an cardinals could not have stirred
up so much fear and hatred toward them. Now, though, I have done all I
can along those lines, and Fra Tomasso is already undoing what together
we have accomplished."

"And why involve the Monaldeschi and the Filippeschi?" Ugolini pressed
him.

"To make it seem that the Tartars have been killed by feuding Italians.
Then Hulagu Khan will think again about whether he wants such people as
his allies."

Ugolini shook his head. "I do not have to tell you, of all people, what
war is like. And I think Messer Lorenzo, by the way he carries himself,
has known battle more than once. You both know that chance rules every
moment in war."

"True," said Daoud.

And if chance decided against them? For a moment he saw Sophia naked,
being torn apart by the torturers' pincers. He almost shuddered, and had
to hold himself rigid.

"I take it you intend to be part of this attack on the Monaldeschi,"
Ugolini went on.

"I do," said Daoud.

Ugolini threw up his hands as if Daoud had already proved his case for
him. "Well then, what if someone recognizes you attacking the palace?"

"I will not openly lead. I will enter the palace and kill the Tartars."

"So," said Ugolini. "You will not just be somewhere in the street
outside the Palazzo Monaldeschi. You will be _in the palace_. In the
midst of all your enemies. Alone. Attempting to assassinate the Tartars.
Tell me, does that sound like the plan of a reasonable, cautious man to
you?"

Daoud thought it sounded as if he were, to put it as Ugolini had,
tempting God. But Ugolini did not understand that Daoud had not only the
skills of Mameluke, but had also received the secret training of the
Hashishiyya fighters, the fedawi, whose powers many in the lands of
Islam thought magical.

"I will be masked. I will be dressed in garments that will make it
almost impossible to see me. I will not expose myself. I will move in
darkness. I have been trained to find my way in darkness as surely as if
it were sunlight."

Ugolini shook his head. "Understand me. I would not go on arguing with
you like this did I not feel I am arguing for my life. And Tilia's, and
the lives of those who depend on you. You must admit that you might be
captured or killed. My house guest, found trying to murder the Tartar
ambassadors."

Daoud spread his hands. "You would then denounce me. You say you never
knew what a demon you had taken into your home."

Ugolini laughed loudly