_

It was safe enough to ask, "Who did it?"

"The ambassadors from Tartary and their guards, as they were leaving
Orvieto to follow the pope to Perugia. The French Cardinal de Verceuil
was there and, far from trying to prevent the wickedness, urged them on.
It seems you dislike the Tartars with good reason."

The podesta paused. He still hoped, Daoud realized, to provoke or invite
him into letting something slip.

If it was the Tartars, they must have come for Rachel.

D'Ucello picked up the flask of Greek Fire from the table, where it had
stood these many hours, where Daoud could plainly see it. He had, most
of the time, avoided looking at it.

"Were any of the women taken away?" Daoud asked. That, too, should be a
safe question. Every moment he and d'Ucello talked, d'Ucello hoping he
might yet learn something, was another moment of wholeness and life.

_But I must not deceive myself. These are only moments. I affirm that
God is One. God be merciful. God receive me. I die as Your warrior._

"Yes," said d'Ucello, eyeing him thoughtfully. "Did you have reason to
think someone would be carried off?"

It hurt Daoud's neck to turn and try to look into d'Ucello's face. Daoud
let his head fall to the table on which he lay.

"I visited there often. I made friends with some of the women."

D'Ucello snorted. "From now on you will have no need to go to
bordellos."

To gain another moment, Daoud said, "I marvel that you possess Greek
Fire. The making of it is a great secret, and it is too dangerous to
transport far. If a bit of it gets loose on a ship, that ship is seen no
more."

D'Ucello squinted at him. "If you were truly only a trader from
Trebizond, you would be too terrified to wonder where I got this stuff."

"Allow me at the last a bit of dignity," Daoud pleaded, looking up at
d'Ucello. He saw guilt in d'Ucello's shifting eyes.

"A member of the Knights Templar back from the Holy Land let me copy the
formula," said d'Ucello. "Out of curiosity, I had an alchemist make it
for me."

"Curiosity is a worthier motive than torture," said Daoud, hoping he was
undermining d'Ucello's resolution and making the podesta feel ashamed.

But the dark eyes flashed angrily. "That is enough. Turn him on his
back, Erculio. You should have done that already."

_I pushed him too far_, Daoud thought despairingly.

"Yes, Signore." Erculio beckoned the guards. "Here, you two. Help me."

When his arms and legs were untied, D