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arthur_of_the_britons) wrote1972-12-11 08:00 am
arthur_of_the_britons) wrote1972-12-11 08:00 am
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Episode transcript: The Treaty
Episode 2.11: The Treaty
Writer: Terence Feely
OPENING SCENE
It is winter. A messenger rides into Arthur’s village.
Bran: Arthur! Cerdig and Yorath have made a pact.
Arthur: Cerdig and Yorath? Impossible!
Bran: That’s what they say!
Llud: Yorath? He’d never make a pact with the Saxons. The Jutes care for their Saxon neighbours like they would a venomous snake.
Arthur puts on his cloak.
Kai: Where are you going?
Arthur: To see Yorath. If he has made a pact, it leaves us naked to the north.
Arthur mounts his horse.
Kai: [to Bran] You must be mistaken.
Bran: On good authority, it’s the truth.
Arthur: I will hear that from Yorath himself. [to horse] Hey!
He rides away.
Llud: It’s an open invitation for Cerdig to mount a surprise attack, and wipe us and the entire village off the face of the earth.
[OPENING CREDITS]
PART 1
In Yorath’s village. Someone throws a knife at a target board, where one already sticks in. Arthur rides in. The knives are removed from the board. Arthur dismounts. His horse is led away. As he approaches the longhouse, another knife flies towards the board, and Arthur looks disconcerted, then moves past towards the doorway. Rowena strides out, then stops and gives him a slightly contemptuous look.
Rowena: Well!
Arthur: [formal] Rowena.
Rowena: [bitter] This is twice you have visited me in one year.
Arthur: I came to speak to your father.
Rowena: He is out. Hunting.
Arthur: We had word that Yorath and Cerdig were about to make a pact.
A hooded falcon is handed up to Yorath, as he sits on his horse. Arthur sits beside him, also on horseback, and holding a hooded falcon.
Yorath: I am not about to make a pact with Cerdig. It’s already done. The peace is made. A treaty is sworn and signed. Cerdig and I are no longer enemies.
Arthur: You must be moon-sick. You may as well try making peace with a mad bear.
Yorath: If a mad bear could talk, I would try that too. Arthur, I am war-sick. [He removes the falcon’s hood.] My people are battle-weary and bloodied. I will give them peace.
He launches a falcon. It catches a pigeon, and brings it to the ground. Yorath urges his horse forward, and Rowena follows.
Rowena: Father! Arthur is right.
Yorath: You stay out of this, Woman!
A servant retrieves the falcon and its prey. Yorath hands him the falcon’s hood.
Yorath: [to servant] There you are! Heh, heh, heh, heh!
Yorath’s horse is led away.
Arthur: So Cerdig is now your ally.
Yorath: Yes.
Arthur: But you also have a pact with me. What if Cerdig attacks me?
Arthur dismounts. His horse is led away.
Yorath: Well, you can’t expect me to support one friend against the other, hunh?
Arthur: And if Cerdig should break your alliance, and turn on you? What would you have me do?
Yorath: [exasperated] All I want is peace!
Rowena: Father, we can’t live in peace with a mad dog!
Yorath: You know nothing! Chicken-brain. We’ve been invaders too, and yet we found peace with Arthur, and all the Celts.
Arthur: That was different. You led in the Jutes, found a deserted tract of land and built your own village. Whilst Cerdig plundered, burned and killed, you settled, and made no further demands. You made and kept your peace with the Celts. Cerdig doesn’t even know the meaning of the word.
Yorath: And how can you be so sure of that, My Young Friend? Has anybody stopped fighting him long enough to find out? Huh?
Just outside Arthur’s village. We see Llud and Kai sparring with Celtic boys – training them in the use of sword and shield, and hear various imprecations and encouragements – “Come on!” “Here!” “Good!” etc.
Arthur rides up.
Llud: [to Arthur] Was it true?
Arthur sets his spear in the ground.
Llud: [to the children] Right! Defence walls! Now come on! Show Arthur what you can do!
Arthur dismounts. The children run to their places, forming a wall with their shields. Llud passes a sword to Bran.
Llud: [to Bran] Take over!
Bran: Right! Ready? One! Two! One! Two!
The children lunge, then draw back, in time with his commands. Arthur, Kai and Llud walk together.
Kai: Did you put a stop to this mad notion of Yorath and Cerdig pledging a treaty?
Llud: Yorath does understand the wrong he’s doing?
Arthur: Wrong?
Kai: Yes, wrong.
Bran: [to childen] Into your pairs – go!
As they talk, the children’s swords continue to clatter against each other.
Arthur: Yorath wants to put an end to the bloodshed. An end to the maiming and killing each other. Is that right, or wrong?
Llud: Well, the thought’s right, but –
Arthur: Yorath wants this land to learn to live in peace. Or else it’ll tear itself to shreds. Is that wrong?
The children go back to practice lunges.
Kai: [to children] Keep your swords up! Aim for the heart! [to Arthur] Ask that question to Cerdig.
Bran: [in background] One. Two. One. Two. Three. Four.
Arthur: He asked him that question, and was rewarded with a treaty. He is right. Sometime somewhere, this slaughter must stop.
Kai: [to children] Take a grip on that sword! Lunge from the shoulder! You’ll never kill anyone that way.
Bran: [in background] One. Two. Three.
Kai: Yorath is a fool.
Arthur: Then a fool has shown the way. Look what we are doing today! Will we still be doing this in five hundred years’ time? Yorath has shown the way. And I haven’t the courage to follow.
Llud: It’s not a question of courage. Would you put your head in the mouth of a hungry lion? Well, Cerdig’s as much likely to respect the treaty as the lion would your life!
Arthur: Are you so sure, Llud? Would you stake your life on being right about Cerdig?
Llud looks pensive.
Inside the longhouse. Arthur sits in his big chair at the head of the table. Kai sits further along, carving a drinking horn. Llud comes in and flings his cloak on the table.
Llud: You can forget about Cerdig and the Saxons. There are others who would prefer the plundering and the bloodshed.
Arthur: Scots?
Llud: Yes. By report, a huge army embarked in a vast fleet of ships. And they boast that they will conquer this entire land, once and for all.
Arthur rises from his seat and comes forward.
Arthur: How long before they’re landing?
Llud: Well, given good winds – two or three days.
Kai: You say a huge army – how many?
Llud: Their camp fires could be seen across the channel, stretching for thirty leagues along the coast.
Kai gets to his feet.
Kai: By the gods, they’ll take Hereward and Dirk as easily as a bear kills a fox. How could they muster such an army?
Llud: The three kings to the east of their lands are united, and together their armies total several hundred –
Arthur: [talking over Llud] Then they will find an equal force to greet them. Courage is forced upon us. With luck, we will see Celt fighting side by side with both Jute and Saxon.
In Cerdig’s village. A bundle, wrapped in a fur skin, lands on the ground. Cerdig looks up skeptically.
Cerdig: Gift? From Arthur? And the sun whelped kittens!
The Saxons laugh.
Cerdig: I fear a gift from Arthur more than a blade between the ribs.
As he speaks, Cerdig approaches Bran, who brought the gift, and holds an axe to his throat.
Cerdig: You’re a bold man to bring me gifts from Arthur!
Bran: It is no more than my duty.
Cerdig grunts, and uses his axe to open the skin in which the gift is wrapped.
Cerdig: A shield? Hahahaha! I’d sooner take shelter behind a cobweb than trust my life to a shield sent by Arthur.
The Saxons laugh.
Bran: Arthur sent it in good faith, with this message from Yorath.
He holds aloft a scroll. Cerdig offers his axe haft and Bran slides the scroll onto it. Without taking it off the haft, Cerdig passes the scroll to one of his men, while regarding the shield with deep suspicion.
Cerdig: I cannot fathom the wickedness of it. Must be very deep. But then, that evil Celt is very deep.
Cerdig turns to the man to whom he passed the scroll.
Cerdig: What does the message say?
Bran: Yorath asks you to a meeting with Arthur at Yorath’s village. Each leader to bring but ten men. Arthur would speak of peace.
Cerdig: Stranger and stranger.
Bran: He guarantees your safety.
Cerdig: I guarantee my own safety! Get off your horse!
Bran dismounts. His horse is led away.
Cerdig: Pick it up.
He gestures to the shield; Bran picks it up. Cerdig swings his axe, and as Bran raises the shield, the axe clangs against it.
Cerdig: Hmmm. Turns a stroke well. No hidden blades to spring out at a blow.
He goes to touch it, then pulls back.
Cerdig: Aah! Arthur was brought up by the Romans – there’s still poisons. Lick it!
Bran looks blank.
Cerdig: [shouts] Lick it for your life!
Bran licks the shield a few times, then gives Cerdig a scornful look.
Cerdig: Very well. The trick is not in the shield. Now then. What’s all this about meetings and peace? What devil’s brew is that Celtic wolfhound preparing now, eh?
Bran: There is no treachery. Arthur wants peace.
It is night; Cerdig and his council sit outside the longhouse, around a fire. Other Saxons stand around, listening.
Cerdig: No man in his right mind wants war.
Saxon: Nah …
Cerdig: But you can’t make peace with a cunning savage like Arthur.
The Saxons mutter derisively.
Woden: But what of the news of the Scots? If it’s true, we’ll have a common enemy that would rid the land of Celt and Saxon alike.
Cerdig: There are rumours about the Scots every day of the year. I’m not rushing into the arms of that barbarian on a rumour.
Woden: But today, our messengers brought word that the Scots have sailed with the greatest horde this land has ever seen. That was no rumour. Wigath saw them with his own eyes.
Cerdig looks thoughtful.
Near Yorath’s village. It is early morning. Yorath and Rowena stand by a bridge over the river.
Rowena: [anxious] Cerdig is not coming.
Yorath: Argh, he will come. If he would make a pact with us, why not also with the Celts?
Yorath stands looking over the bridge, at Arthur’s party, waiting on the other side of the river.
Yorath: Hey!
Kai: [to Arthur] While we’re waiting here, he’s probably sacking our villages.
Arthur: He knows we would not leave them undefended.
Kai: Then where is he?
A horn sounds; a Saxon longboat, bearing Cerdig and his delegation, comes slowly upriver. When they arrive at the bridge, the Saxons disembark on the side of the river opposite Cerdig’s village, where the Celts await them.
Arthur rides forward, dismounts, reverses his spear and embeds the point in the ground. Cerdig throws his axe, and then shield Arthur sent him, on the ground. He then takes a small bundle from Woden.
Arthur and Cerdig slowly approach each other, while Yorath and Rowena cross the bridge to meet them. Cerdig shows the bundle to Arthur, partly unwraps it, and holds it out. Arthur flicks the last bit of wrapping aside to reveal a sheathed knife, the handle set with blue stones.
Cerdig: A gift for a gift.
Arthur gives a slight smile.
[INTERVAL]
PART 2
In Yorath’s village. It is night. Celts, Saxons and Jutes are gathered around a fire.
Arthur: War’s for fools and madmen. Let’s make it only a memory kept alive by children’s games, with harmless wooden swords. Blood and lives wasted on warring could be used in making a richer, fuller land for all.
Cerdig: This is a rich land. We did not come to fight. There is enough for all to share.
Llud: Provided each keeps within his own boundary.
Yorath: Let’s draw up maps, huh?
Cerdig: That’s work for priests. Let us agree upon it like men, and then, we can sit back and watch our children grow fat.
Arthur: But first – the hardest task of all. We must stop hating, and learn to trust one another.
Cerdig: Well spoken, Arthur of the Celts. How do you like your gift?
Arthur looks at the knife, lying among its wrappings, and nods.
Arthur: I like it well.
Cerdig: It balances well, in the hand. Try it!
Arthur looks at Kai. Kai glances at Cerdig. Cerdig nods to his lieutenant, who hands the knife to Cerdig. Cerdig draws it, balances it on his hand, licks it, then smiles.
Cerdig: As you say … we must learn to trust each other.
He sheathes the knife. His lieutenant passes it to Llud, who gives it to Arthur. Arthur draws it, and contemplates it.
Arthur: Tell me – did it taste better than my shield?
All laugh, including Rowena, who is sitting next to Yorath.
Yorath: Come! Prepare for the feast! [He gestures expansively.] This is a great day for this land!
Rowena gets to her feet.
Rowena: It is indeed! I –
Yorath slaps Rowena on the hip.
Yorath: Get yourself to the roasting-spit, hah!
With a look of resentment, Rowena obeys. Yorath aims a swat at her departing rear.
Yorath: Go see to it!
Outside, some of the men are drinking together and throwing knives at the target. There is a general air of good cheer.
Inside, the delegations are feasting. Yorath picks up his goblet and turns to Cerdig.
Yorath: To lasting peace between us, huh?
Yorath clinks his goblet with Cerdig’s. Arthur picks up his goblet.
Yorath: [to Rowena] More wine, Woman! Oil for the wheels of peace.
Rowena fills Arthur’s cup.
Yorath: You’re strange companions. You are invited for a big feast, and yet you both bring your own bread. If you are to be brothers – [He takes Arthur’s, and then Cerdig’s bread, and swaps them over.] – you must eat each other’s bread, huh? All of you!
Both Celts and Saxons look doubtful.
Woden: [to Llud] What ails you, Friend? Your face is screwed up like a shrivelled nut.
Llud: Oh – merely an expression of … curiosity.
Cerdig looks at the Celt bread in disgust. Arthur spits out the Saxon bread.
Arthur: What revulsion is this?
Cerdig: Revulsion? [He spits out the Celt bread.] What do you make yours with – boar’s droppings?
Llud also spits, and nearly everyone else follows suit.
Woden: Cow-dung!
Bran: Fly-spawn!
Kai is still eating his Saxon bread. The Saxon to his left spits, and throws down his bread.
Saxon: Frog-spit!
Kai brandishes his axe in the Saxon’s face. Llud gets to his feet, his knife drawn. Fights are about to start all over the place.
Arthur: Peace!
Everyone goes quiet.
Arthur: It is good that we are being honest with one another. It is no tragedy that we cannot stomach each other’s food.
Cerdig: Hmmm.
Arthur: If it offends the palate, why not say so, as friends should?
Everyone sits down again. Cerdig raises his goblet.
Cerdig: This should have happened sooner. Here’s to the new life!
Celt: The new life!
The Celt sitting next to Cerdig raises his goblet, inadvertently knocking Cerdig’s drink out of his hand.
Cerdig: Argh – clumsy oaf!
Cerdig knocks the Celt over backwards. Llud laughs, and elbows the Saxon sitting between himself and Arthur. The Saxon falls on his back, accidentally throwing his drink in Arthur’s face. Arthur throws his own goblet down and elbows the Saxon.
Arthur: Fool!
He picks up the Saxon and heaves him across the room, and Llud gives him a boot in the rear to help him on his way. The Saxon lands on the Celt who spilt Cerdig’s drink. All cheer and laugh.
Cerdig’s lieutenant, sitting next to Kai, glares, as if about to pick a fight; Kai grabs him by the shoulders, then slaps him on the chest. They both laugh.
Arthur hands the Celt who spilt wine over Cerdig, and the Saxon who spilt wine over him, a mug of wine each.
Arthur: Now you can enjoy spilling the wine over each other, and leave your leaders alone.
All laugh, and settle down.
Cerdig: [to Yorath] We used to call Arthur ‘The Bear.’ But we should have called him ‘The Fox.’ Now I see where he learned his cunning!
Cerdig indicates Llud, laughs, then drains his cup and looks meaningfully into it.
Yorath: [to Rowena who is tending the spit] Rowena! Are you asleep? More food! More wine!
Rowena turns to see to his demand. A messenger comes in, makes his way to Yorath, and whispers in his ear.
Yorath: [sounding disappointed] Oh …[to Cerdig and Arthur] Did you know, either of you, about that invasion fleet of the Scots?
Arthur: [innocently] Invasion?
Cerdig: [innocently] Scots?
Yorath: [laughing cynically] If either of you could lie as well as you fight … So that’s the reason why you’re here, passing as friends, seeking peace? Fear of a common enemy. Massive hordes of fearsome Scots, preparing to swallow you up.
Arthur: [feigning nonchalance] Now I remember – I believe I did hear a rumour that they were preparing a few ships to cross the channel.
Cerdig: [feigning nonchalance] Yes. A handful, I heard.
Yorath: Strange. My first report of them, which you have just witnessed, spoke of several legions. But you need not have concerned yourselves. It was all for nothing.
Cerdig: They have turned back?
Yorath: Not back, My Friend, down, down. There was a big storm, huge waves. Now they’re all fish food.
Arthur raises his goblet.
Arthur: I toast the gods for their wisdom in creating this tempest and washing away the enemy that threatened us. But let it not also wash away the friendship we have found this day. We broke bread together. And now there’s really hope for peace. The Scots weakened, the Picts hammered back into the cold of the north, the three of us in agreement.
Yorath: May all our enemies perish so!
Arthur on one side, and Cerdig on the other, clink their goblets with Yorath’s: but not each other’s.
Cerdig: I should have liked to see their faces before those cockleshell boats of theirs started to go under. Heh, heh! They were never over-fond of water.
Yorath and Cerdig laugh. Cerdig looks into his goblet, then at Rowena, who is sitting by the spit, looking despondent.
Cerdig: Hey! Wench! My cup is dry. Time enough after the feast to sit on your haunches – or lie on your back, more like, eh?
Yorath looks put out. Rowena gets slowly to her feet.
Rowena: Cut your tongue out, Saxon!
Cerdig: What?
Yorath: Apologise to my daughter!
Cerdig, and Yorath, get to their feet, Cerdig glaring at Rowena, and Yorath at Cerdig.
Yorath: Save your insults for your own Saxon sluts!
Rowena: Father – it doesn’t matter … Please don’t –
Yorath silences her with a gesture.
Yorath: Apologise, Saxon!
Cerdig: I’ve never apologised to anyone in my life, [turning to Yorath] Jute! And I’m not starting now with a woman.
Arthur gets to his feet.
Arthur: You’re both at fault. Yorath. Is it any wonder other men have little respect for your daughter when they see how you treat her yourself? And you Cerdig. It’s not only a woman you’ve insulted, but the future head of her people. What will happen to the treaty when she becomes leader of the Jutes? Now we’ve come a long way today. Let’s not spoil it by a stupid misunderstanding. Now, Yorath. If Cerdig apologises to your daughter, you must first show the proper respect due to her.
Yorath: [shame-faced] My Princess Rowena – my respect and apologies.
Cerdig: [grudgingly] The same, from me.
Rowena: Thank you. [sarcastic] You’re very gracious.
Arthur: We’ve done a fine day’s work. Yorath, your hospitality could tempt a man to stay forever, but some of my men await me outside, and I’ve been away from my people too long.
Cerdig: Woden! See to the boat! My men will be getting restless too.
Outside, the knife-throwing game is still going on. Woden comes out of the longhouse.
Woden: Alright men – back to the longbo –
A badly-aimed knife rebounds off the target, and hits Woden in the chest. He falls, dead.
All those in the feasting hall drink a final toast.
All: Peace! Peace!
Outside, Cerdig’s lieutenant kneels by Woden’s body. The knife-thrower approaches them, and Cerdig’s lieutenant stabs him. Fights break out all over the place. Cerdig comes out of the longhouse and joins in. As fighting intensifies, we see Yorath and Cerdig trying to throttle each other. Arthur, Kai, Llud and Bran emerge from the longhouse.
Arthur: Stand back! Stand back! Stand back!
Arthur and Kai push Cerdig and Yorath apart.
Cerdig leads the Saxons, carrying Woden on a bier, back to their longboat. The Celts and Jutes look on in solemn silence. From his position on the boat, Cerdig calls out.
Cerdig: I’ll be back, Jute!
Yorath: I’ll be waiting, Saxon!
Llud: We must have been mad to think we could ever live as one.
Arthur: No, Llud. We were right. It didn’t happen this time. The gods, it seems, as well as the Scots, were against us. But one day it will happen.
Llud shakes his head.
Arthur: If we’re to survive, it must!
Cerdig’s lieutenant makes his was towards the front of the longboat.
Cerdig’s lieutenant: Row! Row! Row!
He kneels beside Woden, looks down at him, then picks up the shield Arthur gave to Cerdig, which was lying on Woden’s stomach. He takes it to Cerdig, and stands it on the side of the boat.
Cerdig’s lieutenant: The river? Or do we put it to use against its sender when we next go to battle?
Cerdig: No sense in wasting good weapons. I’ll put it on the wall in my hut.
Cerdig’s lieutenant: Your hut? [vehement] I should have thought the very sight of it would sicken you!
Cerdig: By now, that barbarian Arthur will probably have destroyed my gift to him. The shield will rest in my hut, to remind us all, that for one single moment it was the Saxons who tried to bring to this land the peace they’ve never known.
Back at Arthur’s village. The sun has recently set, but the children are still out practising with their wooden swords. As Kai and Llud dismount by the longhouse, Arthur spends a moment watching the children, then joins Kai and Llud. Bran is still sitting on his horse, behind them. Arthur and Llud’s horses are led away. Kai takes the knife Cerdig gave Arthur from Arthur’s belt, and throws it to Bran.
Kai: Here! Take that back to Cerdig!
Bran: No message?
Llud: [jovial] Yes! Tell him to cut his throat with it!
Arthur: [frustrated] No, wait!
Kai: You won’t keep it? The sight of it should sicken you!
Arthur: Well, when Cerdig gave it to me, he did so as a token of friendship. Friendship which could have taken the weapons from those children and sent them out to the forest to play. Cerdig will probably have destroyed my gift by now.
Arthur takes the knife from Bran.
Arthur: But let us keep this knife, as a reminder, [he unsheathes the knife, and contemplates it] that once we met, and talked of peace.
He throws the knife, and embeds the point in the longhouse wall.
Arthur: I pray we will again.
[ROLL THE CREDITS]
Writer: Terence Feely
OPENING SCENE
It is winter. A messenger rides into Arthur’s village.
Bran: Arthur! Cerdig and Yorath have made a pact.
Arthur: Cerdig and Yorath? Impossible!
Bran: That’s what they say!
Llud: Yorath? He’d never make a pact with the Saxons. The Jutes care for their Saxon neighbours like they would a venomous snake.
Arthur puts on his cloak.
Kai: Where are you going?
Arthur: To see Yorath. If he has made a pact, it leaves us naked to the north.
Arthur mounts his horse.
Kai: [to Bran] You must be mistaken.
Bran: On good authority, it’s the truth.
Arthur: I will hear that from Yorath himself. [to horse] Hey!
He rides away.
Llud: It’s an open invitation for Cerdig to mount a surprise attack, and wipe us and the entire village off the face of the earth.
[OPENING CREDITS]
PART 1
In Yorath’s village. Someone throws a knife at a target board, where one already sticks in. Arthur rides in. The knives are removed from the board. Arthur dismounts. His horse is led away. As he approaches the longhouse, another knife flies towards the board, and Arthur looks disconcerted, then moves past towards the doorway. Rowena strides out, then stops and gives him a slightly contemptuous look.
Rowena: Well!
Arthur: [formal] Rowena.
Rowena: [bitter] This is twice you have visited me in one year.
Arthur: I came to speak to your father.
Rowena: He is out. Hunting.
Arthur: We had word that Yorath and Cerdig were about to make a pact.
A hooded falcon is handed up to Yorath, as he sits on his horse. Arthur sits beside him, also on horseback, and holding a hooded falcon.
Yorath: I am not about to make a pact with Cerdig. It’s already done. The peace is made. A treaty is sworn and signed. Cerdig and I are no longer enemies.
Arthur: You must be moon-sick. You may as well try making peace with a mad bear.
Yorath: If a mad bear could talk, I would try that too. Arthur, I am war-sick. [He removes the falcon’s hood.] My people are battle-weary and bloodied. I will give them peace.
He launches a falcon. It catches a pigeon, and brings it to the ground. Yorath urges his horse forward, and Rowena follows.
Rowena: Father! Arthur is right.
Yorath: You stay out of this, Woman!
A servant retrieves the falcon and its prey. Yorath hands him the falcon’s hood.
Yorath: [to servant] There you are! Heh, heh, heh, heh!
Yorath’s horse is led away.
Arthur: So Cerdig is now your ally.
Yorath: Yes.
Arthur: But you also have a pact with me. What if Cerdig attacks me?
Arthur dismounts. His horse is led away.
Yorath: Well, you can’t expect me to support one friend against the other, hunh?
Arthur: And if Cerdig should break your alliance, and turn on you? What would you have me do?
Yorath: [exasperated] All I want is peace!
Rowena: Father, we can’t live in peace with a mad dog!
Yorath: You know nothing! Chicken-brain. We’ve been invaders too, and yet we found peace with Arthur, and all the Celts.
Arthur: That was different. You led in the Jutes, found a deserted tract of land and built your own village. Whilst Cerdig plundered, burned and killed, you settled, and made no further demands. You made and kept your peace with the Celts. Cerdig doesn’t even know the meaning of the word.
Yorath: And how can you be so sure of that, My Young Friend? Has anybody stopped fighting him long enough to find out? Huh?
Just outside Arthur’s village. We see Llud and Kai sparring with Celtic boys – training them in the use of sword and shield, and hear various imprecations and encouragements – “Come on!” “Here!” “Good!” etc.
Arthur rides up.
Llud: [to Arthur] Was it true?
Arthur sets his spear in the ground.
Llud: [to the children] Right! Defence walls! Now come on! Show Arthur what you can do!
Arthur dismounts. The children run to their places, forming a wall with their shields. Llud passes a sword to Bran.
Llud: [to Bran] Take over!
Bran: Right! Ready? One! Two! One! Two!
The children lunge, then draw back, in time with his commands. Arthur, Kai and Llud walk together.
Kai: Did you put a stop to this mad notion of Yorath and Cerdig pledging a treaty?
Llud: Yorath does understand the wrong he’s doing?
Arthur: Wrong?
Kai: Yes, wrong.
Bran: [to childen] Into your pairs – go!
As they talk, the children’s swords continue to clatter against each other.
Arthur: Yorath wants to put an end to the bloodshed. An end to the maiming and killing each other. Is that right, or wrong?
Llud: Well, the thought’s right, but –
Arthur: Yorath wants this land to learn to live in peace. Or else it’ll tear itself to shreds. Is that wrong?
The children go back to practice lunges.
Kai: [to children] Keep your swords up! Aim for the heart! [to Arthur] Ask that question to Cerdig.
Bran: [in background] One. Two. One. Two. Three. Four.
Arthur: He asked him that question, and was rewarded with a treaty. He is right. Sometime somewhere, this slaughter must stop.
Kai: [to children] Take a grip on that sword! Lunge from the shoulder! You’ll never kill anyone that way.
Bran: [in background] One. Two. Three.
Kai: Yorath is a fool.
Arthur: Then a fool has shown the way. Look what we are doing today! Will we still be doing this in five hundred years’ time? Yorath has shown the way. And I haven’t the courage to follow.
Llud: It’s not a question of courage. Would you put your head in the mouth of a hungry lion? Well, Cerdig’s as much likely to respect the treaty as the lion would your life!
Arthur: Are you so sure, Llud? Would you stake your life on being right about Cerdig?
Llud looks pensive.
Inside the longhouse. Arthur sits in his big chair at the head of the table. Kai sits further along, carving a drinking horn. Llud comes in and flings his cloak on the table.
Llud: You can forget about Cerdig and the Saxons. There are others who would prefer the plundering and the bloodshed.
Arthur: Scots?
Llud: Yes. By report, a huge army embarked in a vast fleet of ships. And they boast that they will conquer this entire land, once and for all.
Arthur rises from his seat and comes forward.
Arthur: How long before they’re landing?
Llud: Well, given good winds – two or three days.
Kai: You say a huge army – how many?
Llud: Their camp fires could be seen across the channel, stretching for thirty leagues along the coast.
Kai gets to his feet.
Kai: By the gods, they’ll take Hereward and Dirk as easily as a bear kills a fox. How could they muster such an army?
Llud: The three kings to the east of their lands are united, and together their armies total several hundred –
Arthur: [talking over Llud] Then they will find an equal force to greet them. Courage is forced upon us. With luck, we will see Celt fighting side by side with both Jute and Saxon.
In Cerdig’s village. A bundle, wrapped in a fur skin, lands on the ground. Cerdig looks up skeptically.
Cerdig: Gift? From Arthur? And the sun whelped kittens!
The Saxons laugh.
Cerdig: I fear a gift from Arthur more than a blade between the ribs.
As he speaks, Cerdig approaches Bran, who brought the gift, and holds an axe to his throat.
Cerdig: You’re a bold man to bring me gifts from Arthur!
Bran: It is no more than my duty.
Cerdig grunts, and uses his axe to open the skin in which the gift is wrapped.
Cerdig: A shield? Hahahaha! I’d sooner take shelter behind a cobweb than trust my life to a shield sent by Arthur.
The Saxons laugh.
Bran: Arthur sent it in good faith, with this message from Yorath.
He holds aloft a scroll. Cerdig offers his axe haft and Bran slides the scroll onto it. Without taking it off the haft, Cerdig passes the scroll to one of his men, while regarding the shield with deep suspicion.
Cerdig: I cannot fathom the wickedness of it. Must be very deep. But then, that evil Celt is very deep.
Cerdig turns to the man to whom he passed the scroll.
Cerdig: What does the message say?
Bran: Yorath asks you to a meeting with Arthur at Yorath’s village. Each leader to bring but ten men. Arthur would speak of peace.
Cerdig: Stranger and stranger.
Bran: He guarantees your safety.
Cerdig: I guarantee my own safety! Get off your horse!
Bran dismounts. His horse is led away.
Cerdig: Pick it up.
He gestures to the shield; Bran picks it up. Cerdig swings his axe, and as Bran raises the shield, the axe clangs against it.
Cerdig: Hmmm. Turns a stroke well. No hidden blades to spring out at a blow.
He goes to touch it, then pulls back.
Cerdig: Aah! Arthur was brought up by the Romans – there’s still poisons. Lick it!
Bran looks blank.
Cerdig: [shouts] Lick it for your life!
Bran licks the shield a few times, then gives Cerdig a scornful look.
Cerdig: Very well. The trick is not in the shield. Now then. What’s all this about meetings and peace? What devil’s brew is that Celtic wolfhound preparing now, eh?
Bran: There is no treachery. Arthur wants peace.
It is night; Cerdig and his council sit outside the longhouse, around a fire. Other Saxons stand around, listening.
Cerdig: No man in his right mind wants war.
Saxon: Nah …
Cerdig: But you can’t make peace with a cunning savage like Arthur.
The Saxons mutter derisively.
Woden: But what of the news of the Scots? If it’s true, we’ll have a common enemy that would rid the land of Celt and Saxon alike.
Cerdig: There are rumours about the Scots every day of the year. I’m not rushing into the arms of that barbarian on a rumour.
Woden: But today, our messengers brought word that the Scots have sailed with the greatest horde this land has ever seen. That was no rumour. Wigath saw them with his own eyes.
Cerdig looks thoughtful.
Near Yorath’s village. It is early morning. Yorath and Rowena stand by a bridge over the river.
Rowena: [anxious] Cerdig is not coming.
Yorath: Argh, he will come. If he would make a pact with us, why not also with the Celts?
Yorath stands looking over the bridge, at Arthur’s party, waiting on the other side of the river.
Yorath: Hey!
Kai: [to Arthur] While we’re waiting here, he’s probably sacking our villages.
Arthur: He knows we would not leave them undefended.
Kai: Then where is he?
A horn sounds; a Saxon longboat, bearing Cerdig and his delegation, comes slowly upriver. When they arrive at the bridge, the Saxons disembark on the side of the river opposite Cerdig’s village, where the Celts await them.
Arthur rides forward, dismounts, reverses his spear and embeds the point in the ground. Cerdig throws his axe, and then shield Arthur sent him, on the ground. He then takes a small bundle from Woden.
Arthur and Cerdig slowly approach each other, while Yorath and Rowena cross the bridge to meet them. Cerdig shows the bundle to Arthur, partly unwraps it, and holds it out. Arthur flicks the last bit of wrapping aside to reveal a sheathed knife, the handle set with blue stones.
Cerdig: A gift for a gift.
Arthur gives a slight smile.
[INTERVAL]
PART 2
In Yorath’s village. It is night. Celts, Saxons and Jutes are gathered around a fire.
Arthur: War’s for fools and madmen. Let’s make it only a memory kept alive by children’s games, with harmless wooden swords. Blood and lives wasted on warring could be used in making a richer, fuller land for all.
Cerdig: This is a rich land. We did not come to fight. There is enough for all to share.
Llud: Provided each keeps within his own boundary.
Yorath: Let’s draw up maps, huh?
Cerdig: That’s work for priests. Let us agree upon it like men, and then, we can sit back and watch our children grow fat.
Arthur: But first – the hardest task of all. We must stop hating, and learn to trust one another.
Cerdig: Well spoken, Arthur of the Celts. How do you like your gift?
Arthur looks at the knife, lying among its wrappings, and nods.
Arthur: I like it well.
Cerdig: It balances well, in the hand. Try it!
Arthur looks at Kai. Kai glances at Cerdig. Cerdig nods to his lieutenant, who hands the knife to Cerdig. Cerdig draws it, balances it on his hand, licks it, then smiles.
Cerdig: As you say … we must learn to trust each other.
He sheathes the knife. His lieutenant passes it to Llud, who gives it to Arthur. Arthur draws it, and contemplates it.
Arthur: Tell me – did it taste better than my shield?
All laugh, including Rowena, who is sitting next to Yorath.
Yorath: Come! Prepare for the feast! [He gestures expansively.] This is a great day for this land!
Rowena gets to her feet.
Rowena: It is indeed! I –
Yorath slaps Rowena on the hip.
Yorath: Get yourself to the roasting-spit, hah!
With a look of resentment, Rowena obeys. Yorath aims a swat at her departing rear.
Yorath: Go see to it!
Outside, some of the men are drinking together and throwing knives at the target. There is a general air of good cheer.
Inside, the delegations are feasting. Yorath picks up his goblet and turns to Cerdig.
Yorath: To lasting peace between us, huh?
Yorath clinks his goblet with Cerdig’s. Arthur picks up his goblet.
Yorath: [to Rowena] More wine, Woman! Oil for the wheels of peace.
Rowena fills Arthur’s cup.
Yorath: You’re strange companions. You are invited for a big feast, and yet you both bring your own bread. If you are to be brothers – [He takes Arthur’s, and then Cerdig’s bread, and swaps them over.] – you must eat each other’s bread, huh? All of you!
Both Celts and Saxons look doubtful.
Woden: [to Llud] What ails you, Friend? Your face is screwed up like a shrivelled nut.
Llud: Oh – merely an expression of … curiosity.
Cerdig looks at the Celt bread in disgust. Arthur spits out the Saxon bread.
Arthur: What revulsion is this?
Cerdig: Revulsion? [He spits out the Celt bread.] What do you make yours with – boar’s droppings?
Llud also spits, and nearly everyone else follows suit.
Woden: Cow-dung!
Bran: Fly-spawn!
Kai is still eating his Saxon bread. The Saxon to his left spits, and throws down his bread.
Saxon: Frog-spit!
Kai brandishes his axe in the Saxon’s face. Llud gets to his feet, his knife drawn. Fights are about to start all over the place.
Arthur: Peace!
Everyone goes quiet.
Arthur: It is good that we are being honest with one another. It is no tragedy that we cannot stomach each other’s food.
Cerdig: Hmmm.
Arthur: If it offends the palate, why not say so, as friends should?
Everyone sits down again. Cerdig raises his goblet.
Cerdig: This should have happened sooner. Here’s to the new life!
Celt: The new life!
The Celt sitting next to Cerdig raises his goblet, inadvertently knocking Cerdig’s drink out of his hand.
Cerdig: Argh – clumsy oaf!
Cerdig knocks the Celt over backwards. Llud laughs, and elbows the Saxon sitting between himself and Arthur. The Saxon falls on his back, accidentally throwing his drink in Arthur’s face. Arthur throws his own goblet down and elbows the Saxon.
Arthur: Fool!
He picks up the Saxon and heaves him across the room, and Llud gives him a boot in the rear to help him on his way. The Saxon lands on the Celt who spilt Cerdig’s drink. All cheer and laugh.
Cerdig’s lieutenant, sitting next to Kai, glares, as if about to pick a fight; Kai grabs him by the shoulders, then slaps him on the chest. They both laugh.
Arthur hands the Celt who spilt wine over Cerdig, and the Saxon who spilt wine over him, a mug of wine each.
Arthur: Now you can enjoy spilling the wine over each other, and leave your leaders alone.
All laugh, and settle down.
Cerdig: [to Yorath] We used to call Arthur ‘The Bear.’ But we should have called him ‘The Fox.’ Now I see where he learned his cunning!
Cerdig indicates Llud, laughs, then drains his cup and looks meaningfully into it.
Yorath: [to Rowena who is tending the spit] Rowena! Are you asleep? More food! More wine!
Rowena turns to see to his demand. A messenger comes in, makes his way to Yorath, and whispers in his ear.
Yorath: [sounding disappointed] Oh …[to Cerdig and Arthur] Did you know, either of you, about that invasion fleet of the Scots?
Arthur: [innocently] Invasion?
Cerdig: [innocently] Scots?
Yorath: [laughing cynically] If either of you could lie as well as you fight … So that’s the reason why you’re here, passing as friends, seeking peace? Fear of a common enemy. Massive hordes of fearsome Scots, preparing to swallow you up.
Arthur: [feigning nonchalance] Now I remember – I believe I did hear a rumour that they were preparing a few ships to cross the channel.
Cerdig: [feigning nonchalance] Yes. A handful, I heard.
Yorath: Strange. My first report of them, which you have just witnessed, spoke of several legions. But you need not have concerned yourselves. It was all for nothing.
Cerdig: They have turned back?
Yorath: Not back, My Friend, down, down. There was a big storm, huge waves. Now they’re all fish food.
Arthur raises his goblet.
Arthur: I toast the gods for their wisdom in creating this tempest and washing away the enemy that threatened us. But let it not also wash away the friendship we have found this day. We broke bread together. And now there’s really hope for peace. The Scots weakened, the Picts hammered back into the cold of the north, the three of us in agreement.
Yorath: May all our enemies perish so!
Arthur on one side, and Cerdig on the other, clink their goblets with Yorath’s: but not each other’s.
Cerdig: I should have liked to see their faces before those cockleshell boats of theirs started to go under. Heh, heh! They were never over-fond of water.
Yorath and Cerdig laugh. Cerdig looks into his goblet, then at Rowena, who is sitting by the spit, looking despondent.
Cerdig: Hey! Wench! My cup is dry. Time enough after the feast to sit on your haunches – or lie on your back, more like, eh?
Yorath looks put out. Rowena gets slowly to her feet.
Rowena: Cut your tongue out, Saxon!
Cerdig: What?
Yorath: Apologise to my daughter!
Cerdig, and Yorath, get to their feet, Cerdig glaring at Rowena, and Yorath at Cerdig.
Yorath: Save your insults for your own Saxon sluts!
Rowena: Father – it doesn’t matter … Please don’t –
Yorath silences her with a gesture.
Yorath: Apologise, Saxon!
Cerdig: I’ve never apologised to anyone in my life, [turning to Yorath] Jute! And I’m not starting now with a woman.
Arthur gets to his feet.
Arthur: You’re both at fault. Yorath. Is it any wonder other men have little respect for your daughter when they see how you treat her yourself? And you Cerdig. It’s not only a woman you’ve insulted, but the future head of her people. What will happen to the treaty when she becomes leader of the Jutes? Now we’ve come a long way today. Let’s not spoil it by a stupid misunderstanding. Now, Yorath. If Cerdig apologises to your daughter, you must first show the proper respect due to her.
Yorath: [shame-faced] My Princess Rowena – my respect and apologies.
Cerdig: [grudgingly] The same, from me.
Rowena: Thank you. [sarcastic] You’re very gracious.
Arthur: We’ve done a fine day’s work. Yorath, your hospitality could tempt a man to stay forever, but some of my men await me outside, and I’ve been away from my people too long.
Cerdig: Woden! See to the boat! My men will be getting restless too.
Outside, the knife-throwing game is still going on. Woden comes out of the longhouse.
Woden: Alright men – back to the longbo –
A badly-aimed knife rebounds off the target, and hits Woden in the chest. He falls, dead.
All those in the feasting hall drink a final toast.
All: Peace! Peace!
Outside, Cerdig’s lieutenant kneels by Woden’s body. The knife-thrower approaches them, and Cerdig’s lieutenant stabs him. Fights break out all over the place. Cerdig comes out of the longhouse and joins in. As fighting intensifies, we see Yorath and Cerdig trying to throttle each other. Arthur, Kai, Llud and Bran emerge from the longhouse.
Arthur: Stand back! Stand back! Stand back!
Arthur and Kai push Cerdig and Yorath apart.
Cerdig leads the Saxons, carrying Woden on a bier, back to their longboat. The Celts and Jutes look on in solemn silence. From his position on the boat, Cerdig calls out.
Cerdig: I’ll be back, Jute!
Yorath: I’ll be waiting, Saxon!
Llud: We must have been mad to think we could ever live as one.
Arthur: No, Llud. We were right. It didn’t happen this time. The gods, it seems, as well as the Scots, were against us. But one day it will happen.
Llud shakes his head.
Arthur: If we’re to survive, it must!
Cerdig’s lieutenant makes his was towards the front of the longboat.
Cerdig’s lieutenant: Row! Row! Row!
He kneels beside Woden, looks down at him, then picks up the shield Arthur gave to Cerdig, which was lying on Woden’s stomach. He takes it to Cerdig, and stands it on the side of the boat.
Cerdig’s lieutenant: The river? Or do we put it to use against its sender when we next go to battle?
Cerdig: No sense in wasting good weapons. I’ll put it on the wall in my hut.
Cerdig’s lieutenant: Your hut? [vehement] I should have thought the very sight of it would sicken you!
Cerdig: By now, that barbarian Arthur will probably have destroyed my gift to him. The shield will rest in my hut, to remind us all, that for one single moment it was the Saxons who tried to bring to this land the peace they’ve never known.
Back at Arthur’s village. The sun has recently set, but the children are still out practising with their wooden swords. As Kai and Llud dismount by the longhouse, Arthur spends a moment watching the children, then joins Kai and Llud. Bran is still sitting on his horse, behind them. Arthur and Llud’s horses are led away. Kai takes the knife Cerdig gave Arthur from Arthur’s belt, and throws it to Bran.
Kai: Here! Take that back to Cerdig!
Bran: No message?
Llud: [jovial] Yes! Tell him to cut his throat with it!
Arthur: [frustrated] No, wait!
Kai: You won’t keep it? The sight of it should sicken you!
Arthur: Well, when Cerdig gave it to me, he did so as a token of friendship. Friendship which could have taken the weapons from those children and sent them out to the forest to play. Cerdig will probably have destroyed my gift by now.
Arthur takes the knife from Bran.
Arthur: But let us keep this knife, as a reminder, [he unsheathes the knife, and contemplates it] that once we met, and talked of peace.
He throws the knife, and embeds the point in the longhouse wall.
Arthur: I pray we will again.
[ROLL THE CREDITS]