Fools' Gold Read Online Free

deck, and a small cabin below.
    Freize joined them, his club in his hand. He pulled a knife out of his boot and handed it to Ishraq for her defence. His face was grim.
    ‘Would this be the Ottoman lord come back for us?’ he asked Luca.
    ‘It’s not an Ottoman pirate,’ Luca said, staring at the oars biting into the waves as the galley came swiftly closer. ‘It’s too small a craft.’
    ‘Then someone else is very eager to speak with us,’ Freize said miserably. ‘And it looks like we can’t avoid the pleasure.’
    Slowly, as their little caravel came to a halt and wallowed in the water, the galley changed course and drew up alongside them. Two of the rowers got to their feet and threw grappling hooks upward at once, gripping the rail of the boat. Isolde resisted the temptation to throw them off, as the rowers in the mysterious galley hauled on the ropes and drew in close.
    Summoning their courage, Luca and Isolde looked down into the galley at the rowers, who were free, not chained; and at the man who stood in the stern.
    ‘Who are you? And what do you want with us?’ Luca demanded.
    The commander at the back of the boat had drawn his cutlass. The cold light glinted on the hammered blade. He looked up at them both, businesslike. ‘I am commanded by the Lord of Lucretili to take that woman into my keeping,’ he said, pointing at Isolde. ‘She is the runaway sister to the great lord and he has commanded her to come home.’
    ‘Your brother!’ Ishraq exclaimed under her breath.
    ‘I’m not her,’ Isolde said at once in the strong accent of a woman from the south. ‘I don’t know who you are talking about.’
    The man narrowed his eyes. ‘We have followed your trail, my lady,’ he said. ‘From the convent where the lord your brother entrusted you to the good sisters, to when you fell in with these men of God, to the fishing village, to here. You were charged with witchcraft . . . ’
    ‘She was cleared!’ Luca interrupted. ‘I am an inquirer for the Church, commanded by the Pope himself to discover the reasons for strange happenings in this world, and to see the signs for the end of days. I examined her, and I sent my report to the lord of my Order. I have cleared her of any wrongdoing. She’s not wanted by the law of the land nor of the Church.’
    The man shrugged. ‘She can be innocent of everything but she’s still the Lord of Lucretili’s sister,’ he said flatly. ‘She’s still his possession. If he wants her back then no one can deny his rights to her.’
    ‘What does he want her for?’ Ishraq asked, joining the two of them on the rail of the little ship. ‘For he was quick enough to get her out of the house when her father died, and quick enough to make an accusation which would have seen her burned to death. Why does he want her back now?’
    ‘You too,’ the man said shortly. ‘The slave, Ishraq. I am commanded to take you back too.’ He turned to Luca. ‘You have to give that one to me because she is a runaway slave and the Lord is her master. And the lady has to be given to me because she is the Lord of Lucretili’s sister and as much a part of his property as his chair or his horse.’
    ‘I am a free woman,’ Ishraq spat. ‘And so is she.’
    He shrugged as if the words were meaningless. ‘You’re an infidel and she is his sister. She was at the disposal of her father and then, on his death, her brother. He inherited her like the cows in his fields. She’s his property just like a heifer.’
    He turned his attention to Brother Peter. ‘If you prevent her coming with me then you have stolen Lord Lucretili’s property: his slave and his sister, and I will have you charged as a thief. If you keep her you are guilty of kidnap.’
    Freize sighed. ‘Difficult,’ he remarked into the silence. ‘Because legally, you know, he’s right. A woman does belong to her father or brother or husband.’
    ‘I don’t belong to my brother any more,’ Isolde suddenly asserted.