"It is a great honour for her." "So everybody keeps telling me." " One day you'll..." "One day I'll understand." "Yes, everybody keeps saying that, too." " What are you doing here?" "Remembering." "You too are here remembering, I think." "Why did you give her to the Tripods?" "I am the champion of the Count and Eloise is beautiful." " There was no other choice." "What about her cousin?" "The one who was with you." "The one you should have chosen." "What of her?" " Did you love Eloise?" "No, but we should have been happy." "Perhaps we would have learned to love each other." "But then you arrived, Englishman." "We were in love." "What I cannot have, no one else shall have." "It was what she deserved and what you deserved also." "For you the future is good, Englishman." "For the Count's son, everything is permitted." "There will be other girls as beautiful as Eloise." "Your life will be happy and free." "Free?" "Who is free?" "(KNOCKING ON DOOR) entreat." "COUNTESS:" "Ah, Guillaume." "COUNT:" "Come in, my boy." "Sit down." "You'll take some wine?" "Thank you." "Santé." "Eloise was your only daughter?" "Yes, she is our only daughter." "We are very proud of her today." "But she's been taken away." "Yes, to serve the Tripods in their city." " What does it mean to serve them?" "Ellie, the servants here serve us." "COUNTESS:" "She was very happy." "You saw that, Will." "The Tripods do not come every year to the tournament." "It is only usual at the new year for the capping." "But you'll never see her again!" "You're surely not afraid for Eloise?" "She's gone. just as if she'd drowned." "How can you say that?" "We do not understand the Tripods and all their ways, it is true." "But they give us their trust." "They give us freedom." "We were to be married." "She was to be my wife." "I was to be a part of the family." "You still are part of us and always will be." "Be happy with us, my boy." "Tonight at dinner, you will sit at our side." "Sir, I ask permission to miss the banquet." "No." "Guillaume, you have much to learn, and it is important to begin the learning now." "The banquet, to others, our guests, it is a pleasure." "But to us, it is a duty." "A duty not to be sad." "We must set the example." "Yes, we must." "Take your horse." "Ride." "Get the wind on your face." "(BOTH SPEAKING FRENCH)" "(PLAYING SOFT MUSIC)" "(INDISTINCT CHATTERING)" "(INAUDIBLE)" "(INAUDIBLE)" "(TRIPOD SCREECHING)" "WILL:" "Steady." "Steady, boy." "(SCREAMING)" "Come on, boy." "Come on." "(SIGHS IN RELIEF)" " We thought we heard someone on a horse." "We thought you were a Black Guard." " We've seen two today." "You scared me stupid." "Well, that's not hard." "I see things are now back to normal." " We thought you weren't going to come." "I said I would." " And Eloise?" "Where is Eloise?" "Yeah." " Howell won the tournament?" "Salazar." " It's good, isn't it?" "Pity we have to leave it." "We could take turns riding the horse." "Well, three boys on foot, no questions asked." "One boy on one horse, the same." "But, three boys with one horse..." "We could sell him." "Whether we sell him or ride him, there will be questions." "Well, let's keep him for now, we'll see what happens." " Beanpole." "Hmm?" "I think a Tripod is only a sort of carriage." "No, it's a living thing." "We've seen them walking, trampling." "They have arms." "I don't think so." "I think it's..." "Well, like this boat was." "Or the carriages we saw in Paris." " What do you think it carries, then?" "WILL:" "I don't know." "You mean that each Tripod has a driver?" "Of flesh and blood?" "Of human flesh and blood?" "If a Tripod attacked somebody, took him inside, why would it let him go?" " Ellie, they'd be capped." "No." "You mean you know someone who's been inside a Tripod?" " Howell?" "Me." " You're making it up." "I wish I was." "I was riding away from the chateau and this Tripod almost stepped on me." "It grabbed me." "I felt winded and shocked, I remember that." "And I remember seeing the panel underneath slide open." "Just for a moment, I thought I saw a shape." " Did you see inside?" "If I did, I can't remember." "I woke up on the ground." "It had been dark and now it was sunny." "I felt sort of dazed." "Well, I bet the horse threw you and you hit your head." "No, I don't..." "I just don't know." "BEANPOLE:" "What you say is not impossible, Will." "It had not occurred to me that perhaps humans drive the Tripods." "Anyway, we shall talk of it in the morning." "You should sleep." "Okay." "It's always the same distance, from bank to bank." " It doesn't wind like an ordinary river." "No, men have made this." "You think everything out of the ordinary is made by men." " You can't make a river." "It is a type of them DE fer." "All right." "If it is a them DE fer, where are the stations?" "What is it?" "It's not a thing." "It's a city." " The City of Gold." "How do you know this, Will?" " The city of the Tripods." "No wonder we've heard so many." "You asked me where Eloise is." "Eloise is there." "She was capped all the time." "I never guessed." "She looked so young." "And Salazar chose her to serve the Tripods." "The Count's champion has that choice." "It was a great honour." "That's what they all told me." "Eloise said that, too." "And now she serves them there in their city." "I shall go there one day." "And I shall bring her back." "One day." "Don't you believe me?" " Yes, Will." "We believe you." "(TRIPOD SCREECHING)" " That was close." "Still is." "Why is it attacking us?" " We could be capped already." "We've been followed for several days." "Why not attack before?" "Maybe it wants to know what we're doing." "Well, it can't follow us if it can't see us." "BEANPOLE:" "Henry!" "Come on help." "We can escape through the smoke." " I'm not sure." "Oh, have you got a better idea?" "(TRIPOD SCREECHING)" " What is it?" "Water, I think." "I don't know." "Come on, come on." "We should be safe in here." "For a while at least." "There's no way a Tripod can follow us in here." "If it's the same Tripod, the one that's been following us, why hasn't it taken us before now?" "Maybe it wants to know what we'll do or where we'll go." "So, what are we going to do?" " Lillian?" "What?" "Will, is there something wrong?" "There's a... thing in my side." "I don't know what it is." "It goes into the skin as a cap does." "It is the same metal." "How long has it been there?" "Since the Tripod took me from my horse." "And you never told us?" "The Tripod tracks us with this button as a hunting dog follows the scent." "The Tripod caught you going from the chateau in haste, at a strange hour when everybody slept." "I mean, maybe it was curious." "Maybe it wanted to know what you would do or where you'd go." "So?" " What are we going to do?" "Ellie, before anything is done we must think carefully, all three of us." "He's had that thing planted in him now for days." "He's one of them now." "He's been sending them messages with his mind." " They must know everything." "Be calm, Henry." "Would Will have told us that a Tripod had caught him and released him if he were now their servant?" "Anyway, the button's small." "It's not like the capping, not near the brain." "If we separate and I take a different way from you two, the Tripod'll go on following me, you'll be all right." " A different way?" "Where?" "To the White Mountains." "Don't you understand?" "You'll still lead them there." "That's what the Tripods want." "Henry's perhaps right, Will." "All right, then I won't go there." "I'll double back." " Where?" "Somewhere." " And be caught and be capped?" "I'll take the horse." "The Tripod'll have to catch me first." "The Tripod caught you before, even with your horse." "The Tripod will catch you." " I can head it away, at least." "You and that girl!" "You should have left the chateau with us or stayed there forever." "This is bad luck, Will, no more than that." "We shall think of something." "Beanpole?" "Look, I'll stay in here." "You and Henry can get away when it's dark." "They can't get to me here unless they dig me out." "By then you'll be with the Free Men." " And you, Will?" "I'll be free too, in a way." "They really want to stop me, Beanpole." "The way this Tripod's been following us." "Free Men must give much trouble to the Tripods." "The Tripods would do a lot to find out about them." " That's right." "HENRY:" "Beanpole, come here." "I would prefer it if you went quite soon." "Will, this thing under your arm." "It is small." "I don't believe it goes far into your flesh." "It's clear of the big vein." " But it would hurt if we cut it out." "Not me." "We haven't got a knife sharp enough." " Do you think you can?" "You must make the decision." "I'm not doing anything." "Anyway, that knife should be boiled or burned first." "Henry, I shall be as quick as I can but you must hold Will's arm steady for me." "I can't." "I can't do it, Beanpole." "Will..." "I'm going to explore the tunnel." "I'll try and hold steady for you, Beanpole." "I'll be as quick as I can." "Find something to bite on." "Do you wish to study this?" "Throw it away." "Henry?" "I found this on the way through this hill." "There is a metal door at the other end." "People have been there." "A sort of storeroom full of bottles." "And there's a house in a valley with vines, but I didn't see anyone." "Is it far?" "No." "We can help you." "Are you all right, Will?" "Where's the button?" "We must throw that away." "I've had an idea." "Very good." " Now." "Come on, boy." "(GIRL SINGING IN FRENCH)" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "Say we're sorry, Beanpole." "Tell them we can pay for some food." "Tell them we don't mean to scare them." "It would take a great deal more to scare me and my girls than three despondent young tramps and one of them injured." "Please." "Our friend, he's badly hurt." "I have eyes in my head." "Shelagh, would you go heat the water in the outhouse?" "(RESPONDS IN FRENCH)" "Kirsty, make up the big bed in your room and then carry in the mattress from the room at the inn." "Make that one up also." "Fiona, fetch me here the medicine box then lend a hand to Kirsty with the beds." "The table, Helen." "We're late as it is." "You'll need three extra places." "No..." "Two extra, lay the third on a tray." "Jeannie, your father at once, please." "He'll be in the vineyard." "Lucy, you shall help Helen with the table." "And listen, your English is in sad need of improvement." "From this moment we must all speak in English." " Oui, Maman." ""Oui, Marnan," indeed." " Yes, Maman." ""Yes, Mother."" "Now set your friend here in this chair by the fire." "And then the two of you must use the pump outside." "Your hands and faces are a disgrace." "There'll be hot bath water after supper." "(SPEAKING FRENCH) 1 understand, madame." "Et merci." "Thank you." "The pump, if you please." "Y o u a r e blessé our'?" ""Hurt", Lucy. "Blessé"is "hurt"." "You are hurt." "Yes." "Papa!" "Papa, viens!" "Fresh water, hot food and a bed." "I can't wait." "HENRY:" "And I've never seen so many girls." "(GIGGLING)" "(SLURPING)" "(MONSIEUR VICHOT MUTTERS IN FRENCH)" "Lucy?" "Max's I'm taking bread to Monsieur Will." "My unfortunate husband has never mastered the English tongue in spite of my best endeavours." "All of my girls are, of course, bilingual." "More or less." "Where do you come from?" "Please." "Have you never heard the Scots accent before?" "No." "You have heard of Scotland, I suppose." "(GIRLS GIGGLE)" " In school." "Mother was a girl in Leith." "Do you know Leith?" "It's in Scotland." "Mother's father was a trader with a ship." " Mother's father..." "MADAME VICHOT:" "Your grandfather, dear." "My grandfather brought skins and cloth to France." " And whisky." "Do you know what whisky is?" " No." "HELEN:" "Never mind." "And he'd sell all that and buy wine to take home to Scotland to sell there." "Mother used to come to France with him when she was a girl." " Oh, not only France." "Mother's been everywhere." "More years ago than I care to recall," "I met a dashing young Frenchman whose family had a small farm and winery here in urethra." " He was tall and strong." "And very handsome." "Simply swept her off her feet." "(MONSIEUR VICHOT PROTESTING IN FRENCH)" "Now it's myself who does any sweeping that has to be done, eh?" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "You'll stay a while, I hope." "Your friend here shouldn't travel for three or four days." " And you'll do us a favour by staying." "How, madame?" "Well, not only would it improve my girls' English, and convince them that it is a language actually spoken by real flesh and blood, but we have a grape harvest to gather." "And, well, two and a half extra pairs of hands would be a great help." "And of course, with the six girls to marry off and only the one of them spoken for..." "Well, Vichot and I, we're not anxious to let any good prospects slip away through our fingers." "(CLEARS THROAT)" "Some more wine for me please, Fiona." "(MADAME VICHOT LAUGHING)" "We'll stay and help any way we can." "(HUMMING)" "No." "Like this." "Perhaps there is a better way." "I will find it." "(GROANING)" "Do you see anything, Will?" " No." "That's what I said." "The Tripods don't come this side of the hill." " How do you know?" "I asked Kirsty." " You asked her what?" "I asked her whether Tripods came here." "Well, that was stupid." "We agreed, we've got to be careful." "If they were gonna give us away they would have done so by now." "Don't you ever learn?" "We can't trust anybody." "Willis right." "We must show caution." "Well, what did she say?" "Your great friend." "She said no, and she's not my great friend." "WILL:" "Not much." "You two argued about a girl once before." "It was bad then and it's bad now." "If we can trust them so perfectly, what have they done with our things?" "They took everything." "You saw yourself." "They were washing our clothes." " And the rest?" "Those metal eggs, they were dangerous." "Don't tell me!" "I know!" "Tell him!" " You're just jealous!" "I've got nothing to be..." "Please, leave this." "And keep your voices quiet." "What's this?" "HENRY:" "It's a night shirt." "It's a dress." "I do not wear a dress." "I'm too tired to care what I wear." "Will you listen?" "What are we going to do about the rest of the equipment they took?" "Listen, I told you." "(SHUSHING)" "(BEANPOLE SPEAKING FRENCH)" "We have brushed the mud away and mended the bags." "There are things we've not seen before." "But we were careful." " You're tired, Henry?" "Yes." "(BOTH SPEAKING FRENCH)" "We work again early tomorrow." " Sleep well." "SHELAGH:" "Sleep good." " Sleep well." "SHELAGH:" "Sleep well." " Come." "Bonsoir." " Good night." "Good night." "They've even ironed the maps." "Is everything there, Will?" " Yes." "I told you." "Don't forget the City of Gold is very close." "It's dangerous." " That's all." "I want to say something." "We've all had a rough time." "Perhaps you've had the worst." "You've actually been caught by a Tripod." " Don't blame me..." "Listen." "I know there's danger wherever we go, but we can trust this family." "You've seen that." "We're getting to the end of the journey now but the hardest part may still be ahead." "Go on, Henry." "I think we should stay here." "(EXCLAIMING)" "Yes, then we can rest and be strong." "And when we set out again, the Tripods would've stopped looking for us." "If we spend the winter here." " The winter?" "The whole winter?" "Yes." "Then we can be really fit and ready for the last part." " Beanpole?" "There is some sense in what Henry says." "It's Kirsty." "That's all he cares about." " Oh, don't be stupid." "Deny it, then." "There'll be no more talk tonight." "We're all tired." "We shall think of Henry's suggestion, and we shall watch for danger." "But first we shall get to know this family better." "Then we shall talk of this subject again." "(CHUCKLING) Yes, Grandma." "(LAUGHING)" "I can see nothing of amusement." "(WILL AND HENRY LAUGHING)" "At last." "One is ready." " Good, Henry." "Yes?" "Hmm." "Come." " Come where?" "It is our task." " What is?" "Shoes, Henry." "Your trousers." "What?" "The others will soon be here with more grapes." " What are you doing?" "Come on." "(GROANING)" "Oh, it tickles." "(SINGING IN FRENCH)" "Oh, you've some colour back in your cheeks." "Oh, it's the rest and your food." "Why don't you take a walk up to the vineyard this afternoon?" "I don't doubt Lucy will give you a guided tour." " Yes, I will." "Thank you." "Would you care for a bath tonight?" "I think that arm of yours could stand some hot soapy water." " So could the rest of you." "Yes, please." "Oh." "You'll see jeannie's young man this evening." "He's coming over to meet you." "You'll like him." "What's the matter with you?" "Nothing." "The opposite." "I had a big tear here." "Or here." "I don't know." " Et voila'!" " Me, too." " They're really treating us well." "And they ask no questions." "They like us." "It's good, very good." "Well, at least we can help them out gathering the grapes." " Lillian?" "It's been a good day." "I have an idea for gathering the grapes off the tree." " The vine." "The vine, yes." " I shall invent a machine." "Poor grapes." "Well, it's good to have our own clothes back again, yes?" " What did you do today, Will?" "Oh..." "Talked a lot with Madame Vichot, went for a walk." "(MUSIC PLAYING)" "hardhat's that?" "It's a sort of an organ." "Monsieur Vichot makes music with it." "He's really good." " Ellie, me, I shall enjoy tonight." "Me too." "Come on." "What's the trouble, Will?" " Nothing." "I'm ready, are you?" "Yes." "Let's go down, then." "Maybe Henry was right." "Maybe we should stay." "I mean, they treat us well and like us." "My arm's probably not perfect yet." " I'm sorry." "It's just that I..." "jeannie's boyfriend's coming round." " Sensationnel!" "Come on." "Let's go and enjoy ourselves." "LUCY:" "Monsieur WI ll." "(ALL CHATTERING)" "(ALL CHATTERING)" "(MUSIC STOPS)" " It is jeannie's fiancé." "Betrothed." "We use the same word, "fiancé"." "(MUSIC STARTS AGAIN)" "Yes, yes, yes." "We'll be eating in a minute." "I hope you're all very hungry." "JEANNIE:" "This is Daniel." "We're to be married." "He does not speak English." " Bonsoir." "ALL:" "Bonsai)", Daniel." "(SINGING IN FRENCH)" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "What did he say?" "He says you're good and strong." "He said you were strong, anyway." "(LAUGHING)" "I know it's already September and winter'll soon be here, but it's good to stop and have some fun." "We deserve it." "Think of all those times we passed near a town or a village and we dared not enter." "Think how greatly you wished to be safe, among friends once more." "Safe?" "But you saw the Tripods going to the city." "You hear them all the time, even here." "It's going to be hard, really hard, the last part." "BEANPOLE:" "We shall do it." "In winter." "Look, I know why you both like it here." "I don't blame you." "It's just that..." "Don't blame us for Eloise, Will." "HENRY:" "You said yourself, the winter's coming and the last part's going to be the toughest." "We've a good way to climb yet before we reach the White Mountains." "Oh, madame." "I have something to show you." "Come with me." "Oh, we were making up stories..." "Come." "MADAME VICHOT:" "I have travelled." "Before I was your age, I had seen six countries." "I started to make a collection, to remind me of other times, other places." "I've never seen such things." "I'm grateful to a father who taught me my jackdaw ways, because it means I've been able to show my children some of the wonders" "I was fortunate enough to see." "Some things, unfortunately, I've not been able to show." "From that strange box and those black plates, there came music once." "(ALL EXCLAIMING)" "But not everything survived our long journeys." "That's amazing." "Why do you show us all this?" "And how?" "If you've been..." "Look, I..." "I think we should make ourselves comfortable." "How and why?" "You know, I often wonder." "You see, I'm some kind of vagrant..." "Huh?" "...whose capping finally contented me with life in this quiet heart of France, a gentle husband and our six daughters." "But it never completely quenched my instinct for learning or my curiosity." "And you may use this room whenever you wish." "Thank you." "Merci, madame." "But I have a question now." "Jean-Paul here is French, but he's many kilometres from home." "And you, Henry and Will, now, what reason would you have for crossing a sea and a foreign land to invade our vineyard?" "Oh, I've been honest with you." "You know why." "Well, you must have heard us in our room." "We're trying to get to the White Mountains, Madam Vichot." "If by that you mean what we call the Alps, for they are indeed white mountains," "do you not know that they cover a great distance?" "That they stretch across four countries?" "France, Switzerland, Italy and Austria." "Did you not know that?" "No." "Do you perhaps mean [e Mont Blanc?" "Le Mont Blanc?" ""The white mountain"!" "MADAME VICHOT" " Mmm-hmm." "And it is..." "It's here." "Of course, I remember now!" "It was what Ozymandias had said to me, the White Mountain." "(SINGING IN FRENCH)" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "It's like running 20 kilometres." "When your journey is over and done, whatever it is, would you not come back?" "We all hoped you'd stay for the winter." "It's a hard time." "Extra hands would be welcome." "And we'd be together." "Kirsty, would you believe I've never been so happy?" "What is so important that it takes you away, then?" "Kirsty." "Mother told us to ask no questions." "When shall you go?" "Kirsty, if you didn't want..." "I mean..." "If you really don't want to be apart from me, and I don't want to leave you, but..." "Perhaps if Beanpole and Will agree, do you..." "You've seen how we are, Henry." "I love my home, and I'm needed here." "(GONG RINGING)" "I'm hungry." "(ALL CHATTERING)" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "What does he want?" "Answers." "What's he going to ask?" "How should I know?" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "Oh, for some inscrutable reason, Daniel finds it unbelievable that you don't travel weighed down by a hundredweight of official forms." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "(BIDDING FAREWELL IN FRENCH)" "Well, I expect you understood most of that." "I didn't." "Oh, we have no license to travel, no license to stay." "And you and I should be registered as foreign visitors." "Daniel can't imagine how your legs'll function without the papers." "We should go." "We don't want to cause any trouble for you." "Oh, Daniel's no trouble, Will." "He'd half expect unexplained young travelers to turn up at the vineyard of a foreign eccentric like myself." "But Daniel has superiors." "He's bringing more forms for us to sign the day after tomorrow." "But tomorrow we finish the grape-picking, and nothing's going to spoil that, eh?" "We've got to leave." "I can't explain, Helen." "We must leave." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "You can change your mind, you know." "You wish to make a grand journey before you're capped." "I understand." "My mother tells us it was so with her." "But when your plan is achieved, you will return to us on your way home, yes?" "I know it will be so." "We have little time now." "Oui." "Then let us lose none." "Don't you like me, Will?" "Of course I do." "I like you all." "I wish you would not go away when the grapes are picked." "Do you think I'm pretty, Will?" "Prettier than any other girl in France?" "(MADAME VICHOT SPEAKING FRENCH)" "(SHELAGH SOBBING)" "Are you perhaps homesick or missing somebody?" "I'm famous in this family for keeping secrets." "A girl I, uh, met." "What would her name be?" "Eloise." "What happened?" "Eloise had a family, too, a good family and home." "They wanted me to stay." "What happened?" "She was taken to serve the Tripods." " In their city?" "Yes." "I know, it's the greatest honour, and I'm not capped so I don't understand." "Very well." "If you've been in love, you'll know that love can hurt, yes?" "So how do you think my poor Shelagh feels, huh?" "Have you no eyes in your head?" "She dotes on you, man." "I know, and I'm sorry." "I just can't help it." "It's not undying love they're asking." "It's just a little consideration and kindness." "But because you've been hurt, you throw it all back in their faces." "Now, is this how your Eloise would have wanted you to behave?" "No." "Will, you remember the works of art I showed you in the attic?" "We talk of loving, but there are two loves, the love for one person and the love for mankind." "Without the one, the other is nothing." "The one is private and tender, but the other links us to the world itself." "All of those wonders were made with love." "Love should build up, not destroy." "With love and courage, mankind is capable of anything." "Madame Vichot, you..." "You told us you were capped." "Well, so I am." "I've already told you that I am perhaps some kind of vagrant whose capping never wholly succeeded." "Sometimes I dream, Will." "I dream of that time before the Tripods, when men and women were masters of their fate." "And then there are regrets." "I come and I look at my treasures." "Oh, that mankind could have made such things." "But we live in the real world, and the real world is a world of capping and acceptance." "My girls will be capped." "Jeannie is already." "They will lose their sense of wonder." "But there will be gains." "Peace of mind." "Do not underestimate the gift of peace of mind, Will." "I shall never have that entirely." "(ACCORDION PLAYING)" "(ALL CHEERING)" "(SIGHING)" "(ALL CHATTING)" "Helen's made a cake." "(ALL CHEERING)" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "(MUSIC PLAYING)" " Beanpole can mend anything." "He's a genius!" "So's Helen." "(LAUGHING)" " Monsieur Henry Parker." "Merci." " Monsieur Will Parker." "Merci." " Et Monsieur jean-Paul Deliet." "Merci." "All men must take their separate ways." "And though these partings grieve us, the memory of your friendship stays, and this will never leave us." "We wish you joy, we wish you health, pray in your hearts receive us." "Good fellowship is more than wealth, and that will never leave us." "Hey, that looks really good, really warm." "It is, yeah." "Hey, look." "Someone's given me new boots." "Me, too!" "And this." "It's the route to Mont Blanc." "Come on." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "Au revoir, Will." "Thank you." " Good-bye, WI ll." "Thank you." "Safe journey." " Take care." "You, too." "Thank you for your help." "Thank you for everything." "I hope you find what you're looking for." "I think you should go now." "My husband will set you on your way." "Good luck." "Safe traveling." "Remember us." "There is no choice." "We must cross the water." " Why isn't there a bridge?" "You're getting soft." "I'm getting tired." "Tired of walking." " walking and walking and walking..." "There is no bridge." " How far have we come?" "This morning." "Ten kilometres, maybe 12." "I wish we still had that cart." " Not as easy as it looks." "That is true." "Where shall we cross?" "If we follow the river a bit, it should be easier downstream." "We'll need to get some more food." "I'm starving." " You're never anything else." "I'm getting thin." "We'll need to stock up as soon as we can." "Henry's right." "The closer we get to the White Mountain, the harder it will be to find food." "Come on." "Hurry UP" "I'm going blue." "Come on, then, Beanpole." "You'll be sorry." "Your clothes will get soaked." "Come on, Beanpole, I can't stand much more of this." "(LAUGHING)" " There's nothing funny I can see." "Oh, no, Beanpole." " Of course not, Beanpole." "Excellent drying wind." " It has made me very hungry." "Me, too." "And we've no food." "BEANPOLE:" "This bridge, Fest magnifique, eh?" "WILL:" "For the them DE fer?" "BEANPOLE:" "I think so, yes." "WILL:" "Our ancestors were great builders." "BEANPOLE:" "Everywhere we see their works." "One day, perhaps..." "One day we shall build like them again." "Where do you think we are now?" "Well?" " I cannot say." "There must be a village soon." " We need food." "This map shows only the big towns." "There is not one near." "Well, I say we stop at the next village we come to." "Never mind the risk, ask for something to eat." " Ellie, Beanpole?" "I agree." "We badly need food." " Ellie, I don't like it." "We've seen no Tripods." "Run for it." "No." "We are seen." "Stay calm." "Whoa." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "Say nothing." "(BELL TOLLING)" " Hey, listen." "I don't like the sound of that bell." "At home they used to ring the bell like that, on capping day." "Come on, let's get off." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "(GREETING IN FRENCH)" "Whoa." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" " Is it safe?" "We have no choice." "Say nothing." " Some sort of festival?" "Look at all that food." "What's happening over there?" "Come on." "I think they pay their taxes." "Something like that." "Well, nobody's taking much notice of us." "That's one good thing." "We don't look a lot different from them." "Will, if you must speak, it will be in French." " Yeah." "And, Henry, you must stay silent." "Don't worry about that." "If someone asks us, we're travelers, come to visit their féte." " Festival?" "Yes." " It's too risky." "Yes, but we need food." "You're both right." "Wait here." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "This way." "(DOG BARKING)" "Beanpole." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "(DOG BARKING)" "(VILLAGERS SHOUTING)" "This way." "They're not coming in." "Are you all right, Beanpole?" "We'd better get further in." "Come on." "Let's go." "(VAGRANTS SNARLING)" "Vagrants!" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "(SHOUTING IN FRENCH)" "Are you all right?" "They're quite mad." "I've never seen people like this." "We must think carefully how to escape." "(GASPING)" " Henry, can you run?" "I don't know." "I think so." "The longer we're here, the more dangerous it becomes." "If we don't make it the first time we're going to be in trouble." "We're in trouble now." "We have our brains, our wits." "These people do not." "When we go, we shall go between the shelter and the fire." "The way we came." " How will we know when?" "I will say." "First we must perform like they do." "Do as I do." "(GRUNTING)" "(GRUNTING)" "My name is Ozymandias." "I am king of kings, look at my words." "I'll despair, despair, despair, despair!" "Despair, despair, despair!" "(GROANS)" "(ALL MOANING)" "Now, slowly, the way we came." "Henry?" "(CLUCKING)" "(GRUNTING)" " What does he want?" "I do not know." "Now." "(SHOUTING)" "(BARKING)" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "(BELL TOLLING)" "5 'i!" "vous plait"t." "M Eric." "5 'i!" "vous pita"t." "M Eric." "5 'i!" "vous pita"t." "M Eric." "(WHISPERING IN FRENCH)" "You should eat." "You wish I speak in English, which all three boys can understand?" "If you wish to prefer, I speak in French." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "English, if you please, monsieur." "We have talked much of you." "It is very good that you speak only the truth." "It is not usually what you say." "And the gentlemen do not remember such travelers all their lives." "You see, you'll be famous." "The English boys who meet the French boy to travel and adventure, and come here to our small village on our day of feast." " We have talked much." "What will happen, please?" "When there is no cap in the head, no capping, then the thought in the head is strange, of travel and adventure, and this is no crime." "We are civilised." "But civilised people do not steal." "Stealing is a great crime." "Besides, our festival is spoilt." "There is much anger in the village." "But there's been punishment already." "I think so." "Wise men go not into the forest, to the... (SPEAKING FRENCH)" "I do not know the word." " Vagabonds, vagrants." "I think so, yes." " But what will happen?" "Tomorrow, you must come for trial." "It is our law, and the people wish it." "Everything will be well done." "There will be speaking for you, as well as against." "If you are found in fault, you will be put in the cap." "You are all very old to be without capping." "When?" "When will we be capped?" "If you are in fault, tomorrow." "(BELL TOLLING)" "If they send for a Tripod, when do you think it would get here?" "Must be soon." "We cannot be far from the Tripod city." "And when it arrives, we're as good as capped." "We can't fight a whole village as well." "Oh, be calm." "We've been in such danger before." "Never like this." " If we're capped..." "We're not capped yet." "No, but if we are, will the Tripods know everything?" "About the Free Men, Ozymandias and..." "well, everything?" "And we're so close to the White Mountain." "We must keep to the story we agreed." "Boys, here is Monsieur Dubois." "He will speak in your behalf." "I present also Monsieur Neyrand." "Monsieur Neyrand will speak for the village." "We are chosen for we speak English a little." " To the leader, the..." "The mayor." " The mayor and [as Ann/ens?" "The council." "To them there will be translation in our language." "You see, boys, we do everything well." "Monsieur, if a Tripod has been sent for, and you say we are of the age for capping, then what is the point in such a trial?" "It is our custom." "A wrong has been done." "A decision must be taken so all is made well." "(BANGING GAVEL)" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "Well, we had been traveling for a long time." "We wanted to see many other lands and customs before we were capped." "In England and in parts of France, where my cousin and I met jean-Paul, young people are capped only when they've made a journey and visited other places." "Three days ago, we heard about your festival and decided to come here." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "(DOOR OPENING)" " Daniel." "hardhat's he doing here?" "I don't know." "(WHISPERING)" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "Come, boys." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "You have not told us the truth." "You are subversives." "My colleague tells me he has followed you in the hope of discovering your contacts." "Only your arrest here has prevented him." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "My colleague tells me a good family gave you shelter, and you betrayed their trust." "He insists you return to his headquarters for questioning by his superiors." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "It is agreed." "The custom of capping so late, if what you say is true, is wrong." "That much is clear." "You were misguided." "When you're capped, you'll understand." "Talk to him, Beanpole." "Ask him if all this is true." "Hey, Daniel." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "It's no use." "I reminded him that we were friends." "He must have known all the time about the White Mountain." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "This is all my fault." "Now's our chance." "I could perhaps reach him." "My arms are Long." "You couldn't hold him if he struggled." " He'd do that, all right." "Mmm." "Anyway, he's our friend." "We can't just go and..." "Henry, that belt that Kirsty made for you." " Yes?" "Take it off, slowly." "Around his neck." "If I can pull him back." "He's jeannie's boyfriend." "They're going to get married." "It's him or us." "One of you must use this belt." "Go on, go on!" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "Henry." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "(GRUNTING)" "Come, Henry." "Come on." " Two more days only." "Hmm?" "I think in two more days, we will discover the Free Men." " Let's hope so." "And if we don't?" "What do you mean?" "Well, in two more days, it could just turn out to be a wild goose chase." " Goose chase?" "He means a waste of time." "Oh, no." "Never." "For my part, I've learned much." "Do you think Ozymandias just travelled to England for fun?" "There must have been thousands of uncapped boys living closer to the White Mountain." "Why go to England in the first place?" "Why choose us?" "I don't know." "The Tripods know where we're going and why," "and they don't like it." "Maybe." "Look, the Free Men exist, all right." "Hundreds of them, probably thousands." "There'll be men and women and young people like us from all parts of Europe, with different ways and languages." "They'll be organised, with plans to fight the Tripods, maybe even weapons." "But not one of them will be capped." "That we'll all have in common." "For me, it will be an exciting moment meeting them." "And for me." "For me, too." "If it ever happens." "Anything?" "HENRY:" "Nothing." "This way." "This place is creepy." "I hate the cold." "How do we get out of this?" "Through there." " You all right?" "Yes." "Come on." "Let's go." " Are you sure?" "Yes." "Don't fuss." "Hey, look." "Rails." "Lines of iron." " A them DE fer." "just like you wanted." "Oh, well, not exactly." "Hey, look." "Come on, Beanpole." "Get on." "Come on." "Come on." "Faster." "Come on." "(EXCLAIMING)" "(LAUGHING)" "Oh, no." "Shut up." "We'll have to wait." " How long?" "One hour." "We will wait one hour." "If it hasn't moved then, we shall make a plan." "Henry." "I think we should wait more." "Well, how long?" "I'm freezing." "I don't know." "Until it goes away." "It could be days." "Will?" "I don't know." "Maybe we could get past it, along the gully." "No, that's too dangerous." "What do you think, Beanpole?" "I think we can destruct it." " You mean destroy it?" "Destroy it." "Yes." "I have made a plan." "First we must find out if it is alone." "One of us must climb out to look out of the gully." "Like a fat man, the Tripod cannot see his feet." "HENRY:" "Go on, Beanpole." "Pull." "HENRY:" "Pull." "Three, four, five, six." " Yeah!" "Yeah!" "(WILL AND HENRY CHEERING)" " Yeah!" "We did it!" "Come on, come on!" "Quickly!" "Will, Henry, we must leave now." "The others may have heard the signal." "Leave everything." "There's no time." "Come on!" "You've killed it, Henry." "It's dead, you've killed it." "Yes!" "Will." "Will, I think I saw something in the Tripod." " A face?" "Yes." "They carry people." "(TRIPOD TRUMPETING)" "They're not coming." "Yet." "I think they go to the destructed Tripod." "We killed one." "Well, you did, Henry." "You saved us, Henry." "Yes." "I suppose I did." "WILL:" "Let's go." "BEANPOLE:" "Yes." "They'll find the destructed Tripod." "That will make them more dangerous." " Which way?" "There's only one way now." " The White Mountain." "We need no map." "Come on." "We should have taken our things when we killed the Tripod." "There was no time." " What is it?" "Tripod." "Wake Will." "WI ll." "WI ll, Tripod." "(TRIPOD TRUMPETING)" " No, stay here." "They can see us in here." "At least here we have some shelter." "He's right, Will." "We must try at staying put." "(SCREAMING)" "Gone." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "What's he saying?" "There are no Free Men." " What?" "It's a fable, a fairy story." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "Be ready." "There might be a chance." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "Yes." "I think two English, and one French." "It is not important." "But who are you?" "Why are you here?" "Three replies are possible." "You come by accident, you are sent by Tripods, or you are sent for a reason that only you know." "Speak, you." "You?" "I think you're sent." "But who sends you?" "Tripods?" "That is good." "There is a small group of bandits and vagrants in the mountains." "Some believe them to be Free Men." "The Tripods send false recruits to join them and to discover their plans." "You are of these?" "It is not unknown for Tripods to take away memory of being conditioned in this way." "Whatever the truth, we shall discover it." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "If you wish to speak to us, call through the door." "I'll not trust any of them." "Bandits!" "Do you think they meant the Free Men?" "There aren't any Free Men." "You heard what he said." " They only call them bandits..." "Grow up, Will." "It's over." "It's a long way to come to be capped." "He said there were three possible replies we could give him, yes?" "I think we should give him one, perhaps." " What?" "The old story." "The one about our adventure before capping." "It succeed ed before." "In England, it is a custom to undertake a journey." "An adventure." " The greater the journey..." "The more our families are pleased." "We heard of great mountains in the south." "Jean-Paul told us." "They've never seen such mountains." "There are none in England." "Now we've seen them." "And we're going to start for home again, tomorrow." "You will speak all of this adventure." "Now." "Well, it began in Wharton, where I was born." "My friend jack, jack was going to be capped..." "We hid on the boat." "There were other boys there." "They weren't capped, either." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "Beanpole called it a them DE fer." "It was a machine." "A steam machine, to pull carts." "I don't know how many lived there, at the time." "There must have been 200." "In October we picked grapes, and made wine in urethra." "And when I caught them up, I found this button placed under my arm." "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "The Tripods attacked us." "Then you found us in the rocks." "That's all." "Hey!" "I see nothing." "I see nothing." "We must know three things." "Where, precisely, where was the Tripod which gave the button?" "Precisely what were the instructions you were given?" "I don't know." "I can't remember." "And about what you call the Free Men." "What was the information..." " I don't know." "...you went to collect?" "Think, think hard, and you may see your Eloise again." "That would be worth a little thought, yes?" "Believe me, such things can be arranged." "You must take this." "I'm sorry." "In your answers, I hear you say you helped make wine." "The other side of the lake?" "The best wine of France, I think." "You know that part of France?" " I'm of that part." "The Jura?" "Do you not also know that when the cap is put in place, often blindness or deafness are cured at once?" " I do not believe it." "You do not wish to believe it." "A stubborn mind prefers its fantasies." "Why should I believe anything you say?" "Why should I even believe you're Black Guards?" "You demand the truth from me." "Why should I believe you?" "(SPEAKING FRENCH)" "I'll only answer one question." "The question will decide..." "Are there Free Men in these mountains?" "Men who come together to fight the Tripods?" "Why should men fight Tripods?" "The Tripods are our friends." "There are bandits, yes, and vagrants." "I do not understand the question." "How can I answer?" "You are of no importance, you simply waste our time." "We know you were not sent by Tripods, so you lie because you're afraid." "Well, others have babbled of Free Men, of safe ships across the sea, of help and assistance during a journey." "To you, I offer this." "If you tell what you know, this girl, this Eloise who serves the Tripods, she can be found." "She is capped, of course, but so will you be, soon." "You can live together." "You can return to the chateau." "If not, this picture shall be given to the Tripods." "I promise you will see your Eloise again." "But dead or alive, that is your choice." "To you, I offer these snuffles." "Without them, you can see little." "A man who sees little is useless and his life is short." "If you tell nothing, the Tripods will make you a vagrant." "A man who makes such as these would be totally wasted with a destroyed brain." "Now, you can be of use." "You will be capped." "The capping will be successful." "You will be one of us, a Guard." "In that way you can serve your fellow man." "The telling will begin now." "There will be food, drink and sleep when it is finished." "Vagrant?" "What vagrant?" "You come this way, all this way, on the word of a vagrant?" "Stupid!" "You're a stupid country boy." "Your fool of a cousin tells you to leave home and you obey." "You meet a French boy you have never seen before and you take his word." "Like this vagrant." "What's his name?" " His name." "Oz." " Ozymandias." "Ozymandias." "Always the stupid fellow." "Afraid of capping." "Afraid of Black Guards." "Young, afraid, and a coward." "Yes, coward." "Daniel Montagnon." "Three of you, against a young man who was once your friend." "Stupid, useless and a coward." "I'm not!" "I killed a Tripod." "Me!" "Nobody else." "Me!" "And I'll do it again, and again, and again, and again, and again." " The destruction of the Tripod..." "It was my idea." "They had been following us for weeks." "We are happy to know it is smashed." "There is one gap, in jura." " You were there several days..." "Urethra is large." "Your Tripod masters cannot kill everyone there." " You were helped!" "Even if they are aided by filth like you." "You will regret your words." "It is probable." "Where did you learn to speak French?" " At the chateau." "Why?" "They wanted me to stay and marry Eloise." "That's ridiculous." "Stupid country boy, not even of their nation?" " Where is the chateau?" "I've told you." "Tell me again." "It is not exact." "We shall not find it." "Leave them alone." "Don't find them." "They gave you shelter." "They gave you help." "They liked me." "Don't you understand?" "They just liked me." "So you stole a horse, clothes, food, maps?" "It wasn't like that." "Which chateau?" "Which count?" "I said leave them alone." "They didn't know." "Know what?" "That I was coming here to join the..." "Free Men." "At last, we have it." "Others like us will still come." " Why?" "To rid the world of Tripods." "You may have us, but others will still come!" "Hundreds, thousands, as many as it takes." "You tried to make us betray the Free Men, then you've as good as told us they exist." "Why all this if they don't?" "But it's you that betray." "You betray all people by serving the Tripods." "Things will change." "You wait and see." "They will." "You will never get what you want from me." "Never!" "I will never be capped." "Never!" "It'll take the four of you to get me to that Tripod!" "I believe it." "Well done." "Ozymandias!" ""Will Parker is hot-headed and impetuous."" "That's what the report says." "I saw you killed." "You saw me act unconscious." "I told you it'd be difficult." "Will?" "Will?" " Henry, it's Ozymandias." "How?" ""My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings." ""Look on my works, ye mighty." "And rejoice."" "This is the man we told you about, in England, Ozymandias." "Give jean-Paul back his glasses." "But I don't understand." "I mean, how are you here?" "That's what I want to know." "Well, your Black Guards, like our good friend here Monsieur Cabot, are all, in fact, Free Men." "We've come very close to being infiltrated by boys who've been conditioned by the Tripods." "We had to make absolutely sure." "That's why we had to have you interrogated." "But now, have you energy enough for breakfast?" "Chemin DE fer." " What?" "{hem/n DE fer." "Yes, railway." "Come on, boys." "Sensationnel!" "How is it done?" "It's called electricity." "It also lights the lamps." "Our leader's name is Julius." "My friends, we welcome today three new members to our community." "Henry and Will Parker, from England." "Henry." "And William." "And jean-Paul Deliet." "Make them truly welcome." "We all know the dangers and hardships they have overcome to reach us." "(ALL APPLAUDING)" "Young men, young women," "I know that you must often wonder at your life in the White Mountain." "You came here at great risk to destroy the Tripods." "And all we teach you are skills which must seem to you irrelevant." "Instead of combat, we coach you to a high level of achievement at certain sports." "And you must wonder why." "(GASPING)" "This is a rough model of the city of the Tripods." "The City of Gold." "This city lies a week's journey to the north." "And within the year, some of you will enter it." "Each year, in the annual games held nearby, young people are chosen to serve the Tripods in their city." "Some are chosen for their beauty, others for their strength and speed." "We believe that within this city only the young and strong can survive." "Does your daily sports routine now make sense?" "We shall send competitors to the next games highly trained, in the hope that they may be selected to serve the Tripods in their city." "They must gather the information we so badly need in order to destroy these monstrous hives of cruelty and domination." "We elders cannot do this." "It is upon a handful of you here today that man's freedom now depends." "It's a heavy task we lay on you." "We dare to hope that you may be successful." "One of the rights of free-thinking, uncapped humans is freedom of choice." "I ask you to exercise that right now." "Stand if you are willing to be selected for the next annual games, and entry into the Tripods' city."