Inquisition Read Free Page B

an Arabic manuscript on the dark side of alchemy, but not even that made mention of such a horrible thing.
    And yet, if he could only lay his hands on the formula and apply it to a corpse, the entire vascular system passing through the organs and muscles of the human body, which stubbornly escaped his every effort with the dissecting knife, would be revealed with complete clarity, like a map, down to the smallest detail. And he would be able to copy it into the anatomical treatise that he was preparing, for the benefit of medical science and all physicians of the present and future.
    He turned to the templar, who had not moved and was peering at him intensely. Mondino had the distinct sensation that he was in front of another person, someone very different from the absent-minded student whom he had known from the first.
    ‘What would you do if I decided not to denounce you?’ he asked.
    The young man allowed himself a slight smile. It was clear that he had understood Mondino’s interest in the corpse and the secret that it contained, and thought he could turn this to his advantage. ‘Magister, help me to get rid of Angelo’s body. I will have a mass said for his soul, then I will dedicate myself completely to finding his murderer,’ he said, firmly, as if Mondino had already made his decision.
    And in a sense, thought the scientist with amazement, that was exactly how it was. He continued to tell himself that it was ignoble and dangerous to conceal a murder, but given that Gerardo meant to catch the perpetrator anyway, justice would be done in the end. He thought of the dangers to which he would be exposing himself and perhaps his family if he were caught. He thought of the office of magister of the Studium that he held, for which he had made so many sacrifices. But every objection melted away like snow before a fire. For the dream had taken possession of his mind.
    Suddenly, without thinking about it too much but in the full knowledge that they were rash words that he would later regret, he looked Gerardo in the eye, laid down the knife on the table and said, ‘Very well, I’ll help you.’
    Before he could add anything else there were two loud knocks at the door. A coarse voice shouted, ‘Open up, in the name of the Holy Inquisition!’
    Gerardo looked at him, afraid but motionless, waiting to see what happened.
    ContempLating the man at the other end of the long oak table that almost divided the room in two, Remigio Sensi felt himself transported back into the distant past, to a time when he had not yet returned to Bologna from the Kingdom of Aragon, and was not yet an established banker.
    He had first met Hugues de Narbonne in the city of Tortosa, on an occasion that he did not like to remember. Then as now, the Knights of the temple were among his best clients. They often needed money to buy a new horse or a present for a lover, and they certainly couldn’t sign a letter of credit to their order for loans of that nature.
    Remigio charged them a low rate of interest so as not to provoke the wrath of the Archbishop of Tarragona. In fact any loan with interest was defined usury, but the Church knew that the templars were necessary to wrench the south of spain away from the moors, so closed its eyes to the activities of the moneylenders.
    Nonetheless, Hugues de Narbonne had never had need of Remigio’s services. He had been Commander of the Vault of Acre, responsible for the templars’ vessels and all the merchandise carried in them, and even after the fall of Acre in 1291, he held important offices within the order. He was not lacking in money, or lovers either it seemed, despite his vow of poverty and chastity. As far as that of obedience was concerned, Remigio suspected that the Frenchman had made the vow to obey himself alone.
    On the day that Hugues de Narbonne first came to see Remigio, he made it quite clear that he knew all about the banker and his affairs although they had never set eyes on one another