relived that terror when
they fled from the inn. She thought she would rather die herself than
let Rachel be taken by a mob.

_I cannot abandon Rachel. I must try to sway him. Is there any way I can
touch David's heart?_

_Of course. The same thing that moves me._

"David," she said, "years ago, when you were a little boy--when the
Turks killed your parents. Do you remember how you felt?"

David stared at her. So fixed were his eyes that for a moment she
thought 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 tight
with 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 about
them. She waited, trembling.

He spoke. "He who taught me Islam said to me, 'To lift up a fallen
swallow is to raise up your heart to God.'"

Relief flooded Sophia's body. She wanted to weep. Instead, she felt
herself smiling. But David did not return her smile.

"Swear that this girl will learn nothing of our mission from you," he
said. "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 leaves
us, even if she starves in the streets."

"I will accept _that_," said Lorenzo.

"Lest you later forswear yourselves, there is one more thing that will
assure your compliance," said David. "Know that if this girl learns a
word of what we are doing, she will die by my hand." He dropped his hand
to 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 in
both hands. Sophia realized that the girl might be thinking that they
were 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 grin