, holding a Venetian Justice hostage at sword's point is unacceptable.'

'I'll face my trial and accept my sentence,' said Benito stiffly, feeling irritated. 'I did what had to be done, and I was the right person to do it.'

'And Venice and the Church are conscious of their debt to you,' said Petro. 'But the form of the law must be observed.'

'It's a pity you couldn't have put off arriving until tomorrow,' said the secretary with a wry smile. 'Your pardon was on the agenda for the Senate meeting.'

Benito found this more than a little odd. He'd hardly been gone from Venice a couple of months and they wanted him back? Not very likely. 'You were going to pardon me?'

Petro waved a hand, dismissively. 'For reasons of state that no longer apply, since the rumors about Prince Manfred's schemes to seize Corfu proved to be untrue.'

The hawk-nosed secretary cleared his throat. 'Still, the item is on the agenda and must be debated. I think it would sit very ill with the commons if Benito were not pardoned now.'