You may recall I was looking for a figure represent
Francisco Quevedo as a member of Alatristes' band of Hidalgos. I found one a last that will do for now but I am on the look out for a better one. Quevedo is something of a guardian angle (though an unreliable one by his own admission) to Alatristes and Inego. He's well connected at court (when not of favor) and brings them jobs or provides them with information occasionally and when needed a ready sword.
Quevedo is clubfooted but a skilled fencer despite this indeed at one point he and Alatriste take on five men and more than hold their own. It the book he dresses all in black save for the red cross of the Order of Calatrava which I have tried to render (with little success and then ralized I had done the wrong style of cross). I made the collar white to keep the black form being too overwhelming.
Why does Quevedo a great poet maintain a friendship with a lowly sword for hire? Because Quevedo knows the value of true friends who do not care for how well received your poems are at court, a friend who will stand with you when "we have no choice but to fight!" The following exchange sums Alatriestes' side of the relationship well:
"With a deep sigh, the captain (Alatrieste) started to get up from the table. Don Francisco, who had already drawn four fingers of his sword from its scabbard, shot him a comradely looks of thanks, and even had the brass to direct a couplet to him.
'You, Diego, whose Sword so nobly defends
The name and honor of your family...'
'Do not Fuck with me, don Francisco,' the captain replied illhumoredly. 'We will have our fight with who we must , but do not fuck with me.'
That is how a true man talks! (said Quevedo)"
--- From Captain Alatrieste by Arturo Perez-Reverte
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