Chapter 19 - 1300
At sunrise that mid-summer Monday morning, Nicholas reached the docks of the bustling harbor of Famagusta with a jaunty step. A flock of seagulls in flight dove for fish inches away from him. He breathed in the humid air of the coast and looked about at a galley being delicately nosed into mooring and ships being repaired. A swarm of serfs marched by, carrying sacks of carobs, grain, and pulses from the commune warehouses to the quay. Goods were headed for the Aegean and the Black Sea, or Venice and Ancona; some even farther away than that.
The oarsmen of the newly arrived galley disembarked noisily in search of the nearest tavern. A burly Genoese merchant lumbered by, shouting last-minute instructions to his galley captain. The vessel was loaded with butts of wine from
