use you have seen with your own eyes. But if your
empire of Trebizond now trades with the Tartars, how is it that you come
here to denounce them?"

"I came to Orvieto as a merchant bearing samples of silk from Cathay,"
said David. "It is only, as Cardinal Ugolini has said, God's providence
that I am here when you are deciding this great question."

Fra Tomasso turned to Pope Urban. "Holy Father, is there anything else
you wish me to ask?"

Pope Urban shook his head. "I believe I have heard enough for now. We do
not want to sit here all day." Smiling, he turned to David. "Master
David, we thank you for coming all this way to bring us this warning."

"Your Holiness." David bowed, a fluid movement that made Simon grunt
with distaste.

_Curse the luck! Why is there no one here who knows the Tartars to
answer this David? How do we know he is not a liar? A Greek silk
merchant is not the sort of person I would trust. He would say anything
if he thought it would help him sell his wares._

But doubt cooled Simon's anger. He did not want to admit it, but
Cosmas's and David's tales had frightened him. He thought of the hard,
cold faces of John and Philip. He _could_ see them beheading women,
shooting children with arrows.

_Do we want to ally ourselves with such creatures?_

King Louis did. Count Charles d'Anjou, Uncle Charles, wanted the
alliance. Simon had agreed to come here. How could he face Uncle
Charles, what could he say, if he changed his mind?

A lifetime of scorn, that was what lay ahead of him if he were to turn
back now.

David sat stiffly upright, his hands resting on his knees, as Cardinal
Ugolini approached the pope, reaching out in appeal.

"Holy Father, your predecessor, Clement III of happy memory, declared a
crusade against the Tartars after the battle of Mohi. I beg you to sound
the alarm again, like that brave trumpeter of Krakow. A Christian prince
should no more make a pact with the Tartars than with the devil. Let the
nations of Christendom be warned in the sternest terms. Let us declare
excommunicate any Christian ruler who allies himself with the Tartars."

Shocked outcries burst from all parts of the hall. Simon went cold. The
thought of King Louis being excommunicated horrified him. But surely it
would not come to that. King Louis was too loyal a Catholic to defy the
pope. But that, then, meant that Simon's mission would fail.

De Verceuil jumped to his feet. "You, Ugolini! You should be