The Patriot Page #14

He tears it down and walks over to Marion.

MARION:

... and your terms of enlistment

will be month-to-month. Every

thirty days you can re-enlist or

return to your families.

REED, the sturdiest of the lot offers his hand to Marion.

REED:

I'm in.

The others nod in agreement.

MARION:

Talk to Abner and Scott about

provisions, powder and mounts.

The recruits head off. Billings hands Marion the wanted

poster which Marion glances at and crumbles up.

BILLINGS:

Twenty men here, seventeen in New

Brighton, a dozen along the Black

River. We'll pass three hundred by

week's end if this keeps up.

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SQUARE

Gabriel and several of Marion's men take supplies from

Green, Anne, and some other townspeople. Gabriel looks at

Anne.

GABRIEL:

If I'd known you were going to look

like this, I never would have put

ink in your tea.

ANNE:

You call that a compliment?

GABRIEL:

It's a start.

She gives him a bit of a smile. He checks out her teeth.

GABRIEL:

They look nice. As white as can be.

She tries to glare but she can't help but laugh.

MARION AND BILLINGS watch as Anne gives Gabriel some

apples which he tosses into the air, one-by-one, catching

them behind his back, a cocky move, executed with a

disarming smile that makes Anne laugh again. Marion

smiles at his son's flirtation. Billings smiles as well.

BILLINGS:

He reminds me of you before you got

old and ugly.

MARION:

(softly)

No, he takes after his mother...

Billings is taken aback by the gentleness of Marion's

words.

MARION:

... the younger ones barely remember

her but Gabriel spent more time with

Elizabeth... she taught him well,

guided him, she was his North Star

and mine... her father was a

minister, in Boston, did you know

that?

Billings nods.

MARION:

... Gabriel's already a better man

than I could ever hope to be...

Marion hears himself and pulls his eyes from Gabriel,

adopting a coarse, joking tone.

MARION:

What do you mean, old and ugly?

BILLINGS:

You got me beat on both accounts.

MARION:

The hell I do.

They mount up, grateful to leave the sincerity behind.

Gabriel sees Marion and his men starting to ride off. He

says goodbye to Anne, then RUNS TO HIS HORSE, MOUNTING

WITH A DRAMATIC LEAP. He GALLOPS up, taking his place at

his father's side. Marion doesn't turn to look at him,

but he knows he's there.

EXT. CAROLINA ROAD - DAY

A patchwork of fields with a village visible in the

distance. The ROLLINS BOYS, 10 and 12, work a field,

harvesting grain. Hearing the SOUND OF HORSES' HOOVES,

they stop and listen.

Then they see a CLOUD OF DUST rising over the ridge line.

Growing excited, they throw down their scythes and race

down the hillside, madly stumbling and falling, trying to

intersect the approaching sound.

At the bottom of the hill they pass their father, BEN

ROLLINS, who watches his sons plant themselves on the side

of the road, gazing in awe at:

MARION AND HIS MEN, THUNDERING BY. They're an impressive

sight, a hundred-and-fifty heavily armed men, on powerful

mounts, raising a cloud of dust as they gallop down the

road.

EXT. CHARLESTON ROAD - DAY

Marion and forty of his men, including Gabriel, sit on

their motionless horses in the middle of the road. There

are a number of new faces among Marion's men, among them

Ben Rollins. Gabriel is lost in thought.

MARION:

Gabriel? Are you asleep?

GABRIEL:

We're low on salt. I should go to

Pembroke and get some.

BILLINGS:

You got salt last week.

GABRIEL:

Oh, right.

(beat)

Baking powder, we need baking

powder.

BILLINGS:

We've got plenty of baking powder.

You went to Pembroke and got five

pounds two weeks ago.

Gabriel sighs. They hear a SOUND APPROACHING, then see

two British wagons round a curve with a guard of only SIX

REDCOATS, commanded by a REDCOAT SERGEANT. The Redcoat

Sergeant signals stop.

REDCOAT SERGEANT

Halt. Look alive, boys.

The young Redcoat privates nervously UNSHOULDER THEIR

MUSKETS.

MARION:

Sergeant, this road is closed.

Those wagons now belong to the

Continental Army.

REDCOAT SERGEANT

Ready arms! By twos!

Marion's surprised by the Sergeant's order.

MARION:

Sergeant, there's no reason for you

and your men to die. Just leave the

wagons and go.

REDCOAT SERGEANT

Steady, boys...

Marion sighs and lets loose with a PIERCING WHISTLE. The

underbrush parts and more of Marion's men show themselves,

MUSKETS LEVELED at the outnumbered Redcoats.

REDCOAT SERGEANT

This is the King's highway and I

advise you and your men to make way.

(to his men)

Prepare to fire.

Marion exchanges a look with Rev. Oliver who, like Marion,

doesn't want to kill these men. Seeing no other option,

Marion turns to give the order, then stops, hearing a

FAINT BARELY DETECTABLE, RUMBLING SOUND...

A moment later Brother Joseph hears it as well... HORSES

HOOVES, LOTS OF THEM, growing louder by the second,

THUNDERING toward them from the road behind the British

wagons...

Then, the SOUND OF MORE HORSES, coming in fast on both

flanks.

MARION:

It's a trap...

The canvas sides of the British wagons are THROWN UP and

DOZENS OF REDCOATS, armed with muskets, spill out...

Marion's unmounted men run to their horses, LEAPING into

their saddles...

Then GREEN DRAGOONS appear, galloping down the wooded

slopes on both flanks, astonishing horsemen, weaving

through the trees without slacking their pace, SWORDS

DRAWN, PISTOLS PRIMED...

REDCOAT SERGEANT

FIRE!

A THUNDEROUS VOLLEY ERUPTS from the Redcoat infantry,

KILLING several of Marion's men...

Marion's men FIRE BACK from their BUCKING MOUNTS, most of

their shots going awry...

Behind the British wagons, a huge detachment of GREEN

DRAGOONS appears, TARLETON among them...

MARION SEES THE DRAGOONS BUT NOT TARLETON HIMSELF...

MARION AND HIS MEN spur their mounts, taking off down the

road in the opposite direction...

The FLANKING BODIES OF DRAGOONS gallop out of the woods,

JOINING THE MAIN BODY, riding in hard pursuit...

EXT. WOODED ROAD - DAY

Marion and his men GALLOP down the road. The much larger

body of Green Dragoons THUNDER after them.

EXT. BLACK SWAMP ROAD - DAY

Marion and his men ride along a raised road that drops off

into Black Swamp on either side...

They ROUND A CURVE AND STOP, reining back their horses in

confusion as they see:

FIFTY GREEN DRAGOONS heading straight toward them...

THE DRAGOONS OPEN FIRE from both directions, KILLING

several more of Marion's men, WOUNDING others...

Marion's men FIRE BACK as best they can, caught in the

CHAOS OF BUCKING AND FALLING HORSES and WOUNDED AND

DISMOUNTED MEN...

They remount, doubling-up with the wounded...

MARION sees an unaided wounded man. LEAPS FROM HIS

HORSE, heaves him onto his horse, slaps it...

Marion's men head off both sides of the road into the

swamp, struggling with their mounts as they hit the knee-

deep water...

Marion on foot with four men, only three horses... A

DRAGOON, aiming his pistol, THUNDERS down on Marion...

MARION FIRES, killing the Dragoon...

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