Chapter 10

Pedro stank. He had passed out from his excursions following the slaying of his two kidnappers and he had ended up sprawled out upon the bank of the river where he had lain undisturbed for at least an hour. A glance at the sky told him it was probably a little longer. It took effort and determination to force himself onto his feet. Pedro's body was still sore from the hardships that he had suffered and weak from the lack of food.

The first thing that came to Pedro's mind when he had stirred from his fatigue induced slumber was a question of where he was and whether he was safe or not. A quick look about had told Pedro to relax. The men that he'd killed were still lying where he had left them. Flies buzzed about them, but beyond that, the clearing was the same as it had been at dawn. Relieved that he wasn't in imminent danger, Pedro turned his mind to other matters. His second thought turned towards his empty stomach and the need for food and water. That thought stayed for but a moment when it was replaced by another. As Pedro glanced about in an attempt to find the food and drink he was looking for, he got a good whiff of his person. Immediately Pedro knew that he needed a bath above all else. It was something that just couldn't wait.

Pedro had been bound and tied in the bottom of the boat for at least three days and possibly longer. His clothes were filthy with the blood of Father Gerome, the slop in the bottom of the boat, and his own waste. He had fouled himself at least once during his captivity. The stench coming from him and his clothing was overwhelming.

In the end Pedro ditched everything that he'd been wearing except for his boots and stockings. The rest of it was beyond salvaging. That left him looking for something else to wear once he had bathed. It meant raiding the dead. That didn't please Pedro at all. The first thing Pedro found was the tall man's cloak. The man had used it as an extra blanket the night before and he had left it lying with his bedding when he had woken in the morning. Pedro put that on first. After that the pickings became scarce. The short man's clothing was ruined as well. They were drenched in blood from Pedro's savage attack and the man's bowels had emptied sometime after Pedro had killed him. Even if they hadn't been ruined they were too short for Pedro to wear. Pedro could take the clothing off of the taller man. He had drowned and while his clothing was still damp, it had dried some while Pedro had slept stretched out on the shore. For a moment he considered doing just that. Then Pedro decided to check out the boat.

It was here that Pedro found what he was looking for. The men had raided a home or a village two nights before and they had come back carrying booty. Most of that booty was in the form of clothing. Most of it fitted Pedro. Picking the pieces that he wanted, Pedro put the rest back into a common sack and then he tossed it back into the boat.

Pedro got very lucky in his searching. Amongst the items stored in the boat, Pedro found his sword belt with both his long blade and short still with it. That went about his waist the moment he saw it. He also found coin purses on both men and in the boat. Amazingly, both men had been reasonably rich. Now that money became Pedro's. If he was lucky, he would be able to use it to return home.

Pedro ate before getting rid of the two bodies. He was starved and thirsty. In the end, he over did it. He ate too much of the leftover cooked meat and he threw it up in the bushes that lined the shoreline where his kidnappers had camped. That left him weak again. Eventually he ate and drank again, this time taking time in what he was doing. Then once he felt his strength returning, he disposed of the two bodies. It turned out to be reasonably easy. He just pushed the tall one back into the water with the pole from the boat, ensuring that his body was picked up by the current. Then he rolled the second one to the shore and he did the same. That job tired him out.

It was at that point Pedro made a decision. He was going to stay one more day where he was. He was going to eat and drink and rest as much as he could in an attempt to recover his strength. His heart ached to leave but his mind won out in the end and told him to be patient. Since impatience had got him into this mess in the first place, Pedro decided for once it would be a good thing to simply listen and stay. After all, tomorrow would come soon enough and if it turned out as bad as the last couple of days, Pedro needed all the rest as he could get. He knew he would need it.

"What is it Isabella?" Don Hugo stated upon entering his niece's chambers. "Why have you asked me to attend you? You know that I am a very busy man."

"I know Uncle," Isabella stated in a voice that trembled, "but I am alarmed. Sister Angelique went to prayers today at the cathedral and she has not returned. I have asked for her but none of your staff have seen her, and more importantly none will go looking for her. I need your help."

"You do, do you?" Don Hugo snarled in reply, causing Isabella to start with fear and apprehension. "What makes you think that you can make demands of me, child?"

"Uncle!" Isabella gasped in reply.

"Enough of this foolishness," Don Hugo declared dismissively. "I will send a servant to the city watch to ask after her. If the captain there knows nothing of her then I will consider looking for her. Until I hear back from him you will let this matter drop."

"But Uncle," Isabella protested anxiously, "Sister Angelique could be in danger. You must send men looking for her at once."

"What danger could a nun get into child?" Don Hugo asked sternly, fixing his gaze upon Isabella in an accusing manner. "Has she involved herself in plots and schemes that would endanger my office and the good name of my House? Has she fallen in with criminals who would do wrong to the Kingdom of Portugal? Tell me child why the good Sister would be in danger?"

"She is a woman," Isabella muttered quickly in reply, trying not to look at her uncle as she answered him, "and regardless of the fact that Sister Angelique is a bride of Christ there are men beyond these walls that would do her harm simply because she is a woman. You must send someone to look for her."

"A woman!" Don Hugo chuckled in reply. "Oh my not so innocent niece, you amaze me. I was certain that you knew nothing of those matters, but now you surprise me with this revelation. Still it matters not. I will send a man to the city watch and then wait for his return. If nothing is known of the good Sister's whereabouts then I will send Alfonso to look for her. Until then you will remain here in your chambers and wait for whatever news I send you. Now if you will excuse me, I have matters of state awaiting me."

"But Uncle," Isabella cried out in protest as Don Hugo bowed curtly and turned to leave.

"No Isabella," Don Hugo snapped angrily as he paused for a moment and cast his eye back over his shoulder. "You will stay here and mind your place in this household for once. If you will not, I will find a way to make you. Is that clear girl?"

Subdued by Don Hugo's tone and words there was nothing Isabella could do but to nod in acknowledgement. Satisfied Don Hugo turned and left his niece's chambers. Once he was in the hall he let his face change. For a moment a broad satisfied grin crossed the man's face. It lasted for a moment or two before fading again as he noticed two soldiers standing in the corridor outside his niece's quarters.

"You will stand guard here," Don Hugo stated firmly, glaring at both men, "and you will let no one enter or leave except for the maids that attend Dona Isabella. Do you understand?"

"Yes Excellency, we understand," both soldiers answered almost in unison.

"Good," Don Hugo growled with satisfaction. Then the smile returned to his face and it stayed there as he strode away in search of his henchman. It was time to put the next phase of his plan into motion.

Pedro woke the next morning huddled under the blankets that he'd claimed from his kidnappers possessions. Once awake he ate a quick breakfast of figs, dates, and stale flatbread. He then drank deeply from the water-skin. Once that had been accomplished, Pedro packed up what he wanted to take with him and he put it into the small boat.

There was no sail on the boat so Pedro was going to have to trust in the current of the river to carry him southward while he sat in the stern of the craft and steered it. He still had the pole that the tall kidnapper had used to draw the craft up the river, but he would only use it when necessary. There was no way that Pedro could pole the boat and navigate it, not with the force of the current to contend with. It would be better for him to steer the little craft and trust that eventually he would hit the coast. If he was lucky, once he got that far, he might be able to hire someone to transport him back to Eko.

The heat of the sun and fatigue brought on by the lack of food and nourishment made Pedro doze while he sat in the stern of the craft. From time to time his head would bob up and down for a moment as his eyes closed. Then they would snap open and Pedro would correct his course. There was little to see along the waterway that he was travelling and nothing held his attention. There weren't even any other boats on the waters for him to hail for news and to learn where he was. Eventually, as the day dragged on Pedro nodded off.

Pedro woke again well past midday. The sun was far to the west and the heat of the day was slowly fading. To his surprise Pedro found himself stranded on a sandbar that crossed the waterway that he had been following. It wasn't that large but it had been large enough to interdict his continued progress.

With a grunt and a curse Pedro pushed himself off the sandbar with the pole. Once the craft was back into the flow of the current, Pedro allowed it to carry him on around the barrier. Once past it Pedro started to look for a place to put ashore for the night. That took him a bit of time. The land around him was towering barriers of reeds and other water plants. Finding firm shoreline visible to the eye was a time consuming task. It wasn't until near dusk that Pedro finally spotted a place that looked like it would do.

Again it took some grunting and groaning for Pedro to turn the craft out of the current and to then pole it into shore. Once he had, he had to make certain that he had a hand on the stern line before even scrambling out of the boat. The boat started to drift away the second he got out of it. It didn't go far but it was just another thing that Pedro had to worry about.

It didn't take long for Pedro to set himself up a camp next to the boat. He didn't have much besides the bedrolls and the little food he had left with him. Since there was little in the way of dry wood about, he couldn't even build himself a fire. Frustrated Pedro ended up rolling up in his blankets and slipping off to sleep. He hoped tomorrow would be better.

"It is time," Dom Roberto stated impatiently to his two daughters and their companion Sister Abigail. "Don Ernesto will meet you at the end of this tunnel. He will have a carriage with him and men-at-arms to protect you in your journey. There is nothing left to say but good-bye and may God watch over the three of you. That said I suggest that you go now as quickly as you can. With luck and God's protection you will be in Porto within a couple of days."

Dom Robert and his company were beneath his villa that stood over the city of Lisbon, in what had once been a dungeon. The place was dark and cold and very musty. With Dom Roberto were his two daughters, Doma Agnes de la Vega and Doma Christina de la Vega. They were accompanied by their companion Sister Abigail. There were also two man servants with them. One carried a shuttered lantern that provided them light and one carried tools. The servant with the tools had just finished opening the sealed passageway that would take the two young ladies and their companion out under the streets of the upper city and pass the outer wall that protected the place to an old abandoned farm own by the Count de Alvarez.

"Must we really go Father," Agnes de la Vega asked with some annoyance in her voice. "Would we not be safer here in Lisbon, where all our friends are and where you can watch over us?"

"Yes Father," Christina de la Vega chimed in a second after her twin had stopped speaking. "Porto is such a far away spot and the road could be dangerous. Don't you think we should just stay here where it is safer?"

"No," Dom Roberto stated sternly in a way fathers usually spoke to their children when they are being annoying, "I do not think that keeping you here would be a better idea than sending you to the nunnery in Porto. If I had thought that, we would not be standing here beneath the villa urging you to depart. Now stop this delaying and go."

"Yes Father," both young ladies replied in unison, bowing their heads in submission as they did. Then they both turned their gaze to the open passageway and the man standing there holding the lantern. With one last feeble attempt at protestation, both young ladies asked if was absolutely necessary for them to depart through such a dark and dirty looking passage.

"Yes my daughters, it is absolutely necessary," Dom Roberto replied with a voice filled with exasperation. "Don Hugo is watching our home and he has spies everywhere. If you are to get to safety before he moves against us, then you must do so in secret. This is the only way. Now enough of this foolishness my daughters and obey me at once. Give your father a kiss and be gone. I am doing this to protect you."

With that final command both young ladies kissed their father good-bye, placing a loving, dutiful kiss on each of his cheeks. Then guided by the servant carrying the lantern, they entered the passageway. As they did, Dom Roberto called out to the nun.

"Watch out for them Sister Abigail," Dom Roberto told her. "I am entrusting them into your hands and those of God's."

"I will watch them Excellency," Sister Abigail promised with a bowing of her head, "and I will pray to God that he will do the same."

Once the guide and the three young women were gone, Dom Roberto ordered the passageway sealed once again. He stood in silence and watched patiently while the job was done. Then taking the key that barred the portal into his grasp, Dom Roberto turned and left the dungeon. Silently he walked up the long flight of stairs that led from the dungeon to the cellars above it. Behind him followed his servant carrying the tools that he had used to help open the portal. Neither man spoke to the other.

At the top of the stairs was a broad landing and a heavy wooden door. The door stood open, waiting for the return of the master of the villa and the servant. Dom Roberto stepped through it and then paused to wait for his servant to exit before he locked the door once again. It took only a minute. While Dom Roberto closed the door and locked it the servant moved on. That was when Dom Roberto heard the sound.

The sound was the swish of metal being drawn from a scabbard. Startled Dom Roberto turned just in time to see his servant being cut down by men dressed in dark cloaks. Unarmed the nobleman had little chance of defending himself. In a final act of resistance Dom Roberto took the two keys he was holding and he thrust them through the barred window that stood in the heavy door. As he did a blade sank into his side.

Pedro woke to the sound of voices.

It was almost dawn. The eastern sky was becoming brighter by the second and the day was quickly coming. Mist from the river shrouded the riverbank. Pedro hurried to his feet. As he did, he listened to hear who was approaching him.

"Come out children," the voice growled in a manner that would have made any sane man run away, "and I promise you that we will not harm you. We only want to take you back to your parents."

There was no answer to the call except for the sporadic rustling of the reeds that lined the shoreline off to the right of where Pedro had camped.

"Come children," called a second voice, just as gruffly although not as deep as the first, "and show yourselves. We promise not to harm you."

This voice came from the left of the spot where Pedro stood in silence and from the sound of it the person calling was closer to him than the first. Anxious, Pedro drew his long blade and tested it in his grip. The blade gave him courage.

"In the prophet's name children," called the first man in a tone filled with exasperation, "show yourselves to us or when we find you, you will pay dearly. We have no time for this."