She grabbed him by the ear when he came in. "Benito. You listen to me."
"Ow! Leggooo! How do I listen when you're pulling my ear off?"
Maria snorted. "You listen with the other one, and if I pull this one off maybe things won't just go straight in one ear and out of the other."
"I'm listening. I'm listening. Just let go," said Benito on tiptoes.
She did. "Now if this doesn't go in, next time I will pull it off. I hear from Giaccomo you're still hanging out with that Laivetti boy. Mercutio."
"Yeah," said Benito, defensively. "He's a friend of mine, see." His tone was surly.
Maria didn't like that tone. "He's trouble!" she snapped. "If you're going to stay with Caesare and me--you keep your nose clean. Caesare doesn't need extra troubles."
Benito was silent for a few moments. He bit his lip. "It's not as simple as all that, Maria," he said quietly.
"And why not?"
Benito shrugged. "You know, when you're living on the canals . . . um . . . some of the bigger boys they use the little 'uns like girls. Some of them are real fond of little boys."
Maria's eyes narrowed. "This Mercutio . . ."
"No! Mercutio, he's a ladies' man. But he looked out for me. Kind of let it be known that he'd deal with anyone who tried anything. Helped me out with food and--and a bit of coin a time or two. Showed me a few things that Claudia and Valentina left me to find out the hard way. And--he made me laugh when I needed a few laughs." Stubbornly: "I can't just turn my back on him. I can't, Maria."
Maria nodded. She understood this level of loyalty. It made her think better of Benito, actually.
"Si. I can see that, 'Nito. But there's a difference between being a friend, maybe sitting at Giaccomo's, talking, and doing the kind of crazy thievery and stunts that he likes to pull. You'll get killed. So will he."
Benito shrugged again. "That's what Claudia always says. But Mercutio--he's lucky."
Maria shook her head. She hadn't really gotten through to him. "Luck runs out. You stay away from his stunts, Benito."
Some of the grimness in that must have gotten to Benito. "He's out of town anyway, Maria. From what I can work out, no one's seen him since two-three days after Caesare took sick."
Maria smiled. "I know he's your friend, but I hope he stays away."
Benito's brother walked in, looking preoccupied. "Morning, Marco. You been to see the patient? Hope you not lookin' like that 'cause he's going downhill."
Marco smiled. "Sorry. I was just . . . thinking about something. Si, I've been to see Caesare. He's fine, Maria. It'll take him a little while to get his strength back. His endurance, rather--his strength's pretty much back to normal. If he rests, well, another few weeks and he'll be like this never happened."
Maria snorted. "I can't make him rest--he'll be out and about again today. He just won't accept it that he can't run around for very long. That's a nasty sickness."
Marco looked embarrassed. "Um. That's the treatment, not the disease. If you live through the disease without the herbs, you're better in a week or so."
Maria gawped at him. "What?"
Marco held up his hands. "Without the herbs, a lot of people just die. But the herbs are poison too. You can kill someone with them if they have too much. Old Sophia reckons the herbs make the body too poisonous for the sickness to live. It takes the body a while to rid it itself of the toxin. It won't do Caesare any harm to be up and about. He'll get tired quick, that's all."
"Well, that's good to know," said Maria with relief. "Although I wouldn't tell him you poisoned him!" The relief went away. Quietly, anxiously: "He's organizing something. I can tell by the way his eyes go thoughtful."
* * *
Out on the water carrying a cargo of copper nails to the Arsenal, Maria had time to think about what Marco had said. She just hoped the poison didn't make Caesare slower. He kept most of what he was involved in from her. He always said what she didn't know couldn't be tortured out of her. But on at least one occasion it had been a duel, which was strictly illegal. The young nobleman Caesare had pushed into it had been a thorn in the side of Ricardo Brunelli.
"Hey, Maria."
She looked up. It was Antonio, plying his usual load of fresh crabs for the fishmarket. It was a good line, that. Housewives wanted their crabs still alive. And they paid extra for it. But it meant Antonio was often ferrying a load in before Lauds. "Ciao, 'Tonio. How's trade?"
"Bit slow. Always is at this time. Look, I know you work nights a bit. I'm just passing a warning out. They found what was left of one of those young Ponto di Reggio brats dead in the water, stuck in some piles."
Maria thought of Benito. Maybe he owed his friend Mercutio more than he realized. "What killed him?"
Tonio shrugged. "Somethin' bad. Real bad. The body was pretty much missing, and what there was the eels and fish had eaten most of it. But the head, they say, was bitten in half. What kinda fish can bite right through a skull, eh? No natural one, that's sure and certain. Like nothin' anyone ever saw. They reckon it must be some of this witchery that's going on. The kid disappeared months ago, and they say it was the same night that rich banker got torn apart in his own bed. Does that sound like happenstance to you?"
He glanced around, searching the water, uneasy even in broad daylight. "Just thought I'd tell you to keep a weather eye out."
Maria clutched at the amulets she wore. Two were from the Calle Farnese, supposedly protection against demons of the night. The other, side-by-side with pagan charms, was a little leather bag containing--well, supposed to contain--a fragment of St. Ursula's skull. She hoped they'd protect her because she didn't have a whole lot of choice about working nights, moving stuff for Giaccomo sometimes.
* * *
Marco felt very uneasy here. This was the last place, the very last place, where a Pauline belonged. This was, if not the headquarters of the enemy, at least a bastion--a chapel of Saint Raphaella, one of Saint Hypatia's fervent followers, martyred, not by fire, sword, or persecution, but by accident. Saint Raphaella had allegedly stood firm in the face of a tide of dreadful injuries all over Alexandria in the wake of the terrible earthquake of 735, had used herb and skill and yes, magic, to hold off the scythe of grim death from thousands who were dying. She cured them of injury or illness or both, and perished only when an aftershock toppled a broken column down on her as she was trying to help more who were trapped in the rubble and still alive. And even then, she did not cease her work, apparently; for all those who prayed to her recovered, and there were many who dreamed of her laying gentle hands on them in the night and woke healed. In the wake of so many miracles, it would have taken a stronger man than the then-Grand Metropolitan to deny the voices on all sides who called for sanctification.