To Kill a King Page #6

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l'll need your help.

You'll die for it, sir.

Not if you make

some distraction.

To attention, sergeant!

- Sir.

- Sir.

Better l lift the gun.

No, make a distraction.

l shall do it.

- ( chattering )

- Man:
What's this, brethren?

Man #2:

News of Cromwell.

Thomas:
How many times did

l save him in the field?

l can't believe, after all

we've been through together,

that it falls upon me

to kill him.

Cromwell:

Will you congratulate me, Tom?

l know you cannot.

You think l've fallen

in love with gowns and glory,

but you're wrong.

l despise them.

You told me to study

the lay of the land. So l have.

And l see our countrymen must have

a captain, a monarch of sorts.

Last night

l stayed up with a globe,

planning.

So many things--

fill ships with men,

honest, working men,

send them to trade

in the furthest lands.

Learn new science,

raise new crops.

You understand, don't you,

What l'm trying to do,

what l'm reaching for, beyond all this?

You want to find

a wilderness.

Now, Lord Protector

of England.

Your highness.

( crowd chattering )

- lt has been a long time,

- ( applauding )

But l'm glad

you could be here.

You never thought l'd come

this far, l warrant.

The crowds must surprise you.

You always surprise me, sir.

And we've barely started.

Come and dine

at Whitehall tomorrow.

We'll tell you how we plan

to conquer the world.

( crowd cheering )

l'd get there

faster with you, Tom.

( cheering loudly )

They've always

loved you more.

There is an adventurous

spirit in the nation.

l know, l have seen it.

l saw you risk

your lives in the war,

sacrifice your

sons and brothers

because you knew--

because you knew that

this nation could be,

- must be improved.

- ( crowd cheers )

We knew.

Did we fight those years together

shoulder to shoulder for nothing?

This is our chance to build

on the peace we've earned

and create

a new world together.

l am asking

for your silver,

not your lives,

roads to unite the land,

ships to expand

the empire.

Would you give up your gaming

and whoring to have these?

( cheering, shouting )

You are the new model

citizens of the world!

Give up your courtly vices.

Rise above this private greed.

- Fix your eyes--

- ( crowd gasping, screaming )

( wheezing )

- Perhaps now you can see our concern.

- ( Cromwell screams )

l saw that traitor's face.

lt was Sergeant Joyce.

You remember Joyce, sir.

( grunting )

That's the last time

you write my speeches, Little.

( running footsteps

approaching )

We'll never win them

with words in any case.

A cause will unite them,

holy cannon fire.

What say we march

on the Scots, Tom?

Still against it?

l gave the order.

Shine our civic torch on the brutes

before we teach the rest?

l ordered the man

to shoot you.

Don't be absurd, Tom.

You saved my life.

Man:

Make way! Make way!

( panting )

We got the traitor covered, sir.

He's on horseback.

My men are in pursuit.

Don't tell me something

l can't hear, Tom.

We're on the ridge.

lt's all ahead of us.

Soldier:

Take him to the tower, sir?

No, to Tyburn.

Burn him in public.

No, you have the wrong man!

l find l cannot kill you,

but one day soon a man

who loves you less well than l

will raise his gun

to stop you.

And he'll be right.

Lord Protector was

but another name for king

and you are a cruel one.

l wish l could believe

that you will change,

listen to reason,

act with mercy,

but l have seen enough

of your bloodlust

and contempt for men's lives

to know that you will not.

Arrest him.

Arrest the traitor.

Take him!

Burn him!

Take him away!

Burn him!

You would regret it, coz.

- ( cheering )

- Woman:
Our brave general!

Man:

Our brave general Fairfax!

( panting )

( sobbing )

Fairfax's voice:
Anne and l

returned to our Yorkshire estate.

Word of Oliver's exploits

reached my ears

and his army grew more brutal

in pursuit of a vision

that l no longer shared.

l had turned my back

on a soldier's life.

l was not to see him

again for many years.

Then one night

news came from London.

lt's Oliver.

He's dying.

You know l have to go.

Oliver.

lf l could kill you,

l would have done it years ago.

( grunting )

They tell me you're building

quite an empire up there--

new roads,

bridges.

You trying to outdo me, Tom?

l cannot yet

match you for ships.

ls this a game to you?

Has it always been so?

Did l merely imagine

we once fought a war,

shared the same ambitions?

What happened

to the general l once knew?

He would have

finished the fight.

He would have rallied

the people to this republic.

His was the pretty face

they wanted.

Do you not realize

how well you are loved?

l warned Holles.

Part of me wanted

to stop what we had started.

l wanted my son,

the heir l was expecting,

to have at least

one friend.

( crying )

And your daughter?

Molly-- a small rebel.

She's learning left from right.

Come to Yorkshire.

She can teach you.

These fools will not

let me out of the room.

l'd have to

slip out in disguise.

( chuckles )

Make it soon--

for the hunting. No chance

you'll shoot anything, of course.

So my deer are safe.

( laughs )

l was counting on you.

You let me down.

Fairfax's voice:

We were never to meet again

and he died

soon afterwards.

Two years later

we had a king once more.

On his return from exile,

Prince Charles ordered that

Oliver's corpse be dug up

and displayed

on the public gallows.

l see his face still,

hear him asking me,

"What has changed?"

l tell him that l have.

l wonder

after all these years

how things

might have turned out

had l stayed

by his side.

To be true to myself,

l had to let him down.

He was a man l loved,

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