" Hold me." "Give me your left hand." "I see colours." " Like stars." "They say that is your soul leaving your body." "Never let me go." "Never." "You're crying." "Tears of blood." "Forgive me." "You have killed so many." "But none like you, boy." " L0vely!" "'Oh, yes!" "What a cork, cos!" "Good catch!" "Our Naples may have her failings, fair ambassador but let no one deny she knows how to celebrate." " Hear, hear." "So you approve of my little display." "It's a wondrous addition." "To Bacchus!" "To a full drink!" "To Bacchus!" "Oh, but these men, our guards, my liege, they will not partake?" "Your guards?" " Our jailers." "Your protectors." "No, they must stay ever alert." "For the slightest hint of danger to your persons." "Given the day we are celebrating, let rne thank them for their service." "How is she?" "No, that's not what I mean." "Do you guardians have names?" "And would you share them with your humble charge?" "I'm Oliveretto." "He's Francesco." "A token of my gratitude for your vigilance." "Good health." "Yes, I'll have another." "My God, Lucrezia." "Don't worry, Maria, they're not dead." "They're just sleeping." "Lucrezia, it's as if a witch had cast a spell." "We are in a fairy tale and the witch is me." "And a magical carriage will come and whisk us to safety in Rome." "My thanks." "If you do not mind, my lady, we take our pickings." "It would not have been possible without our little troupe." "Oh, of course." "My thanks." "I'm right behind you." "Take care, my love." "Micheletto doesn't flee." "He has, my lord." "There's no sign of him." "So you say you've been searching?" "Since the morning." "He has vanished without trace." "Then you will find no trace." "Unless he wants you to." "His only code was loyalty." "Can one of you replace him?" "My lord..." "Don't even try to answer that." "We ride to Naples within the hour." "D0 you expect to die soon, dear?" "The grave awaits us all, Vanozza." "We would have our family rest together." "Is there room in there for me?" "F0ryou?" "A nook, perhaps." "Have you spoken to our eldest son?" "Hardly." "He comes and goes like a ghost in the night." "Well, if he has plans, we would know of them." " You think he shares them with me?" "You're his mother." "Cesare Borgia is well nigh unknowable." "Yeah, like the Sphinx." "He has the French king in his pocket, the French army at his beck and call." "And nobody knows what he's gonna do next." " Have you tried talking to him?" "We never see him to talk to him." " Have you tried forgiving him?" "For what?" " For whatever lies between you two." "What's that?" "Well, only you two know." "And that's the trouble." "You're too alike." "The trouble is I miss him." "He called Naples a garden of weeds." "Micheletto." "You will need a hundred times these men to take it." "I don't want Naples yet." "I want my sister." "Brother?" "Stop!" "Stop!" "Cesare!" "Cesare!" "At last." " We were captives." "We know." "You were betrayed." "I was betrayed." "All of us." "Never again." "Not everyone can love like that." "Like what?" "Like brother and sister." "Another relic?" "Yes, Holiness." "What?" "The head of John the Baptist, perhaps?" "No, Holiness." "A relic of a more recent drama." " What?" "A relic of your crusade against the Turkish navy." "Achieved in one fell swoop." "So that Venetian ships can ply the Adriatic..." "MOHCG more." " You can charge them for the privilege." "Yeah." "And forego your tithe on my Hebrew brethren." "You work your stratagem with oil." "Can you do the same with sulphur?" "Sulphur?" "We would control the supply of sulphur in this land." "Sulphur and saltpetre make gunpowder." "Yeah." "Now, any alchemist can make saltpetre." "But sulphur must be drawn from the bowels of the earth." "And there is only one source." "The Solfatara Caldera." "We would use the coin you have saved us to buy up the whole supply and deprive our enemies of gunpowder." " Your enemies being?" "Oh, it doesn't matter." "Milan, the Sforzas, Naples, France." "Whoever wants to wage war will need our compliance." "And how does this help my people?" "There will come a time." "Favours will be repaid." "And you will be our agent in this, but nothing must connect you to us." "And you should present yourself as a Christian." "Holiness, I cannot." "You will be trading beyond Rome's protection." "The laws of Abraham forbid it." "No, we ask you to present yourself, not to convert." "Get rid of that Hebrew garb." "Trim those locks." "And pray to who you will in private." "But in public, just show a little piety." "You are a Christian now?" "No." "But I can pretend." "I serve a Christian pope so you can remain a Jew." "And I may have a task for our brethren." "From the sulphur mines of Solfatara." " Come." "You're home." "Thank God." "Orsini, I have a task for you." "You know I'm at your service, my lord." "And you know the one I could trust with my family's safety has vanished." "You can trust me." "Well, let us see." "You are charged with my sister's protection and that of her husband and her child." "You will choose her staff, her cooks her child's nursemaid, her manservants." "I would know where she is, where her husband is at every hour of every day." "Is that task enough for you?" "I'll take him, nurse." "Sweet boy." "He is home once more." "Does he remember the Vatican?" "Home." "Home." "It doesn't feel like home." "Are you lost, sis?" "Perhaps." "He will need a bigger cot." "As will he." "He made you smile." " No, you did." "I did?" "How?" "Because you are the joy of my life." "The light of my days." "You know that I know that that isn't true." "How long can we last like this?" "How long does marriage last?" "Tell me." "The income from this pit in a month is--?" " Speak to the proprietor." "Where is the proprietor?" "There are many through the region." "The families divide the spoils." " Tell them I'd buy this year's supply." "In total?" "Tell them I would buy every ounce of sulphur this mine produces throughout this coming year." " And whatever else lies in storage." "You are contemplating a war, sir?" "A war or a peace." "Does it matter?" "This palace is yours." "Signor Orsini will see to your protection." "Why here?" "You need premises of your own." "To avoid prying eyes." "A place that is safe, protected." "I will not have your safety compromised." "And my husband?" "What of him?" " If he were to ride back to Naples?" "I will not allow it." "If you cannot prevent it?" "You know me, sister." "Certain things I will not countenance." "He could cause public scandal if he" "If he what?" "Intimates any impropriety between us." "We are family, we love each other." "We are Spanish." "We embrace." "Where is the scandal?" "You know where the scandal is." "There's a warehouse filling with sulphur as we speak." "We'll make a Christian of you yet." "Will my reward be in your heaven?" "Christian and an optimist." "We like that." "Nobody knows of its location?" "And they will all blame each other for the lack of powder." "You wanted to sow confusion." "You read us too well." "Twenty-five silver." "Is there gold in those wagons?" "What did I pay you for?" "Silence." "Gold that burns." "Father." "Catherina." "We must resolve this or it will be resolved for us." "HQW?" "She plots with Naples." "She reinforces her stronghold." "She requisitions cannon." " She will soon be impregnable." "Are you so sure?" "Yes." "Yes, I'm certain." "And I cannot understand why you don't share my certainty." "Certainty is the preserve of youth." "So I still have to wait." "I know your coffers are full." "I know your crusade was an illusion." "I know you are re-equipping the papal armies, as you should." "Can you give me permission to survey them at least?" "Survey them, my son." "See, are Rome's defences secure?" "But as for the spider of Forli ...I have reason to believe she will wait." "Our lady approaches." "Make ready!" "The gates!" "Florence will neither help nor hinder us." " And Machiavelli?" "Will do nothing." "His nothing is worth a lot." "He will deny them passage across Florentine lands." "Good news." "Now the bad." "Our powder is almost out." " Powder?" "Gunpowder." "For the cannon." "Supplies of sulphur have dried up." "Some agency, some person, has bought them wholesale." "Cesare Borgia." "Is he that clever?" "Let us hope not." "Nurse, I need an earthenware jug." " Where is my maidservant?" "She's indisposed, my lady." " Who appointed you?" "The master of the household." " Who is master of the household?" "I am, my lady." "And who appointed you?" " My lady." "Signor Orsini." "It's fresh." "Get that oven going." "I'll slice it at the table." "This behemoth fires a ball of 300 pounds." "Admirable." "But there is a problem." "Problem?" "The powder to fire the ball." "Gunpowder is made of saltpetre and sulphur." "Saltpetre we have in plenty." "But the supplies of sulphur have dried up." "How can they just dry up?" "Someone has been buying the supplies from Solfatara Caldera." "And that someone has in their power a moratorium on warfare." "What a clever move." "Catherina Sforza?" "Too clever even for her." "We need a spy out there." "Someone to smell out sulphur." "Prospero?" "I shall sniff it out, my lord." "Chop us a large one!" "Get your pelts!" "Get your rabbit pelts!" "See, these will fit anyone." "A bird in a cage." "How appropriate." "We are fully armed, my lord." "As I can see." "But for what?" "For whatever His Holiness intends." "Cesare Borgia." "Alfonso." "Finally we're on first-name terms." "Spar with me, brother." "Brother-in-law." "But love me as a brother." "If you ever loved your brother." "I did." " Mightily." "So I've heard." "Do not provoke me, my lord." "I said "spar," not "fight."" " You're good with a blade." "Are you surprised?" "But I would not harm that which my sister loves." "Does she love me?" "As she loves her brother?" " You're in bad humour, my lord." "Yes." "Dangerously bad humour, and this Vatican is a hive of whispers and rumours and innuendos that set my imagination to a fever." "You should never heed rumour." "Oh, but you're the source of them, my lord." "And rumour has it that there are three in this marriage, not two." "You are both so dear to my heart." "Just follow the wagons." "Thank you." "Close the gates." "You seem curious." "You have a treasure here." "Just the scrapings of the earth." "From where?" "We collect gravel." "Shale." "Sell it where we can." "Hebrews." "You would sell the very soil if you could." " Does soil have any value?" "Does it burn?" "That burns." "I've seen it." "I am no Hebrew." "I am a Christian." "Bless yourself then." "You have a master." "Who?" "A mistress, perhaps?" "This is our moment if ever there was one." "Be careful, Prospero." " You tread on splintered glass." "He is starved of powder." " For all we know, so is she." "Someone paid for those shipments." " They have a purpose, hidden from you." "But does it matter?" "The point is, those stores exist." "I know where." "We should capture those stores, hold them both to ransom." "And we have neutered Cesare Borgia." " You hate him, don't you?" "As do you." "I love my hide more than I hate him." "If you love your hide, follow me in this." "There is only one end for us with him." "Come with me now." "Not now." "Tomorrow." "I was prisoner in Naples." "And now I'm prisoner in Rome." "Maybe we're all prisoners here." "Is there another city?" "Another realm where I can be free of my father my brother?" "You love them both." "Love can be another chain, Mother, in this Borgia family." "There is a great reckoning coming that will leave none of us the same." "I would leave now if I could." "Take my child." "Take you." "And your husband?" "Take him if he would come." "But I doubt it." "Go home, Lucrezia." "You brood too much." "You see the wheel tracks?" "Follow the trail of yellow." " If I ever get lost." "You're not lost." "I am." "In a maze of betrayal." "He would betray you in a heartbeat." "They leave it unguarded?" "A guard would draw too much attention to it." "Here." "Look." "A store of yellow." "The colour of betrayal." "Baglioni." "No." "I'm afraid, my friend, yes." " My lord, I found powder." "Yes." "You found powder for which I thank you." "Now show us around." "Show us what you found." "Chase him down!" " You didn't quite betray me." "Not yet, my lord." "Because I didn't give you time enough." "But with enough time you would have burnt me in that mound of sulphur." " Is it true, Baglioni?" "Too true, my lord." "Why, Baglioni, why?" "Because, my friend, this is what we do." "We are connoisseurs of treachery." "So can anyone tell me who owns this pile of dust?" "Catherina Sforza?" "Why would she store it in Rome?" "Who was it?" "King Frederigo of Naples?" "Louis of France?" "Whoever gathered it here did so for a purpose." "I brought it here." " And you are?" "I am a humble merchant." "Who holds the power of life and death, war and peace." "I bought it for another." "Take him outside." "And do what?" "Burn him." " I cannot do that, my lord." "No." "Take him outside, at least." "Go home, any of you who would not witness this." "I bid you good night." "I can light up your way." "No." "N0." "No, please." "No!" "N0!" "No!" "Go home now." "And let this be a lesson to those who would betray me." "You are cruel, you Romans." "We do not forgive." "So sell it to me." "Icannot" " I haven't named my price." "It doesn't matter." "Merchants buy, we know, but they always sell." "Always have their price." "None of this is mine." "I bought it for another." " Let him name his price then." "He has no price." "Why does he want it?" "The thought of war disturbs him." " A man of peace." "You could say that." " Well, I would meet with this paragon." "And he is a paragon." "It could easily be arranged." "He is your father, Pope of Rome." " And he would deny me powder?" "Yes." " Why?" "lsn't it obvious?" " Because he fears you." "But we share the same aims." "Fathers and sons." "It is always thus." " I will have my powder." "With your father's permission." " Must I beg?" "No." "But perhaps I can intercede." "Holiness I have commandeered every ounce of sulphur in this land." "So you are both a Christian and a peacemaker." "Is that your intention?" "An Italy at peace?" "Not entirely." "I suspected as much." "And as I have done all I can for you, I would return to the tribe of Abraham." "Oh, no." "No, no, no." "No, we have need of you." "We have further plans." "We have need of a man with your resource." "But you are surrounded by advisers, Holiness." "Cardinals, canon lawyers." "Oh, what do they know of the real world?" "Can we trust them with anything other than drawing up a papal bull?" "No." "We need you further yet." "We need your hidden hand." "I may have found just the man, Holiness." "He has talent to burn." "It pains him that those talents are so underused." "What, is he another Jew, like you?" "A Christian." "A warrior." " A warrior." "A leader of men." "One that you should take close to your bosom." "May I introduce you to him?" "What, now?" "You would play games with me?" " Don't talk about games." "You deny me powder?" "You would make rne think it was Catherine?" "You would invite the French army to my doorstep." " We share the same aims." "What are your aims?" "You do not share them with us." "You keep them secret." " We are the Pope of Rome." "You're my father." "You still cannot give me your trust." "Gentlemen!" "You are family, are you not?" "In my people, the bonds of family are unbreakable." "Even stronger than family, the bond between father and son." "Oh, do you have a son'?" "It is sacred." "Adam begat Cain." "Who killed his brother, Abel." " Abraham begat Isaac." "Whom he offered up for sacrifice." "And God stayed his hand." "And so here we are all of us children of Abraham." "And so I ask this father to embrace his son." "Give him his sanction his support his love." " His powder, his army, his control." "His love." "His love." "He is made in your image." "Do you think we don't know that?" "He is me." "All the fire and the fury, the drive." "The pitiless ambition." "I look into his eyes, I see myself." "Do you expect me to love that?" "Can you not love yourself, Father?" "Must we hate each other, then?" "Father, please." "Just" "Open your heart to me." "What have I wrought for this family?" "On the altar of power and ambition?" "A temple built on rotten foundations." "And you're asking me to let you continue down the road?" "I can't do that." "You have no option, Father." "If we weaken now, they destroy us." "There's only one road and that is forward." "Trust me." "I will carve you out an empire." "But abandon me and we live in ruins." "So give it to me your trust, at last." "From now on... ."you1lhaveit" "And your forgiveness for my sins."