Marina Fiorato

“It took Feyra some time to realise that she was not delirious: the citizens were wearing painted masks.From childhood she had heard the legend that the Venetians were half human, half beast.She knew that this could not be true, but in the swirling fog of this hellish city she almost believed it. The creatures seemed to stare at her down their warped noses from their blank and hollow eyes. And overlord of all was the winged lion - he was everywhere, watching from every plaque or pennant, ubiquitous and threatening.”

“- Jesmo li uludo protratili zadnje dvije godine? Zar nismo već tada mogli ukrstiti naše puteve?- Ne mislim da smo ih protratili. Naši su se putevi ukrstili onoga dana kad smo se sreli. Samo smo još neko vrijeme morali putovati sami. Tada te nisam mogla prihvatiti. Previše se toga moralo učiniti - za previše toga iskupiti.”

“His life was cheap to him. Perhaps that's why he rode faster than any other, perhaps that was why he had walked into the house of Aquila without the quickening of a heartbeat: because at the heart of his courage was the fact that he really did not care if he died. Such courage is not true courage. True courage is when a man quakes with fear in the face of death, yet still risks his life for something he cares about. Ricardo Bruni did not know this yet, but he was to learn it soon.”

“A world of words where the black characters printed on the parchment he held meant more to this monk than the people or places around him.”