entry
set off a furious flapping of wings, unleashing a storm of feathers in
the dark enclosure. The smell of pigeon droppings was heavy in the warm
air. He began breathing through his mouth to keep the odor out of his
nose. Tilia pushed past him, whistling and clucking to the pigeons and
calming them down.

"Who gets the messages in Napoli?" he asked.

She turned to him with a smile. "Another brothel keeper. A man. I will
not tell you his name. The wives of my piccioni live in his dovecote.
When I release a piccione here, he flies to Napoli and visits with his
wife until one of my servants rides there and brings him back. Piccioni
are much more faithful to their mates than men and women."

Daoud laughed. He enjoyed Tilia's cynicism. The strong light of the
setting sun fell in bars through the slats across her face and body.

"How long does it take for the messages to reach El Kahira?"

She looked at him as if he were a simpleton. "Who can say? From Napoli
someone must take the message capsules aboard a ship to a port in
Outremer. So, how long it takes depends on whether the sea is angry or
calm. Once in Outremer they might go on by piccioni again or by camel
caravan. Once I had a reply within two months. The longest I had to wait
was a year and three months." She had, Daoud noted, the brothel keeper's
good memory for numbers.

"May this arrive sooner than that." Daoud reached into a leather scrip
at his belt and drew out the two rolled slips of parchment, each crowded
with tiny Arabic characters.

"Two letters? Where is the other one going?"

"Both to Baibars. They are duplicates. We do that in the field whenever
possible. Twice as much chance that the message will get through."

"I will send one tonight and the other tomorrow morning. What are you
telling him?"

Daoud was not sure Tilia should be asking him that. But as "Morgiana"
she had sent Baibars dozens of long letters from Orvieto. Surely no one
had a better right to know about this correspondence.

Daoud shrugged. "That I have arrived here safely with two companions
sent with me by King Manfred, and that we have been welcomed by the one
who was awaiting me. Even though this is written in a cipher, your name
and the cardinal's name are not mentioned. I go on to say that we have
stirred up the people of Orvieto against the Tartars and that I will
soon speak against them before the pope. And I tell him something of
what I have learned about Italy. He