Red City on the Ocean

Chapter 11. Forgery

Brother Pascoal believed that the punishment of humanity for the Tower of Babel would one day end. Through his prayers and studies, he intended to bring the day closer when people all over the world could begin to understand each other again. He believed he could understand any foreigner if he put his mind to it. After all, the apostles, the messengers of Christ, had the gift of understanding all the languages in the world. Brother Pascoal himself had already learned a dozen languages, including the languages of the Marranos and Moriscos. He gained this particular knowledge by helping his father hire sailors for long sea voyages. Only a few Portuguese would agree to sail into uncharted seas. The mercenaries, heretics fleeing from Castile, or prisoners who were sold as slaves in the markets, came to the rescue. However, it was necessary to negotiate with them, teach them how to work on ships, and explain the rules of payment. The most difficult were the taciturn captains who always lied, telling tales about their past successes and trying every possible way to evade responsibility for the hired team.

As a result, he cultivated and multiplied his knowledge, which he extracted himself at the monastery at which he lived. For Pascoal, any word was like a candle between two mirrors, which was repeated from reflection to reflection, each time not noticeably changed, it recurred into infinity. "That's how languages repeat the same word," Pascoal argued, "but each in its own way, because all people are brothers, which means they all have the same language."

In the Lisbon Jeronimos monastery, all this was not yet considered heresy, but no one considered young Pascoal's opinion there. All that was required of him was to perform feats of obedience, pray, observe the rules and the authorities, and not indulge in new fantasies that would embarrass the brethren. Therefore, the abbot had recently imposed a penance on Pascoal and sent him to the white clergy in the church of Leiria to atone for his superstition. "Those whom you love, you will punish," the abbot said with finality and added, "Don't come back until you have learned the languages of birds and wolves." About this possibility, Brother Pascoal had accidentally also let slip. Therefore, Pascoal's father would have to wait a little for his son's help to hire sailors, perhaps only for a season.

Brother Pascoal recalled all this as he was entering the prison. Was this a trap? It all came together very well – his penance, the need for an interpreter conveniently here, away from Lisbon and his father... Maybe they would take him to where the prisoner was supposedly sitting and leave him there as well? He wouldn't be able to tell his father anything.

It was cold and stuffy in the dungeon. There, on a round block, sat a man dressed in only a loincloth. Next to him was a table with a jug on it. There were no other items in the cell. Pascoal looked at the man and realized he was shivering from the cold. Judging by his face and tattoos, he was definitely not European but was lighter skinned than most Africans.

"Who are you?" Pascoal asked him in Arabic.

The prisoner uttered a word, but Pascoal did not understand him.

"Who are you?" he repeated his question in Hebrew.

Pascoal asked his question in all the languages he knew, but the prisoner either pronounced the word he had already said or did not answer at all.

"Well?" Furtado got bored. "What does he say?"

"He says he wants to get warm, Senhor Officer," Pascoal answered. "And he wants to eat. Also, he needs light because the darkness can make him blind."

"He wants to eat? He is a bandit!" Furtado said angrily. "He and his friends killed our soldiers, and probably killed others elsewhere as well, on the high road."

"Really? And I suppose rumors have already spread around the city that this is the Red Ghost?" Pascoal said ambiguously.

"What?"