The Master of Verona

"No," rasped the Moor. "Best if we are not seen together." He looked at the page and saluted. "Hello, young master Fazio. You have grown." Fazio didn't know how to respond, so he gave a hesitant half-bow. "Your master and I must speak in private. Will you ride ahead and keep watch?"

Fazio looked to Pietro, who nodded. Resentfully Fazio trotted ahead trying to remain within earshot.

Pietro pulled his horse level with Theodoro's. "You said orders."

"Yes. I have spent the last several months in Padua."

"Isn't that dangerous? You're fairly memorable."

"As long as you play into men's expectations, you can become invisible. I was in the guise of a lion tamer's assistant." Pietro couldn't keep a laugh from escaping, and the Moor flashed him a brief smile. "Yes. There is an Egyptian who owed me a kindness. He is a rather famous animal-master. At my urging he brought his menagerie to Padua. I went with him, wearing a covering on my face and throat. The story was that I had been careless one night and gotten mauled by the lion."

Pietro's smile took on an admiring quality. "So everyone pitied you, and thought you were a fool."

"Yes. I often sat in the street, drinking to soothe the pain of my injuries. As it happened, the house I lounged in front of belonged to the Count of San Bonifacio."

Pietro's smile vanished. "He's the one who paid the scarecrow." That piece of news had come with the news of Ignazzio's death. The two seals on the scarecrow's payment had belonged to the Scaliger, and the Count of San Bonifacio.

"Yes. And he's working with whomever is plotting against the Capitano. I watched his house for weeks, noting everyone who entered. Last month he received a visit from an acquaintance of yours — Marsilio da Carrara."

Pietro's eyes narrowed. "That can't be good. Do you have any idea..?"

"I had already determined the best way to break into the Count's lodging, and I thought that this meeting was the moment for it. I listened to them from the covert of the Count's loggia. The Count proposed a plan to your friend, and the other man accepted. Warily, I might add. Carrara doesn't trust the Count."

Pietro huffed. "Makes me like the Count a little more. What's the plan?"

"They mean to take Vicenza."

"Oh-ho."

"Yes. The Count has the support of maybe fifty dissatisfied Vicentine citizens, and all the exiles. He's convinced the Paduans that they can't lose. Vinciguerra's plan was to bribe one of the city garrison to admit his men and the Paduan army. They'll storm the gates and have the city within an hour."

"You told Cangrande, of course."

"Yes. Under the pretence of being sent to buy a unicorn, I met the Scaliger and informed him of their plans."

"So he's going to bolster the guards in Vicenza, make sure no one can be bribed?"

"He could do that," replied the Moor, "but he'd rather let the attack go ahead."

Pietro recalled a conversation years ago in a lonely church. "Because they'll be breaking the truce."

"Yes. If he waits seven days, he'll have a just war to fight."

Pietro wasn't sure if it was truly a just war if you chose not to avoid it. "Seven days?"

"Cangrande has arranged for a young Vicentine guard to accept a generous amount of gold from the Count."

"Who?"

"A squire named Muzio. The young man seems to think our mutual master walks on water."

"What's Carrara's part of the plot?"

"Once Bonifacio has got the gates open with a smaller force, Carrara will lead the full Paduan force in and sack the city."

Pietro protested. "But his uncle — "

"His uncle will have nothing to do with it. He is to be kept entirely ignorant until the venture is complete."

Pietro thought about that for a moment, then posed the real question. "And what does the master of Verona want me to do?"

The Moor lowered his voice, forcing Pietro to slow his mount and lean closer. "On the day of the attack Uguccione della Faggiuola will hide a small armed force outside Vicenza. He'll be outnumbered, but that's the only way to keep the secret. Cangrande's troops have two years of constant warfare under their belts while the Paduans have been sitting on their laurels. But Verona's side needs an edge. You are to enter Vicenza a day or two before with a hand-picked group of soldiers. Those men can't know what is happening, and the group must raise no suspicion."

Pietro frowned thoughtfully. "I'll go to visit Donna Katerina. It's known that I'm friendly with her, just as everyone knows I'm out of favor with her brother. But why will I have soldiers with me?"

"The pope has requested an accounting of your time here in Ravenna. You'll be transporting money for the papal coffers at Avignon. Of course, you'll bring along a squadron of soldiers for protection."

Clearly this plan had been worked out well ahead of time. "And Cangrande wants me to do this? What about the fiction that we're quarrelling?"

"You're there by accident, and defending his sister's city. It will only enhance your reputation. But do you have your own men? The plan hinges on them."