Legends of the Vengeance : The First Adventure (9781310742866) (25 page)

Hours later, Hector stood on deck, staring
out to sea. He didn’t turn when a shadow appeared next to him. “It
went well, I think.”

“Will they welcome you, or will they
tolerate you?”

“At first,” he admitted, “I think they might
have merely tolerated me. They do not seem inclined to harm, but
they have been attacked. They are suspicious—or were.”

“Were?” Nicolo’s voice sounded excited.

“By the time I left, I felt as if I had
formed tentative friendships with a few of the men, and the
governor said he would be thankful for any aid you offered in case
of pirate raids.”

“He knows that if you come to harm, we will
slaughter them…”

“I think that frightens him the most. Should
I get a strange fever here or killed by an animal or spider, no
matter how innocent, it will seem suspect.”

“That is my goal. They will fight to protect
you for that reason.” Nicolo turned, leaned against the railing,
and crossed his arms. “Without that kind of provision, if someone
sees where you have hidden your money, they will kill you for it,
or say something to someone else who will. I cannot leave you
unprotected.”

“You will visit often then?”

“For the first few years, yes. Once you’ve
made good friendships and the settlement has grown—you are an
essential part of this place—then I will come less often, until I
hear you have died. I will go to the governor and tell him I want
everyone in their homes for twelve hours or I will ransack and
destroy every inch of it. During that time, I will take your money
and leave.”

“How will—”

Malo, one of the large African rowers,
stepped close and interrupted. “I would like to stay. I would like
to be Senor Hector’s overseer. I want off the boats, and I can
protect him.”

“Are you certain, Malo? You might not be
treated well by some…”

“I would,” Hector hastened to add, eager to
have the burly man as his own personal bodyguard. “I would pay you
well and give you a place in my house or build you your own. If you
want to stay, you will want for nothing as long as it is in my
power to provide it.”

Though he couldn’t see the captain’s
expression, he could feel Nicolo’s gaze on both of them. If Malo
came, everything would be perfect—someone to trust immediately and
someone to protect him. He would have thought it predetermined
except for the genuine surprise in Nicolo’s voice at the
suggestion.

After what seemed an ominously long time,
Nicolo shifted. “We will arrange it. I am sorry to lose you, Malo,
but you have served my family well. I can trust you. I hope your
life here is all that you could wish.”

Exploring

“Sebastian, I have an assignment for
you—something I believe you will enjoy.”

“What is it, Papa?” Sebastian hardly turned
his head from his drawing, working hard to capture the outline of
the castle being erected near the shores of Cartagena.

“I think your new skills might be very
beneficial for this one. The governor is coming to draw up the
contract for purchase of property for Hector.”

The news didn’t surprise him. His father
would never do something so important in an unfamiliar and
vulnerable place. However, something in his father’s tone caught
his attention. “Why do you sound so excited?”

“I want you to explore as much of Cartagena
as you can while the governor is aboard. You will be safe then
because we have their governor, but you will be seen as a child if
you play your part well.”

“What am I looking for, Papa?”

“A safe place to bury Hector’s money. You
must remember exactly where you go and what you find. You must try
to appear younger than you are—just a boy bent
on
having fun
. You will go with Jaime and make a scene of
running off when he isn’t looking.”

A grin spread across his face before
Sebastian could prevent it. “Years of chafing against rules will
pay off in a good performance this time.”

“Do not get any ideas about how it would be
good for you to ignore my orders,” Nicolo teased.

He stood and dusted off his hands. “When do
I go?”

“The moment the Governor’s boat arrives, you
will leave with Jaime.”

Before Sebastian could answer, Jaime knocked
on the door. “He’s almost here. We should go.”

“If you at any moment feel unsafe, run. Swim
back to the ship.”

“Yes, Papa.”

They waited at the railing for the governor
to climb aboard and then scurried down the rope on the other side.
The smallest boat waited for them—a two man dingy that slid through
the water with ease. They tethered it to a large post driven into
the ground and strolled up the beach.

“What kind of place do I need to find? What
makes a good hiding place? Papa didn’t have time to tell me.”

“You need some place inland. If you don’t, a
storm that creates unusually high tides might reveal it. Rocks are
good; look for places people will avoid.”

“In other words, I’ll have to be brave.”

“Definitely.”

Sebastian glanced around him. “Do you know
where the property is that Hector hopes to have?” As Jaime pointed
to the right, Sebastian nodded. “I’ll go left then. If anyone
expects him to hide his money on his land, he will not find it.
And, none of his laborers will accidentally unearth it.”

They wandered into town, Jaime pointing out
the small market stalls and the church. Once they had a good
audience, he stopped to admire a lizard, and Sebastian made his
escape. Several men laughed, one tried to grab Sebastian’s arm, but
he shrugged the man off and called back, “I’ll be back later,
Jaime.”

He didn’t see as many children as he’d first
expected. Though disappointed, it made sense. Soldiers and sailors
made up the bulk of the population. Women were scarce and
well-guarded it seemed. Perhaps women did not like life in the new
world. He walked for hours in the hot, sticky air, looking for the
kinds of places that would best protect the great quantity of money
they must have, but little interested him. The man needed something
protected but accessible. Hector would need a good reason to go to
the place—wherever it was—to retrieve money when he needed it. In
an odd or unusual place, people might become suspicious.

He grew too hot and very thirsty. Defeated,
Sebastian returned to find Jaime seated beneath a canopy and
sipping fruity drinks with some of the local sailors. “Where can I
get water?” he choked out, his mouth dry and cottony.

“Here,” Jaime said as he passed the cup.
“Try this. It is very refreshing.”

Before he realized it, he had drained it of
every drop. “Sorry. I was thirstier than I knew.”

“Let’s take a walk. Perhaps we’ll see the
boat returning.”

They strolled through the little town,
speaking low and nodding as they passed a local. “Did you find
something?”

“I didn’t. If it looked safe enough, there
was no reason for him to go there. People would be
suspicious. If the place looked reasonable for someone to
visit, it seemed too vulnerable to—” Excitement welled in him,
cutting off the rest of his words. He swallowed the temptation to
cry out—to point.

“What is it?” Jaime hissed.

“The church. We can bury it in the graveyard
behind the church. No one will expect it, and he will have to go
there regularly. It makes sense.”

“I doubt that Hector will be a faithful
worshiper.”

This was surprising news to Sebastian. “But
will that not be suspicious? He has already been brought before the
Inquisition. If he shows himself antagonistic…”

“You are beginning to think like your
father, Sebastian. Nicolo will be proud.”

~~~~~~~~~~

It took weeks for a temporary shelter to be
erected for Malo and Hector, but with the labor of native slaves,
it went faster than anyone but Sebastian had expected. The young
lad grew impatient to be away again, much to his own chagrin. He
watched the progress, begging to help at times, and worked to help
find a way to bury Hector’s gold and silver.

At last, Nicolo decided on a plan—foolproof.
Jaime was dispatched to bring Hector and Malo to the house although
it was not yet finished. News spread through Cartagena—a death on
The Vengeance.
Fever.

“Papa, do you think it will work?”

“It must. They will allow us to bury a
Christian man such as Giorgio. We will ask that they stay back
until we have him buried. We will put slabs of stone over the grave
to keep the fever from spreading. It will work.”

Sebastian wasn’t sure. “But when he needs to
get his money…”

“He’ll keep a good quantity of it with him.
They will think it is all he has. If he must dig into his stores,
he’ll make it look like someone is robbing other graves too. It
will work. Malo will protect him. If they must, they’ll move the
money.”

“I suppose…”

Doubt remained in Sebastian’s mind, even as
six men rowed the casket to the shore and carried it to the
graveyard. Once buried, he knew the priest would come say a prayer
over a sailor who died without final communion—without the blessing
of the priest. What would that be like? Prayers for a dead man. How
could that help? Then again, it might be comforting—if Giorgio had
really been dead. How many times had they lost a man to sea or
battle and only Jaime in his cabin with his beads and prayers had
taken the time to ask God to preserve the sailor’s soul.

“We leave soon, Sebastian,” Jaime said as he
joined the row of men on deck. “Are you ready to get out to sea, or
do you still want to take up life on land?”

“I want to leave here. I don’t like it.
Something about this place makes me uneasy. I’ve never wanted to
leave any place as much as I do here.”

“We sail on Friday It will take that much
time to have food sent over. Your papa has purchased animals, wine,
everything we could need. It will be a long voyage.”

“We’re not going back, are we?”

“No, but we have to learn this place. We’ll
be at sea for a long time, finding ships to keep us fed and happy.
But
The Vengeance
will return here every couple of months
for a year or two.”

“Will you tell a story tonight?”

Jaime nodded. “I think it’s time. Hector is
gone, and the men need a distraction. You’ll have to play your
flute as well—perhaps after you finish eating, while I am getting
ready.”

Sebastian stood at the railing long after
the others had lost their interest in the proceedings. He gazed out
over the trees, the shore, the little houses and the larger castle
being built to fortify the city against another attack. The
settlement offered everything he’d ever dreamed of in a place to
live, but he wanted nothing more than to be gone.

Darkness fell as the men rowed back, but
still Sebastian stared out into the inky blackness. Little specks
of light shone on land, but the lad didn’t feel the warmth of
hominess that he expected. His imagination grew wild as he stared
back at the dots of light. They seemed as eyes, boring into his
soul—seeing all that he was and did not want to be. Those lights,
if they could, would float across the water and fill him, until
every bit of ugliness and darkness in him had been exposed.

He shook himself. Such thoughts were
dangerous things. They would haunt his dreams and make him even
more dissatisfied with his life. He must never allow anyone—not
anyone—to see the weak person hidden under his bravado. That would
be the one thing worse than living with such weakness. His father
would never respect him then. Never.

Long after the men were eating hungrily,
laughing and joking about the long and terrified faces of the
locals, Sebastian finally turned to gather his own plate. Seeing
Jaime nearly finished, he ran for his flute, playing it as he
returned. Food must wait until Jaime began his story.

The Legend: Part Seven

As he enjoyed his dinner, Sebastian closed
his eyes and savored the scents and sounds of the new world that
was now their home. The sea was the sea—everywhere they went—but it
had an exotic feel to it in this hot place. Though he found the
rocking of the boat to be familiar, he knew the water beneath him
was new. That clear, blue, beautiful Caribbean water. The joking,
laughing—it was the story of his life, just as Jaime told the story
of lives from nearly three hundred years earlier.

“Jaime?”

His friend stopped mid-sentence and turned
to him, curiosity in the young man’s voice. “Did I skip
something?”

Sebastian shook his head. “No. I just
wondered. Is the story true? Was there really a Joseph?”

“I have,” Jaime began, sounding exceedingly
cautious. It seemed odd, but Jaime’s next words were stranger.
“—tried to stick to the story as I know it, but the details are, of
course, my own making. I don’t know how de Gyll or Ingleby felt. I
only imagine.”

The realization that he had interrupted hit
Sebastian like an unexpected gust of wind. “Oh, I didn’t mean to
interrupt. I was just thinking—sorry.”

Jaime smiled at him and turned back to the
group. “As I was saying, the man was in pain—clutching his chest
and gasping for air.”

Word spread of the Statute. The family of
Joseph ben Saolomon had been spared the loss that came with revoked
debts that the moneylenders had expected to provide for their
families for decades. It took months, sometimes years, to learn the
fate of friends left behind, but none had fared as well as Joseph’s
children and grandchildren in Calais. His foresight secured the
futures of generations.

One by one, his grandchildren married. Their
businesses prospered in this place. Yes, they found more
competition amongst those in nearby places, but his shrewd mind and
business tactics kept his financial empire growing through the
years.