Free Legends of the Vengeance : The First Adventure (9781310742866) by Chautona Havig Page B

mind. “Show me.”
    “What?”
    Smiling, something Nicolo knew he needed to
do more often, he pointed to the floor. “Show me your drawing.”
    His son pulled a boot from the pile in the
corner and set it in the light and knelt on the floor. He watched
as Sebastian struggled to put lines in the right order to make a
recognizable reproduction of the boot. It was pathetic, really, but
the focus his son exuded while the picture emerged, was something
he had seen only while the boy practiced with his daggers.
    He started to protest as Sebastian grabbed
the rag to wipe it away and then relaxed as only a small section
disappeared. The buckle, in particular, was unimpressive, but as
lopsided and simple as it was, the satisfaction on Sebastian’s face
was unmistakable.
    “I did it. Look at the heel. It looks
right.”
    Nicolo could not argue with the lad. The
heel did indeed look like an accurate representation of the actual
boot—even if the rest did not.
    “It does.” He watched his son, the delight
on the boy’s face warming his heart. “You enjoy this, don’t
you?”
    Sebastian did not respond—not at first. He
looked at the unsatisfactory results before him and shrugged. “I
don’t enjoy not having a good picture. I want to draw and paint
like I saw in the church—like he did. I want to make things
bea—that look like they should.”
    “Do you think you can do it? Can you learn
without someone showing you?”
    The shock on his son’s face amused him.
Sebastian expected him to forbid the drawing—to demand that such
foolishness stopped. It was foolishness too. The boy would be a man
in a few years. He should spend those years preparing for manhood
and to take his place in the world. Then again, he had such a
confining existence. Would it really hurt the boy to have something
to do?
    “I want to try.”
    It took every bit of self-control he could
muster for Nicolo not to say what he really thought. Instead, he
nodded slowly, searching for words that would not alienate his son
any further. “Try then. You don’t have to lock the door or hide it
though. It isn’t wrong to draw. Just keep up with your practice
with the daggers, and we must teach you how to navigate now that
you are older, but there is still much time for you to work on it.
Perhaps someday you can paint the portrait of Nicolo Soranzo—
Pirate Captain of The Vengeance .
    ~~~~~~~~~~
    The night before they were expected to land
at Formentera, Jaime went to bed with a raging headache. Eager to
do his part to entertain the men, Sebastian pulled out his flute
and played the songs the men loved best. They danced, joked, and a
few even tried to tell stories, but none could rival Jaime’s
talent.
    “You try it, Sebastian,” Eduardo urged.
“Maybe you have a hidden talent. You listen better than any of
us.”
    His eyes sought his father, looking for some
kind of encouragement. Nicolo nodded. “Go ahead. Retell the story
that Jaime has been telling. Let’s see how well you listened.”
    Their styles were very different—something
that Sebastian noticed right away. In his mind, he could see the
room where Joseph ben Saolomon sat listening to Charles de Gyll. He
described the heavy draperies, the carved chair, and the woolen rug
on the floor.
    When the man pulled out the ledger, Jaime
had described the crack of the pages and the suspense in the air
while Sebastian focused on the cover, the ink stains on Joseph’s
fingers, and the way Charles licked his lips to see that number
reduced. It was as if Jaime lived the story while Sebastian set the
stage. Even as he retold it, detail by detail, the boy realized
that together they made a complete picture.
    Just as he reached the place where Ingelby
was summoned, one of the ship’s cats chased a rat over Sebastian’s
feet. Startled, he jumped, doing a half-jig to get out of the way
of the vermin. The men roared.
    “My son is now frightened of cats and mice.
He can hit a man in the heart at fifty feet,