Free Chiara – Revenge and Triumph by Gian Bordin

and powerful family. They could have us expelled from Pisa or, worse, have us thrown in prison."
    Several people started arguing at the same time.
    Lorenzo raised his hands. "Quiet, quiet! Only one person at a time. All of you will get your say, but Carlo has a point." He looked at her. "Chiara, I think you have to tell us why and from whom you’re running away."
    She started wringing her hands, refusing to meet his eyes.
    "Chiara?"
    "Chiara, tell us; it’s important," said Alda softly. "Nobody here will judge you, nor will we think less of you. We all carry some baggage we’d rather leave behind."
    She struggled with herself silently.
    "Please, Chiara."
    "My father arranged a marriage with a man I loathe. I begged him many times, but he refused to relent."
    "But why do you wear boys’ clothing?" questioned Antonia.
    "I thought traveling would be easier, and the women’s garments I took along and all my jewels and my other belongings were stolen from me."
    She could feel Antonia’s eyes, almost black in the meager light, pierce into her.
    "Refusing to marry the man your father chose is grave. If he’s important, it will cause us untold trouble when they find you with us," remarked Lorenzo.
    "My father is not an important man. He is only a small landholder and lives far to the south from here."
    "Where?"
    She hesitated for a moment. "On Elba. He is an old man and hasn’t left the island in years." She prayed that they would not ask about the man she refused.
    "So I think that settles it. There’s little danger from that part," said Alda. "We can now get back to our second and more important rule." Without heeding the interjections from Anna and Carlo, she continued: "Chiara adds a skill that this group has been lacking and needs badly if we want to perform plays of the famous Latin poets Plautus or Terence … I want to say, perform them true to the phrases and meanings intended rather than from dubious hearsay. She can read Latin fluently and translate it truthfully, not to speak of interpreting city ordinances correctly. I’m certain that Lorenzo will agree."
    "I agree, Alda, and I don’t want to hear another word about those ordinances. We’ve always managed so far."
    "No offense intended, Lorenzo," Alda replied with a smile. "But there’s more. She can also write down clever phrases we come up with on our own. How often did we fail to remember a particularly good twist? She could even write down the skits we have developed."
    "And then we could sell them and make money," added Antonia chuckling.
    "But can she also write in the vernacular?" queried Pepe.
    Alda punched him lightly with an elbow.
    "I have read La Comedia by the famous Florentine poet, Dante, which is written in the vernacular," answered Chiara. "The writing is not that different from the Latin."
    "But is that enough?" questioned Pietro, who so far had not spoken. "As Lorenzo said, we’ve managed fine so far."
    "He only said managed, not managed fine," was Antonia’s caustic reply.
    "Still, I don‘t think this is of enough value to warrant taking her in. We don’t need somebody who could become a millstone around our neck."
    "I will do anything you want me to do," pleaded Chiara. "And I don’t want more than food and a place to sleep."
    "You’ll do anything? Anything at all?" questioned Anna. "You would work with Pepe and be his target?"
    "Yes."
    "You know what that means?"
    Chiara nodded, while Lorenzo said reproachfully: "Anna, we all know you hate that task, but you can’t simply shirk it."
    "Yes, you agreed to do it," exclaimed Giovanni.
    "Yes, I did because Carla suddenly left us and Lorenzo insisted the target had to be a young woman," retorted Anna, "but I also said then that I would only do it until we find somebody else. It isn’t just that I hate it. It unsettles me so that I’ve difficulties remembering my lines later on. If Chiara is willing to be the target, I’m for taking her in."
    Alda, Carlo, and Pietro all talked at the