“I wish that we had tidings from London,” said the monk thoughtfully. “If Lombardy loses in this war the Emperor will not stop there. He has said that he will obey no Pope on earth, only Saint Peter and the others in heaven. He is neither to hold nor to bind, that man.”
“Henry does not want to fight—that is certain,” said Tomaso. “He desires only to keep for his children what he has already—Anjou, Normandy, Aquitaine; and most of all England. It would take a greater than the Conqueror to rob the Plantagenets of this kingdom.”
“What do you think will happen in Lombardy?” asked the other.
“The League of Lombard cities will fight to the death,” said Tomaso quietly. “The Communes are fighting for their lives, and cornered wolves are fierce. Neither Sicily nor France is on Frederick’s side, although they may be, if he wins. If he can get Henry the Lion of Saxony to fight under his banner, it may turn the scale.”
“And Henry the Lion married our Henry’s daughter Matilda,” said Brother Basil. Tomaso nodded.
“Without Saxony,” the Paduan added, “I know that not more than two thousand men will follow Barbarossa into Italy, and not more than half are mailed knights. The Lombard army is more or less light cavalry and infantry. Here in this cellar we have such weapons as no King has dreamed of—blazing leaping serpents, metal-devouring and poison-breathing spirits, pomegranates full of the seeds of destruction. These—in the hands of the Communes——”
“Would turn Christendom into the kingdom of Satan,” said Brother Basil as the physician paused. “If we were to give the secret to Henry’s clerks, or even if we ourselves handled the work in London Tower, how long would it be before treachery or thievery carried it overseas? Are we to spread ruin over the world?”
“I thought you would see it as I did,” said Tomaso smiling.
The ground vibrated to the tread of hoofs, and a horn sounded outside the window.
“That is Ranulph,” said Tomaso. “I thought he might come to-night. He will have news.”