«My Lady! What a joy to see you here. As you can see, theres so much work to be done, but Im trying hard. I believe that in no more than a months time the printing works will be back at full capacity. And all thanks to you. I must be very grateful to you for all that you have done for me, and the first work I am going to publish will undoubtedly be your treatise on The Principles of Natural Medicine and Healing with Herbs.»
Lucia smiled smugly, but Bernardino felt the force of that smile, trying to overcome the tiredness that was gripping her.
«But you, Madonna, are really tired. I dont want to reproach you for anything, but I think its time you stopped visiting all these plagued people. Sooner or later youll get sick too. Dont you think about your daughter Laura? And Anna, who is another daughter to you? How could they do without you? Youre the last Baldeschi alive, take responsibility, once and for all! And not just towards the girls, but towards the whole town.»
«Oh, Bernardino, dont start with the stories I have to take back the city government. I told you: Im a woman, I dont feel like occupying a place that has always been rightfully a mans.»
«There isnt a man in this town worth half what you are. It shows what youve done and are doing for sicks. But its not enough. You cannot leave the city in the hands of incompetent nobles, who let Cardinal Cesarinis vicar do his comfortable swine, terrorizing the city and the countryside, and demanding taxes and leaps from men tormented by misery and pestilence. Its time to send away Cardinal and Vicar, and only you are capable of doing so, taking in hand the sceptre that is rightfully yours. And then there is Mira! Have you forgotten her? You promised to protect her, but the trial has gone ahead. And now, on top of that, theres the charge of witchcraft for her!»
«What? What are you saying? The trial against Mira is being conducted by the civil judge, the noble Uberti, and...»
«Father Ignazio Amici has collected the testimonies. It seems that, while the Cardinal was falling from the balcony, someone heard him shout Im flying, Im flying, even with a smile on his lips. And so there is no other explanation than Mira bewitched the Cardinal. I really believe that, in these hours, the young woman is under the clutches of the torturers of the Holy Inquisition. Maybe in a few days well see a pile of wood in Piazza della Morte. Well, for those of us who know the truth, it would not be nice to witness the death of an innocent woman, moreover, in such an atrocious way.»
Without even arguing back, Lucia turned out in indignation and walked fast towards the Midday Tower. «Be it ever!», she heard Bernardino shout as she walked away, more to herself than to him. «I have promised that no woman in this town will ever again end up on a burning pile. And I will keep my promise.»
CHAPTER 3
Get the pliers and pincers ready,
then well light the fire.
(Tomás de Torquemada)
The guards, recognizing Lucia and aware of her authority, did not find the courage to block her way. The Countess, mad in her face, entered the Midday Tower like a fury. She found herself in a deserted hallway. Sometimes female cries, suffocated and muffled by the thick walls, reached her ears. Surely they were already torturing Mira. Not knowing where the torture room was, and unable to understand where the girls screams came from, he opened the first door he found. Judge Uberti was sitting behind a desk, absorbed in examining paperwork. Above the table stood a book with an elegant cover and the title written in block letters Malleus Maleficarum.
«Noble Dagoberto Uberti! What does all this mean? You promised to judge my handmaiden, and to be merciful to her. Why, then, hand her over to the inquisitors? You heard my testimony some time ago. Mira defended herself. My uncle was attacking her. He may have killed her. She only wounded him, and not in a serious way. The fact that he fell from the balcony was an accident, a fatality, beyond the girls control. I have told you again and again: Mira deserves punishment, but not death!»
Judge Uberti, compared to some years ago, at the time of the trial against Andrea Franciolini, had visibly aged. Deep wrinkles furrowed his face, his back had bent and, to walk, he had to help himself with a walnut wood stick. A serious form of arthrosis, testified by the deformity of the joints of his hands, afflicted him. His eyesight had also dropped considerably and he had to help himself to read with a glass lens mounted on a metal support. At that time there were few, in fact, those who owned glasses, which had to come from Venice and were very expensive. He lifted his head from the cards and answered Lucia in a calm, almost resigned voice.
«You see, my Lady, I have studied the case well, and it seems to me that there are many, too many inconsistencies. You are the only witness, so I should trust what you tell me. Unfortunately, the same facts, told by you and told by Mira, are in stark contrast. You claim your uncle caught your handmaiden stealing from his study. But apart from the books, there was little there to steal. And notoriously, Mira cant even read. Besides, I am well aware that your uncle kept money and valuables in other rooms. I believe instead that Mira entered the Cardinals study on purpose, hoping that, by offering him her body, she would be well rewarded.»
«What are you insinuating, Judge?»
«Im not insinuating anything. Im just trying to reconstruct how things went, and I think Ive got the picture straight. You see, we had your uncles body examined by experts before we recomposed it for burial. Apart from the fact that he wasnt wearing stockings, the Cardinal had the member completely covered in an oily substance, an ointment. According to experts, it was a substance based on plant essences, which only witches know how to prepare. But let us come to your uncles blood. You say Mira wounded him lightly with a knife, or rather, a letter opener. But there was an abundance of blood, scattered all over the study, and then around the corpse, so much so that it seems that the Cardinal, rather than the fall, bled to death. Only one wound, but it reached an important blood vessel. And whats strange is that Mira should have been much dirtier in blood than we found. Her clothes were dirty, but if she struck so precisely, she must have had blood on her hands and arms. But she hadnt! And the clothes? They werent exactly the clothes of a handmaiden, they were clothes of more important features.»
«And what did you deduce from all this?» asked Lucia, with a voice that almost began to tremble, for fear that Uberti was about to tell the story that blamed her for the death of her uncle.
«You see», and the Judge put his hand over the Malleus Maleficarum. «This book, provided to me by Father Ignazio Amici, enlightened me. Written by two German inquisitors, Jacob Sprenger and Heinrich Insitor Kramer, a few decades ago, it shows how to recognize witches, regardless of their powers. They can all be recognized by an indelible mark they wear on their skin, a mole, a spot, a birthmark or a scar, often hidden by armpit hair, pubic hair, or perhaps hair. This is why the Inquisitors, as a first step, have the witch denuded and have all her hair shaved in order to highlight this mark. But Mira didnt even need to do that. She has an obvious mole on her upper lip, right under her nose, above which hair even grows. Father Ignazio affirms that its an unequivocal sign, and I agree with him, after reading this text.»
«What does all this have to do with my uncles death?»