The Fallen Blade: Act One of the Assassini Read Online Free PDF Page A

added. “Perhaps her ladyship knows?”
    “Eleanor?”
    Her lady-in-waiting didn’t know either.
    “A
vipera
,” Roderigo said. “Mostly used for smuggling.”
    “It’s a
vipera
,” Giulietta said flatly. “Mostly used for smuggling.”
    “Equally pointed at both ends?”
    Roderigo nodded. “Instead of turning his boat, the oarsman turns himself, while my men are still turning their
gondolini
. It’s rare to see one used openly.”
    “And the name is from
viper
?”
    “Because they strike fast.”
    “Smugglers who strike fast. Or maybe such boats have other uses?”
    Roderigo smiled at the dryness in Sir Richard’s voice. Venice was known as the city of gilt, glass and assassinations. The whole of Italy knew why the boats racing towards the finish were black.
    Eleven years earlier, in the year of Our Lord 1396, a gondola had drawn alongside the ornately painted craft carrying Giulietta’s mother, Zoë dei San Felice. The crossbow bolt that killed her passed through her oarsman first. When the oarsman crawled to her side, the late duke’s only sister was dead.
    A sumptuary law passed that evening instructed that all
gondolini
be painted black. This was not death’s colour in Venice, that was red. But in honour of Zoë’s elegance, all vessels would beher favourite colour. The truth was that Marco III had wanted the safety
gondolini
looking alike would bring his family.
    The boys in the
vipera
were extending their lead when the boat closest behind rocked suddenly and tipped, losing its crew with a splash. Glancing back, the curly-haired boy shouted something and his Nubian companion started to laugh.
    “That was Dolphino taking a ducking,” Roderigo said, as if this explained everything. “He can’t bear losing.”
    “You mean…?”
    Lady Giulietta curled her lip. “That was no accident.”
    “By tonight,” added Roderigo, “Dolphino will have been closing the gap and about to win. And the boys who just stopped will have sacrificed their second place to help a friend.”
    “Let’s get this over with,” Giulietta said.
    Gathering her gown, she stepped from a wooden walkway on to slippery brick and headed for the finish line. Sir Richard followed, wondering how King Janus would deal with his strong-willed bride.
    “Your names?” Roderigo asked.
    “Iacopo, my lord.” Cheaply dressed but freshly razored, the curly-haired boy bowed with lazy grace, as if born to court rather than the poverty his jacket suggested. “And this is… a slave.” The slave bowed low in the Eastern style, silver thimbles dancing at the ends of a dozen tight braids.
    “Well done,” Sir Richard said.
    The curly-haired boy smiled.
    A wide face and brown eyes. Strong arms and… His virility made obvious by the tightness of his hose and the salt spray that soaked them.
    “Eleanor,” Lady Giulietta said. “You’re staring.”
    The girl flushed with embarrassment.
    “The distance?” Sir Richard asked quickly.
    “Nine
mille passum
, my lord. Seven thousand paces aroundthe edge, and two thousand back through the canal. The waves were tough to the north, but she’s good…” He nodded to the
vipera
in pride.
    “Yours?”
    “My master’s.”
    Realising the silence following was a question in itself, the boy added. “Lord Atilo il Mauros. He’s…”
    Sir Richard knew. “Your winnings,” he said, offering a purse.
    The young man bowed again, and couldn’t resist weighing the purse in his hand. His grin showed white, and crinkled the edges of his eyes.
    “Eleanor…”
    “I’m not the one gawping.”
    Giulietta glanced sharply at her lady-in-waiting.
    “And have this,” Roderigo added hastily, shucking himself out of his brocade doublet. It was outdated and darned, but the victor’s eyes widened and then he scowled.
    “Silver thread, my lord.”
    Tattered brocade he might get away with. However, silver thread, like gold thread, fur, enamel, silk and embroidery, was denied to servants by law.
    “I doubt