The Flag of Freedom (22 page)

There was, of course, the possibility that captivity had increased Caterina's own sense of vulnerability – her own need for friendship and support, even love. And Louisa was the only person she could really talk to.

They spoke in English, inevitably, since it was the only language Louisa
could
speak. Even after twelve months in
Venice she hardly spoke any of the dialect, though she did know some Latin, which was similar. Officially, they could only converse in their own quarters; while on duty they were not supposed to talk to each other at all. But they found the means to do so in the one place that gave Caterina a feeling of freedom – the
hammam
.

Known previously to her as a Turkish bath, this was on the lower floor of the seraglio at ground level – a tiled oasis boasting a large pool surrounded by luxurious plants which flourished in the humid atmosphere and the light from the high, narrow windows. The women of the harem spent a great deal of their time there and the two new handmaidens were permitted to accompany them. Their duties were not arduous. They were required to help keep the place clean and tidy, pick up the used towels and leave them for the laundress, and occasionally scrub the backs of the Pasha's women with a loufa.

And there were opportunities for promotion. Had Caterina possessed the right skills she might have been employed as a masseuse. Or a fortune-teller – for the hamman was where the women pondered what the future might bring, for themselves and their children.

Caterina did wonder about setting herself up in this capacity. It did not require much in the way of subterfuge and she had inherited certain skills of presentation from her mother, Strega Rosa – but once more the language barrier presented an insuperable problem.

It was a far more basic skill that secured her advancement.

The best thing about the hammam, in Caterina's view, was the pool. She had learned to swim as a child in the
lakes and rivers of the Soave Hills whilst looking after her father's sheep. Unfortunately the pool was forbidden to slaves and she could only look on with envy as the women sedately lowered themselves into the water after taking a steam bath. But one day, when the women were still in the steam room, she horrified Louisa by diving in and swimming to the far side and back. It was only when she climbed out that she saw Lilla Hadrami standing there watching her.

The very least she expected was to be exiled to the kitchens. But the following day one of the servants, Adiba, who acted as a kind of housekeeper, took her aside and told her that Lilla Hadrami wished to be taught how to swim.

And so Caterina's new duties began.

Lilla Hadrami proved an apt pupil, but of course it was impossible to keep the lessons a secret, and soon they all wanted to do it – all apart from Lilla Kebierra and a couple of the older dependants. Caterina soon found herself teaching the two wives separately on a one-to-one basis while holding communal classes for the others. She also taught Louisa. And in return for Caterina's tutoring, the two handmaidens were permitted the use of the pool when no one else was using it.

It took them a while to relax with the idea of being naked, particularly Louisa who was more inhibited – but once they did, they spent at least one hour a day there, usually in the evenings. And this was where they did most of their talking – and plotting.

Caterina had not given up thoughts of escape. The sound of the sea, especially in the evening and at night,
was a constant enticement to her, a provocation almost. A mass break-out might be out of the question, but with the right tools she was convinced that she and Louisa could do it by themselves. Their hour in the pool at the end of the day provided the opportunity. All they lacked was the means of scaling the walls. They needed a rope and they needed some kind of a hook. Caterina even thought of making use of the hairs she was forever brushing up from the sides of the pool. Although none of the women had any hair on their bodies – they were obliged to be shaved, even in their most intimate parts, using mussel shells and an odious cream that was supposed to stop the hairs from growing again – the hair on their heads, when unbound, hung down to their waists. It should not be impossible to plait the single strands together to form a rope.

Louisa persuaded her otherwise. It would take several months, she argued, and where would they hide it in the meantime?

Caterina forbore to tell her they might well
have
several months. Even years. This was the view of the Italian slave girls who had given up all hope of release or of ever seeing the outside world. What news the captives had of that world – and the progress of negotiations for their release – was brought to them by Miriam, the Jewish woman who was the only outsider permitted regular access to the harem, and who acted as a conduit between the captives and the brokers, who were also Jewish.

Miriam had spent her early years in Livorno, and the Tuscan dialect was close enough to Venetian for Caterina to understand most of what she said. She also understood that the woman's main motive was to discover how much
each of the captives was worth – or how much might be extracted from their friends and family to obtain their release. Once a price had been agreed, and approved by the Pasha and his advisers, the brokers would arrange the transfer of funds with their associates in Italy. But the agreeing of a price could take months or even years of hard bargaining.

Of course, Caterina was reluctant to disclose that she had any money at all. As a nun, she assured Miriam, she was constrained by her vow of poverty. Miriam tactfully reminded her of the purse of gold coins that had been found on her when she was captured: thus revealing to Caterina that Miriam and her associates were in the confidence of the Pasha's officials, which was at least useful to know, though it did not inspire confidence in her. Caterina told her that she had been given the purse by one of the other passengers for safekeeping, presuming that as a nun she would not be searched.

It was doubtful if Miriam believed her, but Caterina was determined to maintain the fiction that she was entirely without funds of her own. This was when she was still hopeful that the Church would negotiate her release. It was never a very strong hope and as the months went by, it faded completely.

She had almost reached the point of admitting to a secret but small inheritance, and writing a letter to her bankers in London, when Miriam disclosed that the United States government was prepared to take responsibility, not only for the officers and crew, but for all the passengers who lacked the funds to purchase their own release. Louisa's father had apparently been active in their interests,
and agents had been appointed to do the necessary bargaining on the Americans' behalf. Nothing had been agreed as yet, but Miriam expressed confidence that it was only a matter of time.

And then she said something rather strange.

‘You have an admirer,' she revealed to Caterina as she prepared to depart, ‘here in Tripoli. He asked me to tell you not to lose hope. He is working for your release.'

But despite Caterina's entreaties she would say no more.

So Caterina decided she could hold out for a while longer. It was not as if she was in any great discomfort, or danger. The harem was a much better place to be than the dungeons in the castle basement, or working in a slave gang which, she was assured, was the lot of the male passengers and crew of the
Saratoga
while they waited for the American agent and the Jewish brokers to agree a price.

All she had lost so far, besides her purse, was her freedom.

She spent a good deal of her time wondering about this. What freedom meant to her. What it
was
.

She realised that she had never truly felt free, not even as a child roaming the hills of Treviso with the sheep. It was not as if she had a choice in the matter. She could not decide to do something else. To carry on sleeping in the morning, or read a book. Or even take the sheep to a different pasture without her father's consent. And if she had lost a single sheep, he would have knocked her teeth out. She had had no future, other than the future that her father decided for her.

Then one day, when she was about twelve or thirteen, she was sitting under an olive tree watching the sheep, or rather
not
watching them for her eyes were closed and she was almost asleep, when she heard the sound of a flute. She did not know then that it was a flute, but she knew it as some kind of musical instrument: like pan pipes. She looked up and saw a young man sitting under another tree, watching her while he played. He was rather a beautiful young man and at first she thought he
was
Pan. Or some such sprite. But he was not – he was one of a troupe of travelling players, but Caterina was enchanted nonetheless. And on the spur of the moment, after some further negotiation between them, she left the sheep and the dogs and her mother and her father and the life she had led since she was born, and joined them. And that was how she became an actress.

But she would not have said she had gained her freedom. She was still dependent on some man: some lover, like the flute-player, or some father-figure like the manager of the troupe, for it was only by his favour – and the favours she granted him – that she was able to continue with the life she had chosen and make a little money from it. And even when she became a famous actress in Verona, she still counted on the favour of the men who ran the companies and the theatres and who made the bookings.

It was the same in the convent, except that she depended on the favour of women. Women in power, like the Prioress and the Novice Mistress.

It was only when she gained power for herself that she achieved something like real freedom. But it was always
depend ent on her guile and cunning – and beauty. It was always dependent on how well she was able to manipulate
men
. Men of power in Church and State.

Freedom was power; freedom was control. And if you ever achieved it, which was unlikely, you could never for one moment relax your guard or you would lose it.

So she found a kind of freedom in being a slave in the harem – the freedom from responsibility and from having to live on her wits. It was like a holiday, and she knew it would not last. Sooner or later a decision would have to be made. If necessary, she would write to her bankers instructing them to negotiate on her behalf. Miriam would see that the letter was sent. Or she could leave it to the Americans. Or her unknown admirer. Or, if they all failed her, she would engineer her own escape.

The more she thought about this, the more it appealed to her – for what would it profit her to purchase her freedom, if it cost her everything she had? In Caterina's estimation there could be no freedom without money. Poverty was the prison she feared the most.

In the meantime, she was in no immediate danger. She might be in the power of the Pasha and his wives, but they were unlikely to do her any harm, not while she was worth something to them.

And then it all changed.

One evening, just before sunset, while she and Louisa were bathing in the pool, she had a feeling she was being watched.

There was a grille high in the wall at one end of the room. Behind it, according to the slave girls, there was a small chamber where Lilla Kebierra sometimes sat and
looked down on the other women. It was said that she was looking for a future bride for her son – one of the younger cousins or nieces, perhaps. Someone she could use in her endless war with the two wives he had already.

So naturally Caterina assumed it was Lilla Kebierra looking down at them. But it did not occur to her that it was from anything more than idle curiosity.

Then, the following day, after the usual meagre breakfast with the other captives, Caterina and Louisa received an unexpected supplement. A large dish of bread soaked in milk and sugar.

‘What is this?' Caterina demanded of Elizabetta, the slave girl who had set the dish before them.

‘It is something nice for you,' said Elizabetta, but she would not meet her eyes. ‘On the instruction of Lilla Kebierra.'

Caterina pushed it aside. ‘Well, you may thank Lilla Kebierra kindly for me,' she said, ‘and tell her that while we appreciate her concern, we have quite enough to eat already.'

Elizabetta looked even more embarrassed. ‘Please eat,' she said. ‘If you do not, we have been told we must force it down you.'

She abruptly turned on her heel and walked away. Caterina felt Louisa looking at her.

‘What was that about?' the girl asked.

‘They want to fatten us up,' Caterina told her thoughtfully.

‘But why?'

‘So we look more like them.'

‘But why would they want that?' Louisa had improved
in many ways since her arrival in the harem, but she was still quite naive at times.

Caterina spelled it out for her. ‘So we may make suitable brides,' she said, ‘for a Pasha.'

Louisa gazed at her in dawning horror. ‘What are we to do?' she said.

‘At the moment, I have no idea,' Caterina confessed. ‘It has been rather sprung on me. I am going to have to think about it.'

In the meantime, they ate the sugared bread soaked in milk. It would have been too humiliating to have it forced down them. Even so, they nearly gagged on it.

Caterina did not have to think for long. She knew what she had to do, but it would take careful planning and the co-operation of their friendly extortionist – and the judicious disposal of a few rosary beads.