The Rose Demon

Torquemada wishes to meet you again. I expect you to obey my orders. Do you understand?’

    ‘Yes, sir!’

    ‘Good. Your duties are light. Remember: don’t try to climb the rigging or mast, you’ll only go overboard. I haven’t got time for a search. However, you can be part of the forward watch. Each man does four hours every day, sometimes in the morning, sometimes at night. I expect you to be awake when I do my rounds.’

    ‘What are we looking for, Captain General? I mean, we are sailing into the unknown . . .’

    Columbus smiled bleakly. ‘We are setting sail for the Grand Canaries, no more dangerous than a jaunt along a river. But, when we leave there,’ he held his hand up, ‘the Portuguese may have men-of-war waiting for me. I’m to give these the slip. Once we are out in the open,’ he pushed his face closer, ‘it’s land, do you understand, Fitzosbert?’ Columbus stumbled over Matthias’ name. ‘For the man who first sights land, there’ll be a pension for life.’

    Matthias was dismissed. Later in the day he was given his place to sleep in the corner of the forecastle. Matthias’ goods were stowed away with the rest. There was no mattress, only a threadbare, rather smelly grey blanket.

    In the succeeding days Matthias became accustomed to the humdrum routine of the ship. He was relieved that any sea-sickness soon passed, and his ability to participate in different duties, including a watch, soon made him acceptable to other members of the crew. They drew him into their light-hearted conversations and banter about each other: the sexual exploits of women who lived in the Canaries; of Columbus and their dreams of what they might find out in the unknown ocean. They were a tough group of men, self-sufficient, with little respect for authority, even for the Captain General.

    ‘He’ll have to prove himself,’ Alonzo Baldini declared. He was a fisherman from Palos who had also served as a pirate. He rubbed his hands. ‘What I want to see are these women on the Grand Canaries.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Do you know that before a virgin is married, she is fattened with milk until her skin is plump as that of a ripe fig. The people there claim that thin maidens are not as good as fat ones.’ He licked his lips. ‘Once she is fattened she is shown to the groom.’ His voice dropped to a whisper because of Columbus’ strict instructions against impure and Godless conversation. ‘She’s shown naked,’ he whispered, ‘like a cow at a fair.’

    Other members of the crew joined in, making tart observations on what they hoped to do before they left the Canaries. They told Matthias that he should hire the service of a good whore because the women of the Great Khan were too small for Spaniards and not able to cater for their sexual needs.

    Matthias half-listened. Staring round the moon-dappled deck, he idly wondered which of these men did not possess their own soul. Was the Rose Demon amongst them? So far he had encountered nothing to provoke any suspicions and he wondered about the old stories he had read in Oxford - could demons cross vast expanses of water? And, if they did reach lands across the Western Seas, would Matthias find peace? A sanctuary from the forces which had pursued him for most of his life?

    Six days after leaving Palos, the Pinta and Niña closed up behind the Santa Maria . Following the glow of the brazier which was slung over the flagship’s stern, they followed it into the harbour of San Sebastián, which stood on the cliffs overlooking the port on the island of Gomera in the Canaries.

    The rest of the day was spent in bringing the ships alongside each other in the harbour. The Pinzon brothers came over to confer with Columbus whilst the crew waited to see what orders would be given. At last, late in the afternoon, Columbus announced that the Pinta would be sailing back because of a fault with its rudder whilst he would wait to present his compliments to Lady Bobadilla, the widowed ruler of the Canaries. The crew were, therefore, given leave to go ashore.

    Matthias found Gomera a restful place: its white, gleaming buildings, small, cool wine shops, gardens and vineyards and the great, green expanse of the island stretching up to the rim of an extinct volcano. The islanders were an easy, careless, merry group of people who welcomed the ships and the gossip they brought.

    They landed at Gomera on 12 August. Matthias spent the first few days wandering round the