aoud groaned at the sudden release
of the tension in stiffened muscles. A savage pain tore through the
numbness in his limbs.

"Be still, whoreson!" Erculio snarled, clamping a hand over Daoud's
mouth. Daoud felt the glass ball pressed against his lips, and opened
his mouth to receive it.

The ball was not large, about half the size of a pigeon's egg, but it
felt huge in his mouth. Thinking about the swift death it held within
it, Daoud wondered if it would be easy or hard to break the glass.

They were tying his hands again, and he had the ball under his tongue.
If he tried to speak now, d'Ucello would know he had something in his
mouth. No more delaying by talking to the podesta.

"Strip off his loincloth," said d'Ucello, and Erculio tore it away.
Holding the flask in one hand, d'Ucello leaned forward, peering at
Daoud's groin. Daoud could feel his penis and scrotum shrinking.

_What fools we men are to be so proud of our members, and think them
such sources of power. How truly vulnerable is that little bit of
flesh._

One moment he was able to think, the next he was adrift on a sea of
terror. His naked body shook violently as d'Ucello scrutinized him. He
struggled to keep his Sufi training in mind. Only that could help him
now to die bravely.

"He is circumcised," said d'Ucello, his black eyebrows twisting in a
frown.

_Oh, God! Cloud his mind._

"What do we know of that place he comes from?" said Erculio. "Trebizond?
Maybe all the men in Trebizond are circumcised."

"Only Jews are circumcised," said d'Ucello. "And Saracens." He brought
his face closer to Daoud's. "Speak, man. Why is your foreskin cut off?"

"How could he be a Saracen or a Jew?" said Erculio. "He looks like a
Frank."

"Shut up," said d'Ucello impatiently. "I want to hear his answer."

Daoud lay motionless, praying that God would let d'Ucello kill him and
be done with it.

"Are you part of some Jewish plot?" d'Ucello demanded.

Daoud almost smiled at that, but he only looked up at the blackened
ceiling beam and said nothing.

"Answer me!" d'Ucello growled. He shook the flask at Daoud.

Daoud closed his eyes. Now the fire would come.

He heard a hammering at the wooden door on the other side of the
dungeon. One of the guards went to open it at d'Ucello's command.

Another delay! Now he was almost frantic for it to end. He was tempted
to bite down on the little glass ball. Why must he wait and wait for
that terrible flame to bur