The Kingdom of Heaven Page #11

I warn you before I turn: I wear a

mask.

BALIAN stands staring in lamplight. We see as he sees; one of

the king’s swaddled hands.

THE KING (CONT'D)

Do not kneel. I loved your father.

I am glad to know his son.

He turns. What he wears is the most beautiful mas imaginable

(possibly representing the face that once was), hammered

silver, catching light.

THE KING (CONT'D)

The man you killed in the desert,

though a Saracen, was my father’s

friend. He taught me to hawk when I

was a boy.

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

52.

CONTINUED:

THE KING (CONT'D)

He taught me to shoot arrows from

horseback as the Saracens do. He

was there when my arm was pinched

and it was he, not my father’s

physicians, who noticed that I felt

no pain. He wept when he gave my

father the news.

(his eyes expressive in

the mask)

I am a leper. This disease, the

Saracens say, is God’s vengeance

against the vanity of our kingdom.

As wretched as I am here, the Arabs

say after their book, the

chastisement that awaits me in hell

is more severe and lasting.

(a wry beat)

If it is true, I call it unfair.

BALIAN may know that this man wants a friend: but he’s unable

to act expect as if he is with a king-- whose eyes die a

little when he sees that Balian averts his own eyes The King

is condemned to be lonely. Condemned also to be a king.

THE KING (CONT'D)

Wine.

The SERVANT pours two cups. Very careful about which cup is

which.

Balian takes his own. The king drinks with swaddled hands. He

sits at a table with a CHESS-SET.

THE KING (CONT'D)

Do you play?

BALIAN shakes his head. A CRUSE CHESSPIECE: A PAWN. It is a

triangle of ivory. It is touched by an artfully, even

beautifully, bandaged hand. BALIAN looks at the BOARD.

Dimension after dimension of room for error.

THE KING (OS) (CONT'D)

It is the world.

We see the young king’s masked face.

THE KING (CONT'D)

Each move can be the death of you.

(on the CRUDE PAWN)

Do anything except remain in your

starting place and you cannot be

sure of your end. Were you sure

once of your end?

(CONTINUED)

53.

CONTINUED:
(2)

BALIAN:

I was.

THE KING:

What was it?

BALIAN:

To be buried a hundred yards from

where I was born.

THE KING:

And now?

BALIAN (CONT’D)

Now I am in Jerusalem and look upon

a king.

THE KING (CONT’D)

A King may move a man...a father

may claim a son...a man may move

himself...and then the man begins

his own game. Remember howsoever

you are played, or by whom, that

your soul is in your keeping. Even

though those who presume to play

you be kings. Remember.

(the mask, in firelight,

raises)

When you answer to God you cannot

say “I was told it was thus”, or

that virtue “was not the fashion of

my times”. Remember.

BALIAN stares at a PAWN. Flickering light. He looks up.

BALIAN:

I will.

BALIAN stares at the king. THE KING slides a paper towards

Balian, with a drawing on it (basically it is pretty much

along the ideas that Balian is thinking) - i.e it has the

shape of a cross.

BALIAN (CONT'D)

It is a fortification.

THE KING:

(nods)

I have drawn it. What do you think

of it?

(CONTINUED)

54.

CONTINUED:
(3)

BALIAN:

I have thought, many times, that a

castle should be in the shape of a

cross.

(A stick of charcoal on

the table.)

May I?

THE KING nods, smiling.

THE KING:

Improve it.

BALIAN:

A cross...or a star. Like this.

(draws a “star fort”)

That way, not part of a fortress

may be approached without being

exposed to fire from another part.

THE KING smiles, and furls the paper. He has made the test.

THE KING:

You will go to your house of

Ibelin, and protect the pilgrim

road. Protect in particular the

Jews and the Muslims.

(defiant:
the Mask comes

up)

All are welcome in Jerusalem. Not

because it is expedient, but

because it is right.

(a beat:
drinks off his

cup)

Protect the helpless.

BALIAN takes it seriously.

THE KING (CONT'D)

And when one day I am

helpless...perhaps you will protect

me.

(a beat)

You may go.

BALIAN looks up The glittering mask. Balian nods, goes out.

The KING returns to his lonely chair by the window.

EXT. THE CORRIDOR. NIGHT

BALIAN comes out of the king’s apartments, and looks down the

hall.

(CONTINUED)

55.

CONTINUED:

SIBYLLA’S DOOR still stands open, light falling into the

hall.

Balian might well have walked towards the door, but a BOY

(Sibylla’s son) is standing in the hall, staring at Balian

expressionlessly. BALIAN raises his hand. The BOY backs away

and disappears into his room. A LEAD EQUESTRIAN KNIGHT on the

floor. BALIAN picks it up, weighs it in his hand. The BOY

peeps around the corner again. BALIAN smiles experimentally.

The BOY disappears. BALIAN fixes the soldier, bending a bent

bit back into place, and places the LEAD KNIGHT on the edge

of a balustrade. He goes.

EXT. A BARRACKS COURTYARD IN THE PALACE. MORNING

CLOSE ON TIBERIAS.

TIBERIAS:

The king has charged you with your

tasks. You keep the peace.

(glaring at the men--of

Ibelin, and other houses)

To break the peace, to rob Saracen,

Jew or Christian, is death on the

instant. Do you understand.

BALIAN nods. His men nod, perhaps more reluctantly.

ALMARIC:

Ibelin.

YOUNG SERGEANT:

That shithole.

ALMARIC:

Ssh.

TIBERIAS comes up to BALIAN, and privately.

TIBERIAS:

Be gone to Ibelin. Not least before

the princess Sibylla does take

you...”riding”.

TIBERIAS smiles, and hands BALIAN some rolled parchments

bound with ribbon.

TIBERIAS (CONT'D)

These are my plans of the city

defenses.

(Balian hesitates

respectfully)

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

56.

CONTINUED:

TIBERIAS (CONT'D)

Better them if you can. I defend

Jerusalem, not my reputation.

BALIAN nods respectfully. TIBERIAS smiles.

EXT. THE PILGRIM ROAD. VARIOUS

JEWS by a campfire stand and bow as BALIAN, cloaked, rides

past with forty of his mounted men, also cloaked. They are

very much policemen on patrol. FACES of the pilgrims: the

young, the old. They ride on, past more CHRISTIAN PILGRIMS

trudging towards the city -- the mad, the penitent, the

merely curious, the barely alive. A NAKED MAN crawls...drags

himself along, mumbling. BALIAN looks at him and spurs on.

EXT. A CAMP BY THE PILGRIM ROAD. TWILIGHT

Cold men by a fire (still unsure of Balian). A SERGEANT holds

out a plate of boiled wheat. BALIAN takes it and eats with

his fingers. He is aware of the silence and discomfort and

plain curiosity of his men. Some are peering at him. BALIAN

puts down his plate, and stands.

BALIAN:

I am not my father.

His men, who have been thinking just this, look at each

other.

BALIAN (CONT'D)

But I will do my best.

BALIAN walks off alone. He sees: A PROCESSION OF CHILDREN,

singing, on their way to Jerusalem.

EXT. ABOVE IBELIN. DAY

They ride into show, reining in.

ALMARIC:

There, my lord.

BALIAN rides a little forward.

ALMARIC (CONT'D)

Ibelin.

BALIAN’S POV:

IBELIN. A faintly green valley floor, an oasis, a fort that

would best be called a “casbah”. A village around it.

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