NO ESCAPE FROM THE ALHAMBRA by Kirsten Boie

Author:Kirsten Boie [Boie, Kirsten]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781646906192
Publisher: W1-Media, Inc.

25

The night in the mountains seemed enchanted. In the pale light of the moon, Boston could easily see the path looming up ahead of him—sand and sharp-edged stones that crunched as he stepped on them, jarringly loud in the silence. Smooth stone slabs inserted by human hands to make it a little less hard to walk on. Now and again there was a plateau where he could rest. Even further ahead, much higher up, the path would wind through the pass in the Sierra that Salomon had told him about. They could also have taken this route to the Alpujarras. But until well into the spring, this pass was blocked by snow, and even afterward there were icy streams of meltwater running through deep channels along the way.

Beyond the mountaintops lay Granada. It was unimaginable that they had walked so far on their journey along the River Xenil. Boston sat on a rock and looked down on the village, whose white houses shone in the moonlight against the leaden gray of the mountains. Below the village lay the valley on whose terraces grew almond and olive trees. At the end of the valley was the next, more expansive valley that led finally to Lanjarón and the road back to Granada.

The village was not yet asleep, and in the stillness of the night, the various noises carried to his ears: the sound of a lute, laughter, singing. The braying of a donkey in its sleep.

I went to 1492.

How wonderful it would be if this was just an excursion. How incredibly beautiful the landscape is. But this is not a country that I can leave as I can go back to Granada. This is a different era. And perhaps it’s no longer a matter of the tile and of how I can go home. It’s a matter of whether there can ever be a way for me to go back. Or whether there will ever be a me!

Why in the world had this not been clear to him until now?

He leaned back against the rough rock. He needed to think.

The Queen had sent Columbus away. He would never set sail.

But if he didn’t set sail, he would never reach the American continent . . .

Down in the village, people had now begun to sing in chorus, accompanied by a rhythmical clapping, perhaps with people dancing. What was there for the Moors to dance about?

If Columbus didn’t reach the American continent, then history would follow a totally different course from what was described in the textbooks.

He took a deep breath.

Of course, sooner or later someone would land on one of its coasts. It was inconceivable that no one would ever get there. And then someone at some time would sail west, and it would not take long for more people to follow. What can be reached will be reached. Only it would happen later.

But will it then be the Spaniards that get there first? wondered Boston. And carry off its gold and silver

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