"I'm feeling much better from this ague, my dear." "My physician says that I should be on my feet in a week." "I am so relieved, my darling." "Any word from William?" "Well, the King's army have engaged Maud at Lincoln." "Her half-brother, Gloucester, is away in France, so he can't help her." "She's held it for four years now, and it's time we took it back." "There's a new knight fighting for Stephen, William says, who no one's ever heard of." "Very mysterious fellow." "Learned to fight in France." "But evidently quite extraordinary." "Our sweet William, I fear, is jealous." "He can be so like a child sometimes." "What's this, my dear?" "The doctor said you needed to be bled." "He's too busy to do it himself, of course." "Bless you." "William is being held back, but not by some anonymous knight." "He's nearly 25 years old." "He needs to marry and give us grandchildren." "There are plenty of women who'd have him." "None of sufficient nobility, my love." "And if he can't marry a title, he shall have to inherit one." "Are you suggesting that I retire and give him mine?" "I know you'd never agree to that." "Not in my prime, I wouldn't!" "There, that's quite enough, my dear." "You drink too much, Percy." "Your tongue's too loose." " I fear you've cut too deep." " No, my sweet." "Not deep enough." "Climb up the ladder!" "We need more steel and daggers!" "Stephen's army has us surrounded." "We've been besieged for weeks." "How am I supposed to eat when everyone else is starving for my sake?" "You must keep up your strength, my queen." "Where is Gloucester?" "My brother has never abandoned us before." "He should be arriving soon." "Why isn't he coming?" "Gloucester may indeed be raising forces to rescue his sister, Your Majesty." "But we have surrounded Lincoln Castle, and shortly they will starve." "Excellent!" "The end is in sight." "You are to be congratulated, young man." "You hear that, Eustace?" "The crown will be yours, after all." "Yes, yes!" "My condolences on your father's death." "An ague can be so unpredictable." "He was a loyal subject." "As am I, Your Majesty, as I hope to be as the new earl." "Yes, quite." "We..." "We have some problems regarding the earldom." " Your Majesty?" " There is another claimant." "Is he here?" "Richard of Kingsbridge, champion of the battlefield." "You have indeed proved your loyalty against your father's treason." "I will weigh your claim most carefully." "I ask for nothing more, my king." "How did Richard get the money to become a knight?" "The armor alone costs a small fortune!" "It seems he has a wealthy sister." "I'm the earl." "I'm the rightful earl!" "Richard lost that claim when his father lost his head." "Getting soldiers is all the King cares about." "Raise an army to finish Maud, he'll give you whatever you want." "Easily said, but where do we get the means to do it?" "The market at Kingsbridge sucks the money out of Shiring." "Kingsbridge gets the rents and the tolls, it gets the taxes, the business..." " Close the market." " How?" "The King has licensed it." "Yes." "Unfortunately, he has." "What?" "If I close the market for you, will you close the quarry for me?" "Still trying to stop that cathedral so you can build your precious palace?" "How will you close the market?" "I haven't worked that out yet." "Have you got any brilliant ideas, William?" "Afire." "Start a fire." "It's worked for you before." " Hush, William." " Mother..." "I said quiet!" "William might be right." "Afire." "But a small one this time." "Check that windlass, Jack!" "Make sure it's well-greased." "That big wheel needs to go up." "I'm impressed, Prior Philip." "You've made astonishing progress since I left." "And it's not just the church, Richard." "Everyone has the money to buy things." "The town is three times the size of what it was, five times on market day." "They want to buy your sister's wool, that's why." "They come to see the only female wool merchant in this part of England." "Grown men quake at the sight of me." " Now, don't hit your thumb." "Right?" "Right?" " Right." "See?" "Still working on the transept, sir." "Want me to get it for you?" "We're enclosing the east end while we work on the rest." "This will protect the altar from weather and dust." " You look tired and happy, Tom." " I am." "And I am." "Are you free Thursday next?" "I wish to give a dinner in honor of Richard's safe return." "Thank you." "It would be my pleasure." "You're invited, too, Jack!" "Have you ever killed a giant?" "Yes, as a matter of fact, I have." " How big?" " As big as this house." " Was there a lot of blood?" " No." "No, because I frightened him." "He was afraid of mice, so I put them down his trousers." "It terrified him so much, he dropped down dead." "Can I see your dagger?" "He's a darling, isn't he?" "Better off here than with his real parents." "His da was a cutpurse, most likely, and his mother, a whore." "A tender trap, the world." "I left my sister to join the priory." "I raised her since infancy, and she took to the streets." "I'll never forgive myself for that." "This is your love line." "I see you have many female admirers." "What's funny, Martha?" "Don't you admire me?" "Definitely not." "I do." "I think your cathedral work is lovely, Alfred." "Thank you, Aliena." "Jack's turn." "Come on!" "Your hand has healed nicely." "St. Adolphus must have worked a miracle." "How odd." "Your love line's split, marked with little crosses." "You love two women, Jack, who treat you very badly." "Two?" "Mistress Work and Mother Church." "Prior Philip?" "Take it to him." "Your Eminence." "My little fire has done its work." "And I'm about to complete my end of the bargain." "How soon will you close the quarry?" "Unfortunately, we have a problem." "Nothing serious, I hope." "A matter of life and death." "Eternal life." "You see, the only way to close the quarry involves bloodshed." "Innocent lives shall be lost." "My son shall burn in Hell for your sins." "That's why you've been a reluctant enforcer, William?" "Mother's always been afraid of fire." "But the fires of Hell are eternal." "On your knees." "Are you sorry for all the lives taken by yours word in the past and in the future?" "Yes." "Ego te absolvo." "Do what you must." "Thank you." "My Lord Bishop." "What brings us this great honor?" "Save the sarcasm, Philip." "Order from the Sheriff." "You're forbidden to operate a market without a license from the King." " But we have a license." " May I see it?" "It's been stolen." " The Sheriff has no record of it." " Then he's a liar." "I think you are the liar, Philip." "As of next month, the market moves to Shiring." "Why should this concern you?" " All Satan's lies concern me." " I'm not Satan!" "You are an obstruction to God's rule on earth, which is the Church, which is Satan's adversary." "I am part of the Church!" "Then why do you defy me?" "Obey me." "I obey God before you!" "The Church has rules and hierarchy." " I obey my heart..." " Kneel before me now." "Proud Philip." "I'll appeal to the King." "The King is preoccupied at the moment." "He's about to win a war." "You're the witch's son, right?" "She's not a witch." "Words." "How did you recognize me?" "We've never met." "The hair." "It's my father's hair, not hers." "You knew him?" " I've heard his story, yes." " No, more than that." "You saw him." "Was that before or after he was falsely accused?" "Your affection for a father you never met is touching, but misplaced." "I thought you'd know better by now than to take your mother's word on his character, which I know only by hearsay." "But the details are very persuasive." "He stole a chalice, a vessel who holds the blood of Christ." "Blasphemy." "He impregnated a novice." "Blasphemy." "And he died without repenting." "Blasphemy." "Words." "Yes, I'm good with words." "We all have our talents." "Yours are just as obvious." "May I?" "Breathtaking little devils." "Yes." "You seem to know them well." "Who told you to carve this?" "Otto dead, and four others!" "Good-hearted, God-fearing people, who deserved the right to peace and justice from their Lord!" "Enough to make angels weep." "You must go to the King." "He can give you back the quarry and the market." "Richard travels to Lincoln on the morrow." "The King awaits him there." "Can you spare Jack for a week?" "He can best explain our construction needs." "No, that's fine." "Needs to be a little darker." "Good morning, Jack." "What brings you to town?" "I'm here to ask Richard if Prior Philip and I may accompany him to Lincoln." "Well, I'm sure he'll be very happy for the company, but he's not here at present." "He's trying to win a kiss from the blacksmith's daughter." "Would you like to wait for him?" "I expect him back soon." "Have you seen my weaving room?" "It's not much, but it's all I need." "My new palace." " Do you miss the old one?" " Oh, Lord, no!" "I miss my father and I miss the people I lived with, but I don't miss the obligations or the pretensions." "I certainly don't miss my innocence or my ignorance, whatever it is you call it." "I'm happy." "Well, you've earned it." "Are you?" "Happy?" "Am I happy?" "I think so." "I think..." "Especially when I'm at work." "When I work, I hear these voices." "Whose?" "The voices of angels?" "Are you some kind of saint?" "No, voices from the stone." "When I carve it, it tells me where to cut it." " The stone speaks to you?" " No, not the stone, but what it wants to be." "So the saint or the gargoyle or the tiniest corner of the cathedral..." "It doesn't even have to have a face." "It can be a line or a design or the curve of an arch." "It's not a..." "It's not a voice." "It's a..." "It is an image, but it's the sound of an image, so..." "I can't describe it." "I'm very sorry." "I just..." "I know that when my..." "When my chisel hits the rock, that the rock's in tune." "It's a song." "That's it." "It's a song of what will be." "How very fortunate you are." "There you are, Jack." "Da wants you." "They're mortaring the arches." "Yeah, go on!" "Get out of here!" "You're a brave fellow." "Come on!" "You did well, young Richard." "Put them over there." "Maud now controls only the inner walls." "The bitch won't escape me this time." "Richard of Kingsbridge." "Welcome back." "It's good to be back, My Lord King." " The siege is going well?" " Monstrously well." "Barely a month, and already the people are starving." "They toss their dead over the wall by the hour." "The stench is awful, but the smell of victory is sweet." "I see you've brought a monk with you as your squire." " This is the Prior of Kingsbridge, Lord." " Yes, Prior Philip." "Well, have you come to fight for me?" "I am here because God's work needs help, My Lord King." "If it were God's work, then He should do it Himself." "I'm busy." "As a boon to me, Your Majesty, would you hear him out?" "Take off your robe." " Your Majesty?" " You heard me." "Strip." "You're more prideful than you used to be." "I don't wish to see your pasty body." "I wish to wear your filthy clothes." "William of Shiring?" " Yes, My Lord?" " Find him a tunic." "I've wanted to take a look around the city walls, and if I'm dressed as a monk, they won't shoot at me." "While you, on the other hand, are an easy target." "Perhaps it is God's will that I should die to save the King." "I've never understood God's will." "Do you think He wills that?" "I don't know, My Lord." "I only ask God for one life." "Maud's." "She doesn't even need to be killed, simply handed over." "But instead they let their children go hungry and their grandparents waste away to bones." "It's their choice." "It's not mine." "And it's certainly not God's." "Look!" "Are you frightened, Philip?" " Shall we kill them?" " Call the Captain!" "Well, the archers are very good." "Yes, My Lord, I'm very frightened." "If I am killed, will you re-license Kingsbridge Market?" "Well, now we get to the point." "Well, don't you have a license?" " It's been lost." " Will you pay for a new one?" "Yes, unless you're willing to grant it freely for God's glory." "Well, you're a proud and frugal man." "And will you give me the right to take stone from the Hamleighs' quarry?" " And didn't I give you that right before?" " Yes, but you took it away." "Yes." "Yes, that's because I was warned about you." " By whom?" "By the Bishop?" " It doesn't matter now." "Prior!" "Whose hair of flame?" "An artist boy's." "One king he crowns, one king destroys." "That boy with the red hair." "I want him dead by morning." "My Lord!" "My Lord King!" "Gloucester's army is coming to free Maud." "They'll be here by mid-afternoon." "Good." "Prepare for battle." "Your Majesty!" "The market license and the quarry?" "Denied." " Prepare your swords!" " Grab your weapons, boys!" "Our only hope now is if Stephen is defeated." "Normally at this hour, I'm on my knees, singing God's praise." "Do you pray, Jack?" "My work I think of as a kind of prayer." "Some of God's greatest artists and writers and musicians were religious." "Pray with me." "Oh, dear." "My..." "My beads." "They must have fallen off when I had to take off my robe." "Go to the church, would you, Jack?" "See if someone's found them." "Yes, Prior." "Gloucester's retreating to the forest." "Stephen is giving chase." "Robert of Gloucester," "I claim you as my prisoner in the name of King Stephen!" "I can't see the King anymore!" "We have him!" "The King is captured!" "They've captured the King." "Gloucester has won!" "Sound the retreat!" "Retreat!" "Retreat!" "See them run!" " What is it?" "What's happening?" " Your brother's been taken." "Oh, God!" "As has the King." "Our soldiers ambushed him." "Stephen's army is sounding a retreat." "They're running away." "Your brother's men are coming to free us." "We've won!" "God save Queen Maud!" "Surrender!" "Stop!" "In the name of Christ Jesus, stop!" "We'll have to do a bit of a dance, but God is on our side." "Do you have your story straight, William?" "Pray God she believes it." "Why are you here?" "You sided against us." "Your king lies in our dungeon to be hanged tomorrow." "Why shouldn't you hang with him?" "My lady..." "We are not "Your Lady." We are "Your Majesty."" "Your Majesty, your half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, is a prisoner also, held by what remains of Stephen's army." "His captor, one Richard of Kingsbridge, a bloodthirsty fellow." "I regret to say we know him well." "If Stephen hangs, Gloucester will hang higher." "You can save him." "By trusting you?" "We are closer in sympathy to Your Majesty than Your Majesty might guess." "I was your brother's confessor, and Lady Regan served in waiting to his wife." "Yes." "I remember you." "I remember your face." "My brother, the Prince, and his wife died in a shipwreck, the one that started this war of succession." "No one survived." "Weren't you supposed to be on board with them?" "Your Majesty, I was sent ahead in another ship" " with my young son, who is with me today." " Your Majesty." " Who sent you ahead?" " Why, your brother, the Prince." "I was bringing good news to the King, your father." "My lady, the Princess, was at last with child." "Why didn't we learn of this?" "News of the shipwreck reached the courts before I did, Your Majesty." "I saw no reason to burden your father any further." "What else are you hiding from us?" "Why nothing, Your Majesty." "Then why did you side with Stephen against us?" "William." "I was raised at court, Your Majesty, and my parents were told that if they did not support Stephen," "I would be killed." "Your Majesty has a beloved only son as I do." "What would a mother not do in order to spare his life?" "Very well." "You may deal with this Richard of Kingsbridge and exchange our dear Gloucester's life for that of the traitor, Stephen's." "I assume they would accept no less." "Our secretary, Father Francis, will accompany you." "Your beloved only son, however, will remain here as collateral." "Any hint of treachery on your part, and I'll have your balls on a platter, all six of them." "I'm here to see the usurper, Stephen, at the command of the Queen." "Hey!" "Bring that through!" "Give me the key!" "No!" "Hurry up." "Round them up!" "You must understand, Your Majesty, we only side with Maud to help you." " Once you regain your throne..." " I'll see her dead." "In time, Majesty." "But first, she requires your allegiance and public acknowledgment of her as Queen." "That will never happen." "Rest assured, whatever is writ today can be scratched tomorrow." "May I tell her you accept?" "I'd rather hang." "Then you will." "Once her torturers have finished with you, you will beg for her forgiveness from the scaffold, your neck will snap, and you will foul yourself." "Nothing noble in a hanging." "Hey!" "Bring that through!" "Do what you must." "In taking my leave, I must perform an unfortunate familiarity." "Do you see that priest there?" "He is the one who betrayed Bartholomew of Shiring, the Queen's friend, to Stephen, the usurper." "If you can get him to admit to this, she will be very, very happy." "Come on." "All the fleece that's fallen out of sacks, put in the baskets." "Last year when we did this, we ended up with half a sack extra." " The profits are yours." " Thank you!" "Alfred." "What's wrong?" "We received news from Lincoln." "It's Richard." "Tell me it's not Richard." "No, no, Richard is well." "It is he who sent word." "The King's army is fallen and Maud now rules." " But..." " Prior Philip?" "Captured, not dead." "He's among those to be ransomed." "Oh, God!" " It is Jack who is dead." " No!" "It's easy, Philip." "You're an honest man." "It's easy for an honest man to tell the truth." "All you have to say is that you betrayed Bartholomew and ruined Maud's chances of an early victory." "Say it." "It's easy." "I..." "I..." "I beg God to give me strength." "Spare yourself, Philip." "You're not a martyr." "And you are not the Church!" "Yes!" "Yes!" "Yes!" "I betrayed Bartholomew to you, and you were the one who betrayed Maud." "He has confessed." "He is a traitor." " See that he's hanged." " Yes, Eminence." "In order to conserve expenditures, and God-willing, meet the ransom demands for our good prior," "I, as sub-prior, order all work on the Kingsbridge Cathedral to be stopped!" "He's not dead." "I would know it if he were dead." "He can't be dead." "I don't allow him to be dead." "I dreamed this would happen and I didn't stop it." " Why?" "It makes no bloody sense." " It doesn't have to make sense." " This is part of God's plan, and we have..." " God's plan?" "If God has a plan, it's not working out very well, is it?" "Hang the traitors!" "Bring out the rest of them!" "Make your peace with God, man."