"Bring me some candles." "I'm working late tonight." "But sir.." "And a glass of wine, as usual." "The world had no choice but to change... .. but the revolution has become terror and it's my turn to be taken away." "Certainties make people blind and mad." "They can tear their hearts apart and transform them into beasts." "In the year 1764 the beast appeared on our grounds and made them his." "One year later it was known far beyond our region and people began to think that nobody could ever defeat it." "Under its attacks the Gevaudan country sunk deeper and deeper into the darkness." "Who are you?" "What did he do?" "What did he do ?" "He's a thief." "And she?" "His daughter... damn witch." "I'm a healer, I healed their horses and they refuse to pay." "Do not listen." "A word has no meaning here." "Are the horses healed?" "Yes." "Go on." "Welcome to the land of the beast, sirs." "And watch out for wolftraps." "Knight Gregoire de Fronsac and the man called Mani weren't hunters nor soldiers." "As naturalist of the garden of the King the knight had a reputation of a freeminded and intellectual person in Paris." "The one who was following him like his shadow was a stranger nobody knew of." "When evening fell... the two travellers offered themselves to the castle of marquis Apcher who would give them shelter in Gevaudan as long as their mission would last." "Our people would not be afraid of an ordinary wolf." "The beast is different." "It flees from men like it knows it has to fear them." "but it spares no women nor children." "Have you ever seen it?" "No." "Then excuse me but how do you know its only one animal then?" "All those who survived it gave that description." "It's much bigger then a wolf and it doesn't fear hunters' bullets." "I understand your scepticism, Fronsac." "I don't believe more in.." "dragons than you do." "but I had a memorial made for you about the crimes of the beast." "You can judge for yourself." "Grandfather told me you were fighting the English in New France." "Yes." "I went there to study the animals and nature and" "I came back hurt and with the grade of captain in the army of the King." "I arranged a hospital for the victims of the beast in an old abbey." "She's a woman from Lorciere." "She was on her way back from a party when the beast attacked her." "Two people helped her... the beast vanished but it had the time to take half of her face." "Tell me, knight, how is sir Buffon?" "And how are things in Paris?" "And The Innocent One?" "Have you read it?" "Marquis, it's kind of late for philosophy." "You're right." "How about theatre?" "Do you know actresses?" "What are they playing in theatres this winter?" "You can put it right there." "People often say they are courteous." "I'm not sure if it's true, but I read that some of them offered their charms." "Tell me." "With this your curiousity will be satisfied." "Mercurius of France." "We only have the Post of Avignon." "I will show you the common room." "He will sleep over here" "Very well." "Good night, knight." "It's not Versailles, but its wine is good." "Fat like a cow." "Jacques has seen many wolves, but says that the animal that attacked him isn't one." "Its snout was longer and its teeth were like knives." "If it wasn't a wolf, what was it then?" ""Un diable"" "Knight." "The beast attacked a girl near Saint-Alban." "There." "Calm down, knight, nobody is here." "Stop." "What are they doing here?" "Son of a whore." "Good day, captain." "Sir Marquis." "I greet you." "But be careful, there are traps everywhere." "Jamel, this is knight Gregoire de Fronsac, of the garden of the King." "He would like to look closer at the body of this unlucky soul." "With your permission, of course." "So you maltreated my men, sir." "I did not know they were acting in your command." "That's not the case." "You did well and I apologize." "But those are not from this country, they are built for war, not for hunting." "Be careful, her intestines were emptied and filled with poison." "What kind of gardener are you?" "When the beast is dead, his Majesty wants it to be brought back, examined and kept in Paris." "I was commissioned with doing a portrait of it, and naturalizing it after the hunt." "For now I try to get familiar with it." "My god, with such jaws, that beast must weigh 500 pounds." "This time I will catch it." "Before the first snow I will have it." "If everybody comes at the battue, it won't be able to escape." "Have you seen it already?" "Once, sir." "Once in 13 months I shot and hit it." "On my word, sir." "I saw it collapsing and reviving instantly." "We lost it south of Mount Mouchet, it vanished in the woods." "Did it look like this?" "It also had some sort of black stripe on the back with with stings, you see?" "My friends, I introduce you the author of those drawings." "Knight Gregoire de Fronsac." "Providential man since he comes from Paris to crunch the beast." "His eminence, the bishop of Mende." "My sire, the duke of Moncan." "My sire, the count of Morangias." "and Mrs. countess." "Their son, Jean-François who has travelled too." "Good paint, sir." "Thank you, sir." "Sir Laffond, our intendent." "Father Henrie Sardis, priest of Saint-Alban." "Then.. tell us, sir." "Are people talking much about the beast in Paris?" "People even do songs about it." "They should pray." "Do you think that captain Duhamel will need help of God that much?" "Who can without?" "Duhamel is only good at disguising his soldiers as girls to get the beast, what a strategy." "Duhamel does what he can." "I find you indulgent." "Duhamel is incapable." "They destroy a lot." "But the beast is still there." "By God, if the taxes that I pay are used to pay Duhamel" "I'd rather give it to my servants." "What do you think?" "You don't have to answer, sir." "The duke likes to carp at, but he is a good christian." "When you arrived, all that gathering was boring me." "with the good God and all that holy talk the pope would even have sent a spy to determine if the beast is a manifestation of the devil or not." "Excuse me." "Marianne de Morangias." "Difficult, knight, very difficult." "Everybody was breaking their minds about it." "Who is next?" "Maxime des Forets." "Author of Theaters." "Then it will be easy." "Be careful." "She's a Morangias." "Mrs.." "Hello, sir, we were talking." "Are you Maxime des Forets?" "Maxime is in front of you." "What a pleasure to meet you." "Quality authors are very rare nowadays." "Marquis of Apcher was talking about you." "The marquis?" "Listen, he wants to have a memorial written about his family and thinks of you." "Really?" "Between us, he is in a good mood, it's now or never." "But act like you don't know, and above all, let him start talking about it first." "Mrs. excuse me." "Aren't you ashamed?" "By God." "No." "So, Mr. naturalist..." "do you like our country?" "Until now I only caught sight of the beauties." "At least one." "Do people talk about young girls this way in the court?" "No... is it a speech reserved for innocent girls of province?" "Maybe I would visit the court if I could meet girls like you." "Food is being served, knight." "Let's eat." "I don't leave you." "We were proceeding up the Saint-Laurent for 12 days when we brought back in our nets the strangest animal I ever saw." "The Indians already told me about holy fish but I was convinced it was a legend." "I had in front of me a fish with the shape and size of a trout." "but its body was completely covered with a black hairy skin." "A hairy trout?" "You're joking." "No, sir." "Salmo truta dermopilla, from Canada." "That is really strange." "As soft as fur." "Nature is extraordinary." "The water had to be very cold." "It proves the impossible is possible sometimes." "Well said." "Such a discovery had to give you the honours of the garden of the King." "But I doubt that he deserves them." "But I admit, knight, you got a talent of an actor." "If I had two hands, I would give an applause." "Jean-François." "Please excuse him, sir." "Your son is right, sir." "That animal doesn't exist." "My embalmer in the garden of the King is a handy man." "Sorry for that ridiculous joke." "The moral of your story is that there is no beast in Gevaudan?" "and that we, people of the country, are idiots?" "The moral of my fable, Mrs.." "is that we never saw dragons or unicorns elsewhere than in books or poems." "Lies sometimes appear true when dressed with Latin." "Watch out, sir." "We might end up not understanding what you are talking about anymore." "By the way, what are you, a naturalist or a philosopher?" "Or worse... an actor?" "I think that sir knight is a Parisian above all." "Well, enough talk about that beast, after all it only devours villains." "Shall we do some riddles?" "I just composed a love compliment, if Mrs. Earl permits..." "If it's not immoral." "Immoral?" "No, no." "It's a very chaste, very pure compliment." "It's not far-fetched." "Just popped into my head." "It's called "Wolf!"" ""I didn't pay attention to it." "Without thinking of evil, I look at you." "Your secret glance strikes me in the heart." "Wolf!" "Wolf!" "Wolf!"" "A scandal." "Will I see you again soon?" "Do you have any other fabulous animals to show me?" "You seem to have a limited idea about me." "Let me try to change your mind." "Try." "Will you attend Duhamel's grand battue?" "Definitely." "I forbid you, my daughter." "It's far too dangerous." "Obediance is the first virtue of well born young girls." "That young man is right." "That day in Gevaudan, the biggest battue ever to be held in the kingdom of France, took place." "The King promised 6000 pounds to the one who killed the beast." "Thousands of peasants and soldiers joined the hunters." "During a few hours we forgot that the beast was hunting us down." "Everyone got a map and a rally point." "We start at 7." "Thanks." "Go ahead captain, go ahead." "My people have other things to do." "Your generosity, sir duke, matches your courage and..." "It's enough Duhamel." "I hope for your sake that we catch it this time." "That's a certainty, sir duke." "What kind of racket is that?" "A beautiful weapon, isn't it?" "I had it made by an armourer in Mende, back from campaign." "You understand of course that I need it custom made." "Take a look." "even in Paris you wont't find such bullets." "I melt them down myself." "Silver?" "You fear werewolves?" "No, but I like to sign my gunshot." "I'm a hunter, Fronsac." "And it's a passion that has already cost me so much." "What happened to you?" "Let's say that I learned that some animals need more than one bullet to be terminated." "Whatever Sardis says, you need something else than prayers to cure gangreen." "Did a bear wound you?" "A lion." "A lion?" "Yes, two years in the royal marines made me travel a lot." "You dont know Africa, Fronsac." "Gentlemen... my daughter is to blame." "I'll bring her here." "Punish her the way you want." "Witch!" "You bring evil." "Look at her, a demon." "She's sick!" "She's sick!" "She's not possessed." "She's not possessed!" "Wrong." "The evil." "The sign of the devil." "You must burn her." "Always prevent her from swallowing her tongue." "She would suffocate." "She's not possessed." "She's not possessed." "I know." "Naturalist, philosopher..." "And even a healer." "Congratulations." "She didn't come, Fronsac." "You owe me 1 Louis." "Marquis." "And the native people?" "Supersticious like everywhere." "Like here." "The Indians eat the heart of their preys, to appropriate their strength." "Are they beasts for all that?" "In Africa warriors devour the heart of their enemies." "Sir count, Jean-François, you must ask your people to move eastwards." "There you are." "Your mother will be worried." "She always worries." "If I listened to her, I would already be in the convent." "I know you dont believe me, you're a free-thinker." "Not when one is in love." "Are you in love?" "Ridiculous." "We hardly know each other." "You think that it's about you?" "Marianne." "She'll have to learn some day to ride like a lady, my father." "Practice doesn't hurt at her age." "My father sees evil nowhere." "My son sees evil everywhere." "People died here." "How do you know that?" "I hear their screams." "Mani, stop that." "He's right." "There was a temple leader's residence here." "When it was torched, 25 heretics burned alive in the chapel." "Could he predict the future ?" "No need to be psychic." "Just have to observe." "When I was little girl, I came here to play with my brother." "Weren't you afraid?" "He said he would protect me against the ghosts." "So you don't you like hunting?" "Is it a crime in this country?" "Indians say that drawing someone is stealing his soul." "Does my soul interest you too?" "What are you doing on foot during hunting?" "Do you want to get mutilated?" "It's my fault." "I ask you nothing, knight." "What was that?" "It's only a wolf." "And what if it was the beast?" "I don't think so, Marianne." "Thanks." "I hope for your sake, captain, that the beast is one of those wolves." "Anyway those won't eat anyone anymore." "What a crazy person." "Where did you find him?" "In New France." "It's..." "How does one say it." "An Acad?" "An Indian." "An Iroquois, of the Mohawks tribe." "An Indian?" "A real one?" "He doesn't look like an Indian at all." "Be with us tonight in Saint-Alban." "We'll entertain ourselves, with your servant." "He's not my servant." "Then what the devil is he then?" "He's my brother." "How could you have mixed your blood with the one of that savage?" "One doesn't look at the man who shares your misfortune as a savage." "Because of Mani I was able to escape from the English after the battle of 3 rivers." "I thought those animals were cannibals." "Well as you can see, sir intendent, Mani is not an animal." "Could you reproduce, with a woman of our race?" "All women have same color when the candles are put out." "Yes, my father, they're even clear of mind." "The Indians slept with white women and had children, which proves we are of the same species." "That's said hastily." "It's a bit like with niggers finally." "What do you think of it, Sardis?" "Without doubt your bloodbrother must be a creature of God." "You had him baptised?" "He didnt ask me." "Good." "You follow times closely." "Mani has his own belief." "He was some sort of priest in his tribe." "Do Indians have priests?" "Then they are lost." "What is their belief?" "Mohawks think that every human has an animal counterpart called a totem." "It's funny but I don't understand." "Do you mind?" "Don't be afraid." "It won't hurt." "You." "Kariboe... that's some kind of deer." "Yes, a deer." "What do you think, wife?" "Am I a deer by the horns or by another part?" "And my dear Thomas?" "What is his.." "...totem?" "Worm." "A bookworm probably." "A snake?" "Snake?" "For the Indians, snakes incarnate wisdom." "Wise snake." "And you, sir intendent?" "A boar." "Away with those wrinkles." "For those barbarians, pigs may represent nobility." "Who is next?" "Sardis?" "No no." "And me?" "What am I?" "Half a lion, half an eagle?" "Come on Indian, change me into a lizard so my arm can grow back on." "François, it's enough." "Hmm what's wrong?" "I'm not of a good taste?" "Let me go, let me go.." "LET ME GO!" "Mrs., would you?" "Excuse me, but i'm bored of your tricks." "And I prefer to withdraw before you start juggling or dancing on a ball." "Good evening." "That will relax you, Fronsac." "It's not Paris indeed, but it's the best house of Mende." "And we sleep better there than in the inn." "They are all for you, gentlemen." "And we have a new very, very..." "My little marquis, come." "I'm expensive, Gregoire de Fronsac." "Do we know each other?" "From here Gevaudan looks small." "Italian?" "On a passage in this beautiful country." "I got money." "It's not only about money." "Then?" "Who did that?" "An Irokese arrow." "Your heart was not far." "Maybe I am.. a lucky man." "And that?" "A bear." "And she didn't like me much." "You haven't seen anything yet." "I have a dangerous job." "And not all men have your manners." "That's a recollection of me." "That is a scandal!" "In MY house!" "Valentine, what is this?" "Miss Tissier, I don't sleep with sorcerers." "But what is that?" "He's got snakes on his body, I saw them moving." "Our reputation!" "You must go." "It's nothing, it is an Indian." "Not a sorcerer." "Then I don't sleep with Indians." "Hookers are well sensitive." "Come on girls?" "Who's going with the redskin?" "I double the bonus." "I like his sketches..." "Well, everything is gonna be alright..." "Then.. so you are a sorcerer?" "Will you draw my portrait?" "If you are not wise." "Weeks passed with Duhamel's soldiers unable to find the beast." "It was the third winter under his lordship." "and we knew that snow and cold wouldn't stop it more than our guns and dogs." "Let's remember the threats God announced through Moses' mouth." ""I will come to you like a bear that lost her welps." "your chilren, I shall devour them like a lion and tear their entrails down and I will send against you the untamed beast that will consume you and your cattles and will make deserts of your paths."" "How long will you stay angry, Lord?" "One candle per victim." "Do you really think we live in the rational time?" "Mercy me!" "I ask for forgiveness." "Mercy." "Bless me." "What is it, my son?" "God punished me." "My children disappeared at Mount Mouchet." "I'm doomed." "We're all doomed." "Gather your men, we leave at once." "Warn Mani, I'll see you on the way." "Good evening, friend of the wolves." "I've got something for you." "I would like to see you, Marianne." "Alone." "In 10 days." "My mother is going into retreat for some time and my father will be on diet at Langogne." "10 days?" "I am not as free as you are." "Bring the torch." "Bring the torch!" "The storm starts, people are tired." "We'd better go home." "No." "Let's find the girl." "I found the child." "Captain, those traps you set catch more farmers than wolves." "Your men proceeded with exactions on the population." "And since your battue the wolf has killed 12 times." "I don't understand." "It shouldn't have escaped." "What?" "It shouldn't have escaped." "And you, knight, do you know what kind of wolf it is?" "Gentlemen.." "The only certainty I have is that it's not a wolf." "Contrary to what people could think, wolves don't attack people except very rarely." "I observed them in New France." "Maybe there, wolves are different in this country." "A furious wolf would attack anybody." "If an animal gets frantic, it will die within 2 weeks." "And it has been spilling blood in your countries for two years now." "By the way, I saw on the corpses wounds no wolf could ever have inflicted." "And I found a little while ago, in a body of a victim, this piece of metal." "And then?" "And then." "No animal has iron teeth." "So the beast is not an animal?" "So be it!" "But tell me, knight, how to capture it." "while we're speculating, it's killing our people." "Sirs, I think we must listen to Fronsac very carefully." "So, knight, you think the beast is not an ordinary animal." "But we all think the same." "I'm glad you admit it's something supernatural." "But I don't admit anything, father." "I only have doubts." "Knight, do you have something else to say?" "No, gentlemen." "Gentlemen, I received this from Paris." "Captain Duhamel, his Majesty was informed about the inefficiency of your attempts and he asked me to get you off this case." "You and your men leave at once to your regiment in Langogne." "Sir Beauterne is already on his way, his Majesty instructed him to kill that ferocious wolf and he is the only one with the ability to hunt on the diocese." "Gentlemen." "Have you forgiven me?" "Let's say I was curious to know my totem?" "Did I say that properly?" "I would say... a mermaid." "So you are never serious." "I will ask your redskinned man." "And the beast?" "Did you catch sight of it?" "No." "Don't you want to talk about it?" "I could only make some absurd suppositions." "If I told you that the beast is made of flesh and iron that it can think and can disappear when it wants to." "What would you think?" "That the air of our countries makes you believe in chimeras." "It's like it's fleeing away from me." "You haven't been here for 3 months and you would like to be finished with it already." "Did you think the beast would surrender cause of your sight?" "Maybe it's scared of you." "Am I so scary then?" "You prefer a difficult victory." "Jean-François told me you wanted to leave to Africa." "So far it's a dream of a naturalist who is fed up with the winter." "And you?" "Don't you want to discover other horizons?" "Girls here have more duties than desires." "Do you see Sardis on the ramparts?" "Does he keep an eye on you?" "No." "He watches over me." "Alone with you in this park, who knows what could happen to me." "Let's go back, the priest will catch a cold." "What a good night, knight." "Good night, knight." "You're in love." "I don't know." "I know." "The cards?" "I never needed them for you, my friend." "So, let's drink." "To Mrs. Morangias." "What?" "Her brother was there the other night." "Did you sleep with him?" "Him sleeping?" "He can't stand to be touched." "He looks, he drinks... and when he's drunk, he talks in his sleep." "Like all men." "Do I talk in my sleep?" "And what do I say?" "Do you know how Florentine women keep their men at home?" "Each morning, they give them a slow poison and each night its antidote, so the man who sleeps elsewhere will have a very bad night." "A woman like you doesn't need that." "And also, we're not married." "Make room for Antoine de Beauterne." "Archebuse carrier of his Majesty, coming to free the country from the beast." "Sir, I am Gregoire de Fronsac." "Ah yes, Buffon sent you." "The naturalist balmer." "Sir Bauterne will stay at the intendent's." "We have an appointment at 2, exactly." "His Majesty asked my opinion about your report." "Complicated fables." "I think the beast is a wolf." "Tomorrow I will leave to investigate." "I don't want you to join me." "Why?" "The King wants me to do it, and me alone." "I don't need you to complete this." "On the table you'll find a letter signed by count Buffon and our beloved King." "I am at his orders sir, but believe me, it's not a wolf." "I already read your report." "Don't waste energy on the beast anymore, my friend." "I will take care of it." "You may go." "Come, come, come." "Come." "She's a woman from Lorciere." "She was on her way back from a party when the beast attacked her." "We lost it south of the Mount Mouchet." "It vanished in the woods." "Knight, the beast attacked a woman near Saint-Alban." "God punished me, my children disappeared at Mount Mouchet." "No more than you, do I believe in dragons." "Its snout was longer and its teeth were like knives." "Once in 13 months I shot and hit it." "I saw it collapsing and reviving instantly." "The only certainty is that it's not a wolf." "So the beast is not an animal?" "A frantic wolf would attack anyone." "How to capture it?" "While we are speculating, it's killing." "No animal has iron teeth." "Knight, you have to come, at once." "I saw it." "He poured poison and pronounced satanic invocations." "God knows how long this has been going on." "Release him." "It's an Indian remedy, father." "Only our prayers can save her." "But...." "She was not..." "A miracle." "Tell me." "What happened to your brother?" "A man with the beast." "Come on, she doesn't know what she is saying." "Yes, sir." "The beast is dead." "Ten bullets in the skin." "It didn't survive it." "We brought the necessities." "Start at once." "That's not the beast." "Start working." "Sir Beauterne is coming." "Ridiculous." "This is not the beast." "Like I said, sir Beauterne is coming." "I don't like your ways, big mouth." "Good day, knight." "Leave us." "And, Fronsac?" "Don't you like my beast?" "What's the meaning of this, Beauterne?" "That animal is not the beast, you know it." "Its jaws are twice as big as these." "But you got everything here to fix that." "As you know I must bring the beast back to Paris, and I only got this wolf." "So you will make a beast for me." "Do you want the King to believe.." "No, Fronsac." "I carry out his will." "You should too." "That would be wise." "Are you threatening me, sir?" "At my age, come on!" "You know who I am." "you are too intelligent to be needed to be threatened" "If you do your duty, the King will surely be very grateful." "Otherwise he'll be very annoyed." "Do you have everything you need?" "I'm counting on you, my friend." "See you later." "Aren't you glad to come back to Paris?" "The beast is dead, you should be happy." "Do you want me to tell you a secret?" "I collect them." "Beauterne only killed a wolf, it's an impostor." "And I assisted him." "Let's toast to our little treasons." "You have seen nothing." "You are not welcome to the castle anymore, sir." "You will tell Miss Morangias that I'm here." "Sir I already told you." "When we talked about the wolf my son and I were talking about you, sir." "But I've come to visit your daughter, Mrs." "I fear that's impossible." "I insist." "Let him enter, mother." "Take care, Jean-François." "You know how it ends." "Leave us." "Knight, Marianne is suffering." "I don't understand." "Nevertheless Fronsac, you are the cause of her pain." "Where is she?" "Follow me." "You are too good to come to visit me." "Miss, what's happening?" "I'm ordeded to go back to Paris, but you can change that." "I wish you a good travel." "I had warned you, knight." "You had offered me a gift not long ago, I offer two gifts, for your collection." "I was warned against people like you." "Those like me, Miss, don't condemn people before listening to them." "I don't know how all this was organized, but I would just have to explain you." "Don't go through so much trouble for me." "Marianne!" "Knight, don't make this more difficult than it is already." "Admit that you were not a man for my sister, and let's leave it there, my friend, no bad feelings." "Do you believe that she'll stay as your patient, sick all her life?" "Fronsac, aren't you happy to leave our beautiful country in one piece?" "Do you know that in other times, my people would have beaten you just because you looked at her?" "Times change." "Not everywhere, Fronsac, not here anyway." "I'm sorry, I.." "Will you hit me too if I ask you to leave?" "Farewell." "Don't regret anything, he didn't deserve you." "On this historical day, I would first like to thank knight Gregoire de Fronsac of the garden of the King." "The beast of Gevaudan is no more, and it's a little thanks to him." "But it's especially thanks to his Majesty." "It has to be said... it's in your person only that sovereign power lies." "Only an animal could ignore it, and that animal is no more." "There's very little to thank me for." "Invested with your power I only had to show myself in Gevaudan for the beast to surrender." "Mr Bouffon, what's the meaning of that masquerade?" "Beauterne is executing the orders he received." "We must all do the same, right?" "What orders?" "Mine." "Fronsac, this is Mr Mercier, special advisor of his Majesty for domestic affairs." "He had the idea to send Antoine de Beauterne in Gevaudan." "So you are responsible for that quick victory over the beast?" "Your scruples honour you, Fronsac, but this is a State matter." "Did you read this?" "You can no longer find this in the bookstore, but keep it as a memory." "Did you have it banned?" "It mocked the authority of the King." "If we had waited too long, this matter could have become embarrassing and people are so gullible." "If I understand well sir, better to lie than let lies be said." "The truth is very complicated." "To rule, you must do the simplest thing." "This beast was a problem." "Beast gone, problem gone." "It will continue to kill." "No one will ever hear of it again." "That's what matters." "Ah, Fronsac, I forgot, his Majesty insists on thanking you for everything, he believes that you wish to explore Africa." "In 6 months a schooner will leave from Nantes to our Senegal trading posts." "If you wish, you can join." "Of course we'll never talk of the Gevaudan anymore, right?" "Well, Fronsac?" "Mrs." "I don't believe I know you." "We both have a common friend." "What are you doing here?" "Useless to hide under the veil." "You perfume is not one of a lady." "Gregoire de Fronsac has only loved one woman and he pronounced your name when sleeping." "He'll leave soon for a long travel." "I don't care." "When you see Fronsac again, don't tell him anything about our encounter." "Or you would lose him for good." "Who was it, my daughter?" "No one." "That one in the hold with the others." "This one in my cabin." "Take care, it's fragile." "Good morning, knight." "Hey, marquis!" "What brings you here?" "Not so good news." "Two days after your departure, crimes began again." "The King doesn't send any soldiers anymore." "I can't even find volunteers for hunt anymore." "I can't help you, marquis." "I don't know how to catch the beast." "Frankly, I didn't think of your skills only." "Mani found the little girl." "One hunt Fronsac, only one." "You would be back in one month." "Impossible, the King forbid us to come back to Gevaudan." "But the King will know nothing of this." "You're wrong marquis." "Is the peace of the King worth all those sacrifices?" "You won't make me change my mind." "You wanna bet?" "Last time we bet, you lost." "I would have preferred to not need that to convince you, but oh well." "It's from Marianne." "And Mani?" "Hey, my friend." "How are you?" "We're off to hunt again, Mani." "And this time we'll do it your way." "Then knight, good news?" "The best in the world, marquis, the best in the world." "In the Gevaudan, crimes went on, but officially the beast was dead." "What really happened, is not in the history books." "It has been assured that this will be kept quiet." "Does he welcome us?" "He wants to help us." "Go to the castle, I'll come later." "What is it?" "Do you know the house of Jeanne and Pierre Roulier?" "It's straight ahead." "It's last house of the village." "This is Jeanne, my wet nurse." "Gregoire de Fronsac." "Pierre, go get the wine." "My mother checks up on me." "Maybe they already know you're back." "You family to hell." "I ll get you out of them." "I can no longer stand my mother nor Jean-François." "I want to leave far from here." "In a week I'll take you with me to Paris." "Why wait?" "I'm leaving again for hunting." "I thought you came back for me." "Marianne, go away slowly, without running." "Come closer..." "look at me." "Come over here, you." "Come here." "Come on, come here, come here." "Go away, Marianne." "What's going on here?" "Open up, Pierre." "Tell me, knight, do you really think that we'll find the beast?" "I thought we would be more." "Mani knows what he's doing, I'm hunting a man." "A man?" "The beast is only an instrument, a weapon in the hands of a sick mind." "A murderer works more discreetly." "You're right, marquis, the first mystery of the beast is its fame." "His master wants it to be talked of." "It has to frighten, do noise." "How that?" "This book was sold in the entire kingdom." "That author maintains that the beast has come to punish the King for his indulgence towards the philosophers." "Bullshit." "Who wrote that?" "I don't know, but the beast has a master and I want him." "Eventually your weapon could be useful if you wear it." "And you Mani, which one will you take?" "Mani doesn't like fireweapons." "Too much noise, too much smoke." "Bad smell." "All will go well, grandfather." "Don't worry." "We have prepared everything." "Tell about America, knight." "America?" "Will you never go back?" "I don't have only good memories of them." "And Mani, doesn't he miss his tribe?" "His tribe no longer exists." "When we attacked his village, the smallpox had wiped it out." "We had to kill the survivors, women but also children." "Only Mani survived." "How?" "My captain wanted a Mohawk translator." "I had to teach him our language." "Three weeks later I found him cutting captain's throat." "Why didn't you denounce him?" "Do you know how this man gave battles?" "He gave his scouts dirty sheets and cloths taken from Quebec hospitals." "Irokese bought them." "And three weeks later we came by." "Is that how we wage war?" "Anyway that's how we lost it." "Where did he go to?" "He went to talk to the trees." "The trees?" "Trees talk." "White men can't listen, can't see." "See what, Mani?" "Do you want to learn?" "What's that?" "An Indian seed." "At your own risk, marquis." "What does it do?" "It depends on people." "Indians claim that we see what can't be seen." "Then, Mani?" "The beast is in the forest." "The wolves will help us." "I don't see better." "Tonight we'll dance the dance of the blood." "And the beast will come to us at sunrise." "It doesn't seem to affect me..." "And that night, Mani called the spirits of the forest in a language even knight de Fronsac didn't understand." "And the wolves brought the beast back to them." "Don't worry, I'll fix that." "It'll all be fine." "I'll treat you." "I'll take care of you." "Thomas fell asleep." "It was close." "I'm sorry for the Indian." "What is located there?" "Tell me, what is that place, I need to know." "Its a domain." "A hunting ground." "Knight... you have to rest." "Hurry up, there is a fire." "There he is." "Kill them all." "The knight came back to be by Mani's body." "His revenge was far from being satisfied." "But according to the Indian custom he had to help his friend to rejoin his ancestors at sunset." "What do you want?" "There has been too much blood on those grounds." "You risk the worst if you don't leave the country now." "I don't intend to leave, I have to arrange a matter." "Is it worth your life?" "Since when do you know?" "I don't know what you are talking about." "Come on, Sardis." "How?" "How did it get so far?" "No one will believe you." "Go away, Sardis." "May God protect you." "To hell with you!" "You are under arrest." "On the ground of the power of the intendent..." "I ask you to follow us, without resisting." "That's ridiculous, lieutenant." "Chef." "There's a lady there who wants to see you." "Later." "Tonight." "Mercy." "Mercy." "Hey, get up." "You got a visitor." "I'm not in seclusion anymore?" "Depends on whom, my boy." "Sorry." "Bring some some food to your guest." "How?" "I have my people in my debt." "You must help me, I must write to the King." "You have no idea." "Even if I helped you, you would be hanged before your letter reaches him." "It can't be." "I wasn't judged yet." "Come on." "What do you know about the beast?" "It's a trained animal." "Covered with armour plating." "I wounded it." "Since when have you been interested in that?" "Two years ago a confidential letter from Sardis was delivered to the pope." "He reported the forming of a secret society with the purpose, let's say to make known and to defend by fair means, the word of the Church:" ""The Pact."" "Sardis." "He will use the beast." "The beast is a warning thrown to the King." "Take the power of God into account, or you risk the apocalypse." "The conspirators called themselves the wolves of God." "The pact works for the church?" "Sardis only works for himself." "Lights made him mad." "And Rome has no control over its organization." "And you, who do you work for?" "Those you employ me, also pay me to deny who I work for." "And you.. you know well enough." "Miss de Morangias." "To what do i owe the honour?" "How are you, Mrs countess?" "Please sit down." "And your father?" "Still on a diet?" "Ah that man loves good meat too much." "Sir intendent, you had knight de Fronsac arrested." "Yes, who would have thought that a man like him would fall so low." "He's not a brigand nor a murderer." "Really?" "Listen, knight Fronsac had probably his reasons." "Maybe those men had killed that Indian who was with him." "Mrs, it has nothing to do with it." "Even if so, a savage is not avenged with the blood of christians." "I want to pay him a visit." "That's impossible." "Very well." "We'll see what people think of that in Paris." "Marianne, you don't understand me." "Knight de Fronsac deceased last night." "Anyway, he would have been hanged." "If we think about it, he was lucky." "This man was under your responsibility." "Maybe he choked." "Unless he caught like a plague in his paillasse." "You lie." "You all lie." "Be brave, my daughter." "It is the will of God." "Father." "Marianne." "Come, i will take you back to the castle." "Miss de Morangias must have some rest." "Come on." "No." "No, leave me." "That's enough, there's nothing more you can do." "He already smells bad." "Let's bury him quick, and forget to put a name on his grave." "She threatened to warn the King, that girl." "She's dangerous." "Gregoire de Fronsac was buried that night, long before the news of his death reached Paris." "No one knew exactly what secrets the knight had taken with him to the grave." "Since a few days now, the beast hasn't killed anymore but the sudden disappearing of its most fierce opponent looked like a gloomy omen." "Hurry up." "I'm confessing, father, for I have sinned." "Forgive me." "Day and night I think of her." "I hear her heart beat in my chest continually." "I want her to be on our side, Sardis." "Lord is putting you to the test." "But you don't know what I'm bearing." "There are those images, those damned images that come to my mind all the time." "Free me, father." "Free me." "I beg you." "For the evil that consumes you, there is but one cure." "No." "Don't drink, little sister." "They want to kill you, but I will stop them." "But who, Jean-François?" "Who?" "We'll leave, Marianne." "Only you and me." "What about America?" "Jean-François." "You made me suffer, you know, but I forgive you." "Please, what are you doing?" "What are you doing?" "Stay." "Do you think I will hurt you?" "Don't come any closer, please." "Marianne, I need you." "It's you who saved me when I was ill, and no one else." "It's your face that I saw after my nightmares." "It's your hand on my forehead that chased away the demons." "You cant't realize, Marianne, what I did to keep you close to me." "So please." "Don't reject me." "Why?" "Do I disgust you?" "You don't scare me." "Get out of here." "It's because of this?" "Don't worry." "From now on, I will take care of you." "Look, no one knows that." "Only Sardis and I do." "Leave." "Get out of here." "Why?" "Why?" "You are not my brother." "It's someone else who returned from Africa." "Yes it's true, and it's because of you that I left." "Marianne, without you nothing would have ever happened." "Is this it?" "It's your smell, it's your bad smell that the beast perceived on me." "Yes." "We are of the same blood, Marianne, the same blood." "When father returns, he will kill you." "And if I kill him?" "He's been bothering us for a long time." "Go ahead." "Do it, do it." "Go on." "Why didn't you do it?" "It's not that difficult." "Look." "Stop." "So you love me?" "Stop." "Marianne, I love you." "Aggressor!" "Brothers." "The Lord has told me." "The beast will return, announcing the return of our values in the decadent kingdom and of the New France that will be be born again." "We shall be the invisible princes for God is with us." "The people haven't seen anything of the wrath of God yet." "The unjust censure of the King will clash with the terror of the population." "And when it peaks, then we'll be able to enter an agreement with the King." "If he wasn't able to subdue one beast." "Imagine, brothers, what he would be able to do if, from all provinces of the kingdom, other beasts would emerge." "The hour comes closer, where we will reap what we have sowed." "Let's read the book of Malachi:" ""The lips of a preacher will be the holders of the science and it's from his mouth that we'll come closer to the knowledge of the law for he is the angel of the Lord of the armies."" ""He who worships the beast in his image, will drink the wine of the wrath of God and will be tortured in the fire and the breath before the angels, the smoke of his tortures will raise for centuries and centuries." "I've come back to name you before God." "Pierre-Jean Laffont." "Genevieve de Morangias." "Maxime des Forets." "Gontrand de Moncan." "Henri Sardis." "Jean-François de Morangias." "Fire!" "Sons of bitches, you're all under arrest." "All ghost that you are, I will cut you in half." "You see you don't need to hold back anymore." "I didn't intend to." "Too late, Fronsac." "The beast is now immortal." "Maybe it is." "You are not." "Sardis trained you the same way you trained the beast." "And how did you know?" "You sign your crimes with a silver bullet." "Marianne, look!" "Marianne isn't here, poor madman." "You've united us forever, knight." "Line them up, men!" "Who do you think you are?" "And you over there." "Injustice!" "Look at that." "Not so pround now?" "Where are you going to, robin?" "Come on, hurry up." "What is that?" "He's dead." "Now it's certain." "And Sardis?" "Wherever he goes, we will find him." "Otherwise mountains will take care of him." "And what if we celebrate our success with dignity?" "You've already killed me once." "It was to revive you better." "I could introduce you to Rome." "You would come with me?" "Too late." "I like you, Fronsac." "You make me forget all my duties." "Leave, before I change my mind." "Marquis, what's going on?" "It's Marianne..." "I brought her home." "She's dying." "Get out." "Out!" "Everyone leaves." "Marianne, wake up." "Marianne, forgive me." "I love you." "Many years went by but Gregoire de Fronsac and Marianne de Morangias never left my memories." "The world that had created the beast, is dying and I have to hurry for my story reaches its end too." "I still see myself accompanying the knight to the secret lair of Jean-François de Morangias where the beast awaited its last hour." "The old healer told us everything he knew." "Jean-François had brought back from Africa a strange beast that gave birth." "He kept only one offspring." "The strongest." "With patience and cruelty, he had trained it to be the most vicious." "So the beast of Gevaudan died." "And I, Thomas d'Apcher am without doubt the last who knows the entire truth." "The knight asked me to follow him to Africa." "But the country had to be rebuilt." "I had duties to my people and my grounds." "I often thought of Gregoire and Marianne during all those peaceful years that lead me slowly to my old age." "I never saw them again but I enjoy thinking of them living happily, far from here."