Damsel Page #5

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24.

The last embers of the fire burn.

Elise gazes at the prince, noting the gentle curve of his

nose and soft lips, intrigued by his shape and kindness.

Her eyes fall heavy.

CUT TO:

EXT. PINE FOREST - MORNING

Sunlight wakes Elise.

Confusion floats across her face when she sees Cavill’s empty

space. The tree which once bore Luke’s tether.

She cuts her gathered food from their hoisted safety. Folds

her blankets. Packs her cart.

All the while a simple melancholy haunts her expression.

CUT TO:

EXT. SOUTH SHIRE - LATER THAT DAY

A golden flatland of wheat meets the rolling blues of the

sky.

A small wall of rock, lines the boundaries of the town.

Dilapidated wooden fences. Modest cottage homes. Muddy

corrals with bored pigs, chickens and dairy cows.

A mutt wags its tail.

Two hundred settlers. Dirty clothes and poor in finance but

high in spirit and thick of heart.

Elise’s family home is quaint. Stone and clay.

INT. ELISE AND BRAUN’S HOME - CONTINUOUS

Simple sconces with candles provide light.

Everything is hand crafted.

The kitchen, dining room and living space are all a single

common area.

Pots hang over a brick fire pit. A bunk bed stacked on the

opposite side of the room.

25.

BRAUN, Elise’s elder brother, a wide-shouldered young man of

23 with dark eyes and hair, sits at a wooden dining table

near the wall.

ELISE:

How was father while I was away?

Silence. Braun stabs at the scraps of meat on his plate.

BRAUN:

He is still distant. I cannot tell

what is sickness and what is

hopelessness.

Elise ladles stew into a bowl from their iron kettle.

She crosses into the adjacent and only bedroom.

INT. ELISE AND BRAUN’S HOME - BEDROOM - CONTINUOUS

Their father, DOUGLAS, coughs. Eyes closed. Early 50’s,

weathered and tired. He’s propped up in a bed at the center

of the space.

Elise enters with the bowl of stew and rests her free hand on

his.

ELISE:

You should try to eat.

He tosses. Slow and drawn. Muffled.

He begins to cough again. She sets the stew near the bed and

holds his hand for a moment.

She kisses his forehead and moves back into the main living

space.

INT. ELISE AND BRAUN’S HOME - CONTINUOUS

An ominous, quiet energy in the home. Waiting for the

inevitable.

Elise takes a seat next to her brother and removes an

unfinished wooden figurine from her pocket.

She whittles.

CUT TO:

26.

EXT. SOUTH SHIRE - DAY

Braun holds a staff diagonally, across his body. Ready for

her attack.

He’s at least a foot taller than Elise, who wields two

handles with a weight of cloth tied at the top. Practice

maces.

She brings her left arm down, then her right. She spins from

under, brings her left arm through and follows powerfully

with her right.

Each hit lands at the center of Braun’s staff.

She spins the maces over the back of her hands effortlessly.

Repeats the same motion.

BRAUN:

Now from above.

She brings her left arm across, then her right.

This time she jumps, spinning and bringing her left and right

maces down from above.

The practice mace vibrates as it connects with Braun’s staff.

It escapes her grip.

Frustrated, she wipes the hair from her brow and sweeps the

weapon from the ground.

Braun notices her distant demeanor.

BRAUN (CONT’D)

What is on your mind?

ELISE:

I cannot stop thinking about the

prince.

He swats her backside with his staff.

BRAUN:

Smitten?

She glares and sets her maces on a nearby barrel.

Hand-drawn carts roll along the gravel road nearby.

Sore, she massages her own hands.

27.

ELISE:

We have always dreamed of what we

might do to one of the royals with

a moment alone.

He smiles.

BRAUN:

Bash them outright. I’d have.

ELISE:

But, he was charming. Far more

kind than anything I’d ever

imagined.

BRAUN:

They teach them how to act that

way.

ELISE:

They teach them how to be

absolutely magnetizing?

BRAUN:

Goodness, listen to you swoon.

She blushes.

BRAUN (CONT’D)

Don’t you think your gypsy-boy will

be upset?

He bats at her with his palms and she slaps them away.

They laugh.

ELISE:

It has been months since I last saw

him.

He scrutinizes her playfully.

BRAUN:

You are as fickle as a leaf in the

wind, Elise.

ELISE:

Why do I tell you anything at all?

He shrugs.

She ponders, Braun waits for her to finish.

28.

ELISE (CONT’D)

It was strange, though. The

prince. It was like, he was caught

between two worlds. He said he was

traveling toward a voice. He was

entirely helpless.

CUT TO:

EXT. REDWOOD FOREST - SOUTH - NIGHT

The monstrous redwoods reach high into the heavens, blotting

out the night sky. Serene and peaceful.

Rapunzel’s melody grows from a distance ahead.

EXT. MOUNTAIN PASS - HOT SPRING - CONTINUOUS

A large pool of spring water reflects the ghostly moon.

Steam radiates from the still surface of the crystal water

and rises into the night sky.

Her pale, wet skin glistens as she continues to hum her

haunting tune.

RAPUNZEL.

Every line, every curve and accent of her body is perfection.

Her eyes, ice blue. Young.

EXT. MOUNTAIN PASS - CONTINUOUS

Cavill comes to a plateau in the terrain, a short distance

from the hot spring, which he does not see.

Dead doves hang from the trees, bound by their feet with

twine. They sway in the breeze.

Cavill’s leather boots sink into fallen needles and grass as

he dismounts.

He leaves his horse behind, seeking out the source of the

hymn.

He comes to the grand staircase of white marble, leading to

Rapunzel’s castle.

Her song abruptly ends.

29.

RAPUNZEL:

Hello traveler.

Cavill turns to find her standing directly behind him.

She is dressed in thin, revealing cloth.

PRINCE CAVILL:

It was you, singing?

She admires his shape and he, hers.

RAPUNZEL:

It was I, who called you here.

She reaches out her hand and Cavill moves toward it.

PRINCE CAVILL:

You are even more beautiful than I

dreamed.

She smiles, deceivingly pulling him in.

RAPUNZEL:

It has been many years since the

warm heart of a traveler passed

through this place.

Her fingers begin at his neck and move to his waist as she

circles him.

She lets the silence consume him. He hangs in her grasp.

PRINCE CAVILL:

I am Cavill, Prince of Thessia.

Thessia. The word reaches into her soul. Her mood grows

pensive.

RAPUNZEL:

Thessia?

She moves closer. Peering into his eyes. Running her hands

through his hair.

RAPUNZEL (CONT’D)

Hair of fire. Could it be that

Edward’s son has finally come of an

age to answer my call?

PRINCE CAVILL:

You know my father?

Rapunzel grins.

30.

RAPUNZEL:

I once stole your father’s

admiration with the same song.

Her feminine feet grace the first stair of the cold marble

fortress.

RAPUNZEL (CONT’D)

How I’ve longed for this day.

EXT. IVORY FORTRESS - STAIRCASE - MOMENTS LATER

Rapunzel leads Cavill up the grand staircase of her high

tower.

INT. IVORY FORTRESS - GRAND THRONE ROOM - MOMENTS LATER

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