Chapter 79: All That Glitters Sails

What Vito hadn’t been prepared for was how much noise readiness could make once everyone got properly to work.

Caterina had taken possession of the head of La Serena’s gangway, sleeves pinned above her elbows. Sack after sack of grain disappeared into the cargo behind casks of wine being handled with more care than it deserved until now.

Honey jars came next, then wax, then bales of wool and raw cotton. A clerk stacked and counted everything twice, looking as though he would rather face a blade than another page in his accounts under Caterina’s supervision.

A dockhand tipped one of the new distillate barrels hard enough to make it slosh, and Caterina’s voice cracked across the whole pier with thunder.

"That barrel is worth more than you’ll earn all year, you clumsy ox! Roll it like that again and I’ll take the cost straight out of your skin!"

The man muttered an apology and set the barrel upright with such exaggerated tenderness that he might have been handling a newborn prince.

Caterina turned back to her books and never missed a stroke of the pen, as though shouting a dockhand into better habits was simply another line of business.

Near the galleys, Zaccaria was working through his own accounting, roster in hand, pointing men toward one gangway or another with ease.

Sixty would sail as escort, spread thin across the three war galleys. Most of the compagnia would stay behind to hold everything a whole winter had already won.

Candia’s walls, Chania’s tolls, and Rethymno’s still-nervous nobility.

On the flagship, Bepi stood glaring up at a sky that hadn’t done anything wrong yet, grunting about clouds that looked as though they were ready to plan more ruckus.

Vito let the whole business carry on without him for a moment. He watched an entire winter’s work climb six separate gangways, then found a clear stretch of pier where he could think without being trampled, close enough that he could still keep every ship in sight.

"Purveyor."

He kept his voice low, more from habit than necessity now. "I want the whole of it laid out, everything I’ve built. Put it plain enough that I don’t have to carry the whole sum around in my head anymore."

That request presumes I’ve been keeping the tally merely to satisfy your curiosity. You should understand that the display itself has grown since the last time anyone bothered to ask for it. A single city no longer covers what you have made of yourself.

"Show me."

As you insist.

🦁 [TERRITORY OVERVIEW - CRETE]

Sovereignty : La Serenissima (Provisional, No Duke Yet Named)

Governance : Latin-Aligned Archontes, Countryside Largely Autonomous

Population : Approximately 200,000 Island-Wide

Civil Order : Stable in the Cities, Restless in the Countryside

Harbors : Candia (Ample Port), Chania (Sizable Port), Rethymno (Small Port)

Military : Compagnia del Leone Nero, City Garrisons

Major Cities : Candia, Chania, Rethymno

Barozzi Presence : Established (Fondaco at Candia, Venetian Quarters at Chania and Rethymno)

Vito read every line, and pride climbed up his throat despite every instinct telling him not to let it show.

"Look at that, Purveyor. An island."

An island held together borrowed patience. I would temper the pride before it embarrasses us both.

"Ma va’. Let a man enjoy his numbers for one breath before you ruin them."

I gave you a full breath. That is more patience than the accomplishment strictly earned.

Vito laughed outright, loudly enough that a passing dockhand glanced over before deciding that whatever was happening was none of his business.

🦁 [HOLDING OVERVIEW - CRETE]

Fondaco di Candia : Operational

Venetian Quarter, Chania : Established

Venetian Quarter, Rethymno : Established

Treasury : 15,000 Venetian Grossi

Annual Revenue : Pending First Voyage

Trade Reach : Venezia, Constantinople, Alexandria, Aegean Sea, Cyprus, Levant

Trade Routes : None (Departing This Season)

Trade Volume : Three Laden Naves

Main Trade Goods : Grain, Wine, Honey, Wax, Cheese, Wool, Cotton, Distilled Spirits

Economic Growth : Rising

"Fifteen thousand grossi. I remember when three thousand felt like a fortune."

Try not to spend it all on one negotiation. I’ve watched you attempt worse.

"And the fleet that’s actually carrying it?"

🦁 [FLEET OVERVIEW - BAROZZI’S FLEET]

La Contessa - Flagship

Class : Galea

Size : Large

Role : Command Ship, War Galley

Crew : 160 (100 oarsmen, 35 sailors, 20 soldiers, 5 officers)

Armament : Bows, crossbows, javelins, spears, swords, shields

Status : At Berth, Ready to Sail

Zorzi - Screen

Class : Galea

Size : Standard

Role : War Galley

Crew : 160 (100 oarsmen, 35 sailors, 20 soldiers, 5 officers)

Armament : Bows, crossbows, javelins, spears, swords, shields

Status : At Berth, Ready to Sail

Zustignana - Screen

Class : Galea

Size : Standard

Role : War Galley

Crew : 160 (100 oarsmen, 35 sailors, 20 soldiers, 5 officers)

Armament : Bows, crossbows, javelins, spears, swords, shields

Status : At Berth, Ready to Sail

La Rosa - Cargo Ship

Class : Nave

Size : Large

Role : Cargo and Supply

Crew : 80 (25 sailors, 5 officers, 50 hands)

Cargo : Grain, wine, wool

Status : At Berth, Ready to Sail

Moresina - Cargo Ship

Class : Nave

Size : Large

Role : Cargo and Supply

Crew : 80 (25 sailors, 5 officers, 50 hands)

Cargo : Honey, wax, cotton

Status : At Berth, Ready to Sail

La Serena - Cargo Ship

Class : Nave

Size : Large

Role : Cargo and Supply

Crew : 80 (25 sailors, 5 officers, 50 hands)

Cargo : Cheese, distilled spirits

Status : At Berth, Ready to Sail

Vito waved the whole display away. He was more than satisfied with what the numbers had shown him, even after every effort the voice made to spoil the pleasure.

None of it changed what waited beyond the horizon. A season’s voyage through waters that answered to storms and corsairs alike, then a customs house in Alexandria with no reason yet to trust a Barozzi cadet.

Numbers didn’t sail a ship through bad weather, and clever accounting had never stopped a blade.

There was one piece of business the morning still owed him before any of that could matter.

"Caterina."

She looked up from her accounts at the call of her name. Hesitation in her face lingered a moment longer than the occasion called for, then she caught herself and turned to the clerk beside her.

"Finish the count. Every barrel, twice over, and I don’t want to hear that one has been dropped again."

Then she left the noise of the dock behind her and crossed the whole distance to him herself.

Vito watched her come without saying another word. The morning’s business had finally been reduced to the two of them.