The hull of the ship made a resounding thud as it veered into the dock. A rogue wave shook it from contact, but the ship rocked back again, sending vibrations through the timbers and a jolt down the spine of a man below deck. He was isolated from his fellow seamen, the brown spots on his face signaling to all to stay clear of him.
The second thump of the hull also shook the cargo that shared space with the lonely man. The bales of cotton from North Africa and the spices from the Levant shook and, with the motion, ejected a swarm of black rats that had smuggled away on the Genoese ship plying the eastern Mediterranean in search of marketable goods. The rats skittered across the lower deck, hopping over small obstacles and circling the shaft of the mainmast that was planted in its oaken col
