The Shroud
1. EXT / WILDERNESS / MORNING
A small town in arid wilderness. Medieval. Unremarkable and impoverished, except for its large, ornate church.
A masked TRAVELER wearing rust-colored cape walks into the town. He has scars on his face. A curved scabbard dangles from his belt and two javelins have been propped against his shoulder. On a golden chain he wears an amulet -a glass vial with a few bloody thorns in it- but this object is now hidden under his shirt.
The town welcomes him with the sound of doors and windows slammed shut.
2. EXT / TOWN / MORNING
The Traveler passes the church by. There is a line of pilgrims at the door, waiting to be let in. Many of them are bruised or blooded. At the sight of him, they whimper, they bang on the door. A few of them run off; the rest huddle close like so many frightened sheep.
The Traveler walks into a small, decreipt OFFICE.
3. INT / CONSTABLE'S OFFICE / MORNING
A fireplace, a desk, a chair. The constable is a tough, stocky middle aged man who wears a silver cross and carries a dagger; the dagger's hand guard is cross-shaped with the some religious symbolism -perhaps the initialism INRI or a Christogram- etched into it. He gazes at his guest with evident disdain.
(POV) The Traveler: He is a seemingly young man with black hair.
On the wall there is a poster, written in Latin, but in the same visual format as the WANTED posters of Western movies. The portrait on it is either a woodcut or an engraving.
The constable points his thumb at the poster and talks in a language unknown to us.
CONSTABLE
There is only one route from here to the west and this bandit has firmly choked it up. His men plunder caravans and he uses the pilgrims to sate his… thirst. He is one of your kind. (Beat. He bangs his palm on the table) The governor wants them dead or alive. Not both. This kingdom has enough bloodsuckers as it is.
The Traveler nods and leaves.
4. EXT / OUTSIDE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE / MORNING
As he steps out of the door, another masked bounty HUNTER passes him by and walks in. A tall, blonde man; he is dressed in the same rust-colored cape; and carries a glass amulet. Bu his equipment is more European: He bears a broadsword as well as an iron crossbow. The Traveler eyes him and the Hunter meets his gaze.
The Traveler walks away without so much as a shrug.
5. INT / CONSTABLE'S OFFICE / MORNING
The Constable eyes the newcomer's cape with a mixture of humor and resentment.
CONSTABLE
They say bad things come in pairs. There was only one Christ but two thieves on Golgotha. You know what I mean?
The Hunter reveals his amulet: A glass vial with a long, slightly bent, iron nail inside it. The nail is covered with dried blood.
CONSTABLE
You would know, of course.
(Beat)
Your quarry is him. (Point his thumb at the poster) He and his gang attack our pilgrims. (He bangs his left palm on the table) The governor wants them dead or alive… not both. There are enough…
With a blindingly quick draw, the bounty Hunter shoots a bolt through his hand. The Constable opens his mouth to scream and goes for his dagger. But the dagger isn't in the scabbard -it is in his mouth, he feels its point at the tip of his tongue. The Hunter already has drawn the Constable's dagger and thrust it into his mouth without injuring him. The scream dies in the Constable's throat and comes out a desperate moan.
The Hunter puts an empty glass vial on the table, right next to the wounded hand. He pulls down his mask. He closely resembles the man on the poster. The Constable groans but dares not scream. His free hand grasps the cross on his neck. The Hunter, slowly, purposefully, closes in. The Constable knows what's in store for him -he must now choose between life and death. He falters. And yields.
The Hunter digs his teeth into the Constable's neck. The blood on the nail inside his amulet emits a crimson hue.
6. EXT / TOWN / MORNING
The Hunter walks towards the church. The pilgrims are still knocking on the door. But the clergy does not respond.
The Hunter has some blood on his mouth. He wipes it on his cape. An attentive viewer might notice that there are other, older blood stains there; but the cape's color keeps them from being conspicuous.
The Hunter puts on his mask. The pilgrims become frantic as the Hunter passes by.
7. EXT / WILDERNESS / MORNING
The Hunter walks away. The Church is visible at the background.
8. EXT / ROAD / AFTERNOON
An old Roman road; ill-maintained, barely functional. Time has cost it most of its paving stones. But it beats having to walk on marshlands or prairies.
A grove ahead. Corpses stretched around. They have been baking under the sun for some time. However, they are not bloated -having been drained of all blood, they look mummified.
A corpse with an wide open mouth. He's missing several teeth. The Traveler stops. With the tip of his javelin, he lifts the corpse's tongue. Under it, a gold tooth gleams.
The Traveler walks ahead without taking the tooth. He then senses something. He pulls down his mask and calmly draws his sword -a curved blade; perhaps a scimitar or a dao.
An arrow comes flying. The Traveler bats it away as casually as one of us might swat a fly.
A horn is blown. Men dressed in green shirts, green caps. Armed with spiked clubs, crudely made spears, wooden shields. At least one large crossbow with a wooden stock. They number eleven. A BIG GUY, the largest of the brigands, chucks a large rock at the Traveler. The Traveler stabs the ground with his javelin and doesn't even flinch as the rock lands inches from his feet, at the exact spot where he marked with his javelin.
The crossbowman targets him. And gets impaled to the oak tree behind him -the Traveler's javelin has passed through his guts. He drops his loaded crossbow. Big Guy hides behind a massive shield and tries to retrieve his comrade's weapon. A second javelin passes through the trigger guard of the crossbow. Big Guy whistles a command and his men escape to the safety of the woods.
The Traveler slowly walks towards the impaled crossbowman. He takes off the amulet from under his shirt. He licks his lips. As he approaches his prey the thorns inside the vial begin to glow crimson. Suddenly, someone who stands behind the oak reaches with a rope and begins to garrote the dying man.
The Traveler rushes -if his prey dies his blood will become useless. He suddenly halts -he was about to step on a thread of silk, painted green, stretched across his path. One of the many booby traps the brigands set around their grove. He steps over the tripwire and carefully avoids another tripwire set right next to it. A rock, then another, probably thrown by Big Guy, comes flying, out of his reach. They were aimed at the tripwires, but miss them. The Crossbowman is now on the verge of death. His tongue rolls out of his mouth.
As the Traveler steps over a third tripwire, a small stone comes flying from the opposite direction and squarely strikes the wire. The trap is triggered -an thin earthen pot is shattered and a viper emerges from it, instantly lashing at the Traveler. He swings his blade and beheads the animal. He turns and sees the Hunter, standing perhaps two hundred feet away, rolling a stone in his hand like a baseball. His red cape once again announces his identity.
The Traveler glances at the Crossbowman. He is obviously dead. The garrotte has been removed from his neck and his limbs are limp. The Traveler lets a quiet sigh.
And dashes towards the corpse. He pulls the javelin right off his body. He hears the whistle of a crossbow bolt coming, ducks behind the tree. By the time the late Crossbowman hits the ground the Traveler has hurled his javelin at the Hunter and taken refuge behind the tree. A crossbow bolt falls where he was moments ago.
The Hunter very slightly moves his neck. The javelin misses his ear with an inch to spare.
The Traveler exhales loudly. His opponent is obviously tough. He falls on one knee, like an athlete about to sprint. He begins to peer from behind the tree, but then hears the whistle of an incoming bolt. He halts. And the bolt passes where his eye would be if he had not stopped at the last moment.
From where he is, the Traveler can see the loaded crossbow and the javelin in its trigger guard. Both are almost with reach.
The Hunter loads his crossbow. He is very strong and draws the string with his bare hands, it only takes him a second to do so.
9. EXT / TOWN / AFTERNOON
The Constable emerges from his office. His countenance is ashen. He is wearing a scarf around his neck, as well as gloves. He has the glass vial in his right hand.
He walks towards the church. Now that the vampires are gone, the doors of the Church are open.
The pilgrims come to him, yammering and yelling in protest. They talk in a dozen different tongues. The Constable walks into the church.
10. INT / CHURCH / AFTERNOON
Pilgrims are giving alms to the church. A low-ranked CLERGYMAN collects golden and silver coins, counts them, records the amount of the donation on a piece of parchment. A pale faced woman lays a two copper coins on the table. The Clergyman barely looks at her and shakes his head. The woman collapses on her knees, begging. A burly MONK leads her out.
The Clergyman counts thirty silver and records the amount, in Roman numerals, to the parchment. He nods to one of the pilgrims; some LEPER from Egypt, Nubia or Ethiopia. The Leper breaks into a lifeless grin and walks toward…
(POV) The Shroud. No less than the Shroud of Turin, stretched inside a high altar for all to see. It has Jesus' likeness on it, imprinted upon its fabric when it was laid on His blood-soaked face. This image though, is in the dark color of dried blood.
Pilgrims, limping and moaning and bleeding, gather around the altar. They kneel in supplication. Their ailments range from toothache to blindness.
The Constable looks at the Shroud, grasping the empty vial tight. He has brought his dagger with him.
11. EXT / ROAD / AFTERNOON
The Hunter watches the tree where the Traveler is hiding. He does not even blink.
The Traveler looks around. There is a buckler, almost within reach. He cuts a branch and uses it to take the buckler without leaving the safety of the oak tree. He then makes for the crossbow.
The whistle of a bolt. The Traveler raises the buckler, but the bolt is not meant for him. It strikes the javelin's wooden hilt. The bolt is serrated, just like the sting of a honeybee. The Traveler tries to take the crossbow, but the bolt buried into the javelin prevents him. A second whistle -the Traveler sits, lowers his head. When he raises it, the buckler hides his entire body from view. A bolt strikes the buckler.
12. EXT / BATTLEFIELD / NOON (FLASHBACK)
The Traveler is in the uniform of a Roman legionary. A conscript from the Eastern Provinces of the Empire; he is fighting in one of the Persian campaigns. Trying to defend his legion's camp. He is still young. There are yet no scars on his face.
He is desperate. All but a few of his comrades are lying motionless. The enemy is approaching fast. He hurls his pilum into an infantry column. Sling-stones and darts rain around him. The operator of a ballista goes down, the Traveler lunges at the weapon; rotates it around it pivot…
13 EXT / ROAD / AFTERNOON
The Traveler lunges at the crossbow, rotates it around the javelin. He lets loose.
The camera zooms at the Hunter as the bolt approaches his groin.
The Hunter, caught off guard, has to use his crossbow as a shield. The bolt cuts through his bowstring, rendering his weapon useless. He tosses it aside without hesitation and goes for his broadsword.
The Traveler is already upon him, brandishing his own sword. The Hunter, quite unnaturally, runs a few paces backwards, without taking his eyes off the Traveler. Stops and assumes a defensive stance.
The Traveler attempts to strike him with a "lunge." He leaps and thrusts his sword forward. The Hunter does the same thing, at the same time. Two blades stop just short of two throats. Two warriors draw back at the same time, in three synchronized steps. They turn their blades sideways, at the same time. They lunge again, both of them targeting the chest of the other, the points of their weapons bumping against each other.
They step back and simultaneously assume the same defensive stance.
Stalemate.
14. INT / CHURCH / EVENING
Pilgrims are praying. The Leper sheds tears as he begs for divine mercy. The tears run across his disfigured, scarred face. They fall into a pus-filled lesion, mix with his blood. Reddish drops fall to the floor.
The Image on the Shroud glows red.
All pilgrims look in awe. The Constable folds his arms. Impassive.
The Leper touches his own face. His wounds are fading fast, disappearing.
15. EXT / ROAD / EVENING
It has been hours but the stalemate continues. Suddenly, the amulets of both duelist begin to glow. The glow is bright enough to dazzle them. They both step back and cover their amulets with their hands. Yet some light escapes, dancing crimson on their faces.
CLOSE: Red shadows and reflections on the Hunter's face.
16. EXT / GOLGOTHA / NIGHT(FLASHBACK)
Three empty crosses at the peak of the hill. The one in the middle has a crown of thorns placed around its vertical board, above its crossbar, like a wreath. Two bandits slouch uphill.
A blind WOMAN, guided by a child, comes before the cross in the middle. She is suffering from severe leukoma. There is some coagulated blood on the cross -she touches the blood, rubs her face on the cross. She feels faint, sits down, claws at her face. A silver fluid is oozing from under her eyelid, where she touched the cross.
The bandits push her and the child aside. They look at each other -spitting images of each other; one of them is the Hunter, the other is his TWIN.
His Twin brother bends and the Hunter uses his back as a ladder. The Woman looks up at them.
(POV) A blurry vision that gradually gets sharper. The Hunter is reaching at the nails on the cross.
17 EXT / ROAD / EVENING
A long, bent nail inside the Hunter's amulet.
He swings his sword so fast that it literally cracks like a whip. The Traveler raises his own sword to counter the blow. But the two blades never touch each other. The Hunter, seeing that his blow will not land on his enemy, stops his sword mid-air.
The Traveler swings and the same thing happens. The two fighters are sweaty and short of breath. This has been going on for a while, and they are thirsty.
18 EXT / GROVE / EVENING
Men in green quietly approach the edge of the grove, crossbows and javelins in hand. The BIG GUY, now armed with a quarterstaff, leads them. He gives a silent signal. A SHARPSHOOTER takes aim at the Traveler.
The Traveler and the Hunter. They both listen to the air, motionless.
They begin running towards the grove.
(POV, Big Guy) The two are closing in at an inhuman speed.
Bandits whimper in terror and scatter. The Big Guy runs too. He abandons his staff when it gets stuck between two trees. Only the Sharpshooter falters and is left behind. He shoots but misses. He tries to run, but the Traveler cuts him off and stabs him in the spine. The Sharpshooter falls; alive but helpless like a caterpillar paralyzed by wasps. He hyperventilates.
(POV, The Traveler) Veins visibly pulsate in the Sharpshooter's neck.
The Traveler dives in for a drink. He is about to dig his teeth into the Sharpshooter's neck when the Hunter, having picked up the Big Guy's quarterstaff, (his sword is back in its scabbard) passes it under the Shooter's armpits. Like a fish dangling at the end of a fishing pole, the Sharpshooter is lifted off the ground. He moans. The Traveler is about to slash but the Hunter puts the Sharpshooter between himself and the Traveler like a shield.
The Traveler returns his sword to its scabbard. He attacks the Hunter with a high kick. The Hunter avoids the strike, drops the Sharpshooter. He goes for his sword. So does the Traveler. They both freeze.
They are standing a yard away from each other, with the Sharpshooter between them. Neither holds any advantage. The risk of death is %50 for either of them. They wait.
A long beat as the Sharpshooter wheezes and bleeds between them.
19. INT / CHURCH / NIGHT
The pilgrims are retiring for the night. The Constable, his countenance grey and obviously ill, waits until the Monk approaches him. The Monk adresses him in Latin.
MONK
I must ask you to leave, Constable. You have been looking at the Shroud all day. Obviously you feel unwell, but if you want to be cured you must pay like everyone else
The Constable stares at him. Then he cuts him across the neck with his dagger.
The Monk collapses, whimpering in pain and fear. The other priests yell for help. The Constable opens the altar and snatches the Shroud. The Shroud in his hand, he approaches the Monk. Licks the blood oozing from his wound.
Armed guards flock into the room. But there is no Constable and no Shroud in sight. Only terrified priests; and a corpse -the Monk, drained of most of its blood and already stiff.
20. INT / CONSTABLE'S OFFICE / NIGHT
The Constable, looking much better, hurries in. He cuts the Shroud, puts parts of it into the glass vial. Seals the vial and puts it on his neck.
He glances at the Shroud. Enough material there for dozens of new vampires. He tosses it into the fireplace.
The shouts of angry guards are drawing near. He rips the Wanted poster from the wall and runs off.
21. EXT / TOWN / NIGHT
Guards are busy trying to keep agitated pilgrims away from the Church. The Constable fades into the darkness.
22. EXT / GROVE / NIGHT
The stalemate continues. The two duelists stare at each other, without blinking.
The Sharpshooter is coated in sweat. But he is shivering.
23. EXT / ROAD / EARLY MORNING
The sun rises.
The Constable is walking the road. He sees the two locked in stalemate. He nonchalantly passes by.
24. EXT / GROVE / EARLY MORNING
The duelists are aware of the Constable, yet barely glance at him.
The Sharpshooter is on the verge of death. He is silent and still. He breathes; but the movement of his chest is getting shallow and less frequent.
25. EXT / GOLGOTHA / NIGHT (FLASHBACK)
(Cont. from 16)
The Hunter tugs at the nail. Cannot remove it. A few believers gather around the cross, dismayed that the site of their Messiah's passing is being desecrated; but too afraid to do anything about it. The Twin tries to scare them away with his knife.
The Hunter temporarily gives up on the nail and tries his luck with the crown of thorns. One of the thorns prick his palm. He drops the crown, it falls apart, bits and pieces of it scatter to all directions.
The believers scamper about, trying to gather the pieces. The Twin chases them away.
A scarred soldier -The Traveler- picks up part of the crown. The Twin waves his knife at him. The Traveler puts his hand on the pommel of his sword.
26. EXT / GROVE / MORNING
The Sharpshooter chokes and stops breathing.
The Traveler quickly draws his sword. Simultaneously, the Hunter does likewise.
Two blades are crossed. The Traveler's sword's point is an inch away from the Hunter's throat; and vice versa.
Stalemate.
27. EXT / GROVE / EVENING
Neither the Hunter nor the Traveler has moved for hours.
It begins to rain.
They are both getting soaked.
It is getting dark. The sound of wind blowing.
The Hunter feels like sneezing. So does the Traveler.
But they do their best to suppress the urge. Their eyes water, their wrinkle their noses.
THE TRAVELER (In Latin)
Do you understand my language? You aren't Roman, are you?
No answer. The Traveler is shaking. The rain continues.
The Traveler takes a very slow, very careful step back. He is trying to get under a tree to shelter himself from the rain.
The Hunter follows him, matching his motions. He stops, allowing his opponent to put a little distance between them. The Traveler nears the tree and is partially sheltered from the rain. But the tree also impedes his movement in that direction.
In a flash: The Hunter lunges, and withdraws. The Traveler moves his neck to avoid the blow. The Hunter lunges again.
CLOSE: The Traveler cannot move his legs freely, since the trunk is in the way. He cannot use one leg a spring to launch himself forward, the way the Hunter can.
He lunges too, but not as well as the Hunter. He is not getting wet anymore, but the Hunter's attack is getting annoying.
The Traveler carefully sidesteps. The Hunter fiercely attacks, keeping him from going right. So the Traveler steps left, and back. The trunk is now on his right side. The Hunter grins.
POV (The Hunter) The trunk is brushing against the Traveler's right hand.
Thinking that his opponent won't be able to respond, the Hunter brings his sword down in diagonally from his (the Hunter's) left to right. But the Traveler calmly passes his sword to his left hand and deflects the blow.
Disappointed, the Hunter backsteps until he, too, under the canopy of a tree.
The two fighters are both wet and chilled to the bone.
The Hunter tries to take off his wet shirt. Changes his mind when the Traveler poises to strike.
Minutes pass. Sound of the wind.
The Hunter and the Traveler are tired, hungry, cold. They both need to sneeze.
Finally the Hunter cannot contain the urge any longer. He sneezes.
And like everyone who sneezes, he blinks.
(POV) We hear the Hunter sneeze and the screen goes dark for a moment. Then the picture comes back -but the camera's angle of view is now very low.
The Hunter's head is lying on the ground. It has a slight, peaceful smile on its lips.
The Traveler sneezes and coughs for a minute.
He breathes heavily.
He kneels. Takes the amulet from his dead opponent's neck.
He exits the grove.
28. EXT / ROAD / NIGHT
There, he sees:
The Twin. The Hunter's splitting image. He and his surviving men, including the Big Guy, all dressed in green.
The Twin extends his hand. His expression is sad, rather than angry.
The Traveler passes the Hunter's amulet to him. Beat. The Traveler walks away.
The Big Guy kneels. The Twin puts the amulet around the Big Guy's neck. With a stiletto, he makes an incision in the Big Guy's neck.
The Big Guy closes his eyes in anticipation.
The Twin bends towards his neck. The amulet begins to glow.
29. INT / CHURCH / EVENING
The Clergyman is sitting at his desk, looking up at an unseen man. The man is dressed in a BISHOP's rich habit.
The Bishop puts a sheet of clean, white linen before the Clergyman. He also puts, either a picture or a wooden image of Jesus before him. The letter reluctantly takes a brush. He puts it back.
THE CLERGYMAN (In Latin)
I won't do it. This is forgery.
THE BISHOP
People want a shroud. Any shroud. They need hope. And we need donations.
The Clergyman begins to portray Jesus's likeness on the linen. He is making a fake Shroud.
Fade out
