He was pointing toward the same big, ungainly buss that Simon had
visited earlier, whose captain had refused Simon.
"But he said he was going to Cyprus!"
"He lied to you," said Sordello. "I know the man. Guibert was shipmaster
for a boatload of us mercenaries in the last war between Pisa and Genoa.
He feared that if you were to travel on his ship, you might find him
out."
"Find out what?"
"He is one of those Languedoc heretics who hate the Church and the
French nobility, a follower of the Waldensian heresy. He was imprisoned
once and sentenced to death in Montpellier. He recanted his heresy and
was released after signing over all that he possessed to the Church. But
then he came to Italy, made a new start, and backslid to Waldensianism.
If the Inquisition got him now, he would go to the stake even if he
recanted a thousand times."
"Then why has he agreed to carry us?" To think, the man had seen Simon
as an enemy. Simon, who had inherited his Languedoc parents' loathing of
the persecution of heretics.
"I told him that if he did not take us where we wanted to go, I would
tell the officers of the Inquisition here in Livorno about him," said
Sordello blandly.
"What!" Simon was outraged.
Sordello looked hurt. "Surely, Your Signory does not see any wrong in
forcing a heretic to do a good turn for the pope and the king.
Especially when it means he gets to go unpunished. So we do our duty,
but with a leavening of charity."
For Simon to say more would reveal too much about himself and his
family. Fuming, he bit his lip. But another objection came to him.
"We will have to take turns standing guard the whole voyage," he said.
"That captain will want to slit our throats to make sure his secret is
safe."
"We would have to stand guard anyway, Your Signory. A sea captain knows
no law but his own greed as soon as he puts out from shore. If you can
pay him seventy-five florins, that tells him you must be carrying a
great deal more money. But I have insured our safety another way. I have
told him that an old friend of mine here in Livorno knows his secret,
and if that friend does not receive a message from me in due course
assuring him of our safety, he will report Guibert to the Inquisition.
Guibert would never be able to come back to Livorno, his home base, and
he would not really be safe anywhere in Italy."