CHAPTER 24
‘Sure you won’t take some wine? A little glass?’
Donna Soderini was younger than Donna Bombelli, but she didn’t look it. She dressed with the traditional simplicity of a carder’s wife, and had the usual pinched, hungry look. She had been a dyer before she married, and the alum and salt steam had wrought the usual damage on her lungs. She spoke in a breathless whisper. ‘All I ask is that you convince your husband.’
‘About what?’ said Fabbro, coming back into the courtyard of his palazzo.
The two women, who had been sitting at the banco, leapt up. The carder’s wife had the look of a discovered thief. ‘Gonfaloniere!’
‘Please, Donna Soderini – how many years have I known your husband? Call me Fabbro and tell me what problem’s so grave that you must enlist my wife’s help? I must have sinned grievously that you would set her tongue on me.’
His attempt to put the woman at ease failed. Donna Bombelli squeezed her hand and answered for her, ‘It’s simple, amore. Tower Soderini is having difficulty making ends meet on the money you pay.’
‘I pay fairly,’ Fabbro exclaimed. ‘When Pedro Vanzetti sold his wool contracts to me, he made me promise I would continue paying Guild rates. I’m a fair man so I agreed. What’s your complaint?’
The woman took a deep breath before letting the rehearsed words tumble out. ‘You pay what was fair two years ago – even if bread still cost what it used to, now there are twice as many carders and spinners.’
‘And four times as much work! The rain falls on everyone.’
‘But it’s not distributed evenly.’
‘That’s my fault? I give work to those who deliver orders, on time and with good quality. Donna Soderini, your husband’s a good man – a reliable man. But his operation is, frankly, old-fashioned, and other towers win contracts that he might have. There are rewards for ambition.’
The woman’s face darkened at the implication that her husband’s problems were his own creation. ‘My husband does things the old way, to the Vanzetti standard. The new towers produce more wool, but the quality’s not there. Why should we be punished for doing good work?’
Fabbro almost laughed. ‘You’re looking at it the wrong way!’
Donna Bombelli looked at her husband with recrimination. ‘Fabbro, you’ve often said Rasenna’s reputation for quality is the only thing that lets us compete with Ariminum.’
‘It was the only thing. Now we have scale.’ Fabbro’s kindly manner was turning hostile. ‘So what do you want from me, Donna Soderini? More money? Then it comes from my pocket. I suppose that’s fairer?’
‘Oh, Fabbro! You know quite well there’s no comparison. You can trade in different cities according to demand. You can store merchandise until there’s a fair price. The Soderini don’t have that luxury. They have to sell their work at today’s price.’
Fabbro was piqued at his wife’s indiscretion. ‘I remind you, my little winter flower, who pays for your wardrobes of elegant furs, the feasts you throw, this palazzo. Would you rather Giuseppe Soderini got it instead? I have sacrificed the crutch of my old age, sending my boys to the four corners of the map to expand the Bombelli banco and Rasenna’s fortunes. I lose shipments every month, to Tyrrhenian pirates, Anglish routiers, Frankish écorcheurs and Bavarian bandits.’
‘Fabbro, they’re all insured with Ariminumese brokers.’
‘Madonna! Is this my wife or a communard before me? If I paid your husband more, Donna Soderini, how long before other towers came knocking? A week, perhaps? A day? No, the wool Guild sets prices, and sets them fairly.’
‘Fair to you,’ she said bitterly. ‘If we carders had a Guild we’d set a different price.’
Donna Bombelli turned around to stare at her friend. The silence was broken when Fabbro took a little bell and rang it.
Donna Bombelli took a step closer to her husband and said, ‘Only the Signoria can create a Guild.’
‘But only Guild members sit in the Palazzo del Popolo,’ the woman protested.
‘The Signoria can only function if it represents those with a stake in society,’ said Fabbro paternally. ‘Come, if every crumbling tower with nothing to lose had a say, how long before Rasenna came to ruin? They’d make decisions on a whim.’
‘That’s what Lord Morello used to say.’
Fabbro’s fat cheeks glowed like an anvil. ‘Things are different now! We’re not nobles trading on dead names. We’re men who prosper by wit and graft.’
‘—who’ve cleverly arranged it so that others cannot!’
‘Donna Soderini, does your husband know you’re here?’ said Donna Bombelli coldly.
Fabbro stood and walked around his banco. ‘I thought not.’ He took the woman’s hands gently. ‘I suggest you attend to your children. If your husband wishes to, he can petition the Signoria.’
‘One carder’s petition will not be heard.’
‘Your cynicism pains me, but that’s his only option.’
A servant appeared. ‘You rang, sir?’
‘Show this lady out.’
Donna Soderini recognised her escort as a former Morello bandieratoro. Serving the new elite was more lucrative than the workshops.
After she’d gone, Donna Bombelli shot an angry look at her husband. ‘She went too far with that Guild business, but how shameful to turn her away without a single soldi! That’s all she wanted, a little.’
‘To hell with them! The Small People are suspicious of all wealth except the inherited type. They bent the knee to the Families without a word of protest, but me, because I’m not a Fraticelli throwing away my worldly goods, I’m a bloodsucker! Is it a crime to be a businessman?’
‘No, but you’re also Gonfaloniere. Tower Soderini isn’t unique – how will it look to your fancy Ariminumese friends when they see beggars walking our streets? You used to rail against the Families arranging things in the old Signoria, yet you’re deaf to the same complaint.’
‘Oh, don’t be melodramatic. I see where Maddalena gets it.’
‘Ha! Your daughter has been giving herself airs since you were elected. Since the boys left you’ve spoiled her – it’s bad enough how she treats the servants; you should have heard the way she spoke to Sofia Scaligeri today.’
‘I’m sure the Contessa gave as good as she got.’
‘I don’t know what you have against that girl.’
‘You don’t find it telling who she picked for capomaestro? Uggeri Galati has an interesting résumé: that cherub was one of Gaetano Morello’s crew – he tried to shake me down once, have you forgotten that?’
‘Everyone did things they’re not proud of under the Families. Doc Bardini trusted him.’
‘And that’s a recommendation these days? Not all of us go along with Doc Bardini’s post-mortem beatification.’
‘He gave his life, Fabbro! Sofia sacrificed, too. If she hadn’t renounced her title you wouldn’t have yours now.’ She saw Fabbro frown. ‘That’s it, isn’t it? You can’t stand owing anyone. Funny that someone who collects debtors like you can never forgive a favour.’
‘I see Donna Soderini hasn’t been the only one whispering in your ear.’
‘If Maddalena had half Sofia’s character we’d be lucky. You spoiled her.’
‘What are children for?’ Fabbro said laughing. He put his hand on her round belly. ‘I solemnly swear to spoil this fellow too.’
‘I don’t know why you think it’s a boy. I tell you, Fabbro, I’m too old for this.’
‘Nonsense. You’re too old to bear them only when you’re too old to beget them.’
As his wife laughed, Fabbro looked in the direction Donna Soderini had left. ‘Amore, why must you patronise these people? You shouldn’t give them false hope just because it pleases your vanity to play intercessionry saint.’
Her smile vanished. ‘Better than playing God and creating enemies for our tower. These people are Rasenneisi, and when they quarrel, towers burn. The Gonfaloniere ought to be a shepherd to all towers, not just his cronies’.’
Fabbro was about to reply when the servant returned. ‘Gonfaloniere, there’s been an incident at the Lion’s Fountain. The Contessa’s man, young Galati, he beat a soldier rather badly.’
‘Did he now?’ Fabbro put on his chains of office while treating his wife to a telling look.
The Morellos’ fire-gutted palazzo was just large enough to quarter the Hawk’s Company. Where they’d repaired the damage, its walls took on a more military aspect, with merlons and arrow-loops, everything but a moat. It had acquired a new name too: the Fortezza del Falco. The Hawk’s Company, unwilling to be fully domesticated, sought to keep the town it defended at a distance. And what exactly was their status? Their general was also podesta, but were they Rasenna’s army or its police – and what then were the bandieratori? Until time settled these questions, they lived in dangerous ambiguity.
The stable adjoining the fortezza was theirs too. Levi stored the Company’s black powder reserves in its cellar, but after half a year of stationary life, the Hawks did not need extra stables: idle soldiers gamble, and when they lost everything else, they sold their horses. It was lucky timing, because at just this hour Rasenna had need of a dungeon. It was an unpleasant place to spend the night; sleeping over a cellar of incendiary powder inspired nightmares. But all agreed that if it exploded it was better to burn those who owed a debt to society rather than innocent horses.
Sofia was annoyed that Fabbro’s daughter had accompanied him to see the prisoners. As for Fabbro, he was still riled by the argument with his wife. When he saw the bloody state of the beaten condottiere he said furiously, ‘Signorina Scaligeri, your men cannot deal summary justice. We have a podesta for that. If you can’t support Levi the way Doc Bardini supported Giovanni, then your workshop is a public menace.’ Though he knew full well Sofia had not been behind the incident, and that she was on better terms with Levi than he, an opportunity to shame the haughty Scaligeri heir was not to be missed. Like many of the magnates, he looked sceptically upon the Contessa’s renunciation of her title. Scaligeri trickery was legendary.
The cells still looked like stalls, but the bars and chains were real enough. Most of the current guests were condottieri or bandieratori sleeping off last night’s hangovers. Tommaso and Uggeri shared a cell. Neither spoke as their fate was debated.
‘They acted without my knowledge. Your wife can attest that I was delivering the baby in question at the time.’
‘Don’t bring my mother into it, Signorina Scaligeri,’ said Maddalena. ‘If you can’t balance your responsibilities as midwife and workshop maestra, choose one. Neither is fit for a lady in my opinion – but then, I keep forgetting, you’re exceptional.’
Sofia ignored her. ‘Gonfaloniere, this problem’s not going away. Unless we use them, the Hawk’s Company has nothing to do but drink, gamble and whore.’
‘This is what I was afraid of,’ added Levi.
Maddalena laughed. ‘And don’t blame my father for your men’s incontinence!’ She turned to Sofia. ‘Or your men’s indiscipline. Papa’s given Rasenna prosperity it never knew before and you have the gall to carp because he attends to trade instead of playing soldiers! The truth of this is too murky for me to fathom but the solution is simple: justice needs to be seen done, and swiftly. Either this animal is punished’ – she pointed to Uggeri in his cage – ‘or we give Rosa Sorrento’s bastard a father. Doesn’t matter which.’
‘It matters to me,’ Sofia said. ‘Uggeri’s my man to discipline.’
‘Very well. Since Signorina Scaligeri is exceptional, the Podesta’s man must pay.’
‘That won’t solve the wider problem,’ Levi said stiffly. ‘Gonfaloniere, John Acuto always said a soldier with no enemy is everyone’s enemy.’
‘That’s your problem!’ Fabbro snapped. ‘My daughter’s right. We only need to calm this flap. See that your man does the honourable thing. That’ll send a message that Rasenneisi women are not whores to be used and forgotten. Maddalena?’
‘I’ll follow, Papa.’
Inside his cell, Uggeri tipped his cambellotto back from his eyes and yawned, as if he’d been napping this whole time. ‘Can I go, then?’
‘You can stay the night,’ Sofia shot back. ‘Next time you want to act for the bandieratori, you come to me first.’
‘Yes, maestro,’ he said, and nonchalantly leaned against the wall to watch her leave.
Levi followed to break the news to Becket. The decision would be unpopular, but it was logical. If the company meant to stay, the condottiere couldn’t behave like routiers.
Maddalena was left looking down at the two prisoners. With a smile playing on her lips she said, ‘You’re lucky.’
‘What were you hoping for?’ Uggeri asked. ‘To see me flogged like an animal?’
‘The Contessa would never countenance that. She has Levi wrapped up like a parade flag.’
‘She cares for her men.’
‘She cares for her prestige, you dumb beast. If it suited her royal prerogative she’d let you hang,’
‘You’re jealous,’ Uggeri said, calmly and without malice.
Tommaso Sorrento spoke up. ‘Thank you, Signorina Bombelli. You did my family a great service today. I won’t forget.’
Maddalena took two coins from her purse and let them clink in her hands. ‘See that you don’t.’ She threw the coins into the far corner of the cell. ‘Fetch.’
Confused for a moment, Tommaso glanced at Uggeri, then he turned and crawled on all fours to the corner and sat there facing the wall.
Maddalena beckoned with her hand and said softly to Uggeri, ‘Come here, boy.’
Uggeri shuffled to the bars. Maddalena’s eyes glittered in the gloom as she watched his awkwardness. He seemed to stumble, but then he suddenly reached out and grabbed her waist through the bars. She gasped as he brutally pulled her towards him.
‘I’d like to have seen you flogged,’ she said, her teeth showing through her smile. ‘That’s the only way beasts learn.’
‘Shut up,’ said Uggeri, and pulled her body still closer.