The Kingdom of Heaven Page #10

The GRANDEE, of course, does, instantly.

TIBERIAS (CONT'D)

You are an ignorant and difficult

bastard.

MUSLIM GRANDEE:

(smugly)

Who is ignorant who knows God?

TIBERIAS exhaustedly waves the man out. The MUSLIM GRANDEE

goes, starchily. TIBERIAS, face in hands, sits at his work

table.

HOSPITALER (OS)

My lord.

(CONTINUED)

46.

CONTINUED:
(3)

TIBERIAS looks up and sees: BALIAN. TIBERIAS gets up and

walks nearer the table with the model. He holds out both

hands and Balian, after a moment of uncertainty, takes them.

TIBERIAS:

It is true.

(remarking resemblance)

You are your father’s son. He was

my friend. I am yours.

(a beat)

Godfrey dead...It could have come

at a better time.

HOSPITALER:

He has been examining your model.

TIBERIAS:

An engineer?

BALIAN nods, peering at the model, almost unable to help

himself, and Tiberias notices.

TIBERIAS (CONT'D)

It was shouted in the streets this

morning that you killed a great

lord of Syria.

BALIAN:

I was fortunate.

TIBERIAS:

Saladin himself has written to say

your fight was no breach of the

peace. That you had a cause.

(a beat)

What know you of Saladin?

BALIAN:

That he is the King of the

Saracens, and surrounds this

kingdom.

TIBERIAS:

Indeed he does. He has two hundred

thousand men at Damascus alone. He

might win a war if he goes to war

and he is daily given cause for war

by the Templars, by fanatics newly

from Europe, and by bastards like

Reynald. Here from this room I keep

the peace, so far as it may be

kept. I begin sometimes to wonder

if it’s worth the trouble.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

47.

CONTINUED:
(4)

TIBERIAS (CONT'D)

But Saladin and the king between

them would make...

(exhaustedly)

...a “better world”.

(a beat, smiling)

What did your father tell you of

your obligations?

BALIAN:

That I was to be a good knight.

TIBERIAS at first smiles. Then looks BALIAN closely in the

eye.

TIBERIAS:

I pray the world and Jerusalem can

accommodate such a rarity as a

perfect knight.

(a beat)

Have you dined?

INT. THE GREAT HALL OF THE PALACE. NIGHT

In a great hall under a long second-story gallery A DINING

TABLE.

TIBERIAS, careworn, is eating slowly. BALIAN is nervous,

picking at food. He looks up as two figures come into the

room:
GUY and SIBYLLA.

Sibylla holds Guy’s arm. BALIAN looks down at his plate. GUY

seats his wife; and then sits across from Balian and stares

at him. Drunk, and pouring wine from a jug.

GUY:

You sit at my table?

BALIAN and GUY stare at each other.

BALIAN:

It is the king’s table. So I am

told.

GUY:

It is. I have not seen a king at it

for some years.

(stares at Balian, drinks

wine)

Well. However far you rise we shall

always remember the docks. Eh?

(rising)

I won’t eat. I am finicky about

company. In France

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

48.

CONTINUED:

GUY (CONT'D)

(points at Balian)

This could not inherit. But here

there are no civilized rules.

He rises to leave. GUY and TIBERIAS stare at each other, an

inch from drawing daggers. SIBYLLA sits her face unchanged.

BALIAN steals a look at SIBYLLA, who catches him at it: and a

world is said though her face does not change.

GUY (CONT'D)

I have business in the East. My

wife does not lament at my

absences. That is either the best

of wives

(kisses the top of

Sibylla’s head)

Or the very, very, worst.

(goes)

TIBERIAS:

Do you go to meet Reynald?

GUY turns at the door.

GUY:

(openly lying, and mocking

Tiberias)

No, my lord. He is in disfavor. I

am a member of this court. Why

should I make league with

that...trouble-maker.

He upends his cup. Wine like blood on the stones. Then he

drops the cup and leaves. No one can think of anything to

say. Sibylla turns hostess and as if this has not happened:

SIBYLLA:

(to BALIAN)

We will ride together. And you will

tell me about France and what is

and is not the fashion there now.

BALIAN looks, to say the least, unequal to the job.

SIBYLLA (CONT'D)

(drily)

Are you married?

BALIAN:

My wife is dead.

(CONTINUED)

49.

CONTINUED:
(2)

SIBYLLA:

(dry)

You must be found another.

BALIAN:

When I am ready I imagine I will

find her myself.

She smiles at his abruptness. But has reason (Guy) to look

careworn. She looks seriously at Balian, who is now eating.

TIBERIAS:

(murmuring)

The king.

All stand quietly. The KING moves along through the shadows,

attended.

A white, masked, figure on the gallery above.

TIBERIAS (CONT'D)

(brokenly, careworn, and

now to himself)

The king.

All stand. The KING disappears from the gallery. An Equerry

comes forward and whispers in TIBERIAS’ ear.

TIBERIAS (CONT'D)

The King would see Godfrey’s son.

SIBYLLA:

(smiles)

I will take him.

EXT. A COURTYARD. TWILIGHT

Falling water. The palace is full of shadows, whispers, a

desert Elsinore. BALIAN, walking with SIBYLLA, looks around

warily. The dinner continues beyond an archway (TIBERIAS

talking business).

BALIAN:

I spoke without knowing who you

were.

SIBYLLA:

(running her fingers over

the plants)

Would knowing who I am make any

difference to the fact that I was

wrong?

(CONTINUED)

50.

CONTINUED:

BALIAN:

No.

SIBYLLA:

I was wrong. I am sorry.

Sibylla walks lightly along.

SIBYLLA (CONT'D)

I knew who you were. It’s

unmistakable. I loved your father.

I shall love you.

BALIAN trips on a stone. Sibylla smiles.

SIBYLLA (CONT'D)

Do you fear being with me?

BALIAN:

Yes.

SIBYLLA looks pleased. It is as it should be. She walks

around the fountain.

SIBYLLA:

A woman in my place has two faces.

One for the world, and one which

she wears in privacy.

BALIAN:

I have never had more than one

face.

SIBYLLA:

That will change with your new

position.

BALIAN:

I do not think so.

Sibylla, jolted, looks back at him with great interest.

SIBYLLA:

Then with you, I will be only

Sibylla.

A slight sound. A SERVANT susses out the fairly dangerous

sexual situation and disappears behind a pillar.

SIBYLLA (CONT'D)

Tiberias thinks me unpredictable. I

am unpredictable.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

51.

CONTINUED:
(2)

SIBYLLA (CONT'D)

(smiles)

Come.

She takes BALIAN’s hand. Not grandly. Like a girl.

INT. A CORRIDOR IN THE PALACE. MOMENTS LATER

BALIAN and SIBYLLA have come to the king’s door, which is

guarded.

BALIAN:

You do not come in?

SIBYLLA:

No.

(with genuine respect)

I cannot.

She lets go of his hand and goes off down the corridor. At

the end she opens a door: a fall of light. She goes through

the door, leaving the door open. Balian stares at the open

door; then looks at the door to the king’s chambers. The

doors are swung open.

INT. THE KING’S APARTMENTS. NIGHT

BALIAN enters the room. It is lit by oil-lamps. Silks and

tapestries but it is still a working room--papers and scrolls-

books. A great map. The KING sits in a chair before the

window, his back to Balian. Before him, Jerusalem and the

desert stars.

THE KING:

(easily, but lonely)

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