CHAPTER 14

I went under and took in a bit of water before I could make sense of it. I rose to the top and coughed, gasping for air. Marcello’s strong hand grabbed my shoulder, and then, having located me, took hold of my arm and yanked me to the rocky edge of the pool.

Lia was shushing me, freaked out by all the noise I was making. I tried to keep it down, but I couldn’t help it. I had to breathe. So I coughed several more times, shivering in Marcello’s arms, the rest of them tense in silence.

When I finally had a grip, Marcello leaned in and kissed my forehead. “I should have mentioned the water,” he said. I could hear the tinge of laughter mixed with genuine regret in his voice.

“That would have been kind, yes,” I sputtered.

“It was why the tunnel was built. To reach water supplies in case of attack.”

“Ah, yes.” It was logical. The tunnel had widened here, to give better access to the pool. I could sense it now by the way our voices echoed off the wall.

“No matter,” he said. “We’ll all get wet now. Just in far less dramatic fashion.”

I clamped my lips shut, no longer in the mood to be teased. “Lead on, m’lord,” I said tightly.

He squeezed my arm and bent to pull off his boots, and my shivering began anew without his body heat. I could hear him wading into the pool.

This would not be good for Luca, getting wet, sick as he was. I shook my head. No way through but through.

“It is as I remembered,” Marcello whispered from the other side of the pool. His voice carried across the water, making it sound as if he were a foot away. I could see the silhouette of his head, neck, and shoulders against the daylight around the door. “Come over, but stay to the left. It’s shallower.”

Luca and Lia were making their way over, right in front of me, when I heard Luca collapse and go under. “Luca!” Lia cried, before she remembered herself.

I groaned as she splashed around. But I did not hear Luca emerge.

I slipped under the water and felt around, finding Lia’s sodden skirts first, then, a glance of Luca’s cold finger. I pressed forward, ignoring the cry of my lungs, and grabbed hold of his arm, yanking him to the surface.

It was his turn to cough, spitting out water as Lia and I dragged him across the rest of the pool, struggling to maintain our footing on the slippery rocks.

“Forgive me, m’ladies,” he said, leaning back against the rocks on the far side as if he were sinking into a feather bed. Lia and I clung to him from either side, willing our body heat into him. “My head is tilting back and forth. I cannot get it to stop.”

Dizzy. He is dizzy. His fever must be soaring…

With my eyes adjusting, I could see the dim forms of all three of my companions. I looked up to Marcello. He was leaning against the door, listening.

I held my breath a moment, trying to hear too, but between Luca’s teeth chattering and moaning and Lia’s panting, I couldn’t make out anything. I waited, staring at Marcello.

He looked back in our direction. “Can we move him?” he asked lowly.

All three of us were shivering now. Luca passed out, and we struggled to hold him. “We must,” I said between my own chattering teeth. “We must all get dry and warm. It is vital for Luca.”

He paused, seemingly digesting my words. Vital for Luca.

“Can you manage him, between you?” He pulled his sword from its sheath.

“I think so,” I said, looking over at Lia.

“If we can rouse him,” she said.

She was right. There’d be no way we could drag his dead weight and move at more than a snail’s pace. But Marcello had to be ready to defend us. “We’ll do the best we can,” I said to Lia, encouraging her.

She turned to Luca and shook him a little as Marcello lifted the crossbar from the door and set it aside. Luca didn’t move.

“Luca,” I said, slapping his cheeks gently until his eyes blinked open. “Come, friend. We’ll get you someplace safe and warm.”

With a few grunts and groans, we reached the door.

“We’ll emerge in a small cave beside a bend in the river,” Marcello said, opening the door an inch on creaking hinges and peering out. “The most difficult part will be to get from the cave to the tree line. A hundred yards. Then, a mile or so south, there are a series of grottos and caves. We can hide there until nightfall.”

I nodded. “Let us lead. You take the big lug.”

He grinned at me and lifted his head in assent. Then sheathing his sword, he glanced at Lia. “Draw an arrow. If anyone spots us, we’ll count on you to silence his call.”

She nodded and pulled an arrow from her quiver while Marcello wrapped Luca’s arm across his shoulder. If need be, I knew he had the strength to carry his friend.

“’Tis a shame you two do not travel alone,” Lia said. “In the clothes of the mansion’s servants, you appear as none but loyal sons of Firenze. Our skirts shall draw their attention; surely there are no womenfolk this close to the lines.”

His eyes moved back and forth as he thought through something. “That’s it,” he said. “You two shall go ahead. Creep through the grass on your hands and knees if necessary. I shall follow behind, carrying Luca, as if we are Fiorentini loyalists and I am bringing a wounded man into camp. We shall cut over and into the trees to find you when we see the opportunity.”

I nodded, finding hope, even as my heart stopped at the thought of separation. “But what if…what if they capture you? Figure out your true identity? What if they imprison you, haul you off to Firenze?”

“They shall never believe that a young lord of Siena would march directly into their camp.”

“And if they do?”

He gave me another small smile. “Then my beloved lady shall have to come and rescue me.”

“Us,” Luca corrected him, slurring his words now, as if he were drunk. “Have to rescue us.”

He adjusted Luca across his shoulders. “Stay with me, Luca,” he said sternly.

“Can’t get much closer, m’lord,” Luca mumbled.

Marcello looked at me once more. “’Tis our only path, really. If we do not find you near the caves by sunup, you make your way back to the castello. Understand? We may be waylaid, but we’ll find our way to you in time.”

I nodded, feeling my stomach turn. I knew he’d sacrifice himself for me in an instant. Luca would too.

He gestured to Lia, and she crept forward with me following, sword drawn. The guys trailed behind us. At the edge of the cave, Lia peered around, staring for a long moment, then carefully drew back. “A contingent of ten or so men, arming a catapult,” she said to me and Marcello. “Twelve more on horseback beside it. Twenty-four men in rows before them.”

“Preparing another line of attack,” Marcello said with a grunt. “Their focus will be on the Sienese beyond the villa. See any scouts?”

“Nay,” Lia said, after a long moment of searching. “We could stay here until dark.”

Marcello shook his head. “’Tis only a matter of an hour or two before they’ll clearly see we’re not among those who remain to fight. They’ll make a second pass at the tunnel, and if they move a few stones…”

My eyes shifted from the door behind us to the trees ahead, guessing how long it would take us to cross the great expanse of knee-high autumn-brown prairie grass and at last reach the spare oaks. The sprawling trees would allow precious little cover. Beyond them was the deeper forest. That was where we had to go. In there, we could hide, at least.

I looked to Marcello. “We cannot outrun soldiers on horseback.”

“Nay. Move steadily, hunched over, and fall to the grass to catch your breath. Move carefully, so as not to attract attention.”

“Leave me here,” Luca grunted. “You should go with them, m’lord.”

Marcello ignored him. “Go, Evangelia, Gabriella. Go.”

We did as he told us, falling to the shelter of the long, swaying grasses, catching our breath, then steadily rising and scurrying quickly up the hill. I kept waiting for singing arrows to come arcing down on us, but none came. Halfway across the field, I dared to think, Can we actually make it? How can they possibly not see us?

I glanced over my shoulder, finding it impossible not to look after Marcello and Luca. According to plan, they were moving straight up the hill. At the crest was a ring of white tents, Firenze’s flag proudly flying from all twelve of them, and a tendril of a smoldering fire at its center. Seriously? Did they actually intend to enter it? He was not that crazy…I hoped.

But then I saw what was happening. Six soldiers were making their way down to them, hands on the hilts of their swords. Two more followed on horseback. Even among the noise of battle far below us, I could hear them barking at our guys.

Marcello and Luca were distracting them, running interference, keeping them from seeing us. Idiotic, wonderful heroes. “Hurry, Lia,” I said.

We ran the rest of the way, pausing on the far side of ancient twin oaks, their red leaves chattering away above us. Lia caught sight of the men then. “They’re pointing toward the battle,” she said. “Making up their story.”

“Let’s hope it’s a good one.”

“Pray no one recognizes them.”

“I will.”

The words settled between us. As far as I knew, Lia was as much a praying type of girl as I was. And that wasn’t much. But it seemed right, here. We were desperate. And desperate people prayed, right?

“Come on,” I said. “We need to get deeper, find those caves Marcello was talking about.” I ran forward, hoping our luck would hold and no one would spot us. From this angle, it’d be tough for the soldiers with Marcello and Luca to see us. But down below, at the front line…if they turned back toward camp, it wouldn’t be hard. Our long, wet hair hung on our backs. Perhaps they would mistake us for peasant women, in our current garb, displaced from our homes by soldiers. But more worrisome was the thought that every man on the field wanted to collect the price on our heads—that they would see we were no peasant women at all.

We took no more breaks. I could sense that Lia’s urgency matched mine. If we’d been spotted, we wanted to disappear as fast as possible, deep in the woods, where no one could find us. Find a defensible position, rest there. Then make our way to the caves.

Once in the comforting arms of the forest, we paused and caught our breath. I looked back and then did a double take. From this angle— “Lia, I know this place. You do too. We’ve been here before, uh…you know what I mean.”

She turned around, and her eyes widened. “We’re near the old river ruins,” she said.

“Right,” I said with a smile, trudging forward. “Where Mom and Dad brought us when we were little.” The site, in our time, was overrun with tourists, since Etruscan tombs lined the limestone cliff for miles. The River Necropolis, I remembered. Some had elaborate carvings, noblewomen sanded away by time to blobs that resembled mermaids. Lions, lounging on their sides. Elsewhere, there were fluted columns. Tombs, square and tidy, but with not nearly the decoration necessary to hold my parents’ attention for long. Besides, they had forever been looking for the undiscovered ruins, not those that were in the public domain.

Striding through the fallen leaves, I flashed back to that day with them. Laughing. Dad had played with us, hiding and making us find him, behind trees, inside the caves. He’d paid attention to us that rare day, calling us his “Etruscan Princesses.” I rubbed my arms, feeling the chill of the tunnel pool all over again, even though my gown was rapidly drying. I looked up, around.

“I remember too,” Lia said.

She waited until I reluctantly met her gaze. “It was one of the best days ever,” I said simply.

She nodded, grief edging her baby blues like I knew it edged my own eyes. “What if…Gabi, what if we could go back in time and pull off before the present? What if we could pull off, get a message to Dad? Even see him? Save him?”

I sighed. She was voicing thoughts I hadn’t dared to think through myself. I shook my head. “You’re talking about massive confusion. Some possible rift in the time continuum. If we save Dad, what other things will it change? If that farmer didn’t run him off the road, will he hit someone else? Will it just be another family mourning, instead of us?” I swallowed hard. “And if we save him, does all of this disappear? Maybe he would’ve convinced Mom to look elsewhere for the tumuli. Maybe they would not have discovered them at all. Which means—”

“No Luca,” she said lowly, pulling to a stop. “No Marcello. But Dad…Gabi, Dad would be alive.”

“Right.” I looked her in the eye. “I mean, maybe.” I trudged forward, suddenly aware that we’d been still for far too long. But my head swirled with thoughts of Dad, of saving him, of righting that horrible wrong. It sent my heart soaring. And yet the thought of never meeting Marcello, this all fading away like a brief dream…that made my heart sink. Even now, what was happening to him and Luca? Had they convinced the Fiorentini they were on their side? Was Luca being cared for by camp medics?

Lia paused suddenly and raised her hand. “Horses,” she mouthed.

Despite the thunder of hoofbeats, we remained as still as deer as the troops passed by us, probably a quarter mile distant. There had to be a hundred or more.

“If they turn their attention to finding us, we’re dead,” she said. “But I’m betting they don’t know how vast the necropolis is.” She looked away and ducked under a branch. “I bet these trees cover most of it still, and superstition keeps them out.”

“I hope you’re right,” I said, following behind her.

The wind blew, sending a cascade of leaves to the ground, and we both shivered. “The caves, Lia. Let’s get to the caves. And pray Marcello and Luca can find us.” We hurried forward. In the distance, the battle continued on, and the sun was growing low in the sky. Would they fight all night? I knew no man cared to fight by the light of a quarter moon. It was too easy to take out your own men.

“There,” she said after a few more minutes, nodding upward. Just barely visible above the crest of the trees was an old tomb carved out of the rock.

Narrow, disintegrating steps zigzagged downward beneath it, mostly hidden by the oaks that lined the cliff. We could see them clearly only as we drew nearer. “Think they’ll hold?” I asked.

“It’s worth a try,” she said. “At least from above, we’ll have a bit more sun for warmth, as well as a view to see what’s going on. Maybe we can spot the guys coming our way.”

“Or the enemy coming to get us.”

“Don’t be so negative,” she said. She slipped her bow across her shoulder and climbed to the base of the stairs. Tentatively, she tried one and then the next. On the third, it crumbled, but not all the way.

“I’d hate it if one gave way up there,” I said, looking twenty feet above us.

“Positive thoughts, Gabs,” she hissed, continuing her trek. But I noticed she had a grip on a stair three above her toehold with each one. Just in case.

At the tree line, she paused and peeked outward. “It’s perfect,” she said, looking down at me. “Come.”

Yeah, I thought. Perfect for you. I wasn’t just a few inches taller than my sister; I also had a good twenty pounds on her. What she had crossed easily might give way under me.

“Gabs, come on.”

“All right.” I sighed and began to climb. Only one stair gave way in the first fifteen. With fifteen more to go, I glanced up and saw Lia’s wide, frightened eyes above me. She gestured with them to my lower right. She reminded me of a cartoon character, with large blue arrows pointing out her alarm.

Carefully, I turned my head. I was hidden, mostly, by the canopy of the tree. But in a slight gap among the trees, I could see the head of a horse. My eyes scanned forward, searching for another peephole.

There. The man was squatting, his fingers running through the leaves.

A tracker.

“Over here, m’lord. They came through here,” he called over his shoulder.

Two more came up behind the tracker, walking their horses. I caught sight of dark, black hair, and then he was gone. Lord Greco? Then a third man.

A gust of wind came up and a hundred leaves went with it. I felt as exposed as if I was watching my skirt unravel, thread by thread.

“This way?” Greco said below me, ahead of the tracker now, clearly identifiable now by his voice. “Be they witches, capable of disappearing into the cliff itself?”

I closed my eyes as they neared the base, wishing I were capable of sinking into the limestone behind me. Another few feet and they’d see the stairs, and atop them…me.

I forced my eyes open. I had to be ready. I dared to let go of the stair and pull a dagger from the back of my waistband. I knew that above me, Lia was already drawing an arrow across her bow. But for her to shoot, she’d have to expose herself.

Lord Rodolfo Greco’s mouth dropped open as he spied me there.

I had no choice; I scurried up the stairs and, in my rush, tore away two steps.

Lord Greco’s laughter was a low, melodic sound. Pleasant, almost, if I didn’t know that it came from a man who wanted to see us dead.

Lia showed herself then, swiftly shooting the man beside Lord Greco, who had stupidly edged forward. Lord Greco stepped back beneath the tree canopy, well aware of the lethal nature of Lia’s aim. I heard the sickening strike of her second arrow as I reached the top, my fingernails filling with dirt as I clawed my way up and over the edge.

Below me, a man gasped and belatedly cried out, like a baby just winding up for a good cry. A fourth man.

Lord Greco seemed to ignore his friends, he was so focused on us. “What will you do up there?” he called. “It is just as well. Perhaps I’ll leave you there until I’m certain you don’t have the plague that shielded you from me before.”

We remained silent, simply staring at each other, trying to figure out our options.

What options? We’re treed. Raccoons with a hound dog below us.

He waited a minute before calling out again. “Rest assured, you shall not escape that cave, ladies. At some point, you shall be mine.” He turned and said something to another man.

He was sending for help. Eventually, they’d have enough troops and resources to bring ladders. Or come from above and rappel down on ropes. I eyed Lia’s quiver. Twenty-two arrows left.

“We have to get out of here,” I said.

She nodded, clearly already thinking the same thing. We had minutes, at most.

“Ready?” I asked.