Lord of Illusions Page #14

HARRY:

And you're not?

Silence for a moment.

SWANN:

Oh, I was going to discover the

secret of the universe. That's why

I liked Nix. He promised me all

these explanations.

HARRY:

And he didn't have them?

SWANN:

He had something. He showed me how

to bend the rules. A little

levitation. A few fireworks.

HARRY:

Is that all?

SWANN:

No.

(a beat)

At the end... when we had him

cornered, he got into my head. He

showed me what we really look like,

when the veneer's gone. Jelly.

Sh*t...

HARRY:

And you believed him?

SWANN:

I saw it with my own f***ing eyes!

See, that's his best trick. No

illusions. Just the truth.

(he looks at Harry)

Are you ready for that?

Harry grabs the brandy bottle from Swann.

SWANN:

Hey!

Harry drinks.

SWANN:

Thought not.

EXT. SWANN'S MANSION - NIGHT

PAN DOWN from the palms to Harry's car, outside the front

door.

INT. SWANN'S MANSION - VARIOUS - NIGHT

Harry puts his head in the study, the library, the bedroom.

HARRY:

Dorothea?

Now he's on the landing. Swann's below.

SWANN:

She's not here.

Harry spots Valentin's BLOOD on the carpet.

HARRY:

Did she know where Nix was buried?

SWANN:

No.

HARRY:

Who else did? Did Valentin?

SWANN:

Yes.

HARRY:

Jesus!

EXT. DESERT HIGHWAY - NIGHT

Butterfield's SEDAN crosses the desert, under a sky full of

stars.

INT. BUTTERFIELD'S SEDAN - NIGHT

Valentin drives. Butterfield and Dorothea are in the back.

Dorothea is handcuffed.

He has a bag open at his feet. One by one he takes out a

series of extraordinary instruments. Dorothea looks on,

confounded.

BUTTERFIELD:

Like the look of these? I made

them myself, to set him free.

DOROTHEA:

Why did you wait so long?

BUTTERFIELD:

I didn't have the skill to

resurrect him. I had to teach

myself. And that took time.

DOROTHEA:

And you think he'll be in a fit

state to resurrect, after thirteen

years?

BUTTERFIELD:

If he was just a man like me, then

no. But he's not.

DOROTHEA:

What is he?

BUTTERFIELD:

Maybe he'll show you.

ON DOROTHEA, terror in her eyes.

EXT. NIX'S HOUSE - NIGHT

Now there are a dozen vehicles parked around the house.

Through the windows, the flickering of oil-lamp FLAMES.

There is a low, ominous CHANT floating from the house.

It has no words, but it is steadily BUILDING in intensity.

We DRIFT towards the front door.

INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAY - MEDITATION ROOM - NIGHT

Now we move down the passageway to the Meditation Room.

Inside, SEVENTEEN CULTISTS kneel in a circle. They are all

CUTTING OFF THEIR HAIR, and throwing it into the FIRE that

blazes in the centre of the circle. They hack

indiscriminately, with KNIVES, SCISSORS and RAZORS, their

eyes wild. BLOOD runs down their faces and necks from nicked

ears and scalps.

And still the CHANT BUILDS, and BUILDS...

NORMAN:

He will come! He will come! He

will come!

EXT. DESERT - NIX'S GRAVE - NIGHT

Wide. A few rocks, and emptiness.

The headlamps of Butterfield's sedan burn in the darkness,

illuminating the dig. Valentin is in the grave, digging.

ON Butterfield, as he stands at the edge of the hole,

watching the work. Dorothea stands a yard or two behind him.

BUTTERFIELD:

Anything?

VALENTIN (V.0.)

Not yet.

Butterfield squats at the edge of the hole and suddenly

reaches out for Valentin, hauling him close.

BUTTERFIELD:

If you've lied to me to me --

VALENTIN:

I swear... this is the place Swann

told me about. The rocks...

On Dorothea, who uses Butterfield's distraction to take a few

steps back towards the open car door.

Dorothea's P.O.V. of Butterfield, back to her, interrogating

Valentin.

BUTTERFIELD:

Five more minutes. Hear me? And

you'd better not --

A SOUND behind him. Butterfield wheels round. On the ground

beside the open car door, the instruments.

BUTTERFIELD:

What the f*** are you playing at?

He goes to pick them up. Dorothea steps from behind the

door, with the sharpest in her hand. She slashes at him.

Opens a WOUND across his arm.

BUTTERFIELD:

Aah!

He comes at her suddenly, striking the instrument from her

hand, and slamming her against the car. He hits her. Once.

Twice. Then --

VALENTIN (V.O.)

Butterfield!

Butterfield goes to the edge of the grave, picks up the

flashlight and trains the beam on Valentin.

VALENTIN:

(blinded)

In the corner...

The beam goes to the corner of the grave.

A mummified HAND is sticking out of one of the walls.

BUTTERFIELD:

(to Valentin)

Keep away from it.

Butterfield jumps down into the grave, and goes to the hand.

The TRACK is silent, but for Butterfield's shallow breath.

He reaches out to touch Nix^s fingers...

Closer...

Closer...

He touches the hand - and the wall of sand comes down with a

ROAR!

He jumps back as Nix's corpse, his head still sealed by the

mask rolls into view.

VALENTIN:

Oh Christ! Oh Christ!

BUTTERFIELD:

(reverentially)

It's him... it's him.

On Dorothea, sliding down the car in despair.

CUT TO:

INT. HARRY'S CAR - NIGHT

The car is static; the engine still running.

HARRY:

They got here before us.

SWANN:

Looks that way.

EXT. NIX'S GRAVE - NIGHT

Harry gets out of the car and starts towards the open grave.

HARRY'S MOVING P.O.V. OF THE GRAVE

Harry reaches the grave's-edge. It's totally dark. He peers

in. On his heel, as the ground CRUMBLES beneath his weight.

Harry slides into the grave.

HARRY:

Sh*t!

He's in darkness now. He gets to his feet, and starts to try

and scramble out.

HARRY:

Swann? Swann!

Silence.

Suddenly, a hand is laid on his shoulder! Harry swings

round. It's Valentin. He has been badly cut up.

VALENTIN:

D'Amour --

HARRY:

Sh*t...

VALENTIN:

Help me.

He collapses into Harry's arms.

HARRY:

Swann!

INT. HARRY'S CAR - NIGHT

Indecision is written all over Swann's face: to help or not

to help?

HARRY (V.O.)

Swann!

He decides. Gets out.

EXT. NIX'S GRAVE - MIGHT

Swann goes to the graveside, terrified.

HARRY:

Give me a hand. I got Valentin.

Together, Harry and Swann lift Valentin out of the grave and

lay him in the blaze of the headlamps.

VALENTIM:

He's got Dorothea.

SWANN:

And Nix?

VALENTIN:

Him too.

HARRY:

We've got to get you to a hospital.

VALENTIN:

Don't bother.

HARRY:

Shut up. We've lost enough lives

already.

VALENTIN:

I'm sorry, D'Amour...

HARRY:

What about?

VALENTIN:

... Looks like you're going...

to lose... one more.

Valentin dies.

HARRY:

(despairing)

... no...

SWANN:

He's better off this way.

HARRY:

(furious)

Nobody's better off this wav!

SWANN:

You don't get it, do you? We're

sh*t. D'Amour.

He puts his foot beneath Valentin's body. It rolls back into

Nix's grave.

SWANN:

That's where we're all going.

HARRY:

In my time, and nobody else's.

ON THE EMPTY GRAVE, as we HEAR the SOUND of Harry and Swann

getting into the car. The doors SLAM. The CAR LIGHTS

retreat. The grave is left to DARKNESS.

EXT. NIX'S HOUSE - NIGHT

The house is silent now.

INT. NIX'S HOUSE - PASSAGEWAYS - NIGHT

We TRACK through the house. The CULTISTS, all Seventeen of

them, stand in the passageways, looking toward Nix's sanctum.

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