Screenplay...?Written by MysteriKatThis is from chapter 31 of Ashling, not long after slavers have taken Matthew and Elspeth and Brydda are on their way to attend the rebel meeting. I chose this scene because it shows in earnest the emotions of both Elspeth and Brydda, characters who are generally tough and resilient. By letting their emotions out so passionately and in the face of such tragedy, Carmody has shown us that they are still more than human.
I hope you like it. It’s a very long scene but I could see no real way of breaking it up.
Thanks, MysteriKat.
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EXT STREET EARLY MORNING
Dressed to combat the weather, ELSPETH and BRYDDA are walking along a quiet, deserted street. It is raining lightly, and the sky is grey and miserable. The buildings around them are close together, and pressed tightly against the cobbled pathways that serve as streets. BRYDDA is striding purposefully ahead, with ELSPETH, looking downcast and forlorn, struggling to meet his pace. BRYDDA’S face is set, his mind on rebel politics.
Close up, ELSPETH is visibly upset. Focusing in on her, the camera super-imposes a picture of MATTHEW as we last saw him – bound and chained aboard the slave ship. We see the calm acceptance in his eyes as he reassesses his fate. MATTHEW’S face is replaced with that of ARIEL, the boy. He smiles and his angelic features transform into a delicate, more mature masculine beauty, and he is the tall blonde youth standing on the deck of the Herder ship.
BRYDDA’S voice comes across and ARIEL’S transparent image fades to BRYDDA’S face.
BRYDDA: Malik arrived with Brocade of Sawlney and letters of authority which allow him to represent and vote on behalf of Vos of Saithwald and Lydi of Darthnor, and Tardis has sent a man called Gwynedd …
ELSPETH nods absently as BRYDDA’S words fade and she becomes lost in her despair once more.
BRYDDA: Elii of Kinraide and Zamadi of Berrioc have come too but the real surprise …
Cut to ELSPETH mounted on GAHLTHA watching the slave ship depart. The image fades as BRYDDA’S voice comes in.
BRYDDA: … Cassell has come without Madellin or Radek. He is one of the rebel leaders that make up the western-bloc.
BRYDDA stops and looks searchingly at ELSPETH, waiting to see if she remembered all he had told her. Relieved when she nods, he resumes walking.
BRYDDA: (continuing) His presence will be of concern to Malik, for it will mean that Cassell has managed to unite the west coast into one unit …
ELSPETH’S attention fades again and an image of MATTHEW recognising ARIEL on board the ship comes to her. In her vision, MATTHEW’S face contorts with hatred.
BRYDDA: … surprise is that Jakoby has come …
ELSPETH stops walking, startled.
ELSPETH: Jakoby? The Sadorian tribe leader?
BRYDDA nods, approval flashing in his brown eyes.
BRYDDA: She came by ship. One of their TempleGuardians had some sort of dream, but before that, the Sadorians were reluctant to send someone.
ELSPETH: (sourly) Because of a dream?
BRYDDA dismisses the idea of prophetic dreams with a flick of his hand.
BRYDDA: Some ritual where the outcome could be anything. Something about smoke shapes and burning feathers. Anyway, Jakoby has come, and Dardelan will stand in his fathers stead …
ELSPETH’S eyes unfocus and she is standing on the deck of a ship out in open water. From her POV we see the Land receeding in the distance.
ELSPETH’S MIND VOICE: O Matthew! I’m so sorry!
BRYDDA stops suddenly. He turns to look into ELSPETH’S face. Pulled from her dream by his sudden movement, she meets his gaze, and her eyes fill with tears. BRYDDA reaches out and draws her into his embrace, and she sobs into his chest. BRYDDA, awkwardly but gently, pats her on the back.
BRYDDA: Elspeth, girl, I am truly sorry about Matthew. I know what his loss must mean to you.
He draws her into a doorway. ELSPETH slumps against a wall, despair racking her body.
ELSPETH: (crying still) You don’t understand! It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. First Dragon, now this. And before that it was Jik. I’m not fit to lead an expedition. Everyone around me dies or is hurt terribly or …
BRYDDA releases ELSPETH from his arms. His face is crumpled and sad.
BRYDDA: I know how it is to feel responsible for the death of a friend. But we are their leaders as well as their friends and the thing with leadership is, it often means putting those we care about in danger.
ELSPETH: But that is wrong.
BRYDDA: Wrong? Yes. But which is more wrong? That a leader risks those he cares for, or cares nothing for those he risks? Those who follow us are their own people, remember that. They make a choice to follow us, to trust us, and we need to honour that. We must accept that their deaths come from their decisions – not ours. We are no Moonfair puppeteers and they sawdust dolls.
ELSPETH looks like she is on the verge of tears again. BRYDDA grasps her shoulders with his big hands, turning her attention to him.
BRYDDA: Matthew chose to join Rushton’s cause, just as you, Domick and Kella did. You do him no honour to grieve, for he is not dead, and he has powers that will stand him in good stead no matter where he goes.
ELSPETH: But … Ariel was on that ship Brydda! If Matthew was taken by Herders …
BRYDDA: (passionately) You run before you walk! The youth on board that ship may not have been Ariel. Can you be certain it was him? Beauty is not proof enough.
ELSPETH’S face changes with the added knowledge of what she has failed to see – that it may not have been Ariel after all.
BRYDDA: (continuing) And if it was Ariel, why would he recognise Matthew among so many slaves? Matthew was a boy when Ariel last saw him, and he is now grown to a man.
ELSPETH shakes her head. ELSPETH: It was a Herder ship. Ariel went to Herder Isle.
BRYDDA: The Calour Lady is a Herder supply ship Elspeth – it does not belong to the Faction. The Herder insignia simply means that the ship has a contract of supply with the Herders. Hiring that ship has enabled the slavers to pass off their cargo as Defective, and the Herders may have even been paid to turn a blind eye. The ship may go to Herder Isle as normal, then onto wherever it will go. I doubt the Herders have any more to do with the scheme than that.
BRYDDA gives ELSPETH a shake.
BRYDDA: (gently) Dry your eyes. Daffyd will discover what he can. You must concentrate on the task ahead. There is work to be done and you must prepare yourself.
ELSPETH: (miserable) How?
BRYDDA: (looking sad again) The way we all have to at such times. You think I have forgotten Idris already? I fear some part of me will always grieve for him. But I do not and cannot let grief get in the way of a cause that Idris believed in as much as I do. So I act. Pretend. And sometimes, when we are pretending, we forget our pain.
ELSPETH: (blankly) Act?
BRYDDA shakes ELSPETH again.
BRYDDA: Elspeth, pretend! Pretend that you are clever, wise, brave and courageous. Pretend you are Elar, the gypsy boy, or Elaria, the gypsy girl.
They stop their conversation as a man and a woman with a small child between them, emerge from a nearby doorway. The parents ignore Elspeth and Bryyda, but the girl gives Elspeth a knowing, searching look. Brydda watches them go.
BRYDDA: We are almost there. They expect you to be a half-wit and I have not enlightened them. You will have an advantage, given the element of surprise. Elspeth, for Obernewtyn’s sake, you must show your best and most impressive face, and your most human one. You must give them something to warm to, not appear cold and withdrawn. Malik already suspects you are my pawn, so I cannot give you instruction once we are there.
ELSPETH takes a deep breath and does her best to present a calm, outward expression. BRYDDA smiles wryly.
BRYDDA: That will do.
He turns and heads down a small, narrow lane, and Elspeth falls in behind him. Now that his back is turned, she lets the calm façade and false smile fall. They walk in silence along the cobbled lane. Brydda stops suddenly in front of a cream wall, set with a heavily carved wooden door. He reaches for the gate lever, then turns to Elspeth.
BRYDDA: We are here.
He pushes the gate open.
-END-
