Sally smacked him hard in the arm.
That’s you talking to the Brazen Head! Wait — you spoke with Roger Bacon?
Shh, he said.
What did he say? Did he talk about the Voynich? What did he say?
Sally!
And there was Leonard’s voice again, broadcast as if through one of the Leader’s mobile shout machines: WHAT IS A CATHAR?
CATHARS? boomed that loud voice. CATHARS BE THE VERY WORST FORM OF HERETIC! FELLOW CITIZENS, COME! JOIN ME! LET US CAPTURE SOME HERETICS! WE CAN INQUISIT THEM, THEN ALIENATE THEIR LIMBS!
Which shout was followed by a murderous ululation — coming from just around the corner!
Run! Sally suggested, so they did.
Stone-bakers
Leonard couldn’t say how they ended up there, in a dark road, where their eyes watered from noxious fumes and dust. Inside gloomy shops, one after the other, tired-looking men surrounded by bits of ancient rock tended gigantic ovens, where, it seemed, they were cooking stone.
Stone-bakers. The world was full of wonders!
They rested against the arcades.
It was the navigator watch, Leonard said, still puffing. Saying back what I’d said to it. The Inquisitor has the watch.
Obviously.
You’re not really mad that I spoke with Roger Bacon. What did you think I did?
Sally shook her head. She seemed close to tears.
Maybe I’m mad that it never occurred to me, okay? I should have thought of that!
Leonard shrugged and realized that if Isaac’s plan was to be complete, the Brazen Head would have to shut down, or at least shut down its connection to Bacon, lest someone, maybe even Sally here, call him and reverse Leonard’s good work. This saddened him.
You didn’t think of it because it was too obvious. Your mind is more subtle than that.
Sally considered this.
Yes, she said, maybe. So what next?
Leonard had no idea. If the navigator watch was talking to the man with the loud boots, it wouldn’t just be Leonard’s voice and interests it would share — Leonard had been cammed, so they’d also have his face, with or without his ebullient hair.
What else had he asked the Brazen Head? Besides library hours and caravan schedules. He’d asked about Sue & Susheela. He’d asked about Milione, and Isaac. If Dwane were at the other end, he’d suspect that Sally was with him, and know that she’d asked about the pope. He also knew about Sally’s Abulafianism.
Wait, he said, how come Dwane isn’t frozen?
He’s not real, Sally said. He’s an early model of the Brazen Head, more successful than Sue & Susheela, but still.
Dwane isn’t real and he wants to lead the Baconians?
He thinks he’s real.
I thought Dwane created Sue & Susheela.
It’s complicated.
Leonard’s health meter started to vibrate. Yes, Dwane knew about Leonard and Sally, but he also knew about Felix! Felix was always asking questions of the Brazen Head. If Dwane knew about Felix, then the man with the loud boots knew about Felix, and everything Felix was interested in: avoidance of compost-heap violence, the Talmud, who knows what else! If Dwane still thought Felix was a neo-Maoist traitor spy, it could be Felix the loud-booted man was after, not them!
The navigator watch is our sign, Leonard said. The watch will lead us to Felix.
Sally’s cheek
They might catch us, Sally said. Who knows what Dwane’s told them.
Leonard took her hand.
It could be dangerous, he said. I’d understand if you didn’t come along — and he stroked her cheek.
Uhhh, Sally said in a dreamy voice. I, uh …
Felix is my responsibility, Leonard said. You could go find Bacon. I’d understand — and he stroked her other cheek.
Her eyes fluttered shut; she looked like she was thinking about something very far away.
I do care about you, she murmured. I, uh … I, uh …
Astonished, Leonard stopped stroking her cheek; her eyes snapped open.
Did you say something? she asked. Where are we? What are we waiting for?
A villa in Viterbo
They walked more or less on tiptoe, to the amusement of the stone bakers, who watched them stop every few feet or so to listen. Nothing. But the fish market wasn’t far — as they crept down the lane they could smell the shad and hear the proudly hawking fisherpeople.
Do you have anything left in your inflatable pocket? Leonard whispered as they arrived at the corner of the market.
I have my house ID scrambler, Sally said. I didn’t lose that.
Keep it handy, Leonard said. Hear anything?
They strained their eardrums for sounds of Leonard, or Dwane, but heard only tumult around the corner, and then the man with the very loud voice:
WHERE BE THE MISCREANTS WHO DOTH READ THE HERETICAL TALMUD TOME? I SHOULD LIKE TO HARM THEM, FOR EXAMPLE, WITH A BRANK!
Leonard and Sally peeked their heads around the corner. An enormous man with spiked boots and a broad back and a very clean tunic was leaning over a marble stone, shouting at a fisherperson, who was plainly flummoxed.
COME, MADAM, I SHALL NOT HARM THEE, UNLESS IT BE THEE WHO CONCEALETH THE BOY WITH THE EBULLIENT HAIR! SPEAK, MADAM! TELL UGOLINO DE BARBARUBEIS WHERE THE TALMUD READERS RESIDE, AND WHERE I MAY FIND THE BOY!!!
When the fisherperson merely gawped, the enormous man yowled and grasped the marble stone with two colossal fists, upending it, with all its fish, into the mud. He then picked up the terrified fisherperson by the neck and, shaking her, said to the square:
SOMEONE SHALL TELL ME WHERE THESE MISCREANTS BE OR THIS BLAMELESS FISHERPERSON SHALL DANCE IN A WELL!
I’ll show him wells! Sally said, getting ready to fly at him, but Leonard restrained her.
The dangling fisherperson tried to speak but could only produce a choking, burbling sound.
WHAT? THE FISHERPERSON WISHES TO SPEAK? WHAT SAY THEE? the man asked, and dropped the woman to the ground.
I merely wished to ask, yer honor, that ye release me, I being just then about to expire.
HAST THOU NOT HEARD ME, FISHER WENCH? — but before he could pick her up again, someone from the crowd shouted: They’re in the thee-a-ter, yer honor. I seen ’em sneakin’ in, the Jew magician and his redheaded boy.
GOOD MAN! the man with loud boots shouted. THOU SHALT HAVE FROM ME A VILLA IN VITERBO! And off he stomped.
Instruction from a demon
Sally and Leonard followed the man called Ugolino, while also trying to look inconspicuous: Leonard whistled the NP theme song, while Sally feigned interest in fish. When they were well away from the fisherpeople’s market, they could hear — was it? could it be? — Dwane, advising Ugolino about … Abulafia?
Abraham Abulafia was a Spanish mystic of the thirteenth century. He worked with the special characteristics of the Hebrew alphabet — the meanings and sounds and shapes and vibrations of each individual letter. By doing so, he became a great prophet of extraordinary powers.
Familiar words.
I wrote that, Sally said, disgusted.
We need to get the watch back, Leonard said.
Sally nodded.
TRIPE! Ugolino shouted at the navigator watch. I SHALL DO GREAT HARM TO THIS FALSE PROPHET, FOR EXAMPLE, WITH A FLAIL!