Chapter One
The Republic of Venice
October, the Year of Our Lord 1192
The Englishman pulled his hood down about his face, partly to shield his features, but mostly to block the raw rank wind, blowing off the lagoon. This Venice had nothing of the serene abode of Doges and merchant princes. In the early-falling dusk, the mist rose specter-like from the lagoon and canals, and swallowed entire piazze in the blink of an eye. It crept into every last nook and alleyway transforming La Serenissima into something otherworldly and sinister.
He watched briefly as the fog consumed the ships and dockyards of the Isola Gemini, then turned away from the lagoon, and hurried to his destination before the city was completely shrouded. He ducked behind the bake shop, and scarcely slowing his pace, examined the patch of wall he'd previously marked. A second chalk mark had joined his first. The rendezvous was set.
The tavern was mostly quiet. In a dimly lit corner a trio of harlots laughed at some bawdy quip. Scattered about the common room, a handful of sodden patrons hunched over their tankards, paying little heed to the hooded and cloaked foreigner in the doorway.
He gestured to the tavern keeper then made his way across the room to a nook in the shadow of the fireplace, where a small, ferret-faced man sat drinking.
The tavern keeper came with a tankard. "Will you pay now, Signore?"
"Sì, for myself and my friend here. And one for yourself," he added, sliding a handful of silver across the table, more than enough to cover the cost of their ales. "Now leave us. We have private matters to discuss."
The tavern-keeper palmed the coins. Gesturing to the room, he said, "These sots are well on their way to oblivion, and more than likely, the girls will soon retire. You will not be disturbed, Signore."
"See to it." He turned to his companion. ""What is your news?"
"You said you would pay."
"Your news first. If it is valuable, you will have your reward. I am a man of my word."
The smaller man considered this for a moment, then shrugged. He cast a quick glance over his shoulder then turned back to his companion. "Very well," he whispered and leaned in close as he continued,so no one else would hear.
The Englishman's eyes grew wide. "You are certain of this?" he asked.
"I saw it with my own eyes, Signore." "The ship, she struggled and strained, fighting tide and tempest. Her captain tried to bring her into the shelter of the river at Aquileia, but the sea was too fierce. She foundered on the rock. Praise be to God, only a handful of lives were lost."
"And how do you know it was his ship? It was reported lost months ago."
"It was a different ship. Did you not say, he would travel in the guise of an errant knight?"
The Englishman nodded. "Aye, a returning Crusader."
"The ship carried only a company of Templars, Signore. No trade goods. No pilgrims. Do you not think it odd that a ship's captain would brave the treacherous tides of November without thought to safety? No sailor worth his salt would undertake such a voyage, but for a princely fee." The man emptied his cup in one long draught. "A kingly fee, some might say. Another?" he asked raising his cup.
"Finish your story first."
The man grinned. "I saw him."
The Englishman was clearly taken aback.
"You were not expecting that, were you, Signore? But sì, by our blessed Lady herself, I saw him with my own eyes. I knew him at once. Tall, with red-gold hair and beard. He wore a Templar's humble surcote, but if he's a Templar, then I'm the Doge. Even half-drowned and bedraggled, he bore himself as a king."
The Englishman cursed under his breath. Could the man not even make an attempt to blend in? "So, where is he now?"
"Lodging, I imagine, in the guest rooms of the basilica, awaiting a new ship."
The Englishman rubbed at his chin and shook his head. "Why?"
The informant frowned in confusion. "To continue his journey home, of course."
"From Aquileia? Think upon it. Surely, there are more direct routes from the Holy Land to England?
"Then why was he there?"
"That's what you must find out." He stood, fished a gold ducat out of his pouch, and slid it across the table. The smaller man reached forward, but the Englishman kept his hand on the coin. "Have your drink, but just one, do you hear? Return to Aquileia. Ride hard. He will not tarry long on the coast. Follow him. I will make for the mountains. God willing, I'll reach him before his enemies know his whereabouts. Send news back to me when you can."
"How shall I reach you?"
"Send word along the trade routes. The merchants know me. Say you have news for Hugh Walker the wool trader."
Walker shoved open the stable doors with a clatter. "Benjamin! Rouse yourself, lad!" His unexpected return was met with a sharp cry and muffled whisper.
"Benjamin!"
"Anon, Master Hugh!" the apprentice replied, swinging down from the hayloft. He stood before his master, straightening his tunic, and brushing bits of straw from his hair. "You bellowed, sir?"
Hugh fought a grin. "Benjamin, rid yourself of the maid you've no doubt dishonored, and prepare our five best horses. We ride within the hour."
"What of our wares?"
"I've left them in the care of Gerard, the Fleming. He will take our goods to Padua, and see that we get a fair price for it. We will meet up again ere he reaches Paris."
"Can you trust him?"
"I've known Gerard longer than I've known you. He is a good friend and an honest man. He will not betray my trust."
"Benzoino ..." A dark-eyed girl peered over the edge of the hayloft. "You return soon? I wait, sì?"
"Sorry, lass, t'were best you headed home. I have to leave."
"Perché, Nino?" she pleaded as she joined him.
Benjamin sighed. "È complicato, bella," he said, brushing a kiss across her knuckles. Mi dispiace."
Her slap caught him by surprise. He gave a chuckle as she stormed away.
Walker shook his head. "Another one, Ben?"
"What can I say? The lasses find me irresistible."
"Aye? Well, I hope you're practicing your swordplay. Those pretty blue eyes of yours won't aid you much when you find yourself in a dark alley, surrounded by a score of irate brothers and fathers."
"They'll have to catch me first, Master Hugh," he said, grinning mischievously, and added, "Besides..."
Walker quirked and eyebrow, waiting.
"... she were no maid." He ran off to saddle the horses.
Walker knew he would soon need to harness the lad's recklessness before it displaced his raw, natural-born talent and consumed all the discipline he had tried to impart. He would find a moment to speak with the boy, man-to-man, as it were, as soon as he returned.
He made his way across the fog-shrouded stable yard, to the lodging house. The sound of raised voices drifted to the street. He sighed, rubbed at his brow, and made his way above stairs. He paused with his hand on the latch.
"You're being a child! It is past time you gave up your silly dreams and focused on mastering the wifely arts."
"Keep your cursèd stitchery. I have no intention of being a wife!"
On the other side of the heavy wooden door, he could almost hear his eldest, Daniela, rolling her eyes. He could picture her pose, feet squarely planted on the floor, hands resting solidly on her hips, and a frown marring her lovely face. "Adele," he prayed quietly to his dead wife, "that's what you get for leaving me alone to raise two headstrong daughters." With a sigh of resignation, he pressed the latch.
The small room was in ruins. The bed hangings dangled askew. A prie-Dieu in the corner, had been toppled over. A stocking hung by a snag from one of the timbers. Gowns spilled out of an upended chest, and shoes, recent projectiles by all appearances, lay strewn about the space. In the middle of the floor lay a tangled nest of yarn and tattered bits of linen. "What happened here?" Hugh asked, "Did a band of rampaging Turks come a-pillaging?"
"Father, tell her!"
"Tell her what, Daniela?," Hugh asked gravely. "What is amis?"
"Tell Annie she can't be a knight!"
"I take it you've tried telling her already. By the wreckage of these lodgings, I'm assuming she didn't take it to well."
"Papa, don't mock me!"
"I'm not mocking you, my sweet. Annie is still very young. She's barely ten-and-six. She'll come to her senses when the right lad comes to court her."
"I will not, Papa! I care nothing for suitors. I want to be a knight."
"Papa, tell her. She could make a good marriage. I've seen how Dario the Glover eyes her when she passes his stall. There are at least a dozen other lads who might court her, were they not affeared that she'd fillet them with that silly sword you gave her. If only we were to go to Court," Daniela said, wistfully, "then she'd learn proper manners..."
"We are simple merchants, my dear. We have no business at court."
"But you know people, Papa. Could you not make inquiries?"
"I could, but not tonight. We must leave. Pack up your belongings, and, for the love of God, set this room aright. We leave in an hour.
"Where are we going, Papa?" Annie, the younger sister asked, glad of the reprieve.
"I've receive news of a profitable venture in Austria. We must leave at once."
"Are we traveling with you this time, Papa. I could help you. I'm a fast rider. You said so yourself. Plus, I'm good at figures, and skilled at languages."
"Aye, you're all that and more, my sweeting, but not this time, Annie. I must travel quickly, on roads that are treacherous, even for amazons as yourself."
"Master Hugh," Benjamin called from outside. "The horses are ready."
"Benjamin will take you stay with an old friend of mine near Foissy. You will be safe in her care. I'll join you there as soon as my business is done. A month, two at the most, and we shall be together once more."
"But, Papa..." Annie begged.
"And then mayhap, the fairs of Paris?"
This got both girls' attention, as he knew it would. He gently lifted Annie's face towards his own, and broke out is a wide grin. "Do not think to sway me with your doe-eyed entreaties. The matter is settled. You and your sister ready yourselves while I go below stairs and settle our accounts with the landlady. Benjamin will come up in a moment for your chests."
The girls were soon ready. They waited by their mounts, hooded, cloaked and booted for the long journey. A third horse waited tethered to a hitching post, while Benjamin stood a short distance behind with his own mount and a smaller pack horse.
Hugh stepped up quietly to the lad, and drew a folded and sealed square of parchment from beneath the folds of his cloak. "You will give this letter to the Prioress at Foissy. It concerns the girls and their futures should I fail to return."
"But Master Hugh -"
"Hush!" he hissed, drawing the boy into the shadows. "I would not have you worry my daughters. They know nothing of my true employment. I would that it remained so."
He shot a look at his girls. They had heard nothing. Daniela, sensing his gaze upon her, looked 'round, and smiled warmly. Daniela, tall and refined, with a calm beauty that would bring her a fine husband one day. He would interrogate her suitors himself, and if he could not, would entrust the task with some who would. Annie stood in stark contrast next to her sister, her quivering excitement barely contained. It was always thus. Even on this foggy, wintry night, even journeying into the unknown, the thrill of the adventure set Annie's features alight. His Annie, smaller than her sister, but quick and strong, with a fierce intelligence that burned in her eyes. Annie who, as a small girl, had stubbornly set it in her head that she should grow up to become a knight. He saw much of himself in her, to his great consternation. He would do all in his power to spare her the trials of a life such as his.
A quiet cough interrupted his musings. "Master Hugh?"
"Benjamin, I have every intention of returning as soon as this business is done. I am trusting you to see the girls to safety."
"You may trust me to see your girls and your message safely delivered to Foissy, Master Hugh. Do you go into danger?"
"I never court danger intentionally." He drew out a second letter. "And once you've brought the girls to Foissy, you will take this message to England. You will take it to the Earl and Countess of Langley. Their lands lay a half-day's easy ride from London. They will be your masters, and you will serve them as you have served me until I return."
"Aye, Master Hugh."
He took the reins from his apprentice, stepped in closer, and grabbed the lad's ear. "And see to it that you keep your honeyed words and lecherous paws to yourself, lad. I took you as my apprentice as a favor to your father when you knocked up the tanner's lass, but I'll send you back without a second thought should you do anything... anything at all to aggrieve my daughters. And if you do, you will live out your days as a mercer, selling bits of cloth and mending tunics in a backroom your father's shop, dodging the fathers, brothers and cuckolded husbands who would gladly geld you. Understood?"
"A..Aye, Master Hugh," Benjamin stammered.
"I'll hold you to your word, lad, as you may hold me to mine." At that he mounted and turned to his daughters. "Be well, girls! Safe journeys. We will meet again by Twelfth Night." He wheeled his horse around, and disappeared in the fog.
To be continued
So far we've met Arthur, Ben, Danielle, and Annie. In the next chapters, we get a little more exposition, and spend a little more time with Arthur, Ben, Annie, Danielle, and a few more familiar faces.
Please let me know what you think.