Chapter VIII: Story
Somewhere, 10th October 1067 AD
Knock knock, someone knocked.
“My lord, today is the day. I'll wait for you downstairs." a voice bellowed from the other side of the door.
A timid ray of sunshine filtered through the window forcing his master to open his eyes, he had again the same dream, always the same old man in the same room. He then turned his gaze to the young maid whom he had chosen as his favourite: the long brown hair fell along the naked slim body and the round and firm breasts peeked out from under the sheets, he remained for a while staring at her soft lips This is a true gift of God - he found himself thinking - I'm sorry for Vlatislav's daughter but her father could not expect me to not keep busy and he was right since not even the Bohemian duke had kept the sanctity of his marriage intact.
He took her arms off him and tried to get up.
“Come on, it's still early. Stay a little longer with me." she said sleepily, the girl stretched her hands between his legs looking for his lord's member but he gently pushed her away.
“Laura don't be a little girl. We'll have plenty of time after I'm done." and he nibbled on her lips making her smile.
The gentleman arranged his blond hair in the best possible way and once dressed he left the room: his servant was waiting for him, dressed in black and with an icy gaze.
"It's not nice to wait for a person at the door, Gabriele." he scolded him.
“And not even making your guests wait.” the servant judged him.
The gentleman smiled “That's why it's a pleasure to work with you. How long has she been waiting?”
"A lot. For someone of his caliber."
“Fine, she'll wait a little longer. Take the trunk and have the horses saddled. We'll take her for a walk."
“Oh Milady Matilda. Today is a beautiful day but you are even more beautiful.”
Matilda di Canossa, Duchess of Tuscany, was waiting for them in the courtyard of the private stables, visibly annoyed by the delay of her host, with her retinue – about four personal guards.
"Duke Falco..." she kissed her hand "a little more and I would have returned to my lands."
"You may forgive me but my servant was so eager to see you that he didn't know which dress to choose." Falco said pointing to the last of that strange trio.
Matilda looked him up and down. "Surely, he picked the creepiest one."
“Oh but you needn't be afraid, he's as loyal as a puppy. He won't touch a hair of yours. Now let's go, I've got the horses ready for a little excursion."
“I am not moving without my guards.”
“Come on, be reasonable. What do you think will harm you with two handsome hunks like us."
They mounted their horses and began to enter the Milanese countryside.
As soon as they were far enough from the city, Matilda dismounted.
“Well I think that's enough with the formalities. Now tell me why you wanted to meet me.”
Falco got off his horse too, he knew she didn't like to be patronized and looking down on wouldn't help convince her.
“I am looking for allies.” he said her directly.
“And for what exactly?”
“To protect us and our subjects from those who want our ruin.”
Matilda adjusted her skirt calmly "And who would want our ruin?"
Falco grinned, he had caught her attention "A group of people who believe it's their right to be able to shape the history of mankind as they please."
Matilda frowned “You mean the Builders? Those are rumors that only foolish knights believe.”
“I knew you would say that.” he gestured to her servant Gabriele who trotted until he reached them and showed the trunk he was carrying, he opened it: Matilda assumed an expression of disgust and regally looked away, there were three decomposing heads.
Falco continued “Since I became duke and arrived in Milan, someone has tried to assassinate me. Very insistent of him, only after the third attempt he decided that maybe it was better to spend his resources elsewhere. ”
“And what makes you think the Builders are behind it?”
“So you offend me, I would never make accusations without being certain. They all had something in common, a brand.” he turned a head a little to show the imprinted symbol, just below the ear there were two interlocking equilateral triangles.
“A Star of David?”
“A hexagram, to be exact. It is an ancient symbol of power which, yes, was borrowed from the ancient Hebrews but which represents the union of two principles, the active and the passive, male and female, which pervade the universe whose triangles are symbols of mixture of apparent opposites in nature, dark and light, error and truth, ignorance and wisdom, evil and good, throughout human life.”
From Matilda's gaze he knew he had caught her attention "But that's not all, please come closer." looking closer she saw that in the center, smaller in size, there was an eye surrounded by lines with two hands, one holding a sword and the other a hammer.
“I did some research during my short visit to the imperial palace.” he signaled to Gabriele to close the trunk "They are all esoteric symbols: the eye represents the Enlightenment, the lines that surround it are the Divine but I have found nothing about the hammer and the sword."
"Tell me more. Explain to me what brought you back to the Builders.”
Falco grinned. “If I couldn't find something in the Imperial archives then maybe I was looking wrong. I started patrolling every tavern in Milan looking for some drunk who had already seen him somewhere... Builders, jesters, they are called by many names... Until I found one of the best occult seekers in the Empire .” hearing these phrases Gabriele strutted pompous "he directed me towards the Builders but, like you right now, I wanted to ascertain firsthand what they were."
“You're cont-”
“No milady, I'm getting to the point. I wondered what better place to hide something you want to hide?”
“The Vatican library...”
"Exactly."
“Have you stolen from the Holy See? I wouldn't even believe it if I saw it with my own eyes."
“Stolen is a big word, I just had them borrow. And then, I think they too will like to lose those books; they won't complain for a while."
"Okay, now tell me though."
“It took me weeks to decipher all those documents but I still managed to find what I was looking for and… hold on tight darling. According to these texts, when the emperor Constantine the Great decided to bet on the Christians in his reforming work, he organized our religion in the way that was most congenial to his idea of the Roman society: this brought about many changes to early Christianity , first of all the role of women in society who, apparently, weren't seen as sinners and inferior to men and then also the total mix between pagan and Christian festivities. For example, did you know that the day of Our Lord's birth was made to coincide with the day of Natalis Solis Invictii?”
“And so not only are you telling me that Constantine ,the first Christian emperor, wasn't actually a Christian but also that our current Church is all a lie? And that you found the proof of this lie RIGHT in the homes of those who would be the most harmed by it? And I still don't understand what the Builders have to do with all of this."
“They have something to do with it, if you give me time to get to the point. Constantine was and remained a pagan emperor, even in the story that we have been told no one has ever testified to us with certainty his conversion to Christianity, neither a rite in full light nor anything else has been transmitted to us of the Christian Constantine. But Constantine was also Pontifex Maximus, the head of religion in the Roman Empire, and it is a natural and logical consequence that he took care of making the new religion adhere perfectly to the ethics and morals of the old empire. Just as it is a natural and logical consequence that it is the Church itself that keeps track of this transition, on the other hand keep your friends close and your enemies even closer."
“And the Builders were the first enemies that the Church of the time had to face.” Falco continued, Matilda by now hanging by his lips "Or rather, at the time they weren't the Builders yet. There is always someone who opposes big changes: members of the old pagan administration, philosophers who saw in the new religion the seeds of zealot danger or simple bored aristocrats, all people of this caliber gathered in the Synarchy, a society that aimed to subvert the system and create a hierarchical government in which one was admitted, remained or exited exclusively on the basis of one's merits."
Matilda sat on a rock, she was in a cold sweat "My head hurts."
Falco paid no attention to her complaints “As you can well imagine, this organization was a danger both to the Constantinian Church and to the foundations of the empire itself and, as such, was severely persecuted for decades. But Fate always loves to have fun with us mortals and the ascent to the throne of Julian the Apostate, one of Constantine's descendants as well as a member of the Synarchy by pure chance, turned the tables: now it was this society who held the political power and, thanks to Julian's enormous influence in political-philosophical circles, he managed to weave a dense network of acquaintances and alliances, so dense that it even survived Julian's death. And it is precisely here that the story of the Synarchy ends and that of the Builders begins. Do you know Theodosius the Great?”
"Yes. He who made Christianity the official religion of the Empire. But according to your words this could not have happened! The Synarchy was too strong.”
“Exactly, it was too strong. And it is precisely for this reason that Theodosius decided to make friends with her and offered them an alliance: Theodosius would have tolerated their existence and turned a blind eye to their work in exchange for their support for the Empire and the Christian Church in the common intention of rebuilding it from the very foundation. Obviously the Grand Master of the time was not a fool, the opportunity to emerge from the shadows and move towards their utopia was tempting, and he accepted the offer: the Synarchy officially changed its name and next to the pagan symbols of the gladius and the eye, the Hexagram, in its Judaeo-Christian meaning, and the Illumination as well as the hand with the hammer, symbol of the common agreement, were placed side by side. And this is where the official sources on the protagonists of my story end.”
“So you still have no evidence?”
Falco grinned “Attention, I said official sources. In fact, there is a roughly century-long hole in the records. And guess when their name reappears..."
She reflected “The fall of the Western Empire…”
"Exactly. Although in the collective mentality ours is what remains of the Western Empire, the power hole was there in all respects and this hole was filled by the Roman Church which, like all powers, must keep an eye on, without their knowledge, the enemies, in particular the old and powerful ones, and it's therefore from this date that the Curia began to draw up unofficial registers concerning the Builders. Names and surnames of the members, from all eras from 476 to today, intentions and actions behind which even the hand of the Builders was suspected: all entered in dull and shabby registers.
Silent fell for a few minutes. Once she made up her mind, Matilda asked "But their intentions seem noble to me, why are you going to fight them?"
“Because time ruins everything, even the noblest intentions. I told you that there was a power hole and that it was filled by the Church but the truth is that the Church tried to fill that hole, the real repairers were the Builders. They began to infiltrate society: nobility, merchants, even the Church itself, the registers began to explode and, on several occasions, the Church was forced to resort to their help, political, economic and/or military. The objective of the registered actions ceases to have a clear design aimed at creating a just and merit-based society and becomes a mere accumulation of power upon power, oppressing the weakest and limiting the free will of peoples. And that's what I intend to fight, as Duke of Milan and an orphan from nowhere."
“Don't hide behind your veil of hypocrisy, that's what we do too. As far as I know, the Archbishop of Trent has recently submitted to you voluntarily and your armies have landed in Sardinia.”
“As I said, mine is an all-out war and I have the advantage of knowing their names. Everything I do is aimed at strengthening myself and my allies and weakening the Builders as much as possible. No political entity is strong alone, only together can we have any hope of defeating them."
“And once you win? What will you do?"
Falco laughed. “It's not wise to reveal all the plans. I know very well that it may seem that I only want to replace them as the new oppressor but I ask you to trust me. Are you one of mine?”
The young woman got up “I am Matilda of Canossa, Duchess of Tuscany and Spoleto, and I only defend my interests. I'm nobody's! Nonetheless, it is fair that I reveal to you that I too have had contact with them although I did not have such great intentions of waking up the sleeping dog and did not know all the ins and outs. Do you want my answer? Well, let me ask you one thing first: why not destroy them from within?”
"That's all? Does the great suspense end like this? Well simple, the Builders have lost the creed of the personal merit of the individual and think that only the élite can guide humanity towards their utopia. I am an orphan, I chose my family name by myself, I acquired my title not through blood but thanks to the Emperor himself. Guys like me are their public enemy number one, they can't afford to have such scum in their ranks."
Matilda smiled “Curious how it will be precisely those personal merits of the single one that they so praised to cause their downfall. Count me from yours!”
Falco was dazed "No request in return? Land, gold, informations or whatever?”
"AHAHAHAH" the young woman changed totally, as if she were another person "It's enough for me that those bastard pigs die in the worst possible way, simple and pure revenge for all those like me who have been annihilated by them in history. Well actually now that I think about it, I could ask for your hand in marriage but I know you are already engaged in a pact with the Bohemian duke. By the way, is he also from ours?” the boy nodded "Well, Duke Falco, from today I, my people and my armies are yours. When the auspicious time comes, look to the south and I will go down at your side in battle."
He bowed. "Milady, your courage does you credit."
“Mpf, fuck the courage. I desire only their heads and that of the Emperor if possible."
Falco stiffened "Even the Emperor, at the right time, will be on our side."
“And how do you explain the current war against the king of Denmark? Unlike you, this is not a war to undermine them. He does it for personal wealth.”
“It was the Electors who pressed for this breakthrough, trust me once again.”
"If you say so." she snorted.
Later, in the households
“Sir, great play. Even though that girl has an insane light in her eyes and she scares me."
“Courage is unpredictable. It is total insanity that can be trusted.”
"Can I just ask you one last thing? Why do you think the Builders are putting pressure on the Emperor and that he's not acting on his mind?"
“Because I have known the Emperor since I was a child and he is a great friend of mine. He would never do such a thing." And also why wouldn't you have exposed Friedrich and me to such great dangers by elevating us to dukes if you didn't believe we'd be able to move something. I know you, you used to do that even when we played - Falco thought.
“And the Gräve of Bern? It was you who recruited her wife. When will his time come?”
“It will come. Now he just has other matters to worry about.” Falco's voice cracked.
“May God guide our hands then!”
"Amen." he concluded.
