Braveheart Page #18

The Princess is pained at such cruelty; Nicolette warms to

share the juicy gossip...

NICOLETTE:

Knowing his passion for his lost

love, they next plotted to take him

by desecrating the graves of his

father and brother and setting an

ambush at the grave of his wife. He

fought his way through the trap and

carried her body to a secret place!

Now that is romance, Oui?

PRINCESS:

...I wouldn't know.

EXT. SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS - DAY

A Highlander, a RUNNER, slips like a shadow up the hillside,

to a circle of ancient monoliths. There, hidden among the

stone pillars, he finds Wallace and his band resting.

RUNNER:

The English are advancing an army

toward Stirling!

WALLACE:

Do the nobles rally?

RUNNER:

Robert the Bruce and most of the

others will not commit to war! But

word has spread and Highlanders are

coming down on their own, by the

hundreds -- by the thousands!

EXT. ROAD - DAY

Wallace rides down the road, followed by his band. As they

pass people on the road, the women, the children, all cheer.

PEOPLE:

Wallace! It's William Wallace! God

bless Wallace and Scotland!

At a crossroads, more of Wallace's men join them, in clusters.

One group carries something long, encased in wool covers.

Farmers in the field, blacksmiths at their forges, leave

their work and uncover their inevitable weapons and run after

the riders. They put on their forbidden tartans, kiss their

wives and head off to fight.

EXT. STIRLING FIELD - DAY

Stirling Castle perches on a hill high above a grassy field,

cut in half by a river, spanned by an old wooden bridge.

SCOTTISH NOBLES have gathered on a smaller hill overlooking

the field; they wear gleaming armor, with plumes, sashes and

banners, and are attended by squires and grooms.

The mists of morning shroud most of the field. But from the

opposite side of the bridge they hear the CLATTERING of a

huge army moving forward. LOCHLAN, a noble, gallops to Mornay.

LOCHLAN:

It sounds like twenty thousand!

MORNAY:

The scouts say it is ten.

LOCHLAN:

And we have but two!

THE COMMON SCOTTISH SOLDIERS

are wearing padded leather shirts, and carry pikes and

daggers. As through the mists they see the numbers arrayed

against them, a YOUNG SOLDIER tugs at a grizzled VETERAN.

YOUNG SOLDIER:

So many!

SCOTTISH VETERAN

The nobles will negotiate. If they

deal, they send us home. If not, we

charge. When we are all dead and

they can call themselves brave, they

withdraw.

YOUNG SOLDIER:

I didn't come to fight so they could

own more lands that I could work for

them!

VETERAN:

Nor did I. Not against these odds!

He lowers his pike and starts to desert. At first one-by-one

and then in clumps, more highlanders follow.

THE NOBLES see the desertion.

LOCHLAN:

Stop! Men! Do not flee! Not now!

Wait until we have negotiated!

MORNAY:

They won't stop -- and who could

blame them?

Then, riding into the mob of men, comes Wallace, followed by

his friends. He's striking, charismatic, his powerful arms

bare, his chest covered not in armor but a commoner's leather

shirt, and unlike the heavy knights on their armored horses,

Wallace rides a swift horse, like he was born on it.

The entire Scottish army watches in fascination as Wallace

and his men ride through them, toward the command hill. The

soldiers whisper among themselves...

YOUNG SOLDIER:

William Wallace?

VETERAN:

Couldn't be.

The common soldiers, already having broken ranks, cluster up

the hill to see the confrontation. As Wallace and his captains

reach the nobles, Stephen laughs.

STEPHEN:

The Almighty says this must be a

fashionable fight, it's drawn the

finest people.

LOCHLAN:

Where is thy salute?

WALLACE:

For presenting yourselves on this

battlefield, I give you thanks.

LOCHLAN:

This is our army. To join it, you

give homage.

WALLACE:

I give homage to Scotland. And if

this is your army, why does it go?

Wallace reins his horse around to face the mob of sullen

men, now frightened, ready to desert. We play this picture,

Wallace sitting his horse, looking down in awe at this thing

that has grown beyond anyone's imagination.

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