Braveheart Page #11

Two of the soldiers leap at William, swinging their short

swords; William ducks, knocking their ale cask into their

knees; William lifts the whole table where they were sitting

and slams it into the faces of two more attackers.

MARION:

William!

She shouts to warn him that the scarred soldier, now

bloodyfaced, has recovered from the rock and is behind William

with a knife. William sidesteps the first thrust, snatches a

leg from the shattered table and crushes the man's skull.

MARKET WOMEN:

Wallace Wallace! William Wallace!

But there's no time for celebration. There's blood and ale

everywhere, and the fallen soldiers are yelling...

FALLEN SOLDIER:

Rebels! Help!

MORE SOLDIERS hear the call and come running, reinforcements

converging from all over the village.

VILLAGE FOLKS:

Run, William! Run!

Will sees the horse that pulled the flower cart and throws

Marion up onto its back. He slaps the horse's rump and it

plunges with Marion into the twisting village lanes. William

darts off through the crowd, as the MAGISTRATE and more of

his soldiers arrive -- dozens of them!

William pauses out in the central street of the village,

just long enough to be sure they've spotted him, and darts

into a side lane in the opposite direction Marion went;

William weaves through the narrow streets of the medieval

town, knocking over baskets, jumping carts.

As the soldiers stumble after him, the Magistrate looks down

at his mangled soldiers. The one with the ruptured arm is

lying in agony.

MAGISTRATE:

What happened?

SOLDIER:

...girl.

MAGISTRATE:

What girl?!

SOLDIER:

...on horse.

MAGISTRATE:

The girl on the horse! Stop her!

The shout rings through the village; Marion hears it, and

when she sees more soldiers at the far end of the lane she's

trying to take out of town, she urges the horse into an even

narrower back alley. She sees a clear route to freedom...

But the flock of pigeons pecking on the scraps thrown there

behind the shops rise into the horse's face with a sudden

thrashing of wings, and the horse shies against a wall.

Marion controls him, but a flap of her ripped dress has caught

on a crude nail, and as the frightened horse lunges forward

again, she is pulled off its bare back, her dress catching

and ripping at the same time, dropping her hard.

WILLIAM:

reaches the edge of the town and slips into the trees by the

river; the soldiers are running every which way, but they've

lost him. Thinking Marion's made it too, William heads deeper

into the trees.

IN THE TOWN, MARION

recovers; her dress has torn free! She starts to get up; but

the soldiers' pikes appear over her, and the magistrate leers.

MAGISTRATE:

So this is the little whore he was

fighting for.

EXT. THE GROVE AT THE PRECIPICE - DAY

William moves into the shelters of the trees, expecting to

see Marion. He doesn't. He listens; only the rustling of the

wind through the treetops.

WILLIAM:

Marion!

Nothing, except the wind.

INT. ROYAL MAGISTRATE'S HEADQUARTERS - DAY

Marion is thrown into a chair and her arms are bound with an

oak staff behind her elbows. She and two dozen soldiers are

in the tavern the English have commandeered.

The Magistrate is a battlescarred veteran, a brutal pragmatist

angry with his CORPORAL.

MAGISTRATE:

One Scot buggers six of us? Hell to

pay when that gets round.

CORPORAL:

Burn the village.

MAGISTRATE:

But he is free. You never catch 'em

in the Highlands.

He studies Marion, her mouth now stuffed with burlap. He

notices the strip of cloth around her neck, and touches the

weave curiously.

CORPORAL:

Clans weave that cloth in their own

patterns.

MAGISTRATE:

So why is this strip concealed?

(beat)

He fought for you, eh?

EXT. TOWN SQUARE - DAY

The Magistrate and his men bring Marion into the village

center, and tie her to a post of the well. The townspeople

don't want to be near the soldiers, but they hang on the

fringes of the square, too curious to pull away.

MAGISTRATE:

An assault on the king's soldiers is

the same as assaulting the king!

He looks down at Marion, her mouth bound, her eyes defiant.

He jerks out his dagger and slices Marion's throat!

Her eyes spring open like a doe's; then she sags, dead. The

townspeople are speechless; even some of the soldiers are

shocked. The Magistrate turns calmly to his men.

MAGISTRATE:

Now. Let this scrapper come to me.

LONG SHOT - EXT. THE GROVE AT THE PRECIPICE - DAY

From a distance, we see Hamish approaching the grove, the

same one where he and William played as boys. Hamish moves

reluctantly, forcing himself forward; as he reaches the grove,

William appears, hurrying out to him.

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