The Man in the Iron Mask Page #15

They walk through the murky darkness of Paris' backstreets.

PORTHOS:

It is good to be out on a mission

again... We are out on a mission,

aren't we?

Aramis grunts non-committally, lost in thought.

PORTHOS:

You're right. Tell Porthos nothing.

He needs to know nothing, for he is

useless.

Just as he says this a sinister form steps from the shadows

and blocks their way. He holds a knife. Another ROBBER with

a sword rises from a doorway beside them.

ROBBER:

Your money or your life.

Aramis looks bored; Porthos stands blinking in surprise.

Then a third robber steps up behind them, cocking a pistol.

THIRD ROBBER:

Make it quick, old man!

PORTHOS:

Old? Old?! You're all trying to

rob us because you think we're old?

The man with a sword steps forward to hack Porthos down, but

Porthos spins, slapping the pistol, making it BOOM but miss;

he kicks the swordsman in the groin, then smashes his head

against the alley wall; he backhands the gunman. The robber

with the knife tries to run; Porthos snatches a barrel from

the street and hurls it into the fleeing robber's back; he

falls in a heap.

Porthos' fury has just begun. He picks the fallen gunman up

by the throat, slams him stomach down across a broken alley

cart, and with one sweep of his mighty hand Porthos snatches

down the man's pants.

PORTHOS:

Old?! I'll show you old!!

Porthos snatches the pistol from the cobblestones. We see

the shock and terror on the robber's face as he feels

something shocking happen behind him.

PORTHOS:

Let's see you rob somebody with your

pistol there!

ARAMIS:

Come on...

Aramis, acting as if nothing happened, leads Porthos away.

PORTHOS:

I have to tell you something. I

love Paris!

Aramis has found what he's looking for: a filthy brothel.

ARAMIS:

Here we are.

Aramis leads Porthos inside.

INT. BROTHEL - NIGHT

Sleazy whores lounge around, women at the very bottom of

life. They stir and try to look more appealing as the two

well dressed gentlemen enter.

PORTHOS:

Aramis... These are... these are

whores!

ARAMIS:

So was Mary Magdalene, and our Lord

loved her.

PORTHOS:

Did she have tits like that?

A greasy, disgusting PIMP shuffles over.

PIMP:

What do you want? White? Black?

Both?

ARAMIS:

No. We want you, Father Belles.

The pimp reacts with fury, drawing a pistol.

PIMP:

Get out! Now! I will kill you

where you stand!

Aramis slowly falls to his knees, before the pimp.

ARAMIS:

Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.

The pimp -- the former Father Belles, the same man we saw as

the priest who prayed with the Queen at the royal birth in

the opening -- shoves his pistol at Aramis' face.

PIMP:

Don't! Get out!

ARAMIS:

I have sinned. And no other

priest's assurance of forgiveness

can mean as much as yours. Tell me

that I can be forgiven, no matter

what I have done.

Aramis' eyes are hypnotic, staring deep into the fallen

priest's soul. Porthos is bug-eyed, certain Aramis' head is

about to be blown apart.

PORTHOS:

He's going to kill you, Aramis.

ARAMIS:

Then let him kill me, if all my

faith is wrong.

He stares at the pimp. The pimp's finger trembles on the

trigger.

ARAMIS:

I have come to help you make it

right. I have come to take you

home.

The pimp shakes convulsively; he drops to his knees, bows his

head, and weeps.

EXT. STREETS OF PARIS - NIGHT

Aramis' carriage rattles through the dark streets; we play

these secret movement sequences with an ominous, Jack-the-

Ripper quality. The carriage pulls into...

INT. CATHEDRAL COURTYARD - NIGHT

The priests scurry out to meet it. First Aramis emerges,

then Porthos -- but the appearance of the pimp surprises the

cathedral priests. They cross themselves.

PRIESTS:

Father Belles!

Crossing themselves, they embrace the prodigal priest; one

MONK kneels before Aramis.

MONK:

You have made a miracle!

ARAMIS:

God makes miracles. You make

dinner.

As Aramis strides toward the dining room, a Jesuit hurries up

to him.

JESUIT:

The ball has been rescheduled -- for

tomorrow.

As Aramis hears this in surprise --

SMASH TO:

EXT. ROADS - NIGHT

The carriage thunders through the countryside, back toward

the manor house.

EXT. MANOR HOUSE - DAY

Athos and Phillippe sit at a table in the shade of a tree; on

the table is a model of the palace which Athos is using to

drill Phillippe on the palace's layout.

ATHOS:

These rooms are yours. Up these

stairs -- or through this hidden

passage -- is the room of your

mistress... Michelle.

PHILLIPPE:

Whose rooms are those?

ATHOS:

Your mother's.

They are interrupted as the carriage bearing Aramis and

Porthos clatters in. Aramis is out immediately.

ARAMIS:

Change the horses! Clear out

everything! NOW!!

INT. CARRIAGE - ROLLING - DAY

The three Musketeers, plus Phillippe, are hurrying back

toward Paris.

ATHOS:

Aramis, this will never --

ARAMIS:

Louis is planning a visit to the

Vatican, then who knows where after

that. If we miss him now we may not

get another chance.

ATHOS:

But --

ARAMIS:

It presses us but it is good for us

too! Louis' whims make him more

vulnerable. We are less ready, but

so are his guards!

PORTHOS:

D'Artagnan, unready?

ATHOS:

At a ball, everyone watches the

King!

ARAMIS:

But what if something extraordinary

happened? Something so unusual that

all the attention went to someone

else? Someone whose confirmation of

Phillippe the King would never be

questioned.

PORTHOS:

Who?

ARAMIS:

The Queen Mother. Anne.

And Aramis leans forward to tell them his plan...

EXT. PALACE - DAY

Teams of servants are filing in and out of the palace with

food and flowers, decorating the ballroom for the ball that

evening. In contrast, Anne and her devout retinue of nuns

move in single file toward the garden chapel.

INT. GARDEN CHAPEL - DAY

The nuns kneel at the altar as Anne enters the confessional.

INT. CONFESSIONAL BOOTH - DAY

ANNE:

Bless me Father, for I have sinned.

FATHER BELLES:

So have I.

He slides open the partition window between them.

ANNE:

Father Belles -- ?!

He taps a silencing finger to his lips.

ANNE:

They told me you were dead.

FATHER BELLES:

I was. I see you are still a woman

of faith. I have come back to ask

you if you believe that one lie can

poison your whole life... and one

truth can put it back together

again.

Anne stares at the eyes of the priest, back from hell.

INT. PALACE - KING'S ROOM - DAY

As Louis' tailors outfit him in a dazzling gold peacock

costume, complete with a jeweled mask at the end of a wand,

he amuses himself by looking out the window at the beautiful

young women arriving early for the ball.

LOUIS:

It shall be interesting tonight.

D'Artagnan enters, looking concerned.

D'ARTAGNAN

Your Majesty. This ball, with an

open invitation to the nobility of

Paris -- we have no way of

checking --

LOUIS:

You will protect me as you always

have, d'Artagnan.

Through the window Louis sees more beautiful young women.

LOUIS:

By the way, Claude -- inform

Mademoiselle Beaufort that she will

be moving from her rooms --

He looks up to see that Michelle has entered through the open

door behind him.

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