CHAPTER 54
As they left the basilica, the Moor fell into step with Levi. ‘I’d have told you that involving the Oltremarines was impossible, had you asked.’
‘But I didn’t. I know the Ariminumese never forget a slight, but the Oltremarines might not be so short-sighted.’
‘Your information is some decades out of date. These days, Oltremare desires one thing only from Etruria, and that’s to keep her sea-lanes free of its pirates.’
‘I dare say your knowledge isn’t out of date,’ Levi remarked.
‘I haven’t been idle since your late employer persuaded me to vacate the premises. God despises sloth. You’ll be pleased to know the principle of contracting works as well on Terra da Mar as Terra Firma, with the minor difference that a condottieri in a boat is called a privateer. The skills transfer wonderfully.’
‘You were a natural, I expect.’
The Moor beamed. ‘I was! Until a year ago I commanded a small fleet, and we were paid a hefty fee to not pay a visit when we passed a city. The Oltremarines got tired of paying me, so I was obliged to plunder the queen’s shipments. Most unfortunate.’
‘And I bet you collected a nice bursary from the Ariminumese for your trouble.’
‘The very suggestion! The procurator would be outraged.’ The Moor laughed. ‘It’s nice to be paid for doing what you love, but eventually I tired of it. There’s nowhere to spend a fortune at sea. Like you, I want to settle down. I’d my eye on a fertile strip of Barbary. Alas, my dream proved to be just that.’
‘The natives objected?’
‘On the contrary, they worshipped me. It was those damn Oltremarines. In the saddle, on a ship, one can always flee when faced with superior odds, but when one has a throne, one is obliged to sit on it. I lost my fleet but not, God be praised, my life. The sailors I had so heavily taxed rejoiced in the expectation of seeing me hang over Akka’s harbour, but Queen Catrina is singularly intelligent, for a woman. My activities were a minor nuisance compared with her trade-war with Ariminum. All maritime empires are rivals but they have one thing in common—’
‘A fondness for pirates?’
‘You mock me.’ The Moor sighed wistfully. ‘I have been many things, but never a diplomatic gift. That heartless bitch had me trussed up like a pig and sent across the water for the Doge’s delectation.’ His sudden anger cleared. ‘But in all her calculations, Catrina never suspected that her counterpart would be awaiting execution. The new Consiglio saw my activities in a more tolerant light.’ He saluted the Basilica reverently. ‘Instead of a noose, they awarded me an admiral’s baton.’
‘If Queen Catrina is as dispassionate as you say she won’t give a damn, because what I said in there is true: a Concordian navy will ultimately aim at her throne. The Oltremarines don’t know it yet, but they’re going to be involved in our war, like it or not. This is an opportunity. If we make the case to them, they’ll help – I’m sure of it.’
‘Rasenneisi were ever dreamers, and alas, Levi, you’ve gone native. Politics tire me. Come! Let’s watch the battaglia in the glassworkers’ ward – it’ll be great betting. No?’ The Moor bowed. ‘Then I will pray that you recover your wits. Farewell’
After the first day’s negotiation, Count Grimani invited some of the other ambassadors to dine on the Veian flagship. The Rasenneisi were not invited.
The Veian was dismissive of the whole venture. ‘You believe this navy business? I don’t.’
‘The Rasenneisi are just trying to scare the Ariminumese. Can’t blame them. For them war’s unavoidable, for us it’s optional. I tell you candidly that if I signed up to this league, my job wouldn’t be the only thing I’d lose when I got back. I presume you are under similar pressure?’
‘For form’s sake I’m allowed to offer a few troops, nothing more. Look at it from their position – a few years ago Concord could march to our door unopposed, unless we bankrupted ourselves with condottieri. We were the ones agitating for the league then.’
‘Who’s that?’ Pedro whispered. ‘Is that the old fellow from Salerno?’
‘Ferruccio, yes. Shhh!’
‘That’s history. Should we just ignore the fact of Rasenna’s resurgence? They are effectively a wall between us and Concord: in the unlikely event that Concord ever gets strong enough again to march south, the Rasenneisi will dull the force of the blow.’
‘Lucky for us that the Rasenneisi are too pig-headed to think about making peace.’
‘The Ariminumese, on the other hand …’
‘I don’t trust them. How much did they pay you—?’
Pedro took off his earpiece. ‘We’re not hearing anything we didn’t already know.’
‘We’re on our own with Ariminum unless Salerno joins us,’ said Levi.
‘Ferruccio would if he could,’ Sofia said.
‘I’m more interested in what our hosts are planning. If Rasenna and Ariminum agree, the southerners will fall in. Can you get the annunciator up to the sixth floor?’
‘Should be enough power,’ said Pedro, ‘though we won’t be able listen for long.’
Sofia was looking out of the window at the Veian galley in the harbour. As Pedro operated the controls like a puppeteer, the little golden cone rose from its porthole perch and dropped silently towards the sea, falling in an arc, a chink of sunlight lost in the reflected evening ripples. They heard an argument of sounds: wind, water lapping, boatmen calling, gulls’ screams, horns and bells from the dock, and then different voices as the annunciator rose up the basilica’s many storeys.
‘The sixth floor’s where the Consilium Sapientium meets,’ said Levi, whispering, even though the annunciator broadcast only one way, ‘if I can trust my Ariminumese informants.’
‘If you can’t trust an informant,’ said Pedro, ‘who—?’
‘Stop!’ Sofia said. ‘Did you catch that? Drop it back to the third floor.’
Pedro checked the annunciator’s ascent and expertly brought it to rest on a windowsill, where it was helpfully concealed by a lace curtain rippling in the wind.
A familiar deep voice: ‘Are you offering me a contract?’
‘I could use someone like you.’ The voice of a much younger man, level, serious.
‘You couldn’t afford me, boy. Ariminum’s larder is well stocked. I intend to stay here and eat my fill.’
‘You’re working for Ariminum. Work for me and I’ll give you Ariminum.’
‘Work for Concord, you mean.’
‘The army won’t be subordinate for ever. The Guild isn’t the power it was.’
‘What of the Apprentices?’
‘There’s just one left and he’s … I’m a patriot. As long as the triple-headed beast provided stability, I was content. That’s changed. Consul Corvis has taken charge.’
A tutting sound. ‘One defeat and you act like Heaven’s falling.’
‘I’m negotiating with my enemy in a city I should be dictating terms to. A government that let that happen does not command my loyalty. If I’m going to change things, I need strong men behind me. I need you, Admiral.’
Levi stared at the annunciator as he waited to hear the Moor’s answer. Finally it came: ‘It’s uncanny how closely patriotism resembles ambition. Although it is a sin, I’ve grown inordinately fond of the local wine. Why should I gamble that for your advancement? Good day, Spinther.’
The sound of footsteps and a door slamming was followed by silence and the duplicated cries of the gulls.
‘I’m glad the Moor didn’t go for it. I don’t care to bet against him again.’
‘Should we leak it?’ Pedro asked. ‘Let the Collegio dei Consoli know their best general’s plotting a coup?’
‘So they can make plans against it?’ Levi was smiling. ‘Spinther’s just one boy. If we get him executed, the legions remain. But if he rebels, it’ll split the army. No matter who comes out on top, Concord will be weaker. The only thing to do with news as good as this, Pedro my boy, is to sit on it.’
At the beginning of the next day’s meeting, General Spinther was invited to address the delegates. Sofia took him in: a rather dark southern complexion for a Concordian, tall and clear-eyed – just a boy, but his youth, like everything else, was deceptive. They picked them for intelligence and trained them in the art of war, so they had all the vim of youth but none of its rashness; all the wisdom of age and none of its doubt.
‘My Lords, I will not speak long. You know me as a soldier, but today I’m a dove. We have spies in your cities; you, in ours. Your spies’ work has never been easier, for Concord’s problems are no secret. I assure you we do not want peace, but we need it. The Collegio dei Consoli respectfully invites the Contessa of Rasenna to Concord to discuss terms.’
The general paused while the southern ambassadors whispered to each other, directing sceptical glances at Sofia, until the procurator rang a bell. ‘Enough! This isn’t a music hall. General Spinther is obviously under the misapprehension that our league – putative as it is – is bound to be led by Rasenneisi. I assure you—’
‘Not at all, Procurator. Any viable Southern League would rely on Ariminumese money. That’s why we’re here today in your exquisite city, instead of Montaperti’s killing fields. If war comes, Ariminum will be dragged into it, but the fact remains that it will not be your war.’ The Concordian looked suddenly and with unexpected tenderness at Sofia. ‘It is ours, Contessa.’
Sofia’s hand went instinctively to her side and grabbed – nothing. Levi was right to say it would be undiplomatic to go armed to a negotiation, but without her flag, she felt naked.
General Spinther looked around the room. ‘Doctor Ferruccio, you were alive to see it, but the rest of us learned from our grandfathers of the terrible war Concord and Rasenna fought, how it eventually involved the whole peninsula. We’re on the brink of another such cataclysm. Peace doesn’t interest me, but a period of stability does. Ask your spies: they’ll confirm that Concord has been plagued by schismatics since the siege of Rasenna.’
The procurator smiled. ‘On the northern frontiers, you’ve had reverses too—’
The general took this jibe personally. ‘The Europan war does not concern anyone here! The war you’ve been discussing these last few days concerns all Etruria – for make no mistake, that war is what you mean when you say league. Today, I have placed my person in your hands. I only ask the same gesture of trust of you. Thus are bridges built. Leap the chasm, Contessa, and the day may come when our grandchildren look on each other as friends and not enemies. Peace is worth the risk.’
Not waiting for an answer, he bowed and strode out, spurs ringing, heels smartly snapping on the marble floor. The ambassadors were silent until he left, though Sofia felt their eyes on her.
Doctor Ferruccio spoke before the procurator could. ‘Now, everyone take a breath and don’t get hung up on details. If Concord wants to talk, we should talk. The boy’s right. I was at Montaperti. Anything’s preferable to that. Even at our most optimistic, no one expects a war to end in anything better than stalemate. What do we have to lose by talk? ’Tis fitting that they ask the Contessa. Her grandfather fought the first war – so how magnificent if she could stop this one. Friends don’t make peace; enemies do. The Scaligeri and Bernoulli broods have been—’
Stunned at Ferruccio’s matter-of-fact betrayal, Sofia blurted, ‘I’m not Contessa any more. I’ve given up my title.’
Levi was shocked at Sofia’s public admission, but the Tarantine ambassador waved her announcement away dismissively. ‘Then why are you here? Gonfaloniere Bombelli’s no fool. Whatever you call yourself, you’re a Scaligeri. It’s in your blood.’
Levi interrupted with exasperation, ‘You’re all taking this seriously? The Concordians mean to trick us. The Contessa escaped the belly of the beast – would you ask her to return? Whoever goes will never come back.’
‘Yes!’ cried Count Grimani in exasperation. ‘A thousand times yes. Would you ask us to go to war for you? We are each of us representing our people; thousands of lives depend on our decisions. For peace,’ he said portentously, ‘no risk is foolhardy!’
The procurator stifled a giggle into a handkerchief and hammered his gavel. ‘On that we can agree. Let’s adjourn. We all have some considering to do in light of this offer.’
Sofia was first out of her chair.
‘Tranquillo,’ said Levi. ‘We’re not at war yet. Are you all right?’
Sofia stepped back from the table, knocking her chair. Her feet didn’t work any more. She was f a l l i n g