Bianca: The Silk Merchant's Daughters by Small Bertrice

Author:Small, Bertrice [Small, Bertrice]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Penguin Group
Published: 2012-10-02T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Finally they could go no farther by land. They reached a place where there were barges waiting to be hired to take the baggage carts and the horses along with the men-at-arms who had traveled with them into the city. The three siblings and Agata were settled in a large gondola that would ferry them to their grandfather’s palazzo.

“Prince Venier?” the gondolier said. “Yes! Yes! I know his palazzo.” He pushed off from the quay. “Are you Veniers? Have you come from the estates on Kythira or Crete? Have you ever been to Venice before?” He was very curious.

“We are Prince Venier’s grandchildren from Florence,” Marco answered the gondolier. “I am called Marco, my brother is Georgio, and our sister is Bianca.”

“Marco Venier! A famous name here in Venice, signore. Once there was even a Venier who was doge.” The gondolier chattered on. “And it was a Marco who took the island of Kythira when Byzantium was taught its lesson in humility by the great Doge Dandolo. Of course it was only right that the Veniers take Kythira, for it is said to be the birthplace of the ancient goddess Venus, and the Veniers are direct descendants of Venus. That is why all its women are so beautiful, as your sister here. I have even caught a glimpse of the prince’s other granddaughter, a glorious young maiden with red-blond hair, and a face to rival Helen of Troy!”

“Our little sister,” Marco replied drily.

Bianca chuckled from her place between her two brothers. Francesca with a face to rival an ancient heroine? “She has obviously changed in the years since I’ve seen her,” Bianca murmured, and her brothers snickered. “I recall a nosy urchin, nothing more.”

The gondola glided swiftly over the water, entering a wide and busy waterway.

“The Grand Canal,” the gondolier announced, a certain pride in his voice.

They were surrounded by boats of every kind everywhere, for Venice was a great port city. There were merchant vessels, boats carrying animals, boats carrying produce and other goods. Some sold their goods from their boats. Bianca gasped as a large warship called a galleass slid by them. Through the oar ports, she could actually see the several tiers of galley slaves who rowed the vessel. She shuddered. What a terrible fate for a man to find himself in the galleys, she thought. She noticed that her two brothers were oddly silent too. One of the dangers of traveling by sea for men was the possibility of being captured by pirates and sold into the galleys.

Now the canal was lined with great palazzos, and Bianca waited for the gondolier to pull their vessel into one of the small stone quays, but he did not.

“Prince Venier does not own one of these palazzos?” Marco asked, curious.

“Oh no, signore,” the gondolier replied. “Those palazzos are owned by the great merchants of the city. You will note that each has its own dockage. It is for their vessels so they may unload their cargo into the main floor of the palazzo.

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