VOYAGE OF STRANGERS Read Online Free

it? But who knows why Jews do anything? The soldiers spotted the cold chimney and figured they’d catch them out. But they must have gotten wind of it somehow. They were already gone.”
    “Nothing to stay for, then.” I shrugged. “I don’t suppose they left my gold lying around. Come, Cristobal.”
    The old woman snorted.
    “If they did, the soldiers have diced it away by now.” Her cackle followed us as we retreated down the street.
    Cristobal had to trot to keep up with me. All the people of the Indies were short of stature, with golden skin and thick black hair, coarse as a horse’s mane. 
    “What now?” He wrapped himself more securely in his woolen cloak.
    “I must seek out my Aunt Marina. She is a courtier’s widow of some influence. I pray she may have news of my sister. But you need not come with me, if you are cold.”
    “In this wrapping, I am well enough,” Cristobal said. “I am but tired of being stared at and pinched by every fool in Spain.”
    “I am sorry for that and glad of your company.”
    One might call Cristobal marrano himself. The baptism on which Admiral Columbus had insisted was merely a thin veneer over the true beliefs of all the captive Taino. But only I knew that, having had more interest than the rest in learning the Taino language.
    “These are fine dwellings,” he said as we turned into a street of stone buildings and heavy oak doors. “They would defy the winds of Juracán, did the god of storms ever visit Spain.”
    “Indeed.”
    My aunt had prospered since converting in her youth. My father called her stubborn as a runaway mule. At best, she might have taken Rachel in.
    “Look!” Cristobal squinted down the street. “Is that the dwelling we seek? Who are those men? They are dressed as if for raiding.”
    The Taino had no word for war. Nor had they seen metal, except for soft gold, until we reached their shores. But he was right. A band of soldiers, steel helmets glinting in the sun, stood at attention before Doña Marina’s door.
    The Inquisition! My heart thumped in my chest. How could it be? The family had always believed my aunt a sincere converso and devout Christian, her position unassailable even since her husband’s death. We had also been assured, before sending Rachel north to Barcelona, that the Inquisition had as yet no headquarters there, unlike most great Spanish cities, including our own Seville. I saw no hooded priests, but the faces under the helmets seemed grim and pitiless. If Rachel had indeed found shelter here, had they found her out and come to take her away?
    I swallowed my fear, straightened my shoulders, and greeted them courteously.
    “Good day. I have come to call on my kinswoman, Doña Marina Torres y Mendes. Is this not her home? And may I ask what you do here?” 
                  To my surprise, the soldiers’ rigid posture relaxed. Leaning on his lance, the man who seemed to be the captain grinned.
    “We are the men at arms of Don Rodrigo Maldonado. This is indeed the home of Doña Marina. Our master is within. He’s come a-courting.”
    Courting? This was no Inquisitorial party, then, but the entourage of a noble suitor of my aunt's.
    “Are you one of Admiral Columbus’s men, sir, that crossed the Ocean Sea with him?” he asked. “Is that fellow not one of the savages?”
    With a murmur of interest, the soldiers surged forward, a few with hands stretched out to touch Cristobal if they could. All Barcelona had seen us at a distance when we entered the city, and as Cristobal had complained, everyone wanted a better look. The captain called them back to order with a sharp command.
    “He is a man like you, sir,” I said, keeping my tone courteous. “I pray you treat him with respect.”
    “Of course, of course. Our master takes a special interest in the Admiral’s expedition, see. He’s got a cousin that sailed with you. One Juan Cabrera. You must know him.”
    “Indeed.” I kept my voice calm, although my