Free The Adventures of Radisson. Back to the New World by Martin Fournier Page A

grasping kind—would bring to fruition a plan he had been mulling over for several weeks.
    Roussin reminded Radisson that news from Paris was very bad indeed. Thomas, who had stayed there until the fall, until the fighting had ended, said the city had become unlivable. He had chosen to return to his family in Tours because there was nothing to eat in Paris. The people who lived in its faubourgs said the wolf was at the door. Even in the city itself, only the very rich were able to eat. Unless things changed, a lot of people were going to die. Out of Christian charity, Catherine was keen to do her part. She planned to send grain so that the farmers could sow it in the springtime and harvest in the summer.
    â€œCatherine isn’t exactly rich and the harvests were nothing special here,” explained Roussin. “But she thinks it’s our Christian duty to help those in need. And I want to help her.”
    Radisson was speechless. The unrest had already started when he left Paris four years ago, but how had things gotten so bad?
    â€œWhat fighting?” he stammered.
    Everyone was surprised he had heard nothing of the unrest affecting much of the country.
    â€œIt’s a real war zone!” Touchet exclaimed. “Have you been living in a cave or something? There’s a war between the rebel princes who want to usurp the throne and those who are faithful to the real king! The country has been turned upside down.”
    â€œThe soldiers have ravaged everything,” Thomas chipped in. “Fields, animals, homes—they’ve pillaged and burned everything around Paris.”
    Radisson was fearing for his mother, who lived in the faubourgs.
    â€œThat’s why bread costs an absolute fortune,” Roussin explained. “But Catherine wants to give her grain away to the poor. The rich don’t need her charity.”
    â€œThe officers have kept all the money for themselves,” Thomas continued. “The soldiers paid themselves by looting the wheat lofts, down to the very last grain. They set homes on fire to keep warm. They killed men for sport. They raped women. Things are bad there. Really, really bad.”
    Catherine kept quiet, while Radisson listened with dismay.
    â€œParis is dangerous,” said Touchet. “There are thieves everywhere. I’d stay well clear of it, if I were you.”
    Roussin was disappointed to hear the boatman sum up the situation in such uncertain terms. He had thought the boatman was heading there. But he wasn’t going to be put off.
    â€œThere’s good business to be had for merchants not far from Paris. The bakers, it seems, have moved ten leagues outside the city. All to the same place. When their bread is ready, they come into town in an armed convoy to sell to the highest bidder. They’re making a fortune and buying up all the wheat they can lay their hands on at sky-high prices.”
    Touchet was beginning to understand the piece of business the carter wanted to talk to him about.
    â€œThere’s no way I’m gonna go get myself killed over there!” he exclaimed. “If that’s why you brought me here, you got the wrong man!”
    â€œWho said anything about getting killed?” Roussin replied, rubbing his hands together contentedly. “Any merchant worth his salt won’t go as far as Paris. Charenton is where it’s at. That’s where the bakers buy up wheat at any price. They’re far from the unrest; they’re safe there.”
    â€œToo risky,” Touchet replied, but this time sounding less sure of himself. “I’m going no further than Orléans.”
    â€œThe bakers have thought of everything,” Roussin insisted. “They have everything they need right by the Seine, far from the people who are starving to death. It’s in your hands if you want to be just as rich as they are.”
    The lure of making a tidy profit started to nibble away at Touchet’s