The Kingdom of Heaven Page #21

BALIAN, shattered, nods, and walks on.

BALIAN:

We must look to the defenses. When

Saladin destroys Guy he will come.

TIBERIAS nods. BALIAN sees: the HOSPITALER, mounted, among

other knights of his order. The HOSPITALER rides out.

(CONTINUED)

105.

CONTINUED:

BALIAN (CONT’D)

You go with the Army?

HOSPITALER:

With my Order. Have I lived? Will

you remember me? What I have said

to you?

BALIAN nods.

HOSPITALER (CONT’D)

I will tell Godfrey what I have

seen you become.

They clasp hands. Responding to an order OS the HOSPITALER

turns horse and rides off with the other knights.

INT. THE PALACE. NIGHT

BALIAN moves along the hall, with Almaric and his men. A

TEMPLAR GUARD interposes. BALIAN kills him. Another TEMPLAR

begins to draw his sword. BALIAN disarms him and backs him

against the wall, dagger point at his throat. The PATRIARCH

sees him. BALIAN hands over the TEMPLAR GUARD to Almaric and

grabs the Patriarch by the throat.

BALIAN:

Where is the Queen of Jerusalem?

PATRIARCH:

Guy is head of the army...and of

course a husband has rights, even

over a Queen...

UNDECIDED GUARDS appear. BALIAN cuts the Patriarch’s purse,

and throws the purse to the UNDECIDED GUARDS...who now decide

which way the wind is blowing, take the money, and retreat.

BALIAN:

Are you a man, my lord bishop, who

looks to his own interest? You have

that reputation.

The PATRIARCH nods. Yes yes yes.

BALIAN (CONT’D)

If you obstruct me, I will kill

you. There it is.

INT. THE CRYPT. MOMENTS LATER

SIBYLLA is praying. A key clanks in the lock. She turns and

sees:

(CONTINUED)

106.

CONTINUED:

BALIAN, framed in the doorway. She stands, and lowers her

eyes. BALIAN comes forward.

BALIAN:

It does not matter what you have

done. What matters is what we do

now.

Sibylla looks up.

BALIAN (CONT’D)

Guy will lose the army. I must

prepare to defend the city.

SIBYLLA:

Open the gates...If Saladin comes

in his full strength we are not

defensible. Not even if the army

were here.

BALIAN:

I have...decided otherwise. When

they come, they will not get in.

SIBYLLA looks up as BALIAN moves fast out of the room. The

doorway is now empty.

EXT. JERUSALEM. VARIOUS. DAY

MONTAGE of BALIAN, unarmored, directing the arrangement of

defenses. A broken wall swarming with MASONS. CITIZENS are

armed with PIKES and SPEARS. BALIAN supervises the placement

of a BALLISTA. ETC, ETC.

EXT. PALACE BALCONY. CONTINUOUS

SIBYLLA watches from a high window.

EXT. THE DESERT. DAY

A HUGE SHOT of the desert. At a distance of about a mile, we

see the ARMY OF JERUSALEM. It is straggling across the plain,

below two hills understood to be the Horns of Hattin. It is

no fine “hedgehog” but a rabble baking in the sun. Into the

shot, a BOOTED FOOT in a stirrup.

REVERSE IT to reveal: SALADIN. He is staring, veiled across.

Beside him, IMAD. The MULLAH rides up.

MULLAH:

God wills it.

SALADIN nods. MUSLIM HORSE ride up the hill.

107.

EXT. THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM. TWILIGHT

TIBERIAS, staring intently out into the desert, comes along

to find BALIAN, sitting rigidly on the ramparts, drinking

water from a skin.

BALIAN:

Can you sense it?

BALIAN stands and looks out into the desert himself.

TIBERIAS:

I know at least that no riders have

come...

BALIAN nods.

EXT. HATTIN. DAY (HELICOPTER OR CABLE)

In THICK SMOKE (obscuring distances), the aftermath of the

battle. Dead horses and men, tangled with their enemies.

Saracens of the lower classes brawl over purses, arms. (This

was, and still is, the greatest Muslim victory of all time),

and the Saracens know it: they have smashed not only the army

of Jerusalem but the Crusades).

EXT. HATTIN. CONTINUOUS

SALADIN, stone-faced, walks over the battlefield. IMAD is

with him.

SALADIN:

Kill the knights of the religious

orders.

IMAD looks taken aback.

SALADIN (CONT’D)

They are fanatics and no peace will

ever be made with them. They will

think one thing their entire lives,

and they will never stop thinking

it.

(bitterly, staring across

the battlefield)

Kill them.

SALADIN walks on through the smoke.

EXT. HATTIN. LATER

The TEMPLARS and HOSPITALERS are being butchered one by one

by MULLAHS.

(CONTINUED)

108.

CONTINUED:

Most of the holy knights make the sign of the cross and

accept martyrdom. Some try to run, an unseemly scrambling as

the Saracens scream. Our HOSPITALER is brought forward onto

the bloody ground.

MULLAH:

There is no god but God.

The HOSPITALER looks up at his executioner and smiles.

HOSPITALER:

I know.

The MULLAH after a moment of confusion slashes down.

EXT. THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM. CONTINUOUS

BALIAN lowers his head. Wind and dust. As if he is aware of

what has happened. He is still bowing when Tiberias’ hand

touches his shoulder.

TIBERIAS:

Come one.

INT. SALADIN’S TENT. LATER

CLOSE DETAIL:
SNOW is scooped into a cup, and water poured

into it.

SALADIN takes the cup and with his own hands gives it to -GUY,

who drinks, not greedily, suspecting what the

hospitality means: his life.

He hands the cup, thoughtlessly, sidewards to REYNALD, who

also knows what the cup means...and that neither the cup nor

what is means was meant for him.

SALADIN:

(quietly)

I did not give the cup to Reynald.

REYNALD:

(undisturbed, drinks the

last drop)

I drink water for what it is.

SALADIN stabs the smiling REYNALD in the throat. Blood gushes

out.

REYNALD pitches forward on his face. SALADIN kneels beside

the dying and choking REYNALD. SALADIN touches his fingers in

REYNALD’s blood and puts a mark in blood upon his own

forehead.

(CONTINUED)

109.

CONTINUED:

REYNALD is dragged out and (as the crowd screams) butchered.

GUY, on reflection, is more bitter at the nature of his

apparent end than afraid of it. He looks up bravely at

Saladin. SALADIN (to GUY’S relief) hands his bloody scimitar

to IMAD.

SALADIN:

Were you not close enough to a

great king to see how to imitate

one? Could you not learn by

example?

GUY knows he has destroyed the world. Eyes luminous in smoke

blackened face.

EXT. THE DESERT. MORNING

TIBERIAS and BALIAN are galloping with a handful of men in

Godfrey’s livery. BALIAN reins in, staring ahead. He raises

his arm, and points.

BALIAN:

There.

THEIR POV:

THE SKY IS BLACK WITH VULTURES.

They ride slowly on, and as they crest a hill, we see, as

they do:

THE BATTLEGROUND. Ten thousand men lied dead. Dead horses and

men are torn by vultures. Saladin’s army has moved on. BALIAN

and TIBERIAS stare. A mound of executed Templars and

Hospitalers has attracted the most vultures. TIBERIAS slowly

makes the sign of the cross. He lowers his head. When he

raises his face, he is a new man.

TIBERIAS:

I have given Jerusalem my whole

life. All. There is no more.

BALIAN:

Tiberias...

TIBERIAS takes hold of the cross on his surcoat and tears it

off. He rides a little to the side, staring towards the

10,000 dead.

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