“Busy, no doubt. And of more consequence, they’re not present.” I placed my hand on his arm. “Cal, I know what I’m doing. Your men are safe with me.”
He reacted with irritation. “I know that! But you are my lady and such bloody work should not be your lot.”
“The care of your men is surely the duty of your lady.” I had no time for such debate. I indicated the young guard. “What’s his name?”
“Biasio.”
“Did you see what happened to him?”
“I saw no injury to him. He fought well.”
I viewed Cal’s smooth face and knewsomethinghung in his mind. “Why do you think he’s crying?”
“He’s a young warrior who made his first kill.” Sorrow touched him as he watched Biasio. “For most of us, the first time the steel slides into a man and separates him from life . . . it is an unexpected horror and a loss.”
“I comprehend.” Indeed, I did, for I’d experienced the same thing after my adventure in the spring.
“I know you do.” Cal cupped my cheek. “I’ll talk to him.”
“He’ll be ashamed in front of his podestà. Friar Laurence is about to set that man’s arm. Assist, and I’ll speak to Biasio.” I did, and found Cal’s intuition was correct. The lad was unharmed, but sick at heart and ashamed of the violence of his reaction. To warm him, I put a rug around his shoulders, called for mulled wine dressed with honey, and assured him Prince Escalus had praised him for his proficiency. I dared not linger too long; others needed my skills. As I had hoped, Cal was now fully involved with helping his men, but when I left him, Biasio leaned his head against the wall and listened with respect to Marcellus, who held cloth-wrapped chips of ice to his eye.
It seemed the palace had access to an icehouse stocked with winter ice cut on Lake Garda.Classy!
Friar Laurence examined the injuries, each man in his turn, and I followed, speaking easily, observing each warrior as I asked about the fighting in the streets, what they’d faced, and so slyly uncovered the news of a thrust to Dion’s gut. He believed it to be nothing, but when I quietly told Friar Laurence, he examined Dion and, over Dion’s protestations, ordered ice compresses and bedrest.
Barnadine’s usually overly florid complexion was pale and his eyes bloodshot, so I demanded another look at his chin. Which was fine, but when I had him lift his chin, he wasn’t able. When I gently tried to help, he cried out in pain. A second examination by Friar Laurence proved Barnadine had been clubbed at the back of the neck, and he confessed to searing pain down his arm and numbness in his hand. Yet his eyes brimmed as he begged to be allowed to fight again; Elder’s bodyguard feared for his young prince’s safety.
When told, Cal looked grave. “The ways of the worthy could not be easily abandoned, and I have no doubt that if I left him, he’d find his way into the thick of battle. Better keep him by me. It’s safer for us both.”
When Friar Laurence gave Barnadine the news, he sighed in relief. “I’ll survive,” he told the good friar. “I know tricks in battle these whipped peasants can’t imagine.” His gaze shifted back and forth between us. “If I may presume—Princess Ursula had been good to me regardless of my merits. Has she recovered consciousness?”
CHAPTER31
On hearing the question, the other men moved closer to hear, and all wore expressions of somber concern.
Friar Laurence looked to me. I raised my voice for all to hear, and put hope in their hearts. “Not yet. But you know, Barnadine, she has a will of iron and she is not easy to kill.”
His gaze shifted to look around at the men, but he spoke to me. “My whole life, she’s been there, directing and managing.”
The other men nodded.
I understood. I didn’t remember a time when the valiant princess hadn’t stood as a power and a presence in the house of Leonardi.
“She was kind when I . . . failed in my duty.” Barnadine meant when he failed to stop the assassination of Elder, and he wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Before . . . I used to bring her flowers, those little pink blossoms because she loved the scent, and she thanked me most graciously. She said her husband used to cut them all—which infuriated her. He’d put them in a glass and give them to her. Then she couldn’t be angry. She said the flowers reminded her of him. I’d forgotten that, and now I wish . . .” He passed a shaking hand over his wet eyes. “The wine calls me, so I forget it all.”
“Do we have no idea what villain perpetrated this outrage on the old princess?” Holofernes had suffered slashing bruises on his legs and back, the result of a whip expertly applied; fury filled his voice and his expression was murderous.
“Someone who took advantage of the disturbance in Verona’s streets to enter the palace and plunder. One of the flagellants.” Dion’s voice seethed and condemned.
Marcellus eyed me with more cold disdain than ever before. “Or one of our own citizens encouraged by the unrest and the rumors of nefarious dealings in the palace.”
My mind skittered around, trying to decipher what I’d done this time to incur Marcellus’s disfavor. With so much to choose from, it was difficult to decide, but I settled on the séance. I did want to point out that Nonna Ursula had so commanded, but to put the blame on a woman so beloved and in jeopardy was the act of a she-goat. Too bad Marcellus was like salt applied to a happy bed of spring-blooming columbine; around him, spring color and gaiety shriveled and died.
Cal turned to Friar Laurence. “You’ve worked hard all night and you’re weary. Take a few hours rest here before you return to your duties.”
Friar Laurence shook his head. “I must return to the shop to compound more medicines. I’ll take my rest there.”
“Should I come to help?” I had to offer, although I knew the answer.
