The Last Song (15 page)

I walked over to the bench and sat down. I kept my eyes lowered modestly and fanned myself slowly, as if I had all the time in the world. “I’ll wait here until his excellency can find a moment to see me.”

The friar stared at me, a puzzled expression on his face. It was obvious that he wasn’t used to having his orders questioned. I kept on fanning myself and prayed that he couldn’t see or hear the thumping of my heart.

“All right,” he finally said. “I’ll see what I can do.”

He bowed and left the room. Yussuf and I stared at each other, afraid to speak. I remembered Mama’s warning that the walls had ears where the Inquisition was concerned.

After what seemed like hours but must have been mere minutes, Fray Armand reappeared.

“You’re most fortunate, my child. His grace has granted you an audience. He asked me to tell you that he has but a few minutes to spare.”

We followed Fray Armand up the staircase and started down a long corridor lined with doors. A man came out of one of the rooms. His head was turned away and he was moving quickly. I caught a glimpse of his cape as he turned the corner to another hallway. There
was something familiar about him. I realized that the way he was moving reminded me of Tio Diego. I opened my mouth to call after him but stopped myself. What would my uncle be doing in the Grand Inquisitor’s palace? I dismissed all thoughts of Tio Diego when Fray Armand stopped in front of a door at the very end of the hall. A familiar with a dagger tucked into his black sash was leaning against it. He straightened up at the sight of us and saluted smartly.

“Father Armand! What can I do for you?” he asked.

“Announce Doña Isabel de Cardosa to his excellency.”

The familiar swung the door open and I followed him into the chamber. Both Yussuf and the monk stayed behind.

“Doña Isabel de Cardosa to see your grace,” the familiar announced. He backed out of the room and gently closed the door.

I waited for the Grand Inquisitor to acknowledge me. A magnificent candelabra obscured my view of Torquemada, sitting behind it, across the room. I had only a glimpse of the top of his head, with its monk’s tonsure. Behind this hidden figure stood a familiar. I looked around the room to calm myself. It was a large chamber that was dark even in the daytime. There were no windows. Burning torches cast mysterious shadows.
The walls were whitewashed, matching the snowy damask tablecloth that covered a long, carved table in the middle of the room. It was set with a wealth of silver dishes.

“Hurry up, you fool! I am hungry,” cried a petulant voice. I recognized it immediately. The man peered around the candelabra. It was the Grand Inquisitor himself.

“Doña Isabel? Come closer.”

My knees were knocking so hard that I could barely cross the long expanse of carpet to his table. I was too frightened to meet his eyes, so I fixed my gaze on a unicorn’s horn that lay on the table in front of him. It was the first unicorn’s horn that I had ever seen, for they are very rare. Papa had shown me a drawing of one in a book when I was a little girl. He told me that it had magical powers.

A piece of dark bread rested on a silver plate. Beside it was a bowl of dates. A dish of gruel looked so unappetizing that I wouldn’t have offered it to one of my servants. The familiar tasted everything on the table.

“The food is safe to eat, your excellency,” he said.

The Grand Inquisitor broke off a corner of the bread and chewed it thoughtfully. Suddenly, a small monkey crawled out from underneath the table and
hopped up onto the chair next to Torquemada. I was so surprised that I jumped.

“Don’t be afraid,” Torquemada said. “Miguel is my friend.”

Torquemada held out a date. The monkey grabbed it with his paws. Torquemada turned his attention back to me. I curtsied deeply.

“What brings you to my humble lodging, Doña Isabel?”

He did not ask me to sit down, so I remained on my feet, quaking.

“I must speak to you, excellency.”

“What can I do for you?”

“I have a delicate matter to discuss, your grace. I would appreciate if my words were heard only by yourself.” I nodded my head toward the food taster.

The friar straightened up in his seat. “I believe that we met only once before, Doña Isabel. I barely know your father. How could your words be so important that they must be for my ears only?”

His sharp words stung.

“I am only thinking of you, excellency, not of myself,” I muttered. “My request is such that neither you nor I would want to share it with the world.”

His eyes narrowed and he waved the food taster out of the room. “You have a lot of gall, my lady. What
do you want from me? Be quick. I have but a few moments.”

Fear paralyzed me. I tried to speak, but no sound left my throat. Torquemada held out his arm and the monkey hopped onto it. He began to scratch the animal’s back.

“What do you want?” he repeated.

“Your excellency, my father … my father, Enrique de Cardosa …” I finally stammered.

“What about him?”

He began to drum his fingers on top of the table.

I took a deep breath. “Your grace, a terrible injustice has been done. False accusations have been made against my father. The Inquisition arrested him because of them. My father is no heretic. He is a good Christian.” All my years of going to Father Juan’s mass made this lie easier to tell.

I forced myself to speak in measured tones although I wanted to scream and cry and beat the table with my fists. When the monkey nuzzled Torquemada’s chin, the Grand Inquisitor’s gaze shifted to his pet. He fed it another date and I began to breathe again.

“How dare you question the holy Inquisition.” The cold pebbles that were his eyes bore into my face.

“Your excellency, forgive the love of a daughter for her father.” I lowered my voice. “I am certain that you
can see that the arrest of one of your own kinsmen must be a mistake. Only a fool would believe that somebody who shares the blood of your excellency would be capable of heresy.”

The Grand Inquisitor’s hand froze midair for an instant before he resumed feeding his animal. The monkey clapped its paws impatiently.

“What nonsense you speak!” Torquemada said. “Don Enrique is no relative of mine.”

“He is, excellency. You must know that your grandmother Sara and my papa’s grandmother Miriam were sisters.”

His sole reaction to my words was a twitch of his lips.

“I have a letter written by Doña Sara to Doña Miriam. It contains their mother’s recipes, recipes for the food your grace’s great-grandmother ordered prepared for the Passover.” I paused. “That is a Jewish observance, I believe.”

Torquemada carefully transferred the date from his palm to the table. The monkey jumped on his shoulder to try and get closer to the date. Roughly, he swept the animal off. The monkey ran to a corner of the room squealing.

“Sit down!” he barked.

I sank down quickly into a chair across from him,
clasped my hands tightly, and crossed my ankles to still their trembling.

“You speak nonsense. Don’t you realize that I could have you imprisoned for your lies? You’d never see daylight again.” His tone was all the more frightening for its calmness.

“I hope that you wouldn’t do that, your grace. I treasure my freedom. That’s why I want my papa to be free, too. I must tell you that I left a note to be delivered to their most Catholic majesties if I disappeared or if anything happened to me. I told the queen and the king about my papa’s arrest and that my father was made a prisoner through the lies of a cowardly informer. Their majesties will believe me, for I explained that my papa is your cousin. Their majesties hold you in such high regard, excellency, that they would never believe that a kinsman of yours could be a heretic. Unfortunately, the royal couple would also find out that your grace is a New Christian, like my father and me.”

“Your allegations are ridiculous! I come from an old Christian family.” He was silent for a moment. “Did you bring Doña Sara’s letter with you?”

“I was worried that I would lose it, so I put it in a safe place. However, I did copy it for your grace.” I handed it to him.

He read it quickly. When he finished, he put the letter down on the table in front of him.

“I want the original of this letter,” he said.

“Of course. And you shall have it, excellency, as soon as my father is a free man.”

He stared at me for a long moment, as if he wanted to devour my soul. A telltale muscle twitched by his mouth. The only sound in the room came from the rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat of his fingers on the tabletop.

“All right,” he finally said. His lips twisted into a wintry smile. “You are quite right, Doña Isabel. Your father seems to be a distant relation of mine. The arrest by the holy Inquisition of one of my kinsmen, regardless how far removed, would be disagreeable to me. I will have Don Enrique freed three days from today.”

“Why wait so long?”

“The wait is necessary. I don’t want anyone to say that your father was released because you came to see me. You have my word that the Inquisitors will not, shall we say, question him again. I will have Don Enrique taken home. Once he is there, I expect the original of this letter from you.”

“You shall have it, your grace,” I repeated. I got up from the chair, approached closer, fell to my knees, and kissed his outstretched hand. “Words cannot describe my gratitude.”

“No need to thank me. I want justice done.”

He stood up and beckoned to his monkey. It crossed the room and jumped into his arms. Torquemada carried it out of the chamber as if it were a baby.

C
HAPTER 15
 

M
ama was pacing the hall when I returned. At first she was furious when I told her that I had gone to the alcazar to speak to the Grand Inquisitor.

“Have you lost your senses? I told you that I would go! Don’t you understand the kind of man Torquemada is? Didn’t you realize that he could have had you arrested, sent you to the stake? That he still might?” She covered her face with her hands and began to cry. “I couldn’t bear losing you, too!”

“You haven’t lost me … and you haven’t lost Papa. Torquemada promised to free him.”

I told her everything then – how long Fray Armand kept me waiting, how afraid I had been, how I had persuaded Torquemada to promise to send Papa home.

“At first he paid more attention to his monkey than
to me, but that changed when I told him about Sara’s letter to Miriam.”

“Do you trust him? Do you believe that he’ll let your father go?”

“He will. He doesn’t want their majesties to find out that he is a New Christian. Papa will be home three days from today!”

“From your mouth to God’s ears!” she said.

The days that followed seemed like an eternity. My mother and I tried to keep each other’s spirits up.

We were sitting on a stone bench in the rose garden when Sofia appeared.

“There is somebody at the door to see you, young mistress,” she said with an impudent smile.

“Who is it? What are you grinning at?”

She threw a quick glance in my mother’s direction and didn’t reply.

“What’s the matter with you, Sofia? Tell me who is at our door!” I demanded.

“Who is our visitor?” Mama asked.

“Yonah, the silversmith’s son.”

I got up from the bench but then sat down again. I didn’t know what to do. Should I talk to him? He said that we couldn’t see each other again. Why did he come?

Mama took the decision out of my hands. “Bring the boy to the garden.”

Sofia returned with Yonah in no time and then withdrew. Yonah bowed deeply and then he stood silent, fiddling with his cloak. His color was heightened and he refused to meet my eyes. I forced myself to sit still, with my hands calmly in my lap.

“Doña Catarina, Isabel, my father sends you his greetings,” he finally mumbled. “My father and I just heard that Don Enrique was arrested by the Inquisition.” His voice became more confident. “What can we do to help?”

“Both you and your father are very kind,” Mama said. “But you have enough troubles of your own without involving yourself in ours. We are hopeful that my husband will be a free man very soon.” She turned to me. “Isabel, tell Yonah about your interview with the Grand Inquisitor.”

Yonah’s eyes grew wide as I recounted my tale and told him that Torquemada, Papa, and I shared the same blood. I told him what I had earlier told Mama – that Torquemada wouldn’t want the king and queen to discover his Jewish background.

Yonah shook his head. “Somehow it all seems too easy. Why would Torquemada give in so easily? He must have some tricks up his sleeve.”

“He may be the cruelest of the cruel, but he is a man of God. Surely, someone in his position must be a man of his word,” Mama replied.

Yonah still looked unconvinced.

“If he keeps his side of our bargain, I will give him the letter. I keep my promises.”

“I pray that Isabel is right,” Mama said. She stood up. “I must go to the kitchen to consult the cook about dinner.”