A Divided Inheritance (54 page)

‘Not well enough, I suppose. It is complicated. The Ottoman Turks have seized our trade routes, and the King fears Moriscos might give them aid. He knows Spain was not always his; that it
belonged to the Arab world before him, and the people still remember, the stories are passed from generation to generation.’

‘Will he expel them all?’

‘It looks that way. He can’t risk a rebellion. And he won’t forget the story – the last sigh of Boabdil as he surrendered the precious keys of the city to Ferdinand and
Isabella. He fights in case it comes full circle.’

‘I feel for Ayamena and Nicolao. Do you know, my father said the new king was a holy man, a man of the Church, one of toleration.’

He picked up one of the leathery apples taken from the winter stores and weighed it in his hand. ‘Ah yes, the Church.’

It felt like a chastisement. She stopped mixing and went to wash her hands in the bowl by the door to cover her confusion.

‘I wish that they could stay, that is all,’ she said. ‘They could try harder to convert them to our faith. Exile seems so unnecessary.’

‘Does a person’s religion matter so much to you?’

‘Of course it does. The Church has given me so much . . .’ She hesitated, something in his reaction made her bite her lip.

He turned his back. There was an awkward pause. ‘Mistress Leviston, thank you for your help in the kitchen, I know the Ortegas appreciate it.’ He tapped his foot. ‘I know it to
be selfish, given the circumstances,’ he said returning to face her, ‘but I am glad you cannot sail for England and I will have the pleasure of your company for a little longer. And Mr
Deane too, of course.’

She cast him a shy glance and his eyes looked into hers briefly before they dropped away. She could not help it, she still desired him. The tension was palpable and to cover it she wrapped the
food in cotton cloths ready for packing in the baskets. He passed the apple from hand to hand before taking a bite from it.

He stood next to her again. ‘Shall I help pack these things?’ Awkwardly, he put the apple back down on the table. She sensed he was uncomfortable with small conversation. The silence
in the room was broken only by the noise of the fire crackling in the wood-fired oven in the corner. She was intensely aware of his slim brown hands folding the cloth, of his presence beside
her.

He pointed to the oven. ‘I asked Pedro to light it, so you can bake your bread. Best to make plenty, for there will probably be shortages. Everyone needs to eat, whatever goes on in the
city.’

‘With your appetites I will be baking all day.’

He laughed, and it lightened the atmosphere, like a lick of flame on a dark night. But then his voice became serious again. ‘Mistress Leviston, I have to ask. If I can manage to arrange
it, would you be willing to accompany me on the journey to Tavira? I would not think it, but now Martha has gone, it would make for less suspicion if Luisa was the maid of an English
lady.’

She wanted to please him so she heard herself say, ‘If it will help, then of course I will. But I’m not sure I won’t be more of a hindrance. And you will have to tell me what
to do.’

‘Thank you. The Moriscos have twenty days to leave, so I understand. When Zachary returns with Luisa, then we will make plans to leave early next week,’ he said, giving her a warm
smile and touching her on the shoulder with a brush of his fingers as he left.

The sensation of his touch made her yearn for more. The apple lay on the table where he had left it. She scooped it up and pressed it to her lips where his had been only moments earlier. It was
only then she realized she was shaking from head to foot, from passion or terror she could not say. A low moan escaped her. No one must know how she felt about the señor, she could not bear
the humiliation if he were to reject her again. What was more, she did not know what frightened her the most, a journey across bandit-ridden Spain, with the King’s militia snapping at their
heels, or the thought of spending more time alone with Señor Alvarez.

Zachary and Luisa dodged their way through the narrow thoroughfares away from the main streets. Through the intermittent gaps in the houses they saw a throng of people jostling
past, shouting slogans. Their hoarse shouts caused Luisa to duck and put her hands over her head to protect herself. Occasionally they pressed themselves under the eaves at the crash of breaking
glass or the dull thud of shot. Zachary wrung Luisa’s hand in his as they ran, pulled her back against the wall when a group of soldiers ran past the entrance to their alleyway.

At the sign of the Spreadeagled Man they threw the gate open and burst inside. There was not even time to catch their breath before Ayamena was upon them, yelling, ‘You selfish girl! What
do you think you are doing, worrying your father half to death?’ She beat at Luisa with her fists, but Luisa put up her elbows to shield herself from Ayamena’s rain of blows. ‘You
think we’ve nothing better to do than run after you?’ Finally, she stopped, and they looked into one another’s faces.

‘Oh, Mama,’ Luisa choked out.

Ayamena clasped her tight and patted her back. ‘Foolish, foolish girl.’ She pushed her to arm’s length. ‘You will come?’

Luisa just nodded.

Zachary repressed the urge to run and embrace her. A great wave of relief coursed through him.

The men were supposed to be training, but the confusion in the city meant they were reluctant to start, and everyone knew that the Ortega family were even now preparing to pack
and sell all their possessions.

‘What will Señor Alvarez do after this for help? First Alma and Daria, now Ayamena and Nicolao.’ Zachary turned the handle of the grinder. He was using the whetstone kept in
the tack room for sharpening their blades.

Alexander said, ‘And Luisa. I am not blind, you know.’

‘You know, she wasn’t going to leave. But I think I persuaded her it would be safer to go with her family.’ He said nothing of his own plans to leave with her.

‘It will be difficult. Heaven alone knows if there’s a way out of Seville for them, except by the King’s ships.’

Etienne passed through with a bucket of water for the señor’s horses, but stopped to say, ‘I’ll be glad when it’s over. Once it’s done there will be less of
the trouble, and the people will soon forget, heh?’

Zachary thought of Luisa. ‘I don’t think so. Moriscos have been part of the fabric of this city for so long, it will be like amputating an arm.’

‘It is Don Rodriguez’s men at the port,’ Etienne said, ‘his crack troops.’

‘How do you know?’ Alexander asked.

Etienne looked from one to the other, his face had turned red. ‘Didn’t you say you saw them training for something, Deane?’

‘Yes, that’s right, he did,’ Alexander said.

‘What does Señor Alvarez intend to do?’ Zachary asked. ‘Somehow I can’t see him joining forces with Don Rodriguez. Nobody’s been to ask him for assistance in
moving anyone as far as I’m aware.’

Alexander shrugged his shoulders. ‘I don’t know. I’ve not seen him. He went straight into his chambers. Do you know, he took the best swords away, and left us with the blunts
and a load of rusty rapiers. Said it was good practice. Pedro and the apprentices are hanging around the yard waiting for him to come out and give us some more instructions.’ Zachary and
Alexander went back to the yard, where the other men were sheltering under the canopy from the drizzle. A fire had been lit in the Ortegas’ quarters, for smoke trickled from the chimney.
Elspet was staying with the family to offer her help in packing. What was happening in there, Zachary wondered, what must Luisa be thinking? The yard was quiet, just the dripping from the bare
tangle of twigs above their heads.

‘What’s the matter with you all?’ A shout from the top of the stairs. Zachary looked up to see Alvarez glaring down at them. ‘Have you nothing useful to do? Have not one
of you the wit to unsheath a sword?’ His voice descended on the party like a drench of cold water. ‘The training must continue, no time for wasteful talk.’

They all looked sheepishly at one another and hurried to pick up arms from the heap in the corner. It was the first time Zachary had heard him yell like that. It gave him an uncomfortable
feeling in the pit of the stomach. The other two men jumped to it, and were soon drilling up and down the yard.

Zachary looked at the weapons in disgust. Alvarez had even taken Zachary’s own sword from him, but he soon saw the sense in Alvarez’s methods. The men were rattled. Thank the Lord
we’re not using sharps, he thought, because Alexander was clumsy and slow to react, and several times Zachary’s button got right to his throat, and Alexander looked mightily surprised
to see it appear there.

As soon as they had commenced the drill, Señor Alvarez turned smartly on his heel and went within.

Alexander stopped and looked around to check he had gone. ‘Something’s not right,’ he said, disengaging.

Zachary was impatient with him, ‘Do you think I don’t know that? The whole city’s gone mad. He’s a little on edge, that’s all. It’s not surprising, given
what’s going on at the quay. Come on, put up your guard.’

‘I keep thinking of all those people with no place to go.’

‘I know. Please – don’t make me think of it,’ Zachary snapped, and twitched up his rapier to encourage him, but Alexander wouldn’t re-engage. Zachary dropped his
own tip down and said, ‘I’ve got to keep moving. Or I won’t be able to bear it, that I can’t do anything. They’ll take Luisa and I can’t do a damn thing about
it. Even Alvarez can’t do anything. You saw all those armed troops.’

Alexander shook his head. ‘He’ll think of something.’

‘They can’t hide. They’ll kill them if they find them.’

Alexander said, ‘Don’t. Let’s stop. I haven’t the heart for it. I keep seeing all their faces, those people from the villages walking to the docks, and thinking that
could have been my village. I saw them bringing a group of Moriscos down. There was a woman just like my grandmother, she was limping along with two sticks and you could see every step was an
effort. And an injured man, his leg blasted apart, on an old door for a stretcher.’

‘Hey, you two. What are you doing standing about?’ It was Pedro. ‘Don’t let Alvarez catch you idling like that, he’ll have you standing back in that circle
again!’

Zachary clapped Alexander on the shoulder. ‘Come on, friend. We can’t let it stop us. We must keep up the training, we’ll be useless else. That’s what the training is
for, to help us stay detached. Now,
en garde
.’

Zachary saw the focus come back into Alexander’s practice, and gritted his teeth. When life got difficult this had always been his answer, to unsheathe a sword and shadow-play his enemies,
though he felt a fraud dispensing advice to Alexander when half of him was desperate to be in the building on the other side of the yard with Luisa. Damn it, not a soul had been in or out of the
Ortegas’ quarters for hours. Elspet still had not come out to the training yard. He wondered what old Leviston would make of her now. He should be proud. Not many women would have had the
courage to do what she had done, learn to fence and take cuts like a man.

Alexander’s tip met the inside of his wrist and jerked him back to attention. They were tiring, but when Alvarez still did not appear, they wordlessly moved into the whip and thrust of the
fire technique until the sweat ran down their foreheads.

‘Is it nearly time to break?’ Alexander panted.

As if he had read their minds, Alvarez appeared on the balcony of the library. Zachary saw him and leapt into the evasive footwork of the air element. It took all his concentration. He and
Alexander moved in concert to the tang of metal, the scrape of boots and the slight grunt of each other’s breath, exhaled with force. Zachary glanced up to gauge Alvarez’s reaction, and
was surprised to see him motionless on the balcony, paying them no attention, his eyes staring fixedly over the wall. Something about his watchfulness sent a shiver up Zachary’s spine.

Despite the palpable air of tension, the women managed to produce a midday meal. Luisa and Elspet carried the big wooden table out to under the canopy. Alexander and Pedro
brought chairs from inside. The rain stopped and everything smelt of damp earth. The air threatened a chill but on the table steamed a white bean stew, bread which had been freshly baked and
muslin-wrapped cheeses. There was no meat or wine.

Zachary tried to catch Luisa’s eye but she would not look at him. Her eyes were cast downwards, and it pierced him to the soul. As if to acknowledge this, Ayamena gave him a brief wan
smile. Luisa went to fetch another chair and he tried to take it from her, to help, but she shook her head and carried it herself. When she looked up at him her eyes were pools of pain.
‘Don’t make me leave without you,’ she whispered.

‘I won’t.’ He gripped her arm in reassurance.

They sat. Ayamena and Nicolao with Luisa between them at one side of the table, the men at the other. They left a space at the head of the table for Alvarez, but he did not arrive.

‘I’ll go and see where he is,’ Nicolao said, feeling his way out of his chair.