The Vatican Jewel
Chapter 19 - Judgment
In Tarots, the Judgement's card represents freedom from bodily bonds and awareness in spirituality. It indicates the rebirth to the spiritual life, communication with the divine spirit. It also means spiritual clairvoyance, it is a call from the past, therefore an evocation. It indicates re-establishment also in the physical person, but above all morally and spiritually; it is preaching, missionary spirit.
On the negative side, however, it indicates deep nervousness, elation, negative reputation, judgment of others towards us, lack of temperance.
Judgment is a card of renewal, when a situation is obviously changing. The situation changes since the moment of reckoning arrives. We can no longer procrastinate, postpone, but we must face the showdown and its consequences. When the time arrives, your sins will find you out, and it's time for a closure, for the final judgment.
Sitting on one of the wooden chairs in the Old Sacristy, Gemma incessantly tortured the gold ring she was wearing on her finger, in the vain hope of venting her anguish.
Easter Mass had begun, and the moment of communion was approaching dangerously. It would have taken only a few minutes, once the host was consumed, for all that hell of hate and grudge to end. The Medici dynasty would have collapsed, the Pazzi would have taken control of the city, and her role as a Vatican spy would have been over.
She would have returned to Rome, to serve the Pope, or best case scenario she would be ordered to return to Imola, to deal with politics and to take care of her city. Worst case scenario… she didn't even want to think about it.
Instinctively she tried to bite her lip, in a gesture dictated by nervousness, but a pang of pain reminded her of what had happened just a week before.
The guards who broke into the Secret Archives hadn't been able to do anything: da Vinci had found another way to escape and had managed to run away. And with him, tightly held in his hand, the second key to open the Vault of Heaven.
Nor had those same guards been able to mitigate His Holiness's anger when the man found himself in front of his niece. Not had her appearance been able to do it, nor the torn clothes, which for everyone had been clear indications of an attack by the artist. Not had been able to do it her expression, for the first time in a long time humbled, mortified, torn by feelings of guilt.
Nothing had held Sixtus's hand. And a week later, the signs were still clearly visible: on the lips, on the cheekbone, around the eye, on the temple…
She had failed, and if she was still alive the merit was only of the imminent conspiracy against Florence. She was still in charge of the uprising, and that task had to be done before any other decision could be made.
Once again, her survival had come down to one choice: her life, or that of others.
Yet, all she could think about was the expression on Leonardo's face, realizing that the second key had always been in her hands. The disappointment, the bitterness, the pain that she had seen in his eyes, as if everything they had been through had been destroyed in an instant.
«Countess Riario», one of her guards called her, rousing her from her thoughts.
«Yes?», she murmured, barely looking up.
«It is the moment», he answered in a whisper, and Gemma understood that the poisoned hosts were about to be served.
«Good», the young woman said in a faint voice, and never anything falser had left her lips. «Be ready», she added, looking at the rest of the Swiss guards there, and immediately receiving a nod.
Gemma slowly got to her feet, with every intention of moving as far as possible from the door that led into the church, when a dull thud reached her ears: it was undoubtedly the sound of the cathedral entrance doors being opened. She immediately returned vigilant and alert, and she snapped her fingers, silencing any hum from the guards there with her.
«What has happened to you?», someone asked from the church, and those words were more than enough to understand: Giuliano had returned to Florence.
«Holy God…», the Countess murmured, closing her eyes: it really seemed that hell had no end. «Prepare your weapons», she added then, turning to her henchmen.
«The Pazzis conspire against us, my family!», Giuliano yelled, from the other side of the door. «They're in league with Rome and betray all Florence».
«No…», Gemma wailed, her voice so weak that she could barely hear herself.
«People and liberty…», Francesco Pazzi interjected, and the young woman tightened her eyes. «Death to the Medicis!».
A moment later, there was nothing but sword strikes, screams of terror and chaos.
The Swiss guards immediately turned to Countess Riario, waiting for orders, but Gemma needed a few moments before she could say a word.
«Go», she murmured simply, without even looking at them.
«Countess…», Captain Grunwald tried, approaching her.
But when the young woman looked up, the man no longer saw that spark of strength and determination, that fire that had always distinguished her, but he saw only emptiness, something foreign to her nature. She wasn't her anymore, and they both knew it.
«It wasn't supposed to go like that», Gemma whispered, turning her gaze to the door. «It will never end…», she added, in a faint voice.
«What do you want me to do?», the captain asked, with his hand ready on his sword.
But for a few more seconds, there was only silence in response, and never before had that happened: Gemma was an extraordinary warrior, terribly good at keeping everything under control, even when the unexpected shattered her plans.
«I want some men to check the other entrances of the cathedral», she finally said, crossing her arms over her chest. «And I want to know everything about whoever was a part of this plan», she continued, raising her gaze up at him. «Every member of that circle of conspirators. Who will survive this... I want them here, in front of my eyes».
Grunwald nodded silently, and walked over to a small group of Swiss guards who remained in the sacristy, pointing out the orders they had. Instead, he and a couple of other men staying there, as an escort for the Countess.
On the other hand, Gemma walked away into a corner with a hand pressed to her forehead, trying to recover all her self-control and to calm down. Still, all she could think about was that it shouldn't have gone that way. If everything had gone as planned, at that moment the Medici would have fallen to the ground poisoned and the word End would have been written to what by then Gemma felt she could compare to torture.
Her last glimmer of hope, the only thing she could think about without feeling her throat closing in panic, was Leonardo's destiny: the artist had to embark on the Basilisk and leave for the New World. In all that hell of swords, hatred and betrayals, at least he would have remained safe and not even she, along with all her men, would have been able to find him in time to capture him.
In the tangle of her thoughts, she didn't even notice the flow of time, until a familiar voice woke her up.
«Countess», Lucrezia Donati called her, with labored breathing and fear well marked in her voice.
Gemma, however, took a second for a deep breath, and remained turned around. It must have been a lot longer than she thought, if her guards had already managed to find the conspirators she'd been asking about, but it wasn't time yet. She was not yet ready to return to reality and to do what needed to be done.
«Not now, Signora», the Pope's niece answered coldly, with her gaze towards an indefinite point.
«Countess», the other repeated again, with more decision.
«I said: not now», the Riario retorted sharply, anger starting to build inside her.
«Gemma!», Lucrezia yelled, her voice now far from calm, but soaked in panic and anguish. «He is here».
And it was as if time had stopped.
The young woman felt her blood freezing in her veins, as she slowly raised her head and turned to Lucrezia, her expression begging she had misunderstood. But when the two women looked at each other in the eyes, for Gemma there were no more doubts. And it was worse than a slap on the face.
Captain Grunwald held the Florentine noblewoman firmly where she was, tightening his hands on her shoulders. Looking up, Gemma immediately realized that the guard was studying her, because it was as clear to him as it was clear to everyone: Countess Riario would have never reacted like that without a very good reason. But she was too busy not panicking to care.
Saving da Vinci, always admitting she could, meant betraying the Vatican, and at that point nothing and no one would have been able to guarantee her more than a couple of days of life. But keeping her role would have condemned the artist to certain death.
Once again, her survival had come down to one choice: her life, or that of others. But the other was no longer the life of a stranger or an enemy. It was Leonardo's.
Gemma said nothing, not even a word, as she briskly passed the guards there and left the Old Sacristy. She barely realized what carnage was taking place in the middle of the cathedral; her gaze darted from side to side to find, in a tangle of foreign faces, the one she had by then come to know.
She barely noticed Giuliano's lifeless body next to one of the wooden benches in the central nave, nor the Magnifico on the ground with one hand pressed to his neck, pale in the face and with terror in his eyes. When she saw the artist, her body acted with a life of its own, and she ran in his direction.
Gemma barely had time to get a few steps closer, when a violent explosion came between Leonardo and the conspirators, assuring him a few moments of advantage. The Countess jumped instantaneous and avoided the flames, while the Pazzi family retreated and tried to protect themselves from the fire.
With great effort, da Vinci dragged himself and Lorenzo towards the sacristy of the Masses and he threw himself against the doors with all his might, throwing them open under his weight. He pushed the Magnifico into the room, and quickly stood up to go back and to close the entrance.
It was then that they saw each other.
Time to exchange a glance, but they both understood it.
They understood that the time from which they tried to escape had come. They understood that there were no more escape routes or subterfuges: they were against each other, but only one of their lives could be saved. They understood that it was the end. And there was nothing they could do.
Gemma saw it, she saw the pain that was hitting him at that awareness, how those long-fought feelings were tearing his heart. But for the first time since they had met, Leonardo saw the same pain in the young woman's eyes as well. He saw it on her face, in a look that was not her own, but the one of a person imprisoned in a mask of pain, constriction and manipulation.
That was not the look of the Gemma he had known and for who he would have given everything, just to save her and bring her back to life. Something in her had broken up. And when he saw, just before the sacristy doors closed, the bruises and the wounds on her face, it was like receiving a stab in the heart.
Time to exchange a glance, and the doors closed.
Da Vinci looked down at his hands and noticed that they were shaking violently, as well as his breath which seemed to have stopped in his throat. He tried to calm down, to focus on something else, and he ran to Lorenzo to try to cure the deep cut he had on his neck. But his gestures were little more than empty and automatic movements, his body was acting by itself; his mind, on the other hand, was far away from there, devastated by what he had seen.
On the other side of the door, Gemma wasn't even trying to catch her breath in her throat. She hadn't even realized she had stopped breathing, until a voice behind her violently brought her back to reality.
«Countess», the captain hissed, and it wouldn't do her any good to turn around and to see his face: his tone was in all and for all a threat.
Grunwald had seen the whole scene, and like him other witnesses, and every second they had witnessed was just one more proof to corroborate their suspicions. And if Gemma hadn't done something to prove them wrong, she wouldn't have come out of Florence alive.
«Captain…», she murmured, and she forced herself to breathe before continuing. «Break down the doors», she added, her voice miraculously firmer than before.
She heard him stomp away behind her, and she treasured that brief moment alone to put on her mask again. And to pray that, in one way or another, Leonardo would have found a way to save himself.
Shortly after, some Swiss guards and the Pazzi family strode past her, holding any object that could be a weapon, and they began to hit the entrance to the sacristy. But Gemma was not naive, a single glance at that mighty wooden door was enough for her to understand that it would not have yield so easily.
She took one last deep breath, before giving up on herself forever, and doing what needed to be done.
She turned around, looking for Captain Grunwald, and the man immediately understood what order he had been addressed. He returned shortly after with a heavy spear in his hands, but Gemma didn't even turn to him, because she knew that if she did that, the faint trace of determination in her would have vanished.
«Proceed», the Countess murmured, and vented every hesitation by violently biting the inside of her cheek.
She heard weak and indecisive footsteps behind her, very different from the heavy strokes characteristic of her guards, and she realized that Lucrezia had approached her.
«Gemma…», she begged softly, her voice cracked and close to crying.
But the young woman did not listen to her. She couldn't afford it, because she was already dying inside at the thought of what she was about to accomplish.
«Countess?», Captain Grunwald asked one last time, at her side.
Shiny and veiled with tears, Gemma raised her eyes to the entrance to the sacristy, and nodded.
«Fire», she murmured, in a faint voice.
The man passed her and took position in front of the door, while the rope of the shot in the barrel was wearing out, devoured by the flames. Almost close to the shot, Gemma closed her eyes, and a tear ran down her cheek as she turned her head away.
The flame went out and the shot went off, aimed at the sacristy door.
And with it, Gemma's heart also shattered.
What can I say...
This is definitely not the end for Gemma's character, but it is a "See you soon", I love her too much to let this chapter be the last one for her.
Thank you so so so much, I hope you have liked my personal version of the first season and, of course, it would be a pleasure for me to know what you think.
(a huge thank you to my friend Federica for all the help with the translation, you are the best!)
A "second season" (with Gemma, of course) is work in progress, I still have a lot to tell about her
Kisses!
- Amy