Niccolo Rising - Dorothy Dunnett [76]
Astorre had guarded consignments before. Astorre was used to these sessions. Astorre had, Julius noticed, a certain intensity of expression which reminded him that the captain, too, had money tied up here in Geneva according to a boast he had once made. M. de Fleury, it would seem, had offered him family rates, and an assurance that his money would be safe if anything happened to the Charetty company.
It interested Julius that, despising Astorre, Jaak de Fleury still wanted his business. Not the man, clearly, to let personal feelings interfere with profit. Good mercenaries could make a lot of money – a string of successes, a single brilliant capture, a season of looting could reward with uncounted gold any bank which was lucky enough to attract their investments. If Astorre got a first-rate contract in Italy and did well thereafter, de Fleury would make a big profit. His, Julius’s, own money was with the Strozzi. As Marian de Charetty knew, damn her. There were no such things as secrets these days.
So Astorre stayed through the dealings that morning. It was, in the main, a matter of checking and issuing receipts for the goods consigned from Bruges to Geneva. And there followed a formal inspection of the goods in transit from Bruges to the Medici in Italy. The tapestries were unroped and viewed, and the gold plate. Brother Gilles was summoned and introduced, but excused from an example of his vocal agility. Then there were led from stables to courtyard the four hackneys which were to delight Messer Pierfrancesco.
Jaak de Fleury retained throughout his air of ineffable superiority, and was no more affable to the Medici managers than he had been to the servants of his distant kinsmen, the Charetty.
Julius, papers in hand, walked out with Astorre and the rest to see the horses brought out for inspection, and saw that Claes had emerged from the stables and was helping the grooms. Julius was relieved to see him free, and also tickled. Unlike Felix, a walking bible of blood lines and litters, Claes had no close acquaintance with animals. Despite his grand-uncle’s recent jibe, the grand total of his experience extended to draught-oxen, the dog he might or might not have clubbed and the hard-mouthed horses from which he had fallen with regularity most of the way to Geneva. It was remarkable therefore that he had taken to the Medici thoroughbreds, and they to him. The nights spent sharing their straw had led to some sort of companionship. He fed them illicit mouthfuls. When he went near them they nuzzled him so that his ears dripped.
So the animals and their handlers now came to rest before the two Medici managers, and Claes was turning away when Sassetti said, “Well, now. Am I mistaken, or is that a young man I used to know? Claikine?”
Claes turned and looked. The frizzled hair, flat from three weeks under his helmet, was the same colour as the rust on his mail shirt, his face was blotched as it usually was, and he had something very close to a black eye. He grinned. “Messer Sassetti.”
“And Messer Nori. Well,” said Sassetti. Waves of chilly affront emanated from the lord of the Fleury. The Medici manager ignored them. “And here you are, a soldier now, do I see? With capitano Astorre? About to make your fortune?” Sassetti turned to Julius and the doctor. “The liveliest child I ever saw in this household. A terror, were you not? But a good courier, a runner of fast errands, volando. I wish my office boys had your speed. Well –” dismissing him with a smile – “and these are the horses.”
He approved the horses. There remained only, before they all froze, to return to the house and effect the formal handing-over of the Medici dispatches. Julius sent Loppe for the satchel, and opened it, and unwrapping the heavy oiled paper, spread the contents on Monsieur Jaak’s board so that the waxen seals, firm and brilliant, lay in profusion like flowers.
First, he picked out the Medici packets: the seal of Simone Nori from London; the package from Angelo Tani in Bruges, and another from Abel Kalthoff, their Cologne agent, all with