up here and see him. They thought he was still on
the rack.

He rose through solid stone, a space of lightlessness. Then he was
moving over tiled floors through the upper levels of the Palazzo del
Podesta, and he was out through its iron-sheathed oak door.

The vault of the sky over him was as black and heavy as the stones of
the dungeon where his body lay. It must be the final hour of night. Even
though he was a spirit, he sensed that the air was hot and damp.

He rose higher and higher over Orvieto, and amazingly he was able to see
despite the absence of light. He could see the entire oval shape of the
city from end to end, and the deep valleys that surrounded it. There at
the west end was the cathedral of San Giovenale, with the great piazza
where public events took place. There was Cardinal Ugolini's mansion,
near the palace where the pope had lived. On the north side of the town,
the Palazzo Monaldeschi, where he had hoped to end the threat to Islam
with swift blows of his dagger. And there--

From such a height--and since it was not yet dawn--he should not have
been able to recognize her, but he saw and knew at once the small figure
of a cloaked and hooded woman striding purposefully through a twisting
street. She was walking through the eastern side of the town, in the
direction of Tilia's house, which he could see from up here, with the
dovecote on its roof and its crenellated balconies, though Sophia could
not. Beside Sophia, a hulking figure carried a torch to light their way.
Ugolini's man-at-arms Riccardo.

Without knowing how he did it, Daoud was down from the sky in an instant
and walking invisibly beside her. Her black brows were drawn together in
a frown, her nose and mouth covered by a silk scarf. She looked almost
like a Muslim woman. She was full of fear for him, he knew. He wanted to
tell her not to be afraid, but how could he, knowing he was going to
die?

He thanked God for letting him see Sophia one last time.

_I love you, Sophia. Remember our joy._

LII

Fighting billows of terror that threatened to engulf her, Sophia pulled
her veil aside so that Tilia's servant Cassio could recognize her.
Yawning, Cassio led Sophia and Riccardo into the large, column-lined
reception room and left them. Ugolini's man threw himself down on a
padded bench. Sophia, too agitated to sit still, unpinned her hooded
cloak and dropped it beside Riccardo. Even though she had just walked
halfway across