His thoughts were disturbed by the sharper slap of water on the steps, and as he moved forward he saw the outline of a small, swiftly moving barge. There were armed men standing on the sides, and it slid smoothly to the mooring post and stopped. The torches blazed up and the slender, heavily robed figure of Doge Lorenzo Tiepolo rose and in an easy movement stepped ashore. He was in his later years. His sons had all risen to eminence, and many suggested it was purely by their father's favor. But then people always said such things.
Tiepolo walked forward across the marble as the torchlight wavered in the rising breeze. He was smiling, his small, heavy-lidded eyes bright and his hair silver like a halo.
"Good evening, Giuliano," he said warmly. "Did I keep you waiting?" It was a rhetorical question. He was ruler of Venice; everyone waited for him. He had known Giuliano since he had been brought here as a small child nearly thirty years ago, as he had known and loved Giuliano's father also.
Still, one did not take liberties. "A spring evening on the canal can hardly be thought of as waiting, Excellency," Giuliano replied, falling into step with the doge, but just behind him.
"Always the courtier," Tiepolo murmured as they crossed the piazza in front of the ornate Ducal Palace. "Perhaps it is a good thing. We have sufficient enemies." He led the way inside through the great doors, the guard before and behind him silent and watchful.
"The day we have no enemies it will mean we have nothing for any man to envy," Giuliano replied a trifle dryly. They took off their outdoor cloaks and walked along the high-ceilinged hall with its painted walls, their feet loud on the inlaid floor.
Tiepolo's smile widened. "And no teeth to bite with," he added. He turned right into a high anteroom and then into his own chambers with their frescoed walls and heavy chandeliers. The sandalwood table held dishes of dried dates and apricots and a selection of nuts. The torches glimmered, throwing warm light over the tessellated floor.
"Sit!" He waved his arm in the general direction of the carved chairs around the huge fireplace, where a fire burned to warm the still chilly March air. The great portrait of his father, Doge Jacopo Tiepolo, hung above it. "Wine?" he offered. "The red is from Fiesole, very good." Without waiting for an answer, he took two of the glass tumblers and filled them, then passed one to Giuliano.
Giuliano accepted it, thanking him. Tiepolo had been his friend and patron since his own father's death, but he knew he had not been summoned simply for the pleasure of conversation. That happened quite often, but it was late at night for casual talk of art or food, boat races, beautiful women, or, far more entertainingly, scandalous ones-and, of course, of the sea. Tonight the doge was serious; his narrow face with its long nose had a pensive expression, and he moved uneasily, as if paying more heed to the thoughts occupying his mind than to his actions.
Giuliano waited.
Tiepolo looked at the light through the wine in his glass but did not yet drink. "Charles of Anjou still cherishes his dreams of uniting the five ancient patriarchies of Rome, Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Byzantium again." His look was bleak. "All under his own sovereignty, of course. Then he would be Count of Anjou, senator of Rome, king of Naples and Sicily and Albania, king of Jerusalem, lord of the patriarchates, and of course uncle to the king of France. Such power in any one man would make me uneasy, but in him it is a danger not only to Venice, but to the whole world.
"His success would threaten our interests right along the east coast of the Adriatic. Michael Palaeologus has signed the agreement of unity with Rome, but my information tells me he will have considerably more difficulty in taking his people with him than the pope may imagine. And we all know that the Holy Father is a passionate crusader." He smiled bleakly. "He is reputed to have sworn the skill of his right hand that he will never forget Jerusalem. We would be wise to remember that."
Giuliano waited.
"Which means he will aid Charles, at least in that," Tiepolo added.
"Then he would have Rome on his side, and Jerusalem and Antioch in his hands." Giuliano spoke at last. "Would Charles attack Byzantium, even though