e far end of the valley.

"Do you have a proposal, Daoud?" said Manfred with a sour look. "Let me
hear it."

Daoud felt an overwhelming sense of relief. This was the moment he had
been hoping for all day.

"Sire, do not wait for Charles to come out of Rome," he said. "In
January, February at the latest, assemble your army and march north."

There, he had made his cast. Would it pierce the target?

"I could go all the way to the Papal States only to find Charles lurking
behind the walls of Rome. I cannot besiege Rome. That would take ten
times as many men as I have."

"No," said Daoud. "His army will not let him stay in Rome. By the end of
winter they will have stolen everything in Rome that can be stolen.
Charles will have to promise them more spoils and lead them to battle,
or they will desert him."

Manfred nodded thoughtfully. "In truth, greed is what drives them."

Daoud added, "And call on your allies in Florence and Siena and the
other Ghibellino cities to stop any more of Charles's allies coming into
Italy. They cannot all come by sea as he did. Many times I have heard
people in your court say that Charles has cut Italy in half. Nonsense.
He has put himself between two millstones."

Manfred's eyes lit up. "Yes, I like that way of looking at it."

The Sons of the Falcon had ridden to the far end of the valley and were
now roaring back, standing in the saddle and firing arrows over the
tails of their horses.

"Sire," said Daoud. "Not to act is to act." He felt urgency building in
him as he sensed that he was persuading Manfred.

"I remember my father saying something like that," said Manfred. "What
do you think, Erhard?"

Daoud's heart sank. The beefy Swabian would undoubtedly counsel more
waiting.

In thought, Landgrave Barth sucked in his upper lip and pushed out the
pendulous lower one until it seemed he was trying to pull his nose into
his mouth.

"Anjou will have to campaign against you soon, Sire, for the reason Herr
Daoud has just given," he said slowly. "His men will not allow him to
stay in Rome and endure the privation of a siege. When they learn you
are coming, they will demand that he march out to meet you. He is
probably planning an attack for next April or May, when the weather is
best. He must expect reinforcements--but, so he does not have to pay
them for long, he will not want them to come until the very moment he is
ready to invade. So, if you attack him in January or February,