by Robert Shea
IX
_The city that founded my city_, Sophia thought.
Sophia and David rode along the Tiber as it wound its way through Romelike a brown serpent. Looking up from the riverbank, Sophia saw thepeaked roofs and domes of churches, and the battlements of fortifiedpalaces. The houses of the common folk huddled at the feet of the hills,and here and there remnants of old Rome rose like yellowed tombstones.Today's Romans, Sophia thought, built their hovels in the shadows ofmarble ruins.
Sophia was impressed only by the age of the place. Her own city, thePolis, was everything now that this place had been centuries ago. Romehad possessed civilization and had lost it. Constantinople had it still,on a grander scale.
At dawn David's party had reached the place where the Tiber passedthrough crumbling city walls. Lorenzo and Rachel crossed the river intothe Trastevere quarter, where the Jews lived. Sophia wondered how theywould get past the watchmen at the city gate with the old man's body.Would Lorenzo tell a clever story, try bribery, or use his Ghibellinoconnections? Or would he fail, and he and Rachel be arrested?
David did not seem worried. She had seen his anger at Lorenzo. Perhapshe hoped to be rid of him. For her part, she felt Lorenzo was far moreher friend than David. She had known Lorenzo longer, and he had alwaysbeen kind to her. She prayed he would return safely to them afterfinding a haven for Rachel among the Jews of Rome.
She and David had entered the city through a gate on the east side ofthe Tiber without difficulty. Evidently news of the incident at the innhad not reached the Roman watch. In the city she rode beside David alongthe river's east bank.
She touched David's shoulder and pointed to a hilltop.
"That hill is called the Capitoline," she said. "At one time the wholeworld was ruled from there."
She supposed David would find that hard to believe, though the hill wasstill impressive, with a cluster of marble palaces at its top.
They were passing through one of the most crowded parts of Rome. Ontheir left, fishermen hauled their nets out of the river, throwingflopping fish into baskets. On their right, shops in the ground floorsof overhanging houses offered fruits and flowers and vegetables, fish,shoes, straw, rosaries, icons, relics, candles. Even at this early hourthe street was crowded. Romans jostled the horses David and Sophia rode,but they gave Scipio plenty of room. Lorenzo had given the greatboarhound a stern lecture, after which Scipio docilely allowed David tolead him on a leash.
"I have seen two other great imperial cities," said David. "One wasBaghdad, before the Tartars destroyed it. It was then much like thiscity is now--its glory shrunken and faded, but still the center of ourfaith, as Rome is the center of Christendom."
Sophia was taken aback at his casual error.
"Rome is the center of _Latin_ Christendom," she said sharply.
"Ah, how could I have neglected Constantinople and the Greek Church?" Hesmiled. The smile lit his deeply tanned face in a way that surprisedher, held her gaze. She felt a warmth.
_How smooth and brown his skin is._
"You must never forget Constantinople," she admonished him with a smallsmile.
"I spent a month in Constantinople some years ago--that was the otherimperial city--and I shall not forget it." This made her feel warmerstill toward him.
Then his smile faded. "Your city, too, has suffered at the hands ofbarbarians--the Franks, who would destroy us."
_Destroy us?_ she repeated in her mind. _Is he not a child of thoseFrankish barbarians?_
On the road from Lucera to Rome, he had told her--in a brusque fashion,as if he were speaking of someone other than himself--the story of hischildhood and how he came to be a Mameluke. She found it hard to believethat he spoke of the killing of his parents and his enslavement by theSaracens as if it were some kind of blessing--but she had no doubt thathe was a believing Muslim through and through.
"Do you never think of yourself as a Frank, David?"
He smiled again. "Never. And I hope you will not think of me as oneeither. Because I know you must hate Franks."
Hate Franks? Dread them was closer to the truth. Last night, when theyfought their way free of those people from the inn, she had rememberedthe terror she had known as a girl in Constantinople. It was the returnof that terror that had given her the strength to smash a jug over thathorrid woman's head.
She was about to reply to David when Scipio broke into loud barking.David frowned at the sight of something ahead. The Tiber made a sharpbend, and beyond that, on the opposite bank, towered a huge fortress, agreat cylinder of age-browned marble--Castel Sant' Angelo.
At the base of the citadel was a bridge, and Lorenzo was crossing it.She knew him even from this distance by his purple cap and brown cloak.
Sophia had expected to see Lorenzo return alone. It gave her a littlestart of surprise to see that Rachel was still with him, still ridingtheir spare horse.
David angrily muttered something that Sophia guessed must be an Arabiccurse. He checked his horse. Sophia reined up her gray mare, and theysat waiting for Rachel and Lorenzo to come up to them.
"They want me as far away from them as possible," Rachel said. Sheclimbed down from her mount at once, as if acknowledging that she had noright to be riding it. She looked at David with an expression of appeal.
This was the first time Sophia had gotten a good look at Rachel. Thegirl had removed the scarf that hid her hair, which was midnight-blackand hung in a single braid down below her shoulders. A dusty purpletraveling cloak enveloped her slight body. Her skin was white as fineporcelain. The eyes under her straight black brows were bright, butSophia could see fear in them. She remembered herself ten years earlier,a bewildered, terrified, orphaned girl in Constantinople.
_I must help this child._
"Why will your people not take you?" David said gruffly.
"They are afraid," said Rachel. "When we told them what happened at theinn last night, they said we had put them all in deadly danger."
Lorenzo looked up from where he crouched scratching Scipio's long jaw."And we had better get out of the city quickly, before the rulers ofRome start hunting for us."
Rachel went on. "One of the rabbis took Angelo's body, and promised tobury him at once. That much they are willing to do. But they said theycould not protect me if I were discovered. Not only that, but it wouldbring persecution down on them."
David said, "But did you not appear to be a boy at the inn?"
"The people at the inn saw a young person who could be boy or girl,"said Lorenzo. "The Jews here are constantly spied upon. There aremalshins, paid informers, among them. Their leaders think keeping Racheltoo much of a risk, and knowing how many lives they have in their care,I cannot blame them."
David glared at Lorenzo. "Could you not do more to persuade them?"
Lorenzo spread his hands. "At first they did not trust me because theythought I was a Christian. When I told them I am a Jew, they stilldistrusted me because I admitted being from Sicily. That must have madethem suspect that I am connected with King Manfred. The Jews of Romelive as clients of the pope. They cannot afford to get involved withGhibellini."
Rachel pressed her hands on David's knee as he sat on his horse lookinggrimly down at her. "I beg you, let me come with you. There is no placefor me here in Rome."
"There is no place for you where we are going," he said gruffly.
Sophia felt herself melting within as she saw the misery on Rachel'sface. Swinging her leg over her mare's back, she slid down, rushed overto the girl, and put her arms around her. She looked up at David.
"David, please."
David looked down at her, his face hard, as if carved from dark wood,the eyes glittering like shards of glass. She could not read hisexpression.
_How can I know what is in the mind of a Frank turned Turk?_
David got down from his horse and beckoned to Sophia and Lorenzo. Theyfollowed him a short way along the street. When he turned to face them,Sophia saw fury in his eyes, and her heart fluttered like a
trappedbird.
He spoke softly, through tight lips, and his voice was as frightening asthe hiss of a viper. "I begin to think King Manfred is my enemy, and theenemy of my people, sending the two of you with me on this journey. Fromnow on both of you will do as I command, and you will not question me."
Desperately Sophia turned to Lorenzo. "Can you not speak to him?"
Looking down at the cobblestones, Lorenzo shook his head. "I made aterrible blunder, trying to help Rachel and her husband. From now onthings must go as David commands."
If Sophia had been arguing for herself, she could have said no more inthe face of David's fury. But she looked away from him to the smallfigure standing by the horses, and her anguish for the child forced herto speak.
"But, David, what harm can Rachel do?"
Now the burning gaze was bent on her alone. "We will be saying thingsabout ourselves in Orvieto that she already knows are not true." Heturned to Lorenzo. "You talk of the lives the Jewish leaders have intheir care. You do not understand--you cannot understand--what willhappen to my people if I fail. What is it to you if the Tartars killevery man, woman, and child in Cairo?"
His voice was trembling, and Sophia realized he must have seen sights inthe East that made the terror of the Tartars real to him, as it couldnot be to her.
"I owe the girl nothing," David went on vehemently. "Nothing. It was notI who caused this."
But a little girl with her whole life before her, hanged or torn topieces by a mob-- The thought of it made Sophia want to scream at David.She remembered the awful, mindless terror when she and Alexis ranthrough the streets of Constantinople with a roaring pack of Frankishmen-at-arms hunting them. Last night she had relived that terror whenthey fled from the inn. She thought she would rather die herself thanlet Rachel be taken by a mob.
_I cannot abandon Rachel. I must try to sway him. Is there any way I cantouch David's heart?_
_Of course. The same thing that moves me._
"David," she said, "years ago, when you were a little boy--when theTurks killed your parents. Do you remember how you felt?"
David stared at her. So fixed were his eyes that for a moment shethought he might draw his sword and strike her down. She waited,trembling.
"You have no right to speak of that to me," he said. His voice was tightwith pain.
"I know I have no right," she said. "Can't you see how desperate I am?"Hope dawned faintly within her. She had touched him.
His silence stretched on while the turmoil of the city eddied aboutthem. She waited, trembling.
He spoke. "He who taught me Islam said to me, 'To lift up a fallenswallow is to raise up your heart to God.'"
Relief flooded Sophia's body. She wanted to weep. Instead, she feltherself smiling. But David did not return her smile.
"Swear that this girl will learn nothing of our mission from you," hesaid. "And you also, Celino. Swear it by all that you hold most holy."
"I swear it by Constantinople," said Sophia fervently and gladly.
"I will swear it on the lives of my wife and my children," said Lorenzo.
"I accept that," said David. "And when we reach Orvieto, the girl leavesus, even if she starves in the streets."
"I will accept _that_," said Lorenzo.
"Lest you later forswear yourselves, there is one more thing that willassure your compliance," said David. "Know that if this girl learns aword of what we are doing, she will die by my hand." He dropped his handto the unadorned hilt of his sword.
Sophia felt cold inside. He cared about one thing only, after all.
They turned back. Sophia saw Rachel standing by a straw-seller's shop,looking anxiously at them, holding the gathered reins of their horses inboth hands. Sophia realized that the girl might be thinking that theywere going to drive her off, and she hurried to Rachel with a smile,holding out her arms. She hugged Rachel, and tentatively, fearfully,Rachel smiled back at her.
"You will come with us," she said. "As far as we are going, to Orvieto.You will have to leave us there, but we will help you find a home."
"Oh, thank you, thank you," Rachel cried, and she burst into tears.
Lorenzo grinned reassuringly at Rachel. "I told you it would be allright." When he grinned like that, his teeth white under his thick blackmustache, he reminded Sophia of a large and satisfied cat.
Rachel looked up at David. "I thank _you_, Signore. I know this is yourdecision. May I know the name of my benefactor?"
David smiled bitterly. "Benefactor? Rachel, if you had not met us, yourprotector would still be alive. I am David Burian, a silk merchant ofTrebizond. I go to Orvieto hoping to open trade between Trebizond andthe Papal States, and I have hired these people to help me."
"May I also help you, Signore?" Rachel said. "I learned something ofcommerce from my husband."
"I think," David said, looking at Sophia and Lorenzo with sour humor, "Ialready have all the help I need."
_At least the man is human_, thought Sophia. _He can joke a bit._
She felt encouraged. She had actually been able to touch the heart ofthis man whose life and world were utterly strange to her.