"NARRATOR:" "In the 11th century," "Europe was a patchwork of feudal states, extending from the Mediterranean to the North Sea." "Powerful dukes exerted life-and-death control... over their primitive subjects." "One such, Duke William of Ghent, held a coastal area in Normandy." "To protect the marshes of a troubled corner of his domain, the Duke sent warriors led by his most trusted knight," "Chrysagon de la Cruex." "This Norman warlord was charged to impose the Duke's will... on his vassals and to protect their settlements... from Frisian raiders, who crossed the waters... to plunder and pillage." "MAN:" "Hey-oh!" "United tower." "From here to the sea and beyond, it's yours." "Mine." "SECOND MAN:" "From here to the sea." "We're pilgrims to nowhere, and we have arrived." "What's the matter, Draco?" "Your belly hurt?" " L, Milord?" " What is it, Brother?" "What did you expect?" "Whatever you want." "Your wish is mine." "For myself, I expect nothing." "[Birds squawking]" "Queer, moody place." "Still, it's mine." "Given by the Duke himself." "A holding no man in all Christendom wanted." "I want it." "You have it, and you'll keep it, Brother, as the Lord kept Israel." "This place has the dimensions of heresy." "[Horn sounds]" "[Birds screeching]" "[Horn sounds]" "An alarm." "Raiders from the sea." "Frisian raiders!" "They've sacked the village, taking women to the boats now!" "RAIDER:" "Peasant pigs!" "Ha ha ha ha ha!" "Charge!" "Norman!" "Norman!" "Father!" " De la Cruex!" " You." "CHRYSAGON:" "Frisian butcher!" "I warn you..." "Aah!" "You are bloodied, Chrysagon." "I had him, Draco." "I had him in my fist, and I lost him.," "There's no one else worth ransom?" "There's only one prince of the Frisians." "So, they bring their heathen brats along to show them murder." "Here's your lesson, boy." "Hold your hand, Bors." "Let me have him." "Why?" "I'll make a page of him, and being a page, he'll make a lord of me." "He will sting you with this." "Where would such a scurvy ship's boy steal such a blade?" "You the village elder?" "My name Odins, and this is my son Marc." "You took that from a Frisian?" "Aye, Lord." "I fought." "Where are the men of the garrison?" " Gone, Lord." " What do you mean, gone?" "Killed?" " I mean gone." " And the warden?" "Dead?" "Last night I saw him very much alive." "Methinks we've got a seigneur instead of a warden in a tower." "What difference?" " This'n saved thee." " This'n can also hang thee." " So could Tava." " This'n has the right." "But he's a great knight." "20 years in the wars, the priest said." "Our lord he is." "Our lord, perhaps, but not our master." "Nor master of the stone, nor the tree." " Milord?" " Good father." "Sir Chrysagon de la Cruex?" "Hugo de Bouillion, Milord." "Servant of God." "My, uh, my flock, Sire." "Your vassals." "A simple people, but pious in their fashion." "They were druids here before Caesar's day." "Mere children who revered, in all innocence, the customs of their fathers before them." "Customs of the devil, sir priest." "Not so, good sire." "Not so?" "To think such faceless brutes could sway a priest." "Oh, they have faces." "The all look much alike to me." "CHRYSAGON:" "That doorway has no protection." "No protection at all." "It stinks." "CHRYSAGON:" "You could find it blindfolded." "PRIEST:" "The raiders..." "CHRYSAGON:" "It stank before the raiders came." "My men marched 20 miles today." "Now they must sleep in this." "PRIEST:" "Milord, when the Duke's messenger told our warden of... his removal, he grew somewhat lax." "CHRYSAGON:" "I knew him in court." "He was somewhat lax then." "A little... disordered, I fear." "CHRYSAGON:" "Where is he now, your lax warden?" "It is to be hoped in Heaven, but I doubt it." "Your quarters, Milord." "[Bird squawks]" "He was always chasing some goose girl up a hayrick." "He was bewitched." "Carried off by devils, he was." "These people here have ancient customs... in which he may unthinkingly have joined." "The tree and the stone?" "Worshipping the devil?" "PRIEST:" "No." "He damned the devil's flesh, but women's flesh he loved, and devils dearly love to masquerade." "Priest... are you saying she was a witch?" "Witch?" "White flowers." "What is this?" "PRIEST:" "Her bridal wreath." "Come, Sir Priest." "Was she a witch or a bride?" "A virgin bride." "The warden's?" "A villager's." "God's grace." "Bee among the flowers." "The mark of death." "[Screech]" "There must be willing girls in this place enough for any man." "Why took he a virgin?" ""Keep their good will," the Duke told me." "Him before me, this rapacious bastard." "Small loss when the Frisians killed him." "Milord, it was not rape." "They liked the warden well." " Who liked him?" " These people here." "In olden times, they sanctified a marriage... by giving the bride on her wedding night..." "Bors, burn that bed." "Devils... devils." "PRIEST:" "Yes, yes." "Our fens and marshes attract them in great quantity." "I, with these eyes, have seen them." "I speak of different devils." "The Frisians." "Oh, yes, yes, Lord." "Might I offer you some meager food and drink?" " They'll be back." " I daresay, Lord." "Their land lies North across the sea but two days distance." " I cannot..." " I know where their land lies." "PRIEST:" "And they do raid our coast this time of year." "I have a green cheese..." "Next time I'll hold him fast..." "Two fishes, a garlic soup... as he held my father." "Father?" "Taken in battle by Frisians, I've been told." "And stripped bare." "Most extortionate ransom." "They are a harsh people." "He came home broken, and died so." "A pauper knight." "It must be hard to lose your lands, I'm sure." "We lost all." "It was a long time ago." "A lifetime." "What were you saying?" " I said..." " Tell me at table." "We'll gnaw bone tonight and hunt tomorrow." "Thank you, Milord." "You'll enjoy our forest." "There's deer, wild fowl, and tusky boar." "[Woman screams]" "Down, dogs!" "Down!" "Down dogs!" "Get off!" "Get off!" "Be still, woman." "They won't hurt you." "Get off!" "She's all right." "Counts as a kill, though." "Come on, pig girl." "It's never as bad as all that." "Pig girl?" "No eyes in your head, man?" "WOMAN:" "Aah!" "Here's the pelt, and there's the otter!" "I told you I want no trouble with these people." "Handle them softly, I said." "Just what I was going to do, Milord." "You are out to hunt, dog." "Get on with it!" "All of you!" "[Dogs barking]" "Are you hurt?" "Ah, nothing much." "Say your name." "Bronwyn, Milord." "From the village?" "I own the village." "I know, Milord." "What house?" "Odins, Milord." "The elder." " His foster child." " Speak up, girl!" "May I dress myself, Milord?" "Yes." "Are you going to watch me?" "Yes." " Are you cold?" " No." " You afraid?" " Yes." "Why?" "I'm gentle with horses, hawks." "Come here." "Come here." "[Bee buzzes]" " What is this?" " A wedding garland." "And you're a virgin?" "MAN:" "Bronwyn." "What happened to you?" "He did nothing." "A bee stung him." "He?" "I fell in the water." "And he did nothing?" " They were hunting." " Who?" "Lord Chrysagon." "And he did not touch you?" "Am I hurting you by asking these questions?" "Then why do you weep?" "Marc, I love you." "I have since your father took me in." "Stay away from him." "Yes, Marc." "Stay away from him!" "[Bird chirping]" "[Laughter]" "God's great fist, I can see him." "Milord and brother." "Planting himself in front of her and staring her down." "Giving her battle orders." "You go, wheel around." "Keep your flanks covered, pull up your breastplate." "Your rear echelon's exposed!" "[Laughter stops]" "BORS:" "You haven't removed your shirt." "That's why the wound frets you." "CHRYSAGON:" "Frets me?" "You fret me like an old woman." "Told you it's a scratch, nothing more." "Fester, then, in flame." "DRACO:" "You have a fever, Brother?" "Can't sleep." "Maybe you took it from that girl at the pond." "DRACO:" "What's she like?" "Oh, I don't know." "A woman, tan hair, breasts, belly, legs." "A woman." "She has a calm face." "So has a cow." "How was she?" "I let her go." "You let her go?" "Small wonder you can't sleep." "Why?" "There's a strangeness in this place." "I felt it since first we came here." "Nonetheless, I thought, mine." "Poor place." "Marsh, naked tower, the world's end, almost." "But to have it, to hold it..." "If only..." "What do you think of this land?" "Dung heap." "You deserve better..." "much better." "What say you, Bors?" "You are my lord." "This land serves you, I serve you." "But if it should be a land unholy?" "Here." "Do you feel nothing, hear nothing, see nothing?" "I feel bored." "I hear the wind." "I see fever burning holes in your head." "Silence." "That speaks of spells." "BOORS:" "Ah..." "DRACO:" "Bors?" "Sire, all men have heard how when the Lord Christ came, the old Gods, demons, and spirits with snaky hair... were cast down into hell." "Good riddance!" "But some say they still linger, prowling the dark corners and unblessed places of the earth, changed to beggar men and goose girls." "Bors, you surprise me." "You've produced a thought." "BORS:" "God help the man who meets one." "The blood in his heart changes." "And what of that devil's dish he met today?" "She's the cause of his fever, and that's the truth." " How so?" " Because you let her go." "DRACO:" "Bors..." "you know who she is?" "Find out from Rainault, put her to work in the kitchen." "[Grumbles]" "Why waste her charm on pigs when there's use for it here?" "Oink!" "Ha ha!" "[Man groans]" "[Horse neighs]" "BORS:" "Come here!" "[Door squeaks shut]" "BORS:" "Now, girl... you will take his arms and hold him firm while I..." "Lie flat, Milord." "Here!" "You will hold him here and here." "He will plunge like a gelded colt." "I did." "Take him." "BORS:" "A trick I learned from a heathen Moor." "If a wench holds him, he doesn't kick." "Pride of manhood, I suppose." "Take 10 men to hold Milord..." "or one woman." "Sire, I shall count to five." "[Sizzling]" "One... two... three... four... five." "[Door shuts]" "[Bird squawking]" "[Falcon chirps]" "[Bird squawks]" "DRACO:" "Volc, call him down here." "Damned falcon never knows what he wants." "VOLC:" "They're human that way." "DRACO:" "You know less about falcons than a flea." "To train a falcon, you need a larger brain than a falcon." "VOLC:" "Come down here or I'll wring your neck." "Damn me, but just look at Sir Flea bristle." "[Horse neighs]" "[Volc laughing]" "I'll kill him." "I'll kill them both!" "I'll twist your nose with the slack in your belly." "I'm sorry." "CHRYSAGON:" "Draco, Draco..." "Draco!" "Draco!" "[Horse neighs]" "Ya!" "[Horse neighs]" "[Horse grunts]" "Don't run from me." " Is that poppy?" " Yes." "What do you want with this?" "We call it hawk's eye." "We get chamomile from it for seasoning." "It also has the power to rob men's minds." "Like magic." " And it can kill." " Oh, no magic." "My foster father heals with these herbs." " Purple foxglove." " For lovesickness." "Three leaves or four can stop the heart." " Witchery." " No, Milord." "Not witchery." "They all kill." "What's that?" "Mistletoe, the golden bow that twines around the sacred oak." "Why is the oak sacred?" "It's connected to the gods." " You believe that?" " Yes." "Before I came, they told me that... marsh people had spotted bellies and webbed toes." " You believe that?" " Not since I saw you... in the lake." "CHRYSAGON:" "We'll lie under that tree." " No." " I feel good about you." "I've been fighting all year." "I haven't had time to lie under trees." " Let me go." " I fought last year, too." "I haven't even seen a girl with tan hair." "I'm tired of fighting." " Milord, I..." " Shh." "Don't talk, Witch." "Have pity." "[Birds squawk]" "[Wings flapping]" "This is not lawful." "DRACO:" "You want to serve in this troop?" "Ha!" "Ha!" "I want to be Milord's man." "People of your tribe cannot bear arms." "Besides, you have no skill with weapons." "RAINAULT:" "I found poachers in the glen, sire." "PRIEST:" "They are not poachers, Milord." "DRACO:" "With a pair of stags, Rainault." "DRACO:" "You said two." "RAINAULT:" "Yes, sire." "These stags were dead already, Milord," "locked together by the horns." "They needed the meat, surely." "The Frisians slaughtered most of the livestock." "That be truth." "Frisians killed our pigs." "DRACO:" "And so they poach." "Woodlands belong to the lord." "They should carry the stump of the right hand in the left." "The woodland belongs to the duke." "We keep it for him." "We keep the peace here, too." "CHRYSAGON:" "We share Lord Draco's outrage." "To kill the duke's deer is a great crime." " But there is no proof." " Proof?" " It is my opinion..." " L, too, hold opinions!" " I am a knight!" " I can write letters!" " The devil's tools!" " Enough!" "Beware, Milord." "Another time, your compassion might be mistaken for weakness." "There will not be another time." "You, Volc!" "What are you doing with that boy?" "Why, training him, sire." "It's the only way." "Keep to the tower now, boy." "BORS:" "Lord!" "BORS:" "Milord has spent the morning on you." "Don't waste his time." "MAN:" "I speak for my son, Marc, who humbly beseeches our lord's grace... and consent to wed." "To this girl?" "The foster daughter of my house, called Bronwyn." "When?" " Tomorrow, Milord." " So soon?" "They've been promised since childhood." "It's time, Lord." "I give leave to your son to wed." "MAN:" "We thank thee." "Work on the moat goes well, but the drawbridge..." "Blacksmith here says to tell you..." "No more now!" "Get him out!" "Ah!" "[Thunder]" "[Dogs whine and bark]" "Bones of the saints!" "What's wrong with you?" " Is it the wench?" " Draco, enough!" "I'm only saying, if you want her, take her." " I told you..." " It's not my business." "You don't eye a woman every day." "CHRYSAGON:" "She marries tomorrow." "Why not tonight?" "She's not a she-goat, Draco." "I won't take a woman the night before her wedding." "You're right." "It's wrong tonight." "I could bite my tongue." "What about tomorrow?" "Get... what's his name, the priest." "DRACO:" "Sir pri-iest!" "You have the right." "The wedding's tomorrow..." "The right of the first night." "Ask the priest." "Of the seven golden virtues, I swear, the most peculiar is chastity." "Look, you're the lord of this place." "She belongs to this place." "Therefore, she's yours." "Ask him." "DRACO:" "Dear learned priest, we need your counsel." "PRIEST:" "Such as I have to give." "DRACO:" "Are you well-versed in church law, father?" "Middling well, though my order runs not to law." "It seeks rather to make amends... for the evils wrought by men through the absence of love." "Splendid." "It is of love that I would ask you." "DRACO:" "Now... this noble knight has need of innocent pleasure." "There is no such thing as innocent pleasure." "Priest, scholar, certainly you have heard... of the right of the seigneur... to take a virgin bride on her wedding night." "The church does not admit it." " It is pagan law." " These are pagan lands." "Not of a Sunday morning, I assure you." "These are evening matters." "We found the warden with a bride in his arms." "Was she not freely given by her people?" "The warden..." "DRACO:" "What do they say in Rome?" "Juste primi noctes." "That being the Roman for it." "You hear that?" "It's known in Rome." "And damned as heresy." "And yet..." " And yet..." " Speak on, good father." "Well, now, fertility." "Some say it's pagan." "But who's not pagan in some matters?" "True, true!" "I love the speech of scholars." "Young folks think only of frolicking." "Desist, I tell them." "But they will go a-wantoning." "So, lest the devil take them," "I preach them a text from Holy Writ." ""Increase and multiply," I say," ""replenish the Earth."" "And oh, how they obey me." "But how this touches on your problem..." "Oh, clearly, clearly!" "The pagan part may honor pagan law." "We ask no more." "What hour's the wedding?" "The wedding in church or t'other?" "What other?" "We'll be at the church." "To claim that right?" "War lords, forebear!" "In this weak hand lie lightnings, and I use them." " Ah, no, no sacrilege." " Not in God's church." "I dare say, there's another wedding... their tribal way." "That wedding's theirs." "Feasting, drinking, clowning, dancing..." "Oh, Lords, how they do caper." "Aar!" "[Speaking foreign language]" "[Revelry stops]" "Hold the boy." "ODINS:" "You come to do us honor, Milord." "To claim my right." "[People mumbling]" " He has the right." " No!" "BORS:" "Silence!" " No!" " Let it be, my own son." "ODINS:" "He has the right." "Not by his law, but by ours." "Ours." "Long before the Norman came, with his church and his tower, we worshipped at the stone and tree." "And in the fields, we plant holy seeds." "Then, as now, a virgin sacrifice... was made for the fertility of our earth... and the enrichment of our tribe." "To take her your way is rape." "It should be done our way..." "the old way." "You accept this?" "With a ring of fire." "The sacred way of the Druids." "You accept this?" "I do." "Prepare then a high place." "I have a high place." "Make it ready..." "and your men wearing iron." "Wearing iron, Norman lord, and standing." "As the moon rises, the virgin bride... shall be brought to you." "ODINS:" "But hold!" "At the rising of the sun, I will reclaim her." "So be it." "[Whispers a prayer]" "ODINS:" "I go to wait the rising of the sun." "You weep?" " No, be still." " Yes, Milord." "Milord." "Milord speaks and all obey." "Is that not what you want?" "I want you to be free to go or stay as you will." "But I fear you'd go, so..." "Look at me!" "I have the right to take you." "I have the right." "You want me to go?" "Go... back to your pigs, your strange, damn people, your death-sucking bees, yes!" "Go, and let me go." "Go!" "Wait." "I want..." "I need you as I need breath... sunshine, fire in winter." "Bother..." "That's what festers." "I want my life in you." "It's truth." "It goes beyond the blood, fever, and the flesh." "It's sacred for a highborn man to begin your life." "BRONWYN:" "Are you afraid of me?" "I cast no spells." "CHRYSAGON:" "Better if you did." "Spells can be broken." "Milord, I, too, am bewitched." "You." "You had them hold me!" "ODINS:" "Or see you cut to pieces." "MARC:" "Better that!" "MAN:" "And all the rest of us?" "He's got my wife." "He's touching her." "My God, he's touching my wife!" "Bear it, my son." "Slaves have no sons!" "Who took my mother from you, coward?" "Who's my father?" "Toughen up your heart." "If she'd been gored by an ox, you'd tend her." "Try and forget the pain." "Who knows her better than you?" "She's yours." "Since she was little, it was always Marc." "I couldn't sleep." "It's cold out there." "I feel rheumaticky." "DRACO:" "Good Father... you have pointy ears... you have sneaky eyes... eyes that lie in your stomach." "I couldn't sleep either." "We are all of us, good Father, made of the coarsest clay." "You, me, my stern and glorious brother up there in bed... though I'm sure he isn't sleeping." "I wonder whether the louse wasn't created... on the sixth day with man." "You, too, are a party to it." "And undeserving of the frock I wear." "But you see, Milord, I, too, am a man... and a louse." "Stand to attention!" "You are a guard of honor!" "The sun..." "like every other day." "You cried out last night." "I put my fingers to your lips, and you slept again." "I dreamt of my father." "He died when he came home and found his lands sold for ransom." "And I took up arms for the Duke." "He died in two halves." "First his right side, then his left." "He had me set my hands between his... dead hand and his live one and swear to keep his faith with the Duke." "I swore to protect my brother, to recover our lands..." "But he was already dead." "From under his right hand, I took that sword." "I've lived 20 years with that cold wife." "And off his dead finger, I took this ring." "What are you doing?" "Milord, it's dawn." "CHRYSAGON:" "They won't take you." "Not the Duke, nor the devil, nor all..." "It could never, never be." "[Thud]" "[Thud]" "It's daylight in the swamps..." "or did you notice?" "You look as though your fever's gone." "The elder... what's his name, Odins... waits for her below." "Don't you hear me, Chrysagon?" "It's over now." "I'll talk to him." "That old clown?" "Let him howl." "But there was an understanding with the Duke." "You've forgotten?" ""Keep their good will," he said." "I'll not give her up." "I can't." "First, you run stallion-mad and trample our lives to pieces..." "My life is my own." "Dear lord and brother, you are the Duke's most favorite jewel, his cosset." "Through you, comes everything." "All we have, and we must have something!" "You've had the grain out of my horse's mouth, new armor that should have clothed my men." "Their blood paid for your fineries!" "CHRYSAGON:" "My blood, too." "Bounty from the wars, each favor of the Duke," "I gave to you, all to you, wantoning at court, while I sweated inside that damn, dirty armor 20 years!" "I've had nothing." "Nothing!" "Nothing!" "You are our lord!" "You cannot be a slave of a slave!" "It sets the whole world turvy!" "[Kicks door]" "And look at her, this flower face, the sister of pigs!" "This blazing whore." "That naked strumpet wears our father's ring!" "Then honor it... and her!" "She is mine." "You are bewitched." "You've had her... now keep her." "And may your soul be damned for it." "ODINS:" "Where is she?" "He speaks of love, the sort of thing that songs are made of." "ODINS:" "Well?" "He's not yet tired of his toy." "I must see Lord Chrysagon." "Don't ever touch me1" "BORS:" "What are you waiting for?" "Can't you see it's over?" "Where is she?" "Father... what I said last night..." "I'm sorry." "He had the right." "But now I have her back, I..." "He keeps her!" "No!" "Don't tell me of his rights!" "He has none." "Not now." "What can you do?" "Do you want to be cut down?" "They are warriors, boy." "You won't get by the door!" "MARC:" "I have a sickle." "I killed a boar in the marsh." "I can kill a horse and a man." "ODINS;" "You'll never kill him, boy." "Killing's his trade;" "he was born to it." "MARC:" "I'll sink my sickle in his chest like a hook in beef." "I liked him." "You know that I liked him?" "Norman or no, he seemed a man." "I'd have served him." "I raged last night." "I thought, "Well, he's higher than I am, better."" "And she..." "I'll strangle him in his own stinking guts." "But not alone." "Hark to what I told you." "Go over the water to the Frisians." "Take the boat in the fen, bring them back with you." "Why should they help us?" "Because this half-sized Norman says they will?" "No, you ditch dog... for the boy I told you of, the boy I took." "He's a prince of those people." "If they know he's in that tower, they'll take it down stone by stone to have him back." "A Frisian prince?" "He told you that?" "These did." "Take that to them." "I'll keep this to be a lord in." "ODINS:" "Go then, my son." "It can't be mended without blood." "I'll be back within the week." "She'll escape him somehow, no matter how close he keeps her." "Old woman, take it in." "[Thunder]" "Where are the men from the village to work in the moat?" "None came today, Lord." "Yesterday, only two." "The village elder, I haven't seen him..." "[Thunder]" "[Falcon cries]" "[Falcon cries]" "CHRYSAGON:" "It's cold." "My love, you're shivering." "Do you know the stars?" "CHRYSAGON:" "My father taught me to find my way by them." "I know only this village." "An now, only this tower." "CHRYSAGON:" "Do you want to go back?" "I can't leave you." "CHRYSAGON:" "I know." "Worlds wider than this tower, I do know that road." "There's a place, a far place where I can carry you." "When?" "Please?" "When?" "CHRYSAGON:" "When all's done here." "I must hold this place awhile yet... for the Duke." "[Dogs barking]" "The Frisians." "They're back." "[Ring]" "[Dogs bark]" "[Horses whinny]" "CHRYSAGON:" "Tybald, get water to the roof." "Break some stones from the parapet." "BORS:" "Away!" "MAN:" "War lord!" "War lord!" "The boy... or we cut your Norman throats!" "Has the whole village joined them?" "Nearly all, I fear, Milord, God save their souls." "Isn't that your falconer, the little man?" "Volc, too." "DRACO:" "So, Sir Flea has deserted us." "Oh, well." "Small loss, eh, Brother?" "MAN:" "War lord!" "The boy!" "My son!" "DRACO:" "Your son, is he?" "You gave my father back for a bucketful of gold pieces." "The same for your son, then, or take him without his head!" "Can you put enough edge on that to cut your way out of this?" "Oh, I know we're all safe in your strong hand... and do but trust in you and all will yet be well, huh?" "Lie here with your wench, then, Sir Chrysagon de la Cruex... until those pirates pull the Duke's tower into the swamp." "Draco, what would you do if you break the Duke's faith..." "I break his faith?" "You're the lord of this place." ""Hold it well," he told you." "And where are the dogs you hold it for?" "Waiting outside your door with pitchforks." " But you..." " What, Brother?" "DRACO:" "Will you chop me with this great sword?" "Well, it might be." "You're a tall, strong man." "Or I might chop you." "Neither way would make you right." "Now!" "Open it!" "My brother's ridden for help..." "to the Duke." "It's ready!" "Bow the tower doors." "Now!" "We need a grappling hook." "BORS:" "There is none." "Milord!" "BORS:" "The boat!" "It could have an anchor." "Get me a rope!" "Take a turn around that post." " Not you, Bors." " Why not?" "I would as soon die a wet death as a dry one." "[Banging on door]" "Steady." "Pull!" "BORS:" "Hold!" "Hold!" "BORS:" "Pull!" "Pull, your heathen guts!" "PRIEST:" "Will help soon come from Ghent?" "Help?" "Aye, if the Duke wills it'll come, soon or late." "But... but will it be in time?" "Ha!" "Look, ye priest... if they rise early, move fast, and find us alive, then it will be in time." "Hmm!" "CHRYSAGON:" "Up now." "Come on." "Up!" "Get ready." "Water!" "CHRYSAGON:" "It's no use." "We'll go below." "Barricade the stairs!" "If they overrun us down here..." "[Pounding on door]" "The horses!" "Hah!" "Hah!" " Pour the oil!" " Oil!" "CHRYSAGON:" "Block that doorway." "They haven't finished." "[Caw Caw]" "CHRYSAGON:" "Tybald..." "sound the bell." "[Ring]" "Now!" "Go!" "BORS:" "It's Draco with thunder!" "PRIEST:" "Milord!" "Ha Ha Ha!" "Lord Draco." "DRACO:" "Hmm." "CHRYSAGON:" "Draco!" "Our savior." "Oh, not yet." "Those wild men are still in the woods." "They won't leave while we hold the boy." "DRACO:" "The can't take him now..." "so they must buy him." "Our dearest Duke gave me more than the men I saved you with." "He promised me half the gold our captive princeling brings." "Ransom?" "Ho ho ho!" "So the world turns, Brother." "As his father held ours, so we hold him." "We could sell him a pound at a time." "Mmm." "Pity he's so small." "Well, any ear should do to show we are honest traders." "CHRYSAGON:" "Draco, let be." "I've had a bellyful of blood over this." ""Let be," is it?" "Oh, no, Brother." "My glorious brother, no more." "The Duke's had a bellyful, too." "When I told him of the devil's brew you stirred up, he gave me your holding here." "Did I say it was a turning world?" "You are lord here?" "I am." "That little insect is mine to kill, maim, ransom as I see fit." "This village is mine." "As for the clods in it... they'll find what rebellion brings." "I'll give them empty sleeves and wooden legs..." " For what I did?" " Lf you like, Brother." "Carry it all on your broad back, your sins and mine." "Carry them to a monkery and pray your way to God's grace." "Or go to hell." "I've been there." "Then go on a quest for the Holy Grail, and take that with you." "But first, my father's ring." " The ring, I say!" " Draco!" "Shall I take her finger with it?" "I can't fight you, Draco." "Then I'll fight you." "Ahh!" "Why?" "While I ate the bread you earned in the wars... and rode the horse you gave me... and lived in the shadow of your sickening righteousness... because the Duke smiled on you..." "Well, he's not smiling now." "Now I hold this place!" "And you'll all swear your fealty to me." "Not while Milord lives." "Then your lord shall die." "This thing must be settled." "Draco." "I swear to you, Draco." "I swear by my father's..." "Ring!" "If you prefer butchery to combat, then butchery it shall be." "Draco!" "My glorious brother..." "Draco." "[Crash]" "Come, boy." "Keep her with you... here." "Milady." "[Sounds horn]" "[Frisians whooping and hollering]" "Wait!" "Hold!" "[Cheering]" "For this gift of my son, I'll give you all I can... rank, riches, land." "Cross the water with us." "No." "Why "no"?" "Go with him." "You and she get clear of this mess." "I can't give up this place." "This place is no longer yours to give up." "It was Draco's for a moment." "The Duke will send another lord... to do what Draco promised, and what will you do to save her then?" "Kill him... and then the next?" "And then the Duke himself?" "If you'd give mi..." "milady sanctuary..." "FRISIAN:" "My roof is hers." "CHRYSAGON:" "I'll bring her." "BORS:" "You send her to the Frisians." "Such fierce nobility, hmm?" "And then what?" "CHRYSAGON:" "I go to the Duke." "BORS:" "The Duke?" "Why, to make ghosts of us?" "CHRYSAGON:" "To put what right all I've set wrong here." "BORS:" "You talk like a ballad singer." "Do penance?" "Plead for these marsh rabbits?" "The Duke will have your head on a pole and mine along with it." "CHRYSAGON:" "Don't go, then, Bors." "You get free of this." "Your father sent me to ride at your back... when you were too small to reach the saddle." "God help me, I've ridden too many miles there to leave now." "Bronwyn!" "[Horse whinnies]" "Bronwyn!" "Listen to me." "I can't take you to that... that far place." "Not for a while." "I'll be with you... always, wherever you go." "So you go now to the North." "No!" "I want to stay with you." "CHRYSAGON:" "No, you can't." "I have to stay here." "If you go, I go, too." "You stand up... now... and go, and we both go." "Oh, Bors." "I'm tired." "I hurt." "Rainault!" "Hold this place till..." "till I come back." "You hold it well."