The Reckoning Page #5

the rope rides up

behind the jaw, the ears.

The weight of the body

drags it up.

He was throttled.

Because of you, all is lost.

It's over.

Leave.

Before they hang you too.

No, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no. No.

No, no.

Our horses, fetch.

Saddle them.

How long have you known?

How long?

There was talk

of other boys in France

while Lord de Guise was

on campaign with King Richard.

We needed him then.

At what price?

The greater good of the nation

is a strict mistress to serve.

Oh, I'm sure she is.

And does she now demand

that de Guise is brought down?

Yes, if many more are not to die.

He's planning a rebellion

against the king.

They're gathered in the castle

as we speak.

So, to you, the children

were just a detail?

They were a reason to arrest him.

Our only hope

was to get the monk

to turn king's evidence

against de Guise.

You see now what

your interfering has done?

You should have told me.

A player?

Affairs of state?

You soothe your conscience

with grand phrases.

But it's a weak, contemptible man

who trades in the lies of others.

De Guise is beyond my reach,

and certainly beyond yours.

Tell the people the truth.

They have a right to know the truth.

You think they don't know?

Thanks to him, they have

food enough and shelter.

In these times,

how many can say the same?

Theirs is the silence of consent.

( solemn theme plays )

( drums beat in cadence )

( sighs )

( drums beat in distance )

I'm not sure I can do this.

( woman calls out indistinctly )

We are come here to execute the sentence

passed down by our lord's court

upon this woman,

found guilty of the murder

of Thomas Wells.

She is to be raised

from the ground by her neck,

and her body drawn until she be dead.

Let her death be a lesson to all

who would stray from the paths

of righteousness.

( priest speaking Latin )

WOMAN:
She is so brave.

WOMAN 2:
God bless you!

( woman vocalizing )

( panting )

NICHOLAS:
Stop this!

SARAH:
Stop!

Arrest them!

( indistinct chattering )

We came here in ignorance and poverty!

Poverty drove us to claim

your story as our own!

And ignorance blinded us

to its truthful telling.

For both, we beg your forgiveness,

and in return we offer you...

the true story of Thomas Wells.

WOMAN:

Yeah, tell us the true story!

Get word to the castle!

Let us begin.

( somber theme plays )

NICHOLAS:
It was dark,

someone was watching him.

But it wasn't this woman

stood here before you.

It was the monk,

Brother Simon Damian.

Think of it.

Imagine it!

Thomas...

Thomas would have gone willing,

trusting that a man of God

could not possibly have designs

upon the money he was carrying.

But a night,

a day,

and another night passed...

and Thomas was dead,

with his life wrung from him.

He had already been missing

for two days...

when he was found at daybreak

by Jack Flint.

Flint had difficulty,

and this is important.

He had difficulty loading

the body onto his horse

because it was stiff with rigor mortis.

Now, he took that poor dead boy

back here to the town.

And bad news travels quickly.

Thomas Wells is dead.

- Thomas Wells is dead.

- NICHOLAS:
You people...

- Thomas Wells is dead.

- ...you became angry.

- Thomas Wells is dead.

- And the monk...

The monk was frightened.

So he lied.

He said that he had seen this woman,

Martha Lambert,

near the woods

the night Thomas disappeared.

And his word was enough...

( crowd chatters angrily )

...because he was a man of God.

Now, he acted swiftly, and he,

the sheriff and his men

went to Martha's house to arrest her.

But Martha wasn't there,

and she hadn't been

the previous day, either.

Where was she?

She was away.

She was away healing the poor.

Giving her time to people like you.

They broke down her door.

( grunts )

They searched

and they ransacked her house.

TOBIAS:
There, down!

And remember,

the monk still had the purse.

And when he was alone,

in her room,

he hid it under her bed,

where it was then discovered.

SHERIFF:
Lies!

NICHOLAS:

He took this evidence

that would hang a woman with him,

and he placed it there,

a man of God!

Lies, I say!

She killed the boy!

- How?

- With her bare hands!

- She choked the life from him!

- Why?

- The money he was carrying.

- When?

The night he disappeared.

Then why was the body still stiff

when Jack Flint found him

two days later?

( crowd shouting indistinctly )

The rigor mortis

would have gone by then.

MAN:
Speak up, then!

You have an innocent woman

standing on your scaffold.

MAN:

My Lord de Guise?

Now, you all know Martha!

You know her!

She doesn't have much,

but what she has, she gave freely!

Do not let her pay for it

with her life!

You can stop this!

CROWD:
Yes.

You can stop this

because you have the truth.

And the truth has power in it.

Thomas was not killed

that first night.

No, he was taken away

and he was held hostage

till the following day...

during which time he was subjected

to the most brutal, unspeakable acts.

( crowd gasps and cries )

Unspeakable acts.

( cries )

NICHOLAS:

But it was not the monk

that violated

and killed Thomas.

Nor did he kill himself.

He was murdered by the very man

whose hunger he only served.

The man for whom

he procured the boys.

Lord Robert de Guise!

Lord de Guise!

De Guise!

He killed Thomas!

And he killed your other boys!

De Guise!

( horses whinny )

MARTIN:
Stephen!

SOLDIER:

You dare to accuse Lord de Guise?

I dare to tell the truth!

Just the truth!

You ask yourself who had Thomas

buried so quickly...

This way.

...not even his mother

could see the body!

MARTIN:
Get Nicholas out!

Get out!

Go!

( crowd shouting indistinctly )

SARAH:
They're coming!

MARTIN:
Martha, quickly!

Quickly!

Point the way!

Go, go!

SARAH:
Come on!

( soldiers shout in distance )

- SARAH:
Quickly!

- MARTIN:
To the church!

Quickly!

Quick!

MARTIN:
Tobias!

Hurry!

Get in! Get in!

Close the door!

We'll be safe here.

MARTIN:

We changed them with our play.

You changed them.

MAN:

May I ask who you are?

May I see the face of the man

who wishes to know?

I'm Nicholas de Vilance.

MAN:

Of Norman blood, like myself.

Well, houses become

somewhat diluted over the years.

Hmph. And why have you come here,

Nicholas de Vilance?

No reason.

No, fate.

Do you believe in fate?

I believe in a fallen bridge

that drove us westward.

But that's not fate,

but poor workmanship.

We create our destiny.

Fate is the religion of the weak.

And you don't strike me as weak.

Foolish, maybe...

and headstrong, yes...

...but not weak.

( snorts )

So it seems I'm accused by you

of unnatural acts and murder.

- Do you deny it?

- Not only deny it,

but defy you or any other man

to prove otherwise.

Well, you know I cannot.

And therein lies

your foolishness and your ruin.

No.

No, don't threaten me.

We're protected by the

holy sanctuary of God's house.

Your threats mean nothing here.

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