Vikings Page #9

48.

ROLLO:

So, Gyda, tell me: is your mother

teaching you how to use a shield?

GYDA:

Yes. I know how to use a shield. I

know what it’s for.

ROLLO:

Your mother was a famous shieldmaiden.

LAGERTHA:

Not so much of the “was” please,

Rollo. “Is” will do.

ROLLO:

Is...a famous shield-maiden. We

fought in the same shieldwall.

Against the Eastlanders. She fought

like a Valkyrie.

LAGERTHA:

I fought to protect my husband, my

brothers and my father. They, too,

were in the shieldwall. I would

have died, willingly, for any of

them.

Ragnar looks at her.

RAGNAR:

You nearly did.

(It’s something between them)

She rises.

LAGERTHA:

Come on children, to bed. We’ll

leave the men.

BJORN:

I’m a man. I have a ring.

LAGERTHA:

To bed!

BJORN AND GYDA:

Good night.

RAGNAR:

Good night, my children.

49.

Kisses them.

They go off. Ragnar pours more mead for them both.

ROLLO:

Tell me your news: what about the

boat?

RAGNAR:

I’ve seen it. It’s a wonderful

thing, Rollo. It’s almost halffinished.

ROLLO:

Do you trust Floki? Isn’t he a

great joker?

RAGNAR:

He’s a great boat builder. I trust

him to do that.

ROLLO:

And the sun board and the sunstone -

you believe they can guide you

across the sea?

RAGNAR:

I do.

(beat)

But I have to ask you this: when

the boat is finished, will you sail

west with me?

There’s a long beat. Rollo drinks, wipes his mouth. Stares at

him.

ROLLO:

Only if we’re all equal. I won’t go

under your command.

Ragnar slips the ring from his arm. Holds it out to Rollo.

RAGNAR:

I swear on my sacred ring, I swear

before Odin, that everyone in the

boat will be equal, and will share

equally what we find.

(beat)

Will you come?

A beat. Then Rollo reaches out, and also takes hold of the

ring.

50.

ROLLO:

I will come. I swear.

Ragnar grins, embraces him.

But Rollo is still staring at him.

ROLLO (CONT’D)

But we must find a crew. Not many

men will go against the wishes of

Earl Haraldson. Many of them will

be afraid, and if we approach them

some may even go to him and betray

us.

RAGNAR:

Leave that to me. I have a good

idea where we will find our crew.

Rollo looks at him quizzically, but doesn’t question him.

ROLLO:

You’re very determined, Ragnar

Lothbrok. How do you know we’ll be

successful?

RAGNAR:

I don’t know. But what I do know is

that our fates are already decided.

One way or another, we can’t change

them.

A beat. Then Lagertha comes back in.

LAGERTHA:

They’re asleep.

She sits down. Ragnar rises.

RAGNAR:

I must go and piss.

He walks outside.

Rollo pours Lagertha some mead.

LAGERTHA:

Thank you.

She smiles at him. He tries to hold her gaze.

ROLLO:

I’ve always wanted you. Always.

51.

LAGERTHA:

That’s too bad.

She smiles again, but he takes it like an insult - reaches

out and grabs her wrist. She spills her drink.

ROLLO:

Don’t insult me, shield-maiden.

Looks at him.

LAGERTHA:

No. I would never insult you.

You’re too great a warrior.

Eyes tight on each other. Then he releases his grip.

LAGERTHA (CONT’D)

But not so great a man.

EXT. HOUSE - EVENING

Ragnar finishes his piss. The landscape is bathed in

moonlight, which gives everything a mysterious look. Ragnar’s

gaze is somehow drawn across to the edge of the woods...as a

wolf emerges.

The wolf walks down the meadow a little way, completely

unafraid. Then stops, and seems to look back at Ragnar for a

few long moments.

And then it turns, moves away among the shadows.

INT. HOUSE - EVENING

Ragnar comes back in. Is immediately aware that something has

happened between Lagertha and Rollo - but chooses to ignore

it.

He sits down again.

RAGNAR:

I saw a wolf in the meadow.

ROLLO:

You must kill it.

Ragnar looks at him.

RAGNAR:

No. I mustn’t kill it.

52.

ROLLO:

Why not?

A beat.

RAGNAR:

Because it wasn’t a wolf.

INT. BEDCHAMBER - NIGHT

Bjorn lies in his narrow bed, still awake.

He can hear the adult conversations in the next room. His

hand still grips the arm-ring he’s been given, for he will

never let it go.

When he closes his eyes he sees the statue of Odin. Odin is

staring at him with his one eye. But the eye is alive. And

his gaze is terrible. It bores into you.

EXT. LANDSCAPE - DAY

We are in the fjord. Clouds scud across the sky. The

mountains soar into the blue air, and fall into the water

below.

The water is full of reflections - of the sky, of the

forests.

A waterfall cascades down the side of a mountain, foaming

over the rocks, sending up a fine mist of spray.

This is nature, raw and elemental.

We hear Lagertha’s voice.

LAGERTHA V.O.

A pyre was built around the body of

Balder and his wife Nana, dry

faggots that needed nothing more

than a spark to leap into their own

life and consume the lifeless

bodies that lay upon them,

releasing their bodies to travel

on.

53.

INT. RAGNAR’S HOUSE - EVENING

Lagertha recites the saga to her children, who listen, like

frozen things listening.

LAGERTHA:

Balder’s horse, meanwhile, was

galloping along the foreshore and

worked into a streaming sweat. Then

a servant plunged a short dagger

into its throat. It gave a violent

jerk and, without a sound, crumpled

among the wrack..

EXT. FJORD - DAY

Ragnar is out fishing with his son, Bjorn, in the deep

soundless waters of the fjord.

RAGNAR V.O.

Now Odin strode through the

shallows and gripped the gunwale.

He climbed into the boat and stood

over the body of his dead son. For

some time he gazed at him...

Ragnar gazes at the very alive, very animated face of his

son. Then he speaks aloud:

RAGNAR:

Then Odin bent down and put his

mouth to Balder’s ear. Again he

gazed at his son; then he left the

boat.

Ragnar looks over at the shore, and points out something to

his son.

Someone has kindled a fire on the far shore.

LAGERTHA V.O.

At a sign from Odin a servant

stepped forward with a lighted

brand. He set fire to the pyre and

at once a steady plume of smoke,

twisting and spiralling, rose into

the calm air.

And as father and son stare at the sight on the far shore,

this is exactly what they see.

54.

A boat has been set on fire - and the smoke, twisting and

spiralling, rises into the calm air.

INT. RAGNAR’S HOUSE - EVENING

Ragnar goes on with the nighttime saga, as the children hover

between wake and sleep.

RAGNAR:

Thor raised his hammer. Slowly and

solemnly he intoned the magic words

to hallow the cremation. Then a

dwarf called Lit came running along

the water’s edge. He passed right

in front of Thor, and Thor was so

enraged that he put out a foot and

tripped him. The dwarf flew threw

the air and landed right on the

licking and curdling pyre. In this

way, he was burned to death beside

Balder.

Bjorn bursts out laughing at the thought of the dwarf flying

into the fire. He laughs and laughs. And Ragnar smiles, and

even his daughter is tickled.

EXT. FJORD - DAY

Father and son watch the boat, now completely alight, drift

slowly across the water. It’s a fantastic, compelling image,

the fire reflected in the water so it seems to spread out

right across the fjord.

RAGNAR V.O.

The boat drifted across the water.

Sea winds caught at her and tugged

her away. First she was more boat

than flame, but soon more flame

than boat. She was a quivering

shape, a farewell on the horizon,

moving on under a great cloud of

her own making.

And so it is.

And the boat burns on.

INT. RAGNAR’S HOUSE - DAWN

The first brightness in the night sky. A little rill of

light.

Rate this script:4.7 / 6 votes