Demon Knight

Her daughter was not pleased either. So they had learned just how bad relations now were between Toby and his employer, the republic of Florence, but why was Lisa not smirking her royal smirk at his downfall?

'That is for Prince Sartaq to determine, ma'am.'

Blanche hesitated, as if about to ask him what his chances were, but then she changed her mind. 'Victory is by no means certain, is it?'

'No, my lady. Nor is it impossible.' What was she up to and why didn't she get on with it?

'I fear for my daughter's safety in the event of a defeat, Constable.'

Ah! 'And your own, ma'am, of course.'

She sighed the sort of sigh that would have felled a royal court in her youth. 'I am little concerned with my own fate, Sir Tobias. After so many years of flight, one wearies of the chase. But Lisa still has many years of life to look forward to, and I do not wish to leave her at risk. In the light of what you have said, I believe that we should withdraw to the island of Malta until the danger is past and you have won your great victory.'

'Probably a wise decision under the circumstances,' Toby murmured politely. What the lady was not saying — or had not said yet, at least — was that she was now penniless and had run out of friends to prevail upon. That would come.

She acknowledged his concession with a nod. 'Then would you be so kind, Constable, as to have your staff make the necessary arrangements?' She indicated Arnaud with a fluttery gesture. 'I plan on leaving as soon as possible.'

Doubtless. So did all the thousands of panic-stricken refugees already packed into every port in the peninsula. Ships were rarer than sea monsters.

'I shall instruct messer Villars accordingly, ma'am. It may take him some time to find a suitable vessel, you understand.'

The countess smiled as if about to terminate the interview, then remembered another detail. A moment before she spoke, Toby guessed what was coming. That was not just dislike in Lisa's eyes, although there was certainly enough of that. It was tension. And Blanche had it, too, although she was hiding it better. There was something between them that they were not revealing.

'My own staff was left behind in Siena, Sir Tobias, as you know. In particular, I feel the need for a steward, a majordomo. I have my eye on one of your chancellors, Master Campbell. He was of some assistance to both my daughter and myself in Siena, and I am favorably impressed with his qualities. We understand he has an indenture of some sort with the Don Ramon Company. May I prevail upon you to consider transferring this contract to my name, Constable? As a favor to the future Queen of England?'

She wanted to buy Hamish? Toby drew in a long, slow breath. Lisa was as taut as a bowstring, and he would wager that there had been a very stormy scene — several scenes, possibly a whole stage play — between mother and daughter before a compromise had been hammered out. Hamish was the price of Lisa's cooperation. Not buying him, though. Blanche expected him to give her Hamish. He did not know whether to bellow with laughter or keep the game going until Arnaud exploded, which might not be very long at all.

'It is true, my lady, that everyone in the company has put his name or made his mark on a scroll, but in the case of senior personnel like Chancellor Campbell, that is only because our clients insist on formal records. I would not dream of holding him against his will. If he wishes to enter your service, either permanently or temporarily, I will never stand in his way.' So much for Master Hamish, who must have been the one to tell Lisa about the contract and who had, therefore, almost certainly been using it as an excuse to avoid making a commitment.

Meanwhile Lisa was having great difficulty in suppressing a leer of joy and triumph, and her mother was less pleased. So Lady Lisa thought she could talk Hamish into anything, and the countess was not as stupid as she pretended.

'Messer Arnaud?' Toby turned to Villars but was careful to avoid meeting his eye. 'Kindly book passage to Malta for Their Ladyships and a small party of attendants. Charge it to the casa.'

'Si, messer.'

'You are most kind, Constable!' The lady offered her hand to be kissed and paraded solemnly out of the yard, with Lisa floating blissfully at her back.

'How much priority do I assign to that last instruction, Your Magnificence?' Arnaud inquired acidly.

'Don't move a finger on it,' Toby growled, staring after the disappearing visitors. 'Spin her all the tales you like, but do nothing.'

Lisa was far too valuable a card to be allowed to float around loose. At least, he hoped that was his motive. He hated the idea that he might no longer trust Hamish.

PART THREE April

CHAPTER ONE

The Marradi villa at Cafaggiolo was more of a palace than a family farm, but its formal gardens blended into fields, vineyards, and olive groves; it grew herbs and vegetables and raised some of the finest livestock in Italy. The greatest artists of Europe had decorated its halls. Now Toby had unwittingly turned it into a barnyard. An intimate meeting of a few had exploded into a conference of hundreds. It seemed as if every city and town north of Sicily had sent its captain-general or collaterale, then backed him up with most of its signory, either because the politicians did not trust him or just because they wanted the honor of being guests of the Marradi. All these cavalcades of dignitaries had brought trains of attendants and guards. The Tartars were going to come later, perhaps even the prince himself, if they could lure him away from his romantic pursuits.

The villa had space for only a tenth, nay a fiftieth, of this multitude. They overflowed into the stables and outhouses, they set up camps in the fields and orchards, they filled up the nearby village and colonized the hills. When hunger bit, they were sure to start looting. Even before he reached the gates that first morning, Toby sent a squire galloping back to Fiesole to summon a hundred more lances to help keep order. Arnaud went with him to organize more provisions.

Making excuses was not in Toby's nature, but again and again during those terrible three days he found himself repeating, 'I did not plan this!' The men he really wanted to see had all come — the top military leaders of Italy, all men he respected even if some of them he could not like, and he was proud that he could now regard himself as one of them. So he had invited them to a conclave and landed them in a bear baiting.

Even as he was trying to reach the main door with Hamish and half a dozen others at his heels, pushing his way up the steps through a yabbering, screaming, hand-waving mob of soldiers and civilians, he saw a face he knew looming over the throng and changed direction to reach it. Ercole Abonio, the Duke of Milan's collaterale, was a gruff, rawboned man, almost as tall as Toby himself, more than twice his age. Lombard ancestors had bequeathed him red hair and fighting skills second to none, but he was also a true knight in the finest traditions of chivalry, as if all that was honorable in his bloodlines had come to him, and all that was tawdry and larcenous had gone to his brother, the ambassador. Ercole had taught Toby much of what he knew, and yet at Trent he had steadfastly refused to accept the supreme command, pleading Toby's case instead of his own on the grounds of ill health. He had then fought like a maniac, being wounded twice and having three horses killed under him. There was no one that Toby admired more than the big Milanese, and the quirk of amusement that lit up the man's craggy face was a knife twisted in his heart.

As the two full-sized warriors were clearing a path toward each other through the shrubbery of stunted clerics and burghers, Toby realized that Ercole's companion was Giovanni Alfredo, Captain-General of Venice. That made a difference. Alfredo was not a personal friend, so this cozy little meeting of the three military powers of the north was going to be business, and it was also going to be conducted in the presence of their respective followers and a riot of onlookers. One careless word might overturn many apple carts.