He grinned again. "Ah, so there is a Lady Iago?"
"There is," I said.
"She has a good husband?"
"I hope so," I replied.
"Good." He took a deep breath and turned back to look into the room. "They will be expecting me in there. I mean this, Ensign Iago: stay beside me for the evening. I require it for my sanity. I apologize now if you must hear the same comments and stories seven hundred times in one night, but you will be doing your general a service. Are you up to it?"
"Absolutely, General."
"They will be staring at us, Iago," he warned, as if he found it amusing.
"They have stared at me plenty over the years," I said, c.o.c.kily.
He gave me a delighted grin. "Ah. Later, I must hear why this is true. But I think this means we will get along just fine, you and I. Come, let us begin."
We walked back into the ballroom. A ballet had just begun, entirely deserving of our neglect.
OVER THE COURSE of the evening I learned many things about the general. Some of my knowledge came from listening to his politely repeating and repeating and repeating certain details of his life to everyone who asked, so that they could the next day make a casual comment to their friends about how well they knew the great Oth.e.l.lo. As we watched acrobats, jugglers, clowns, and another ballet; as we ate (he asked me to sit beside him) a supper of fifteen courses, including peac.o.c.k, pheasant, crab, and rabbit.
From these talks, I heard mostly about the battles he had been in; but he spoke too about his rambling as a solo mercenary offering his sword. These travels had taken him from empty deserts to floodplains to sprawling mountains, where he"d crawled through enormous caves in search of rumored treasure. He claimed he had battled cannibals in eastern Scythia-men who, wearing the scalps of their conquered enemies on necklaces, gave the appearance of having heads protruding from their chests. That story was usually enough to make the other guests smile wanly and excuse themselves.
But some of what I learned was for my ears alone, muttered quietly to me between partridges, pigeons, and pine nut cakes. These moments made the evening heady to me, heady almost as the night I first danced with Emilia. Oth.e.l.lo trusted me with intimacies he had not even shared with the senators who promoted him. One example: for all his martial victories, there was one pivotal battle he had lost. He had been vanquished, taken captive, and sold into slavery. He"d earned his freedom after years of toil, and after being forced to swear an oath that he would never again fight against the tribe who had enslaved him. That was far to the east of here, east even of the Levant. It was in honor of that oath that he had come west, seeking to be a soldier in these far-off Mediterranean climes.
More remarkable to me than any of the remarkable things about his life, the great man asked me to talk about my own life. He must have been bored with talking ceaselessly of himself; still, as he heard my relatively tepid history, he seemed to take a genuine interest. When we were between gaggles of attempted sycophants, he coaxed from me details of my military background.
"So you are well trained in gunnery and also swordplay?" he said, looking thoughtful, and ignoring a new ballet-the third of the evening, this one depicting the birth of Venus-as the trestle tables were cleared from supper. "It"s rare to find these two skills, advanced, in a single man."
"I would leave it to the general to decide if I am indeed skilled, but yes, I have had expert tutelage in both arenas. I suppose my father"s tyranny is to thank for that, however accidentally."
Oth.e.l.lo looked at me from the corner of his eye, and smiled. After two hours in his presence I"d seen him smile more than anyone I knew in Venice, with the possible exception of my wife. "I learned something when I was captive," he said. "It is under the thumb of the worst tyrant that we can achieve our best potential. Never were my arms so strong as when I was enslaved. Never did I learn to work harder on an empty stomach than when they tried to starve me. When we are pushed against our will, Iago, it not only sharpens our will but also teaches us new strengths. I welcome hardships for this very reason. I sense we are alike that way."
Every injustice, inconvenience, and misfortune that ever befell me paled in contrast to what this man had lived through. Yet he considered us alike. It left me speechless.
"I would see you with the sword and with the matchlock," he announced. "Tomorrow in front of the Sagittarius building."
"The Sagittari-" I began in confusion; then I realized he meant a particular building just inside the a.r.s.enal gate. The lintel there, unlike the usual unadorned a.r.s.enal gateways and doors, was carved with a fanciful depiction of the zodiac sign Sagittarius: a centaur armed with bow and arrow. This building had once been the crossbow magazine. It had recently been converted to quarters for high-ranking officers, and no doubt included Oth.e.l.lo"s temporary lodgings.
"I would be honored," I said, bowing my head. "Name the time, and I will be there."
"I do not attend the churches here, but let us wait until the bells toll after ma.s.s so we do not offend anybody"s sensibilities." He had been watching my face more intently than I realized, because after a pause-and another grin-he added, "I do not go to church here, so you are wondering if I"m an infidel."
"I am curious," I admitted. "I"m sure the entire city is."
"I think the answer depends on whom you ask," he said with amused archness.
"Where are you from, then?" I tried.
"I was a child in Egypt, but that is not my race," he said. "Still I learned many things from that great people, although the Turks have subjugated them. I have especially much fondness for their women," he added with a laugh.
"What is most worth the fondness? Or the fondling?" I asked.
He closed his eyes a moment and smiled. "The land that gave us Cleopatra teems with infinite variety."
"I think you"ll find the same in Venice," I offered. "Or so I recall from my bachelor days."
"What, no recent expeditions? Your wife keeps you happy, then?"
I began to reply half a dozen different ways. None of them did justice to Emilia, and several of my answers would have been, although t.i.tillating to Oth.e.l.lo, disrespectful to her. So finally I just said, "Yes," emphatically.
He threw back his head and laughed. "Spoken like a man in love!" he announced. "I have never felt this thing, but I recognize it when I see it. May I meet the lady whom you orbit?"
He had asked to meet my wife. This was going very well, without a moment of deliberate strategy all evening. The stars must be aligned, I thought, for this to happen. I glanced around the room and saw Emilia talking to . . . oh, dear-Roderigo had found her. He was speaking to her with great excitement, no doubt about his mercantile successes in the two years we"d been gone to Corfu.
I turned to the general. "If you will excuse me from your side a moment, I will fetch her."
"By all means," he said. "But do it quickly or I shall once again be asked to tell that story about what happened in Aleppo."
The hall was growing crowded-so crowded that the dancing acrobats had to be replaced by more static entertainment. Perhaps word had spread around the city that the new general was available for ogling. I pushed my way through to Emilia, wondering how quickly I could excuse myself from Roderigo.
"Iago, my brother!" Roderigo cried out as I approached. He gave me the usual earnest hug and double kiss as an Agostini tune began in the background. "Your lovely wife has grown even more beautiful in your time away, and I see you have already made friends with our fearsome new general. What a time this is for you! It is also such a time for me! I must tell you-"
"Have you already told Emilia?" I interrupted.
"Several times," Emilia muttered pleasantly.
"Then, Roderigo, I am afraid I must excuse myself, the general has asked to meet my wife."
Roderigo"s face lit up. "Would he not perhaps also like to meet your oldest friend?"
I made myself take a breath before responding, as gently as I could. "I am sorry, Roderigo, this is not the time."
"Ah," Roderigo replied. Then, after an awkward pause, "Well, better that way, I"m sure I would make a fool of myself, the fellow scares me. He looks like a barbarian. Of course, he is a barbarian, but to see one, in a dance hall, here in Venice-I don"t need to meet him." A shorter pause, then: "Not likely he"d be buying spices from me anyhow, he probably eats raw meat."
"I seriously doubt that is the case," I a.s.sured him. "I have just spent an hour in his company and he seems civilized. Emilia, love, come with me. Good night, Roderigo."
"I may speak with you later!" he said, suddenly cheerful again.
As we worked our way back through the crowd, I gave Emilia a playfully questioning expression.
"He"s wealthier than ever now, he"s bought several farms on Terraferma, and there is a new young lady he"s in love with, who will not give him a moment of her time," she neatly summarized. "But there are also a least a dozen ladies fawning over him, whom he rejects."
"How long did he take, telling you?"
"Approximately half an hour. And what should I know about your new bosom friend?"
I was not sure how to answer that. "I believe I prefer his company to any man"s I"ve ever met," I said.
"Is that ambition speaking?" Emilia asked knowingly.
"No, it"s really not. But I am pleased ambition could be satisfied here. He wants to see a show of my skills tomorrow morning in the Armory."
I heard her gasp behind her mask. "Iago, that"s remarkable! Now aren"t you glad you listened to your wife and came out to socialize tonight?"
"This must be the lady. But how sad I cannot see your face." Oth.e.l.lo"s ba.s.s voice startled me; he had been moving slowly toward us as we had moved toward him. He was probably trying to avoid another mossy-brained patrician.
"It is an honor to meet you, sir," Emilia said at once, dropping into a curtsy. "If you wish to see my face, it shall be available tomorrow morning when my husband demonstrates his martial prowess to you."
Oth.e.l.lo blinked in surprise. "You will be there? Despite the violence and gunpowder?"
"To watch my husband"s excellence? Nothing would deter me."
He considered her for a moment, then a smile slowly spread across his broad, dark face. He glanced at me. "This is a superior wife you have selected. May I ask her name?"
"Emilia, sir," we both said at once.
THAT NIGHT WE lay together in bed, our warm naked limbs sliding across each other, sleepless with antic.i.p.ation for the next day"s demonstration. "This could make you entirely," Emilia whispered.
"Could. Might. Might not," I said tersely in reply. "I hope you will not be disappointed in me if he is not impressed by what I do."
"I could not be disappointed by you if your very arms fell off," she said, almost chastisingly. "I am not your father, Iago. And if he were here, I think he would be bursting with pride that you have such an extraordinary opportunity awaiting you."
I sat up in bed. "Let"s not talk about it any more. I cannot stand the tension of antic.i.p.ation. Let me take my mind off it now."
"Of course," she said. Reaching for me, she offered, "Let me put your mind somewhere else."
Chapter 14.
"YES, MY FRIEND, that was remarkable," Oth.e.l.lo repeated with his broad smile as he reached down a hand to help me rise.
We were in the da Cremona shooting yard, the very yard I"d learned to shoot in, and it was a bright, cloudless day. The third swordsman he had set against me had bested me, landing a smarting blow to my sallet that sent me hard to the paving stones. I deserved it-his attack was straight from Agrippa, and I had tried to counter with a move from Marozzo, just to preen. In my exhausted state, it hadn"t worked.
All the same, I"d disarmed the first two opponents he had set against me (although one was a Florentine, and therefore hardly counts), and this third man was the best under Oth.e.l.lo"s command. Plus, I had begun the dueling after half an hour of presenting my artillery skills: I had had to demonstrate how fast I could reload an arquebus and a light musket; how far I could shoot both, with relative accuracy; how swiftly I could load a cannon and how close on Oth.e.l.lo"s mark I could time it to go off. Oth.e.l.lo had looked delighted throughout the demonstration. He continued to look delighted as I bested the first two swordsmen. And he looked equally delighted now as I lay wincing, cramped with pain, breathless, on the ground.
I reached up my left hand to grasp his, and allowed the heft of his large arm to haul me to standing. Nearly retching, my lungs about to burst, I pulled my sallet off my head.
"You are an excellent soldier, my friend!" Oth.e.l.lo declared. "The one adjustment I would make to your style is to keep your dagger in your boot, as I do, and not in your belt. As you have just seen yourself, there are times it is better for your opponent not to know you have the extra blade. Otherwise, well done. Now we will try your wrestling skills."
I thought I might vomit. "General, sir, I-"
He laughed. "I am jesting with you. You have done enough for today. This is the best work I have ever seen in an ensign. Ensigns are usually no better than desk clerks. Captain," he went on, turning to one of the many officers who had been watching, and no doubt placing wagers on, my morning"s exertions. "See to it this young man is put into my unit, under my direct command. He will ship to Rhodes when we go next month."
Just like that, I was a made man. I flushed, lungs still heaving for air, and bowed deeply before Oth.e.l.lo. I arrested my impulse to smile, as I suspected I had just made several enemies among these men, who had no doubt worked for years with Oth.e.l.lo and would not like to see a newcomer effortlessly end up at his elbow. But Emilia, standing with the other spectators, could not hide her pleasure: she gasped, "Oh, Iago!" and clapped her hands together, her face beaming.
"You honor me, General," I said.
"You honor the art of war," Oth.e.l.lo said breezily. He turned to Emilia. "But, lady, I thought you were fonder of him, and would wail about his going."
I realized what he meant by this and felt my heart sink a little even in its celebration. For a moment, Emilia looked confused. Then she held up a finger almost pedantically and announced, "I shall be going with him, General."
"A fortress is no place for ladies," Oth.e.l.lo retorted.
"I and many other ladies just spent two years with our men in a fortress on Corfu," she retorted.
Oth.e.l.lo made a dismissive gesture. "That is Corfu. This is Rhodes. The fortress is in the hands of the enemy-we go to seize it, not caretake it."
"But, General-" Emilia began to argue, without rancor or whininess. Oth.e.l.lo held up a hand, suddenly sterner.
"I have said no," he announced. "And so, it is no. I brook no argument."
The officers surrounding him looked uncomfortable: Emilia"s face suggested she had no intention of backing down.
"Emilia," I said warningly, loving her spirit. "Enough. We will discuss this later."
"I have one specific thing to say to the general that I believe will change his mind," Emilia said, directing the statement to me so she could not be accused to talking back to Oth.e.l.lo.
"I will let him know that later, wife, at a more proper time," I said in the most scolding voice I could muster. "A courtyard in the a.r.s.enal is no time for wives to be pa.s.sing messages to generals."
"Oh, come, then, out with it," Oth.e.l.lo said, suddenly cheerful again. "The poor man has been exercised nearly to death, let his wife have her one specific say."
Emilia curtseyed in his direction. "If you please, General, it is not for public hearing, I must whisper it directly in your ear."
Oth.e.l.lo"s eyes popped wide open. The men around him exchanged disbelieving looks. Even I was taken aback. I had no idea what she would say to him.
As I watched, Oth.e.l.lo returned his face to a neutral expression and gestured Emilia toward him. The two officers in her way quickly stepped aside. Emilia was fairly tall for a woman, but still she had to stand on tiptoes, and Oth.e.l.lo had to lean his head down, for her to whisper in his ear. Every gaze in the courtyard was fastened to his face, and he knew it. So despite his initial amazement at whatever he was hearing, he was very careful to keep his face expressionless.
But he allowed himself to comment.
"Really? . . . Are you so certain of that? . . . Are you telling me the truth?" He pulled away and looked at her for a moment with this last query, absently fingering the kerchief tied around his neck. She nodded, and then gestured him to lean his head down again, and added something else.
"But can you prove it?" Oth.e.l.lo pressed her. She whispered more. He grinned a little, and then began to laugh. "You are quite the woman, Emilia, wife of Iago," he declared and stood up straight again. Emilia curtsied hurriedly and then backed away. "All right," the general said cheerfully, turning toward me. "She will come with us."
I was too startled to say anything. Half a dozen voices said, "My lord?" in exactly the same tone of surprise.
"That is my final word," Oth.e.l.lo declared, waving one hand dismissively. Turning his attention to the man beside him, he said, "Make sure that Iago is given a wider berth on the ship, and enough housing for his wife when we reach Rhodes."
"Thank you, milord," Emilia said adorably.
WE WERE BACK in our room at the Dolphin. It was the first fight we had ever had. She did not want to tell me what she"d said to him, and I could not imagine why she"d keep a secret from me unless there was something very wrong about it.