Alatriste Page #2

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Diego Alatriste, I arrest you

in the name of the Inquisition.

Take his weapons.

Search him for hidden weapons.

Clean.

He's clean.

Kneel.

My son, you are a traitor

and an incompetent.

With your inopportune scruples

you have aided

the enemies of God and Spain.

Actions you will purge

with hell's worst torments.

But first you will pay, here

on earth, with your mortal flesh.

You have seen too much.

Heard too much.

You have strayed too far.

Your life, Captain,

is no longer worth a fig.

You are a corpse

that, by some whim of fate,

still remains standing.

You may go.

Free?

In a manner of speaking.

God's wrath will know

where to find you.

Put that thing away.

It'll be of no use to you.

I haven't come to kill you

but to save you from others.

I didn't know

you were afraid of sheep.

Only when they come

without shepherds.

Take this in case.

Strange shepherds.

No stranger than you.

Your attitude saddens me,

though I was afraid it might be so.

You Spaniards are

so vain and coarse.

You lack finesse.

Perhaps that is why

you rule the world...

for now.

We shall meet again.

I hope so.

I like you, Captain.

That is why I look forward

to fighting you.

Whenever you please, senor...

Malatesta.

Gualterio Malatesta of Palermo.

If you please.

Ah, I almost forgot...

A memento,

to keep me forever

in your thoughts.

Well?

The idea was

Friar Emilio Bocanegra's.

A secretary of the king's had

the assassins recruited and paid.

I see.

I see.

What more?

One was a Flanders veteran,

a protg of the Count of...

You may go.

This unites us forever.

Now you'll never be free of me.

I would die for you.

Some day you may.

Inigo.

You must be careful.

For a man, a woman's beauty

always ends in tyranny for a man.

'Tis the law of life.

I don't know you.

You will.

I need a favour of you.

Look after the captain,

I need him alive.

I should kill you now,

while you're still a lad.

What do you think?

I bought it from a Sevillian

painter who works for the king.

They say he can only paint heads

but I suspect he has talent.

Well...

Let's get down to business.

An important person

wishes to see you.

A serious matter?

It may be.

Well...

I've probably seen worse.

No.

You've never seen worse.

You cannot fence

your way out of this one.

It is Count-duke Olivares.

Be more honest with him

than you've been with me.

I'll try to be.

You will be.

That water was cold

as death, Your Excellency.

Yes...

But you never trembled.

I trembled inside, like everyone.

I'm not everyone.

I am a Spanish grandee.

In combat we are all equal.

You're wrong there, Alatriste.

Not even in combat

are we all equal.

God didn't want it so.

You should know that.

If you're going to see Olivares,

buy some new boots.

Well...

I've spent more than enough

time on you. I've things to do.

And don't forget the boots.

If you have no money,

ask my majordomo.

Thank you.

"Captain" is a nickname,

I presume.

Yes, Excellency.

I see you've served

in Naples and in Flanders

and against the Turks

in the Levante

and on the Barbary coast.

A long life as a soldier.

Since I was thirteen, Excellency.

Is it true that you saved the life

of a certain English traveller

when your companion

was about to kill him?

Excuse me, Excellency,

I don't remember.

It would be best

for you if you did.

As to who recruited you,

for instance.

I'm afraid I can't.

I have a terrible memory.

I see...

Call don Luis de Alquezar.

It seems, don Luis, that

a few days ago there was a plot

to teach two English gentlemen

a lesson.

As His Majesty's secretary

and a man acquainted

with court bureaucracy,

perhaps you have heard something?

I'm afraid I can be

of little use there, sir.

Well, you must be.

Perhaps the church...

The church is broad.

Might you mean Father Bocanegra?

Excellency, I...

You are right, don Luis.

The good Father is a saintly man.

As we all know.

Tell me...

Are your boots a sign of lack

of means or soldierly arrogance?

Both, Excellency.

As you see, don Luis,

senor Alatriste

is both poor and haughty.

But he also appears to be

brave, discreet

and trustworthy.

It would be a pity if some

misfortune were to befall him.

I would not wish it so.

I imagine you agree with me.

Of course, Excellency.

But with the kind of life

I imagine senor...

Batriste...

whatever his name, leads,

he must often

be exposed to danger.

No-one could then

take responsibility.

Naturally, don Luis.

In order to spare you any such

inconvenience, I have decided

that henceforth

you will serve your king

in the Indies.

Men like you are needed there.

You may begin preparations

for the voyage.

As for you...

Your former general,

Ambrosio Spinola,

wishes to win more battles

for us in Flanders.

It would be considerate of you

to be killed there, not here.

I'll bear that

in mind, Excellency.

Come with me.

For four long years

I've studied this map every night.

I know every port,

every canal, every estuary,

every fortress...

Flanders deprives me of my sleep.

Yet I've never been there.

It is the end of the world,

Excellency.

When the Lord God created Flanders,

he lit it with a black sun.

A heretic sun

that neither warms you nor dries

the rain that soaks you to the bone.

It is a strange land,

inhabited by strange people

who fear and despise us

and will never give us peace.

It deprives one

of more than sleep.

Flanders is hell itself.

Without Flanders

there's nothing, Captain.

We need that hell.

Breda, 1625. After one year's siege

by the Spanish

They're close now, curse it!

They'll blow our balls off

with their mines.

Keep down!

Sons of b*tches!

Did you find eggs?

Yes.

How many?

Two.

Wine.

Clumsy!

Give me that.

I hear you had

a letter from the Indies.

Yes.

And who wrote to you,

if I may ask?

Angelica de Alquezar.

Alquezar...

A name that brings us bad luck.

I almost have him.

Give me that bread.

Do you have him or not, damn it!

Not now.

But he occasionally looks out.

I'll be ready the next time.

Sh*t!

Portuguese, see if

you can draw him out.

Dutchman!

Did you kill him?

One bastard less...

Another Dutchman

dead in mortal sin.

Like you when they kill you.

What did you say?

What did you say?

You can't fool me,

however much you cross yourself.

You Portuguese

are all half-Jews.

Do you want to die?

The Captain!

I bring orders.

Perhaps these gentlemen

have something to say.

No-one has anything to say.

I do.

I have three things

to say to Captain Bragado.

First, I don't care who I fight.

Turks, Dutchmen

or whoever fathered them.

And the other two things?

Second, we haven't been given

clothing and we're dressed in rags.

I see.

And the third thing?

Third and most important of all...

Stay there.

Third, these gentlemen

have not received their pay

for five months. Five months!

No-one has received their pay.

Neither you gentlemen nor I.

Nor the field marshal

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