o the courtyard. Even as he was coiling up the rest of the
rope, the beast gave a howl of fury and with a tremendous leap was
halfway up the wall.

The remaining rope tied to his belt, Simon hung by his hands on the
outside of the wall and let himself drop, hitting the stone street with
a thud that sent jolts of pain through his shinbones. He heard shouts on
the other side of the wall mingling with the roars of the hound.

Limping a little at first from the force of the drop, he staggered into
the nearest side street. He would have to circle back to the avenue that
ran in front of the cardinal's palace, approaching it from another
direction.

It seemed to take hours for him to find his way through the snake's nest
of byways. But he felt not the least bit disturbed. It did not matter.
Nothing mattered, because Sophia's parting words to him had been _And I
love you_. He felt like dancing through the crooked streets.

By the time he emerged near the east side of the cardinal's palace, he
could see quite clearly. There was no sun, though. The morning was damp
and gray. He would have to cross the avenue and walk back past the
cardinal's mansion to find the inn he and Alain had picked for their
rendezvous. It must be near where that crowd of men had formed a circle
around something.

"Are you the watch, Messere?" a man said, coming up to him as he
approached the crowd.

"I am not," said Simon with a slight haughtiness, and the man fell back,
eyeing Simon's rich clothing, sword and dagger.

"Scusi, Signore."

_I really should not let myself be seen around here._

With deference to Simon's dress and manner, the crowd parted for him
when he joined them to see what they were looking at.

It was the body of a dead man.

It was Alain.

Simon staggered back, feeling as if he had been struck in the heart by a
mailed fist.

"No!" he cried.

"Do you know this man, Signore?" someone asked him.

Simon did not answer. He fell to his knees beside Alain, horrified by
the face so white it seemed carved from marble. He saw now the great
bloodstain down the front of Alain's pale green tunic. Flies with
gleaming blue-green bodies were humming above the bloodstain, settling
down again after Simon's arrival disturbed them.

He raised his head, and through the tears that clouded his vision he
recognized a face. Last night's innkeeper. A short, balding man with
large eyes and a generous nose.

"We have sent for the watch, You