Vikings Page #10

55.

The moon is still in the sky, pale and diminishing.

The camera travels through the house and its sleeping

inhabitants. We see the colored shields, some weapons. The

ashes of a fire, a slaughtered beast upon a hook.

The children asleep, like any other children. But Bjorn still

clasping his arm-ring in a deathless grip. The small statue

of Freya. A sleeping cat.

Ragnar and Lagertha naked and asleep, coiled together.

Then Ragnar opens his eyes.

And the first thing he sees is a horrifying mask. And then he

hears laughter, and Floki rips off the mask as he stands over

their bed.

Ragnar stares up at him, covering his cock.

FLOKI:

It’s ready.

EXT. BOATHOUSE - DAY

The finished boat. It is a thing of such indescribable beauty

and latent power that Ragnar strokes the burnished planks

with his hands and lays his cheek against it, and shivers.

Freshly oiled and painted. Sinuous, sleek, graceful the hull

rising shapely, like the contours of a body, like an organic,

living thing.

And the prow standing proud, with its ornately carved dragonhead.

Floki stares intently at Ragnar, watching his reactions.

Ragnar looks at him.

RAGNAR:

It’s...

Floki puts a finger over his mouth.

FLOKI:

No need to say. I see it in your

eyes.

(beat)

Let’s put her on the water.

56.

EXT. BOATHOUSE - DAY

Floki, his assistant, Ragnar and Rollo pull and heave the

finished boat, over wooden rollers, the short distance to the

water.

The boat glides into the water and the men climb in.

Threading oars through the oarports they row the boat out

into the deeper waters of the fyord, where a strong breeze

ripples the surface and sends the clouds scudding across the

sky.

Floki is like a man possessed, grunting and groaning,

sighing, swearing at, then encouraging the boat, listening

intently to its creakings, watching for its listing.

Ragnar ships his oar.

RAGNAR:

Now the sail, Floki, the sail!

FLOKI:

She’ll sink. Oh, what have I done?

RAGNAR:

No she won’t. She won’t sink.

FLOKI:

I shouldn’t have pretended to build

such a boat. It’s beyond my humble

capabilities. I’m a fool.

He looks as if he’s about to cry.

RAGNAR:

I’ll set the sail.

Ragnar unfurls the large black sail. It falls. The others

fasten the ropes. Nothing happens for a moment. The sail

flaps rather uselessly.

FLOKI:

I’m sorry, Ragnar. I’ve wasted all

your money. It was all a joke.

RAGNAR:

Shut up, man.

A beat.

57.

ROLLO:

Look!

A breeze catches the sail and it swells out proudly. The boat

starts to move. As it moves faster, the motion stabilizes,

becomes less choppy. It glides on smoothly, still picking up

speed.

And now, suddenly, they’re flying! The boat, still sitting

low in the water, cuts through it so easily that the frame

doesn’t shudder on impact with the waves. It seems to ride

over the waves.

And, after a while, there’s an eruption of joy inside the

boat, the men shouting, and hugging, and Floki going mad,

laughing, leaping about, hugging them, trailing his hands in

the water.

FLOKI:

Ha! What did I tell you? Now it

runs on its cool keel. It’s

beautiful. Why didn’t you believe

me?

Then, as they speed on, they calm down. Sober up. Look at the

shoreline racing past.

Ragnar doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t need to, his

expression says it all. He can see the future now. He is

sitting on the edge of his dream.

EXT. CLIFFS - DAY

A HORSEMAN sits astride his horse, at the edge of the cliffs -

and watches the black-sailed ship carving through the waves.

We have seen him before. He has a livid scar that joins his

mouth to his eye. He is one of Earl Haraldson’s housecarls.

He stares as the boat flies on.

END OF EPISODE 1

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