One Night with the King Page #6

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The blood of my forefathers

will be avenged.

And the gods will smile down on our son

through our obedience.

And are you mad? This is your plan?

It is not that our allies

are unwilling, my lord,

but they have not fared well.

A storm has robbed the Phoenicians

of a good part of their fleet.

Carthage finds herself short in timber

with which to complete our warships...

Surely the fate of the empire

does not hinge on money?

- Are you ready to furnish it, then?

- No, not I, my lord.

But I'm aware of traitors

within our borders that could.

The Jews? We are not children.

Nevertheless, the money may be raised

by the confiscation

of Jewish wealth and property.

And the Jews will just

hand it over without a fight?

No, of course not.

First we must kill them all.

Every last one of them.

It is the only way to ensure

they do not rise up and seek revenge.

He speaks of women

and children, my lord.

Yes, women and children.

I know.

What is your solution?

Or would you rather, my dear Memucan,

the Greeks and the Jews unite

and, hand in hand,

murder us in our beds while we sleep?

Is the past so mighty

that we must destroy our brothers

to be free of its grasp?

No kingdom was ever so grand

as the Jews' own King Solomon.

He fought not one battle,

toiled through not one war,

but prospered upon the peace

handed down by his father.

Do not make void what your

own father's death has purchased.

- By picking back up...

- Mind your tone, General.

Why thirst you for warfare

when we can drink so deeply of peace?

You speak of peace,

let us speak of the Jews.

They would rather bow down to their own

God than obey the laws of protocol.

Their prophets even speak

of a coming king.

A king who will reign over all kings

and set all men free.

Is that not the very essence of democracy,

my dear Memucan?

I do believe, under your guidance,

we are undone.

If we are undone,

we are undone from within, indeed.

March upon Greece, if you wish.

But you march

with no general in your lead.

Then it has not yet been signed into law?

Not as yet, my lady.

Perhaps guilt stirs men too hotly at times,

and they seek the salve of the law

to ease the burning.

And what would you have me do?

I cannot seek him in the library

unless summoned.

If you arrived first,

then he in effect

would be seeking you, would he not?

How came you pass my guard?

I demanded none use the library this night.

I seek that which you seek, my lord.

Truth.

Perhaps the truth

of what exists between us?

I have come on matters of state.

Matters of state.

I see.

And what matters of state might that be?

You desire more perfumes?

You request more condiments?

Surely as queen of the kitchen,

you need not await me here.

You know as well as I how quickly word

travels throughout the palace.

Especially when murder's involved.

You are... You are learned, well-read.

Offer me a story that

answers my dilemma.

- I have never pretended with you.

- Never pretended?

Think you not that I see

Memucan's strings

dangling above your head even now?

You care more for these Jews

than you do for me.

Do you enquire of my burdens,

do you offer me solutions?

No.

You just complain.

- As Vashti did?

- Away from me!

And come before me no longer,

no matter what pretense you seek,

or your fate shall be worse than Vashti.

- But I do love you.

- Love has failed me.

Knowledge has failed me, thus

I bind myself to the protocol

of my fathers and to my empire.

By the next moon, I leave for war.

And whatever my fate,

it shall no longer be shared with you.

This was once your favorite reading.

And though it may no longer

bear the story of love,

it bears that of one Mordecai the Jew.

One of whom you wish to destroy

saved your life.

And you never even honored him for it.

The casting of the lot, the Pur...

It has determined upon which day

all the Jews of the kingdom will be slain.

This day is to be the 13th day

of the month of Adar

according to the calendar of the Jews.

Prince...

The annihilation of a people

can only be authorized by one

who bears the signet of the King himself.

(PEOPLE SCREAMING)

MORDECAI:
And those letters were sent

into all the land,

to slay and annihilate all the Jews

on the 13th of Adar,

some six weeks hence.

Both young and old,

men, women and even children.

And to plunder all of their possessions

for the sake of the crown.

The scribe insists that

all is dependent upon you, my queen.

Dependent upon me?

My queen might wish

to go before the King and intercede

for those that have no other hope.

My lady...

Have you forgotten your protocol?

To approach the King

unsummoned is death.

Perhaps in court.

But surely you can visit him in private.

In his chambers.

Surely I cannot.

ESTHER:
Obedient I have been.

I walk before you with a loyal heart.

And now I stand in the hour of trouble

precisely because of my obedience.

I beseech you, Father,

let there be another way.

Rise up a deliverer and let this pass.

Let this pass.

MORDECAI:
"'Comfort,

"'comfort my people,' says your God.

"Cry unto Israel

"that her warfare is finished,

"that her iniquity is removed.

"The everlasting

neither faints nor is weary.

"His understanding no one can fathom.

"He gives strength to the weary

and power to the weak.

"Even the youth shall faint and be weary,

"and young men shall utterly fail.

"But those who wait on the Lord

shall renew their strength."

Lord, we wait on thee.

Renew our strength.

MAN:
Clear the way for he who comes.

Kneel before the great prince.

Clear the way for he who comes.

Kneel for the great prince.

You...

Lower yourself to honor

the great Prince Haman. Kneel!

- I said kneel.

- Stop!

- Why do you not kneel?

- I kneel before my king.

I abase myself

only before the God of my fathers.

- What's his name, this God?

- The great I AM.

The one true God,

the maker of heaven and earth.

The God of Abraham,

of Isaac and of Jacob.

A Jew.

Mordecai Ben-Yair.

Mordecai...

I shall name my prize pig after you.

Perhaps I may give you other reasons

to remember my name.

You will remember mine

for this!

Move on.

MAN:
What good did that do?

You still ended up

on the ground like the rest of us.

But I did not kneel.

Come, now, you are a mere three days

from being handed a kingdom.

We must not let one Jew rob us of our joy.

That is not good enough.

Then seek permission

to honor the King's departure

with a public execution of a rebel

(ECHOING)

a symbol of your authority

over those that remain.

A gallows, 50 cubits high

with Mordecai right...

The chronicles.

XERXES:
Rise.

A matter disturbs me.

You may be of assistance.

I am most pleased, my lord,

for I, too, desire your counsel on a matter.

A certain man

has rendered great service to me.

He has received many honors

amongst his people,

but he once saved my life.

I feel, despite everything, full recognition

has not yet been given him.

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