Order Of Darkness - Fools' Gold Part 21

Luca shrugged. 'Since n.o.body cares who we are any more, I don't see why you shouldn't come with me.'

'I want to come with you,' she said.

'We'll all go,' he said, his mind on his father.

Tentatively, she reached out to him, but he had already turned away to call up the stairs for Freize. His back was turned to her, he did not even feel her touch when she gently kissed the fingers of her hand and pressed the kiss to the cuff of his sleeve.

The moment that the five of them stepped out of the house it was apparent that some fresh disaster had hit the city. People were gathered on street corners, their faces grave. Everyone was whispering as if there had been a death in the city. The gondoliers were not singing, the boats were busy on the ca.n.a.l, but there were no cries of people selling their goods. Everyone had laid aside their bright costumes, there was no spirit of carnival in the ruined city: Lent had come early to Venice this spring, early and cold.

'What now?' Luca demanded anxiously.

All five of them walked quickly to the Piazza San Marco and found that many of the merchants were a.s.sembled in the square already, and many of the foreign traders, their costumes bright, their slaves around them, were waiting on the quayside before the Doge's Palace. The balcony before the Doge's window was draped with flags and standards. 'Looks like he is going to speak to the people,' Brother Peter said. 'We'd better wait and hear what he is going to say.'

Freize and Luca put the two young women between them, anxious about the push and sway of the growing crowd. 'What d'you think is happening?' Isolde said quietly to Luca.

He shook his head.

'Will it be about the gold n.o.bles?'

'Surely not. Since the Doge has already set the price, what more is there to say?'

There was the bright shout of a trumpet fanfare and the Doge stepped out from the windows onto the balcony and raised his hand to acknowledge the crowd. Slowly, he took off his distinctive hat and bowed.

'He is a citizen of Venice just as they all are,' Brother Peter explained. 'It's a most extraordinary system. He's not a king or a lord, he is one of the citizens, they choose him for the post. So he shows that he is in their service. He goes bareheaded to them.'

In reply, the crowd took off their hats. Isolde and Ishraq made a little curtsey and stood still.

'I am sorry that I have bad news for us all,' the Doge said, his voice so loud and steady that even the men at the furthest edge of the crowd could hear him.

'As you know, the gold n.o.bles which were being made in this city, without our knowledge or consent, have failed us. The bleeding n.o.bles can be exchanged for three gold n.o.bles to a ducat. At no more than thirty n.o.bles per man a d a y.'

There was a little whisper that ran through the crowd, but most people had heard the proclamation yesterday, this was old bad news.

'I have today had a public complaint from the amba.s.sador of the Ottoman Empire,' the Doge went on. At once a complete silence fell on the square, someone at the back moaned and was still. The Ottoman Empire was the greatest power in the world. The uneasy peace between the Ottoman Empire and Venice was essential if the city were to survive. The Ottomans commanded the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. Their armies had occupied the lands to the east of Venice. If the Ottoman amba.s.sador was unhappy then the city was on the brink of terrible danger.

'It seems that the Christian countries that pay tribute to the Ottoman Empire have this year all paid their debt in gold n.o.bles,' the Doge said. 'Alas . . .' he paused. 'Alas,' he said again. There was a low groan from the crowd.

'Alas for us. The Ottomans believe that we have knowingly given them worthless dross. So they say that we have failed to pay them the proper tribute as agreed. They say that we agreed to pay in gold n.o.bles but we have sent them rust.'

There was a low gasp from every man in the crowd. Failure to pay tribute to the Ottomans would call down an immediate and powerful punishment on all the tribute states. It could cause a renewed war and thousands would die before the unstoppable Ottoman armies.

'Therefore the Council and I have decided that we will redeem the failed English n.o.bles from the Ottomans also, and that we will pay them the same as we pay to you: a third of a ducat for each n.o.ble. They will only get a small portion of tribute this year, and we hope that they will understand that this is all we can do.'

There was a moan like a breeze blowing through Piazza San Marco. Someone started crying in fear, and a man walked blankly away from the rear of the crowd, knowing that his homeland would be seized, his family taken into slavery, and his life destroyed, and that there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

'We are therefore raising a tax on every house in Venice, to help us meet these great debts,' the Doge said steadily. 'I, and every member of the Council, will pay, and will loan the city more gold from our own fortunes. I urge you all to pay in full, pay in gold, for the sake of our city and great republic. If you have to use your wife's jewellery then do so, if you have to take the gold leaf from your furniture then do so, if you have to cut off the handles from your gold gates then do so. I shall take my wife's jewellery, my mother's jewellery. I shall take the gold leaf from my throne. I shall take the gold handles from my doors and sell the masterpieces from my walls. We must all surrender our most beloved treasures. This is our time of need; you must answer. G.o.d bless you and G.o.d save Venice.'

'Amen,' the crowd said with one low voice, and the Doge turned on his heel and went bareheaded, back inside the palace.

Isolde turned to Luca, and saw that he was white with shock.

'Come,' Brother Peter said shortly, and led the way back to the palazzo.

'I must go to the Rialto and see Father Pietro . . .' Luca protested.

'No! We have to do something first.'

'Brother Peter?'

'Come!'

'What?' Ishraq trotted beside him, trying to keep up with his long strides. 'What's so important?'

'Milord gave me some orders that I was to open the moment that I learned that the territories were going to default on their tribute.'

'He knew this was going to happen?' Ishraq suddenly stopped. 'Milord knew that the territories would use bad coin?'

'He can't have known that,' Brother Peter strode on, unhesitating. 'How could anyone know that? But he was prepared for it. He was prepared for anything on this mission. In the event of there being a default he gave me some orders to open. We have to open them now.'

Isolde and Luca were half running to keep up with Brother Peter's great strides. Luca caught at Isolde's hand, and kept pace with him. Freize came swiftly behind them.

'How does he know such things?' Freize demanded of himself. 'Those sealed orders? How does he write them ahead of time. Just to torment me?'

Brother Peter pushed through the crowd and paced ahead of them to get to the side entrance and enter the palazzo.

He went without hesitating, upstairs to his bedroom and brought the sealed orders out to the rest of them in the dining room. Luca pulled out chairs for Isolde and Ishraq and then seated himself at the head of the table. Freize dropped onto a stool near to the door. 'The sealed orders,' he said irritably. 'Always. Out they come. Always bad news.'

Brother Peter took no notice of anyone. He broke the seal and spread the paper on the table. He frowned and pushed it over to Luca. 'You read,' he said. 'You can translate the code much quicker than I.'

Luca took the paper, scowled for a moment, and then read aloud.

'In the event of the territories failing to pay tribute to the Ottoman overlords, you are to take this note to the Hungarian amba.s.sador, show him the seal, and authorise them to buy the false coins with the gold that they have in store. You are to take this note to the Comarino family and authorise them to use their private gold store to buy the false coins. You yourself are to use whatever coins and whatever gold you have to buy the English n.o.bles at the lowest price you can pay for them. You will not sell any English gold n.o.bles that you have. If the ship comes in after you have read these orders, you will use all the cargo to buy the devalued English gold n.o.bles at the lowest price possible.'

Luca stopped reading and put down the paper. 'Has he gone mad?'

'But everyone else is selling gold n.o.bles, for far less than their value,' Isolde said. 'Everyone is selling: not buying.'

'They have no value,' Ishraq pointed out.

'What do we do?' Luca asked.

'As he orders,' Brother Peter said wearily. He rose up from the table and held out his hand for the letter for the Hungarian amba.s.sador and for the Comarino bank. 'Shall I take these? And you buy the n.o.bles with our remaining gold? And go to a bank and promise them that we will take their n.o.bles in exchange for the cargo, when the ship comes in?'

'But why?' Ishraq asked. 'Why would Milord want us to spend good money on bad?'

Brother Peter's face was as dark as when he had confessed his pretended shame. 'I don't know,' he said. 'I don't need to know. I am to obey Milord's commands and do the work of G.o.d though it leads me into the deepest sin. I have to trust him. I have to trust his judgement. I have to obey his orders.' He glanced up. 'Will you come with me, Freize?'

'Of course,' Freize said with his quick sympathy. He glanced at Luca. 'If I may?'

'Go,' Luca said absently. 'I'll go through the treasure chest and take what gold we have left to the money changers. There's not much, but they'll be glad to take it in return for the worthless n.o.bles, I don't doubt.'

'But why?' Ishraq demanded. 'Why would Milord want you to buy the bleeding n.o.bles? When everyone knows they are no good?'

'I don't ask why,' Brother Peter answered her.

'We'll help,' Isolde spoke for her and Ishraq.

'But I do! I ask why!' Ishraq exclaimed.

'I'll send the gondola back for you,' Brother Peter said heavily, and they heard him and Freize go down the stairs together to the watergate and call for Giuseppe.

Luca went into his bedroom and drew a great wooden chest out from beneath his bed. The girls followed him and watched as he opened the lid.

'You have a small fortune here,' Ishraq whispered as she saw the gold n.o.bles in the little purses.

'I had a small fortune,' he corrected her. 'Now it is almost worthless.'

He moved the purses of the gold n.o.bles and found beneath them a single gold bar and three gold rings.

'I'll buy your bleeding n.o.bles from you,' Luca offered. 'If you will take the low price that Venice has set. At least I can take them off your hands.'

'No,' Ishraq said, forestalling Isolde, who was eager to accept. She turned to her friend. 'It was my mistake to try to make money on this market, but if we sell the n.o.bles at this rate then we have lost your mother's rubies forever. Let's hold on to them, bad as they are, and see what happens. Luca's lord must be planning something. He must have some reason to want to buy n.o.bles.'

'Nothing can happen!' Isolde said irritably. 'You traded my mother's jewels for fools' gold. We have to pay the price.'

'But Milord is doing something else,' Ishraq said cautiously. 'He's buying false coins.'

'But you don't know what for? You don't know why?'

'I don't,' Ishraq said. 'But I know he's no fool. I'll keep our English n.o.bles until he sells his.'

'When we could have gold instead?' Isolde said regretfully, gesturing to Luca's handful of gold rings.

'If you won't take this then I have to go to the Rialto and buy dross,' Luca said. 'I wish we could write to Milord to make sure it is what he wants. I wish we knew what he plans. For this is madness: throwing good money after bad.'

When the gondola came back for Luca and the two young women, they were ready to go to the Rialto, with their gold and silver coins in their purses and pockets, and the rings on their fingers. The bridge was busy again the news that the exchange rate for the gold n.o.bles had been fixed by the Doge himself had made people confident enough to open their shops. Only the money changers were still missing, and where Israel had sat there was an obscene scrawl on his board and, in spiky thick letters, the word: Arrestare Luca went at once to the mooring post at the foot of the bridge and started forwards when he saw the priest, bending over his little writing table.'Father Pietro!'

Slowly, the old priest turned to look at the young man and, at the sorrow in his lined face, Luca did not need to ask more.

'The n.o.bles failed,' the priest said quietly. 'Bayeed is not in Trieste; he came to Venice yesterday for repairs to his ship and moored near to the a.r.s.enale. My messenger found him there. So he knew all about the failure of the coins as soon as we did. The n.o.bles bled when he tipped them out of the purse, and then he heard the Doge announce that the whole Ottoman Empire believes that it has been cheated. He thinks that Venice tried to cheat his empire, and that you tried to cheat him. He called me a cheat also. I am sorry, my son.'

'He is here?' Luca could hardly believe that his father was in the same city, just one mile away, in the dockyard where the galleys were built. 'Then I can go to him. I have some gold, I can promise more . . . I can explain!'

Father Pietro nodded. 'We will try again, in a month or so. When Bayeed's anger has abated.'

'But he cannot be angry with us . . . we have all been cheated!'

Father Pietro shook his head, tears filling his eyes, turning his head away from Luca.

'What is it?' asked Ishraq quietly, coming up behind Luca and sensing the older man's distress. 'What is it, Father?'

Blindly, he reached out to her and she took his hand on her shoulder, as if to support him 'Wait a moment,' she said to Luca, who was breathlessly impatient. 'Wait, let the Father speak.'

The old man raised his head. 'Forgive me. This has been a blow. This has been a terrible blow. Last year the Ottoman Empire took tribute and traded in pure gold and the best of coins. As they always do. Sometimes they take goods, of course, always they take young boys to serve in their armies. This is how it is. This is how the Christian lands suffer for their defeat by the infidel. This is how the Christian rulers pay for peace: they have to pay tribute in gold and in children. This is our suffering, this is our Stations of the Cross.' He paused.

'This year, before tribute time, they let it be known that they would take gold or the English n.o.bles. Then, as the English n.o.bles went up in value, they said they would only take the coins. Everyone works to pay the tribute, the whole country has to pay the tax to give to the Ottoman overlords. They took goods also, and the young men, but this year they only wanted the gold coins. They loved the gold coins, the English n.o.bles.'

'And what happened?' Luca asked, unable to contain himself any longer. 'When did they find out?'

'The coins bled,' the old man said simply. 'Bled like the wounds of Our Lord. Bled into the hands of the murderous infidel. And they swore that they had been cheated. They think they have been cheated by us. They think we gave them false coins on purpose, that we thought the coins would not break down and bleed until they had taken the tribute home and spread them throughout their country, destroying trust in every village market throughout their infidel empire. And so they are angry beyond anger and they are sending back the bleeding coins and demanding gold. Every country that has to pay tribute has to find the money all over again, and this time, send gold, only solid gold. It is a terrible burden. It is a terrible price to pay.'

He bowed his head and wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his gown. 'We cannot pay it,' he said simply. 'And so they will take the children. Our children. When we cannot pay the money they will take many, many children into slavery to serve as their soldiers. We will lose our children from their nurseries and their souls from salvation. G.o.d help us,' he whispered. 'G.o.d help us all. People will starve to death to get this tax together. Half of Greece will be ruined and hundreds, thousands, of innocent children will be taken from their mothers into slavery. All of the Christian lands conquered by the infidel will be crucified all over again.'

'And my father?' Luca breathed.

Father Pietro rubbed his face with his hands. 'He will remain enslaved,' he said shortly. 'Along with the half a dozen other men who expected their freedom today or tomorrow. Yours was not the only ransom we paid. Bayeed has sent back the false coins and will set sail tonight cursing us for cheats. He accuses us of double dealing, my reputation as an agent for enslaved men is destroyed. My years of service are made worthless. My name is shamed.'

He took a breath, trying to steady himself 'We will try again, my son, we will try again. We will find our courage, and I will rebuild my reputation and we will try again. But your father will not be free this month, nor the next.'

'But I sent the money.' Luca could hardly speak. 'I sent the money in good faith.'

'And Bayeed would have released your father in good faith. But you sent counterfeit coins, my son. You sent fools' gold, and Bayeed is no fool.'

Luca turned away like a man stunned, as Brother Peter and Freize came up to the little group. 'Give me the purse,' Brother Peter said shortly. 'There is a bank here that will give me counterfeit coins for Milord's gold or silver, they will take coppers whatever we have.'

Wordlessly, Luca held out the purse.

'You are buying the counterfeit coins?' the priest asked in utter amazement. 'The bleeding n.o.bles?'

Brother Peter hushed him, and nodded. 'I should not have spoken aloud. I beg you not to repeat it.'

'But why, my son?' Father Pietro said quietly, putting a hand on Brother Peter's arm as he took the purse from Luca and the girls pulled the rings off their fingers. 'Why would you buy false coins?'

'Because I am ordered to do so,' Brother Peter said shortly. 'G.o.d knows, I take no pleasure in it and it makes no sense to me.'

Father Pietro turned to Luca but the young man was silent, and stood as if he were dreaming. Ishraq and Isolde stood on either side of him, and when he did not move, took his arms and guided him, like a fever patient, back to the gondola. They helped him down the steps and waited with him in the boat until Brother Peter and Freize joined them.

'They will keep the coins at the bank for me until we are ready to leave this accursed city,' Brother Peter said. 'We will have sacks and sacks of dross to carry.' He turned to Freize. 'You'll have to buy us another donkey to carry nothing but rust.'

Dully, Luca shook his head. Isolde and Ishraq exchanged a worried glance behind his back. Giuseppe guided the gondola into the centre of the ca.n.a.l. 'Home?' he asked monosyllabically.

n.o.body replied until Freize said: 'Home,' and they all thought how cheerless the word seemed today.

'My father will never come home,' Luca said quietly.

'We'll try again,' Isolde a.s.sured him. 'We know where he is now, and we know how to get a message to Bayeed. We'll try again. And we know where your mother may be. We can try again, Luca. We can hope. We can save money and make them an offer. We can try again.'

He sighed wearily, as if he were tired of hoping, and then he rested his chin in his hands and stared across the water as if he wished he were somewhere else, and not in the most beautiful city in Christendom.