'It was a trick!' He could hardly believe that a man should have dared so much. 'You are not Farfalla, captain of fortune?' 'My name is Bellarion.' 'It's the name of a trickster, then, a cheat, a foul, treacherous hind, who imposed upon me with lies.' He looked past his captor at Facino, who was smiling. 'Is this how you fight, Facino?' 'Merciful God!' Facino laughed. 'Are you to prate of chivalry and knight-errantry, you faithless brigand! Count it against him, Bellarion, when you fix his ransom. He is your prisoner. If he were mine I'd not enlarge him under fifty thousand ducats. His people of Lodi should find the money, and so learn what it means to harbour such a tyrant.' Savage eyes glowered at Facino. Pouting lips were twisted in vicious hate. 'Pray God, Facino, that you never fall prisoner of mine.' Bellarion tapped his shoulder, and he tapped hard. 'I do not like you, Messer de Vignate. You're a fool, and the world is troubled already by too many of your kind. So little am I venal that from a sense of duty to mankind I might send your head to the Duke of Milan you betrayed, and so forgo the hundred thousand ducats ransom you're to pay to me.' Vignate's mouth fell open. 'Say nothing more,' Bellarion admonished him. 'What you've said so far has already cost you fifty thousand ducats. Insolence is a costly luxury in a prisoner.' He turned to the attendant Burgundians. 'Take him above-stairs, strip off his armour, and bind him securely.' 'Why, you inhuman barbarian! I've surrendered to you. You have my word.' 'Your word!' Bellarion loosed a laugh that was like a blow in the face. 'Gian Galeazzo Visconti had your word, yet before he was cold you were in arms against his son. I'll trust my bonds rather than your word, my lord.' He waved them out, and as he turned, Facino and Carmagnola saw that he was quivering. 'Trickster and betrayer, eh! And to be called so by such a Judas!' Thus he showed what had stirred him. Yet not quite all. They were not to guess that he could have borne the epithets with equanimity if they had not reminded him of other lips that had uttered them. 'Solace yourself with the ransom, boy. And you're not modest, faith! A hundred thousand! Well, well!' Facino laughed. 'You were in luck to take Vignate prisoner.' 'In luck, indeed,' Carmagnola curtly agreed. Then turned to face Facino. 'And so, my lord, the affair is happily concluded.' 'Concluded?' There was derision in Bellarion's interjection. 'Why, sir, the affair has not yet begun. This was no more than the prelude.' 'Prelude to what?' 'To the capture of Alessandria. It's to be taken before daylight.' They stared at him, and Facino was frowning almost in displeasure. 'You said nothing of this.'