Braveheart Page #29

But as they tilt old Campbell onto the ground, he grabs at

something that starts to fall from the wound in his stomach.

CAMPBELL:

Whew. That'll clear your sinuses.

Goodbye, boys.

HAMISH:

No. You're going to live.

CAMPBELL:

I don't think I can do without one

of those... whatever it is...

Hamish is too grief-stricken to speak.

WALLACE:

You... were like my father...

Old Campbell rallies one more time for this.

CAMPBELL:

...And glad to die, like him... So

you could be the men you are. All of

ya.

The last three words to Hamish, telling him he's a hero too.

CAMPBELL:

I'm a happy man.

Hamish is weeping. When he looks up again, his father has

died. We PULL BACK from them in tableaux, with the army, the

people of Scotland, the whole gray world in defeat.

INT. EDINBURGH CASTLE - DAY

Wallace, still bloody and in his battered armor, removes the

chain of office from beneath his breastplate, lays it onto

the table in front of Craig and the other nobles, and walks

from the room. Hamish and Stephen see the satisfaction on

the nobles' face, and follow William out.

INT. CASTLE CORRIDOR - DAY

Hamish and Stephen move out into the hallway after Wallace --

but he is gone.

EXT. WOODS - NIGHT

Wallace is in the woods, in the grove of trees, looking at

Marion's hidden grave. The rain falls on his face, like tears.

But he has no tears of his own. The cold, the icy rain, the

wounds, nothing seems to touch him.

With his fingertips he carefully draws her embroidered cloth

from beneath his breastplate; hanging in his trembling hands,

filthy with the grime and gore of battle, it looks impossibly

white, something from a better, purer world.

DISSOLVE TO:

INT. PALACE IN LONDON - NIGHT

Thunder, the sound of driving rain. Snug by a massive fire

are Longshanks, his son Edward, and other advisors. On the

far side of the room, away from the fire, the Princess stands

at the window and watches the rain against the panes.

ADVISOR:

Their nobles have sworn allegiance,

M'lord. Every last one.

Longshanks savors the victory -- and gloats to his son.

LONGSHANKS:

Now we kill two birds at one stroke.

We recruit from Scotland for our

armies in France.

EDWARD:

The Scots will fight for us?

LONGSHANKS:

What choice do they have? Now they

must serve us or starve.

EDWARD:

But if we have not caught Wallace --

LONGSHANKS:

(exploding)

He is gone! Finished! Dead! If he

has not yet bled to death or had his

throat cut for him, he will not

survive the winter. It is very cold --

is it not, our flower?

From the other side of the window, we see the Princess as

she hears him, but doesn't turn around. She looks at the

window, we snow swirling among the raindrops outside. Her

eyes glisten, and her breath fogs the glass.

INT. BRUCE'S DARKENED CHAMBER

The elder Bruce, his decaying features sagging from his face,

stares across the table at his son.

LEPER:

I am the one who is rotting. But I

think your face looks graver than

mine.

ROBERT:

He was so brave. With courage alone

he nearly won.

LEPER:

So more men were slaughtered

uselessly!

ROBERT:

He broke because of me. I saw it. He

lost all will to fight.

LEPER:

We must have alliance with England

to prevail here. You achieved that!

You saved your family, increased

your lands! In time you will have

all the power in Scotland!... Yet

you grieve.

ROBERT:

In my heart I had begun to hope that

he would never break.

LEPER:

All men lose heart. All betray. It

is exactly why we must make the

choices we make.

INT. MORNAY'S CASTLE - NIGHT

Mornay, in an opulent bedchamber hung with tapestries and

carpeted with eastern rugs, lies in bed, tossing in the

restless sleep of a tortured soul.

He thinks he hears galloping. In SUBLIMINAL FLASHES he DREAMS

of Wallace riding toward him.

He wakes, and listens to a strange noise. It is hoofbeats!

Coming closer. He hears shouts too, screams from below --

and those strange, approaching hoofbeats...

WALLACE, ON HORSEBACK

rides up the circular stairs inside Mornay's castle! His

horse bounds up the stone -- Mornay's guards are behind him,

on foot, pursuing.

At a landing, Wallace cuts down a guard, and gallops higher.

IN HIS BED, MORNAY

sits up gawking as the door explodes inward and Wallace rides

through! Mornay is frozen. Wallace slashes him down.

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