"One day you will sip from the Fountain of Memory." "When that day comes, we will meet again." "Time and again, you prove to be nothing more than deadweight." "Well, perhaps you should mark me a traitor and have me killed as well." "People underestimate you, Giuliano." "Yet that perceived weakness makes you uniquely suited to flushing our spy from cover." "You're the one that slipped those documents into my quarters." "How long have they owned you?" "Ah!" "You are just as exasperating as she was!" "Is she dead?" "It makes no difference." "She's gone." "That's why you can't stand to look at me." "Because she left you." "I saw a man." "Who was it, Leonardo?" "Free me." "What did you see?" "It was me." "Is this madness?" "How-- how can it be?" "In that cave..." " how" " Free me." "How can I have seen myself when I was not yet myself?" "The Sons of Mithras have been entwined with your destiny since long before you were born, Leonardo." "Time is a river, and there are members of our fraternity who have learned to navigate it, both upstream and downstream." "You may think that you were not yet yourself, but in every moment, you are both the child you once were and the sage you will someday be." "That's not an answer." "I never promised you answers." "For those, you will need to find the Book of Leaves." "Answers to questions that haunt all men, questions that haunt you." " The fate of my mother?" " And more." "I speak of your destiny." "Much as I enjoy the entertainment, signor, we came here to talk to the duke about hiring his mercenaries, not to watch them beat each other senseless." "Some mead, fine sirs?" "Thank you, yes, indeed." "We mull it with a little honey." "The pride of the Duchy of Urbino." "A little honey?" "Just fucking drink it." "Brilliant!" "Bravo!" " Medici!" " Urbino." "You know, you fight like a man who's not seen battle for far too long." " It's been too many years." " Yes." "Federico da Montefeltro," " Duke of Urbino." " Piero da Vinci." "Reading?" "My." "This primer was given to me by Gentile Becchi." "You mourn him still." "How may I serve you, sister-in-law?" "We are due to hold a pageant for Martedì Grasso some days hence." "I hoped you might escort me." "Even if Lorenzo returns from his diplomatic forays, he usually finds pressing business when the revels begin." "Mm, at least he pays for the revels." "But what is a lady to do for a partner?" "I can only thank heaven Lorenzo has a brother who knows his way around a dance floor." "Mm, you must forgive me, but I have a plot to unravel." "Becchi charged me with ferreting out the spy within our midst." "But the evidence against Becchi was overwhelming." "A testament to the ability of our spy." "He is a kind of genius." "I will soldier on at the revels without you, then." "I'm touched at your dedication." "The fact that, for all your opportunities... you're so intent on doing the right thing." "Maybe your most attractive quality." "My lady?" "It is time." "Ah, my personal torturer has arrived." "You know we have no choice." "Twice a day I must down this potion if I'm to produce a boy after my earlier failures." "Oh, Moses, tell Giuliano what's in this." "I cannot bring myself to say the words." "Ass's milk, powdered goat's antlers, and bull's testicles." "Frankly, Giuliano, you could spare me this liquid atrocity if you would father a son yourself." "If we do not produce a male heir soon somewhere in our line, the House of Medici will start to look like an unstable investment." "We each have our duty, I see." "Ah, salud." "It's there." "Logic dictates that land lies due west." "You think the identification of a simple cardinal direction is all you need to find your goal?" "It's all I need to get started." "You could spend a hundred lifetimes traveling west, could you not?" "The map Avraham ben Yosef brought to Florence is not an original, but a reproduction riddled with notations that only one man can decipher." "The cartographer who copied it." "Another Son of Mithras?" "His name is Solomon Ogbai." "We call him the Abyssinian." "Lucky for you, he is not dead." "Not yet." "You have yet to save him." "His retinue was brutally intercepted while he was traveling under the employ of the Ottoman sultan." "A most... savage warlord holds him captive." "The Abyssinian cannot be freed by simple diplomacy or even ransom." "It will take guile and inventiveness which only you possess." "These are delicate times." "I have commitments to Florence." "Your destiny lies elsewhere, Leonardo." "Save the Abyssinian while he still breathes." "I have to think it over." " I can't" " You've already thought it over." "In truth, your journey has already begun." "Time is a river." "You have already made the decision." "You make it every time." "He's done the coin thing, has he?" "You're the mapmaker." "I thought you needed rescuing." " I will." " In the future?" "The sooner you move beyond words like "present" and "future,"" "the sooner you become the man we need you to be." "Are all the Sons of Mithras unable to speak plainly?" "I admit, on occasion, we can be inscrutable, but so can you." "I wanted to meet the storied da Vinci in the bright of day." "We're different men once hell breaks loose." "And when does that happen?" "Hell happens when the evil of this world exceeds our belief that we can conquer it." "You ask me when you'll reach that point?" "I cannot say." "Depends on you." "Whatever befalls us, do not shirk from the task." "Well, I have a knack of rising to the occasion." "If I might only be told what the occasion is." "I'd venture to say it's true what the Sons of Mithras have seen in you." "And you are closer every day, artista." "Closer to what?" "Wake up." "Where are you leading me?" "Leading you?" " Maestro, you're the one leading us." " What?" "You woke us in the middle of the night, gave us one of your brilliant shopping lists." ""Buy more magnesium." "Obtain obscure alcoholic beverages from the east." "Acquire three horses."" "Guess you had some plan." "Do you not remember?" "I do, I do." "I remember it." " Uh, how long have we been" " Days." "You've been a sullen fuck the entire trip." "All for some foreign half-wit who got himself abducted." "The Abyssinian." "It's like-- it's like I'm just waking up, but I lost part of myself on the journey." "The journey where?" "It's not where, it's when." ""The evils of this world."" "There's something odd around the castle." "What's this?" "Just something I've knocked together with prisms." "You'll see what it does." "Whose kingdom is this?" "The locals call him Tepes." "That's the man we've come to confront?" "The one who has your captive is the fucking Impaler?" "Lost my right eye in battle." "Removed the bridge of my nose so I'd still have peripheral vision." "There." "Clever, eh?" "That is quite... gleaming." "And so we should explain our reason for being here." " Piero?" " May I?" "The two Papal States flank your land and mine, and while we can watch Rome with one eye, we" "we must always keep another... eye... always on the Pope's property to the north." "Unless... the northern realm became our property." "And how would that happen?" "Well, if we allied ourselves," "Florence and Urbino, it'd make sense that we could carve up the northern papal territory between us." "I could annex the city of Bologna and its environs, and you could double your port capacity on the Adriatic." "A bold stroke, but why don't I conquer it myself?" "I have the army." "What do you offer up?" "Money, of course, from the largest banking concern in all of Europe." "From each of us as he is... blessed." "Scared you, didn't I?" "That'll be fine, Medici." "I shouldn't provoke my own godson, but I like to test a man." "You've grown to be a worthy ally." "And it's been too long since I led my men into combat." "Well, then our proposal is timely indeed." "I knew you had something juicy in mind when you showed up on my doorstep." "There's no way you'd caravan all this distance just to watch me take a shit." "Their turbans are nailed to their skulls." "All Turkish." "Clearly this warlord has an issue with the Ottomans." "His bravery against the Turks won him 13 years in prison." "But seeing as none of us are Turks ourselves, we should have nothing to fear." "You don't think, with my blood, someone could take me for a Turk?" "How do I know this warlord's eyes aren't fading?" "Because I spotted you from miles away." "Though were I blind, I could hear the clattering and nattering of your Tartar tongue from further yet." " I'm not a Tartar." " What are you, then?" " Unique." " Unique?" "Dung beetles think they're unique." "Your mongrel half-breed lineage speaks louder than your words." "You see, God, well, he sent many punishments for mankind." "Earthquakes, volcanos, plagues, and cancers, but worse than these, he sent the Turks and the Tartars and the mongrels like you." "Ave, Vladislaus Dracul Filius vaivoda partium Transalpinarum." "Prince of Transylvania and Wallachia, son of Vlad ll, known as Vlad Dracul or Vlad the Dragon, which makes you Vlad Ill, Son of the Dragon, or as it is known in your language," "Dracula." "Impressive, your command of my titles, but tell me who you are and what you want here." "My name is Maestro Leonardo." "These are my companions, Nico, Zoroaster." "We were sent by the magnificent Lorenzo de Medici of the Republic of Florence." "All of Italy wonders at your victories against the Ottomans, and my lord extends his friendship and seeks military counsel for the greater glory of Florence and Wallachia." "You must know this land has been bedeviled by war and worse than war." "We shall talk more... at dinner." "As long as the dinner's not us." "So, we're selling tickets to the papal baths now, are we?" " An urgent matter has arisen." " Take your hand off me." "Urgent enough that you sully this chamber with her presence?" "I know where to find whores if I want them." "We thought it best you hear this news directly from her lips." "I've come from Florence, Your Holiness." "And does your absence from the city create no suspicion?" "My aunt from Siena is providing me with an alibi." "No one of import will miss me in Florence." "Well, certainly your husband doesn't fall into the category of import." "What of Lorenzo's war engineer, in whom the count seems so fascinated?" "Da Vinci has set out from the city." "No man knows where." "Nor woman?" "Nor I." "Lorenzo himself has left Florence." "As we speak, he makes an embassy to the Duke of Urbino, fresh with the credit of his dealings with Ferdinand and Isabella." "He seeks to create a new military alliance." "The calculating rogue." "Far from reeling at our attempts to weaken his rule," "Lorenzo courts the most accomplished mercenaries on the peninsula." "And I know what the knave will do with them." "He and Urbino will march north." "Together, they'll sack our lands surrounding Bologna and divide them up." "How do you know that, Holy Father?" "Because it's exactly what I would do, you fucking coward." "Look at the lot of you." "Too scared to bring me this news yourselves." "Hiding behind this Florentine slit." "How can I wonder that Lorenzo resists me so well when I see the quality of my allies?" "We only tried to serve your glory." "We had not the benefit of your divine guidance." "Guidance?" "You want guidance?" "You remember what proved I was chosen by God?" "So many things, Your Holiness." "The way I survived drowning as a child." "Let's see how you do." "Holy Father, surely a loving God shows mercy." "You dare question me?" "The rock upon which God's word stands?" "Kiss this ring!" "My bath is ruined." "I don't care how, end the House of Medici before I end you." "Dinner awaits." "How are we supposed to free the captive from a place like this?" "If I knew that, I'd be da Vinci." "Um, you've dropped some change." "Of course you'll have noticed the money." "Sultanese, a base currency for the heathen ruler of the east." "You see, this is how I allow my soldiers to prove their loyalty to me." "I toss these sultanese on the ground before them." "And do you know, the coins are never, ever touched." "Really?" "It's just they've fallen quite randomly." "You'd really notice if one was gone?" "I miss nothing." "Please, now, a little Tuscan wine." "Just to make you feel at home, no?" "Thank you, thank you." "Well, I must say, I'm impressed with your hospitality so soon after your escape from captivity." "I am sadly at home in dungeons." "As a child, my father sent my brother and me to be hostages held by the Turkish sultan." "The prisons converted my damnable brother to the cause of the Turks, but not me." "I learned to trust nobody, to survive any pain, the dogs, the dungeons, even the lightning strike which has left me with this web of scars." "Now I spend every waking hour in resistance to my brother... and the fucking Turks." "Well, your victories against them have been recognized even by the Pope." "If we're going to raise a toast, let's lift a glass to the one who helped me out of the prison this time, to the bringer of light himself." "Who, my lord?" "Lucifer, the bringer of light." "Most beautiful of all the angels." "And how did Lucifer help you?" "Like me, Lucifer rose against a tyrant." "Like me, he was abandoned and betrayed by the God he loved." "I made a pact with Lucifer to win my freedom and ascend to my throne one last time." "And do you know," "I don't find it hard to live without a soul." "Lucifer." "And how fortuitous for da Vinci." "The clever devil leaves just as I arrive with questions for him." "You don't find that curious?" "Trust me, signor." "That's the least curious thing about him." "What is your relationship with him?" "We had our day." "But that's all it was, a day." "And anyway, his eye is set on another." " How do you know?" " I'm a woman." "Now, of course, we're friends." "He saved my life, and for that I deeply admire him." "Now, that hasn't become illegal, has it?" "It has if it hurts Florence." "All I want is your help in guarding her." "I don't know where he's gone." "You keep his confidences well." "I'd likely lie to anyone else, Excellency, but not you." "Although... if you tried to force it out of me," "I'd be helpless to stop you." "Perhaps we should discuss this somewhere else." "Somewhere more quiet?" "Mm." "Until we make it less so." "The city gates are closed." "Two minutes to curfew, scoundrel." "Either you get your asses home or spend the night here." "Persons caught roaming the streets after curfew get put in my little book, and being put in my little book means you get to explain your transgressions to the judge." "Signor Medici, forgive me." "I hadn't seen you with the bar wench." " Your little book?" " My ledger, for the pigs, mostly." "You record every curfew violation?" "Since the day it was declared." "And if one were to study these ledgers, one might see who was out most frequently when they shouldn't have been?" "Yes, I suppose, if one were a glutton for punishment." "Take me to them." "One could spend weeks paging through these records, signor." "Well, then we're in luck." "According to my brother, I'm great at wasting time." "Your secret, sir?" "Ah, it's a matter of knowing which elements to blend." "Magnesium here, iron filings there, so on." "I think it's ingenious." "Does it have a military application?" "Not yet." "Well, then we must talk further." "You see, since I've renounced your Christian gods," "I've only my wits and ferocity to protect me from the forces of Sultan Mehmed II." "Perhaps the ingenuity you bring to Lorenzo's court could benefit me as well." "Now... since you've shown me your little party piece," "I will respond in kind with a little diversion of my own." "You see, without a soul weighing me down," "I can see in the dark," "I cannot be killed," "I can enjoy certain entertainments that may have made me blanch years ago." "This is the last of the retinue of a Turkish ambassador who was foolish enough to approach me." "I miss no opportunity in reminding the Turks of the childhood they provided." "Is that the man we're looking for?" "Unshackle him." "Now, prove stronger than your friends." "Defeat these dogs and you will go free." "And please don't think me so inhuman that I wouldn't give you a fighting chance." "Here's a butter knife." "Help!" "Please!" "Stop!" "This... this is justice." "So, shall we send for the main course?" "I can't eat." "My tastes are not universally shared, it's true." " Let us retire." " Before we do..." "You have honored us with the traditional wine of our homeland, and so do we honor you with the traditional liquor of Wallachia." " Oh, you brought Tuica?" " Mm-hmm." "Well, our master in Florence would spare no expense to demonstrate his admiration for you, my lord." "To Vlad Ill." "When have I ever known you to hesitate about a drink, my friend?" "To Vlad Ill." "To Vlad Ill." "Good." "And some for your maid?" "Your men?" " Yes." " Yes, good." "There you go." "Some for you." "Some for you." "Show the friends to a room." "Some for you." "Once my guards have toasted our guests, the artisan and I will parley further." "Oh, how about your dogs, who entertained us so well this evening?" "There's some for you, and for you the last little drop." "Please don't be unsettled by the vermin." "I welcome them." "Often in prison, they were my only friends." "Well, I know what it is to be thrown into a cell." "Without the companionship of the bats," "I would not have survived." "You see..." " we understand each other." " Hmm." "Come." "Beautiful, is it not?" "You see, this is why I wanted to return to Castle Poenari so badly." "From the heights" "I can almost forget the decades the Turks had me living underneath the earth." "It's a shame, then, that was the last of them." "Oh, there is one more." "Their master..." "Solomon Ogbai." "The name Ogbai, in Amharic, it means, "Don't take him away."" "Yes." "Indeed." "For stooping to serve them," "I take my time with the Abyssinian." "I keep him ready for my personal whims." "I invent new ways to torture, just for him." "There is a window near where I keep him." "He cannot see the view, so I said I would recreate the scenery for him... if he would only provide me with the raw material for a suitable miniature." "These are the crenelations of the towers outside my window carved in the Abyssinian's own flesh." "There is one frontier he shall never stop exploring." "Agony" "May I share a confession with you?" "Yeah, yes." "If it pleases my lord." "I know that I'm mad." "Indeed?" "But will you tell me how I could be otherwise?" "A father rips a child from his home, from everything he knows, and tosses him into the claws of his worst enemy." "Well, we are-- we are too often what our fathers make us." "Whether we like it or not, better or for worse." "Oh, yes." "In my case, definitely for worse." "You see, my father, he taught me that cruelty is the only true currency of the universe, and now I am the richest man in all of Christendom." "Ha!" " My God, it is true." " Yes?" "The servants told me you were carrying books upon books into your quarters." "I wondered if they'd been raiding the wine cellar." " Oh, I'm easy to tease." " Only sometimes." "Well, at least you have a hobby you love." "And what is your new hobby?" "The Florentine obsession with record keeping is paying off." "These are the records for every guard shift at every station in the city." "Anyone who breaks curfew, even for the slightest reason," " will be put down here." " Including, I suppose, the true spy, whom you believe framed Becchi." "You smirk, but there are mysteries to be solved here." "For example, why do these symbols from the zodiac keep coming up?" "This." "That's the sign for Capricorn, I think." "And this, that's Aquarius, yes?" "With certain sensitive subjects of Florence, their names are indicated with these symbols, rather than list them so clearly as violators of the curfew." "Ah." "This date I recall." "After a long night of carousing," "I was questioned on my way home, so is this the symbol for me?" "Athletic champion that you are," "Sagittarius is a natural code name for you." "Tell us the identity behind each of these symbols, then." "I'm not privy to that knowledge." "That's all kept in Captain Dragonetti's office." "Well, then obtain it for me." "Becchi would be proud of you." "The man we're here to save must be dead by now." "No." "No, not yet." "But we must move to save him now." "You two can go on." "I feel like I could sleep for the next week." "As could I." "That's because we've all been poisoned." "What?" "Drink some antidote." "That bastard." "He slipped something in our drinks." "No." "I did." "There's nothing you won't do to us in your bloody quest." "I adulterated the Tuica before we arrived." "That we'd all have to drink it in order to convince him it was safe." "And now... everyone, including the dogs, should be passing out." "Ready?" "How do you know where we're going?" "It's a simple architectural assessment." "The Abyssinian pointed it out to me himself, in a way." "Do we wanna know what you mean?" "No, actually, you don't." "It's here." "Are you sure about this, Maestro?" "No." "What does that say?" ""Don't take me away."" "Now, this-- this is justice." "To Vlad Ill." "Farewell greetings from a half-breed mongrel." "Nico." "Go get the horses." "I'll meet you outside." "Ah." "That one." "Careful, careful, careful." "That one and then that one." "Not too fast, he'll be cut even deeper." "It's over." "It's over." "It's over." "It's not." "It's not." "It's not him." "It's not Vlad." "Shit." "Fuck me." "Lies!" "You're an arrogant little fool, aren't you?" "I've endured every drug and poison known to man." "I fought off the Ottoman Empire." "Do you really think that I would die at the hands of a fucking Florentine?" "Shit." "Or a mongrel?" "How's that for a military application?" "Zo, wake up!" "Wake up!" "Zo." "Life-- life is a trap, don't you think?" "Well, now, I am going to set you free." "Curious." "You cannot kill a man without a soul." "You must go." "Do not shirk from the task." "Stay out of Florence for the next few days." "Oh, and don't speak with Lorenzo or anyone in the city." "I suppose I could go to Siena... and create a story to explain my extended absence, but why?" "You've seen what happens when people question the plans of the Vatican, haven't you?" "I have." "Speak to nobody along the road, and make sure no one speaks with you." "That shouldn't be a problem." "I have a strategy." " Have some men follow her." " Of course." "Then discreetly have her killed." "Her value to us has been exhausted." "She's, um... compromised by her affections for da Vinci." "Did His Holiness order this?" "Do it outside the walls of Florence." "Leave no ties to Rome." "Make it look like bandits did it." "Oh, and, um, have them drive stakes through her eyes." "She's seen too much." "The guards, the dogs, they're gonna rouse soon." "We don't have long." "Where did you get that wound?" "There are more urgent things to explain." " Did you know this would happen?" " Yeah, I knew it might." "I had to take that chance for the Book of Leaves." "Sword." "Maestro, shall we see to his injuries?" "They're beyond seeing to, and I cannot meet my end here." "In other words, fuck this place." "I want to spit on Vlad's body." "Yeah, well, you could if we knew where it was." "Where the fuck is he?" "Just come on!" "Let's go!" "Maybe some creature dragged him off." "Let's not find out." "Come on." "You really must try this, Camilla." "Surely you have a sweeter tooth than your brother." "You certainly have a sweeter smile." "Some honey." "The pride of the Duchy of Urbino." "Oh, I've made arrangements with their Duke." "With brawn like his, I pity those who wish harm upon Florence." "You'll have your hands full with that one." "Federico da Montefeltro is a..." " colorful character indeed." " Mm." "Did you really invite us here to show off your new alliance?" "Bernardo!" "I don't recall inviting you at all, Signor Baroncelli." "Perhaps you fail to understand why I went to Urbino." "You think Rome will look after the Pazzis, but when all is said and done," "Rome only looks after Rome." "And you-- both of you-- are loyal sons of Florence." "Don't you think the time has come for union in our republic?" "Not further divisions." "My brother Giuliano has a stubborn mind, but a good heart." "At one point, we hoped to see him in a cardinal's hat, but our current relations with the church have precluded that." "And yet a young man like Giuliano needs a future." "He would make a fine husband for Camilla... would he not?" "Honey, anyone?" "Farewell." "Arrivederci." "Whether or not the Pazzis agree to this union, I have to ask, did you consult your brother about this?" "Giuliano's interests are the interests of Florence." "Oh, don't worry." "I'll have all the breakable objects removed from the room before I broach the topic." "She is the child of our enemy, signor." "Some might argue he is being thrown to the wolves." "You underestimate my brother, Piero." "We are not feeding these wolves." "We are taming them." "Did you know he was going to propose this?" "I had an inkling, seeing as it was my idea." " You had your elixir?" " Oh, relax." "They say children conceived in frustration are born bitter." "You'll understand I'm agitated by this league of devils around us." "After our brilliant ploy with the Pazzis, you're not ready for another masterstroke." "Our doctor said this position is more likely to conceive us a male heir." "Men would prefer a position where a woman's face is rammed down so far she can't even speak." "I'm sorry, what was that, dear?" "Please." "Oh, my God." "It was the cage." "It was the cage." "It was the cage." "The words written on the side, "Don't take him away."" "it wasn't a taunt, it was a warning." "Vlad built the device to eviscerate you if you were freed," "to rip an unstaunchable wound." "Oh, I should've realized." " I'm sorry." " Never mind." "I must tell you of the key you seek." "The other key that opens the Vault of Heaven?" "Yes, tell me." "It's waiting in Rome, there for your taking." "And when you have both keys..." "Yes?" "Your mother," "Caterina, she's alive." "She carries the Book of Leaves for us, beneath the aging post of the sun in a town made of stone in a land on my map." "Wait." "I need you to decode the map." "Then you may take what you need." "Here." "Here is the secret to deciphering the map." "I will not survive to come with you." "You must cut my flesh loose and take it with you once I die." "But the Turk said that I would save you." "And so you will someday, but not today." "But there are so many things you must learn first." "Yes?" "Yes?" "You must learn that anything is possible including defeat." "You must learn..." "Yes, what?" "What?" "What?" " What?" "What?" " Maestro." " I must" " I must learn what?" " Maestro, he's gone." " Maestro." " I must learn what?" "I must learn..." "Fuck!" "Fuck!" "Fuck!" "Fuck!" "Fuck." "I saw... fu" "I've been here before." "No, this isn't the path we came in on." "No, no." "This is where the Abyssinian and I first met." "He warned me." "I thought I could solve things like I always do." ""Hell happens when the evil of the world exceeds our belief that we can conquer it.""