CHAPTER 49
The slurred Ariminumese dialect is notorious, but the language of her bells is even more impenetrable. It is a rare foreigner who can distinguish the Campanile’s chimes and their meanings, rung out according to various combinations. Some tell the time: the Nona marks midday; the maragona rings at dawn and dusk. Others report governmental activities, a universal concern; the trottiera and the nezza terza announce meetings of the Consiglio and Senate respectively. Others announce public holidays; the malefrico, for example, announces executions, and when it rings nine peals of doubles an especially rare spectacle is in store.
from The Stones of Ariminum by
Count Titus Tremellius Pomptinus
They were close to the sea now. Great white gulls made lazy figure-eights overhead and the great canal was choked with barges coming and going to the harbour. The procurator noticed Pedro’s eyes fixed on the dark smoke columns.
‘I see you’ve guessed our destination, Maestro Vanzetti. Doubtless you’ll appreciate how rarely this opportunity is afforded to foreigners. Much of the work at the Arsenal is secret, but I’ll be happy to arrange a pass so you can visit whenever you wish during the negotiations.’
Before Pedro could say anything, Levi interrupted, ‘That may be … premature.’
The procurator smiled. ‘Of course, Podesta Levi. You’ve been very gracious not to dwell on how poorly you were dealt with at our last encounter.’
‘By “poorly” you mean—’
‘—I mean treacherously. That’s why I brought you this particular route.’
From nearby, a deafening cheer erupted suddenly, followed by cascading cannon-fire.
‘Oh, cazzo!’ the procurator swore. ‘Damn your sloth, Slave! I’ll have you scourged if we’ve missed it!’
Pedro smelled the familiar tang of foundry smoke, and something else – boiling tar? The procurator berated the silent gondolier to quicken his stroke and as they cleared the last bridge the canal bisected. They ignored the branch to the harbour and took the other, sailing into a solid greasy fog like that of Tartarus multiplied a hundredfold. They glided under a steel arch and between two tall, featureless walls lined with grim sentries towards a great shipyard emerging from the black smoke.
Pedro gasped at the tapestry of dense rigging between the ships, and the hardy workmen scrambling careless over this tangled net like ants: the arsenalotti in their element. The ships they tended were not the fat-bellied cogs that jostled in the harbour, but streamlined and multi-decked men-of-war bristling with shining black guns.
‘What say you, Maestro Vanzetti?’ said the procurator merrily. ‘Concord has its legions, but Ariminum has the Arsenale. However much Concord’s engineers dissect and prod, they will never understand water; it’s our natural element.’
‘Impressive,’ said Pedro. From any other, it would have sounded faint praise.
‘What does mastery of the seas matter when we have no rivals to contest it?’ the procurator said, glowing with false modesty. ‘But I didn’t bring you here to marvel at our navy; I wanted you to say farewell to the outgoing government. Alas, we missed their departure.’
Between two galleys stretched a rope, thick as a man’s waist, and from it eight naked bodies were hanging. Denuded of their official robes, the old men’s withered bodies looked pathetic and sad. As the gondola got closer, Sofia recognised the beak-nosed cadaver in the centre; his legs, brown with dribbling shit, were still dancing.
‘After Rasenna demonstrated Concordian vulnerability, we had to reconsider our policy.’
‘You hanged the Doge?’
‘Madonna! The very idea, Contessa! Executing a Doge is impossible. But arranging an election, that is a very simple thing, and when we took the corno from the Doge’s head and the ring from his finger, his Serenity became a simple citizen once more. He wasn’t happy about it, but he understood the ship can always find a new captain. Ariminum is bigger than any one man, any one family. Only continuity matters.’ The procurator had the modest smile of one who has done a great favour.
The macabre spectacle struck Sofia dumb, but Levi was smoothly diplomatic. ‘Thank you for this most thoughtful gesture.’