Dragon Slayer Page #10

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VALERIAN:

Come on. Don't dawdle here.

Galen falls into step with her.

GALEN:

The whole kingdom like this?

VALERIAN:

No. We're near the lair. Keep moving.

Galen looks around with new interest.

GALEN:

Where?

VALERIAN:

Over there. Doesn't matter. We're in

no danger if we just pass through

quickly.

Galen stops. High on the slope beside them is a gaping

fissure.

GALEN:

I see it. Let's have a look.

VALERIAN:

No!

But Galen is already toiling up the incline.

VALERIAN:

Greil! Malkin! Help!

The travelers turn to see what's the matter.

THE LAIR:

Galen approaches the lair, pausing beside a wooden post with

iron manacles dangling from it. He fingers them thoughtfully.

Malkin, Greil and Valerian rush up behind him, their faces

drawn with worry.

GREIL:

Look, you don't have to do this. We

know you're a fine young magician.

None better. There's no need to prove

it to us.

GALEN:

Are there other entrances?

VALERIAN:

No. One's enough.

GREIL:

Come on. The road's this way. We'll

tell everybody how close you got.

GALEN:

(coolly)

No smoke. How do you know it's in

there?

GREIL:

Don't be a fool. Come away now and

live to tell about it.

Instead, Galen starts into the crack. Greil and Malkin hasten

away, but Valerian lingers, watching in mounting frustration

as Galen probes further and further into the lair. She picks

up a fistful of stones and throws them at him.

VALERIAN:

Go ahead! You're going to die! What

a fine trick that will be!

But Galen is lost in the gloom. She flees.

UNDERGROUND:

Galen puts his hand on the rugged wall: the rocks are hot to

the touch. Something glinting on the floor catches Galen's

eye:
an irridescent disk, a dragon scale. It flashes the

colors of the rainbow as Galen examines it. All at once the

ground shudders; chunks of rock fall from the ceiling. A

pall of smoke billows up from the depths.

OUTSIDE:

Galen staggers out of the fissure coughing and gagging in a

swirl of smoke. There is no sign of the Urlanders. He throws

down his pack, climbs onto a huge boulder and surveys the

massive cliffs rising behind the lair. He grasps the amulet

and closes his eyes.

GALEN:

Now, great mountain, hear my command:

Terrae lapsus consignet latibulum

draconis! Evanescat latibulum

draconis!

LANDSLIDE:

With a thunderous splitting sound, the entire top of the

cliff pitches forward and topples onto the lower half of the

mountain, sweeping tons of debris into the air. Boulders the

size of houses bound down the mountain toward the magician.

Eyes wide with awe, he turns and runs for his life. Even as

he careens down the slope, chunks of rock rumble past. One

catches him at the knee and sends him flying.

He covers his head and joins the landslide. Finally the dust

lifts and he finds himself in a gully face to face with the

cowering Urlanders. They look with real fear at the man who

just conjured up the Apocalypse. Tattered and torn, covered

with dirt, Galen climbs up out of the shelter for a look at

his handiwork.

LANDSCAPE:

The territory has been drastically transformed: the dragon's

lair is now buried beneath hundreds of tons of broken granite.

The Urlanders look upon the new landscape with stupefaction.

Galen grins a triumphant split-lip grin that fails to win

them over. Presently they back away and run off down the

trail, Valerian in their midst. Galen's grin fades.

CUT TO:

VILLAGE - DAY

The Village of Swanscombe is little more than a rough and

ready collection of thatched huts and mud-daubed outbuildings

surrounded by cultivated fields. Dogs sleep in open door-

ways; chickens peck around the communal well -- but there

are no people in evidence as Valerian and her company troop

into town.

VALERIAN:

She trots across the square and enters a deserted blacksmith

shop.

VALERIAN:

Father? Hello?

She goes over to the forge. Hot coals are burning. She becomes

aware of a sound -- voices -- chanting.

SQUARE:

She walks across the square toward the voices. She is joined

by Greil, Malkin and the other travelers, all of them puzzled

by the desolation. As they approach the grange hall the voices

grow louder. They seem to be singing. The main doors open

briefly and three villagers scamper out, dripping wet and

wrapped in white muslin. Valerian and her companions look at

each other in astonishment.

IN THE GRANGE HALL

In a wooden cistern in the middle of the hall a woman is

being held under water. After a few moments she is pulled to

the surface by a tall red-haired man with long bony fingers:

Brother Jacopus Januensis, a Carthusian monk. There's a wooden

cross on his chest and a mad look in his eye. Gathered around

him are the missing villagers, every man woman and child,

here to be baptised and sing a few newly-learned hymns in

praise of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

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