nstead of to the pope?"

"No, I cannot make a treaty with the Tartars without Pope Urban's
permission. Only the Holy Father can proclaim a crusade. If he refuses
to do that, I cannot recruit an army to join with the Tartars to rescue
the Holy Land. Even if he does declare a crusade, raising an army will
be terribly hard. Many of those who went with me last time and endured
our terrible defeat and survived with God's help have told me they will
not go again--or send their sons. I must have His Holiness's full
support."

King Louis turned toward him fully now and put both hands on his
shoulders. "You must help me, Simon. I am asking Cardinal Paulus de
Verceuil to represent the cause of the alliance at the court of the
pope. And Friar Mathieu d'Alcon will be there to testify that the
Tartars may yet be won to Christianity. And you, too, Simon, must do
whatever you can, seize any opportunity, to further the cause of the
alliance."

Simon looked into the king's eyes. Their blue was slightly faded, and
age and care had etched red streaks in the whites. Simon's whole frame
was shaken by an overwhelming love for the man.

"Sire, I will do anything--everything."

Louis nodded. "I know how you have suffered all your life because of the
ill deeds of--one I shall not name. I have tried to shield you from
being unjustly punished. But even a king cannot control the hearts of
men. In the end only you can win back for the house of Gobignon its
place among the great names of France. This alliance with the Tartars,
and what follows from it, the liberation of Jerusalem, can help you
restore your honor."

Could a man have more than one father, Simon wondered. Surely King Louis
had done more than anyone else to make him the man he was today.

"I will work for the alliance, Sire," he said. "Not for my family honor
alone, but for you."

For King Louis he would guard the Tartars with his life. For King Louis
he would do anything.

* * * * *

His horse slowed down to climb as the road rose along a steep slope
opposite Orvieto, green with vineyards. Friar Mathieu had made a better
witness than David of Trebizond, Simon thought. But the Italian
cardinals remained vociferous in their opposition to the alliance. The
pope might be French, but he had to live with the Italians.

Cardinal Ugolini was the key to it. He, it seemed, was the leader of the
Italian party in the College of Cardinals. He was the car