The Man in the Iron Mask Page #5

D'ARTAGNAN

If the young woman truly loves

Raoul --

ATHOS:

She's a woman, d'Artagnan! From a

poor family. You may still be young

enough to believe love conquers

everything, but I am old and hard

and I've seen too much. Even when

kings are hunchbacks they have any

woman they desire, because power

seduces even more than love!

D'Artagnan is silent, and even ashamed. Athos realizes --

ATHOS:

You knew this was happening. You

knew and that's why you came.

D'ARTAGNAN

I fear I know our King. I came to

try to bring you hope.

ATHOS:

What hope is there? A wartime

commission cannot be vacated except

by the king, and what chance is

there of that? Fromberge is on the

battle line, and Raoul --

D'ARTAGNAN

I have dispatches a message to

Fromberge requesting that Raoul be

kept far from the fighting.

ATHOS:

Raoul is everything to me.

D'ARTAGNAN

I know.

ATHOS:

Oh my friend.

Athos grips d'Artagnan in gratitude and desperate hope.

D'ARTAGNAN

I will also speak with the King, for

he is surely unaware of the problems

his invitation to Mademoiselle

Beaufort has caused.

ATHOS:

You trust his character more than

anyone else does.

D'ARTAGNAN

Raoul is hurrying to the front, so I

must hurry too.

ATHOS:

Save my son, d'Artagnan.

They embrace once more, and d'Artagnan leaves.

EXT. PARIS STREETS - DAY

Magnificent public buildings -- palaces and cathedrals --

grace the city's skyline, but here in central Paris all is

squalor. On a narrow, filthy street, beggars bother the

sullen city peasants who are weak with hunger themselves.

But interest perks up when two soldiers drive up in a wagon,

and one of them, Lieutenant Andre, announces --

LIEUTENANT:

Here is food, the gift of your

loving King, on his birthday! He

gives to himself by giving to you,

in that he loves you so much!

Slowly at first the paupers stand and shuffle forward. As

the soldiers begin handing out foodstuffs -- bread, cabbages,

tomatoes, eggs -- those nearest the wagon begin to jostle

each other, and a large crowd gathers quickly.

LIEUTENANT:

No need to fight, there is plenty

for all!

It's looking like a holiday celebration... until a RUFFIAN

breaks open a loaf of bread, and wrinkles his nose.

RUFFIAN:

This stuff stinks. It is rotting!

The King gives us rotten food!

He hurls the moldy bread back at the soldiers. Other paupers

sniff the food, and its stink set off an explosion of anger:

they throw food at the soldiers... Then a paving stone

crashes through a shop window, and suddenly it's a riot, with

the mob overwhelming the soldiers and dragging them down the

streets in the direction of the palace.

D'ARTAGNAN, riding toward the palace himself, turns a corner

and sees the mob coming. And they see him: the elegant,

dashing Musketeer on the prancing stallion.

And at that moment, two more soldiers race out of a side

street, fleeing a similar mob, coming from another direction.

D'Artagnan understands everything at a glance; the second

pair of fleeing soldiers reach him in panic.

PANICKED SOLDIER

Back, toward the palace! We cannot

hold them off! We will fire a

volley into them!

D'ARTAGNAN

No! Run to the palace and close the

gates. But do not fire!

The two new soldiers race away; d'Artagnan waits calmly on

his horse, as the mobs from both directions converge on him.

THE MOB, seeing the dashing Musketeer wait so confidently for

them, slow up; but the ruffian urges them on.

RUFFIAN:

Come on! To the palace!

D'Artagnan sits calmly in their way. He doesn't even draw

his sword, though members of the mob grab the reins of his

horse. Some of the mob recognize him, and murmur...

MOB:

It's d'Artagnan! Le Generale de

Musketeers!

The mob hesitates -- for the name d'Artagnan means heroism

and patriotism to all of them.

RUFFIAN:

One Musketeer can't stop us!

D'ARTAGNAN

Stop you? You are Frenchmen, are

you not? I am one of you.

RUFFIAN:

The King is a Frenchman, but he is

not one of us!

D'ARTAGNAN

Citizens of Paris! Give ear to me!

RUFFIAN:

We'll give you their ears!

With that he draws a dagger from his filthy shirt and puts it

to the ear of the young Lieutenant who is already bloody from

being dragged through the street.

D'ARTAGNAN

Wait -- and listen! I beg you!

RIOTER:

They give us garbage, not fit for

rats! They think we are garbage!

With that one of the rioters hurls a moldy beet at

d'Artagnan, who draws his sword in a slick liquid movement,

he cuts the vegetable from the air.

The display of expertise is startling. Someone else throws a

head of lettuce; d'Artagnan slices it in half, and as the

pieces fly he skewers one with the point of his sword.

D'ARTAGNAN

I'm on my way to a salad! Doesn't

anybody have any endive?

The mob laughs at this panache, and the amazing display of

swordsmanship that lies behind it. Someone tosses more

lettuce, and d'Artagnan divides and skewers this one as well.

This time the crowd applauds.

D'ARTAGNAN

A tomato?

Can he do it? Someone fires a tomato right at his head, and

sure enough d'Artagnan spears it. Then, with a victorious

flourish, he takes a bite of it. His face contorts with the

taste, and he spits the pieces out; the crowd is hushed.

D'ARTAGNAN

You are right. It is rotten. I

will speak to the King myself. You

have my word.

The mob is completely won over by d'Artagnan; the ruffian,

angry that his riot is fizzling, raises his knife again over

the soldiers, but now the point of d'Artagnan's sword flicks

to the ruffian's neck.

D'ARTAGNAN

And you will release those men --

for they serve France... and you.

RIOTERS:

Three cheers for d'Artagnan!

Hurrah...!! Hurrah...!!

The soldiers who moments before were about to be ripped apart

now stand and look at d'Artagnan in gratitude and awe. The

mob has forgotten them; they see only d'Artagnan as he rakes

his blade clean, returns it to its scabbard, reins his horse

around, and slowly rides away, escorting the soldiers back

toward the palace.

INT. PALACE - NIGHT

D'Artagnan strides into the long hallway leading to the royal

apartments. As he reaches the door to the king's rooms, he

finds a knot of royal advisors -- among them Pierre and

Claude -- gathered outside the king's door.

CLAUDE:

We already know about the riots!

D'ARTAGNAN

Does he know?

PIERRE:

We will tell him, when it is...

CLAUDE:

Convenient.

Blocked by the advisors, d'Artagnan leaves them, turning down

one hallway, and then another; he reaches the Hall of Mirrors

and touches the golden frame of one mirror at its corner; the

mirror becomes a door, revealing a secret passage within the

walls. D'Artagnan steps through and the portal closes again,

leaving no trace of its existence.

INT. PALACE - BEDROOM - NIGHT

Within a bed whose tapestried posts stretch to the sixteen

foot ceiling, the king is making love; the YOUNG WOMAN lying

beneath him is doing her best to sound sincere.

YOUNG WOMAN:

Oh yes! So good! Ooo, wonderful,

Marvelous! Fan-tas --

Louis climaxes with a grunt. She tries to sound pleased.

YOUNG WOMAN:

Oh, Louis, that was incredible. It

was better than ever before. It --

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