where Sophia and Lorenzo and I started from." Ugolini's eyes
were brighter, and Daoud felt with pleasure that he had breathed new
life into the little man.

"But the podesta won't let you leave the city!" Sophia exclaimed.

Again Daoud felt that cold hand grasp his neck. Perhaps he should have
left long ago. He turned from Sophia to Ugolini.

"You must demand that he let me leave, Cardinal," said Daoud, feeling
less confident than he tried to sound.

Or, he thought, he could escape the way Lorenzo did. He had never truly
been a prisoner here.

"I will order the servants to start packing for me," Ugolini said. "Of
course, I must make arrangements for Tilia to move, too, and that might
take time. Although many of her best clients are gone now." He sounded
like a man who knew what he was doing and Daoud was relieved to hear it.

Daoud turned from Ugolini to Sophia. The knowledge that he would soon
leave Orvieto, where he had seen too much of defeat and slaughter,
lifted his spirits. He smiled at Sophia, and she smiled back. He knew
she was thinking the same thought he was--that they had hours to spend
together this afternoon.

* * * * *

Daoud and Sophia lay naked in her bed, legs entwined, her head resting
on his bare chest.

"What about me?" Sophia asked. "Will I go south with you to Manfred, or
north to Perugia with Ugolini?"

"With me, of course," said Daoud. At the mention of leaving her, he felt
as if a cold wind had blown across his naked body. He was surprised that
she was even considering staying with Ugolini.

"I want to be with you," she said, caressing his chest with a circular
movement of her palm. "I hate the thought of our being apart. But with
the pope and the Tartars in Perugia, you need someone there besides
Ugolini. Someone who has an aim in common with yours. I can help him and
make sure that what he does helps you. Helps us."

He ran his fingers through her long, unbound hair. "I will think about
what you've said. But I do not like it."

"Neither do I. But it may be necessary."

A loud knock at Sophia's door interrupted them.

Something in the urgency of the knock made Daoud spring out of bed and
reach for his sword, hanging from a peg on the wall. Putting a finger to
her lips, Sophia got out of bed more slowly and went to the door.

"It is I," the cardinal called through the door in answer to her
question. "I know David is there with you. Let me in. T