The Kingdom of Heaven Page #3

GODFREY’S POV

We see the lights of the village. Perhaps even at this

distance we can see the glow of the forge. SNOW is falling.

SNOW blows into the room. Godfrey, cold, reflective, coughing

slightly, drops the drapery.

INT. THE SLEEPING LOFT. DAWN

BALIAN sits up in his wifeless bed in the darkened loft.

Breaks ice in a stone bowl. Throws water into his face. Goes

on into the main living area. A rope still hangs from a

rafter. Balian cuts it down. A CRADLE, finely made, stands in

the middle of the room. Balian puts it in the fire. A boy

(Balian’s APPRENTICE) stares at his master.

BALIAN:

We shall go to work.

EXT/INT. BALIAN’S FORGE. LATER THAT MORNING

Smoke rises. An ANGLE-IRON plunged to cool in a barrel of

water. Then thrown with a clang with others on a heap.

BALIAN emerges from the forge, and throws ironwork (angle

irons, simple braces, presumably for building the church)

into a cart. He looks up (startled) and sees: GODFREY’S

SQUIRE, sitting a palfrey.

SQUIRE:

YOu are the blacksmith?

(BALIAN nods)

Balian the eldest son of the Balian

that was?

BALIAN nods.

SQUIRE (CONT’D)

(as he turns his horse)

Remain.

The SQUIRE, after another strange, direct look at Balian,

rides off.

INT. BALIAN’S FORGE. LATER

BALIAN is eating coarse brown bread, and staring at the

APPRENTICE. The two eat together silently. On SOUND we hear

horses.

12.

EXT. THE YARD. CONTINUOUS

BALIAN walks out into the light. The entire party stares at

him. The Knights, the English Sergeant, FIRUZ, the two

Crossbowmen, and Godfrey.

PRIEST:

(pointing)

That is the man.

ODO, riding, ducking low in the saddle, peers into the forge

as if (characteristically) looking for stealables.

ODO:

You are an armorer. An artificer.

According to your lord, and this

priest. Have you a woman here?

The PRIEST kicks at his small donkey, riding around the yard.

PRIEST:

There is no wife. Yet the matter of

women does dangle about the place.

HOSPITALER:

(dismounting)

You have my sympathy and blessing

and your wife’s soul is today the

object of my prayers.

BALIAN bows his head. GODFREY watches through the snow.

HOSPITALER (CONT’D)

We need the horses shod. All. And

by asking about a woman he means

that we need food and will pay.

EXT. THE FARMYARD. LATER

The TRAVELLERS are lolling in the think sunlight, eating

chicken beneath a tree. The hungry PRIEST has not been

invited to eat but is still attempting to ingratiate himself.

PRIEST:

He has made great engines for

sieges. He has made war machines to

cast the largest stones...he works

finely in silver...He would be one

of the few on your journey worth

more alive than dead.

(CONTINUED)

13.

CONTINUED:

ODO:

(eating)

Shut up.

GODFREY is not listening. His wine cup shakes slightly in his

hand.

GODFREY, of all things, is nervous He walks across the road

into the orchard. In a FLASH of summer we see a dark-haired

woman retreating from him, a complex look of fear and, just

possibly, invitation.

GODFREY drinks. The HOSPITALER seems to understand what

Godfrey is thinking: and well he should, because he is

Godfrey’s confessor.

GODFREY:

Do you still advise what you

advised upon the road?

HOSPITALER:

I do, my lord. But I take no credit

for your contrition. I am merely

your confessor.

(concerned for the

shivering Godfrey)

It is warm by the forge.

INT. THE FORGE. LATER

BALIAN, assisted by the Italian Crossbowmen and the ENGLISH

SERGEANT, is shoeing a DESTRIER. The huge war horse has had

to be roped against the side of the stall. BALIAN calms him,

talking to him. BALIAN finishes the last shoe, steps back.

ODO is there, eating an apple.

ODO:

(to Balian)

Have you been at war?

BALIAN nods. He tries to go back to work.

ODO (CONT’D)

(coming close)

An archer, putting arrows in your

betters?

BALIAN:

On horse. And as an enginer, also.

The entering GODFREY is now in earshot. He looks at Balian.

(CONTINUED)

14.

CONTINUED:

ODO:

Against whom and for whom did you

fight?

BALIAN:

For one Lord against another, on a

point which cannot be remembered,

and which is then or now had no

significance.

The PRIEST, looking through a window, listens outraged at his

brother’s outspoken reply. ODO grins.

ODO:

(close to Balian)

There is better game now. One God

against another. The pay is

proportionate.

ODO menaces BALIAN with sword. BALIAN looks at the point, and

then u at ODO. Laughter.

PRIEST:

(piously opportunistic)

I have been telling him that.

ODO, still eating his apple, sees: a LATIN PHRASE CUT DEEP

INTO A BLACKENED BEAM (or painted, like a frieze, onto the

plaster). He points with the sword.

ODO:

What does that say?

BALIAN:

“What man is a man who does not

make the world better.”

The HOSPITALER smiles, walking: he is beginning to know this

man.

BALIAN (CONT’D)

My father cut it there.

The HOSPITALER looks at Godfrey. GODFREY stands, to his duty.

GODFREY:

Leave me with this man.

The room empties as if Godfrey’s voice is a starter’s gun.

GODFREY takes up the good sword just put down by ODO.

(CONTINUED)

15.

CONTINUED:
(2)

GODFREY (CONT’D)

Some say Jerusalem is the very

center of the world for asking

forgiveness. For myself, I call it

here...Now.

(”sighting” the blade)

You have lost your wife.

BALIAN nods, hollowly.

GODFREY (CONT’D)

God has made us men. We must suffer

all.

GODFREY looks up at the rafters. Wind. Pigeons under the

thatched eaves.

GODFREY (CONT’D)

I knew your...namesake.

(pressing on with it)

I knew your mother.

BALIAN looks up, knowing everything at once. A hammer in one

hand. He is the picture of Godfrey’s murderer.

GODFREY (CONT’D)

To be courteous I should say that

it was against her

objections...that I was the lord’s

brother and she had no choice...

(noticing that BALIAN is

holding the hammer)

But I did not force her.

GODFREY lays the sword aside. He will accept what comes.

Outside the windows, as the father and son stare at each

other, SNOW magically begins to fall hard. BALIAN puts the

HAMMER down (GODFREY swallows at this). BALIAN turns to the

forge, pumps the bellows, in chaos.

GODFREY (CONT’D)

(nervous, aware he is not

saying anything properly)

I am the Baron of Ibelin. I have a

hundred men at arms in Jerusalem. I

can use an armorer.

(pushing on, brusquely)

If you will come with me you will

have...a living. And you will have

my thanks. There it is.

GODFREY is not giving away the shop.

(CONTINUED)

16.

CONTINUED:
(3)

BALIAN:

Whoever you are, my lord, and

whatever you are saying, my place

is here.

GODFREY:

(gently)

What made it your place is now

dead.

BALIAN shakes his head, with finality.

GODFREY (CONT’D)

You will never see me again. If you

want anything of me, take it now.

BALIAN:

I want nothing.

GODFREY, disappointed, but not one to press the point

further, nods.

GODFREY:

Then I have seen you, and you have

seen me, and that is that. I am

sorry for your troubles. God

protect you.

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