The Serpent

by Claire North

  - You wish me to speak to my cousins, rather than spend my coin?

  - A bit of both, perhaps.

  Then he turns to her, surprise on his face. - Do I know you? he asks. - Your voice…there is something familiar in you. When players are dealt my card, they see only the Jew, the Jew who lends money, the dog to be hounded by other dogs. You – you play me in a different way. It is unexpected.

  - Can you do it?

  - I can try.

  - That is all I ask.

  And as she turns to go:

  - I know you, he breaths. - You hide your face but I know your voice. I knew your mother. She was a wonderful singer.

  - I am a player, she replies. - The rest is nothing.

  She is gone.

  At night, we sit beside her, unseen, warmth from the candle. She considers Andrea Tiapolo, remembers him in the basilica, his player sat behind, puffed up and proud. He is moving too fast, playing his pieces too fast. He bribes too many, not realising that the key to success is to learn who the few great men are whose minds must be swayed, and focus resources on them rather than expend largely on the lesser loud men of the Doge’s palace. He has shown his pieces too soon, but here is the question: does she deliver the killing blow to Tiapolo’s campaign, or wait for another player to do so? Faliere bides his time; Contarini is moving slowly and carefully, but move he does. And what of Belligno, Angelo Seluda’s greatest rival? He acts alone, is not a piece supported by a player but rather moves independently, and again the question – why is he not a piece? His moves are strong, he would be an excellent piece to be played, yet the Gamesmaster did not choose him for the game.

  Yet, like the Queen of Spades as she emerges from within the shuffled pack, though he is not played, yet he still is a player.

  She waits and hums her mother’s lullaby under her breath, barely noticing the sound.

  Chapter 15

  The day that Thene spots – absolutely spots – another player’s piece, she is delighted. Less delighted when she sees what he is: Abbot Padova, dear friend of the Patriarch of Venice, dearer friend yet of the Doge himself, for it is said that when the Doge’s wife was sick, the abbot laid hands upon her and within a day – nay, perhaps within an hour! – she was up again, about her business.

  This Abbot Padova she sees now at prayers, whispering when the liturgy is done in the Patriarch’s ear, and as he whispers, Contarini watches him and smiles, and she knows that Padova is his man.

  And why not? she muses.

  If she had a piece like the abbot to play, she would deploy him to the very hilt.

  She flicks through her cards, looking for the answer.

  The Priestess.

  She says: - Perhaps you do not consider it appropriate that a nun should be a piece in your game?

  - I have no thoughts of appropriateness or rank, or any matter other than victory, Thene replies as the two of them walk side by side through the little chapel of the nunnery where the Priestess resides. It is not on the mainland of Venice itself, but on an island where the dead are taken to be buried, a steep little protrusion of green from the blue waters of the lagoon where the funeral barges wait in silence at the water’s edge for the priests and diggers of that place to carry their shrouded cargo into black soil. Dark-spined trees hang overhead, gravel crunches beneath their feet and birds sing between the branches, oblivious to the solemnity of this ground.

  - Quite right, murmurs the Priestess. - A piece is a piece; the game is the game. It is the separation of humanity from the enterprise that will permit you to win it. That being so, what do you desire of me?

  - I hear that the Church supports Contarini’s candidature for the Supreme Tribunal.

  - The Church doesn’t concern itself with such matters.

  - Come, you and I both know that isn’t true. Abbot Padova is very much Contarini’s man, and I have no doubt that he is being played.

  - Indeed? Well, there are more than some of us, perhaps, who made…arrangements with the Gameshouse we might someday regret.

  Thene hears the thoughts in the Priestess’s voice, feels the sorrow, sees her eyes drift towards the still waters of the lagoon, and though the offer is sweet and her curiosity blazes, she does not ask the question, but rather swiftly moves through it, for she has business to attend and is beginning to learn that a piece in this game is not as simple as a counter on the board, for these pieces have secrets and prides, and though they are hers by the rules of the game, yet they too must be shaped into something more.

  - I need to know what it is that Contarini has offered the bishops to sway them, and what it would take to change their minds.

  - And you expect me to find out?

  - I do, Sister. I think you are trustworthy. I think your honesty and piety are written in your face. I think you are regarded as spiritually notable but politically insignificant. I think you will be able to find out these truths very easily indeed.

  - I hope you have been dealt better cards than me, she replies. - Though I will, of course, do as you ask.

  - Thank you, Sister.

  And then, as she makes to go:

  - May I ask – how did you come to know of the Gameshouse?

  Thene hates that she cannot stop herself from asking, then forgives herself at once, concluding that the value of the question perhaps – but no, it cannot be – but perhaps even outweighs the glory of the prize for which she plays.

  The Priestess stands still, considering this question, considering her answer, whether it is apt to reply at all. At last she says, - I have seen four or five players set upon different matches who have asked me that question. The first time I was played, I was the Two of Cups, a novice in the order in Rome. The player asked me to perform a task which I could not achieve and I was nearly expelled, and he, having played me badly, lost the use of me as a piece and eventually the match. Then, the game was one of cardinals, and though I was not a player, I could see the pattern of moves well enough to know what the prize was. Ask yourself this, my lady: you play now to crown a king in Venice, and this is, I think, your very first game. Imagine the stakes that more experienced players must work for. Imagine the scale of their ambition. Though I am only a piece in your hand, I am powerful enough to take some interest in these matters, and of enough curiosity to wish to know how the Gameshouse makes its moves. I think anyone who considers themselves wise would do the same.

  - You are not tempted to play?

  - And risk losing? No. It is enough for me to know the board and see the direction that the pieces flow. I will not wager on it.

  As her ship pulls from the island, she sees another, taller, greater, a pennant proud on its mast, heading out towards the open sea. It is a ship of Faliere, though where it is going, riding so high in the water, she cannot tell. Her lips thin ever so slightly behind her mask – her ignorance frightens her more than any certainty of Faliere’s schemes. What does this man plot, who is so aloof from the machinations of the city, so far beyond the reaching of the game? She does not know, and is for a moment terrified.

  And as she returns to shore she sees black fires rising from the harbours.

  Men run, buckets, buckets, the buildings fall, the smoke rises up in a plume then spreads out into the sky at a certain point, as if passing some invisible barrier between the compressed, buffeting world of man and the expanse of heaven. If we stand close – too close! – the heat tears at our faces, at our skins, our lips crack, the blood pulses in our toes; retreat, nothing can save this now, and let us stand with the children who gape at the timbers cracking, the walls coming down, who watch the sparks of this blaze spin and flick towards heaven and say, - Mummy, it’s pretty – can we see another one?

  Onshore, the messenger confirms what she already knows: the warehouse was one of Tiapolo’s. It was supposed to be empty, all goods shipped out three days ago but look, there is the old man on his knees, weeping, weeping, all is lost and it seems that the rumours were a lie. The warehouse was not empty at al
l, but rather filled with a secret stash of pepper for sale to an Englishman who had promised five times its weight in gold and now – now! – all lost in a sweet-smelling smoke. Tiapolo will be ruined, some say, but no, he’ll come back, his kind always do.

  Thene does not stay to witness the old man on his knees, or to observe the masked man who stands behind him, a silver box empty in his hands, who turns at last and walks away.

  - Of course he can’t win, tuts Alvise Muna as they walk together beneath the low arches of San Marco at the setting sun. - Tiapolo’s entire strategy consisted of bribery and intimidation; it was already suspected that he couldn’t pay his debts and now he definitely cannot enforce his threats. One day he might be a competitor, but not today.

  Not today.

  There are only three contenders now: Seluda, Contarini, Faliere. Belligno still moves on the margins, but she cannot think he will last long.

  Which of Tiapolo’s rivals delivered the blow? What cards did they play?

  (Ah, the King of Swords! Char still clinging to his fingers, the smell of oil about his clothes; his card played, his debt discharged, he turns away from the blaze - until the next game.)

  She has bided her time long enough.

  Time to move.

  Chapter 16

  When they first invite Pietro Zanzano and his wife to dine, a message comes back pleading a headache.

  When the next day they propose the same again, the messenger returns that alas, they have prior commitments.

  On the third day, she visits the house and will not leave until she has seen the master personally.

  He is busy, irritated, his grey hair sticking out beneath his black cap. He is something of a rarity in Venetian politics – not only does he have a great name, but the wealth which bought that name has grown, grown over the centuries where so many others have declined. If there was ever a quality close to godliness in Venetian eyes, it is this, for how rarely do economics and honour collide?

  - Madam, he says, barely bothering to look at her, - I cannot visit your master’s house. My wife is ill-disposed.

  - Sir, she replies, - my master is most sad to hear that, but nevertheless some private conference will be of great use for us all.

  - Doubtless he wishes me to do some favours for him; I cannot of course interfere in this process.

  Hearing this, she smiles beneath her mask. It is the first time we have felt this, and it is so unexpected that we want to freeze this moment, capture it like a portrait, a second that was, and shall never be again.

  Then – then!

  She removes her mask.

  So long we have seen her in this guise, we have almost forgotten that she is human. Shall we use the word “beautiful”? Beauty is a thing that changes with the eye that sees it, but any woman, any living creature, is surely more beautiful than a mask which hides her and so yes, we shall now declare that from the moment that was to the moment that is, she is alive, is living and is beautiful.

  Zanzano looks up and perhaps he is not as impressed as we are by this sight. Or perhaps he is like the mask that now she holds in her hand, a face without a heart.

  - You have already been made an offer, she muses out loud. - Very well. I will not do you that disservice to suggest that my master can beat the proposal that is already before you from Faliere – it is Faliere, I assume, who has approached you?

  He does not move, and she is correct.

  - It is a good move on the part of Faliere, as doubtless your voice holds great sway over these matters and you have power enough to decide, if not the vote, then a deal of it which is undecided until you speak. I will not do you any great dishonour to press you in this regard. You are a man of integrity; I wish you good luck.

  So saying, she leaves.

  And when she returns home, what of the mask shrouding her features?

  Do we detect anger in her voice, or is it merely the intensity of a plan that now must fall as she demands, else all is lost?

  We cannot tell. Our judgement here would be too subjective.

  Yet here she speaks, and what she says is:

  - Faliere.

  And it is a statement, and a challenge, and a move that is yet to be made.

  Chapter 17

  The birds are still singing on the island of the dead, the sun still shines as fresh coffins are lowered into the crowded earth. Thene walks by the Priestess’s side as the other says:

  - Contarini has a relic in his possession. The elbow of St Simon.

  - Surely there are at least twenty elbows of St Simon in Venice already?

  - The bishops seem to believe that this one is genuine – or rather…

  Thene smiles to see the Priestess smile, for it is such a rare expression across her features that it reminds Thene, in a way she cannot describe, of herself.

  - … I do not know where Contarini found it: he did not have it three weeks ago and no vessel has come into port with any such thing about it. Indeed, the whole thing is being kept very close.

  - I can make a few guesses as to where this relic came from, murmurs Thene as they walk together by the water, watching the clouds, the water, the city, the woman and the nun, the player and the played.

  - Contarini has offered not only to hand over this relic, but to build the bishops a sacred place to house it. Doubtless the contracts for this exploit would be…very lucrative…to many individuals in the city.

  - Ah – I see! He wins the bishops’ vote by offering a little theological temptation in a golden box, then wins over the support of half the Senate by proposing building works which will keep them in coin for fifteen years yet to come. But by securing the Church’s support for this venture, he doesn’t even have to pay for more than the initial gilding himself if he can convince Rome to contribute to the construction of a reliquary while turning a profit on the contracts to construct! It is wonderful!

  - You are pleased at this?

  - I enjoy how so simple a move can trap so many pieces. Bishops, builders, men of faith, men of money. No wonder they have declared this sacred elbow or whatever it is to be the genuine matter, no doubt curing all manner of diseases. It is in the interest of everyone to find it so. Where is the relic now?

  - No one knows.

  - The bishops are committed?

  - This enterprise will bring them wealth and prestige, which to the greatest in this church are of vastly more interest than salvation, sad to say.

  - And for the same reason, much of the Senate will follow. Then we must see to its failure as quickly as possible, for the sake of their souls as much as our enterprise. Thank you, sister, for your assistance.

  Chapter 18

  And together in the dark, their voices hushed in secrecy, a veil across one woman’s face, a mask across the other’s, firelight in the heart and the sound of men, drunk, in the street outside, the Queen of Cups, Pisana, lady of letters and lady of the night says:

  - Faliere is so cold I begin to question whether he is even a man, even human, or just some animated statue that sometimes shits and sometimes spits and shows no more that those human functions.

  - I take it you have had little success infiltrating his house, murmurs Thene.

  - He has doubled his guard, thrown out anyone he doesn’t trust, sent his children away from the city.

  - How prudent of him. But his wife?

  - Ah – his wife. (And here, through her veil, we feel rather than see our Lady Pisana smile, for she learned long ago to find joy in those few joys that life can give, whatever their calling, whatever their form.) - Poor Lady Faliere: with a husband made of clay, what can she do?

  And then, her enthusiasm for the thing itself breaking through her delight at the game of hiding it, she leans forward, the veil stirring around her lips at her breath, and whispers:

  - She has taken a lover. A lady in San Marco; a very beautiful lady at that.

  - Does Faliere know?

  - If he does, he has done nothing.

  - Tell no
one. Protect the wife and her lover. I need their relationship to continue until election day. Do not let anyone find out.

  - I like you, lady. You have a romantic bent.

  - Do not believe it.

  - Be careful not to lose yourself too deeply to the game. Emotion is a weakness, but players are still human; so are pieces. If you forget the meanings of love or fear, you will not be able to see the board clearly.

  - I know the meaning of fear.

  - And love?

  Thene didn’t answer. Pisana nodded to herself and said, - You are the player I hoped you would be. She told me you were good.

  - Who?

  - The Gamesmaster.

  - The Gamesmaster spoke to you?

  - Yes. When she gave me my card, told me the conditions of my arrangement. You do not think I was ever just a piece, did you?

  - What did the Gamesmaster say?

  - What is it worth to you to know?

  - You have a request.

  - Rather a favour, let us say. If you win this game – and I think you shall – you will become a great player in the higher league. That could be of use to me. We could reach some understanding, you and I.

  She thinks about it for a moment, then says, - No. Not yet. This is the game; I am the player. You are a piece, and I must win. Perhaps, when that victory is won, we can talk again of other things.

  - As you wish, my lady. As you wish.

  And so the Queen of Cups is gone, as are we.

  Chapter 19

  The coin.

  Thene turns it over in her fingers.

  There are only three cards in her pack left to be played. The Fool, the Three of Coins, the Tower and this strange Roman coin, old yet not old, no reason, no great value – what is the purpose of this? How is it to be played?

  She lays it aside and goes to the Gameshouse.

  The warmth of fire, the distant sound of music, the taste of drink, fine food, the watching umpires all in white, faces hidden, hands clasped, welcome, welcome, welcome to the Gameshouse, all things are possible here.