Dominic Sandbrook

He couldn't decide what to do.

He ordered Atahualpa to be chained by the neck at this point to stop him escaping.

As we will see, he knows perfectly well that Charles V will go ballistic if he finds out that Pizarro has murdered a monarch.

I mean, even in this Aztec story, Cortes had to make up a load of nonsense about Montezuma rebelling, having agreed in order to justify murdering Montezuma.

And I think this is exactly what Pizarro is facing right now.

Mid-July 1533, he calls a big meeting to decide Atahualpa's fate, and all the big guns are there.

We're told that Pizarro and the men who had been there from the very beginning want to keep Atahualpa alive.

They say it's honourable to keep him alive.

They gave him their word because of the ransom.

The ransom's been paid.

We should keep our side of the bargain.

They say he's a really useful hostage.

Why would you give up a hostage like this?

They point out not a single Spaniard has been attacked or injured since they took him prisoner.

Clearly, this is working, so let's keep him.

And some of them actually clearly are fond of him.

We know from the Chronicles and whatnot that there were people who spent their evenings talking to him through the interpreter's

and actually said, he's not such a bad guy.

I don't think we should kill him.

But the people who've come with Alvarado take a very different view.