"What is it?" "Abbot Suger, forgive me." "There's something wrong with that stone." " It pisses at night." " It what?" "During the day, it looks like all the others." "But when night comes, it weeps." "The Devil is in that stone." "Perhaps." "Who are you?" "What are you looking at?" "Nothing, sir." "You're an Englishman." "Get back to work." "Abbot Suger, forgive me." "I want to learn here." "The light is magnificent." "The walls..." "The walls are so high." "How do they bear that weight?" "You know Euclid, the father of geometry?" "No." "Then you know nothing." "Excuse me, I'm looking for an English mason with red hair who may have passed through these parts." "Have you seen him?" "He left a year ago." "Do you know where he went?" " Yes, Prior?" " You have a visitor." "You look lost." "Of course, you are." "No longer prior, your dream demolished." "You must sometimes think" "God is punishing you for your sins, your willful pride." "Yes." "But perhaps he's guiding you in another direction, towards me." "I admire you, Philip, in spite of what you think." "You're a clever man, determined and a good priest." "I want to make you my archdeacon." "Your Eminence..." "Hear me out." "In recompense for not naming me archbishop, the King has agreed to send me as his representative to Rome." "And I'll need a trustworthy man to handle diocesan affairs in my absences." "And you were the first and, to be frank, the only man I could think of." " I don't think I'm..." " I'm not finished." "When I advance, as I hope one day to do, perhaps you will take my place." "As Bishop of Kingsbridge, you could build your cathedral, punish the Hamleighs, do whatever you want." "Until then, I simply ask for honest diligence and obedience in all things." " In all good things." " Of course." "I don't need your answer tonight, but I will need you living within my palace in two weeks." "Prior Remigius will reluctantly give you leave." "I look forward to our partnership, Philip." "The mouth is too small." "Aliena!" " Is it really you?" " Yes." "I followed your work." "You left Alfred?" "He's mine?" "He's mine." "He won't break." "Aliena, he's beautiful." "What's his name?" "I haven't chosen one yet." "Shall we call him Jack?" "No, no." "No, Jack's the father I never knew." "Let's name him after the father I did know." "Tom." "Tom." "Tom dreamed of light, of churches filled with light, but he didn't know how to build them." "And now I know, not only that it's possible, but how it can be done." "How's Ma?" "She misses you." "And Prior Philip, how's he?" " Philip isn't prior anymore." " What?" "There was a terrible accident." "The vault fell in." " Alfred's vault fell?" " The vault that Philip sanctioned." "Waleran called for another election, and now Remigius is prior." "Philip..." "Philip isn't Philip." "He's lost his spirit." "The construction has stopped and the relic was crushed." "Waleran says that without a relic to perform miracles, there can be no pilgrims, and without pilgrims, there can be no church." "We're going home." "We've got just enough." "We travel tomorrow." "No, don't let him move." "He can't not move." "He's a baby." "Gabriel!" "Gabriel, come here!" "Leave the man alone." " Oh my God!" " What is it?" "He's the spitting image of my brother at that age." " Your brother?" " Yes, Jacques Cherbourg." "He was a jongleur who died at sea." "Jacques Cherbourg." "Of course, this is Cherbourg." "Jacques." "Your father was my only son." "He was a..." "A storyteller and singer and my close friend." "He taught me French when I first came here, and I taught him English." "The prince, King Henry's son, hired him to sail with him across the channel." "Prince William?" "Your father called him the Phoenix Prince because of a ring he wore." "Was it a signet ring?" "Cut in the shape of a bird rising from fire." "Prince William was accompanied by his wife and many people of his court, including your father, and they were never seen again." "That was the White Ship." "It was the ship that sunk with Prince William, King Henry's heir." "I thought no one survived that sinking." "My father survived it." "He was on that ship." "Brother Philip." "Welcome." "I'm glad to see that you have come to a happy decision." "Yes." "Yes, I have, Eminence." "May we have a word alone?" "Your offer took me unawares." "And you were right." "I've never..." "I've never felt so lost." "Satan tempted Christ at his weakest, after40 days without food or water." "I haven't Christ's strength to resist, Eminence, but you, you do not have Satan's cunning." "You have taught me, you see." "Politics may be a bargain between beggars, but compromise between good and evil is never possible." "God's work does not blend with power or greed." "Your moral mortar is corrupt." "And the walls of your church will crumble, and the roof will fall." "And you and everyone who worships with you will be crushed." "I would sooner live out the rest of my days feeding pigs at the monastery than feeding your ravenous ambition." "You're damned." "Robert of Gloucester!" "Richard of Kingsbridge!" "I thought you were a knight, not a foot soldier!" "A poor knight, My Lord, but soon I'll be a wealthy one!" "In the name of Queen Maud, I ask you for mercy." "Then God grant you peace." "Good man!" "I am not yet defeated." "I still have you, Henry." "Gloucester was my muscle, but you, you are my heart." "And I swear upon his butchered body, one day you will be king." "God told me this would happen." "In a dream, Your Majesty?" "Heavens, no." "He told me over dinner last night." "You have my undying gratitude." "Thank you, Your Majesty." " I humbly ask..." " I have no title to give you." "Yet there's to be a crusade, and I need volunteers." "I'll give you horse and armor and a squire or two if you kill some Saracens for me." "When you return, we'll see what we can do about your father's title." "As you wish, Your Majesty." "You see, Eustace, Maud's bastard brother is dead." "He was her strength." "She's defeated now." "And I swear on his traitorous head, one day you will be king." "The workers are gone." "Nothing's been done since the collapse." "What is it, Brother?" "Is something wrong?" "It's Jack!" "He's come home!" "Hey!" "Jack Jackson's home!" "He's in the cathedral!" "Welcome home, Jack." "Last time we saw you, you were locked away in our dungeon." "Have you returned to serve out the rest of your sentence?" "I was locked up to keep me away from Aliena." "It's too late for that now." "I was wrong." "As I recall, my predecessor forbade you from stepping foot on these holy grounds, except as a monk." "You're consorting with a married woman and living in sin." "You must either leave the whore or leave Kingsbridge." " I've come to finish the cathedral." " The cathedral is dead, Jack." "There are no more relics, miracles or pilgrims." "Which is why I bring you this." "A miraculous statue, a holy relic from France." "We've heard about these fake relics traveling from village to village, supposedly curing the sick." "However, there's always a charlatan behind it." "She weeps for the world's ambitions." "It's a trick, Your Eminence, but I don't know how he does it." "Where did he get it?" "He made it himself, it's obvious." "Rumor has it, it's carved from the True Cross, but it's far too new for that." " And the miracles, are they real?" " Who's to say?" "Cripples walk, the dying are revived, but witchcraft does the same." "One thing is certain, more and more pilgrims come every day, giving money for the cathedral." "That's the greatest miracle of all." "Ma!" " Ma!" " My boy!" " I missed you!" "I missed you so much!" " I missed you, too." "You're thinner than ever." "You look exactly the same." "You're a father now." "You have to take care of yourself." "We've named him Tom." "Give him here." "He looks like he eats well." "And constantly." "How is married life?" "We're not married yet, not in the eyes of the Church." "Why should you care what the Church says?" "I'm gonna ask Alfred for an annulment." "He'll never give it." "Come." "I intend to rebuild the cathedral, Ma, but they won't hire a man who's living in sin." "That would eliminate everyone in their eyes." "Ma, I met my father's family." "Somehow, Father got that ring, and it must've been a sign that he intended to give the King, but they silenced him before that could happen." "A sign of what?" "That he was there, Ma, that he knew the prince, or that the prince told him something or he saw something, something that cost him his life, Ma." "Who were the other two?" "What other two?" "The men that condemned Father, who were they?" "I curse you, all three of you." "Your church, dear Prior, shall burn to the ground." "Prior James was one, the Prior of Kingsbridge before Philip." "Your children, My Lord, shall die on the gallows." "Who is the Lord?" "He's dead." "There's nothing you can do to him anymore." "Lord Percy." "Percy Hamleigh." "And the priest?" "The one you confessed to." "And you, good Father, the confessor whom I trusted, you shall one day climb very high, only to fall." "Waleran." "I told him that I'd found a man on the beach." "He needs your help, your support." "He has a secret he will tell no one but the King." "They framed your father for stealing the priory chalice and eventually they burned him." "And he never told you his secret?" "No." "But they knew." "How?" "God hear thee, mother." "Your Eminence, welcome." "Make way for the Bishop." "Your Eminence, I need to speak to you about my sister." "Holy Mary, Mother of God!" "Holy Mary!" "Please!" "Please help!" "Save me, O Blessed Virgin!" "Help me!" "Help me!" "Please help me!" "Can I come in?" " Are you alone?" " Yes." "I didn't do it to hurt you, Alfred." "I'm here to ask you, on behalf of Aliena, to apply for an annulment." "Why should I?" "You won't be able to marry again without it." "You'll be stuck with a wife who won't live with you, who fathered a child with another man, and that's how you'll be known." "I got rid of her." "I told her to leave." "I don't want her back, you can be sure of that." " Yes." " The house is mine." "When I married her, it passed to me." "Of course." "And I want money." "It'll cost you." "I have no money now, but if the church building continues, I will soon enough." " And I can give you work, too, if you need it." " They won't allow it." "No one trusts me to build for them anymore." "Well, damn them!" "I built that vault strong enough!" "I supported it well." "It wasn't my fault!" "I was cursed." " Alfred..." " I loved her!" "You knew that." "From the first moment I saw her, I loved her." "Now I'm a laughing stock." "You took my da from me." "You killed my ma." "Your witch of a mother poisoned her." "Your ma died in childbirth." "She poisoned her!" "And then she cursed me." "She made me soft, down here." "Everyone heard." "And when they saw the baby, everyone knew!" " She doesn't have those powers." " She collapsed the vault!" "She took my work from me!" "You took my wife!" "Everything I've ever had or wanted, you've stolen!" "You took something from me, too." "What?" "What?" "What did I ever take?" "My ring." "You took my da's ring." "And I want it back." "If I had it, I would melt it into a lump and piss on it." "Get out." "We know you wish Jack Jackson dead." "If only wishes had knives." "Dear Lady, I think you miss my point." "Because of Jackson's miraculous statue, there are now pilgrims in Kingsbridge." "And where there are pilgrims, there is a market." "They have a license." "They haven't had a turnout simply because your son burned the fleece fair." "That was your idea." "Is that an accusation or a compliment?" "There will be a new market, and I expect there will be a newer, grander fleece fair." "Shiring will once again get the sharp end of the stick." "Could I be clearer than this?" "We are, for better or worse, together in this." "Then let's kill him." "And Aliena." "They're living in sin." "They deserve to die, and that bastard child of theirs." "And how do you plan to do this?" "We could slip him some poison." "Mother's a witch." "An assassin perhaps." "Assassins can be caught and tortured." "Another attack on Kingsbridge." "He may run away, he may hide." "With our luck, he'll probably be visiting his mother." "Why not combine all three?" "William won't attack until we're certain Jack is present, I can see to that." "You once said you had a spy or two at the priory." "In the midst of battle, your spy will stab Jack with a dagger dipped in poison." "Who's to say he didn't die defending his church?" "There's the added bonus of course of destroying Kingsbridge." "What do you think?" "Leave it to Eve every time." "First, I must make a pilgrimage to Kingsbridge to make sure Jack's at home." "Besides, I'm curious to see the Madonna." "Give me your spy's name." "I'll talk to him." "Father, I need to confess." "Tomorrow morning, my child, before mass." "No, Father, now." "Don't be afraid." "I can't imagine any sin you've committed is as terrible as you fear." " It's not a sin, Father." " What do you mean?" "It's not a sin I need to tell you." " My husband, William..." " Yes?" "He's going to attack Kingsbridge in two days' time with an army of men." "Dear God." "Why?" "They want to kill someone named Jack." "There's a spy who's going to assassinate him during the attack." " Did they say who?" " No." "It's Remigius." "He's always been Waleran's ally." "I'll have to try and find some way to lock him up." "I'd rather catch him in the act." "How can we defend ourselves against William?" "I haven't a clue, but Aliena has a visitor who does." "We meet him in the field outside of town." "There are hundreds of us." "He'll bring 20 at most." "Monks don't fight." "And I can't ask the townspeople to give their lives when I'm not prepared to risk my own." "Well, perhaps they'll run when they see our numbers." "And perhaps they won't." " Is there any way to avoid a pitched battle?" " Not without town walls." " Walls would do it?" " Yes, but we can't build them in two days." "They're not that hard to build." "I mean, we have the men and materials." "We don't have enough stone to wall in the entire town." "Well, does it have to be stone?" "A simple ditch with an earth rampart would be effective." "But that wouldn't hold them back for long." "Long enough." "They'd be stopped and exposed." "And when they're vulnerable, we can shoot stones, arrows." "Can you build a town wall in two days?" "Well, I've never built a town wall in my life, so it'll be the worst-built wall in England, but I think so, yeah." "What if it doesn't hold them back?" "Wouldn't it be safer to run to the forest and trust that William won't follow?" "It's not a question of safety." "If we run, we lose everything that we've worked for, the priory, the cathedral." "And I have a special reason to see William Hamleigh defeated." "One, two, three." "Come on, men!" "Keep it up!" "This wall needs to go up faster!" "And pull!" "Thank you." "That's enough!" "Ma!" "Aliena sent word." "I want to help." "Put me to work." "Tomorrow morning, when we attack Kingsbridge, don't forget that destruction, My Lord," "is the work of angels, albeit the dark ones." "Where are you?" "I want to fuck you." "Up higher." "That's it." " Are we gonna finish in time?" " At this rate, no." " What can we do to speed things up?" " We need to build faster and worse." "Well, then, let's do it!" "It's my fault you rest in unholy ground." "I should go to Hell, Kate, not you." "I love you." "Walter with me." "The rest of you over there." "Now!" "Come on!" "William!" "Come!" "My Lord?" "My Lord!" "Retreat!" "Retreat!" "Jack!" "Where is Jack?" "We're saved!" "We are saved!" " We did it!" " It was the wall that did it, Jack." "Your wall." "What's this?" "What's this?" "What's this?" "My..." "My sister..." "He promised to rebury her in holy ground." "She'd be saved, Philip." "He forgave me this." "No!" "No, no, no!" "You told Bishop Waleran about the weeping lady." "You've done everything you can to stop the cathedral." "You even knew about the attack and you didn't tell us." "Did you coerce Cuthbert into murdering Jack?" "His sister was a woman of the streets who died on the day she came here for forgiveness." "The Bishop refused her absolution and buried her in unholy ground." " Did you barter her salvation?" " That was Bishop Waleran's doing, not mine." "I told him Cuthbert's a fool, but he didn't trust me." "We don't want you prior no more." "We want Philip back." "Aye!" "Aye!" "You idiot!" "Twenty men to take a town!" " I didn't know they had a wall." " Well, they didn't as of a few days ago." "Somebody must've talked." "What did you do?" "Get drunk and brag to one of your stupid whores?" "You are as dense as your father, William, and twice the coward." "A bump on your head and you turn tail and run!" "Once again, it is up to me to save Shiring." "God knows it'll never be saved by incompetent pig slurry like you!" "Enough!" "Is my sweet William out of sorts?" "Your mother has a temper, dear, you know that." "Now tell me." "Whom do you hate the most?" "Jack Jackson." " And what would you do to him?" " Skin him alive." "And so you shall." "And whom do you love the most?" "William, whom do you love the most?" "You." "And what would you do to me?" "What the fuck are you looking at?" "What a terrible accident." "Too much wine and wandering at night." "You betrayed us, Brother." "For that, we cast you out." "Take what few belongings you have and leave." "We'll finish this church without you." "You will." "That, you will." "But that church is for your glory, not God's." "I may be a sinner, too, but you?" "You, Philip, are no better than Waleran." "It's only words, Prior." "There's truth in them." "Thanks to you, this town is saved, and because of you, we will finish this church." "I want you to be my master builder, Jack." "I hope I'm ready, Prior." "I know you are." "My fight in the crusade will get us back our title." "I'll bring back a Saracen's head from the Holy Land, just for you." "Just bring yourself back, that's all I ask." "Philip in power, Regan dead, the cathedral to be finished." "Every our patient general, Lord God, when will I see our victory?" "Look what I have done for you." "God, why hast thou forsaken me?" "Good morning." "So now that we've finished the vault, we start work on the towers." "It's two fingers pointing to Heaven, but also doubly supporting the wall of the nave." "Now, our budget is tight, our time frame even tighter." "So we must be swift and diligent, and there's no room for error now." "We will finish this church while peace still reigns." "Another war could stop us altogether." "Now, Matthew..." "I'm afraid, Father." "Good God, Eustace!" "What can you possibly be afraid of?" "I'll make a bad decision." "Kings don't make bad decisions." "Now, your advisers will advise you." "But if something goes wrong, it's their fault for not informing you fully." "Now sit." "Bring in the petitioner." "Don't fuss about it." "You're only king for a morning." "This is a..." "It's a minor issue." "England won't collapse if you mishandle it." "Good boy." "Richard of Kingsbridge, welcome home." "The crusade went well?" "It was a long journey, Your Majesty, with little result." "You killed a lot of Jews, didn't you?" "That's what I was told." "I came to believe the Jews were not necessarily our enemies, My Lord." "How odd." "At any rate, you have a petition." "Prince Eustace here will hear it." "And whatever he decides will be law." " My Prince." " Speak freely, Sir Richard." "For many years now, I have been asking that my father's title be restored to me, along with his castle and his land." "I've served the King faithfully, first against Maud, now in the Holy Land." "Your title was given to William Hamleigh, was it not?" "Yes, My Lord." "But he's continually changed sides in the war of succession, and, in addition, is a bad landlord with unpaid taxes!" "I will pay those taxes and serve you better than he once Shiring is mine." "Very well, it's yours." "It's mine, My Lord?" "Yes, if that's all right, Father?" "What ever you say, Eustace." "There's just one tiny problem." "Cardinal Waleran, you know Richard of Kingsbridge, don't you?" "Your Eminence." "The Cardinal recently returned from Rome, where he served His Holiness for nearly eight years." "Your Eminence is well rewarded for your service, I see." "What's the problem, Cardinal?" "Why can't Richard be named earl?" "In order for him to claim his title, he has to take the castle by force, Majesty." "And it is well armed, I believe." "So Richard has to raise his own army, and pay and feed and arm them himself." "Unless Your Majesty is willing to contribute." "No." "No, that's..." "That's impossible." "We're poor as church mice." "Tommy!" "Tom, you've got to run it against the wind." "So take it the other way." " That's good." " Hand me the basket." " He's good." " Jack!" "What?" "Nothing." " Wait, what?" "Aliena, what is it?" " No, don't." "Stop." "A storm is coming." "I'll just go and check the cathedral for cracks." "You should take Tom back before he gets wet." "God forbid anything should happen to your precious cathedral." "What did you say?" "I said cathedral first, family second." "That's not true." "It's my work." "It's your life, Jack." " Not me, not Tommy." " You have your work, Aliena." "Which means nothing to you compared to your calling from God." "Prior Philip gives you pittance for all the hours that you spend building his church, Jack." "His, not yours." "You're so tired when you come home, you have little energy for anything else but sleep." "I'm treated like a neglected mistress." "I'm not even your wife!" "And you think an afternoon of kite flying and picnic is gonna be enough to make everything fine?" "You're not my wife because you chose to marry Alfred." "I begged you not to, but Richard needed the money." "And that is all that you care about, isn't it, is Richard's precious title?" "Well, that was your naive promise, Aliena, not mine." "Face the facts." "Shiring is a dream, you will never win it back." "Just as you will never be a princess again, only the merchant mistress of a common laborer." "Now take Tom back." "Someone left this for you, Your Eminence." " Who?" " He didn't say." "We'll stop at the inn." "Ma!" "What do you want?" "Money?" "Food?" "You must help me, witch." "I can't help you if you kill me." "I don't wanna hurt anybody!" "Remigius!" "I've no one to turn to." "Whom do you love the most?" "And what would you do to me?" "Mother!" "No!" "Who did this to you?" "My husband." "Why?" "He was drunk and angry." "He does it often, but this was the worst." "Who is your husband?" "You needn't fear." "I will keep you safe." "William of Shiring." "Elizabeth?" "I was in love once." "Love is a terrible thing." "I know." "It struck me dead." "Did she die?" "He hanged himself." "And I found him." "I was only 13 when he married me." "The Church forbade him to touch me until I was more mature." "He cared nothing for rules." "He came to me on my wedding night, and hurt me so badly that I was unable, after that, to bear children." "I loved him and he loved me." "How could it be a sin?" "But I confessed, and my confessor made me denounce him to the others." "And after he took his life, my confessor made me fix things so that I would never be able to sin like that again." "You ran away." "Three days ago." "God help me if he finds me." "Is your confessor still alive?" "Yes." "You should denounce him to the Church." "He is the Church." "But I sent him a letter from the ghost of Jack Shareburg." " What?" " Threatening to expose his secret." "But it's all I can do, is threaten." "What would you do to see justice done?" "Anything." "Anything." "For our Church, dear God, I would do anything." "There are cracks in the ceiling?" "You mustn't use the church again until I find the cause and I fix it." "You said you'd found a way to support the weight." " I thought I had." " As did Alfred." "No, the old walls were made for a wooden ceiling, he put a stone one on them." "These walls, they're well buttressed." " They are meant to hold the weight." " Then why is the ceiling cracking?" "I don't know, Prior!" "I do not know." "Tom would know." "I am not Tom." "Richard!" "Richard!" "I missed you!" "You're home!" "And happy to be here." "You're holding in your arms, dear sister, the new Earl of Shiring." "It's true." "King Stephen made it official last week." "Wonderful!" "Everything we worked for, all these years..." "Father, we did it." "There is one minor complication." "Before we move in, we have to move William out." "Well, that shouldn't be difficult." "You have friends from the army." "Surround the castle, and if William doesn't surrender, attack." "In 17 years of civil war, do you know how many times I've seen a castle captured by frontal attack?" "None." "They're taken by cowardice, treachery and deception." "We need to find a way in without William knowing it." "What?" "What are you smiling at?" "We have a way in." "Get a rope round it." "Yeah, open it up." "Richard's back." "He's won his title." "William Hamleigh is a tyrant!" "He's attacked Kingsbridge, murdered its citizens, yet freely walks among us whenever he wishes!" "King Stephen has seen fit to strip him of his title, but it is up to us to strip him of his lands!" "I have soldiers, friends from the crusade who will lead the charge and bear the brunt of the battle, but I need men to back them up." "I will reward you with what gold we capture." "William will be punished for the evil he has done, and the blood of your wives and children will be avenged!" "There's not enough of us to take a castle!" "We'll never make it inside the gate." "Yes, we will." "We have a friend who will help us." "What is it?" "You look like you need to confess." "I've been an ass and an idiot." "Well, if that's a sin, we'll all burn in Hell." "What about?" "Aliena, the roof, everything that is important in my life." "What you said this morning was right." "You're right, you're not Tom." "You're Jack, which is something much better." "Tom was a dreamer with enough faith to give his dreams weight, but you," "you have an exceptional gift." "And you have determination instead of faith." "We all need faith, Jack." "It makes it easier for God to help us." "And as for Aliena, she believes in you more than you do." "How much faith do you have in her?" "What do you mean, Prior?" "She left an hour ago with Richard and an army of men to retake Shiring." "She's gone?" "Prior?" " Edgar." " Milady." "Is Lord William here?" "No, he's out looking for you." "Assemble everyone in the courtyard." "I have an announcement to make." "Yes, milady." "Leave it open, Edgar." " But..." "Milady?" " Leave it open." "All, silence for Milady!" "I have come to bid you all goodbye." "I am no longer your lady because my husband is no longer your earl." "King Stephen has awarded the title to Richard, whose father once ruled here, and whose sister, Aliena, some of you may remember." "I am surrendering the castle to the rightful Earl of Shiring, and command you all to lay down your weapons." "There will be no bloodshed." "The castle is taken, Walter!" "But I'm not!" " No bloodshed." " No, wait." "Now we're even." "Now we're even." "She betrayed me, my own wife." "If you kick a dog it may someday bite you." "Your mother never learned that, and now she bums in eternal fire." "Nonsense, she is in Heaven, kneeling before the throne of God." "She's in Hell, William, and rumor has it you put her there." "What can I do?" "I'll build a chapel in exchange for her salvation." "Too late for that." "All you can do is save yourself now." "How?" "I'll do anything." "This isn't fair!" "No, it isn't." "Very little is fair in this life when the forces of evil are strong." "And make no mistake about it." "It's the Devil we're fighting, and the scores are even." "But this is why I called you here." "I have the authority to appoint a district sheriff." "What would you say if I appointed you?" "I am not a sheriff." "I am a lord." "Don't try my patience, William." "I will want you to make an arrest for murder soon." "Who?" "Who murdered whom?" "No one's murdered anyone, yet." "I don't follow." "No, I don't expect you to." "Trust me, William." "I'm laying a trap for a witch." "Ma." "What are you doing here?" "Why were you in the crypt?" "I'm retrieving an old letter for a new friend." "Trust me, Jack." "I'm laying a trap for a bishop." "Alfred!" "Brother, wake up." "There's someone here to see you." "Wake up." " Tell them I'm not well, Martha." " You're well enough." "Now get on your feet." "I'll bring some water so you can wash your face." " Why?" "Who is it?" " It's Cardinal Waleran." " Your Eminence." " Do get up, Alfred." "Did Martha offer you something to eat?" "We'd be..." "I have no time." "I'm here to grant you a favor." "Is it the annulment?" "Will I be able to marry again?" "Follow my wishes, you'll be able to do what ever you want." "What's that?" "A dagger?" "What?" "I want you to provoke Jack Jackson into a fight." "You want me to kill him?" "No, of course not." "That would be murder." "What then?" "I want you to make Jackson spill some blood." " Yours." " My blood?" "It's convenient." "Just a few drops, nothing serious." "Why?" "So I can have him arrested." "I'll deal with the rest." "Do this, I'll dissolve your marriage and make you a free man." "And you can marry who ever you want." "Do you have a bride picked out?" "Several." "Glad to be of service." "I've decided to return to England and fight for my rightful crown." "Our soldiers are returning from the crusade, Mother." "They'll support me." " Henry..." " Don't you dare forbid it!" "I would be ashamed if you didn't want this, but Father Francis here believes the crown can be won with ink, not blood." "Stephen is old and his son, Eustace, weak and unpopular." "Let me travel with you and try to negotiate a compromise." "I don't believe in compromise." "Compromise is for cowards." "I spit in the face of fear." "I'm assembling an army!" "The vault's cracking, not because of the weight, but because of the height, because of the wind." "I don't follow." "Come." "Here." "This here, this is the wall of the church." "Now place your hand flat across my fingers as if it were the roof." "Right, now press down." "So, as Euclid says, the wall of my arm holds that weight." "Now, instead of the roof, imagine your hand is the wind blowing against my arm." "Do you see?" "The vault's cracking because the walls are moving." "It's the wind that's causing it." "It's no coincidence that I discovered the cracks on the night of the storm." "Thank you, Elizabeth." "Take this one instead." "You see, all these parts, not just the walls, were meant to work together to support the whole." "It's like a team of workers." "I learned this in France." "Now, the wind is a new force working against us." "It wasn't as strong in Saint-Denis." "So what we're looking for is a new part that's not yet been invented." "Now, look at the birds and follow me." "I'm heading out to buy some flowers." "Hey, look." "Feel that, feel that, eh?" "So it's a taller buttress, at least 20 feet higher, but with these second half-arches that leap across to the exterior wall near where those cracks are forming." "So it will brace the top half of the church and keep these walls rigid when the wind blows." "But won't the higher buttresses appear rather naked?" "Well, if we try and hide them with more walls, we lose the light." "What's wrong with them appearing naked so long as they're strong and elegant, like the bird's wing?" "Good morning, dear wife." " Winged buttresses?" " Exactly." "Jack!" "It's Alfred, he's drunk again." "I've never seen him so wild." " What do you mean?" " He attacked Aliena." "What happened?" "The arm, too." "I've been worse." "Jack!" "Alfred!" "Alfred!" "Bastard stabbed me!" "Everyone, Jack Bastard stabbed me unprovoked!" "No, he attacked Aliena." "She's my wife!" "My wife, Sister, look what Jack Bastard did to me." "He scratched himself, Aliena." "It was his own knife." "I've never seen it before in my life!" "Why should I stab myself?" "It's Aliena I wanna stab, and not with a knife." "What?" "He tricked me!" " What?" " It was poisoned." "Dear God!" " What is happening?" " I don't know." "I don't know." "For Maud, Queen of England!" "Eustace!" "Eustace!" "Yes?" "I'm Henry." "Pleased to meet you, Cousin." "Dead?" "Not dead." "My son is not dead." "No, no." "No!" "Your Majesty, no." "Your Majesty!" "Your Majesty, please!" "Eustace, dear boy, you're alive!" "You're alive!" "No." "No!" "What is the meaning of this?" "As newly-appointed district sheriff," "I've come to arrest Jack Jackson for the murder of Alfred Thomson." "This cathedral stands on holy ground!" "No arrest can be made under the laws of sanctuary!" "Now take your men and your horses and leave!" "Not so fast, good prior." "The laws of sanctuary only apply to churches that have been dedicated and sanctified." "You should know that." "This church is not yet finished, so God's law has no power here." "Seize him." "What would you know of God's law?" "Your Church is a church of ambition, not of Christ." "Holy ambition which brings me closer to Christ." "Is that why you burned my father?" "The Church burned your father." "I simply passed sentence." "But Lord Percy and Prior James were under your orders, weren't they?" "I was merely a priest." "With connections in court!" "So what did my father know?" "Was it something to do with the White Ship?" "Gag him." "Prepare for trial." "Send for the executioner from Winchester." "Try to finish your cathedral now." "Alfred Thomson was drunk." "He attacked me in the public square." "As his wife." "You publicly rejected him." "His reaction was understandable." "We haven't been living together as husband and wife for nearly 10 years." "All the more reason, I would think, for his desperation." "Did Jack Jackson stab Alfred Thomson?" "The wound was not fatal." "It barely nicked his skin." "Not fatal?" "Perhaps we should have your late husband testify to that effect." "The dagger was poisoned." "There are witnesses here who can testify how Alfred Thomson died." "Furthermore, the weapon belonged neither to Alfred nor to Jack." "This is mere quibbling." "Take the witness down." "The facts are clear." "Alfred Thomson died from a stab wound administered by Jack Jackson, who is hereby condemned to be hanged by the neck until dead." " And may God have mercy on his soul." " No!" "Proceed with the execution." "No!" "Ltwas murder, but the one that poisoned the dagger should hang, not Jack!" "Silence, woman." "Silence!" "I have evidence!" "There is no need for more evidence." "The prisoner has been condemned." "Evidence of the murder of a future king." "Of regicide." "What is she talking about?" " She's a madwoman!" " She's lying to save her son." "That woman was condemned as a witch years ago and has evaded the law ever since." "It seems that we'll have two hangings today." "Mother, run." "Run!" "No." "There's been too much running from the law in Kingsbridge." "I have the evidence here." "Quiet!" "Let her speak!" "Evidence of treason." "The chalice was planted on Jacques Cherbourg at the request of Prior James of Kingsbridge." "He was tortured and burned." "An innocent man!" "This is nonsense, total nonsense." "This has nothing to do with this trial." "Seize the woman and hang her right away." "As prior of Kingsbridge, let me remind Your Eminence..." "Let me remind you, Prior Philip, this is a trial for murder, not treason." "Let me remind you that you are on priory land within priory walls." "Let this woman speak." "Thirty-five years ago, I found a man," "Jack Jackson's father, near drowned on a beach." "He held a secret for the King." "And before he was taken by his enemies, he asked me for quill, paper, ink and sealing wax." "I never saw his letter until a few days ago." "When he was brought here and stripped for torture, one of the monks discovered it hidden in his clothing." "This monk concealed what he found, certain that if any one knew what he had read, he too would be eliminated." "This is Jacques Cherbourg's story." "Jacques Cherbourg, who is he?" "I don't know." ""Your Majesty, I was a jongleur" ""hired by young Prince William to sail with him to England." ""The ship was set ablaze, and people were drowning."" "Help!" "Help!" "God save me!" ""Being the only good swimmer, I managed to stay afloat," ""and saw the Prince and his bride" ""save themselves in a rowboat, along with Father Waleran" ""and Lord and Lady Hamleigh." ""I was about to call to the Prince for help when the unthinkable happened."" "Kill her, Percy!" ""I tried to save him, but it was too late." ""His ring, however, slipped off into my hand." ""Your Majesty, your son's ring is the proof of what I saw." ""I swear to the truth of these words on my immortal soul." ""Jacques Cherbourg."" " Murderer!" " It's the Bishop!" "Hang the Bishop!" " Murderer!" " Murderer!" "There is no proof this is anything but a forgery." "He sealed it with the lost prince's ring." "Another forgery, another lie." "He gave me the ring for safe keeping, and I gave it to Jack!" "And Alfred stole it!" "So there is no ring." "There is no ring!" "Pity, it might have given a glint of truth to your story." " Proceed with the execution." " No!" "No!" " No." " It's here!" "Martha." "I took it from Jack years ago, because he said it was worthless, and I thought it was pretty." "He accused Alfred of stealing it." "When I tried to tell him differently, I grew afraid." "I kept it, Jack, because you loved Aliena so and" "I wanted a little bit of you for myself." "This proves nothing." "It proves, once again, that the citizens of Kingsbridge have been used unlawfully by Bishop Waleran and William Hamleigh." "You've attacked this town twice, killing our husbands, our wives, our children!" "And now you attack again by murdering the one man that has brought this town back to life." "No!" "You will not touch her!" "Burn in Hell!" "Hang the two!" "It's not me!" "It's not me!" "It's the Bishop!" "It's Waleran!" "He set me on to it." "Silence!" "Silence!" "Allow him to be heard!" "He was Prince William's confessor, and Stephen's." "He went to Stephen and made a bargain." "With Prince William dead," "Stephen would be in direct line to the throne." "He recruited my parents to help." "And together, they scuttled the ship and murdered the Prince and his wife." "For this, my parents were given land and position, but he did it for power." "But I did nothing." "As God is my witness, I did nothing!" "I don't want to die!" "Let go of me!" "Citizens of Kingsbridge, you have brought the wrath of God upon yourselves." "You harbor liars, witches, sodomites and thieves." "And unholy priests!" "Because of your treachery," "England has been steeped in blood for 16 years." "Soldiers have died, wives mourned, sons grown fatherless into manhood and then gone themselves to fight and to die." "This town has been burned, its citizens slaughtered," "and yet, still we survive." "We build a cathedral like none has ever seen before in praise of God and our abilities and our faith in some peaceful tomorrow." "And in spite of you, Waleran Bigod, the people of Kingsbridge will find that peace." "Take hold of that man!" "I claim sanctuary!" "I am your bishop and this is holy ground." "There is no sanctuary, you said so yourself." " There he is!" " There's Waleran!" "There he is!" "And you, you shall one day climb very high only to fall." "When we began work on the Kingsbridge Cathedral," "King Stephen was newly crowned, and the Princess Maud fled to France with her newborn son, Henry." "For years, England was torn by war and great suffering." "King Stephen is since dead, and Maud's son now rules as King Henry II of England." "Now we have peace and hope for a bright tomorrow." "And for these gifts and our beautiful church," "I thank God, our king, the people of Kingsbridge and several generations of tireless workers." "But the cathedral is not finished and nor will it ever be." "Just as human perfection is something we all strive for and can never attain, so this church will forever be changing, growing, crumbling at times," "an ongoing legacy of our feeble efforts to touch God." "A cathedral, my friends, is neither stone nor statues nor even a place of prayer." "It is a continuum of creation, beautiful work that, pray God, will never end." "And, as one final note of grace, I..." "Need I point this out?" "Jack has finished the windows with, whoever heard of it, colored glass." "He filled this world with light." "God be praised."