The Plague Doctor's Daughter

13. Giacomo

Giacomo did not particularly like Venice. He also did not not like it, either. It had been his home after all for the past ten years, making him almost completely forget his prior life in his native Algiers. In fact, he had no strong feelings toward his adopted home with the exception of the canals. Those he hated. If he had to get anywhere, he had to make a choice: hire a gondola, which was costly, yet was often the fastest and most direct option or go by foot and spend an inordinate amount of time and energy navigating the endless maze of alleys and bridges.

While even the innocent rocking of the gondola made his stomach churn, when he was out on an errand for the Barozzi household and they were providing the oarsman's coin, Giacomo chose the canals. But this morning, the boy of fifteen whose stature and demeanor fooled most into thinking he was a grown man was on a personal journey, so land it was.

The sun had already begun its climb in the sky, and Giacomo hoped he wouldn't be too late. He would hate to waste his precious free time getting from San Marco's to somewhere within the Arsenale only to find he'd missed what he'd gone for. Then again, he didn't even know exactly where he was going, so tardiness was the least of his worries.

His decision to go had almost been an afterthought. He had overheard the peculiar preacher many times, speaking of doomsdays and reckoning to anyone who would listen and even those who did their best to avoid him. But Giacomo couldn't completely avoid the man who looked anything but a proper man of the cloth. He'd taken up a prime spot in front of the Doge's church just meters away from the Procurator's residence to proselytize, and when he spoke, his strange sermons were unavoidable to a servant standing guard at the doors.

So Giacomo listened. And at first, he found the talk of repentance, charity, and faith along with the promise of salvation to be no different than what the other Christians assured. The possibility of the latter being achieved by the former because of Jesus's own sacrifice was of course inconsistent with what his own faith believed. In Islam, only the Mercy of Allah could save. But as the days, then weeks, and finally months wore on and more and more people died, Giacomo's convictions wavered. Perhaps he should have started looking at other means of deliverance?

The final push was personal. Last night, Signore Matteo had fallen ill, and for a few, dreadful hours, the whole Barozzi household thought that all had been lost—that God had forsaken them and that a beloved member of the family would soon be the latest victim of the pestilence. If someone as virile as Matteo could succumb to the disease, then everyone was at risk.

Thankfully, Matteo's condition turned out to be something else, but it made Giacomo realize that he was not ready to die. And if there were another way that he could protect himself against the plague, he wanted to keep his heart and mind open to it. Which was why he was now hastily criss-crossing the island.

Taking the Riva Degli Schiavoni along the southern waterfront would have been the easiest before cutting up north through one of the smaller alleys into the Castello district. But that was a popular route and would be most well-trafficked. Today, Giacomo wanted anonymity and as little attention drawn to his destination as possible.

His mind raced as fast as his feet as he neared his destination. How many else would show up? Who else would be there? Would they even let a servant boy in, much less a Moor? The public announcement about a special demonstration aimed at only those who were willing to hear the true Word of God was directed at anyone standing close enough at the time. But who else truly listened?

Giacomo stopped a moment to catch his breath, leaning his hand against the rough stucco of an exterior wall of some rich man's abode. He was close now, at the entrance to the Sotoportego di Corte Nova. This alley was much like many others in Venice, passing not just between two buildings, but also under the second story. More like a tunnel, it served as a convenient place to briefly escape the sun's glare in the summer and rain during bad weather.