Prisoner of the Inquisition Read online

  Her screams lessened to be replaced with worse – a croaking agonized babbling.

  The man bent his head, sobbing, his hands covering his ears.

  The stink of burning flesh lingered in the square for hours afterwards.

  Epilogue

  Just before sunrise on Friday 3 August 1492, at the town of Palos north of Cádiz, two men walked down from the chapel of St George to the nearby river.

  From the high bank on one side of the estuary, a young woman watched as they made their way to where three ships, the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, were moored in the inlet below. The sailors in their homespun tunics and bright red caps raised the anchors, and the ships begin to stir as the flow of the outgoing tide edged them slowly in the direction of the river mouth. From the deck of the largest of these, the Santa Maria, Zarita saw Saulo raise his hand to her in farewell.

  The chapel bell stopped pealing and the ships began to move more swiftly towards the Ocean Sea. As they crossed the Saltes sandbar, the broad square sail of the Santa Maria, white with a red cross emblazoned on it, billowed out before the wind.

  Christopher Columbus had reckoned it could be six months or more before they came back. It would give her and Saulo time, Zarita thought; time and space to recover from the trauma of their previous lives. When Saulo returned, they would talk together and plan for the future. Perhaps there were unknown lands out there waiting to be discovered – a new place – where people might be free to worship as they chose and could live with each other in harmony and peace.

  Thanks are due to . . .

  Margot Aked

  Lauren Buckland

  Laura Cecil

  Sue Cook

  Marzena Currie

  Annie Eaton

  Georgia Lawe

  Hanne, Tour Guide of ‘Classical Spain’

  Lily Lawes

  Museo Naval de Madrid

  Sophie Nelson

  Hugh Rae

  Random House staff

  Family et al

  Also by Theresa Breslin

  THE NOSTRADAMUS PROPHECY

  THE MEDICI SEAL

  REMEMBRANCE

  SASKIA’S JOURNEY

  DIVIDED CITY

  For junior readers:

  THE DREAM MASTER

  DREAM MASTER NIGHTMARE!

  DREAM MASTER GLADIATOR

  DREAM MASTER ARABIAN NIGHTS

  For more information about Theresa Breslin’s books, visit: www.theresabreslin.co.uk

  PRAISE FOR PRISONER OF THE INQUISITION

  ‘Expertly paced . . . compelling . . . Breslin’s suspenseful story held me in its grip’

  Linda Buckley-Archer, Guardian

  ‘Breslin’s ability to weave a well-researched, page-turning plot around sympathetic, believable characters has been displayed before in The Medici Seal and The Nostradamus Prophecy . . . it’s unputdownable’

  The Times

  ‘A thrilling and beautiful account of the lives of two young people, bound together by hatred and love’

  The Book Bag

  ‘The characters came to life and made the whole situation so real. The ending was particularly exciting and finished on a cliff-hanger’

  Teen Titles

  PRISONER OF THE INQUISITION

  AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 409 09697 9

  Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,

  an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishers UK

  A Random House Group Company

  This ebook edition published 2014

  Copyright © Theresa Breslin, 2010

  Cover Illustration copyright © Ilona Wellman/Tevillion, 2010

  First Published in Great Britain

  Corgi Childrens 9780552560740 2010

  The right of Theresa Breslin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

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  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.