"He left me at the gates of the Vatican, hell-bent on getting in bed with the pope." "Why would he conspire with that devil?" "It had to be you." "You're in league with them." "I need you to help me bring hell to the Turks." "Clarice Orsini's been murdered, her body found crucified in the papal bath." "You're being hunted by Italy's most ingenious mind." "You have placed the future of the Labyrinth in jeopardy." "If da Vinci gets too close, help him become one." "We are the shadow at the center of the Labyrinth." "You shall join us." "We are one." "Andrea!" "Andrea." "What have I told you about playing away from the house?" "Yes, I know, I know." "Well, why do you do it, then?" " Father said I could." "Did he now?" "And where is your father?" "In his workshop." "He's always in his workshop." "Stay closer to the house." "Andrea." "Yes, Mother." "Good morning." " Signora." "You look ravishing." " Ah." "Why am I so suspicious of your intentions?" "Because you're brilliant." "What are you trying to avoid?" " A scolding from the wife." "I know you're gonna chide me about Andrea's models," "I know, but just... just wait." "Wait until you see this one." "What does this one do?" "Cuts through the air." "It's like a corkscrew." "It hovers, floats." "Actually, no, that reminds me" "I need to, um..." "I need to perfect some form of breathing apparatus so I can retrieve the Underboat from the pond bottom." "Leo." " I know, I know," "I..." "I let him play in the field again." "We need to talk about Rome." "After we see if she'll fly." "Andrea, look at this!" "Can we make it go higher?" "Faster?" "Try." "Oh, look, he loves it." "I'm just surprised the damn thing works." "Yeah, the weight-to-lift ratio could still use some calibrating." "You can't take Andrea to Rome." "Lucrezia, we can't hide him from the world forever." "He gets enough of the world at school." "Too much if you ask me." "I am being honored in Rome by the Architect himself." "If none of my family accompany me..." "I will never go back to Rome." "Which is why if I don't take our son with me, then it will be noticed." " Let them notice." "You did your part 10 years ago." "Why can't they just leave us alone?" " They have." "And if we want them to continue... hey... we can't be noticed." "Andrea." "Andrea?" " Andrea!" "We are the Labyrinth." "We are one." "We are one." "We are the horns of the increate." "We are the Labyrinth." " Stop!" "Stop there." "I told you, you stay away from there." "All right?" "But can't you hear the voices?" "Come on." "We are the horns of the increate." "We are the Labyrinth." "We are one." "Thank you." "Brother Girolamo." "You wanted to see me?" "I did." "Walk with me." "You know the legends of the monstrous Minotaur, of the architect Daedalus." "Of the labyrinth he designed and built for King Minos of Crete." "I do." "It was so well-crafted, so intricate, so complex that Daedalus himself could not find his way out." "You're telling me my situation is of my own making." "You have taken da Vinci." "Brother Carlo is making him one of us." "Not an easy task." "Da Vinci is resisting, as did you." "I..." " Don't fret, my boy." "Resistance takes many forms." "All of which must be overcome." "Some do not survive." "Others are driven to madness." "The training weeds out the many to find the few." "We can only hope da Vinci is among them." "Is it wise to have Brother Carlo orchestrating the rebirth of such a valuable man?" "You do not trust Carlo?" "He was once an agent of the Sons of Mithras." "So was da Vinci." "And so were you when you joined him on his quest." "That was misguided." "Even the great hero Theseus could not find his way out of the labyrinth without the help of the king's daughter, Ariadne, who provided him the thread, a clue, a lifeline." "Who is your lifeline, brother?" "I hope and pray it is you." "Verrocchio." "Clarice." "I will see you hanged for their murders." "Your mentor was a necessary sacrifice." "But I did not kill Clarice." "I adored her." "Aw." "She was carrying your child." "I..." "I didn't know." " What if you did?" "Would that have made a difference?" "Would you have spared her life?" " I didn't kill her!" "Ah!" "You will become one, da Vinci." "And then help me find her killer." "Open your eyes and see!" "Open your eyes and see!" " No." "No!" "Open your eyes..." " No." "...and see!" "What do you think you're doing?" "Sorry." "Did I wake you?" "I asked you a question." " I'm dressing." "Well, don't." "And what would you have me do?" "Well, you could drop that towel for starters." "It's true what they say about you, you are decadent and perverse." "There is nothing decadent about admiring the beauty of the human body." "Is that what you want to do?" "Admire my body?" "Yeah, in a host of perverse positions, of course." "Come back to bed." "I can't." "It's late and it's a Sunday." "Mm, it's my day of rest." "Come and rest with me." "It's your day to spend some time with your son." "Right." "Right, right, right." "Vanessa." "Art is about seeing." "It's about truly seeing the world around you." "The things in it..." "people, places." "The natural world." "Take this..." "this ancient oak tree." "It looks like an oak tree, but... but if you look into its heart, into its essence, we see a miracle." "It's the pinnacle of nature's creation." "But it all begins with seeing." "So what do you see?" "You're not listening to me, are you?" "What?" "All these Sundays, you haven't heard a word I've said." ""Art is about seeing." "It all begins with seeing." "Nature is all around us." "The pinnacle of creation."" " All right." "Hmm." "I don't think that's very funny." "I didn't mean it to be." "Hey." "That's mine!" "Give it back!" "It's mine!" "Why would you do something like this?" " Give me back my work!" "How could you do this?" "!" " Give it back now!" "No!" "We do it in school all the time!" " I don't care about school." "I care about you!" "I'm sorry." "I'm not angry with you." "You hate the Labyrinth, don't you?" "No." "No, I just... at times, I disagree with them." "When you come of age, enter manhood, have a family," "you'll come to learn that you have to make up your own mind about things." "You have to follow your own path." "Choices are made that are complicated." "To do what's right, sometimes you have to rely on those that you think are wrong." "Here." "Is that why you burned the book?" "I destroyed the book... because the knowledge it contained could have destroyed everything." "All of this." "You, me, your mother, too." "So you didn't burn the book for the Labyrinth?" "Though we shared an agenda, our motives were at odds." "But my teachers say it is a sin to disagree." "Mm." "Yes, well, like I say, it's complicated." "Good." "Come here, come here." "It's just me." "It's Lucrezia." "I saw you from our bedroom window." "I've..." "I've brought medical supplies and food." "What took you so long?" "We got here hours ago." " Yes, and I promised you that I would always offer you a safe haven, but I can't be part of your resistance." "Leo mustn't know that I'm here." "So he still turns a blind eye to the holy hell he concocted for his dear old friends." "If he didn't save my life, then I couldn't save yours." "Vanessa, sit down." "Let me see your wounds." "Please." "Tell me what happened." " I'll give you a guess." "The Labyrinth." "They hit us just before dawn outside Montecatini." "We lost some good people." "Oh, God." "Nico?" "Oh, Vanessa," "I'm so sorry." "Listen, your husband, he loved you very much." "Sorry?" "You shouldn't be sorry, you should be enraged." "Nico's blood is on his hands." "Your beloved husband!" "How the fuck do you figure that?" "I want you gone, Zoroaster." "Take whatever food you can carry and then get off my land." "Can't do that." " You will." "Or I will turn you over to the Labyrinth when the patrol that is obviously dogging you manages to trace you here." " Leo!" "You'd see me... crucified?" "!" "Nailed to a horned cross like the thousands of "heretics" that line the road to Rome?" "I have a family!" " So did I." "I had a husband... and our child." "But they were not at one with your Labyrinth." " It's not my Labyrinth." "They were not the horns of the fucking increate!" "Vanessa..." " So they burned my baby, my house, my life, trying to destroy me and my husband." "And now they've murdered my Nico and undoubtedly nailed his corpse to the nearest tree." "Vanessa, I'm sorry." "You have to go, too." "I'm sorry." " No." "Leo!" "Not before we show you this." "It's the missing page... from the Book of Leaves." "In three days, the Labyrinth leadership will all gather in Rome for the Decennial." "10 years since you burned the damn book." "You want me to read from that?" "Use the weapon that I sought to destroy?" "To rain down more death?" "More destruction?" "Something like that." "Father, come quickly!" "Andrea!" "Andrea!" "I told you to wait by the tree." "But there's people coming!" "Andrea." "Leo, your eyes." "As I became one, did my eyes bleed?" "Resistance takes many forms." "So I've been told." "I fear your zealous efforts will kill this patient." "If death is da Vinci's way, so he goes." "We can offer him a lifeline, light in the darkness, but the final choice is his." "As it is for all of us." "Da Vinci's death would not serve the Labyrinth or our crusade." "His sacrifice would not be in vain." "At least the Sons of Mithras would not be able to use him against us." "The Sons are already using his designs for the Turk war machines." "What more do they require of him?" "He is one who can read the book." "The Book of Leaves?" "Can't anyone read its pages?" "Only those who have been prepared for the task from the moment of their birth." "Da Vinci suffers the curse of destiny." "You do not, my boy." "Is it wise to reveal yourself before him?" "He cannot hear us." "His mind is far from here." "Take him further, Brother Carlo." "Let him know who we are." "We are the horns of the increate." "We are the shadows at the center of the Labyrinth." "We are the unity within the beast." "We are one." "We are the horns of the increate." "We are the shadows at the center of the Labyrinth." "We are the unity within the beast." "We are one." "We are the horns of the increate." "We are the shadows at the center of the Labyrinth." "We are the unity within the beast." "We are one." "We are the horns of the increate." "We are the shadows at the center of the Labyrinth." "No!" "We are the unity within the beast." "We are..." "At one." "We are one with the Architect who is at one with us all." "I'm sorry, sir." " Don't be." "Sometimes I can't remember all the words either." "Father always forgets to say grace." "Your father has much on his mind." "But when I remind him, he says we don't have to." "Andrea, you mustn't disturb the major." "He's no bother." "He's a wonderful boy." "Bright like his father." "So, what shall it be, then... the Church or the crusade?" "Well, surely he's a little bit young to be making such decisions." "Nonsense." "When I was his age, I knew precisely where I belonged." "Who I was to be." "Perhaps you wish to make things like your father." "Design glorious weapons of death and destruction." "I don't do that anymore." "Pity." " Andrea, eat." "Your father, Andrea, how much do you know of his achievements?" "He burned the Book of Leaves." "Saved us all from the Sons of Mithras." "However, in some ways, the burning was not your father's greatest achievement." "Oh, you flatter me, Major." "But surely your exploits would make for a better tale." " Your father's greatest triumph... he overcame his worst enemy." "Do you mean the bastard son of Florence?" "Leo." "He overcame his own soul." "There was a time your father despised the Labyrinth and its teachings." "He conspired against us." "Refused to become one." "Despised me, too." "Wanted my head on a platter." "But do not be cross with him." "As I have said, he defeated his inner darkness." "And on that fateful day, your father stood amidst the embers of a dying city... his beloved Florence aflame." "He opened the Book of Leaves and read the words he knew would destroy that wretched work forever." "Father has promised to take me to the Decennial." "I'll get to see Rome." "And you shall sit by my side as your father receives tribute from the Architect himself." "Andrea, your father and I are yet to make that decision." "Yes, we have." "You're not coming to Rome." "But you promised." " I know." "You said I could meet the Architect, maybe even walk the Labyrinth." "Your mother and I have discussed it." "She hates Rome!" "She never wanted me to go!" "Father, you don't have to listen to her!" "Andrea." "I shan't have such talk at my table." "Go to your room." " I won't go!" "You heard your mother." "Go!" "This is for the best." "I was loathe to speak before the boy, but I didn't come all this way to simply sup with an old friend." "We assumed so." "The road to Rome has grown very dangerous." "Murderous bands of heretics litter the countryside." "I killed one..." "a young man... from your city of Florence, I believe." "We cut out his tongue so he shall no longer speak heresy." "Then his eyes so he shall die in darkness." "And then we nailed him to the rotting branches of a dead tree." "He cried himself to sleep again." "He wouldn't even speak to me." "Oh, God." "I'm so sorry about all of this." "Don't be." "It's the rest of the damned world that has a problem." "It's not you." "Don't go to Rome." "Please don't leave us." "Even if I stayed, you know they have to go." "I know." "I'll go to Rome with Carlo and his men." "They won't harm me." "I'm their hero." "If you take the page, could you... if you read from it," "could you destroy them?" "Holy shit." "You forgot to sign it." "I'm no genius, but I do know when to use a decoy." "I see your curiosity still gets the better of you." "It's been a problem, hasn't it?" " If I'm remembering correctly, that particular trait of yours got us into our fair share of trouble." "Well, the world was once a much simpler place." "No argument there." "Though I hated it at the time." "Oh, what I wouldn't give to be just your scrounger again." "Well, my scrounger... did help me construct a submersible machine." "Nearly got us killed." " But it worked." "It worked." "You want to see it, don't you?" " Very much so." "Vanessa." "Time to show him the real thing." "The words are like quicksilver." "Never the same twice." "Don't." "Speak one word... and it will be your last." "Put the page on the table and step away." "Now!" "Take these two heretics and give them the chance to become one." "No." "No, they're my friends." "If any harm comes to them, the Architect will hear of this." "We're a long way from Rome, da Vinci." "Take them!" "No." "You can fix this." "It's not too late, but you have to wake up." "No." "No, no!" "No, no, no." "May I ask?" "That is why you are here." "Da Vinci's resistance, have you... have you ever seen anything like it before?" "Once." "Me." "As the Architect before me tried to guide my path through the Labyrinth," "I resisted." "What form did your resistance take?" "I found myself in a maze of my own making." "A world unto itself." "A past, present, future playing out on a stage, trapped." "I was adrift." "A lost soul." "Lost within myself." "How did you defeat this madness?" "Not madness." "An inner life." "Shadows on the cave wall." "Who's to say a lifetime cannot pass in an instant?" "Cradle to grave is but a drop in the water." "How did your Architect guide you out?" "After hours and hours of guidance, he threw me a lifeline." "A desperate, dangerous one." "He poisoned me... with this." "Poison?" "Choosing life is meaningless unless death is a choice as well." "You fear for Leonardo?" "He is... he is a unique mind." "Which makes him a danger to us all." "You believe we are better off without him?" "Until every child lives by His divine doctrine," "God's tether to this world remains precarious." "Da Vinci and those like him threaten his very existence." "Something has happened." "There are whispers amongst the blades." "The Sons of Mithras seek a lost page from the Book of Leaves." "If they use it to achieve their enlightenment, it will be at the expense of all we hold dear." "It will assure the death of faith." "Da Vinci will leave here as one of us or he will not leave at all." "Fear not." "This elixir helped me make the right choice." "I trust it shall do the same for him." "I'm almost happy for her." "The losses she's suffered." "The pain she woke up with every day." "Maybe she's at peace now." "Maybe they're all at peace now if you believe that sort of thing." "I'm not sure what I believe." "I'm not sure of anything anymore." "You're a far cry from the man I sailed the ocean with to wherever the fuck that was." "The da Vinci I knew then tempted fate with his own purpose." "He knew what he wanted from the world and he made it happen." "I would've done anything for that man." "We've nothing to do but to wait until the dawn." "If he survives, he will be with us." "And if he does not?" "He will not be against us." "Either way, we prevail." "We are the horns of the..." "We..." "This is for my friend Nico, the one you killed on the road." "And this is for Vanessa, the one you killed last night!" "This is because I feel like it." "You bastard!" " Zo!" "We need him alive." "I won't kill him." "Just... making him bleed." "There's someone coming!" "It's the lieutenant." "Stop there!" "We have your major." "He is alive and our captive." "Prove to me he is alive." "Say something." "I'm alive, Lieutenant!" " Good boy." "We're coming out to talk terms." "Understood." "I will go with you to Rome... for the ceremony, for the Decennial." "But I will leave behind" "Major de Medici under our guard." "There, I will get assurances personally from the Architect that our bargain is intact." "That my family is safe." "Upon my return with these assurances, your major will be released." "What of the heretic?" "He will be free to live whatever life he chooses." "And if I hear that any harm has come to him or my family, your major will die." "You are a dutiful son, are you not?" "Your parents have been deceived by these heretics." "They wish to harm your mother and father and turn them against the Labyrinth." "Do you understand?" "Yes." "You are a good son of the Labyrinth." "Find a knife and cut my bonds..." " Andrea?" "so I can free your parents and we can become one." "Don't you ever speak to him again." "Don't even look at him." "He will poison you with his vile ways and his evil faith." "Do you hear me?" "Andrea, he is a killer." "He and his kind have brought nothing but pain and suffering to this world." "They teach hate and lies." "And I will die before I see you become a good son of the Labyrinth, do you hear me?" "Andrea, are you listening to me?" "Yes, Mother." "Good." "Why don't you go to your room, get some rest?" "They're coming!" "Go!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "Andrea!" "We are the unity within the beast." "We are one." "We are one." " We are one." "We are one." " We are the unity within the beast." "We are one." " No!" "Wake up, Leo." " Wake up, wake up." "Wake up." "No!" "Wake up." "Wake up." "Leo, wake up." "Wake up, Leo." "Wake up." "Father!" "Andrea." "I'm sorry." "I love you, but... you're not real." "You're not real." "None of this is real, none of this is real." "You're not real." "None of this is real." "I have to wake up." "I have to wake up, wake up, wake up." "Wake up, wake up." " You have to wake up." "Wake up, wake up, wake up." "What the hell is this about?" "Your men said to bring a cart and enough food and water for a long journey." "Shit!" "What happened?" "We were tracking Carlo de Medici when we were ambushed." "Da Vinci was captured." "I was left for dead." " Where's Carlo now?" "Gone." "It's as though he knew we were coming." "You must take him back to Florence." "He'll be safe there." "Give me a hand!" "Yup." "Oh... what have they done to you?" "When he wakes up, he will only see you." "You're not coming with us?" " I will see you again." "But not before I have proved my worth to Leo and to myself." "You look like shit." "Well, I was worried the Labyrinth had turned you, but, no, you are still an ass." "Riario." "He saved me." "I couldn't believe it either." "It would've been easier if he didn't." "If they just made me one of them." "Not having to think for myself." "What the hell are you on about?" "I had a vision, Zo." "Of what might have been." "Of what... what... what still could be." "I was married." "I had a family." "But the cost..." "Hey." "You sure you're okay?" "What's this?" "Ah, a souvenir." "Pulled it off a dead Turk." "Might be worth a few florins." "Where are we?" "We shall be in Florence by morning." "At least, I think we will." "You don't happen to have a map in that journal of yours by any chance, do you?" "Not that I doubt my obvious superior navigation skills." "It's just that dirt roads tend to look the same when you haven't slept."