"And they--and they killed Hector and Claudio and Apollonio and the other menservants." "Who did this?" Tilia was on her feet, standing over Francesca, shouting. "Who? Who?" Was the whole world turning against them, Sophia wondered. Was it the podesta's men? The Monaldeschi? Francesca put her hands over her face and wept softly for a moment, then continued. "The Tartars and that French cardinal who always came with them. They came with armed men, dozens of them. They were after Rachel." _Rachel!_ The horror of it all was like a spear driven through Sophia's breast. She sat down on her bed as the room went black around her. "Oh, no," she heard herself saying. "Oh, not Rachel!" Fear stopped her heart. She slumped on the bed, her hand pressed to her chest. "When Cassio tried to stop them, they went mad," said Francesca. "The men-at-arms killed every man in the house, and they raped all the women. Some of us over and over again. And they tore the house apart and stole everything they could carry. What they could not take, they smashed. And all the while they kept laughing, Madama. They kept laughing." Sophia felt bile burning in her throat. If she had to hear any more horrors, she was going to vomit. Tilia sat looking stunned, shaking her head from side to side. "What happened to Rachel?" Sophia managed to choke out. "She tried to run away. She got out of the house. The white-haired Tartar, the one who beds with her, chased her. He must have caught her, because I heard the cardinal shouting that they had found the one they came for and they must get on the road or they would be fighting the Sienese." _Rachel wanted to come here with me this morning_, Sophia thought. _If only I had brought her here, we could have saved her._ She sobbed aloud. Her stomach hurt. "May God rot all of them with leprosy," said Tilia. She hugged Francesca hard, and then stood up. "I must go to my house." Going back to Tilia's would not help Rachel, Sophia thought. They had probably lost her forever. Despair dragged her down. _Rachel, Rachel!_ What were they doing to her? "First David is arrested. Now this," she said, tears running steadily down her cheeks. _I had trusted Daoud to foresee danger and guide us through it_, Sophia thought. _And now Daoud--_ She still did not know whether Daoud was safe, or even still alive. Would the contessa be able to stop whatever was being done to Daoud? That had been quite enough to be terrified about. Francesca's tear-reddened eyes widened. "David has been arrested?" Something in her tone told Sophia there had been something between Francesca and David. _Of course_, she told herself. _Did you think the man slept alone until you gave yourself to him?_ She and Francesca shared some of the same grief. Sophia wanted to console her.