curse. He checked his horse. Sophia reined up her gray mare, and they
sat waiting for Rachel and Lorenzo to come up to them.

"They want me as far away from them as possible," Rachel said. She
climbed down from her mount at once, as if acknowledging that she had no
right 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. The
girl had removed the scarf that hid her hair, which was midnight-black
and hung in a single braid down below her shoulders. A dusty purple
traveling cloak enveloped her slight body. Her skin was white as fine
porcelain. The eyes under her straight black brows were bright, but
Sophia 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 the
inn 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 of
Rome start hunting for us."

Rachel went on. "One of the rabbis took Angelo's body, and promised to
bury him at once. That much they are willing to do. But they said they
could not protect me if I were discovered. Not only that, but it would
bring 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 are
malshins, paid informers, among them. Their leaders think keeping Rachel
too 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 they
thought I was a Christian. When I told them I am a Jew, they still
distrusted me because I admitted being from Sicily. That must have made
them suspect that I am connected with King Manfred. The Jews of Rome
live as clients of the pope. They cannot afford to get involved with
Ghibellini."

Rachel pressed her hands on David's knee as he sat on his horse looking
grimly down at her. "I beg you, let me come with you. There is no place
for me here in Rome."

"There is no place for you