Eric Flint - The Shadow of the Lion

Hearing that, Francesca's eyes widened. In the complex welter of Church institutions, the Hypatian Order was considered?certainly by Paulines?the most extreme of the organized Petrine currents. Although they were generally regarded as ineffective and relatively harmless?

"Oh, God," she croaked. "Don't tell me." She sighed again, and this time far more deeply. "I was afraid you weren't really all that interested in my personal identity."

She rose abruptly, walked to the doors opening on to the balcony, and began to open them. She had a sudden need for fresh air.

"Don't," commanded Eneko. "Please, Francesca. We took great pains not to have our visit here noticed by anyone. If you open those doors?at night, with this room well lit?"

She closed her eyes, lowered her head, still clutching the door handles. "Please," she whispered. "All of that is behind me."

"Don't be stupid," said the Basque. "That's simply cowardice speaking. You are not a coward?far from it. And you don't even mean it, anyway."

She turned her head, staring at him. "Yes, I do," she insisted. In a very soft voice; which, she realized, didn't sound as if she really meant it.

The Basque's grin, when it came, was astonishing in its sheer charisma. Francesca got her first real glimpse of the personality which had forged this little band of… brothers.

"You adore the world of politics, Francesca," continued Lopez, still grinning. "All this?" He made a little circling motion with his finger, indicating the plush surroundings. "?is really fraud and fakery. You enjoy wealth, I'm sure, but is that really why you chose this life?"

"I didn't 'choose'?"

"Of course, you did! A woman as beautiful and intelligent and charming as yourself could have easily?long since?settled yourself into a nice comfortable situation."

"In fact, the Comte du Roure," added Diego, "asked you to marry him?the night before you fled with your mother to Avignon."

Francesca almost spat. "He was forty years old?and looked seventy?and almost as stupid as the hogs on his estates. He would have shut me up in that great ugly castle of his until he died. Which couldn't possibly have been soon enough."

Suddenly, she burst into laughter. "You're a shrewd bastard, Eneko. Pardon the expression. The Saints know, I've met few enough priests in my life who can see past the harlotry."

Again, she sighed heavily. But she found it easy enough to release the door handles and walk back to her chaise. "Yes, you're right," she admitted. "My fondest memories, as a girl, were the times I spent at the dinner table discussing the political affairs of the world with my father and his friends. I didn't realize at the time, of course, how deadly those affairs could become."

She plumped herself back in the chaise, making no effort to maintain her usual languid and seductive manner of sitting. "God help us all. You?that's what you're doing here, isn't it? You intend to organize a new Petrine order. The equivalent of the Servants of the Holy Trinity?say better, a challenge to the Sots."

"I prefer to think of it as a challenge to the Petrines, Francesca." All traces of humor left Eneko's face. "Who have grown soft, lazy?even corrupt, and not just in Aquitaine. The accusations leveled by the Servants of the Holy Trinity have far too much truth in them, as you well know. I leave aside their frenzied gibberish about heathens. I speak of the rest."

"I'll still take the Petrines over the Paulines," growled Francesca. "Any day of the month."

Eneko shook his head. "If things continue as they have, you will eventually not have a choice. The Paulines have been gaining in strength for a century, at least. Soon enough?if nothing is done?they will dominate the entire Church." Seeing the courtesan's little frown of protest, he pressed on. "It is inevitable, Francesca. For centuries, now, the Paulines have been the shield of Christendom. Their power and influence ultimately derives from that simple fact. So long as the Petrine church is willing to loll about in comfort, here in the soft and summery south, and allow the Paulines to wage the battle against the Evil One, the Paulines will continue to wax in strength."

He shrugged. "And deserve to, in all truth. Or would, except… their own theological errors leave them prone to a different kind of corruption. One which is, in the end, far more dangerous than simple avarice and sloth." Eneko paused, for a moment. "Indeed, I fear they have already fallen into that pit. The Servants, at least?leading elements within them, I should say?if not yet the Knights. But the Knights have become, more and more, simply the tools of the Servants."

Francesca stared at him for a moment, her hands making little movements on her thighs. Like caresses, only firmer?as if she were drying her hands before lifting a heavy weight.

"What do you want from me?" she asked abruptly. "I'm a whore, Eneko, not a theologian or a paladin."

"I did not use that term," he said mildly.

"Use it, then!" she snapped. "If you want something from me, speak plainly."

"I will not use the term, Francesca, for the simple reason that if I believed it I would not be here at all. Neither that term nor the term 'harlot.' " He smiled thinly. "I can accept a 'lady of easy virtue.' Easy virtue is still virtue, after all."

Again, Francesca burst into laughter. "God, I'd hate to argue theology with you! The Grand Metropolitan must tremble at the sight of you coming."

Eneko winced. "It is true, I suspect, that the Grand Metropolitan… Well. I seem to make him a bit nervous."

"I can imagine!"

"Which is why he sent me here, of course," continued Eneko. "You might think of this as something of a test."

Diego cleared his throat. "Probably best not to ask whether the Grand Metropolitan hopes we succeed or fail. I'm not sure he knows himself."

Francesca smiled. "I could guess…" The smile went away and she sat up straight. "All right, Eneko. But the 'lady of easy virtue' still needs to know what you want from her."

"You must understand the severe limits we are working within, Francesca. There are only three of us here in Venice. The Grand Metropolitan has provided us with some funds, but… nothing extravagant, I assure you." For a moment, his face grew pinched. "Which is why, to my regret, I was at first forced to accept the hospitality of Casa Brunelli. Diego and Pierre were not invited, so they found lodgings in a poor hostel, as I have now."

"Not to my regret," growled Pierre. "The hostel stinks?but not half as bad as Brunelli. The evil in that house practically saturates the stones."

Eneko's lips were very thin. "Indeed. But let's not get side-tracked, for the moment. In addition to our financial constraints, Francesca, we are also?more and more every day, it seems?being watched by spies. It has become difficult for us to move about, outside of the Ghetto, without being observed."

He raised his hand in a little gesture of reassurance. "We managed well enough tonight, I assure you. But when the time comes?which it surely will, before too many more months have passed?when we need to contact certain critical persons, we will not be able to do so directly. We need you to serve as our conduit."

" 'Certain critical persons,' " husked Francesca. "Who?"

"Petro Dorma, for one."

Francesca tried to keep from smiling. Not entirely with success. "That should not be, ah, too difficult. Who else?"

Eneko was silent for a moment, studying her. "You know perfectly well 'who else,' Francesca. When the crisis comes, the actions of the Holy Roman Emperor will be decisive. My own contact with the Emperor is circuitous and would take far too long to set into motion when the time arrives. And besides, I suspect I will be preoccupied with other matters. Whereas you?you are but one step removed from Charles Fredrik."