or hours longer now, waiting for pain and death. The thought of
those hours was in itself more agonizing than all the tortures he had so
far suffered. But God had chosen to let him live a little longer, and he
must accept these moments of life.

* * * * *

"According to Vincenzo," Erculio whispered, "the contessa ordered the
podesta to stop torturing you. Your allies must have gotten to her."

The guards and the clerk had left, but Daoud heard their excited voices
beyond the partly open door. Erculio now had a chance to take out the
poison ball. The inside of Daoud's mouth ached from holding the delicate
orb, and he sighed with relief.

"There is more," Erculio said. "An army of Sienese Ghibellini passed
through Montefiascone this morning. We have known that the Sienese were
marching against Orvieto, but we were not aware they were almost upon
us. The contessa and the podesta must discuss the defense as well as
your fate."

Lorenzo was with that army, Daoud thought. Lorenzo might be able to
rescue him if he got here in time.

"I fear it will be no better for you than before," Erculio went on.
"D'Ucello knows how to make the contessa see things his way. He will
probably persuade her that you must be tortured. And since he suspects
you of being a Ghibellino agent, he will want you dead before the
Ghibellini army comes."

"As God wills," Daoud croaked. A numbness had come over him as if he
were already dead. This was older and simpler and more effective than
the techniques of Sufi and Hashishiyya. This deadness was his body's
final answer to a night and a day of unbearable pain and fear.

LV

The woman's shoulders shook, and she rocked back and forth. She could
not speak. Tilia sat on Sophia's bed holding the sobbing woman in her
arms.

Tilia, calling her Francesca, tried to calm her. Sophia at first had
thought Francesca was a madwoman. Her tunic was torn and rain-wet, her
long black hair not bound up and covered but in wild disarray.

"You are safe now, piccione," Tilia kept saying. "Calm down and tell us
what happened." Tilia herself was pale, her wide mouth drawn tight.

Seeing even Tilia's face grim, Sophia felt a chill of apprehension and
an even greater anxiety to know what this was all about.

"I know I should not come here, Madama. Forgive me. But I did not know
what else to do. I walked so far to get here, and I kept getting lost,
and I was afraid to ask anyo