‘I think about half the city would be behind him too,’ said the chandler. ‘Why, he even looks like Jacopo, to those of us who can remember the Prince as a young man.’
‘And I say, what does it matter that he’s a … I mean, that he wasn’t born in wedlock,’ said the baker. ‘He’s got the right blood and he’d make a better ruler than poor Lucia, so to my mind there’s no question. Let’s have him as our Prince.’
And suddenly everyone was shouting ‘Prince Ludovico! Long live Prince Ludovico di Chimici, Prince of Fortezza!’
Ludo smiled, but he wasn’t fooled by their enthusiasm. He knew that crowds could be fickle. He also knew that Bertoldo Ciampi wanted the generalship of the army as much as he wanted Ludo as his Prince. But for now he was content to accept their homage and their support – especially if it came backed with arms.
‘Oh my God, you’re kidding!’ said Georgia.
Isabel had found her in the library.
‘No, it’s true. Laura’s in hospital.’
‘Is it what we thought?’
‘Yes, she’s cut herself really badly and everything about her self-harming has come out.’
‘I’ll tell Nick,’ said Georgia. ‘Shall we meet at his house after school?’
‘Yes. I’ve already called Sky, and he’ll tell Matt.’
‘Hasn’t Laura got an exam this afternoon?’ asked Georgia.
‘Yes, History, but they’re letting her take it at the hospital if she’s up to it.’
It was a sober gathering in Nick’s attic later that day. Ayesha was with them. Laura’s mother had texted her and Isabel from A & E. And there had been an ominous request to meet them both when Laura was out of danger.
‘She’s going to want to know whether we knew,’ said Ayesha.
‘Well, we didn’t,’ said Isabel. ‘Not for sure.’
‘But we guessed,’ said Georgia, ‘and did nothing about it.’
‘How bad is it?’ asked Matt.
‘Bad enough for Bart’s A & E,’ said Isabel.
‘I’ve had enough of that place,’ said Matt.
There was silence while he and Ayesha, Georgia and Nick all remembered when Matt had put the evil eye on a boy he was jealous of. Jago Jones had ended up in that hospital and none of them doubted he would have died if Matt hadn’t brought the counter-spell back from Talia.
Jago was fine now but he steered clear of Matt and the others at school, looking quite haunted if he bumped into him or Ayesha in the corridor.
‘Me too,’ said Nick, who had had a series of operations at Bart’s.
‘And it’s where Lucien died,’ said Georgia.
‘Laura’s not going to die though, is she?’ said Sky.
‘I hope not!’ said Isabel.
‘But it’s not impossible,’ said Ayesha. ‘If she cut an artery.’
They all looked at her in horror. Then the message tone rang on Isabel’s and Ayesha’s phones at the same time and they leapt to grab them.
Laura out of danger. In hospital overnight.
Ellen
They both read it out aloud at the same time.
‘Thank goodness for that,’ said Sky.
‘What should we do about Fortezza?’ asked Nick suddenly.
‘Fortezza?’ said Georgia. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, we know she wasn’t going back last night, and her Stravagante wouldn’t worry too much if she missed one night. But she won’t be able to stravagate even if she wants to for a few days.’
‘And she won’t have her talisman with her in hospital,’ said Matt. ‘I can’t see them letting her have a sharp blade about her.’
‘That’s a thought,’ said Isabel. ‘I wonder if her parents will take it away from her?’
‘One of us should go,’ said Georgia. ‘And tell Fabio what has happened.’
‘But we don’t know how to travel to Fortezza, do we?’ said Sky. ‘I mean we know now how to get to the other cities but we couldn’t visualise Fabio’s smithy.’
‘We could try,’ said Nick. ‘I could try. I’ve been in a Talian swordsmith’s before. If I tried to imagine it and said the word “Fortezza” out loud, it might work.’
‘No,’ said Georgia. She wasn’t having Nick go off to Talia on his own
‘It’s too risky and someone might recognise you there.’
‘I think I should go to Padavia,’ said Matt. ‘I could see Luciano, and if he can’t help, I could get to Bellezza really quickly if necessary or tell Rodolfo through one of the mirrors.’
No one could think of any objections to that.
‘I’ll go tonight,’ said Matt. ‘Don’t worry, Yesh, you can watch over me if you like.’
Professor Constantin the printer was startled by the sudden arrival of Matt in his private room off the Scriptorium. He hadn’t seen him for months.
‘Matteo!’ he said. ‘You nearly gave me a heart attack! But it’s wonderful to see you. Are you well?’
Matt filled him in quickly on the current situation and asked if he could find Luciano for him.
‘Of course, though he’s not my most conscientious student,’ said the professor. ‘He should be in a class right now, but I can’t swear he’ll be there.’
He told Matt where to find the Cavaliere in the University building and said he would see him back in the Scriptorium before sunset.
Matt breathed deeply as he loped along Salt Street; it was a while since he had been in Padavia and he had not realised how much he had missed it. But he couldn’t stop to enjoy it; he was a man on a mission.
He cannoned into a solid figure who did a classic double take.
‘Matteo!’ It was Cesare, Luciano and Georgia’s friend from Remora. He was studying in Padavia too. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Hey, Cesare,’ said Matt, giving him a hug. ‘Bit complicated to explain. I’m looking for Luciano.’
‘Oh, we’re going to meet at the Fencing School,’ said Cesare. ‘I’ll take you there.’
The two boys walked companionably to the school, where they met a tall curly-haired young man with a mask and a foil.
‘Luciano,’ called Cesare, ‘look who it is! Matteo needs your help.’
The fencing practice was quickly abandoned and Luciano took them back to the house that Silvia used to live in. He fetched a hand-mirror from his bedroom and before long Rodolfo’s dark face appeared in the glass.
Luciano! he thought-spoke. What has happened?
Nothing here, replied Luciano. But we need to get a message to Fortezza, to Fabio.
What is it?
Can you tell him his Stravagante is not well? said Luciano. She is in hospital and won’t be back in Talia for a while.
Is she going to be all right? asked Rodolfo. Is it because of her stravagations?
I think so, and no, said Luciano. Only she didn’t stravagate last night, and Fabio might worry if she doesn’t come for a few days.
He decided not to go into the notion that Laura might have given up stravagating for good; he had never met her and didn’t know how serious she might be about that. And he definitely didn’t want to have to explain self-harming to Rodolfo.
Rodolfo turned away and Luciano could envisage him turning knobs and levers to ‘tune in’ to Fortezza.
The three young men drank some wine together while they waited, brought by Alfredo, the old servant who had been in Rodolfo’s employ when Luciano first met him.
‘She’s a self-harmer, you say?’ Luciano asked Matt.
Matt nodded over his pewter cup, remembering the taste of Bellezzan red. He was more of a beer drinker himself.
‘Seems like it,’ he said.
‘I don’t understand,’ said Cesare. ‘She cuts herself? Why?’
Matt realised that this must be a phenomenon unknown in Talia. And it was hard to explain to someone who had no experience of the idea.
‘There are enough people trying to harm others in Talia, without doing any damage to yourself,’ said Cesare
.
At that moment, Rodolfo’s face swam back into view.
I forgot to send greetings to Matteo, he said. Thank him for bringing the news. But things are bad in Fortezza as it is. Fabio tells me that Ludo is challenging Lucia for the crown. And half the army has gone over to his side.
Chapter 7
Family Loyalty
The di Chimici family, being without benefit of a communication system like Rodolfo’s mirrors, took longer to hear the news. And when it came, it produced a variety of reactions.
Fabrizio’s, predictably, was rage.
‘He has taken my cousin hostage? How dare he?’
The messenger, who had barely escaped Fortezza with his own life, was afraid that he had ridden full pelt into almost as great danger. The Grand Duke was puce with outrage and had grabbed him by his jerkin and nearly hauled him off the floor.
‘Hush, Rizio!’ said Grand Duchess Caterina. ‘You are frightening Bino.’
Only his wife could have got away with hushing Fabrizio in this mood. ‘Bino’, his baby son and heir, obligingly began to whimper.
Fabrizio relaxed his grip on the messenger.
‘Not exactly taken her hostage, Your Grace,’ he said, flashing the Grand Duchess a grateful look. ‘She is safe in the castle with Princess Carolina. A small remnant of the army loyal to your family is guarding them against the rebels.’
‘A small remnant? You mean the rest of the army have gone over to that, that gypsy’s camp?’
‘The rebel leader, Ciampi, overthrew General Bompiani, Your Grace, and most of the army followed him.’
‘So what is going to happen next?’ asked Caterina. ‘Are the princesses safe in the castle?’
‘I tell you what is going to happen next,’ said Fabrizio. ‘What is going to happen next is that I am calling out the Giglian army to lay siege to Fortezza!’
‘Excuse me, Your Grace,’ said the unfortunate messenger. ‘Princess Lucia asked me to say that if you could spare some messengers of your own to visit your other family members, the news would spread faster than I could take it by myself.’
‘Certainly we will organise that,’ said Caterina. ‘Rizio, don’t you see this poor fellow is dropping with exhaustion and fear? He must be properly entertained while you write messages for our allies. And he should not go anywhere himself until he has recovered.’
‘Of course, of course,’ said the Grand Duke. He gave the man some silver. ‘My seneschal will look after you. And I must get a message straight away to Gaetano. He won’t believe this has happened. Then Volana, Moresco, Remora, Bellona … There’s no point asking Classe for help now that Beatrice has betrayed the family by marrying a Nucci …’
Caterina quietly led the Fortezzan messenger from the room and gave orders to her staff to see he was well fed and housed. She could see that Fabrizio would be absorbed for hours in his preparations for war.
*
As soon as the message reached Gaetano, the Prince groaned and dropped his head in his hands. He had only recently got back from Fortezza and he knew that his older brother would insist on their setting back out again.
The last thing he wanted was to mount up on his horse and ride back to Fortezza with Fabrizio at the head of an army. And he did not want to leave his wife, Francesca. She had just told him she was expecting their first child.
‘Then don’t go,’ said Francesca. ‘He can’t order you to.’
‘But he can make our lives a misery,’ said Gaetano. ‘I’ll have to go. You know I can’t bear to leave you again so soon – especially now, but I must help to sort this business out.’
‘You sound as if it were a dispute about the price of flour!’ said Francesca. ‘But it’s a war – the Giglian army against the Fortezzan one. You could be killed!’
Gaetano had to admit that was true. He wondered if he should write his will. But at that moment a footman admitted a black friar dressed in black and white robes.
‘Brother Sulien,’ said Gaetano. ‘I am so glad to see you. Have you heard the news?’
‘I was away from the city when Rodolfo contacted me,’ said the friar. ‘I came back as fast as I could.’
Brother Sulien was one of the two Stravaganti in Giglia. The other was Giuditta Miele, but she was hard at work on a new sculpture and had become absentminded about consulting the mirrors. Sulien had told her about developments in Fortezza himself.
‘That was good of you,’ said Gaetano.
‘What will your brother do?’ asked Sulien.
‘He is mustering his army and wants me to go with him to besiege Fortezza and put down the rebellion.’
‘And you don’t want to go?’
‘No,’ said Gaetano. ‘May I tell Sulien why, Francesca?’
‘I am expecting a child, Brother,’ said Francesca.
Sulien gave them his congratulations.
‘So you see,’ said Gaetano, ‘the last thing I want to do is go haring back off to Fortezza to fight in a battle.’
‘I should like to extend my own protection to the Princess,’ said the friar. ‘While you are away, I mean, if you really have to go. I could come each day and visit the Princess and send a report to Fabio of Fortezza through our mirrors. I don’t know if you will be able to contact him when you are outside the city, but if not, I expect there will be other Stravaganti gathering at the walls of Fortezza.’
‘That would be a great relief to me,’ said Gaetano.
‘But you don’t have to come here, Brother,’ said Francesca. ‘I am not ill. I shall visit you each day at Saint-Mary-among-the-Vines. It will do me good to walk there.’
‘Then there’s nothing for it, I suppose,’ said Gaetano. ‘I must find some armour and saddle up.’
Isabel, Georgia and Ayesha were shocked by how pale Laura looked when they visited her after school two days after she got out of hospital. Her mother had not let them come before. Laura was lying on the sofa in her family’s sitting room, propped up with cushions. Her arm was still bandaged and lay across her chest as if it didn’t belong to her. Her face and hands looked almost translucent.
‘How are you?’ asked Isabel, knowing it was a silly question but needing to say it all the same.
‘Well – you know,’ said Laura. ‘I’ve felt better. The worst thing is my parents.’
‘I thought they were OK,’ said Ayesha. ‘Just worried about you.’
‘Oh, they’re that all right,’ said Laura. ‘I have to see a psychiatrist. And they’ve taken everything sharp away – including my talisman.’
She wiped tears of frustration away with the back of her bandaged hand. She seemed exhausted.
‘Well, if you’re not going back …’ said Georgia.
The others thought this was harsh but it got a reaction.
Laura glared at Georgia. ‘I want the option, don’t I? It should be my decision, not theirs. And they’re watching me like hawks.’
As if on cue, Ellen, Laura’s mother, came in with a tray of tea and biscuits. She sat down with them and poured for everyone. Isabel saw that she took a mug for herself. If she was going to stay it would be impossible to talk to Laura about Talia and stravagating.
‘Now, girls,’ said Ellen, ‘I know this is difficult for everyone to talk about, but did any of you know what Laura had been doing? I have to ask.’
‘Oh, Mum,’ said Laura, her pale face tinged with pink.
‘It’s OK, Lol,’ said Isabel. ‘I’m really sorry, Mrs Reid. I didn’t know anything for sure, till you texted from the hospital. But I was beginning to suspect something. I should have said.’
Ellen Reid relaxed as the other girls nodded in agreement.
‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘I believe you. But James and I are just so angry with ourselves that we didn’t realise how miserable Laura had been.’
She was right; it was impossibly difficult to talk about, with Laura sitting right there, her left arm bandaged from wrist to elbow, looking as if she was going to die of embarrassment.<
br />
‘One thing though,’ said Isabel, her heart thumping. ‘I don’t think Laura bought that antique paperknife to – you know. It was just an ornament.’
‘I told them that,’ said Laura wearily.
‘But you understand why we can’t let her have it back,’ said Ellen. ‘At least not till the psychiatrist says she can have it. It’s really sharp.’
Laura buried her face in a cushion. Her mother showed no signs of being about to leave the girls on their own.
Georgia cleared her throat. ‘Matt went to see, you know, Lucy, on Monday night,’ she said.
‘Lucy?’ said Laura. ‘Oh, I see, yes. Did he? Did he tell her about me?’
‘Yes,’ said Isabel. ‘He asked her to tell, um, your other friend that you’d be out of action for a few days.’
Ellen got up. ‘I can see you girls have some gossip to catch up on, Laura,’ she said, and left them to it.
‘Thank goodness,’ said Georgia, as soon as Laura’s mother was out of earshot.
‘Lucy?’ said Laura, laughing in spite of herself. ‘What would you have done with Fabio and Ludo?’
‘Ludo’s started a rebellion in Fortezza,’ said Georgia seriously. ‘The Princess is a prisoner in her own castle.’
‘I must go there again then,’ said Laura, serious herself now. ‘I can’t just opt out when it’s got so dangerous for both sides.’ For Ludo, she thought. ‘But how can I get my talisman back?’
All over north Talia the di Chimici were mustering. Only Giglia and Fortezza had standing armies – and Fortezza had lost half of its soldiery – but every prince and duke of the ruling family could call on a pool of mercenaries to fight for them. They could afford pay and supplies and armour and weapons and forage, even horses for the few men who didn’t have their own.
As soon as the message came, even the oldest di Chimici rulers, like Ferdinando of Moresco, the nearest city to Fortezza, squeezed himself into his armour, though it was his son Ferrando who was going to lead the army. The old Prince was seventy-eight and his son forty-seven but they were determined to play their part in bringing justice, as they saw it, in Fortezza.