Order Of Darkness - Fools' Gold Part 7

'I will,' Luca promised, shaken with emotion. Freize saw that he hardly knew what he was saying. 'I will. I would want to be generous. I would want others to come home too. G.o.d knows, if I had my way, there would be no men and women in slavery and no fatherless children waiting for them.'

'G.o.d be with you then, my son.' The priest drew the sign of the cross in the air. 'And may He guide your way as you trade in gold and sell your cargo. For that is a very worldly business and you will need to guard yourself against criminals.'

'And no need to tell all of Venice our business,' Freize said quietly. 'The little farm then the great fortune now: my master doesn't like it talked about.'

'I don't gossip,' the priest said gently. 'My trade is in information about poor lambs lost from the flock. My work depends upon my discretion.'

'Fair enough,' Freize nodded and turned to follow Luca. 'Much gold around here, is there?' Freize asked nonchalantly.

'I have never seen so many English gold n.o.bles in my life before,' the priest said. 'Truly G.o.d is good. For the Ottomans are demanding to be paid in gold n.o.bles and many people have given me gold n.o.bles for my work, and their price rises every day so I can buy more souls with the lucky coins. I have traded all my savings into the gold n.o.bles so that I can do my work, praise Him.'

Back at the house Ishraq dashed in the side door to the street just as the gondola carrying Freize and Luca nosed into the watergate that opened into the front of the house. She ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time, to the girls' floor as the men were walking together up from the water level to the main floor. She bundled capes and breeches and st.u.r.dy shoes under her bed, and showed Isolde the purse of gold coins.

'How much did you get for the rubies?' Isolde asked quickly in a whisper.

'Ten and a half gold n.o.bles,' Ishraq replied. 'It was the best I could do.'

Isolde gulped at the thought of speculating with her mother's jewels. 'I hope they gain value,' she said nervously. 'They were my mother's greatest treasure.'

'Me too,' said Ishraq. 'But everyone says that the n.o.bles will be worth more, even tomorrow. People are gambling on good prices tomorrow even now, as the market is closing. We could sell them at a profit tomorrow, and get the rubies back.'

Isolde crossed her fingers and tapped them against Ishraq's forehead in an old silly game from their childhood.

'Lucky luck,' Ishraq replied. 'You go on down to him, I'll put this purse under the mattress.'

As Isolde entered the room Luca's face lit up and he took her hands, as he told her that he thought he might be able to ransom his parents. 'This is wonderful news,' she said. 'This is the greatest thing that could happen for you.'

For a moment they stood hand-clasped, and he realised that he had been hurrying home just so that he could tell her this news, that as soon as he had heard it, he had wanted her to know too.

'You understand,' he said wonderingly. 'You understand what this means to me.'

'Because I lost my father too,' she said gently. 'Only mine has gone from me forever, into death. So I do understand how you can long for him, how his absence has been a grief for all of your life. But if your father can return to you, if your mother can come home, what a miracle that would be!'

'I would leave the Church,' Luca said almost to himself. 'If they were to come home I would leave the Church to live with them at our farm once again. I would be so proud to be their son and work in their fields. I would want nothing more.'

'But your work the Order of Darkness? They say that you have a great talent for understanding, that you must go throughout the world and read the signs for the end of days. Brother Peter says it is your gift and your calling. He says you are the greatest inquirer he has ever seen at work, and he has travelled and advised many Inquirers.'

He smiled at the praise. 'Really? Did he say that?'

'Yes!' she smiled ruefully. 'When he was scolding me. He even told me that I must not distract you from doing G.o.d's work. That you have a calling, a vocation. He says you are exceptional.'

'Even so, I would go back to my father and mother if they were to be free and come home. Of course, I would complete my mission here, I would not leave anything undone. But if my parents were to come home I would never want to be parted from them again. I wouldn't want to be exceptional, I would want to be an ordinary son.'

She nodded. Of all of them, Isolde understood homesickness. On the death of her father, her brother had cheated her out of her lands and the castle that was to have been hers. 'But you know, we can never really go back,' she said gently to him. 'Even if I raise an army from my G.o.dfather's son and defeat my brother and get my lands returned to me, even if I ride into my own castle gate and call it mine once more, it will never be the same. Nothing can ever be as it was. My father would still be dead. My brother would still have betrayed me. I would still be alone in the world but for Ishraq. I would still have known grief in the loss of my father and anger in the betrayal of my brother. My heart would still be a little hardened. I would not be the same, even if the castle still stood.'

'I know,' he said. 'You're right. But if my parents could return home, or if you could live where you belong, then, in our own ways, in our own places, we could make new lives for ourselves. New lives in the old places. New lives where we truly belong. We could start again, from where we began.'

She understood at once that their lives would take them in very different directions. 'Oh Luca, if I were to win Lucretili back, I would live very far from your farm.'

'And I would be such a small farmer, I could never even speak to such a grand person as the Lady of Lucretili. You would ride past my farmhouse and not even look at me. I would be a dirty farmer's boy behind an ox and a plough and you would be on a great horse, riding by.'

Without exchanging another word they both thought yes, whatever is ahead of us, we can never make a new life together and quietly, they released their clasped hands.

'We can't neglect our mission.' Brother Peter came into the room and saw them turning away from each other. 'That's the main thing. That's the only thing. I am glad that you have traced your father, Luca. But we must remember that we have work to do. We have a calling. Nothing matters more than tracing the signs of the end of the world.'

'No, I won't forget what I have come here to do,' Luca promised. 'But since Milord commanded us to trade and even gamble, this is a chance for me. I need to earn some gold on my own account. I will need a small fortune to ransom both my parents.'

'You might get it by trading,' Ishraq remarked, coming into the room. Isolde shot one guilty look at her. 'If you were to buy English n.o.bles now, everyone says they will be worth twice what you pay for them, by only next month. This is a way to make money which is like magic. You buy now, and you sell in a month's time and someone gives you twice what you paid.'

'But how?' Isolde asked nervously, directing the question to Luca. 'I see that it happens, I see that half of Venice is counting on it happening every day a little profit is added. But how does it happen?'

'Because everyone wants the English n.o.bles, and they think that there are more buyers than coins to be bought,' Luca said. 'It is like a dream. Everyone buys expecting to make a profit and so the value goes up and up. It could be anything that they are running after. It could be n.o.bles or sh.e.l.ls, or diamonds or even houses. Anything that can be exchanged for money so that its value can be seen to increase. If more people want it, they outbid each other, and the price rises.'

'But one day it will burst like an over-full bladder,' Ishraq predicted. 'The trick is to make sure that you have sold before that day arrives.'

'And how do you know when that day comes?' Luca asked her, and was surprised to see the anxious look that pa.s.sed between the two young women.

'Why, I was hoping you would know,' Isolde confessed. 'We have bought some n.o.bles.'

'You have?' Luca laughed. 'You are speculators?'

The girls nodded, wide-eyed as if they had frightened themselves.

'How much?' Luca asked, sobering as he saw how serious they were.

'Ten and a half n.o.bles,' Isolde confessed.

He made a soundless whistle. 'How did you get them?'

'I sold my mother's rubies,' Isolde confessed. 'Now of course I am afraid that I will never be able to buy them back.'

'Will you tell us when you think we should sell?' Ishraq asked him.

He nodded. 'Of course, I'll do my best. And we'll be in the market every day, watching the prices.''

'And they are gold, solid gold we tested them,' Ishraq reminded him. 'Whatever happens they can't fall below the value of gold.'

'Perhaps Luca will win his fortune?' Brother Peter said, turning to them with a letter in his hand, deaf to their conversation. 'Luca, you have been invited actually, we have all been invited to an evening's gambling, in a neighbouring palace, the day after tomorrow. A letter of invitation came while you were out. Our name seems to have got about already, and the lies we have told to pa.s.s as a wealthy family. There was an invitation to a banquet also.'

The two girls looked up.

'Shall we go?' Luca asked.

'I think we have to,' Brother Peter said heavily. 'We have to mix with people who have these gold n.o.bles to discover where they come from and how much English gold is circulating. Milord himself said that we would have to gamble to maintain the appearance of being a wealthy worldly family. I shall pray before we go out and when we come back. I shall pray that the Lord will keep me from temptation.'

'For any woman is certain to fling herself at him,' whispered Ishraq to Isolde, prompting a smile.

'And shall we come?' Isolde asked. 'Since I am to play the part of your sister?'

'You are invited to visit with the ladies of the house.' Brother Peter handed over a letter addressed to Signorina Vero.

'They think I have your name!' Isolde exclaimed to Luca and then suddenly flushed.

'Of course they do,' Brother Peter said wearily. 'We are all using Luca's name. They think I am called Peter Vero, his older brother.'

'It just sounds so odd! As if we were married,' Isolde said, red to her ears.

'It sounds as if you are his sister,' Brother Peter said coldly. 'As we agreed that you should pretend to be. Will you visit the ladies while we go gambling? Ishraq should accompany you as your servant and companion.'

'Yes,' Isolde said. 'Though gambling and a banquet sound like much more fun than visiting with ladies.'

'We are not going to have fun,' Brother Peter said severely. 'We are going to trace false gold and to do this we will have to enter into the very heart of sin.'

'Yes indeed,' Isolde agreed but did not dare look at Ishraq whose shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter. 'And we will do our part. We can listen for any news of gold while we are talking to the ladies, we can ask them what their husbands are paying for the gold n.o.bles on the Rialto and where they are getting them.'

Next morning, Freize, Luca and Brother Peter went again to the Rialto Bridge to see the money changers. 'How will we know how much gold they keep by them?' Brother Peter asked anxiously, as the gondola wove its way through the many ships. 'We need to demand enough to make them go to their suppliers, so that we can see where they go. But how shall we know how much to ask for?'

'I saw only one chest behind the Jewish money changer, when we went before, I don't think he carries many coins into the square. But I don't know what he might keep at home,' Freize said.

'Brother Peter has shown me the manifest for the cargo that Milord has given us,' Luca volunteered. 'It's due to come in from Russia next week. We'll get a quarter of the cargo of a full-sized ship. We are talking about a fortune.'

Freize whistled. 'Milord has this to give away? What's the ship carrying?'

'Amber, furs, ivory.'

'How is Milord so wealthy?' Freize asked. 'Is he not sworn to poverty like the brothers in our abbey?'

Brother Peter frowned. 'His business is his own concern, Freize; nothing to do with you. But of course, he has the wealth of the Holy Church behind him.'

'As you say.' Luca adjusted his view of his mysterious master yet again. 'I knew he had great power. I didn't know he could command great wealth too.'

'They are one and the same,' Brother Peter said dolefully. 'Both the doorway to sin.'

'Indeed,' Freize said cheerfully. 'And clearly, none of my business, dealing as I do with petty power and small change.'

'We'll say that we want to trade the cargo for gold, as soon as the ship comes in,' Luca decided. 'We'll ask them if they keep enough gold in store. I'll show them the manifest if I need to. We'll have to match our words to what seems most likely and make it up as we go along.'

Brother Peter shook his head. 'I am lying every time I draw breath in this city,' he said unhappily.

'Me too,' Freize said without any sign of discomfort. 'Terrible.'

The gondolier drew the craft up to the water steps and held the boat alongside the quay. 'Shall I wait?'

'Yes,' Luca said as he stepped ash.o.r.e.

'The ladies will not need the gondola?'

'The ladies will not go out,' Brother Peter ruled. 'They could only go to church in our absence, and they can walk to San Marco.'

The gondolier bowed in obedience, as the men went up the quay steps to the busy square. Freize looked around at once for the pretty girl who gambled with the cups and ball. She was kneeling before the game, a square of pavement sprinkled with white sand, the three cups tipped upside down before her. Her taciturn father was standing nearby, as always.

'I'll just be a moment,' Freize excused himself to Luca and Brother Peter, and went over to her. 'Good morning, Jacinta,' he said and was rewarded by a bright smile. 'Good morning, Drago Nacari,' he said to her father. 'Are you busy today?'

'Busy as always,' she said, smoothing the sand and setting out the cups. Freize watched as she put the cloudy marble under one cup and then swopped them round and round, swirling them quickly until they came to rest. He watched for a few times and then he could resist temptation no longer.

'That one,' Freize said with certainty. 'That one, I would put my life on it.'

'Just put your pennies on it,' she said with a quick upwards flash of her brown eyes. 'I don't want your life.'

'It's the right-hand one,' Luca said quietly beside him. 'I was watching. I am certain.'

'Whatever you think,' the girl said. 'Why don't you both bet?'

Luca put down a handful of small coins on the right-hand cup but Freize put down all the contents of his purse on the centre cup.

She laughed as if a customer's winning gave her real pleasure, and she said to Freize: 'Your friend has quicker eyes than you! He is right.' She scooped up all the money before the central cup that Freize, and most of the crowd, had chosen, and to Luca she counted up his piccoli and handed him a quarter English n.o.ble. 'Your winnings,' she said. 'You get your stake back three times over.'

'It's a good game to win,' he said, taken aback to have one of the English coins pa.s.sed into his hand as if it were ordinary currency.

She misunderstood his hesitation. 'That's a quarter English n.o.ble. It's as good as a half ducat,' she said. 'It's a good coin.'

'I hope you're not questioning the gold coins?' someone asked from the crowd.

'Not at all. I'm just surprised by my good fortune,' Luca said.

'It's a rare game to win,' Freize grumbled. 'But a clever game, and a pleasure to watch you, Jacinta.'

'Have you come to see Father Pietro again?' she asked. 'For he doesn't come till the afternoon.'

'No, my master here is a trader. He is arranging to sell a great cargo that will come in any day now,' Freize said glibly. 'Silks. Wouldn't you love a silk dress, Jacinta? Or ribbons for your shiny brown hair?'

She smiled. 'Oh very much! Shall you gamble them on my cups and ball? A dress for me if you lose three times over?'

Freize grinned at her. 'No I shall not! You would get a wardrobe full of dresses, I am sure, a ship full!'

She laughed. 'It's just luck.'

'It's a very great skill,' Luca told her. He lowered his voice: 'But I will tell you a secret.'

She leaned forwards to listen.

'I did not see that the marble was under the right-hand cup your hands move too swiftly for me to see. I should think you are too quick for almost anyone. But I guessed that it would be the right-hand cup.'

Her eyes narrowed, she looked at him. 'A lucky guess?

'No. A guess based on what I could see.'

'And what did you see?'