nity," Daoud
said. "I can tell those who will work with us what the Tartars are truly
like. I have seen them, fought against them. I have seen what they have
done to those they conquered." Like a cloud passing over the sun, a
memory of ruined Baghdad darkened his mind.

Tilia's eyes opened wide. "You intend to meet and talk--to bishops, to
cardinals?"

He touched his face with his fingertips. "This is why Baibars sent
me--because I can go among Christians as a Christian. I will be David of
Trebizond, a silk merchant who has traveled in the lands ravaged by the
Tartars."

"Trebizond?"

He could see the doubt in her face. He must seem confident to her. He
must not let her know that he himself wondered how he, a warrior from a
land utterly strange to these people, could make the great ones of
Christendom listen to him and believe in him. He could do it only with
the help of Tilia and Cardinal Ugolini--and they would not help him
unless they believed he could do it.

"Trebizond is on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. Far enough away
that I am not likely to meet anyone in Orvieto who knows anything about
it."

"Do not be too sure. The pope makes a point of seeing people from
everywhere."

"Then he will probably want to meet me, since I am from a strange and
faraway place."

Her eyes widened and her full lips parted. Her teeth were small, bright,
and widely spaced.

"You even want to meet with the _pope_?"

He knew the enormity of what he was proposing. But he fought down the
doubt that her evident horror had aroused in him. He made himself sound
absolutely sure when he answered.

"Certainly. Cardinal Ugolini will arrange an audience for me. If the
pope has not yet made a decision, he will want to listen to one who has
seen with his own eyes what these Tartars are. I will tell him that an
agreement with them would be like a lamb allying itself with a panther."

"Talk to the pope! How would you know how to behave before the pope?"

"Among my people, Madonna, I am not just a warrior. I stand high in the
highest councils. I have met with kings and great men of religion. As
for the details of etiquette of an audience with the pope, as a traveler
from Trebizond I might be expected to make mistakes."

Daoud saw that her olive skin had turned a yellowish-white. "Do you want
to be torn to pieces by teams of horses?" she whispered. "I do not, and
neither does Cardinal Ugolini. We cannot risk your being found out."