Ines of My Soul Read Online Free PDF

had sworn to remain celibate, but that did not keep him from enjoying the favors of any female within reach of his fiery temperament. Tall, handsome, with an easy laugh and a ringing tenor voice that enlivened taverns and enchanted women, there was no one who could resist him. Pedro always warned him to be cautious, because the French illness did not exempt Moors, Jews, or Christians, but Aguirre had faith in his mother’s cross. If it had been an infallible protection in battle, surely it would shield him against the consequences of lust.
    Aguirre, amiable and gallant in society, became an uncontrolled beast in battle, in contrast to Valdivia, who was always calm and chivalrous, even in the face of gravest danger. Both young men knew how to read and write; they had studied, and they were more cultivated than the majority of hidalgos. Pedro had received a very thorough education from a priest, his mother’s uncle, with whom he had lived in his youth, and who, it was whispered, was Pedro’s true father, though he had never had the courage to ask. It would have been an insult to his mother.
    Another thing Aguirre and Valdivia had in common was that they had come into the world in the year 1500, the same year as Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, monarch of Spain, Germany, Austria, Flanders, the West Indies, part of Africa, and an ever greater part of the world. The young men were not superstitious, but they were proud to have been born under the same star as the king and, therefore, destined for similar military triumphs. They believed that there was no better proposition in this life than to be soldiers under such a gallant leader. They admired the king’s Titanic stature, his indomitable courage, his skill as a horseman and swordsman, his talent as a strategist in war and a scholar in peace. Pedro and Francisco were grateful for their good fortune in being Catholics, which guar anteed the salvation of their souls, and Spanish, that is, superior to the rest of humankind. They were hidalgos of Spain, sovereign over all the wide and beckoning world, more powerful than the ancient Roman Empire, chosen by God to discover, conquer, Christianize, found, and populate the most remote corners of the earth. They were twenty years old when they went off to fight in Flanders, and then the campaigns in Italy, where they learned that in war cruelty is a virtue and, given that death is a constant companion, that it is best to keep one’s soul in a state of grace.
    The two young soldiers served under the command of an extraordinary general, the marqués de Pescara, whose somewhat effeminate appearance could be deceptive, since beneath the gold armor and the pearl-embroidered silk finery he wore on the field of battle was a rare military genius, his acumen demonstrated a thousand times over. In 1524, in the midst of the war between France and Spain, disputing control of the Italian cities, the marqués and two thousand of the best Spanish soldiers disappeared in a mysterious manner, swallowed up by the winter fog. Word spread that they had deserted, and mocking couplets were circulated accusing them of treason and cowardice, while they, hidden away in a castle, were, in fact, part of a plan that hinged on great stealth.
    It was November, and the cold turned to ice the souls of the hapless soldiers quartered in the courtyard. They did not understand why they were spending time there, numb and anxious, instead of being led to fight against the French. The marqués de Pescara was in no hurry; he was waiting for the right moment with the patience of an experienced hunter. Finally, after several weeks had passed, he sent word to his officers to ready the troops for action. Pedro de Valdivia ordered the men in his battalion to don their armor over wool undergarments, a difficult task since when they touched the icy metal it stuck to their fingers, and then he handed out sheets to use as covering. So, like white ghosts, they had