Chapter 1 – Introduction and betrayal
“Keep your guard up higher, Cyndria!”
“But father, I’m tired! And why should I learn brawling or using swords and knives? I’m a woman and I don’t need it!” In the beginning, I found it fun to exercise with my father in fighting and swordsmanship, so as to have some dedicated time with him, but now it was getting boring. It’s A.D. 1780 and I’m the barely fourteen years old daughter of Su Excelencia Luis Monteyo y Spinoza y Aquino de Alameda, Governor of Simòn de Alpeche. A small island, a thousand kilometres southeast of Bermuda, holding only a port town with a fort, and a couple of villages. Its position was good as a stop to replenish most of the needed provisions before the last length of the travel from Europe to the main holdings of the Spanish dominions in the New World, if they deviated south of the now most usual routes.
Formally, it was a rather important position my father got, but in truth, not being the island on the main routes of the rich traffics of gold, spices and resources, it was a position that more powerful and ‘introduced’ men avoided like hell. It wasn’t allowed to extort much from ships or the local population, and thus, getting rich quickly, and the political power deriving from it was very limited, if any. In fact, despite his authority on any ship docking there, father couldn’t ask for any favour or even for any help from the motherland and nor the dominions. He barely managed to get a small garrison, so he resorted to training some local militia and paying them with his own money, a force just strong enough so that for other powers it wouldn’t be worth the disturbance to get the island with force. At least he could formally get from Spain a sum adequate to his title, which he was allowed to detract from the taxes that he would collect and send to the motherland. But down to the practical prestige of the position, basically, father had been exiled.
Anyway, he was a very careful and competent man, and he managed to make the island, if not prosperous, at least a well-off community. No slavery or indentured servants, fair laws, and income high enough for everyone to live comfortably. Trading, with father’s fair taxes, was working well, and ships under every flag not at the moment at war with Spain were increasingly docking and trading in the island, making it a place known for fair trade, and making it develop further. That was providing a good income to both my father, the island and the Crown. So much, that he could pay for the small port to be enlarged and improved enough to be able to dock between ten and fifteen ships, depending on their size. That, paired with his fair trade-taxes, increased the traffic a lot, and more and more ships would add some length of travel to stop there for resupplying rather than stopping in the extorting ports on the shorter routes.
But in his almost blind faithfulness to the Crown, father failed to consider one thing. His illuminated rule wasn’t something the Crown could like. Give rights to citizens? A fair income? Don’t extort money from everyone? Treat peasants fairly? And even daring, by ruling that way, to earn more than anyone else would by using the usual means of oppression, slavery and extortion? Heresy! What would happen if people knew? There would be rebellions everywhere! And so, one afternoon, a few weeks after the episode of me complaining about sword training, the Reina de los Mares, a majestic Spanish galleon, docked and disembarked a full regiment of soldiers. Their officer in charge was Colonel Diego de Villanueva, and his orders were to check if the information about such an unheard-of ‘fair’ rule was true and decide if to execute the father for treason or keep him as administrator, in any case, replacing him as Governor of the island. Any opposition had to be dealt mercilessly, Spanish style. As soon as the colonel left the ship, seeing a couple of dock workers idling around, he commanded them to get to work helping unload his stuff. They answered that the unloading crew would be there as soon as the unloading fee was paid at the port office, and as a consequence, he had them tied and personally stripped their backs of the skin with a nine-tail whip. Next, he went to the militia quarters and told them to drop their weapons and go back to their homes, or be arrested and executed for rebellion against the Crown. In less than an hour, there was already unrest brewing on the island, as the earlier whipping didn’t pass unnoticed, nor under silence. In fact, he already couldn’t find a worker in the whole port.
Mother died when I was just a child, so father and I have kept each other company since then. That allowed us to speak a lot, and I was well aware of his deep love for the Crown and the Kingdom. Everything he did was for Motherland Spain, always keeping in mind the Kingdom’s best interests. So, when Colonel de Villanueva gave him the orders, signed by the Queen in person, he paled and almost fainted. I was there and helped him onto a chair. I could read in his pale face a lot of feelings. At last, he opened his eyes and saw the truth. Betrayal, upset, rage, sadness, and a sense of deep emptiness suddenly overwhelmed him. In just a moment, he was a wrecked man, because all the truths that he refused to see in his life, at last became undeniable. He was barely audible when he asked:
“Are you going to murder me or send me back to Spain to be assassinated there?”
“Don Luis, my intention was initially to send you back home, or execute you if you opposed. Anyway, I understand that your death would leave your daughter alone and with nothing, so I think we can now reach an agreement, and you can work for me as administrator. Let it be clear that it will be done with the rules of the Crown, that I will deliver and personally issue. Peasants and workers won’t get paid as much as they are now; it’s just a waste of money that will be better used to give this house a more adequate appearance for my gubernatorial status. If any peasant dares to disrespect one of their masters, they’ll be given an unforgettable lesson.”
“And what would this agreement be?” Father's voice was still feeble.
“I will marry your daughter, she’s of wedding age and won’t find a better suitor in this isolated place, and you’ll keep the role as I said. Otherwise, your daughter may become one of the whores selling themselves to the sailors down at the docks. I bet there will soon be a number looking for that job. That’s something mariners always look for, after months of sailing, thus it’s an asset.”
“Colonel de Villanueva, it’s likely I would discuss your proposal, but please allow me to retire and rest for a while. My heart isn’t as strong as it used to be anymore. Would you mind if we continue this discussion later, maybe at dinner?”
“I see you aren’t well, so just in respect for the services you performed for the Crown in the past, I will allow you.”
I intervened. “I’ll send for your stuff to be brought to your chambers. I assume you’ll take residence here, won’t you?”
“Yes, you are right, Señorita.”
I was very worried. Both for the sudden fall of my father’s health, and about my future. That guy already showed being a merciless, greedy and cruel man, and also driven by lust, one whose ‘best’ features were ineptitude and short-sightedness. Marrying him would likely turn my life into hell and eventually lead to a precocious death. I accompanied my father to his room, and once he laid on the bed, he motioned me near his head. I put my ear next to his mouth and he spoke.
“I’m not going to sell you to keep a position that will only make me a witness and accomplice to the destruction of such a good community, after years of hard work. Flee. I was wrong all these years; at last, I opened my eyes. The Crown is selfish, a den of plotting and corruption, the Queen is no better than the others, and doesn’t care about her subjects. For them, everyone is just a disposable good. I gave my life to them, and despite the ever-growing money I sent them, they decided to execute me because I’m not oppressing people or extorting merchants. Flee, daughter. There is a merchant ship docked in the peak dock. I know they are English pirates. But their Captain, John ‘Blackeyes’ Hood, is a man of his word, and he owes me a few favours. Take the money from the fund chest, and pay him to bring you to safety, away from Spanish dominions. Go now, I’ll try to kill him at dinner, by then you should be already out in the sea. I love you. Your training should be enough to help you defend yourself until you are safe in the British Dominions, once their revolution is done, one way or another. In an hour, I’ll be back on my feet and will discuss with him. I’ll try to pretend that I would accept with a better deal, and try to explain him the good of my method. It will be useless; this man has proven to be extremely short-sighted, but it should buy you more time. While you go, tell the mayor to warn everyone that the Spanish are here explicitly to enslave or throw into poverty. Who can, should better pack and leave on one of the docked non-Spanish merchant ships. They’ll be warned as well, and will sail before being extorted of all their loads. This Colonel is not only a cruel master, but he’s clearly also an inept one who will ruin this place so quickly that no matter his connections, the crown will remove him within a couple of years. Make it three at most, considering the time news take to get to court and back. He’ll taste his own medicine before long.”
I could do nothing else but listen. Tears were flowing from my eyes. The love I shared for the Kingdom by proxy – I never lived in Spain since I can remember – turned to hate. While I watched a new resolve fill the void left in my father’s soul, I made a decision. I dried my tears, kissed my father’s forehead, and whispered.
“I will, Father. But I promise, I’ll avenge you. I’ll do everything in my power to damage Spain as much as possible. I love you. You’ve been a wonderful father, and you’ll go to heaven because of the good you did. So, we’ll never meet again, because I’ll go to hell for what I’m going to do. The only positive thing is, I’ll be able to keep getting revenge on them even after death, as none of them would ever go anywhere else than hell. If they want to be merciless, I’ll be as well. Farewell, father, I love you more than you could imagine; you’ve been the best father a daughter could dream of; mother is surely proud of you, bring her my love, please.”
I took all the money I could bear from the tax and fund chests, which, being fairly strong – even if back then I still I thought that I was the average young woman, maybe weaker than average, given my sheltered life – were quite a lot. I took all my jewels too. I was lucky that amongst the money there were several valuable letters of credit that could be claimed by the bearer, and in the chests, when I left, there was less than a few hundreds of doubloons remaining, which would be too heavy and noisy for me to take, and would be wasted by the colonel in a couple hours at best. The letters of credit alone were worth over fifteen thousand doubloons. A huge sum. Thirteen was the next payment for the Crown, through that same galleon that brought in Colonel de Villanueva. It wouldn’t be easy for him to explain how the money started disappearing from the moment he took charge of the island. In fact, in their narrow minds, they thought that if father was sending so much, with a ruthless rule, they could get a lot more. Instead, they would make the island economy wither, the trade ships to avoid it, and they would never be able to earn a fraction of what Father was sending to the crown. Any replacement of him would have a lot to explain, but the island would only be a problem for Spain from then on. Well, stealing all the money as reimbursement for their betrayal was just my first act.
I took a couple of knives and hid them on me, and then I fled. Leaving the property by crossing the gardens around it, through paths only people living in the house or used to frequent it knew, but hidden from strangers, I left and ran to the city. The soldiers were settling down, and there were already a few victims of their cruelty. I warned the mayor, who understood, and started giving orders to pack, sending his servants to warn both other notables and their own families. Being late in the afternoon, the soldiers would start rounding up the notables the next morning, stupidly leaving them enough time to flee. Another sign of the ineptitude of the colonel, who made it clear that he would enslave and rob everyone, and then left them the time to flee and leave him nothing to steal. At the moment, save for the Dolphin, the ship I was going to sail with, there were another seven merchant ships, four of which were English – not at war with Spain at the moment – one Portuguese and one Spanish. The last was the Reina. Spain was at war with France at the moment, so there weren’t French ships around.
