Alatriste Page #3

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nor General Spinola.

I thought I was talking

to Spaniards, not Germans.

Only soldiers of other nations

ask for their pay in advance.

What are the orders?

You are to go down

to the tunnels.

Sulphur!

Copons is missing.

Sebastian!

One's enough.

Diego!

Breda has surrendered.

Spit it out.

Spit it out.

Breda has surrendered.

Any booty?

No.

MADRID, 1O YEARS LATER

Excellency.

Excellency.

I'm Inigo Balboa.

You called for me.

For Captain Alatriste.

Urgent.

Port Caleta, Cadiz.

Landing of Flanders veterans

Come on!

Mother!

What are you doing here?

My son, I have some bad news.

Bad news!

Look who's here.

I thought you were in Madrid.

I've a letter from the palace.

Work?

I suppose so.

If you need us,

you know where, Diego.

Won't you open it?

What for? They always want us

for the same thing.

How are you?

Worse.

You look well.

How are things at the court?

I can't complain.

How was the voyage?

Hectic. We ran into

a Dutch fleet and, well...

you know I don't

much like fighting at sea.

I know.

Tell me,

what's happened in Madrid

while I've been away?

There's to be war with France.

So they say.

Don Francisco's married a widow.

God, no!

And Velazquez's finished

"The Surrender of Breda".

Have you seen it?

He changed the flags for lances.

And well, softened

the attitudes somewhat.

But it's a grand painting.

You'll love it.

I'm sure.

Anything else?

Angelica de Alquezar

has returned to Spain.

There'll be killing

and plenty of it.

I only have two hands.

Four.

We'll see about that.

Why?

I said we'll see.

What's the work?

I'm just a go between.

Guadalmedina has the details.

But there'll be no lack of gold.

The commission is private

but the command is sovereign.

What an honour!

With such high-ranking

personages involved,

it must be that someone

has stolen more than they should.

You've been away too long, Captain.

Someone always steals

more than they should.

Yes.

We'll meet later.

Of course.

The ship is the "Virgen de Regla".

She has 2,OOO ingots

of undeclared gold in her hold.

Have they nothing

to say in customs?

I find you rather naive

this evening, Diego.

Bribes keep mouths shut

and minds open.

That includes

high-ranking courtiers.

The plan is that

before unloading

officially in Seville, the ship

will anchor offshore and the gold

be transferred to a Flemish boat,

the "Niklaasbergen".

And I suppose that for

the gold to return to the king,

the Flemish boat will have

to be boarded. Am I right?

What I like about you is that you

never need things explained twice.

And once the gold's

been returned to the king,

where will it go?

I don't understand you.

I'm asking, Excellency,

if the gold will go for the work

on the Buen Retiro Palace

or to pay the wages

of the soldiers who die in Flanders

or are to die in France.

You drink too much, Alatriste.

Words cost little.

What did you say to her?

How, Teodoro,

do men pay amorous

compliments to women?

As if you were in love,

you dress a thousand lies in truth,

and hardly that.

Yes, but with what words?

Strangely do you press me,

my lady.

"Those eyes," I said,

"those lovely orbs are the light

with which my own eyes see..."

And, "The coral and pearls

of your celestial mouth..."

Celestial?

Such things are the primer

of all who love and desire.

Your taste is bad, Teodoro.

You disappoint me.

Marcela's good points

are outnumbered by her flaws.

She is not clean in her person...

But I would not want you

to stop loving her, though

a few things I could tell you...

But let's say no more

of her charms or lack of them.

I want you to love and marry her.

Now, as you think yourself

an expert on love, counsel me.

And so possess Marcela.

Now that friend of mine

has no rest for she's in love

with a man of lowly station

and "twould be

dishonourable to love him.

Yet were she to lose him,

she'd be consumed by jealousy.

And he, unsuspecting

of her love, is shy

and treats her with deference.

Hello, lad.

You've grown.

You're a man.

I thought you dead.

Maybe I am.

That wouldn't surprise me.

We'll meet again, I imagine.

Count on it.

Then we'll see

whether you're alive...

or dead.

Would it not be best

to have him killed?

It's been a long time.

Very long.

What have you been doing

all these years?

Killing heretics

and writing verses.

And are those verses

worthy of reading?

No, I don't think so.

But it was the only way

of imagining you.

I see you still know

how to talk to women.

I thought I'd never see you again.

They say you're still

with that captain.

Of course.

I have plans for you, Inigo.

The trouble is...

that I also have plans for you.

Teodoro,

you're leaving.

And I love you.

I leave because of your cruel ways.

You know me,

what am I to do?

-Do you weep?

-No.

There's something in my eye.

Is it love?

Yes, it must be.

It's been there some time

but now it's out.

I leave, my lady,

but my soul does not.

I must leave without it.

I've done

no wrong loving you, for your beauty

commands the very soul.

Command me, for I am yours.

-What a sad day!

-I leave, my lady, I leave

but my soul does not.

Do you weep?

No, there's something in my eye,

as was in yours.

My tears brought yours on.

That must be the case.

A thousand childish things

I've put in a chest for you.

Forgive me, I had to.

If you open it,

be sure to say, as if they were

the spoils of some victory,

"Diana put those there

with tears in her eyes."

Did you like the play?

You were marvellous.

Have you seen

what the king sent me?

He'll expect

something in return.

Don't talk of your king like that.

Yes,

he's my king.

But there are kings and kings

and this one should govern.

One day they'll kill you, my love.

Maybe.

My husband's dying.

I'm sorry.

Yes, poor thing.

And when he dies,

I'll have to remarry.

I don't like living on my own.

I was thinking

that as you were

the first man I knew...

Maria, I'm dirt-poor.

I'll provide the money

and you the rest.

And your...

admirers?

Diego, I'm an actress

and I'm starting to age.

Spain's full of young girls

eager to take my place.

I need friends who'll protect me.

If we married,

I'd kill the first man

to approach you, whoever he was.

I'd end up on the gallows

and you a widow once more.

Don't be old-fashioned.

Anyway, what would you care?

You're not in love with me.

What do you know?

Make way!

"Thus on this day,

this sentence is read

to the prisoner

and tomorrow he will be taken

from prison on a mule

to the plaza de San Francisco,

where a gallows will be

erected for the occasion,

and there he shall be hanged

by the neck until he is dead.

This justice do I order done."

Signed by the king, our lord.

Do you need something?

Your advice.

I need men for a job.

Brave men and discreet.

All those here present are.

You can trust them all.

Trouble is, most of them

are serving long sentences.

I can get them all released.

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