As we approached the soldier, the iron-clad door he guarded flew back on its hinges and a dozen armored men carrying spears and crossbows came through. The scruffy, hungover guard did his best to stand at attention while they passed, then slumped on his spear again. The patrol made its way around the fortress and out onto the breakwater from which we had just come. They were actually patrolling the bloody harbor on foot.

“Fuckstockings, our boat,” I whispered.

“The boat’s no threat to them. They may not even see it. Let’s get your bloody monkey and go.”

I nodded, then approached the sentry. “Beggin’ pardon, yeoman, would you happen to know if there’s an enormous simpleton with a monkey being held in here?”

“Might be, what’s it to you?”

“Well, the nitwit is this poor boy’s father, and we’re hoping to bring him home.”

“What’s the monkey, his little brover?”

“Half. We are a poor family, and—”

“Four ducats,” said the guard.

Jessica elbowed me with a great nodding grin and started to dig into her leather bag of gold. We’d expected a bit more resistance and a much higher ransom.

“But there ain’t no monkey no more. I traded him for a jug from Giotto the wine seller on the piazza, a month ago.”

“You traded Jeff for a jug of wine?” I was reaching into the small of my back for a dagger. Yes, admittedly he was an obnoxious creature, but by the tucked balls of St. Cinnamon, Jeff was family!

Jessica grabbed the wrist of my knife hand and held it steady in mid-draw.

“Please, sir,” she said in her best boy voice. “If you could just fetch my old da, I’d be ever so grateful.”

She opened her hand and the gold coins fanned on her palm, then she snatched them to her chest when the guard reached for them. “If you would, sir.”

“Well, all right,” he said. “But you can’t tell no one I gave him to you. I’m going to tell the captain he died, so keep him out of sight.”

He went through the iron door and closed it behind him.

“Are you daft?” said Jessica, throwing my knife hand away from her.

“He traded bloody Jeff for a jug. My people have suffered enough injustice.”

“Here’s a tip for you, oh, wise fool, do not dirk the man who is about to free your apprentice for a hundredth of what you expected to pay. Let the bargain be your revenge.”

“You are indeed Shylock’s daughter.”

“Just don’t be a fool—well, sorry—don’t be foolish,” she said. “We know who he sold your monkey to, and we know where to find him. So we go to Giotto the wine seller in the piazza, buy him back, then find an inn and lie low until tomorrow night when we make our escape.”