The Enchantress Of Florence

The election of a Medici pope leads to wild celebrations in Florence. After the parties have “finally run out of steam” (332), Argalia meets with the new ruler, Giuliano de’ Medici (son of Lorenzo the Magnificent), outside the city walls. After a convincing speech, Argalia is given a “permanent-service contract” (335) as the city’s military commander. According to legend, the Medici family possesses a magic mirror which shows an image of “the most desirable woman in the known world” (336). Though it stopped working for many years, the mirror reawakens and shows Giuliano a woman he does not know. During this time, Angelica is still living with Il Machia and his family. She has an enchanting effect on all the people in the area and they all fall in love with her, especially Ago.

As Angelica parades into Florence for Argalia’s official appointment, the whole city falls under her spell. They are “enchanted” (341) by her beauty. Giuliano immediately recognizes her as “the woman in the magic mirror” (346) and he falls in love, much to the consternation of his wife. Angelica has such a bewitching effect on the city that the famously lecherous and debauched citizens stop visiting bars and brothels. Her presence is credited with lifting the material fortunes of the city, though more rational people credit the appointment of an intelligent Medici pope. The enchanting of Florence takes a toll on Angelica, however. She gradually tires of trying to keep 40,000 people under her spell and she refuses Argalia’s sexual advances for the first time. Giuliano’s wife smashes the magic mirror in a jealous rage. When Giuliano falls sick and dies, she immediately returns to her home city of Savoy, claiming that Florence “is no place for a good Christian woman to remain” (356).

The citizens of Florence try to divine auspicious meaning from a “strange event” (359) which occurs during a celebration. Il Machia writes “an anonymous pamphlet” (360) which credits Angelica with reconciling disparate forces. Since her departure from his home, he has felt dispirited. He has “poured his lifetime of thought” (361) into writing a pamphlet which is dedicated to the ruling Lorenzo II in the hopes of winning back the favor of the Medici court. Argalia confesses to him that he is worried about his marriage to Angelica. At the same time, Ago is in love with Angelica but says nothing to her. Instead, he only promises to keep a mysterious secret for her. When Il Machia gives his finished book to Lorenzo II, he is mocked, and the book is dismissed.

Lorenzo II sends Argalia away to fight a battle and, in his absence, he organizes “a great joust” (365). After the joust, he speaks bluntly to his guest of honor, Angelica. He reveals that he has arranged for one of her husband’s men to assassinate him and that he plans to make her his own bride once she is a widow. That night, he forces her to have sex with him. She knows that she must obey him because, if not, she will die. After leaving his private rooms, she talks to the Mirror. They discuss whether they should embark on their prearranged method of fleeing the city. Angelica decides to stay “until [her] husband comes home alive” (370). A short time later, Lorenzo II dies of syphilis. Angelica knows that she will be blamed, even though she does not have the disease. Public opinion has turned against her, and she is now accused of being a “witch” (374). When Lorenzo II dies, the citizens of Florence are outraged and begin to form into a mob.

Argalia survives the assassination attempt and returns to Florence. However, he is badly injured. By the time he arrives, the city seems gripped by chaos. As Argalia’s last remaining loyal men defend his villa, he arranges for Angelica and the Mirror to flee according to their plan. Ago meets them behind the villa and hides them in wine barrels. The crowd overpowers Argalia’s men. He stays behind to give his wife time to escape, though he dies in the chaotic fighting. When the crowd discovers that Angelica is long gone, they soon lose “their appetite for death” (381) and return to their homes.

The age of Argalia as the city’s military commander is at an end and the River Arno runs dry for a year and a day. Ago sneaks out of the city with the women hidden in wine barrels. They seek out Il Machia, who provides them with food and money to make their escape. He says goodbye to his old friend by returning to the story which began “in the beginning there were three friends” (384).

Akbar ponders his status and the status of his empire. Though he once considered Jodha to be his “masterpiece” (388), he creates a new woman from his imagination. He creates Qara Koz, just as Mogor described her, and she entices him into “the delirium of impossible love” (389). Given his contempt for his drunken, oafish sons, Akbar considers elevating Mogor to the status of an adopted son. As such, Mogor would be placed on the council of the emperor’s advisors and may one day inherit the empire. He is impressed by the speed with which Mogor has mastered “the complex details” (394) of running the empire. When the emperor’s beloved advisor Birbal is killed in an uprising, Akbar intensifies his thoughts regarding Mogor.

Jodha is visited by the emperor so infrequently that she begins to fade. One day, she is visited by the mothers of Salim and the emperor. They are wary of Mogor’s growing influence of the court and believe that his heightened status “imperils the entire kingdom” (406). They do not like Jodha and can barely see her, but they claim that they will teach her “the sexual secrets of women throughout history” (407) so that she can renew her influence over the emperor. By the time they are finished, however, they realize that Jodha has already gone and that they have instead been speaking to “the phantom of Qara Koz” (409).

Akbar loses another trusted advisor when Abul Fazl is killed while putting down a rebellion (which, the emperor believes, may have been orchestrated by his son, Salim). Not wanting to endanger his empire, however, Akbar makes peace with his son. He considers Salim to be a “pathetic young man” (413) but shows favor to him anyway. He dedicates himself to the ruling of his empire while Mogor runs a brothel with the Skeleton and the Mattress.

Eventually, Akbar goes to Mogor to learn how the story of Qara Koz ended. Mogor says that Qara Koz, the Mirror, and Ago fled first to Andrea Doria. In Genoa, Doria talked about the discoveries in the Americas made by Ago’s relative, Amerigo Vespucci. Not able to return East to her home, Qara Koz decided to travel West across the ocean. In the Americas, time worked differently, Mogor explains, and Qara Koz lived long enough to give birth to him before sending him on a mission to find his family in the Old World. Niccolo Antonino Vespucci was “named after his father’s two best friends” (424).

Akbar disagrees with the telling of Mogor’s story. He does not believe that Qara Koz learned “how to arrest time” (426). He tells an alternative version of the story, in which Qara Koz gives birth to a daughter who has an incestuous relationship with Ago. Mogor, he believes, is the product of this incestuous relationship. Mogor insists “that is not what happened” (430), but Akbar cannot be convinced otherwise. Though he likes Mogor and does not blame him for his parents’ sins, he takes steps to reduce Mogor’s influence at court. When Mogor returns to work at the brothel, Akbar stews on his decision.

Meanwhile, Salim’s wife pressures him to kill Mogor. She believes that Akbar may eventually change his mind and make Mogor his heir. Salim is reluctant to act. When Akbar does decide to “rehabilitate” (433) Mogor, Salim is forced to act by his wife. He organizes for the brothel to be burned down with Mogor inside. Though the building burns, “no trace of the foreigner’s body” (434) is found. Though rumors suggest that Mogor escaped by magic, Akbar suspects that he snuck away on a boat with the Skeleton and the Mattress. Akbar issues an order that they should not be pursued. Salim follows in his father’s footsteps and his refusal to ignore his wife’s calls for blood is the first step in him becoming a great ruler in the future.

Shortly after Mogor’s departure, the lake that brings life to Sikri begins to dry up. No engineer can explain why, but Akbar believes that his betrayal of Mogor is the reason. He issues an order to “evacuate the city” (437). He moves the seat of his empire to another city. Before they depart, Salim’s wife eats opium and dies.

Akbar speaks to the version of Qara Koz that he has brought into being. She explains that he was half-right in his interpretation of Mogor’s story. Qara Koz was not capable of having a child. Instead, the Mirror became pregnant with Ago’s child. The child so closely resembled Qara Koz, as “the Mirror’s daughter was the mirror of her mother and of the woman whose mirror the Mirror had been” (441). Mogor was raised to believe that he was the son of Qara Koz, and he was sent East to reclaim his birthright. Akbar reflects on his actions. He loves Qara Koz but, like Argalia before him, he knows that she will only love him until she does not.