The Kingdom of Heaven Page #20

EXT. JERUSALEM. NIGHT

Torches flare on the battlements. BELLS gong and echo through

the deserted streets.

INT. THE DUNGEON. LATER

The doors open. REYNALD looks up. GUY, stunned by

developments, leans against the wall. He holds a sword

wrapped in its belt. BELLS on sound.

REYNALD:

The boy is in heaven.

(GUY leans against the

wall, nods)

Your wife has no more stone than

anyone I have known. God protect

her. I admire good. I just can’t do

it.

GUY:

She is in the crypt and will not

come out.

REYNALD:

Have the Templars removed your

problem?

GUY nods, hollowly. He gives REYNALD his (Reynald’s) sword.

GUY:

Give me a war, Reynald.

REYNALD:

That is what I do.

GUY walks out leaving the prison door open. BELLS carry over

into...

100.

INT. THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER. DAY

Torchlight. All the nobles of the kingdom. SIBYLLA, looking

beautiful, drugged, is crowned by the Patriarch. She sits on

the throne. As the Patriarch backs away she looks aside and

sees:
GUY’S HAND on her shoulder.

EXT. THE DESERT. DAY

REYNALD, armor covered with blood, stands and surveys A

SLAUGHTERED MUSLIM CARAVAN. Silks are being dragged from

bundles. Purses are being cut from dead Saracens. REYNALD

walks through the scene of slaughter.

MUSLIM WOMEN are being stripped and raped. REYNALD walks as

if stunned and ashamed, but still he has done what he has

done. REYNALD quire simply cannot help himself.

REYNALD:

I am what I am. Someone has to be.

He goes up to a captured MUSLIM WOMAN and...Unveils her. Eyes

swerve up.

KNIGHT:

That is Saladin’s sister.

REYNALD:

I know.

OMITTED:

EXT. DAMASCUS. DAY

A GREAT PUBLIC SQUARE, filled with tens and tens of thousands

of Muslim men. They are acclaiming SALADIN but using the

words to praise God. SALADIN raises his palm and the ALLAH is

louder. In a fury Saladin moves away from his balcony and

into his palace.

INT. THE PALACE IN DAMASCUS. CONTINUOUS

IMAD is looking at his master with a kind of fear.

SALADIN:

There will be no quarter.

IMAD:

Godfrey’s son is lord defender. He

is honest.

(CONTINUED)

101.

CONTINUED:

SALADIN:

If they do not surrender Jerusalem

they die.

SALADIN cuts his palm; and with a finger puts a streak of

blood on his head.

INT. THE THRONE ROOM IN JERUSALEM. NIGHT

GUY is drinking. Not looking very much like being King was

his best idea. He is listening to a SARACEN MESSENGER.

SARACEN MESSENGER

Where is ibn Barzin?

GUY:

Who is ibn Barzin?

SARACEN MESSENGER

It is our name for the son of

Godfrey.

GUY:

You will speak to me.

SARACEN MESSENGER

The Sultan will not talk terms. He

means to try the Kingdom in the

greatest wager of battle yet seen

in this land. The Sultan finds us

divided. The Sultan says that

Jerusalem has now a false king. The

Sultan demands the surrender of

Jerusalem.

GUY:

Does he.

The SARACEN MESSENGER nods.

SARACEN MESSENGER

What answer do you give to Saladin?

GUY takes out his dagger.

GUY:

This.

He kills the SARACEN MESSENGER, driving point through the

underjaw and into the brain. He lets the body fall.

GUY (CONT’D)

Send the head to Damascus.

(CONTINUED)

102.

CONTINUED:

SIBYLLA in her mourning clothes stands shocked in the

doorway, blinking. GUY looks up to her.

GUY (CONT’D)

(mocking her thoughts)

“What have I done?”

The TEMPLARS and GUY’S MEN, by prearrangement, kill the

PALACE GUARD and HOSPITALERS. GUY walks slowly up to his

wife, grabs her face, and kisses her forehead.

GUY (CONT’D)

You’ve served your purpose. You

poisoned the wrong one.

TIBERIAS stepping forward is confronted by Guy’s PIKEMEN.

GUY (CONT’D)

I won’t confine you. I leave you

your power, your knights. You may

try civil war. But then the

Saracens would see us divided and

come in. And so much for Christ’s

kingdom. As they call it in other

parts of the world.

(a beat)

I have the town, I have the palace,

I have its guard, I have the

Templars, I have the Patriarch, and

I have the crown. It’s done,

Tiberias. I am Jerusalem.

(moving away)

Assemble the Army.

EXT. OUTSIDE THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM. DAY

The full ARMY OF THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM is assembled.

Enormous ranks of horsemen, each in their "order" before the

city walls. Ranks of FOOTSOLDIERS to left and right.

TURCOPOLES riding around the fringe, raising dust. The BANNER

OF THE HOLY CROSS flies near GUY’S TENT.

INT. GUY’S RED TENT. DAY

An open-sided affair, a full view of the camp. Horses of the

nobility of the kingdom held outside. GUY has arranged

himself in a thronelike chair at the end of his council

table. BARONS in attendance. A commotion outside. GUY goes to

the ten opening and we see:

BALIAN, without armor, walks slowly in past the lines of

mounted men at arms, who salute him. Commotion among the

FOOTSOLDIERS are well.

(CONTINUED)

103.

CONTINUED:

GUY is too observed to reveal his thoughts on the appearance

of Balian. He returns nervously to his chair. BALIAN enters

the crowded tent. He looks for a long time at the Templar

Master. He and Guy stare at each other.

GUY:

Now this assemblage of barons is...

by some loose definition..

(looks up at Balian)

complete. There are those among you

who may disagree with our

succession but it is war and I...am

the king.

(looks up nerbously)

We march at once. What say this

council?

ALMOST ALL:

Aye.

BALIAN:

No.

TIBERIAS looks up and smiles. GUY is not smiling.

GUY:

There are barons, and barons, my

lords. This is a curious one.

BALIAN:

If you must have a war, this army

must not move away from water.

TIBERIAS:

What he says is true. If you march

in the head of this season, you

will kill this army.

BALIAN:

You have a chance to hold the city.

But if you move out against

Saladin, this army will be

destroyed and the city left

defenseless.

GUY:

When I wish a blacksmith as my

advisor in war I will let him know.

You will not join this army.

(CONTINUED)

104.

CONTINUED:
(2)

BALIAN:

Saladin wants you to come out. He

is waiting for you to make that

mistake. He knows his man.

BALIAN goes out. Guy staring after him.

TEMPLAR MASTER:

We should meet the enemies of God.

GUY:

So we shall.

TIBERIAS:

You do so without my knights.

GUY:

Then I will have the glory. You’ve

had yours, years and years ago,

Tiberias. It is time for mine.

EXT. OUTSIDE THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM. MOMENTS LATER

TIBERIAS joins BALIAN, and they walk towards the city gates,

moving through the ARMY. BALIAN’S MEN and TIBERIAS’ MEN

separate from the army. Reaction on the faces of the men.

TIBERIAS:

The boy is dead.

BALIAN:

Did Guy kill him?

TIBERIAS:

No.

(Balian looks at him)

He was a leper like his uncle. His

mother gave him peace.

(Balian starts to speak

and cannot, nearly

stumbles, and Tiberias

holds him)

She “let him go”-- and Jerusalem

with him.

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote