Rafael Sabatini

“ But there is one thing he loves still more—his honour. Let it be whispered to him that the lady, his wife——” He leered horribly. “You understand, Magnificent? He would leave his camp out yonder and dash back to Camerino, where she bides, as fast as horse could bear him.”
Cesare felt his soul revolt. The thing was vile, the fruit of a vile mind, uttered by a vile mouth; and, as he looked at the leering creature before him, a sense of nausea took him. But his face showed no sign of this; his beautiful passionless eyes betrayed none of the loathing with which this arch-traitor inspired him. ”

“ At last Cesare spoke to the ambassador of Varano, to the father of the man who half-an-hour ago had sought to murder him.
“It is thou, Malipiero, eh?” said he, his face impassive as a mask, his brain a whorl of speculation, of considering and connecting.
The man bowed again. “Your servant always, Highness.”
“Art the servant of the lord of Camerino?” the Duke amended. “Art the fox that waits upon the wolf?” And the evenness of his tones was marred by the faintest suspicion of a sneer. I bade your master attend me that we might arrange the terms upon which he will consent to raise this siege. ”

“ Then, striding back into the tent, “The third horse is for you, Malipiero.”
“For me?” clucked the traitor, in a greater fright than any that had yet touched him since embarking on this evil business.
“For thee,” said Varano sternly. Then towering above the shivering wretch, “Hast ever known torture, Malipiero?” he inquired. “Hast ever seen the hoist at work, or the rack disjointing bones and stretching sinews till they burst, till the patient screams for the mercy of a speedy death? ”

“ Malipiero sat up, nursing his bruises, making sure that no bones were broken, and breathing a prayer of thanksgiving to Our Lady of Loreto—who had ever been the object of a special devotion on his part—that he had had the wit to forge proofs betimes that should lend countenance to the foul charges he made against a pure lady's honour. He comforted himself, too, with the reflection that those same proofs would avenge the mishandling he had suffered, and that for the bruises Varano had dealt his body he would presently deal such bruises to Varano's soul as should go some way to make them quits. ”

“ My invitation to Varano was your opportunity. Without it you would still have come, bearing as spontaneous the offer that you brought as answer. The object of your spying you best know—you that never yet kept faith with any man. Oh, there is no doubt, Malipiero, that at heart you have ever been my devoted servants—you and your son. ”

“ On the threshold stood a tall man with a grave dark countenance and a very martial bearing, a man whose fame was almost as well known to every soldier in Italy as was the Duke his master's.
“Michele da Corella!” quoth Varano, thunderstruck. “You were in Imola. What make you here?” Then, his mind swinging back to the weightier matter that oppressed it. “My wife?” he cried. ”

“ Gianpaolo, with a deep sorrow in his heart, and Malipiero, with an unholy glee in his, followed their lord down the narrow stairs, and out into the scented autumn night. They went up the steep street to the palace that crowned the hill. But passing the main doors they struck down a narrow lane and so came to a wicket in a high wall. A man rose up before them, seeming to materialise out of the gloom.
“He is within,” he murmured to Varano. ”

“ He frankly said as much.
“I will not bargain with you,” was Cesare's contemptuous answer.
Tears welled to the eyes of the distraught man and coursed down the furrows of the livid cheeks. Wildly he implored clemency and urged upon the Duke's attention the gain he stood to make.
“There is not in all Italy a knave with whom I would so scorn to deal as you, Malipiero. Man, you have steeped yourself in the filth of treachery until you stink of it. ”

“ Thence to Camerino was little more than thirty miles, and Varano would have gone straight on, but that again the lack of fresh horses foiled his purpose. It was in vain he swore, besought or threatened. The country was all topsy-turvy, he was answered, infested with men-at-arms, and horses were scarce. He must wait until his own were rested. Until noon, then, they abode there, and now it was that Malipiero had the inspiration to feign illness, since flight was impossible.
“My head swims,” he had whimpered, “and my loins burn. I am an old man, my lord, unfit to ride as you have made me ride.” ”

“ This was Malipiero's hour of vengeance. Slowly he loosed the points of his purple doublet; slowly he groped within the breast of it, and slowly he drew forth a package tied with an orange ribbon. Slowly he was proceeding to unfasten it, when Varano, with an oath of impatience, stooped, snatched the package, and tore away the ribbon. Then he strode to the table, unfolded a letter, and spread it under his great hand. ”

“ Presently came Messer Gherardi with news that an ambassador had arrived from Varano's camp, and Cesare ceased to smile.
“An ambassador?” he echoed, his brows knitting. “Does a servant come in response to the invitation I sent the master?”
Agabito's ready smile deprecated this vexation. “Is it really matter for wonder? These Varani are treacherous, bloody men. Venanzio fears that you might deal with him as he with you in the like circumstances. He knows that were he removed his mercenaries would not avenge him, would not stand together for a day. You will see the ambassador, my lord? ”

“ When, presently, Cesare's Venetian captain, whom so many supposed to be a Spaniard, stalked into the room—a tall, stately man, all steel and leather—the Duke tossed Malipiero's safe-conduct across to him, and gave his orders.
“You will watch to-night the cresset that burns outside Varano's tent. Ten minutes after it has been quenched you will ride out with the twenty men you choose, and make for Camerino.” Cesare unrolled a map and beckoned Corella to his side. ”

“ A while he remained thus, Gianpaolo and Malipiero watching him—the traitor understanding nothing of this bearing, unable to think what could have happened?
Presently Varano sat up, composed himself, and looked sorrowfully at Malipiero.
“Malipiero,” said he, “I have prayed God ever since we left Imola that, for some reasons which the rack should tear from you, you had lied to me. But——” A sob cut his utterance. “Oh, there is no more pity in heaven than on earth. This thing is true, it seems—most vilely, hideously true.” ”

“ Whilst a man might count a dozen there was utter silence in the chamber, the ambassador waiting for the Duke to address him, the Duke seeming in no haste, but staring at the man and understanding what had been in Gherardi's mind when he had begged that the dagger should be let lie a while. ”

“ He was in the very flower of his youth; some seven and twenty years of age; tall, straight and lithe as steel. His father, Pope Alexander VI., had been accounted in early life the handsomest man of his day; of a beauty of countenance, it was said, that acted upon women as the lodestone upon iron—which had by no means helped him to the virtuous course that should be looked for in a church man. That beauty Cesare had inherited, but refined and glorified by the graces of Madonna Vanozza de' Catanei, the Roman lady who had been his mother. ”

“ Cesare shrugged and raised the lid of his comfit-box. “So I had understood from you already. Is there nothing more?”
“You were pleased to correct me, Highness, when upon entering here I announced myself your servant.”
“By what tortuous ways do you travel to your goal? Well, well! You were my servant once; now you are his. Would you be mine again? Is that your meaning?”
Malipiero bowed eloquently. The Duke considered him, shot a glance at Agabito, then with deliberation picked a coriander-seed. “The lord of Camerino's fortunes, then, do not wear so very prosperous a look?” ”

“ The very sight of you offends me.”
“My lord,” the wretch clamoured, “I can raise this siege as could no other man. Grant me Gustavo's life, and it shall be done to-morrow. I will draw Varano away—back to Camerino. What are his men without him? You know their worth, Highness—a parcel of hirelings with no heart in the business, who would never stay to oppose a sally if Varano were not at hand to urge them.”
Cesare measured the man with a calculating eye. “What means have you to perform so much?”
At that suggestion that the Duke was inclined to treat with him, Malipiero rose. ”

“ Farther off was a great coming-and-going of glittering armed figures about the large green tent that housed the too-daring Venanzio Verano. Away to the west a half-naked swarm of men laboured with picks and spades at a ditch by which to deviate the water from the river and so serve them as a rampart against any sudden sortie of the besieged. ”

“ Cesare stared in amazement at the effrontery of the demand. “Was he drunk, this lout of Camerino, when he sent that message?”
Malipiero quailed under the scorn of the Duke's eyes. “Magnificent,” he said, “it may be that my Lord Venanzio seems arrogant to you. But you will find him firm in his resolve. He has you, he swears, in the hollow of his hand.” ”

“ Yet Varano observed nothing of this, as he turned upon the fellow in a fury of suspicion. Before he could speak, however, his esquire had come to Malipiero's rescue.
“Nor I, body of God!” he swore. “Before I ride another mile I must eat and sleep. What odds, my lord?” he reasoned with the scowling Varano. “We'll sleep by day, and ride by night. When all is said, it is the speediest travelling.”
“Sleep?” growled Varano. “I had not meant to sleep this side Camerino—perhaps, indeed, not then. But since I ride with women... ”

“ Contrive that you reach Camerino in advance of it by at least six hours, and remember that those others will ride desperately. Agabito will instruct you later in what else you have to do. The manner of it shall be in your own hands.”
Michele da Corella gasped. “They will set out before me,” he said. “They will take the shorter road, and they will ride desperately. Yet I am to be in Camerino at least six hours ahead of them. In short, I am to work a miracle, and I am just Michele da Corella, a captain of horse.”
Cesare looked up quietly. ”

“ Cunningly they spread their net to hem him in, believing that they had him safe and that his strength was sapped. And he, the better to take them in the toils they were spinning for himself, had indulged them in their conviction that he was powerless and unprepared. Actively had he done so, deliberately dismissing three of his companies of French lances—the very backbone of his army—and putting it about that they had left him of their own accord, led off by their captains with whom he had quarrelled. ”

“ And then, even as he was on the point of consenting, the stairs groaned under a heavy step; the door was flung open so violently that it struck against the wall, and Venanzio Varano, with mad blazing eyes and a brow of thunder, strode into the room.
•⁠•⁠•⁠•⁠•⁠•
Malipiero backed away in terror, with an inward curse at his own tardiness in perceiving the obvious way of escape. Now it was too late. Varano had learnt the truth already, and again Malipiero bethought him of the rack; already in imagination he felt his sinews cracking and the rude hands of the executioner upon him. ”

“ You are a thoughtful knave. Come now. To horse!”
As they mounted, and were ready to set out—Malipiero between Varano and Gianpaolo da Trani, his esquire—Schwarz, the captain of the mercenaries, came up. The rumour of Varano's departure running round the camp had reached the Swiss, and, incredulous, he came for orders.
“Plague me not,” growled the Lord Venanzio in answer.
“But, Excellency,” the man protested, “shall you be absent long?” ”