Vikings Page #7

35.

RAGNAR (CONT’D)

You won’t answer me!

ANCIENT WOMAN:

You already have your answer.

RAGNAR:

No I don’t. I don’t have the real

answer.

ANCIENT WOMAN:

Then go and ask the gods

themselves. What are you afraid of?

Looks at her.

RAGNAR:

(quietly)

Who is not afraid of the gods?

The old hag grins. Looks sightlessly at Bjorn.

ANCIENT WOMAN:

I say only this to you: beware of

your sons.

RAGNAR:

My sons? I have only one son.

ANCIENT WOMAN:

I see more.

RAGNAR:

Why should I beware of them?

The ancient stares at Ragnar again with her white, blind eyes

- and will not answer. Turns instead and stares, sightlessly,

at Bjorn, who is afraid of her, looks away.

ANCIENT WOMAN:

Look at me, child.

Bjorn steels himself to look back at her.

After a few moments, she nods.

ANCIENT WOMAN (CONT’D)

I think your son is ready. Take him

up to the temple. Let him also see

the gods and, if he wishes, speak

to them. That’s all I can tell you.

36.

RAGNAR:

You haven’t helped me at all, old

woman.

A long beat.

ANCIENT WOMAN:

Perhaps you asked the wrong

questions. In any case, sometimes

you should not try to forsee your

fate, for it is best not to know

it.

EXT. LANDSCAPE - DAY

Ragnar and Bjorn ride their small horses inland, up the side

of the mountain. It’s a hard trek. The landscape is harsh and

dramatic with huge rock formations and boulders scattered

across it.

BJORN:

This looks like a place where the

giants might live.

Ragnar smiles.

RAGNAR:

You know very well that the giants

dwell in Utgard, in the outer

place. And between Midgard, where

we live, and Utgard there is a

great sea.

BJORN:

Not our sea?

RAGNAR:

A bigger sea than that. And the

Midgard serpent encircles it and

holds the sea in.

BJORN:

Don’t the giants ever come here,

into our world?

RAGNAR:

They try to. They are

shapeshifters. They can appear

disguised as anything. But the gods

look after us.

37.

(MORE)

They are forever watching out, in

case the giants try to cross the

sea and bring their chaos with

them.

BJORN:

And the dwarves help too?

RAGNAR:

Yes, you can’t always trust them of

course - but they are a help to the

gods sometimes. They bind Fenrir

the wolf, so he can’t escape and

swallow the sun.

BJORN:

If Fennir is so big and strong, how

do they bind him...?

RAGNAR:

With things you can’t see or hear:

like the breath of a fish; the

sound a cat makes when it’s

walking, and the roots of a

mountain.

Bjorn nods, satisfied with the explanation. Takes it in.

BJORN:

I’m hungry.

RAGNAR:

Then we must catch something.

EXT. RIVER - TWILIGHT

They stand up to their knees in the cold flowing waters, both

with spears raised.

They wait, and wait...and then both plunge their spears into

the water.

Bjorn extracts a fish on the point of his spear, still

flapping. He grins.

EXT. RAGNAR’S FARM - DAY

Lagertha is milking the goats in the milking shed. One of the

goat’s is giving her trouble. She tries to coax it gently.

Then Gyda comes rushing in, looking frightened.

38.

RAGNAR (CONT'D)

GYDA:

Mother.

She glances over her shoulder. Lagertha understands that

something is wrong.

LAGERTHA:

(to Gyda)

Stay here.

She walks outside.

EXT. YARD - HOUSE - DAY

Two YOUNG MEN - just like the young men who rain riot through

the town, are standing arrogantly in the yard. They are

armed.

LAGERTHA:

What do you want?

FIRST YOUNG MAN:

Where’s your husband, woman?

LAGERTHA:

He’s at the Thing - where you

should be. You’re old enough.

SECOND YOUNG MAN

Don’t taunt us, woman. We know

you’re alone here. All the men are

gone.

LAGERTHA:

If you’re thirsty I will give you a

drink. If you’re hungry I will feed

you. Otherwise you must go.

FIRST YOUNG MAN:

We’ll eat and drink after we’ve

satisfied our other needs. Let’s go

into your house.

By way of a threat, he touches the axe head in his belt.

A beat. Then Lagertha nods.

LAGERTHA:

All right.

(looks over her shoulder)

Stay in the shed, Gyda. Do as I

say.

39.

She leads the way into the house.

INT. HOUSE - DAY

The young men feel frisky, cocky. They laugh, nudge each

other.

SECOND YOUNG MAN

Where’s your softest bed?

A beat.

LAGERTHA:

In here.

She leads them into the shield room. Springing forward, she

snatches a shield from the wall.

They take the axes from their belts.

FIRST YOUNG MAN:

We don’t want to kill you, woman.

LAGERTHA:

You couldn’t kill me if you tried

for a hundred years.

She swoops into a secret place, and pulls out a sword.

Now she is a shield-maiden again. Her eyes have hardened. She

is changed.

For the first time, the two young men are not so sure.

SECOND YOUNG MAN

Before you try anything, think

about your daughter.

LAGERTHA:

I am thinking about my daughter.

Now you will leave my house or I

will gut you like fish and cook

your entrails.

She attacks them with frightening speed. No sooner has the

first young man raised his axe than she has sheared off the

handle with her blade. She slashes at the second young man -

once, ripping his clothes open, and a second time slashing

the side of his face.

He screams. His blood splashes on the floor.

40.

Lagertha fixes her attentions on the first, now unarmed young

man...who loses his nerve and bolts for it. His companion,

bleeding copiously, bolts after him.

Lagertha takes a moment to compose herself - then hurries

outside.

INT. SHED - DAY

Gyda is hiding among the goats. Lagertha takes her into her

arms.

GYDA:

Have they gone?

LAGERTHA:

Yes, they’ve gone.

GYDA:

What did they want?

LAGERTHA:

They were travellers. They were

thirsty, that’s all.

(beat)

Shall we go on milking the goats?

EXT. PLAIN ABOVE KATTEGAT - DAY

They ride up, through the thinning line of trees, to the edge

of the plain.

And stop.

A majestic but also strange sight greets them. In the

distance is the golden dome of the temple. It’s surrounded on

three sides by a grove of trees which are remarkable, even at

this distance, because there are very few other trees on this

high plateau.

But dotted around there are some large earth mounds, clearly

man-made; burial mounds, but now covered in grass. And also

huge piles of stones. Bjorn knows what they are and doesn’t

have to ask.

The whole vista is strange, haunting.

RAGNAR:

There it is.

41.

EXT. TREES - DAY

They ride towards the temple, between the trees. There’s a

strange atmosphere here. Hidden bells chime very softly,

sweetly like a sighing wind.

RAGNAR:

Keep to the path. The grove is

sacred. Every nine years, here in

the temple, the priests sacrifice

nine of everything and hang them in

the trees.

BJORN:

Nine of everything? Nine sheep and

nine hens?

RAGNAR:

Yes.

BJORN:

And nine horses?

RAGNAR:

Of course. We love our horses.

A beat.

BJORN:

And nine of us? Nine humans?

Ragnar looks back at his son, but doesn’t answer.

Now Bjorn becomes aware of waif-like creatures flitting

between the trees, dressed in pale colored robes.

BJORN (CONT’D)

Father, who are they?

RAGNAR:

Priests, I expect. Or other things.

Who can tell in a place like this?

Look, here’s the entrance.

EXT. TEMPLE - DAY

They dismount in front of two large wooden doors, studded

with iron.

A PRIEST appears, bows, silently opens the doors. He is a

tall, thin, homosexual YOUNG MAN, dressed in a flowing robe

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