The Storm ebook

Contents

PART I

CHAPTER I

CHAPTER II

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV

CHAPTER V

CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER IX

PART II

SYNOPSIS OF PART I

CHAPTER X

CHAPTER XI

CHAPTER XII

CHAPTER XIII

CHAPTER XIV

PART III

SYNOPSIS OF PARTS I AND II

CHAPTER XV

CHAPTER XVI

CHAPTER XVII

CHAPTER XVIII

CHAPTER XIX

CHAPTER XX

CHAPTER XXI

PART I

I. TIZZO DECIDES

THE hose on his right leg was orange; on his left leg it was green. His doublet was a puff of yellow and through the slashed sleeves of it appeared the crimson of an undertunic. He wore, not for warmth since the day was mid-summer, but merely from the excess of vanity and fashion, a short cloak which tumbled down from his shoulders and washed about from side to side behind them. And on his head, tilted a shade to an angle, there was a small round hat which was looped about by a fine golden chain.

As though this flare of colors were not enough to attract the eye, his hair was flame-red and glistened in the slant of the afternoon sun. He rode swiftly through the camp of Giovanpaolo and, coming to the tent of the commander, which was distinguished by the long pennon which flew from the peak, he slipped out of the saddle and threw the reins towards one of the men-at-arms who stood guard at the entrance.

The man was struck by the flying leather and allowed the strips to fall.

“Hold the horse, my friend,” said the young fellow in the brilliant clothes. “Announce to Giovanpaolo that Tizzo is entering.”

“Go ask the devil to announce you!” said the guard who had been flicked by the reins.

One of the gentry who lolled under the adjoining olive tree broke into a loud laughter and sat up to watch the brawl.

The guard added: “His Highness, Giovanpaolo, is not to be disturbed.”

“Why not?” asked Tizzo, walking straight towards the two guards. Compared with their armor-sheathed bulks he seemed very slender and boyish. The sword at his side appeared to be a foolish vaunt. “Is Giovanpaolo sleeping because he’s had too much to drink? If he is, I’ll wake him up. Announce me!”

“Announce you?” said the guard who had spoken before. “Your name may be Firebrand, but you give me no warmth. I’m hot enough in the sun without having a fire at hand. Sit down on your heels and wait for the time of His Highness.”

There was another loud laugh from the nobleman who lounged under the tree, and who now stood up as though expecting something further to happen.

He said, “Here’s a check for Tizzo, at last.”

One of his companions answered: “I wager three ducats to one that he gets into the tent.”

“The guard will see him damned first,” said the first man.

“The guard will be damned himself if he tries to bar the way,” said the other. “I put money on Tizzo.” Young Tizzo, at this moment, stepped straight to the angry guard and said: “Give me your name so that I can remember you.”

“I give my name to my equals,” said the guard, “not to wild- headed young forget-me-nots like you.”

“Nevertheless, I’ll shake hands with you,” said Tizzo.

He caught the big, brown hand of the fighting man as he spoke. The latter tried to wrench his sword-arm free but the effort merely served to jerk Tizzo towards the entrance of the tent. Perhaps he tripped the guard as he passed. It was hard to tell exactly what happened, but the fact was that the man-at-arms tumbled flat on his back while Tizzo disappeared suddenly through the tent entrance. The guard, leaping to his feet, started to rush inside in pursuit, but his companion checked him.

“You’ve made a fool of yourself already,” said the companion. “But if you break in on them now, you’ll be damned for your folly.”

“What do you mean?” asked the first man.

“Why, if you wore ears in your head you ought to have recognized the name. Tizzo is the brightness of which Giovanpaolo is the shadow; he is the warmth in Giovanpaolo’s blood, the light in his eyes, the strength of his right hand. Tizzo, fool, is the man who saved the life of Giovanpaolo on the night of the Great Betrayal and got both him and the Lady Beatrice safely out of the city when men were running about like bloodhounds, lapping up the lives of the Baglioni.”

“You could have told me what he was,” growled the big guard.

“You asked no questions,” said the other. “You brought some of your Swiss cheese with you from the Alps, but you left your wits behind you. And this is Italy, man, where brains are better than sword-blades.”

“Tizzo? Tizzo?” said the man. “Now I think that I recall the name.”

“Pick up the reins of his horse and hold them, then,” said the other man-at-arms, “and the name may be willing to recall you.”

INSIDE the tent, Tizzo saw Giovanpaolo striding up and down, his head a little bent towards the depth of his thought. On the table lay a map. Pieces of armor were stacked on a folding chair. The whole tent was filled with confusion.

“Ah, Tizzo,” said Giovanpaolo, hardly turning his fine head towards the interloper, “what is it now? More brawling? More tavern drinking? More duelling? You have put Gismondo of Urbino to bed for a month with one of your sword tricks; the Spaniard from Naples will never see out of both eyes again, they tell me; and Ugo of Camerino will be a lucky man if he ever recovers the use of his left arm.”

“It was only the left arm,” said Tizzo, seriously. “I knew that he was a fellow you put a value on, and that was why I did not teach his right arm the sort of manners it ought to know.”

Giovanpaolo threw himself wearily back into a chair. He shook his head.

“Is the world always no more than a playground for you?” he asked, sadly. “Here we are shut out of Perugia, half of our friends killed, my own family slaughtered like sheep in the middle of the night, and the army which I am raising to retake the city already muttering and growling because I am slow in giving them pay. The men promised to me by the city of Florence have not appeared. All men begin to doubt my fortune. The sky turns black over me; and still you are dancing, drinking, laughing, fighting day and night without a care in the world.”

“I could use some clouds in that same sky,” said Tizzo. “Today is too hot for armor. The guards at your door are stewing under their cuirasses in their own sweat; they have turned as mad as hornets and try to sting your own friends.”

“I heard them trying to keep you out,” smiled Giovanpaolo, “but I knew that they might as well forbid a wild hawk to fly through the blue of heaven. What is it that you want?”

“Time to say farewell to you,” said Tizzo.

“Farewell? You?” said Giovanpaolo.

He rose slowly from his chair. “The rest have fallen away from me,” he said. “And now you? You are leaving?”

His handsome face darkened with sorrow. But he added, suddenly: “Very well. I can understand. You are too bright a butterfly for these dark days. Go where you please, Tizzo, and God go with you. Here–you will need funds for your journey. Help yourself from these–”

He jerked open the top of a small chest which appeared half filled with gold pieces. Then, stepping to the table, he unfastened a little casket awash inside with points of red and yellow and crystal flames. “Here are the last jewels which the Baglioni could collect,” he said. “Fill a pocket with them. God knows you are welcome. If it were not for you, all of us would have died on that night of the Great Betrayal.”

Tizzo lifted a handful of the jewels and let them sift slowly through his fingers, showering back into the casket.

“This stuff will do me no good where I am going,” he said.

“Where are you going, then?” demanded the other, shortly.

“To hell,” said Tizzo.

“Ha?” cried Giovanpaolo.

“To Perugia, I should say,” added Tizzo.

“You? To Perugia? Yes, when we take the city by storm. Yes, then you will go to Perugia. But in the meantime even the stones in the streets would cry out ‘Tizzo!’ and ‘Treason!’ if they felt the falling of your feet.”

“Look!” said Tizzo, and held out a rolled letter which Giovanpaolo pulled open and read aloud:

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