XLI
Cosimo Medici looked back across the long table to the Duke and saw his eyes wandering over the many maps on the walls. Typical, he thought, not focussing on where the danger was before him. Or was it an act to seem casual about admitting his defeat. For Cosimo was convinced the Duke had requested this meeting in order to admit defeat to him. Which meant Lucia had not yet returned home, and he could truthfully swear he did not have her in captivity. He smiled and tried to catch the Duchess’ eye. He would particularly enjoy humiliating her.
The Head Councillor, Signor Pacciani, seated at the top of the table, rapped the table-top and called the meeting to attention. “Firstly, in accordance with the agreement for this meeting we will turn the locks on the doors so that there is no possibility of outside forces entering. Are all agreed to this?”
Cosimo shrugged as if he didn’t care. The Duke looked to his wife and then nodded. The city guardsman at the door proceeded to lock it. Cosimo did a quick count of those in the room. Four bearded Medicis, four moustached Lorraines and ten City Councillors and city guardsmen. The letter had been very specific about this, and as long as the Lorraines abided by these terms, he felt they were fair. This meeting was a surrender, after all, but they had to maintain some illusion of dignity. He was generous enough to accept that.
He then looked across to the large mechanical model of the world in the corner of the room. It was an intriguing piece of machinery, and looked like something Galileo might have built, with bright bronze cogged wheels within cogged wheels within cogged wheels. He imaged the inner wheels would turn more rapidly as they were smaller and the larger outer wheels would turn slowly, rotating the whole globe at the pace of one rotation a day. It was probably fanciful to imagine that the planet was a giant machine, run on cogs within cogs, but it was also not impossible to believe.
He looked across the table and saw the Duke was now staring at the mechanical globe too. He probably coveted it as much as Cosimo did. He frowned. He could imagine them coming to blows over it. The Duke’s reach was probably larger than his own, but Cosimo’s grasp would be stronger, and he’d wrestle the man’s arms from the globe. The Duke’s witch of a wife would join in undoubtedly, trying to restrain him while her husband took control of the world. Then their advisers and guardsmen would join in, with the City Council calling vainly for order, and then they would be spilling blood. But that would not do. They had all just taken a vow that no blood would be spilled in this room. That was one of the conditions for the meeting.
Cosimo turned his attention back to the table. He would ask one of the councillors to demonstrate how the globe worked before they left the Council chamber. If the meeting went well, that was.
The Duke also turned his attention away from the globe of the world. He was thinking that the logical thing to do would be take the many maps of the world off the walls and make a skin for the globe showing how all the parts fitted together. No need to see all the cogs beneath. More important to see the overall shape of the continents. The ornate wooden walls of the chamber were covered in closely-fitting golden frames, each with a map of a different part of the world, portrayed in golden continents on dark blue seas. He suspected that some of the maps were actually more imaginative than real, for so much of the world was unknown, but they were said to be based on surviving texts of the ancients and it was believed the ancients had mapped the entire world. He shrugged. That was a question for another day. They were here to address a peace accord and ensure Lucia’s freedom. He placed a hand on his wife’s and gave it a small squeeze. He knew they had the upper hand today, otherwise Cosimo Medici would never have requested this urgent midnight meeting. His wife said it was not prudent to agree at such short notice, but the Duke’s curiosity was aroused.
The Duke looked across at Cosimo and met him eye to eye. He wanted to see him blink and turn away. Wanted to see his indecision or lack of courage or whatever it was that had led him to propose this peace meeting. He had written that he wanted to return things to the state they had been before. They both knew that meant a submission, but he had to save some face. The Duke would allow him that, even though his wife wanted to crush him and humiliate him. They had to ensure Lucia’s safety, after all. There would be time to crush and humiliate him later. And more.
The Head Councillor then looked to both families and said, “Next let me acknowledge that you have both agreed to place your palms open on the table, regardless of what decision the Council makes as to how you should bend your knee and open your purse to the City.”
Cosimo and the Duke both broke their gaze at the same time and stared at the councillor. “What is he talking about?” the Duchess whispered into her husband’s ear. He shook his head a little. “And we are pleased that you have agreed to have your armies lay down their swords and axes, and allow the City Guard to be the only men thus seen on the streets once more,” Signor Pacciani added.
The Duchess put her hand on her husband’s arm, giving him a warning squeeze. He looked back at Cosimo Medici, but he was staring at the councillor still, a look of rage growing upon his face as his steward leaned across to whisper something in his ear.
“The Council have discussed this matter and feel the bend of the knee and the depth of the open purse must be extreme to deter such follies in the future,” Signor Pacciani said. “And to reassert the primacy of the Council as that which governs the order of how letters are placed to spell out peace throughout the city.”
Cosimo Medici now looked across at the Duke. He was not going to remain here and be made a fool of for the Lorraine’s pleasure. This was too much! They must have their daughter back safely and had come upon this ploy as a way of mocking him. He would make them pay for this insolence. But the Duke just looked back at him and said, “Do you mock us?”
“You mock yourself through this thin excuse of theatre,” said Cosimo.
The Head Councillor looked up. He was following a closely written speech and kept one finger on the line he had been at so as to return to it. But looking at the two angry men before him, he had a sudden feeling that he was not going to get to read any more.
“Me?” asked the Duke. “You are the one who wrote to me pleading for a meeting.”
“No,” said Cosimo. “You wrote to me!” And his steward cast a letter onto the table. The Duke could see the Lorraine coat of arms on the top of it. The Duke’s wife snatched it up. “A clever forgery!” she declared, and snapped her fingers. Their steward lay down another letter with the six balls of the Medici coat of arms on it. The Head Councillor was having trouble keeping up with what was happening. “But you wrote a joint letter to the City Council,” he said. “You asked us to moderate this meeting. Said you desired peace.” And he wondered if he had misunderstood some of the complex metaphors in the letter.
The Duke’s wife whispered one word into his ear. “Enigma!” Their personal code word for a trap. He looked around the room but nobody was making a hostile move against them. The city guardsmen seemed as confused as anyone. Then one of the lesser councillors, a man named Sforza, with eyes that never seemed to be both staring in the same direction, stood up and slowly walked across to the large mechanical globe of the world. He reached his hand inside it and turned something with a loud mechanical click.
Then the many framed maps on the walls inexplicably swung open on hinges. Everyone in the room except Signor Sforza stared in surprise as men in hessian hoods leapt out of the spaces behind them. Each was armed with a dagger and they fell upon the city guards first, stabbing them viciously and easily overpowering them by their superior numbers and the element of surprise. Then they lifted their bloodied daggers and advanced on those seated at the table.