followed the guard into the prison. They were immediately assaulted by the odor of rotting food, of unwashed bodies, of feces and urine. A low wailing assailed their ears.
'Jesu,' whispered Conall to Bothwell, 'we've gone to hell!'
The earl shot him a warning look, and they were led up a twisting flight of stairs to the governor's apartment. There they were greeted by Bishop Guido Massini, the prison governor, who said to Bothwell, 'I have heard of you, my lord. There was some discussion in your country regarding witchcraft… and you are a heretic, I believe.'
'No, Guido,' said Bishop Pasquale quietly. 'Lord Bothwell, having seen the error of his ways, has returned to Holy Church. He is married to a most virtuous and devout woman. They both attend mass regularly and are extremely generous to both the church and the poor.'
'I am relieved to hear it,' answered the bishop, a deceptively merry-looking little man whose smiling features were belied by his icy black eyes. 'What may I do for you, my lord?'
'The prisoner Angela di LiCosa, Guido. We wish to see her. She is responsible for the abduction of Lord Bothwell's wife by Turkish pirates. Before she dies tomorrow we must learn from her what instructions she gave the pirates.'
Bishop Massini was most irritated. 'Is there no end to that woman's infamy? Yes, of course you may see her. However, even if she will tell you, there is little hope of your getting your wife back from the infidels.'
But the bishop's face softened with Bothwell's look. 'But I must! I must!' he said.
'I will write the pass for you.'
'For my captain-at-arms also, and we must see her alone.'
The bishop looked first at Bothwell's distraught face, and then at Conall's grim one. 'What is in the basket?' he asked the captain. Then, raising a fat white hand, he hurriedly said, 'No. I really don't want to know.' Pulling out a prewritten parchment, he scrawled the name of Angela di LiCosa in one place and his own at the bottom. Holding out the parchment to Bothwell, he said, 'Come back and have a goblet of wine with me when you have your information.' He turned to the other two men. 'Remain here if you do not wish to accompany them.'
Francis looked to Alfredo di LiCosa, who shook his head. 'No. I have said my goodbyes. I do not wish to see her ever again.'
Bothwell and Conall followed the guard up a flight of stairs. 'She is lodged quite decently, thanks to her husband,' the guard remarked conversationally. 'Most of the witches are below with the water rats.'
'We are to see her alone,' replied Bothwell coldly. 'You are to remain outside the cell. And no matter what you hear, you will remain there unless my captain or I call you.'
'Makes no difference to me,' came the reply. The guard stopped before a door, found the right key, and opened the door.
They stepped through into the cell and heard the door close behind them. Angela di LiCosa stood, her back to them, gazing out through the barred window. 'If you're another priest, go away,' she said.
She whirled about. 'Francisco,
'I have come,' said the earl coldly, 'because I hope that even you will want to clear your conscience before you die. Regarding the matter of my wife, what exactly did you arrange?'
Her black eyes widened, and she burst into hysterical laughter. Outside the closed door the guard shuddered at the sound. Angela wiped the damp from her eyes with a ragged sleeve. 'Really, Francisco! You are simply incredible! Yes, I arranged for your wife's disposal, but she must truly have God on her side, for that idiot servant of mine was caught. So… tomorrow I die. Alas, if I cannot have you then neither can she.' She laughed again, a bit ruefully this time. 'You will have neither of us, Francisco, and that isn't at all what I had planned!'
'Once more, Angela. What exactly did you do with her?'
The woman regarded him with some amusement and shook her head. Francis reached out and, wrapping the soft blue-black hair around his hand, cruelly yanked her to him. 'I have no time to waste, Angela. Where is she?'
The black eyes glittered viciously, but she said nothing. Using his other hand, Bothwell ripped the prison smock from the woman's body and brutally shoved her onto the straw mattress of the cell cot. Before she realized what had happened, her arms and legs were bound to the cot posts in a spread-eagled position.
'What are you doing?' she shrieked. 'I will call the guard!'
'He will not answer, Angela. I have the prison governor's permission to obtain my information in
She regarded him coldly for a second and then, raising her head, spat full in his face. Bothwell nodded to his captain. Conall opened the woven basket. Looking into it thoughtfully, he chose a short, plump green snake. He handed it to Bothwell, who wrapped the reptile about his hand and caressed the weaving, darting head. Sliding it off his hand, he placed it on the straw mattress between Angela's open legs.
The Contessa di LiCosa shrieked wildly. 'Francisco! For the love of God! Take it away! Take it away!'
'What exactly did you do with my wife?'
She strained against her bonds, her black eyes dark mirrors of terror, but still she would not answer him. He could see the pounding of her heart in her chest. The snake uncurled itself and began to move slowly towards her. She screamed again, a long wailing moan of animal fear.
'It goes for the warmth and moistness of you, Angela. Soon it will seek the darkness of your womb, where so many have been before it. And when it is safely up inside you wriggling around, I shall take another from the basket, and another, and another… until your belly is a nest of snakes. Can you feel them inside you already, Angela? Does it feel good, my dear?' The cruel eyes bore pitilessly down at her. For the briefest moment, amazement at his cruelty overcame her fear. But then the fear returned tenfold, slamming into her so fiercely that for a moment she couldn't draw a breath.
Finally she was able to gasp, 'I sent her to my brother! Take that reptile away! I will tell you all! Only take it away!'
Casually Bothwell lifted the snake from the mattress and dropped it back into its container. 'Talk then, you bitch, or I'll shove the entire basket up you!'
'I sent your precious bride to my brother, Cicalazade Pasha, the sultan's grand vizier. He is quite a connoisseur of beautiful women, and his prowess is legendary. She is not there yet, Francisco, but she will be soon. Then Cica's head eunuch will have her bathed and perfumed, and he will lead her to my brother, where she will be stripped naked for his inspection. When he has seen her-for I admit that she is beautiful-he will pleasure himself on her body.'
'You bitch.' snarled Bothwell.
Angela di LiCosa laughed. 'You will never see her again! She is lost to you! Soon she will lie beneath my brother, moaning her desire.' She lowered her voice to an intimate level. 'They say he is a bull, and he will teach her to please him. You will have nothing but a memory, and the knowledge that another man is fucking her!' Angela's voice now became silky soft, and caressing. 'Think of it, Francisco. Her tawny hair spread upon the pillows, her firm white legs eagerly open to receive her master's swollen manhood. She will beg for his favors! Living in a harem of a hundred other beauties, she will compete for his attentions as eagerly as any of them!'
The savagery of her words ripped into him, and Both-well rose from the edge of the cot, his face a mask of pain and anguish. Crossing the cell, he pulled the door open and exited. Slowly Conall moved to stand beside the condemned woman. For a moment he stood staring silently down at her. Angela was frightened, for this man did not regard her nakedness with desire. This one showed no emotion whatsoever. 'You are a wicked woman,' he said quietly, 'but do not think that you have won. We will bring her safely back to us. I have not watched over her since she was a child to see her end this way.'
Bending, he took his knife and cut through the con-tessa's bonds. And before she realized what he was doing, he lifted the basket of green snakes and dumped them in her lap.
As he left the cell he smiled wolfishly, hearing the shrieks behind. 'Lock it up again,' he commanded the guard. 'It's not to be opened again until morning.'
Conall More-Leslie was not surprised,, the following day, to hear that the Devil had come for the soul of Angela di LiCosa during the night, leaving her body and half a dozen green garden snakes as a memento of his visit. The
