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Ginevra looked again at the intricate object in her hand and with a new shock of fear realized something: Fra Michele had unwittingly revealed to Bishop Acciaiuoli the true identity of the relic thief and his likely location. But the bishop could not simply have his mercenaries journey to San Romolo. If he did, he risked others learning that Giancarlo had been acting with the bishop’s permission! But if Ginevra retrieved the relics for the bishop, if she was the only witness, he could easily dismiss the testimony of a woman and a convicted heretic. Still, he would not have counted on the inquisitor traveling with her...

“Alone, alone, blind and alone, I will wander the world,” cried Giancarlo.

“Stop wailing,” said Ginevra. “I am tired of all you sad men. You will not wander the world alone: you have made a mess, and you will come back to Florence with us to fix it.”

Fra Michele stopped praying to the relics and looked at her in horror.

“If I go with you, the bishop will chop my head off and string up my body on the ringhiera,” said Giancarlo.

“You don’t have a choice. We need you as a witness to the bishop’s involvement. And besides, this man here is the inquisitor—he can promise you will not be strung up, right, Michele?”

“Well, erm, it will be—”

Ginevra stared hard at him.

“I mean, that sounds rather difficult, but I will see what I can...”

“See, there you have it. We will all go together.”

“I will not. Not after stealing the bishop’s key.”

“Giancarlo, look—you are not the only person the malocchio watches. Since I was a child, it follows me closely—I punctured it long ago and it waits always for a chance at revenge. Come with us, and once all this is settled, I will try to find a way to rid you of the Eye.”

“I do not like being a jettatore,” he admitted. “But my village! My poor mother, my dear father. My servants and the laborers of my kiln! I cannot leave them here.”

“You’ve buried them in the crypt of their own church. This is more than many kings and lords could wish for now. Would you stay here alone, talking to skeletons?”

“I must stay and pray for them, for who else will do it? Old people and little babies stuck in purgatory.”

Ginevra was impatient to be away, now. “Michele, can’t you intercede for them?”

So Fra Michele, under Ginevra’s stern gaze, managed to bring himself back to the entrance of the crypt and said a blessing over all the dead and said it counted retroactively since they had no chance to call for a priest and that they were all in Heaven.

Giancarlo was finally convinced, then, to come back with them. Ginevra’s promise to break the curse the Eye had on him sounded much better than wandering the world, blind and alone. The relics, with a few beetles still crawling over them, were loaded onto the donkey, who was fitted with a rope, the other end given to Giancarlo so he could follow along even with his blindfold. This is how they left San Romolo, and they were the last living people there for many years.

FORTY-TWO

THE PORTA SAN NICCOLO

July 12th of 1348, the Road Back to Florence

Fra Michele and Ginevra walked some distance ahead so they could speak without being heard. “It just doesn’t make sense,” said Ginevra. “Do you really think the bishop believed the spell would work?”

“Not for a moment.”

“Then why would he go along with it?”

Fra Michele shook his head. “His family is in serious money trouble. Perhaps he means to sell the relics, and just wanted Giancarlo to do the dirty work for him?”

“Then why leave the golden reliquaries?”

“I don’t know. All I know is I wish we had come here without informing him.”

“Now it is done—what are we going to do about it?”

“We must announce the presence of the relics as soon as we reenter the city. The people will rally around us, and I will gather a contingent of men and we will confront the bishop. But first our witness—we must put him somewhere safe.”

Ginevra nodded. “Let us go to Sant’Elisabetta. It is close to the Porta San Niccolo—return their bread. Sister Taddea will be relieved to have it back and will watch Giancarlo for us.”