Excalibur Page #2

Lot spins to face him.

LOT:

What? You're mad! What about the

alliance?

UTHER:

(oblivious)

I must have her.

LOT:

And risk all you've won? This castle

commands the sea gate to the kingdom.

Uther is not one for politics, and Lot's words sail past

him. The King lusts for Igrayne.

A bell is struck not far away. The music ceases and the hall

falls silent. The great door creaks open, revealing the dawn

light, and a monk steps into the hall and waits by it. Muffled

by corridors of stone, a choir of monks can now be heard

singing the high, ecstatic harmonies of the Te Deum. Those

who have fallen asleep at the table are roused, those drunk,

helped up.

INT. PASSAGEWAY, TINTAGEL CASTLE - DAWN

The monk leads the party down the hallway of the castle.

Thin shafts of dawnlight filter through archers' slits in

the thick walls onto stone floors. Otherwise, it is dark.

Each person, lady and knight, proceeds alone, head bent,

some crossing themselves.

Uther is among them. He stops in a dark alcove, breathing

heavily, waiting.

As the lovely Igrayne drifts past him, he pulls her out of

sight of the others.

In a shaft of pale light Uther clasps Igrayne to his

breastplate, his iron arm wrapped around her frail body. So

violent is his embrace that she cannot breathe, her mouth is

wide with fear, and her feet do not touch the ground; an

impaled butterfly.

UTHER:

You will be mine. Wife and queen,

bed and crown.

His face is close to hers, looking as though he would devour

her tender whiteness with his kiss. She doesn't answer; she

can't. Even Uther understands this and lets her go.

IGRAYNE:

(a fierce whisper)

I want no other crown and no other

bed than those I have.

Her gown and her fragile skin torn on the spikes of his armor,

Igrayne backs away and joins the procession.

Uther trembles with unreleased passion.

INT. PASSAGEWAY OUTSIDE CHAPEL, TINTAGEL CASTLE - DAWN

Igrayne enters the candlelit chapel from which issues the

chant, calling the castle to worship. She rushes to her

husband's side, kneeling next to him and whispering. The

Duke of Cornwall looks back at Uther, hatred in his eyes.

EXT. WAR CAMP - BEFORE TINTAGEL CASTLE - DAY

Uther is in a towering rage. Sword drawn, he stalks among

the biers of fallen knights. Squires and clerics keep a

healthy distance. The sky is lowering, pregnant with rolling

thunder. Beyond his encampment, high on a cliff rising out

of the sea stands the impregnable Tintagel Castle, seat of

the Duke of Cornwall, now under siege.

UTHER:

(bellowing in all

directions)

Merlin! Where are you!?

Just then a knight rides up and dismounts. It is Ulfius, a

lieutenant.

UTHER:

Have you found him?

ULFIUS:

No--

But he cannot finish. He is taken aback by the sudden

appearance of a hideous hag who approaches, rattling a

beggar's pan.

HAG:

What a hurry you were in this morning,

good sir. You forgot to give this

old woman a coin.

ULFIUS:

I saw you half a day's gallop from

here. I asked you if you had seen

Merlin. I returned here straight

away. How did -

HAG:

--I heard. I have come. I am also

Merlin.

The figure straightens, the filthy rags become a flowing

cape, and the hair is swept back by the wind, andóit is

Merlin, laughing.

MERLIN:

I have walked my way since the

beginning of time. Sometimes I give,

sometimes I take. It is mine to know

which, and when.

UTHER:

(exploding)

Dumb riddles, Merlin. I am your King.

Ulfius edges away.

MERLIN:

I know the storm inside you, and

what it has wrought. The alliance I

forged is wrecked.

The Duke of Cornwall under siege. All this for lust. Selfish

lust.

Uther grabs Merlin.

UTHER:

For Igrayne. One night with her. Do

it. Use the magic.

Merlin frowns pensively, his gaze searching strange distances

and wandering; then focusing, blazing straight at Uther.

MERLIN:

You will swear by your true kingship

to grant me what I wish. Then you

shall have it.

Uther kneels and draws his sword and holds it up by the blade,

a cross.

UTHER:

I swear it. By Excalibur and the

holy--

MERLIN:

--What issues from your lust will be

mine. Swear it again.

UTHER:

I swear it.

Merlin looks down sorrowfully at the kneeling King.

EXT. BATTLEMENTS, TINTAGEL CASTLE - EVENING

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