And there was Filippo Nucci, injured in an earlier violent attack. Why do people do that sort of thing to each other? wondered Isabel. Filippo was a kind of hero now, for organising and leading the men from the ships to the walls, where they had turned the fortunes of Classe. Isabel wondered how many of the two hundred who had died in the land-fighting had been men who had survived the sea battle.
But in the end she had to stop thinking about things like that. And be grateful that people she knew and cared for, like Filippo and Andrea, were still alive.
In accordance with Talian tradition, there was a huge party in the square after Germano had been laid to rest. It would go on all night but Isabel could stay only till dusk. She had been so tired ever since the battle that she hadn’t stravagated every night. But she had felt she must be here to say goodbye to the Duke.
‘I wonder what will happen to Vitale?’ she surprised herself by saying out loud.
‘The old Duchessa doesn’t think she can take him with her when she goes to live with her daughter,’ said Filippo. ‘The next Duke will be his new master.’
‘But who will that be?’ asked Isabel. She hadn’t really thought about it but she knew the Dukes of Classe were elected, not heirs to the post.
‘Well, the Senate has asked me if I would stand for election,’ said Filippo modestly.
‘Really?’ said Isabel. ‘That’s brilliant! I mean, you’d be brilliant. You will do it, won’t you?’
‘There is one person I need to consult first,’ said Filippo, but Isabel could see he was smiling.
‘No danger of Classe not staying independent then,’ she said, grinning back at him. ‘But how do you think the Grand Duke will feel if his sister is your Duchessa?’
‘I imagine he’ll be spitting mad,’ said Filippo calmly. ‘But I can’t worry about that. There’s something about being in a battle, especially one you can remember in all its detail, that makes you sure about what you want.’
You’re right, thought Isabel.
Next day, after the last lie-in of the holiday, Isabel went round to Sky’s flat. He was surprised to see her; they usually met at Nick’s or the coffee bar and rarely just the two of them.
‘Come in,’ he said, opening the door wide. There was a comfortable tabby cat sitting on the kitchen table, which Sky shooed off.
‘Is your mum in?’ asked Isabel.
‘No, she’s out to lunch with Paul,’ said Sky. ‘Was it her you wanted to see?’
‘No,’ said Isabel, her heart thumping. ‘I just wanted to make sure we were on our own.’
‘That sounds promising,’ said Sky, smiling at her.
‘I wondered if you’d like to go out,’ said Isabel. ‘You know, with me.’
‘Sure,’ said Sky. ‘Where shall we go?’
‘No, I mean . . .’ Then she saw he was smiling even more broadly. She punched him. ‘You swine . . .’
Much later, when they had been kissing for a long time, Isabel said, ‘Your mum’s boyfriend, Paul – he’s Alice’s dad, isn’t he?’
Sky sighed. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Alice and I were never going to work, were we?’
‘Because of that?’
‘That and other things. Mainly because she hated it if I even talked about Talia, let alone went there. It’ll be good to have a girlfriend who doesn’t freak out about it.’
There was more silence and more kissing.
‘But you know I’m going to the States after A levels?’ asked Sky.
‘Yes, you said.’
‘I’ll be away a year,’ he said. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘I think I’ll have a gap year,’ said Isabel.
‘Where?’
She looked at him, sitting with her on the sofa, with his arm round her, as naturally as if they’d been together for years. The old Isabel would never have dared ask him out.
‘Well,’ the new Isabel said, ‘I’ve never been to America.’
Epilogue: A Part of the Whole
The new Duke of Classe was getting married. Duke Filippo had been elected unopposed and awarded the highest honour of the city, the silver Victory Medal. His bride, Beatrice, had been cast out of the di Chimici family by her brother as soon as he heard of her intention. She was no longer a princess but would soon be Duchessa Beatrice of Classe.
Beatrice had responded to the Grand Duke’s ten-page tirade about her treachery with the simple note:
.
Dear Fabrizio,
I am sorry you no longer regard me as yoursister. I shall always think of you as my brother. I promised I would marry no one but Filippo.I did not say which one.
Give Bino a kiss from his devoted aunt and your loving sister,
Beatrice
.
And Fabrizio had not been able to stop Gaetano and Francesca from attending the wedding. Arianna and Luciano were delighted to see them and took the opportunity to give them their own African cat, the gentle Amica. Vitale was very interested to meet his sister again but he was now definitely Filippo’s cat.
Vitale had been taken to see Germano’s grave, which was something that Talians did with dogs who had lost their master. He had whined for several minutes, then gone back to lean against Filippo’s side. His transfer of loyalty was complete.
The Bellezzan court was in Classe for the second time in recent weeks; the citizens had not wanted to wait long for the election and Filippo hadn’t wanted to wait any time at all for his wedding. Luciano and Arianna had taken Admiral Gambone’s body back to Bellezza for a burial with full naval honours and were ready for a more cheerful ceremony.
But Rodolfo was still in sombre mood. He wanted Arianna to issue an invitation to all the independent city-states to join an official alliance. Fabrizio di Chimici had overstepped a line by invading a sovereign city-state without provocation. Even though the Grand Duke’s alliance with the Gate people was in tatters, Rodolfo thought he should be made to realise how far he had transgressed.
He had suggested this plan to Arianna before they left Bellezza and she had readily agreed. But her father had more to say.
‘I think it is time I gave up the Regency,’ he told his daughter. ‘You are old enough to rule in your own right. I don’t think you need me any more.’
‘I shall always need you,’ said Arianna, putting her hand on his arm. ‘But I’ll do what you advise about the rule of Bellezza. Why now though, I wonder?’
‘Because if I wait till your marriage it might seem as if I were handing my authority over you to Luciano,’ he said straight-faced.
He was rewarded by the expected contemptuous snort.
‘You see?’ he smiled. ‘You are your own ruler and can be Bellezza’s too.’
He had forgiven her for rushing off into battle after Luciano, though her mother was still seething about it.
Isabel was looking forward to a Talian wedding.
‘Can I bring a plus one?’ she had asked Filippo, who had not understood until she explained further.
So Sky was with her in Classe as her official partner. He had bought a pair of black shoes and went to bed wearing them and a pair of black trousers, a frilled white shirt he had bought in a charity shop and Charlie’s Dracula cloak over the lot. Isabel thought he looked gorgeous, but he had been careful to lock his bedroom door in case his mother saw him going to bed in such an outlandish outfit.
Isabel herself had been offered a place of honour at the wedding. The story of her heroism at the Battle of Classe had spread round the city like the liquid fire she had helped overcome.
It was no good dipping her head and trying to hide behind her hair here; everyone knew who she was. And everyone seemed to want to be her friend. She had never been so popular.
Her status in Talia had been affecting her life in the other world too. And she had needed the strength it brought her. Alice had made up her differences with Georgia, though they would never again be as close as they used to. But she was still furious with Sky and looked daggers at Isa
bel whenever their paths crossed.
But Isabel was still friends with Laura and Yesh, even though Laura knew nothing about Talia. And now she had Georgia, Nick and Matt, as well as Sky. Five close friends and a gorgeous boyfriend. And that was without counting all the new people who had become part of her life in Talia.
Her relationship with Charlie had never been better. As soon as she had stopped being jealous of him, it had flourished. He now looked up to her as someone special and was always talking about how brave she was. He had even asked if she’d like to try out for the swimming team but she had refused. Isabel never wanted anyone to depend on her swimming again.
She looked round the great church, which was nearly full. Gaetano was going to give Beatrice away, so Francesca was sitting next to Isabel and Sky in the front row. Isabel was a bit in awe of her; she was so tall and beautiful. But she was friendly too, like her husband. They had left their African cat in Filippo’s stables.
Filippo was standing waiting for his bride, looking as nervous as any young groom in spite of his new status as Duke of Classe. Although he still used a cane, he was in better shape than his groomsman. Andrea still needed two sticks to get about and would for some time, but Fausto was making him a beautifully carved wooden leg for when he was healed enough.
‘Then you really will look like a proper pirate,’ Isabel had told him when she heard.
‘I’m giving up piracy,’ he said. ‘For good.’
And he told her about the old Duke’s pardon, which had been proclaimed throughout the city. His good name had been restored and he no longer needed to live as an outlaw. In fact, once Filippo had been elected and made known Andrea’s work as a government spy, the ex-pirate, too, had become a local hero.
Isabel looked at him, still dressed in his characteristic black and silver. He had made a handsome pirate but would be an even better merchant, she thought. He was joining Flavia in her business. After all, he knew the value of merchandise better than most.
Andrea might have lost a limb in the fight but he had gained so much. The most important thing had been a secret that Flavia had told him while nursing him back to life: the man he had killed had not been his father. Flavia’s husband had been violent to her almost as soon as they had been married and she had found consolation with someone else.
‘Fausto!’ Andrea had guessed straight away.
Flavia had never told the mosaicist that the boy was his, but now that Andrea was free to live in the city again, she thought it was time.
Isabel could see that there was a new calm about Andrea; he had lost his haunted look.
I bet he finds himself a girlfriend soon, she thought.
The little band at the back of the church struck up a fanfare. Looking towards the great oak doors, Isabel spotted Enrico in a brand-new blue suit. She smiled, remembering that Luciano had told her how he was going to order the spy to have one of Flavia’s deep scented baths before he was allowed to put it on. She was glad that Beatrice would not be met by Enrico’s usual oniony odour the minute she entered the church.
He had fought surprisingly valiantly on the walls of Classe and Filippo himself had given him the city’s purple ribbon, which he wore now on his chest.
There were so many people that Isabel knew in the cathedral. Looking round at them, she realised just how much would have been lost if the Gate people and Fabrizio di Chimici had succeeded in their military alliance. Classe would have been overrun and looted and finally handed over to the di Chimici family. She wondered what puppet Fabrizio would have set up as Duke and whether the citizens would have been sold into slavery to the Gate people.
When the Talian fleet had chased the galleys of the Gate people back to Ladera, many slaves had leapt out of the enemy ships and been rescued by the pursuers; nearly a third of them had turned out to be Talians themselves.
And the alliance of the di Chimici and Gate people wouldn’t have stopped at Classe; if they had succeeded, they would have made their way up to Bellezza and might have taken that city too. Isabel shivered. Sky put his arm round her and she leaned into the warmth of his body.
Isabel didn’t want to think about battles and war and death any more.
She watched Beatrice walk up the main aisle of the cathedral, her glittering silver dress reflecting the light of a thousand candles. It was the first time for over a year that the princess had worn any colour other than black. The candles shimmered too in the mosaics that decorated the whole of the interior. Every picture on the walls glowed with colour and gleamed with silver. And these miracles of beauty and invention were made up of hundreds of tiny tesserae, each one playing a vital part in the whole.
Isabel felt she understood every insignificant one of them.
.
.
Historical Note
.
Classe is a combination of present-day Ravenna and the real Classe in Italy. I have placed the city on the coast, with its harbour, as modern Classe is, but with the mosaics of Ravenna. The ones in Classe are of course silver in background rather than gold. It is a lagoon city, as Ravenna used to be.
The Battles of Classe, at sea and on land, are entirely imaginary, but I have been influenced by Roger Crowley’s description of the Battle of Lepanto (1571) in Empires of the Sea (Faber, 2008) and by John Francis Guilmartin Jnr in his Gunpowder and Galleys (Cambridge University Press, 1974).
Eagle-eyed readers will notice that Easter in Talia does not coincide with Easter in our world. I have used the date for Easter in Italy in 1580 but Easter fell later in our world in 2006.
.
Dramatis Personae
.
.
In Talia
.
Flavia, a trader and Stravagante
Andrea, her son, a pirate
Salvatore, Andrea’s first mate
Germano, Duke of Classe
Anna, Duchessa of Classe
Fausto Ventura, a mosaic-maker
William Dethridge, aka Guglielmo Crinamorte, a Stravagante, resident in Bellezza
Rodolfo Rossi, a Stravagante and Regent of Bellezza
Silvia Rossi, his wife and the former Duchessa of Bellezza
Luciano Crinamorte, aka Lucien Mulholland, a Stravagante resident in Bellezza
Arianna Rossi, the Duchessa of Bellezza, daughter of Rodolfo and Silvia
Giovanni Gambone, Admiral of the Bellezzan fleet
Michele Borca, Admiral of the Classe fleet
.
.
The di Chimici
.
Fabrizio, Grand Duke of Tuschia
Caterina, his Grand Duchess
Gaetano, Fabrizio’s younger brother
Francesca, Gaetano’s wife
Beatrice, Fabrizio and Gaetano’s sister
Rinaldo, Cardinal of the Reman Church
Ferdinando, Pope Lenient VI
Filippo, Prince of Bellona
.
.
The Nucci
.
Matteo, the head of the family
Graziella, his wife
Filippo, their only surviving son
.
.
in 21st-century London
Isabel Evans, a Stravagante
Charlie Evans, her twin brother
Sarah Evans, their mother
Tony Evans, their father
Laura, Isabel’s friend
Georgia O’Grady, a Stravagante (see City of Stars)
Nick Duke, aka Falco di Chimici, a Stravagante (see City of Stars)
Sky Meadows, a Stravagante (see City of Flowers)
Alice Greaves, Sky’s girlfriend
Matt Wood, a Stravagante (see City of Secrets)
Ayesha, Matt’s girlfriend, Isabel’s friend
Vicky Mulholland, Lucien’s mother, Nick Duke’s adoptive mother
.
Acknowledgements
.
So many people have helped me with City of Ships. Robert Field was my main s
ource of information on mosaics and mosaic techniques. And the reason I now own so many.
Fellow writers Viv Richardson and Anne Rooney put me in touch with books and people who might help me with sixteenth-century naval warfare. Seb Goffe suggested the Greek fire.
And the indispensible London Library sent me lots of books on a wide range of recherché subjects from pirates to weaponry.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Chris Priestley is the acclaimed author of the spine-tingling collections Uncle Montague’s Tales of Terror, Tales of Terror from the Black Ship and Tales of Terror from the Tunnel’s Mouth, all published by Bloomsbury. Chris is also an illustrator, painter and cartoonist. He lives with his family in Cambridge and is currently writing a novel called The Dead of Winter.
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ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
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David Roberts is an award-winning illustrator who has worked with a huge variety of authors, including Philip Ardagh and Georgia Byng. He is the creator of the Dirty Bertie series. David lives in London.
Table of Contents
Cover
Imprint
The Stravaganza sequence
Dedication
Epigraph
Prologue
Chapter 1 Imaginary Twin
Chapter 2 A Diplomatic Gift
Chapter 3 Belonging
Chapter 4 Luciano and Arianna
Chapter 5 Exiles
Chapter 6 The Black Raider
Chapter 7 Matchmaking
Chapter 8 Defiance
Chapter 9 Runaway
Chapter 10 A Change of Direction
Chapter 11 Spreading Wings
Chapter 12 The Life Aquatic
Chapter 13 War
Chapter 14 The Prince of Giglia
Chapter 15 Brothers
Chapter 16 The Reality and the Dream
Chapter 17 Andrea’s Story
Chapter 18 All at Sea