Prologue

     The captain of the Spanish ship Hija del Mar looked back over his ship from the foredeck, and raised a wrinkled hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead. It was one of the worst days to be at sea, glaring heat and little wind. There was breeze enough for a smaller ship, but not for a cargo ship the size of the Hija.

     She had been sailing for days, having left the Turkish port of Constantinople for their home port of Barcelona, Spain. The winds had been favorable for the most part, until they reached the tip of Italy and the Sicilian shores. Then, like some ancient god had bottled up the four winds, their ship slowed and stalled in the water.

     The captain looked past the ship, behind the crew and the wood of his boat, towards the churning waters in their wake. As he had noted, small ships could maneuver where his larger ship could not, and his cargo was valuable. Very valuable to any of the small ships that carried corsairs, pirates who sailed from the north shore of Africa and attacked ships from the more civilized European countries.

     The captain felt as if he was holding his breath, waiting for the breeze to pick up enough for him to forget about the potential theft of his merchandise, and guide himself and his crew to safer waters.

     Suddenly, a voice called from the crow’s nest, way up on the middle mast of his ship. “Captain,” the young voice cried out, “there’s a ship coming towards us, two-masted, narrow hull, I can’t make out the colors!”

     The captain cringed slightly, realizing that his concerns were soon to be a reality. He waited for the inevitable follow-up from the cabin-boy on lookout, praying to the gods of the sea that he was wrong. He wasn’t.

     “Captain,” the lookout called again, “she bears a black flag with a golden sun upon the center. And there’s a shape on the sun, it looks like a...” the lookout paused, looked back at the ship once more, then finished “... a feather. A black feather.”

     The captain let go of the breath he was holding, and raised his voice wearily “Prepare to defend yourselves! Everyone stand ready! We’re about to be boarded.” The Blackfeather was about to attack.

     Chapter 1

     One of the finest moments of preparing to attack a merchant ship, I thought to myself with a slight smile, was watching the silly sailors scurry and panic as we got nearer. Never ceases to amaze me, that they think they’re ready to handle us, even though we’ve been expecting them much more than they’ve been expecting us.

     Captain Hasan al-Maghrebi stood on the quarterdeck, his black and red robes flashing about his tall frame like a banner on a flagpole. He was watching with approval as we closed the gap between us and our prey, a fat Spanish ship that was twice our size and several times our weight. But with luck, and our usual flourish and style, much of that useless weight would be resting in our cargo hold instead of theirs. Our captain watched his eager crew with a blank expression, not feeling the need to give out the orders that we all knew so well. Which was just as well, I supposed, since no one on the crew but myself understood a word that he said, most of the crew speaking Italian and the captain speaking only Arabic.

     The one exception to this was myself, because I spoke both Arabic and Italian, as well as a few other languages more than the average sailor. When the captain felt the need to give an order, not very often, I had to translate it for the benefit of the rest of the crew. More often, when the captain spoke to me, it was some idle comment or dirty joke, and I had to sit there and act innocent while the crew waited for me to relay to them words of vital importance to our lives.

     I shifted the black leather “X” on my back as we moved closer to our prey. Inside the harness were four large knives, curved like cutlasses but not as large, that formed the four legs of a cross at the center. Two could be reach from the right hand, two from the left, one each above and below my shoulder. I reached over my right shoulder for the black-handled knife, and under my left elbow for the blue one. The two remaining knives, bottom right being red-handled and top left being green-handled, would stay in their sheathes until I needed a spare weapon during the upcoming fight.

     My usual position during fights was near the captain, ready to relay his orders in event of unforeseen emergencies. The other dozen members of the crew, some of which were surprisingly women, were lashing the sails into place and preparing their weapons with apparent glee. They weren’t necessarily a bloodthirsty lot of people, except for maybe Allegra, but they enjoyed their jobs and took pride in their work. With luck, there would be few, if any, casualties during this fight.

     “Sciocco, tell the crew to pull up on the starboard side to board,” Captain Hasan gave me the order briefly, barely raising his voice. I relayed the orders in a loud call to the crew, who dutifully obeyed. I barely noticed. Captain Hasan and I secretly wondered if they would follow my orders even if he only told me naughty limericks. I would probably be the only one to notice that the captain started rhyming.

     “Captain, would you like the crew to let you lead us this time, or would you rather watch from the safety of the crow’s nest?” I asked him in Arabic, flashing a winning smile at him. He smiled back and ran forward to the rail nearest the larger ship, yelling what sounded like a fierce Arabic battle cry. I walked forward to stand beside Bernardo, a large man with a two-handed, double-headed axe swinging loosely by his side. He looked a question at me as I approached.

     “Something about dogs and sexual prowess,” I answered. “He’s hard to follow when he’s excited.” I nodded towards the rest of the crew and spoke in a higher voice for everyone to hear, “Get those ladders and ropes ready, and cross over at the captain’s signal!”

     “Aye,” Stratto said, stepping up the rail. “And the captain’s signal is?” Stratto was a lean and good-looking man, too handsome and too talented with his swords for his own good, with a quick temper and a nasty streak.

     “When he jumps onto their ship, same as always.” I answered back easily, nodding towards the captain, who was just preparing to climb the rail. “I’d say right about now.”

     By the time I finished this thought, the captain was aboard the larger ship, swinging his large, curved sword one-handed and he dragged himself over the next railing to confront their crew. The rest of our force, several men, a few women, and myself, quickly followed. Knives, swords, axes, and an occasional club flashed through the air, clashing and thudding against other weapons, and sometimes the ship’s deck.

     “Allegra!” I bellowed over the ruckus, trying to get the dangerous woman’s attention before she got out of control and started killing people. Anyone else could be trusted to behave themselves, but she had to be kept under a tight reign. I gestured that she should fall back and reinforce our main line of attack instead of following her own lead. She didn’t really appreciate the implication that she couldn’t be trusted, but followed my direction nonetheless and stepped back to let someone else take the lead before her.

     It was then that I spotted the captain of the ship, an aging Spaniard with graying hair and a few wrinkles, obviously a well-traveled and well-respected sailing man. He stood with his back to the main cabin below the quarterdeck, and barked orders for his crew, who were steadily backing up towards him, overwhelmed by the smaller, but better armed and experienced, fighting force in front of them. I noted with satisfaction that none of our crew had been injured, and the only casualties on their side were minor wounds. I turned to look at the aging captain, smiled as he noticed my attention, and I did my part to bring the battle to an early end. I raised the black-handled knife in my right hand, pulled back, and swiftly threw in the direction of the old Spaniard.

     The knife sank deep into the wood of the cabin door beside the man’s head, piercing the hard wood with a loud thunking sound that made the Spaniard jump quickly. While the knife was a good half-foot from his head, it was close enough to scare him into a panic. And since I had made certain that he saw me before I threw it, he paid very close attention as I drew my third knife, the red-handled one, from the bottom right sheath. He took the hint, and quickly started shouting orders to his crew to drop their weapons and surrender peacefully. Without really needing to do so, I relayed his new orders to Captain Hasan, who nodded solemnly and sheathed his own sword to step forward. I quickly followed to translate his words to our recent captives.

     * * *

     “And so,” I explained to the Spanish captain as he and his men sat on the deck of their own captured ship, “we’ll simply take your cargo and leave you unharmed. If you fight back, we’ll have to be less gracious.”

     I was still speaking Italian to the captain and his crew, who showed some understanding of the language. I was actually perfectly capable of conversing is his own language, but I kept that information to myself, for several reasons. First of all, as long as I spoke Italian, my own crew would understand me. Secondly, since we were the victors, I felt the effort of communicating should fall more on them than on us. Finally, though, my main reasoning was that, when they inevitably started discussing amongst themselves and plotting a revolt, I would know exactly what they were talking about without them realizing it. It wouldn’t have been the first time.

     “Sciocco, send a couple of crew down to the hold to check their cargo,” Captain Hasan informed me unnecessarily. I signaled to Bernardo and Adrianna, his petite wife, to go below and check out our newly acquired cargo. They went below, and I turned my attention to the rest of our forces that were guarding our captives. A few of the crew had returned to our own ship, leaving the hostages in the hands of two women and three men besides Captain Hasan and myself. Carlotta, a giant of a woman almost as tall as the captain, stood beside Stratto. On the far side of the Spanish crew was Allegra, the lovely noblewoman armed with her sharp little poniard, flanked by Roberto, with his ropes and single blade, and by Angelo, our youngest crewmember, barely old enough to need to shave. He watched Allegra eagerly, as only a teenage boy intrigued by a sensual woman with battle-lust could be. He wasn’t yet allowed to join us in the initial attacks, so he always waited impatiently until things were calmed, then quickly joined us for the aftermath.

     Once the excitement and adrenaline from the battle left me, however, certain realities took over my mind, and I finally noticed the knife that Allegra had out, a knife she was most definitely not supposed to be using once the major fighting was over. If I’d had my way, she wouldn’t use it at all, but Captain Hasan was a pragmatist, and didn’t discourage her from her methods. Now, however, her methods were unnecessary. I walked over to her and held out one of my knives towards her, green-handled hilt first. The look on her face was like a child caught breaking a rule, but the beautiful smile never left her face.

     Even though she knew what I wanted, she was apparently not going to give in without me at least mentioning it. I put my most winning smile on my face, and greeted her like a sister.

     “Allegra, my dear, I was wondering if you would be so kind as to trade weapons with me?” I asked politely.

     “But Dominico, my dearest brother, why on earth would you want to switch one of your matching toys for this little needle?” she asked innocently, playing on the familial affection that our crew shared. It was for these same feelings of camaraderie that I wasn’t truly upset by her using her knife, but it wouldn’t stop me from taking it from her.

     “You know why, sister darling. You don’t really need that needle of yours, now that the fight’s done.”

     “But I like my knife,” she whined unconvincingly, her growing smile ruining the effect of her plea.

     “Yes, but no one else does. My knife is nice, too, and I know how much you love green.”

     She sighed, more for drama than from exasperation, and relented. “Fine, but I want mine back when we get back to our ship.”

     “Yes,” I answered easily, “and I’ll want mine. Untarnished.” I reminded her.

     Taking her small blade, I tried to find a graceful place to stick it within my belt (it certainly wouldn’t fit within the now-empty scabbard over my left shoulder) without the blade actually touching myself or my outfit. While my own crew was familiar with Allegra’s habits and my response, the Spaniards weren’t, and the captain soon felt brave enough to question me about it.

     “Pardon, por favor. Why is it that she couldn’t use that knife? What is wrong with it?”

     I considered for a moment, then decided to at least give my sister-in-crime the satisfaction of the moment, if not actually permission to act upon it. I pulled the knife from my belt and leaned towards the old Spaniard casually, holding the knife carefully by the bottom of the hilt.

     “It isn’t the knife I fear, Señor,” I told him, indicating the blade with my free hand, “but it’s what she does to it. See that reddish stain on the tip, looks slightly moist?” He paled slightly as realization hit him. I stood back again and put the knife carefully away again.

     “I don’t know what she puts on it, but last time we took a ship, two of her men twitched for over an hour before we threw them overboard. Ghastly sight, it was.” I turned back to the hatch to investigate the cargo that the happy couple went to explore, as I heard the captive crew start talking amongst themselves in panicked voices. Such fools, I thought to myself. Even if it didn’t occur to them that at least one of us would know Spanish, they should at least realize that Spanish and Italian are close enough in style that we would be able to guess the idea of their conversation, if not the exact words.

     “What have you got down there?” I called down.

     A light voice called back to me, “Spices, from the east, probably shipped overland on the Silk Road.”

     I leaned back and whistled in appreciation. Spices from the far east were a good find, definitely a decent haul for our adventure. I relayed this information to the captain, who nodded and pointed to Carlotta, Stratto, Roberto, and Angelo. They didn’t need me to understand the captain’s orders, and quickly went down to the hold to join Bernardo and Adrianna. I could sense that our guests were considering trying their odds against our smaller force, but I pulled out Allegra’s little knife and smiled at the prisoners. They sat back and crowded a little closer to each other, eyeing both myself and Allegra carefully. I noticed Captain Hasan suppress a smile.

     Soon, our ship was nicely loaded with ill-gotten booty, and we resumed our journey, laughing and singing and enjoying our lives very much, so much more than the Spanish crew that we left in our wake.

     Chapter 2

     After we took our hasty leave from the Hija del Mar, we made for a friendly port in Italy where we would often take our ill-gotten gain and make a nice little profit. And there is an ugly, little man in a small port town on the western side of the boot who said prayers to us every night, after he counted his share. We spent a nice afternoon at his seaside villa, after we unloaded the cargo, and enjoyed a sumptuous meal watching the sunset before we returned back to our seafaring lifestyle. It’s a rough life, being a hardened criminal.

     We had left there a few days ago, and set sail south again towards the African coast (our usual port of call). We had made a nice amount of money on that last raid, and I had just finished counting and sorting out the shares for the crew. This was traditionally our time of relaxation and celebration, and when we made port in Algiers, we would hit the town and spend a decent portion of our prize. After I determined exactly who had exactly how much money to spend or save as they saw fit.

     Technically, although I served various functions on the ship, I was the quartermaster for the crew. This meant that I had almost as much authority as the captain, as much as I wanted, since he made almost no decisions and the ones he did make were all relayed through me. He still retained complete authority over the ship, but he delegated all of the actual executive decisions to me.

     In addition to the implied control that I had, it was also my job to keep the books for the ship, which was my main task. I kept track of what we had, of what we sold, and of the amount of booty that each of the crew received and had stored in the ship’s treasury (which was the small room by the galley where we kept our ledger, our locked chests of gold, and anything else small and valuable). As a perk of the job, since sleeping with the money was a safety issue, I got to sleep in these quarters as well.

     All in all, life was good on the sea. Sure, we could die any day, either from a mission going badly, or another corsair ship trying to take what we had rightfully stolen, but except for that, it was a good life. You wouldn’t find this kind of excitement selling cloth and spices, if you hadn’t stolen it first.

     Actually, most of the crew had enough money stashed away, in this room and at a couple ports-of-call, to retire and lead a nice life with false nobility and eager servants. Well, not so fake for Allegra, but if she ever returns to Italy and stays there, she’s likely to receive the execution that she barely escaped years earlier. As for the rest of us, I wouldn’t mind someday settling down somewhere with enough money to pretend to be a count, maybe. His Excellency Dominico, Count of Sciocco. But I suspect I would get bored pretty quickly. Not enough people trying to kill me.

     I interrupted thoughts of slave-girls and fine wines when a knock sounded on the treasury door. People knew better than to just walk into the treasury room when I was counting our wealth. The back of the door had numerous knife-gouges as a testament to my opinions on courtesy. They all learned how to knock, eventually.

     I opened the door to find Angelo standing there. Barely sixteen summers, he had joined our crew as a runaway from Rome, fleeing a life of starvation as a street rat. He was still gangly and thin, but had grown to a height that embarrassed me. Being average height and large build myself, not to mention ten years his senior, there would never be any mistaking us for each other. I waited patiently as the younger man recalled the reason why he had knocked on the counting room door.

     “Sir, Captain Hasan is trying to give orders and no one knows what he’s saying, and we need you up on deck to find out what he wants us to do.” he explained in a rushed tone. I knew right away that this was Stratto’s idea to send the boy. Where the rest of the crew knew better than to worry about something like this, Angelo still saw every little thing as a cause for panic. If it were urgent, the captain would just have sent for me first, instead of making the crew guess. In the event of a real emergency, his solution would be even easier, but only I knew that.

     “Lead on, Angelo,” I replied reassuringly, grabbing my knife harness and slipping it over my shoulders, then closing and locking the treasury door before walking towards the ladder that took us to the main deck.

     I arrived on deck to find a few crew members joining the captain at the rail, looking off into the distance. No reason for alarm, no panic, nothing to indicate there was any trouble at all, except that the captain attempted to speak to someone other than me. Beside the captain was Renaldo, the ship’s pilot, who worked well with the captain. Renaldo was an older man, completely bald, who had been born a mute, so had learned to pilot a ship and relay messages with hand signals. Since Captain Hasan was reduced to pretty much the same tactics, the two could spend the whole night drinking and signaling to each other. And if I was drunk enough, I could actually not get bored by watching them, until about five minutes had passed.

     “Sciocco,” the captain addressed me as I got closer, “look out there and tell me what you see.”

     Switching to Italian, I turned my head slightly and spoke to the rest of the crew that were standing nearby. “The captain sends the young look-out with the best eyes to fetch the accountant, to ask what he sees! Next, he’ll have Allegra asking Renaldo for advice on how to style her hair!” I joked loudly. The crew enjoyed a good laugh, seemingly at the captain’s expense, and Renaldo’s, but Renaldo laughed along silently with the rest.

     I snuck a glance at the captain, who looked for all the world as if he hadn’t understood a word I said, the old fraud. He’d laugh later, when no one was looking, I was sure.

     But I stepped up to the railing, and gazed out in the direction that he indicated. Indeed, I saw a ship, but it took me a moment to determine why he wanted me to look at it. It was very small, more meant for swift travel than freight, but it wasn’t a pirate because it sailed the colors of a merchant house in Northern Italy that I recognized. We had robbed a couple of their ships a few months earlier, around the summer solstice, so I easily recognized the green on gold insignia of House Balducci, who specialized in (of all things) transporting salted meat. We generally avoided their ships unless we were hungry.

     But this ship certainly wasn’t large enough to be hauling sides of beef. It was a yacht, really, with service area and two living quarters below decks. It would have been someone’s personal ship that seldom traveled beyond the immediate area where it was docked. And it was unlikely that it would travel beyond its normal range without an armed escort, should someone from the Balducci house actually be using it. But here it was, unguarded except by the four soldiers visible on deck, and a bored official-looking man wandering the fore. I also noticed a bare-bones sailing crew of three who were doing their best to be unnoticed by both official and military.

     I turned quickly to Captain Hasan, and started laying out my thoughts in Arabic, which is harder than it sounds to someone who’s used to speaking the romance languages derived from Latin. “Someone important, perhaps someone wealthy and valuable. I know it isn’t our usual method to take hostages, but this one might have some personal wealth on them that will make it worthwhile. I suggest we go and look for ourselves.”

     The captain looked me in the eye for a moment, then turned to regard the horizon silently. Most of the crew thought that he did this to “spot the black bird”, which was a possibility, since we weren’t too far from a coastline. Spotting a black bird was supposed to be an omen on our ship, a feather from a hawk being the namesake of our vessel. In actuality, I knew that the captain was just stalling for time while he pondered different ideas to himself. Rumor had it, he used to talk to himself while he did this (the more superstitious crew thought he was trying to talk to the birds directly), but he stopped doing that after I joined the ship.

     Apparently, no birds decided to show themselves, and he turned his attention back to me.

     “Sciocco, this one is yours. You lead the charge, you make the decisions on it. If it pans out, you get a captain’s share for this one. If it fails, you take the brunt. Understood?”

     I looked at him for a moment. He wasn’t concerned about something going wrong. It felt more like he saw potential in this catch, and he was trying to let me have it. Of course, if something did go wrong, I would have his support, but he would let me take command this time, to soar like the hawk or sink like a stone. I smiled in appreciation of his challenge, and he gave me a wicked grin in return.

     “Don’t embarrass us,” he advised me confidently. I turned to survey the crew, who had gathered around somewhat to hear our discussion, which they knew they wouldn’t understand but never failed to try. I smiled at them reassuringly.

     “Alright, gang, I’m in charge of this one. I believe there might be someone of wealth and influence on that pleasure ship ahead of us, and I think it would be profitable to find out. I know that some of you have adverse feelings towards taking hostages, so do I. I’m hoping that this person will have enough ready cash on them to pay us directly. It’s a small ship, with a small contingent, so I’ll only need a few people. Who’s with me?”

     Right away, I had enough volunteers and then some, for what would likely be a fairly simple, painless mission. Hell, I thought, this one might not even involve any fighting. I needed a small show of force, but enough sophistication for the passenger of the small ship to take us seriously and negotiate. And as much as I hated to admit it, Allegra was the most proper and cultured person on the ship. And Bernardo would certainly be useful for intimidation, and if things went badly. But who should I bring as the fourth person?

     Alright, I’m sentimental. Some part of me perceived Captain Hasan’s actions as a sign of faith and trust in me, and I carried that thought forward. I made my final decision and announced my choices of the crew.

     “Allegra, Bernardo, and Angelo. Get your gear ready, and try to look like decent human beings. Except you, of course, Allegra,” I added quickly before I got into trouble. “You never look anything less than perfection.” I was being totally honest, in actuality. Since she had joined the crew, we’d had more merchants try to buy her from us than I could believe. She was simply that stunning, and you could see her noble bearing in every movement she made. That was why she was dangerous, I had always believed.

     I noticed that Angelo hadn’t moved so much as a single muscle since I had made my announcement. He had spent so long wanting to go on an assault, I suppose he hadn’t actually planned out what to do once he was actually assigned to one. I nudged him slightly on the shoulder with my fist, and a smile broke out on his face. He started to speak, most likely to thank me, but I cut him off before he could start.

     “Go get your sword. But don’t expect to use it unless I give the word. C’mon, hurry.”

     He took off to fetch his weapon, since unlike most of the crew, he seldom needed it and seldom wore it around the vessel. Allegra and Bernardo were both standing ready as our ship neared the smaller boat, the occupants of which had by now noticed us and were arguing about what to do about us. The official man was seemingly telling the guard to fight us off immediately, which the guard tried to explain was a fool’s battle. We obviously had them outnumbered, and I had no intention of taking my team over to their deck if I thought they intended to resist.

     Wiser minds won out, and the official man, dressed in fashionable green hose and doublet, trimmed with gold, watched us nervously as we pulled alongside his ship, ready to start negotiations. He obviously didn’t want us to board him, and was going to try to talk us out of it beforehand. I didn’t give him the satisfaction, though, and jumped over as soon as it was safe to do so. My three hand-picked followers did likewise. I noted as I boarded that one of the remaining guards had quickly escaped into one of the cabins, whether to secure cargo or inform someone of the current events, I didn’t know. I didn’t let it concern me.

     “Greetings,” I started politely. I bowed to him, as did Allegra, and then we both tried not to smile as we watched Angelo attempt an imitation of our maneuver. His sword got slightly in the way, and he almost dropped it when he went off balance. Must have been the way I looked when I first stepped onto a ship, I decided. Bernardo didn’t even bother trying, he just stood there looking fierce.

     “Greetings, and welcome to my ship,” the man replied ceremoniously. “What can my poor, humble vessel offer you this afternoon?”

     I smirked as he described his yacht as poor and humble, but continued. “We’ve come to perhaps share conversation with you, perhaps a game of dice, discuss the current politics of Tuscany. And, of course, we’re here to steal any cargo and valuables you happen to have,” I added as an afterthought. He nodded along, though he seemed surprised. Not at my demand, (actually a request) but at the social manner in which I worded it. I enjoyed doing that to people.

     “You don’t sound like a corsair, but my captain here assures me that you are all criminals and thieves,” he answered. “He even recognized the banner you bear.”

     I glanced at the captain of the guards, but he didn’t seem familiar to me. A glance at my crewmates received a similar non-recognition of the soldier, but that didn’t really matter. The ship had been sailing years before any of us had joined up, so we couldn’t possibly recognize every victim the ship had encountered.

     “I used to be civilized, my lord. Before I became a criminal and a thief.”

     “Well, what happened?”

     “None of your business,” I answered. “If you’ll just show us to whatever valuables you have on board, we’ll be on our way and let you continue in peace.”

     “I’m sorry to disappoint you. We aren’t carrying any cargo. This is a passenger expedition, and we’re returning to Genoa.”

     “And your passenger?” I queried.

     “Distant family of my liege, Signore Balducci. No one of importance.”

     I met his fake smile with one of my own and nodded to Bernardo to check out the chambers that the missing guard had gone into. Before Bernardo got to the door, however, it opened from the inside, and instead of the guard, I saw a noblewoman exit the cabin and approach us, a small child following her steps closely. A moment later, the missing guard came out and went straight to the official, apologizing quietly.

     The woman, however, came directly to me.

     “My name is Isabella Gattanegra. What are you doing on my ship?”

     Chapter 3

     The noblewoman, Isabella, stood there before me, watching with a mixture of concern and anger. From the way she pushed her child, a small girl, behind her as she walked up, I could guess what the concern was for. It was completely groundless, of course, since we were concerned about profit rather than hurting people, and I highly doubted the girl was made of gold. I figured that the anger was justified as well, if she guessed what we were doing on her ship, or perhaps the guard who had gone into her chambers had told her.

     “What are you doing on my ship?” she asked again, sounding less confident than before. No, she didn’t seem scared of me, even with four knives sticking out at odd angles from my back. I started to wonder if we were the first pirate ship to encounter them today.

     “We’re just doing a little business with your representative here,” I replied slowly, with less fake charisma than I had used with the official, but more actual personality.

     The woman eyed me suspiciously (no surprise) and looked a question at the official. This time, I saw the anger that she had shown a moment earlier. I felt a small reassurance that she wasn’t angry at me, silly as that may seem, but more questions entered my mind, questions that I had no right to think.

     When he didn’t answer her unspoken inquiry, she looked back at me and sneered, “My captor, you mean. Maybe he figured he could do better by selling me and my daughter to sailors, instead of dragging me back to my uncle.”

     “Good Lady,” I said with a wicked grin, “we’re not sailors, and we’re not here to buy anything. We procure our goods, and our women, by different means.” This earned a chuckle from behind me, and I noticed in passing that the rest of the crew, mine, not his, were watching us from the railing of the Blackfeather. Not only was I being tested, I got to have an audience. Usually, the crew only watched me when I sang or performed, but apparently, I was branching out to comedic adventure. But how do you act cruel and sinister to a five-year-old girl? Scaring her would be easy, but then I’d feel bad, and no doubt be teased by the rest of the crew later. I sighed dramatically.

     “You’re pirates then? Thieves? If any of your men touch my daughter, I’ll see that every last one of you suffers.”

     Well, that one was easy. “Allegra, grab the child while the rest of us find whatever treasure this ship may have.” I looked at the woman, who appeared taken aback. “You step back and don’t interfere, and your daughter will have a pleasant evening. And none of my ‘men’ will lay a hand on her. Angelo, Bernardo, have these nice guards direct us to whatever valuables they happen to have on board.”

     I stepped back from her, then smirked slightly, and walked forward again to stand near her. “Oh,” I added casually, “we’re not just pirates. We’re corsairs. Subtle difference, but important” She was focusing on her daughter now, however, instead of me, so I don’t think she caught the sarcasm.

     I stepped back again, and watched her closely. Allegra was next to the child, kneeling and being very polite, as she was to most women and children, but never to any men but Captain Hasan. Isabella was watching Allegra with an expression of deep thought, but not terribly upset. The Balducci House official, however, was much more concerned, and watching the woman and her daughter with a look almost like panic.

     I’m sometimes slow on the uptake, and have moments when I look back on a situation and think, “I should have considered that before it actually happened.” A businessman with an armed squadron watching over a lone women with child, who is by her own admission being held against her will, and their trip being interrupted by a ship of thieves. She saw a crew that respected women and treated them as equals, and she saw that we wouldn’t mistreat her child. All of these thoughts occurred to me, but not until after Isabella spoke again.

     “Take us with you!” she pleaded.

     Reflex made me turn to Captain Hasan, who was watching me more intently than anyone else realized, and I could see that he was hiding a smile. He winked when I looked at him, as he subtly reminded me that I was on my own. I fixed onto my face the same false cheer that I had used when I spoke to the official, and turned back around to face my petitioner.

     “No.”

     “Please, I beg of you. I am a prisoner here. My husband recently died, and I’m being shipped back as a slave to be returned to my uncle. Giuseppe Balducci is a horrible man.” She stepped closer to me, almost reached out to plead with me, but decided against it before she made contact with my arm. “I would rather die first,” she continued.

     I pulled out my blue-handled knife and flipped it to the deck before her, so it stuck in the wood stiffly. “If that solution works for you, here you go.” I offered.

     “Give her the red one, Sciocco, it’ll match her dress.” Allegra interceded with a chuckle. I shot her a look more poisoned than her knives, then faced the anguished mother once again. She had picked up the knife, with obviously no idea of how a person was supposed to hold a weapon, and took another step closer to me. She was now close enough that I could smell her hair, and I took a step back to resume a distance between us.

     “No one uses the red one, Allegra, you know that.” She stuck out her tongue at me in response.

     “Lady,” I tried to explain, “you don’t want to travel with us. We’re villains. We’re corsairs, earning our living by attacking innocent sailors and robbing them blind.”

     “Please, for my sake. For my daughter.” She paused for a minute, then changed tactics with a blink. “I can pay you.”

     I laughed despite myself. “No, you can’t. We’re stealing all your money.”

     The Balducci official chimed in at this point. “My master can pay you well to make certain she arrives at his estate, and unlike this harlot, I’m offering money that you can’t take from me while I’m mentioning it.”

     I tensed, and closed my eyes slowly, counted to three, and opened them again. In that short time, the scene had changed dramatically. The guards were drawing their swords and pointing them at Allegra, who was standing behind the official with one of her forbidden knives held alarmingly close to his neck. Behind me, I heard the rattle and scratch as the rest of the Blackfeather crew drew their own weapons as well, ready to jump from ship to ship to defend their crewmate. From the moment the official spoke, I knew this was going to be the result, so I didn’t even try to stop it from happening.

     “Harlot?” Allegra whispered in his ear barely loud enough for those of us on the smaller ship to hear. The man was sweating visibly, without even knowing that her small blade was far more dangerous than it appeared. I walked over to the man, without drawing any of my daggers, and the guards stepped aside to let me confront my ally. A look at their faces showed me that they were praying I could avert the fight that seemed inevitable. Which was my prayer as well, truth be told.

     “Allegra, put away the knife and go back to the little girl.” I commanded her softly.

     She glared at me. “I don’t like him.”

     “Obviously, but let him go. You are on a mission under my command, and I’m giving you a direct order. Either return to the child, or return to the Blackfeather and I’ll deal with you later. Understand?”

     She lowered the knife slowly and backed away from the man, then wove her way past the armed guards with the weapon still in her hand, as if daring the men to try something, which I knew they wouldn’t dare to do unless they felt threatened again. She returned to the side of the child, but stood as if guarding the girl from attack, rather than holding her hostage. The official watched her carefully, rubbing his neck as if feeling for cuts or scratches, and didn’t speak.

     The situation handled for now, I resolved to end this situation as quickly and cleanly as possible. Angelo and Bernardo had already transferred over two small chests and a large bag, and they had completely ignored Allegra’s not-unexpected outburst. I also noticed that Angelo had somewhere picked up a floppy hat with a large red feather, that he wore at an askew angle. I smiled at him, which he returned with a large grin.

     I had been hoping that the woman, Isabella, had been distracted by the sudden, violent display, and perhaps even reconsidered her request, but I was disappointed.

     “I can do anything you need, join the crew, earn my keep. All I ask in return is safe passage to the next port you visit.”

     I sighed. I was looking for a graceful out, but it wasn’t presenting itself to me, and I was starting to get horribly upset with the gods of fate for landing me here. Against my better judgment, I felt the need to ask her for a little more information.

     “What can you do?”

     “I can cook.” she replied eagerly.

     “We have a cook. What else?”

     “I could fight. Another fighter is always useful, right?”

     I paused for a second, then reached out and casually slapped the flat of the blade, my blade, that she still held in her hand. It landed on the deck with a muted clank. I looked at her expectantly, as she watched the knife with an expression of despair.

     “I ... I can ... satisfy your men, your captain. Anything you should need me to do.”

     “I told you, we procure our women by different means. We don’t take women on board for that reason, and no one is going to ask you to. What else?” I asked, hoping she was out of ideas. I noticed that, despite her necessity for our help, she was immensely relieved that I had turned down her last offer, and I almost felt sorry for her that she even had to suggest it. But the semantics of the situation also kept reminding me that we had nothing to gain from taking her and her daughter on board, and a load of inconveniences.

     “I have nothing else. I don’t think there’s anything I can offer you to take me with you.” she whispered sadly.

     Good, I thought, this is more like it, except...

     “But if you don’t take us with you, if we have to go back to my uncle, our lives are over. If you won’t help us, we’re as good as dead.”

     Well, shit. It wasn’t a decision of logic anymore, it was now a question of morality. Damn her anyway. Who did she think she was to demand of me, of my ship? Who was she to suggest that I was a decent human being?

     I looked around at the crew, both on this ship and on my own. Most of the crew, men and women, were waiting patiently to see how I would decide. Allegra was sending me a very definite signal, almost as if she were waving flags to get my attention, telling me how I should choose. Angelo was watching me closely, perhaps trying to learn leadership by watching me. I certainly hoped not. Bernardo watched with his usual indifference to executive decisions. He would trust any decision I made.

     On the Blackfeather, I noticed nothing but a few grins at my discomfort. Thanks, gang. I took a mental list of which people were smiling, and finally faced the captain.

     “Well, Old Man” I asked him in Arabic, “I know that you understood everything, but I need to at least pretend I’m explaining it to you. What should we do?” A second later, I had to add his name to the list I had just put together.

     “I told you, Sciocco, this is your adventure. You make the decisions, you reap the rewards, you take the losses.”

     “Granted,” I argued, “but although this is my mission, it’s your ship. Any decision about who’s brought on board falls to you.”

     “No, this is still your decision. You know that, under normal circumstances, I would always trust your judgment, so this time that is still true.”

     “So, you’re saying that she can come aboard?”

     “No,” he replied quickly, “I’m not saying anything at all. The widow’s fate is completely up to you.”

     I rattled off a few choice curses in Arabic, ones that Hasan had taught me himself. The comment about her being a widow was meant as a personal barb towards me, though only the captain knew why. For what seemed like the thousandth time, I once again faced the distraught woman.

     “What is your daughter’s name?” I asked her impatiently.

     “Gabriella Gattanegra.”

     “How old is she?”

     “She just turned five years, my lord.” she answered courteously. Obviously, she could tell that I was trying to make a decision to save or damn her, and she was doggedly trying to sway my influence in any way she could. I would wager that the next step would be either flattery or seduction. I was very much not enjoying my first run at personal leadership. I turned to the little girl in question, crouching down as I did so and picking up the knife I had knocked from her mother’s hands a few moments earlier.

     “Gabriella, little kitten, what would you like to do?” I asked her gently, trying not to be intimidating.

     She reached up her small hand and grabbed the empty hand of Allegra, who was still standing guard over the child, but she didn’t actually say anything. Neither did Allegra, but from the look that she gave me, I was uncomfortably aware that she still had her knife in her other hand. I stood up and backed away, then sent a final glare at my captain.

     “This is the point where I pretend to get your final answer, right?” I asked him.

     “That’s right. But you lose some credit by your blatant attempt to make me nod so the crew thinks I had something to do with this.” He followed this line by a grand sweep of his arm, ending with a supportive gesture in my direction. I was completely trapped now, and he knew it.

     I did, however, take a final measure of satisfaction, at the look on the face of the Balducci official as he saw his future hover near the edge of a precipice. I sent him a final look of sinister vindictiveness, and made my decision.

     “Bernardo, Angelo, help our new guest get her gear. We’re taking a passenger.”

     I sincerely hoped I wouldn’t regret this.

     Chapter 4

     “You don’t know what trouble you’re getting into,” the Balducci representative yelled at us as we left his ship with his passengers in tow. “You’ll live to know the mistake of your actions.”

     I turned to face him while Bernardo helped Isabella and Gabriella cross over to the larger ship. “My lord, I’m regretting most of the last five years of my life, and one more thing isn’t going to change that. But at least this time, I’m trying to do something I think I should, instead of something I know that I shouldn’t. I think I’ll rest easy.”

     Besides, I added to myself, I’d leave her here if I thought I could forgive myself for it. This was setting up to be nothing but trouble, and I knew it, could feel it in my heart. But I also felt that I had no choice, really, but to rescue the distressed woman and her young daughter.

     But never mind that for now. In addition to the two freed captives and their gear, we had taken some good supplies and some very high quality rations from the official’s personal stash. Some routine maritime equipment was also gained, fancier than we usually used but of inferior quality, since the gear that we had on our ship was meant for more practical use and not for show.

     Once we were finally on board of the Blackfeather, Isabella looked back at the yacht that had been her sailing prison and the man who had been her captor. “Tell my uncle that he’ll never have me or my daughter. Never! I’ll make a new home at the next port, and he’ll never lay a hand on us.” she declared loudly, almost cheering. I motioned for Bernardo to get them further on towards the middle of the deck, so that she wouldn’t be able to continue taunting the man.

     Then I turned to address him myself. “Once we’re well away over the horizon, you can untie your soldiers,” I informed him, indicating the four trussed men lying at his feet. “I’m sure that they’ll confirm the story that you need to tell your employer about the failure of your mission. From what Lady Isabella tells us, he sounds like a kind and reasonable man.”

     The official made a face at my attempt and humor, then turned his back on us in disgust. Fine by me, I decided, and signaled to Renaldo to get us underway. I then looked around the deck for Allegra, who was again standing beside the child we had taken, and I called out to her. “Keep an eye on them both for a moment, make them feel comfortable. I need to have a word with the captain.”

     “Then why do you need to go anywhere private, Sciocco? You two are the only ones who speak Arabic. Every conversation you have is private.”

     I ignored her, and turned my attention, and frustration, towards Captain Hasan, who appeared to be waiting to allow me the opportunity to vent my wrath towards him. I gestured towards his cabin, at the rear of the main deck, and he led the way. Once the door was closed, I started to tell him exactly what I thought, not yet bothering to switch to his native language. I was much better at being angry and swearing in Italian.

     “You bastard,” I began slowly, building up steam, “You set me up, saw me in that horrible condition, and you left me out there to hang. The last thing we needed was a passenger, and a child no less, but you made me make the decision, and made it clear that I was responsible for it. Why?”

     “Trust me, I had no way of knowing there was a captive noblewoman on that ship,” he replied in Italian, sympathetic to my anger. “After that, you were facing a crisis, and it was important for you, and the crew, that you make the choice. If I had, you would have lost any leadership I had given to you.”

     “We’re a corsair ship, not a rescue fleet. That was unfair, and you know it.”

     He switched to Arabic now, so that he could explain his thoughts better. “We are corsairs, pirates, yes. But we are decent human beings who help others when we can, and she needed help. Do you have any idea how many of this crew joined us because they were in need?” he asked me. “Do you remember what it’s like, needing to be rescued from hell, be it internal or external?”

     I stopped my tirade and made myself take a few deep breaths. He was right, I could hardly cause a ruckus about taking on a desperate soul, since I myself had once been the same, a couple of years back. If it hadn’t been for him, I would have been dead, or just feeling like I wanted to be.

     “You’re right. I’m sorry,” I told him sincerely. Then I straightened up and added, “But we’ll drop her at our next port as she requested, and our responsibility to her is ended, right?”

     He watched me for a second, trying to judge my mood, and answered solemnly. “Yes, if that is what she really wants and needs. But between here and there, her life is going to change drastically, and right now, I don’t think she has any idea of what she’s going to do.”

     “What, you mean she wasn’t planning on being overtaken by thieves? How silly of her to not take us into account of her future. I mean, she really should have known!” As I spoke the comment, I again regretted that sarcasm never quite made the transition from one language to another. Such a pity, but Captain Hasan seemed to understand the idea of my words, and smiled bitterly. Before he could chastise me for my attitude, I continued.

     “Since I’m still in charge of her, I’ll find a place for her and her daughter in the crew quarters, then try and find some make-work duties for her until we deliver her to her new home. Other than that, we’ll judge things as they happen. Sound good?” I asked.

     “No.”

     I paused. “No?”

     “No.” he answered again. “Yes, to giving her work and playing it one day at a time, but she won’t be staying with the crew.”

     “So, she’ll be staying where?” I asked, knowing the answer he meant, but still hoping for something different.

     “She’s your responsibility, so she’ll be staying with you in the treasury. The child as well, of course.” he added.

     “Why?” I demanded of him.

     “Because I said so,” he answered back. “Now go, set up space for her in your office, and we’ll work out specific details as they happen, like you suggested. Now get to it.”

     I turned and left his office, fighting off another wave of anger. Part of me suspected he was putting me through this trial to upset me, though I couldn’t imagine why he would do that. As I approached my new charges, I waved for Angelo to join us. “Get two spare hammocks from the supplies, and take them and the ladies’ gear to the treasury. I’ll meet you there and unlock the door.” He left to obey my commands.

     I looked at Isabella, who was waiting on my word expectantly, as if I was going to lead her to salvation, which I guess was a pretty reasonable expectation right now, despite my misgivings about the whole thing. I gestured for her and her daughter to follow me down to the next deck, and started giving her a brief tour.

     “On the main deck, you noticed the captain’s quarters in the aft of the ship, and a forecastle in the front of the ship where we keep supplies. The next deck, where we are now, has crew quarters in the front half, and the rear has the galley and meeting area, as well as the ship’s counting room, which is also my cabin. Per captain’s orders, you’ll be staying here with me.” I pulled out a key from my vest and unlocked the door to enter the room in question.

     I reasoned to myself that I would have to start leaving this door unlocked, since people would actually be using it now (what was he thinking?). We had locked chests in the room, at least, so there wouldn’t be gold just floating around everywhere, but that’s one less safety precaution that we could be using.

     I heard Angelo walk up behind me, carrying a large wad of meshed fabric over his shoulder, which I suspected was the two hammocks I had asked for. I scanned the room briefly as I entered, then pointed him to a wall covered with maps to hang the new furniture in front of. They were on the opposite side of the room from my own hammock, which was next to the desk. Various boxes and chests formed stepping stools to just about everywhere in the room.

     As he started that, the two women, adult and child, walked into the room and looked around warily. I wondered what they thought of the room they had entered. Aside from the standard working desk with account ledgers, and the treasure chests scattered about, there was also boxes of books and scrolls, some parchment pinned to the walls of the room all about, especially next to my hammock. I had no idea if Isabella or her daughter could read, but if they were able, they’d notice that the contents of the documents ranged from poems and songs, to religious text, to seafaring stories and adventures.

     “The deck below this is the hold,” I informed them to complete the tour. “You should never need to go down there, so don’t worry about it.”

     I headed towards the door, then looked back at them. “Unpack whatever you need to, and make yourselves at home. Try and get some rest, and I’ll be back later.” I headed up to the main deck, found a quiet place to sit, and lost myself in thought.

     Chapter 5

     “Here you go, brother,” Allegra offered, handing me the bottle in her hand, “you look like you could use a little bit of this.” I took the bottle, sniffed it, then took a sip. It was a good vintage Spanish wine, and I was curious where she had gotten it from. If it had come from the Hija, I hadn’t noticed it, and she hadn’t been part of the team that had retrieved the cargo. I suspected that Angelo stashed away such things for her, in his infatuation.

     After another drink, I handed the wine back to her with appreciation. Yes, I had needed that.

     She sat down beside me and we both pondered the rocking of the ship silently, enjoying the relaxing moment without feeling the need to fill the night air with chatter. After a moment of watching the clouds move across the moonlit sky, she turned and faced me with a comforting expression.

     “So,” she asked finally, “has your guest been made to feel at home?”

     “Isabella? Yeah, she and her kitten settled down to sleep about an hour ago, and I decided to come up here and wait for them to fall asleep before I went for my hammock. I don’t want to disturb her, and I’m not too comfortable sleeping with strangers myself.”

     “Yeah, because those widowed mothers and little children can be a real threat to a man like you, right?” she joked. I didn’t comment for a moment, lost in thought, and she noticed my odd reaction.

     “Come on, Sciocco, the rest of us have seen you around women before. When we hit towns, you’re smooth, you’re sophisticated, and you can talk to them in their own language. Literally. Last shore leave we had, you managed to take a woman to her home and spend the night, with no trouble at all. The rest of the crew usually has to pay for that privilege. But this woman worries you, upsets you?”

     I gave myself a minute to actually consider a response to her, mainly because I didn’t know how much I wanted to tell her about my own past.

     “I have no problem with her or her kitten,” I answered finally, “I’m just uncomfortable with the situation. She jumped onto our ship just to run away from another one, she’s panicking and doesn’t know what she’s going to do with her life. And suddenly, she’s depending on me.” I grinned at her suddenly. “I’m not ready to be a responsible adult.”

     She sat silent for a moment. Then, when she spoke, it was more like she was talking to the night rather than directly to me. “You know, Sciocco, having a family isn’t that bad. And a daughter, having a little girl around to light up your life. And besides, it’s only for a little while until we hit Algiers, then she’s on her own, right?”

     I didn’t feel the need to respond, since part of me was afraid of my answer. She didn’t notice, lost in her own thoughts. Finally, after another few moments of silence, she spoke again.

     “Did you know, Sciocco, that I had a little girl, just like the one sleeping in your cabin?” she asked. I shook my head, but she didn’t seem to require an answer. She continued, “A little girl, darker hair than that child, but an angel to behold. She was the light of my life.” I couldn’t help but notice the way she used the past tense.

     “What happened to her?”

     “She was taken from me, to be raised by another family, when I was sentenced to death for murder.” she answered in a monotone.

     “What about her father?” I asked carefully, not thinking ahead.

     She turned to face me suddenly, and caught my eyes with a wicked grin. “Whose murder to you think I was being punished for?” She chuckled slightly, and turned away again to face forward.

     In the years that I had known Allegra, she had never really opened up to me, or anyone else that I knew about. Of the current crew, she had been on the ship longer than most of us, including myself, with the exception of Renaldo, the mute navigator. What we did know about her was that she was escaping a death sentence, and she had implied that she was a paid assassin, narrowly fleeing the grasp of the local authorities. This story suggested a more dramatic history, but just as exciting. I suspected that the arrival of Isabella and Gabriella was prompting her sudden exploration in her hidden secrets, and I waited patiently, determined to be as good a listener as I could.

     She seemed to reach the point where she was ready to explain further, and turned to me again, though she avoided looking me in the eyes.

     “I’m not an evil, bloodthirsty person,” she started explaining, “but I put on the act so that people won’t know what I’m really thinking. But the part about me having to leave Italy as a murderess is true. Back when I was living in Livorno, I killed three men once, including my husband. But they deserved it, and I don’t regret it, at least not the action. The consequences still defeated me, however.”

     “You know I was a noble, and that I was raised with all of the proper etiquette and training. I married young to a man who did business with my father, who was an apothecary. That’s why I know about poisons, know how to make and use them. I wasn’t trained by an assassin’s guild, I just spent years in my father’s gardens and workshops, watching and helping him work. The man I married was an herb merchant, so he would work with my father to sell medicines and balms. It was quite a good business.”

     “But my husband, he wasn’t a good man. He wasn’t interested in a wife, he was interested in a whore, someone to help him with his business deals, just as he married me to complete a business deal. Whenever he had any business associates over, he expected me to do anything they wanted, anything he felt would help his deal.” She paused, took a deep breath, then continued. “And if I didn’t, he would hit me.”

     I nodded silently, not needing her to explain more than that. No matter what rank or class of people, women were considered inferior to men, and if her husband decided to hit her, or force her onto his guests, she had nothing she could do about it. Already, I could see why she would resort to killing him, but she wasn’t finished.

     “I accepted it, but I never liked it. Doing what he said was better than being hit, and I eventually stopped caring. The only things I cared about were surviving, and our little daughter.”

     “And then one day, about four years ago, he tried to finish a deal with two men who were interested in someone a little younger than myself. And while my husband was horrible to me, I never thought that he would... well, that he would try to do what he did. I argued with him, told him to keep those horrible men away from our daughter, but he hit me, harder than ever before, and told me to leave, go away, and if I didn’t want to see it happen, then I didn’t have to watch. He sent me from the room, and went to find our ten-year-old daughter. And I decided that I wasn’t going to let him.”

     Her voice had taken on a note of steel, and I felt her conviction echoed in my own heart. What she was suggesting was a terrible thing, and I found myself morbidly looking forward to hearing what happened next, what she did to her husband and his business partners.

     “So I went down to the kitchen,” she continued, “and found a large knife. And then, I went to the workshop, where all the plants and herbs were, and I found some poison. Any chemical extracted from a plant can be poisonous in large enough doses, and I know which ones can do what. I selected an extract that was harmless in small amounts, but once it enters the bloodstream, it can stop the heart. With the knife and the poison, I went back to my husband’s shop, and found him and the two other men, talking while he introduced them to our daughter.”

     “She looked so scared, so intimidated. She knew the kinds of things that I went through, even though I tried to keep it from her. But as long as she was safe, I put up with it. But not any longer, I just couldn’t. I walked into the room, ignoring the three men for the moment, took my daughter by the hand, and led her away, then told her to go back to her room. Once she was safely away, I went up to my husband, without a word, and slashed at him with the knife. It was just a superficial cut to his face, but he jumped back from me. I turned to face the two men who had been about to molest my child, and I slashed at them as well, hitting them and scarring them messily.”

     She held up her hands and looked at them with regret. “I had blood on my hands, and all three men tried to face me and fight, but they soon realized that their hearts were seizing up, and they had trouble breathing. One by one they fell down and stopped moving, until only my husband was still breathing. I looked down on him as he stared at me, and I couldn’t think of anything to say. To me, he had stopped being human years ago, and I just didn’t care anymore.”

     A tear started to track down her cheek, not at the memory of her husband’s death, but at the aftermath that she was leading up to. I reached out an arm and pulled her closer to me, and she leaned into my shoulder, crying silently as she spoke.

     “The city guard came, and they found the bodies. Found me with a bloody knife and bloody hands, and they took me away. I couldn’t even say goodbye to my daughter. They took me away, to the jailhouse, and within a week, I was sentenced to death by hanging. The men of the city didn’t care about what a bastard my husband was, they didn’t care how he hit me, didn’t have any objection to the way he was about to use his daughter. I was a killer, and a woman, and I had to die for my crimes.”

     “The night before my execution, I still hadn’t been allowed to see my daughter, and I was losing hope. I was offered a last meal, because I was nobility being executed, and they gave me a nice dinner and a bottle of good wine. But my upbringing came to my rescue, because there was a mold growing in my cell that I recognized, one that could cause sleep or death when ingested. At first, I was planning on killing myself to rob the men of the city the satisfaction of watching me die, but I decided then not to give up without a fight. I put as much of the mold as I could gather into the half-empty wine bottle, then called the guards.”

     Her tone had turned from sorrowful to determined, her story reflecting the purpose that she felt at the time. As she was speaking, she absentmindedly handed me the bottle of Spanish wine she still held, but I declined with a wave of my hand and gestured for her to continue. She took a swig herself and continued the story, not noticing the irony of her taking a drink in the process. I couldn’t find it within myself to have a taste for wine since she had gotten to this part of her story.

     “Those poor guards didn’t have a chance,” she bragged. “Who could resist a radiant flower like me, pretending to be drunk and willing and offering them the rest of my wine? They probably thought that they’d never have another chance with a noble lady, so they ignored their rules, entered my cell, and drank the wine as they started pawing at me. And then they stopped. Stopped touching me, stopped kissing me, finally stopped breathing completely. And I escaped.”

     She stopped crying finally and sat up, staring into the sky with an expression of thought on her lovely features. “Captain Hasan found me at the docks, looking for passage, and he took me on board this ship. That was four years ago. He felt sorry for me, and took me in, without asking for or expecting anything from me. I didn’t have to offer myself to him, didn’t need to do anything at all except join the crew and earn my keep. Finally, a man who treated me like a lady. Ironic, huh?”

     I nodded, not wanting to interrupt her by speaking. Her story had caught up to the present, and I waited intently listening for the finale. She turned somber and finally looked me in the eye, making certain that I was noting her every word.

     “When Isabella said her uncle was a horrible man, I believed her. When she said she feared for her safety and her daughter’s, I believed her. When she said she needed our help, I wanted to help. And I was proud of you for taking her in.” She stood up and I rose as well. She hugged me, and whispered her last words to me. “You’re doing a good thing here, the same kind of good thing that Captain Hasan did for me. Thank you.”

     With that, she handed me the rest of the bottle of wine and went to the ladder to go down below to the sleeping deck. I regarded the bottle with a little bit of trepidation, but took another swig and decided that I had waited long enough for my guests to fall asleep, and headed down to my room beside the galley. Allegra was right, I reflected. I had really needed that.