The Shadow of the Lion hoa-1

by Eric Flint

  And both of them were wearing at least three knives that Marco could see.

  "Hope they get the crowd calmed down before they finish up," Benito muttered, "or with this lot, half-drunk as they are, no tellin' what they might do."

  To Marco's relief they did just that, finishing up at last with something melancholy enough that one or two of the more sodden customers began sniffling into their wine. Then, ignoring demands for more, they picked up their instruments and hopped off the bar. Benito waved at them. The older one spotted him and motioned him over. Seeing that he'd been summoned by one of their darlings, the crowd parted politely so that the two boys could make their way to the singers' tiny table, crowded into a cramped nook to one side of the bar itself. There was barely room for both women, the boys and the instruments.

  The older one reached over the table and tweaked Benito's nose. "Where've y' been, cull? Y' haven't been here since the Feast started?we was beginnin' t' think y' didn't love us no more."

  "Out an' about, earnin' a wedge or two. You tryin' t' get yourselves invited down to the Doge's torture chambers? What'f there'd been Schiopettieri around?"

  "Huh, Schiopettieri are all dead drunk by now. Besides there's a crow on the door. That's the latest ballad out of Syracuse."

  "With additions by you, Valentina, I got no doubt," Benito snorted. "The Servants don't hold with Moorish music, y'know, and they say the Doge is favoring 'em these days. God rot th' senile old fool. Ye're gonna find yourself at nubbing cheat, an' not because of what y' do outside the walls."

  "Listen to the kitten, telling the old cats how to prowl!" the younger woman crowed. "Who taught you, hmm? Ins and outs, ups and downs?"

  Benito cleared his throat with a sideways glance toward Marco?and only then did the women seem to see him.

  "Well! Who's this? Can't be related to you, kid?he's too pretty."

  Marco felt his ears burning.

  "This, Valentina, is my brother… Marco. You know."

  "Oh-ho. Brought him out of hiding, hmm? And y' need something, I don't doubt. Make him someone's cousin?" Claudia?the older woman?caught Marco's chin in one long, sharp-nailed hand, and turned his face from side to side, examining it closely. "Just feeding him'd do. I'd think a little flesh on him, and no one'd tumble to 'im."

  Benito shook his head. "No go. He needs more; needs protection, needs somebody with weight backing 'im. So I'm askin'?you seen that pretty blond?the one that ain't from these parts?in here lately?"

  Claudia shook her head, letting go of Marco's chin. "Not me. Valentina-love?"

  She too shook her head. "No. Know who would, though?that canal-rat that used't work for Antonio. Maria Garavelli. She's living with him, people say."

  "Oh, no?" It was Benito's turn to shake his head. "Ain't messin' with that one. That Maria keeps an eye on 'im; push him, she'll know?I damn sure don't want her knowin' I'm trying to touch her man. She's got a nasty way with folks as bothers 'im."

  "Point," Valentina agreed. "All right. Best I can say is try that runner-girl of yours, Lola. She's been doin' runs down along where he mostly seems t' hang out?'specially lately."

  ***

  A fistfight broke out across the room, interrupting them. For a few seconds it remained confined to the original two combatants?but a foot in the wrong place tripped one up and sent him into a table and its occupants?and things began to spread from there.

  Valentina and Claudia exchanged glances filled with unholy glee.

  "Shall we?"

  "Let's?"

  With reverent care, they handed their instruments to the bartender, who placed them safely behind the wooden bulwark. They divested themselves of knives?this was a fistfight, after all?then charged into the fray with joyful and total abandon.

  "Women," Benito said, shaking his head ruefully. "Well, at least they'll come out of that with full pockets. Back way, brother." Marco followed him outside with no regret.

  Benito led the way again, back over the rooftops, climbing towers and balconies, inching over drainpipes and across the support beams of bridges until Marco was well and truly lost yet again. Fatigue was beginning to haze everything, and he hadn't the least notion where in Venice he could be?except that by the general run of the buildings, they were still in the lower-class section of town. When Benito finally stopped and peered over a roof edge, Marco just sat, closing his eyes and breathing slowly, trying to get his wind back, with a gutter biting into his bony haunches.

  "Hi!" he heard Benito call softly, "Lola!"

  There was the sound of feet padding over to stand beneath where Benito leaned over the edge. "Benito?" answered a young female voice. "You in trouble?"

  "No. Just need to find someone."

  By now Marco had recovered enough to join Benito in peering over the roof edge. On the walkway just below him was a child?certainly younger than Benito, pretty in the way that an alley-kitten is pretty.

  "I'm waiting," she said, and "Oh!" when she saw Marco.

  Benito shook his head at the question in her glance. "Not now. Later, promise. Gotta find that blond you're droolin' after."

  She looked incensed. "I ain't drooling after him! I just think he's?nice."

  "Yeah, and Valentina just sings cute little ballads. You know where he is?"

  She sniffed. "I shouldn't tell you…"

  "Oh c'mon! Look?I promise I'll give you that blue scarf of mine?just tell."

  "Well, all right. He's in Antonio's over on the Rio della Frescada. I just run a message over there and I saw him. I think he's going to be there awhile."

  "Hot damn!" Benito jumped to his feet, and skipped a little along the edge of the coppo tiles while Marco held his breath, expecting him to fall. "Bright-eyes, you just made my day!"

  ***

  Benito had traded on the fact that he was a known runner in order to get into Antonio's. It wasn't a place Marco would have walked into by choice. The few faces he could see looked full of secrets, and unfriendly. They approached the table that Aldanto had taken, off in the darkest corner of the room, Benito with all the aplomb of someone who had every right to be there, even if he was only fourteen years old. Marco just trailed along behind, invisible for all the attention anyone paid him. The place was as dark as Barducci's had been well lit; talk was murmurous, and there was no one entertaining. Marco was not at all sure he wanted to be here.

  "Milord?" Benito had reached Aldanto's table, and the man looked up when he spoke. Marco had no difficulty in recognizing the Caesare Aldanto from Ferrara. Older, harder?but the same man. "Milord, I got a message for you?but?it ain't public."

  Aldanto looked at him. Startled at first, then appraisingly. He signaled a waiter, and spoke softly into the man's ear; the man murmured something in reply, picked up the dishes that had been on Aldanto's table, and motioned them to follow.

  The waiter led them all to a tiny room, with barely room for more than a table and a few chairs in it?but it had a door and the door shut softly behind them. Aldanto seated himself at the table and put down his wine glass. The way he positioned himself, the boys had to stand with him seated between them and the door. The lantern that lit the room was on the wall behind Aldanto's head and made a sunblaze out of his hair.

  "I'm waiting," was all he said.

  "Milord, my brother's got information that you might be able to use?it might be you and him know the same people. We want to sell it."

  He poked Marco with his elbow. Marco shook himself into awareness.

  "Information?" Aldanto did not look amused. "What on earth could you two have that would be of any use to me?"

  "Milord, somebody thinks it's important. My brother has been having to hide out in the marshes because somebody thought it was important enough to kill my mother, but she passed it on to Marco here. See, we know who you are. We know where you're from. We reckoned you would be the right man to know what he's got. And we figured you'd be the best man to pay our price?and that's to keep him safe after he's told you."

  The
blond man began to look angry. "If this is some kind of a scam?"

  "Brother," Marco said clearly and distinctly, "the viper strikes." It was the password of those in the service of the Milanese Duke Visconti.

  Aldanto, who had just taken a mouthful of wine, coughed and practically choked.

  Marco took the most recent of his precious copies of The Message from his shirt pocket and handed it to him.

  ***

  Hazed with fatigue, Marco was blind to Aldanto's reactions?but Benito wasn't.

  Within a few moments, Benito had figured Aldanto was not pleased with their recognition of him as a Milanese agent. Moments after that he knew by the worried look that Aldanto wasn't working for Duke Visconti anymore.

  This required recalculation.

  Then Aldanto's mouth began to twitch as he read the paper Marco had given him.

  "Where did you come by this?"

  "I told you," Benito said, stalling for time. "Our mama was something with the Milanese?passed their messages and whatall. Except somebody figured that out an' came for her, and Marco ran for the marshes to hide out with the last thing she got. Figured things were fine until he got jumped out there a day or so ago, and it weren't just any nightbird, it was an assassin. We are Valdosta; you might know the name?you might know people Mama knew?Ventuccio. You going help us out?"

  "Valdosta. Well… well…" Aldanto pointed at the paper. "Nothing here for me," he said. His mouth was amused but his eyes were hard. "What you've got is an out-of-date infiltration schedule. Useless. And worthless."

  ***

  Marco's mind went blank. All the hope?the plans?all in ruins; and the man Aldanto didn't seem the least bit interested in helping, much less being the shining rescuer Marco had prayed for.

  "But?somebody must think I know something," he said desperately, "or why try to kill me? And why send an assassin? They could have hired one of the marsh-gangs, easy." Now all he wanted was to be able to think of something useful to Aldanto; something worth the cost of protecting both himself and Benito. It was far too late now to go back to the Jesolo marsh. "Maybe?maybe I know something someone doesn't want out?like a name, or a face?can't you use that?"

  "Absolutely?Marco never forgets anything," Benito chimed in. "That's why Mama took him everywhere with her. He knows all kinds of things?things maybe still worth knowing."

  "Like I remember you, milord. You were with Mama's man, Carlo Sforza?it was?around the beginning of October, I think, about nine years ago. You were wearing brown velvet, and you and Carlo talked about the bribes your father'd been paying…" Marco trailed off at the grim set of Aldanto's mouth.

  "Besides?damned Milanese are out after us along with you," Benito interrupted, stepping hard on Marco's foot. "Mama would have sold us to slavers if they'd told her to. Duke Visconti never got us anything but trouble, and I bet it's him as sent the assassin. You need something, well, I can get it, or I know who can; I can get things done, too?get people disappeared?get you disappeared too, only less permanent. We've got connections you can't get from the Case Vecchie or the boatpeople. You need us, milord?about as much as we need you."

  "Interesting. Valdosta…" Aldanto said, then said nothing more, obviously thinking hard. Marco turned on Benito, and tugged him into a corner of the little room.

  "What the hell?"

  "Truth, damn it!" Benito whispered harshly. "It's all true and you know it! Mama used you?why do you think she never paid me any attention? Theodoro's folks knew what was going on; told me too. Told me it was probably Duke Visconti's people that got Mama."

  "Uh?"

  "That's why they turned me out, couple of years ago. They were afraid, and I don't blame 'em. Lucky I ran into Claudia and Valentina."

  "They're thieves! I know thieves cant when I hear it!"

  " 'Course they're thieves! How d'you think I came by all that stuff for you? Where'd you think it came from? The Moon? I've been living in bloody attics for two years now! Look, brother?I've mostly given up thieving?the odds aren't in it. I'm a messenger now. But I couldn't get stuff for you, and feed me, on what I make running, and I wouldn't leave you without. So I stole. And I still steal. And I'll keep doin' it. 'Cause you're worth it?like Mama wasn't. Tell you what else. This Aldanto may have been Montagnard before, but he damn sure ain't now! Or didn't you notice him have a fit when you hit him with the password? Our best bet is to figure something he needs bad."

  The fog began to clear from Marco's head, as Benito's words and his memory started to come together. Certain things were becoming a lot clearer than they'd ever been before.

  Item: Chiano and Sophia had been trying to tell him?in gentler terms?exactly what Benito was telling him now. If three so very different people?one of them his own flesh and blood?were saying the same things about Duke Visconti and the Montagnard cause, and Mama's involvement with it, well it followed that he had probably been dead wrong and dreaming all these years.

  Item: stripped of the fairy-tale glamour Mama had decked them in, Montagnards were not in the least attractive. Take the rhetoric of united Christian Empire away, and they became little more than highly trained, professional killers.

  Item: they were now alone with this unhappy professional assassin, who was probably thinking that no one would miss them.

  Marco looked over Benito's shoulder at Aldanto, who was contemplating them with a face of stone. Marco's blood ran colder than the spring-melt water that the Brenta carried down from the Alps.

  Item: they were a liability. And Aldanto was looking at them like someone who couldn't afford liabilities.

  ***

  Benito suddenly broke off, seeing Marco's face turn pale and still. "Brother?you all right?" he whispered, unable to fathom why Marco should suddenly look as if the great Lion of San Marco had come to life and confronted him. He knew that some of what he'd said was bound to come as a shock to Marco, but he hadn't thought any of it was enough to turn him white to the ears!

  He shook Marco a little, beginning to feel worried. The way Marco was staring at Aldanto, sort of glassy-eyed?it wasn't like him. Marco was always the quick one, the alert one?except?

  Benito went cold all over. Except when Marco had been sick…

  ***

  Marco was watching Aldanto's eyes, the only things in his face that were showing any change. They were growing harder; and Marco's blood acquired ice crystals.

  Item: they were quite likely to be dead very soon. Benito, with the panache of a fourteen-year-old unable to believe in his own mortality, had led them into dangerous and unfriendly hands?and with no way to escape. Aldanto was between them and the door, in a room barely big enough to hold all of them and the table and chairs.

  Looking at those calculating eyes, Marco knew exactly what their fate was going to be. They had, at most, a few more minutes.

  He forced himself to smile at his brother; he couldn't protect him from what was coming. "Nothing?just?you're right. About all of it. I've been plain stupid."

  Benito shrugged. "No big deal. Everybody makes mistakes, and hell, I probably wouldn't believe anything bad anybody said about you, either."

  "And I never told you how much I missed you, half." The old nickname made Benito grin. "That was even stupider. We're the team, right? So, from now on it's going be you and me?aye? All the way."

  Benito dropped his pretense of adulthood and threw both arms around his brother in an affection-starved hug. Marco tightened his own arms around Benito's shoulder and stared at Aldanto, trying to beg with his eyes, and figuring that it was a lost cause before he started.

  But to Marco's surprise, Caesare suddenly cleared his throat. A little sound, but the older boy started as violently as if a gun had gone off in his ear.

  "You say your mother had connections with Ventuccio?"

  Marco stared, unable to get his mouth to work. It was too much to comprehend?he'd expected the knife, and he'd only hoped Aldanto was good enough to make it fast and relatively painless. And then?this?

 
; His ears roared, and little black spots danced in the air between his eyes and Aldanto's face.

  "Ventuccio?" he heard himself say stupidly, as his knees suddenly liquefied on him.

  ***

  Benito felt Marco start to collapse, and held him up by main force. Oh, God, please?no!

  The last time Marco had done this, he'd missed the meetings for the next month; and when he finally showed up, he was pounds thinner, with eyes gone all hollow, and a rasping cough that lasted for weeks. Please, God?he begged, struggling to keep Marco on his feet long enough to pull a chair under him, don't let it be fever, he might not make it this time?and we're almost home free?

  ***

  "Milord, just let me get him sat?milord, he's all right!" Marco heard Benito over the roaring in his ears, over the scrape of a chair on the floor "You don't?milord, you don't need?"

  Something shoved up against the back of his legs; hands were under his armpits letting him down easy, the same strong hands then pushing his head down between his legs.

  "Stay that way for a bit?" Aldanto's voice. And the roaring went away, his eyes cleared. When his head stopped spinning he looked up. Aldanto sat on his heels beside him, Benito looking frantic, trying to get between them without touching the man. "Better?"