is mail
almost unbearable, he stumbled back to the doorway to the tower.

He felt his arm gripped and heard Friar Mathieu's voice. "Simon, I heard
you lost your capitano of archers."

"This is much worse than I ever thought it would be, Father," he
whispered, almost as if confessing.

The hand on his arm squeezed through his mail. "Trust yourself, Simon.
You will do what you must do."

By the light of a fire arrow burning itself out in the overhead screen,
Simon saw the contessa, her purple gown tied up to her knees so she
could move more quickly. She called Friar Mathieu to see to a wounded
man, then greeted Simon.

_She thinks I am a hero. If only she knew the horror I feel._

Who was Teodoro's second-in-command? Yes, Peppino. Peppino was the one
who had fought with the Armenians at Alain's funeral, but a new capitano
must be appointed immediately. There was no time to balance
considerations.

He managed to find Peppino and appointed him to lead the Venetians. Then
on shaking legs he pushed himself back up to the roof of the tower.

"They are bombarding the rear gatehouse with mangonels," de Puys said.
Simon heard rocks thudding against the drawbridge at the rear of the
palace, the entrance for horses and wagons. By moonlight he was able to
make out, across the street from the rear of the palace, four mangonels,
stone guns shaped like giant crossbows.

"Where did the Filippeschi get so many men and machines?" Simon wondered
aloud.

"One would suppose you could answer that," said de Verceuil, his voice
muffled by his helmet. "Are you not our military expert?"

Simon was still too gripped by horror to be angry. But a part of his
mind somehow kept trying to think about what the Filippeschi intended.

He became lost in thought as he gnawed at the problem, and all but
forgot the battle raging around him. Numerous as they seemed, the
Filippeschi had just a chance, no more than that, of overwhelming the
Monaldeschi palace, especially having lost the advantage of surprise.
Was their hatred of the Monaldeschi so deep that such an uncertain
chance was reason enough for them to make this effort?

_If I could but capture Marco di Filippeschi and force him to tell me
why he is doing this ..._

What if this attack were a diversion, a cover for the real blow, to be
struck by stealth?

Simon's body went cold.

"I must see to the Tartar ambassadors," he said. He turned toward the
trapdoor in the tower roof.

"Mo