Niccolo Rising - Dorothy Dunnett [225]
“So you’ve done a deal with the Turks,” Felix said. He remembered, as a boy, being driven out of doors by the monotony of his father’s voice talking of subjects like this. Listening now, he forgot even his hunger. Trade, and money. A monopoly, he had said.
Nicholas said, “A Venetian merchant in Constantinople did a deal with the Turks. He had a dyeworks there, and he knew about alum. He told the Turks he could work the Phocoea alum mines if they gave him a concession, and they said they would think about it, provided he could raise enough money for his ransom. His name was Bartolomeo Giorgio or, as the Venetians pronounce it, Bartolomeo Zorzi.”
He stopped. He often did that, meaning that he had said something important. Felix thought. He said, bursting out with it, “The Greek with the wooden leg!”
Nicholas smiled. He said, “Nicholai Giorgio de’ Acciajuoli. Collecting a ransom in Europe to free Bartolomeo Giorgio, his brother. And especially collecting from places like Bruges, and like Scotland, which need alum.”
Felix said, “He liked you because you broke up his leg. He’s offering us special cheap rates of alum through his brother?”
Nicholas said, “He’s offering us special cheap rates of alum. And regular supplies of alum. And, indeed, a stockpile of alum if we want it. Which we do.”
“Why?” said Felix. And then, as Nicholas failed to answer at once: “Oh,” said Felix. “I suppose that’s the secret?”
“Secret?” said Nicholas. “It’s the business expedient which will make your fortune, and your mother’s. If you tell it to one other person – just one – your mother will lose everything but a pittance. I am going to tell you, but you must understand what it means.”
“In exchange for my silence. Oh, I know what it means,” Felix said. He wished Nicholas would look somewhere else.
Not looking somewhere else, Nicholas said, “When you get to Bruges, Gregorio and your mother and Anselm Adorne will all confirm the truth of what I’m going to tell you. In Milan, I’ve had Meester Tobie to help me.”
“Tobie?” said Felix.
“The doctor. Because he knew about herbs. And because the Acciajuoli and the Adorno know people who have worked in the Phocoea alum mines, and Tobie had an excuse to be in Italy, where he could look about and talk to them …
“Felix, listen. No one knows it yet, but in the hills north of Rome is a huge deposit of perfect alum. The best ever known. Better than the alum of Phocoea.”
Felix felt his heart swell. His voice was hoarse. He said, “Tobias is buying it for us? That’s what the money’s for?”
Nicholas looked down. He said, “Felix, no one could buy it, because it’s in the Papal States. The family who own the land are tenants of the Pope. As soon as the discovery is made known, the Pope will buy the rights and lease the mine, keeping the profits. The profits will be huge. Enough to launch a crusade.”
Felix said, “But if you’ve discovered it, Pope Pius would pay you. Us. Tobias.”
“I am sure he would,” Nicholas said. “But that would be all. Someone else would develop the mines. The Charetty business hasn’t the capital. Even before the fire, that was true. And once the mines are producing, the Pope has an alum monopoly.”
“He hasn’t,” said Felix. “You said it yourself. Bartolomeo Zorzi is producing in Phocoea. For Venice, paying tribute to Turkey.”
“That’s true,” said Nicholas. “And I suppose some misguided Christians, such as all the merchants in Bruges and Genoa and Florence, are buying from him. But once Papal alum is on the market, what faithful follower of the Cross will buy from the Crescent? Especially if the papal alum comes with a remission for sins, and the Turkish alum comes with excommunication. Hell hoist the price, too.”
“So?” said Felix joyously. What game? What prank? his mind was asking itself. Life was for having adventures. Life was for taking chances, accepting offers, making profits. Life was not for staying at home with your mother.
“So we sit on the discovery of the new papal alum mines,” said Nicholas blandly. “And the Venetians pay us for doing it. And give us all the alum we