SEE Episode One By Steven Knight Third Draft June 16th 2017

OPEN ON PITCH BLACK over darkness we hear a woman in her mid twenties screaming in the agony of childbirth. The woman almost finds words... MAGHRA Faaaag! Faaaaa! Faac! Fa. Fa. Fa. Fa. Fa. Paris!!! I feel water! Come! In the near distance we hear the sound of voices, people in distress and running. Then we focus on a line of dew drops on a thin thread, barely vigible in half light. The thread is touched and the drops fall. Then we see the hand of a woman (PARIS) running along the line of thread and passing through shot... PARIS Calm. I’'m here. Half darkness, a figure settling.... MAGHRA (OOV PANTING) Paris, where have you been? PARIS I was diverted. MAGHRA What’s all that noise outside? Paris blows life into a small fire and the crackling flames give a little light. We see two silhouettes. Paris ignores the question... PARIS Now I will sing your baby into the world. The older woman begins to sing, a lilting melody which is beautiful but unfamiliar in tone. she sings, another blade of light illuminates the scene. The Sun has risen over a hilltop somewhere and the light has entered this dark place. For now we don’t know where we are. We see the dark outlines of Paris on her knees and a younger woman, Maghra, lying on the ground. We might just make out the bulge of Maghra's pregnancy. For now the oddness of their appearance could be a trick of the light. PARIS (OOV) (CONT'D) I'm going to feel around the head, because the head is coming first. And that is good news...

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - June 16th 2017 2. Maghra feels a contraction.... MAGHRA (OOV) Strong now. Get it out! Mother. Of. Maghra grunts and pants like an animal. We come around to face the beam of sunlight and begin to see things more clearly from the shadows. Paris turns and raises her palms to the light.. PARIS I feel warmth. The God Flame is rising. That’s a good omen. A birth blessed by morning. We now see we are in a cave. Water drips from long strings strung across the cave and pulled tight. The threads are beaded with morning dew and they glisten. PARIS (CALM) (OOV) (CONT'D) There now, I feel a little ear like a slippery bud. Maghra screams again and her screams seem to have the power to make the screen lighter as the Sun climbs. The cave turns from dark orange to orange. Now we see the two women more clearly and their appearance is shocking. Their hair is long and pulled into ornate swirls. They wear furs and clothing made from hemp and grass. Paris leans into some embers and blows them into flame. More light is shed. (We feel we are glimpsing intc an unseen world). We might think we are in the stone age until Paris takes a plastic water bottle from under a fur and pours some onto Maghra’s face and gives her some to drink. She is between contractions... MAGHRA Where ig Baba Voss? carefully places the bottle to Maghra’s lips. By now we should begin to notice an oddness in the way they move and the way they use their fingers to locate objects. PARIS (EVADING) He is busy. Sip. MAGHRA (GROWLING) Busy? PARIS We don’t need the big lump for this. It’'s women’s work. Even in pain Maghra reacts.

SEE - Bpisode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - June 16th 2017 3. MAGHRA I want my husband to be first to see the baby. PARIS He will come when he can. Then Maghra (and we) hear a strange noise in the near distance. A low hum, a whirring pulsating throb, along with the sound of men yelling. MAGHRA What is that sound? Paris diverts... PARIS (OOV) Soon you’ll have a little life in your arms. Think of that. MAGHRA Paris? I can hear killing ropes. Maghra struggles to sit up. Dew cascades from three of the silk threads. We hear the throbbing whirring sound louder. MAGHRA (CONT’D) Why have they brought out the killing ropes? Is the village under attack? PARIS I will sing again. Paris begins to sing her strange hypnotic song and Maghra grunts in pain and panics. MAGHRA No! Hush. Let me hear. Maghra angles her head to hear. She does it like a dog or a prey animal, her ear twitching just a little. She has a circle of small blue scars around her ear which are raised up. From outside we hear the yelling of men and now the whirring, throbbing sound is accompanied by the sound of drums being beaten to a fast rhythm. MAGHRA (SHOCKED) (CONT’D) I can hear fear in the voices. They are beating for war. What is happening? Paris takes a moment. The shaft of light is lemon yellow and we can see her weather beaten face. For the first time we notice her eyes, reflecting fire light blankly. The sound of throbbing and whirring grows...

SEE - Epleode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - June 16th 2017 4. PARIS I wanted to get this baby born before I told you but yes, our Scentiers reported a raiding party coming down the valley. Men with horses and dogs. They are at the foot of the mountain... Maghra fights another contraction... MAGHRA And where is my husband? PARIS Baba Voss is commanding the defence. Suddenly... EXT. ALKENNY VILLAGE - MORNING We enter a world the like of which we have never seen before. A giant of a man (BABA VOS8S) is striding through a village. He is dressed in furs and is carrying a heavy metal helmet. He has a steel blade in his hand and a sling draped around his neck. He is big boned, with a straggly beard and hair coiled around on top of his head. He walks with one hand lightly skimming a rope stretched between two dwellings. He yells... BABA VOSS All those with strength to raise a blade take a weapon from Arca and join me! As he walks we slowly rise up and take in the nature of the village and the world we have entered. (We will swirl around the village and the images will be fleeting but the description of it here at the beginning is necessarily long}. We begin with Baba Voss as he approaches a communal fire in the middle of the village. The wind catches the fire and sparks fly. We join the sparks and move on. The settlement is a collection of shelters made from wood. The shelters are all rectangular or square. They have small vegetable gardens around them which are divided into perfect squares by wooden barriers. Every man-made thing we see, where possible, is a square or a rectangle.

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Bteven Xnight - June 2017 5. Between the dwellings, at head height, ropes have been strung and criss-cross the village in an intricate pattern. Each rope is a different thickness and we will learn the people use them to navigate (as will be explained). All the villagers are dressed in furs or skirts and tunics made from woven grasses, though some are almost naked. Women show their breasts and some men and women have single tunics pulled around their naked bodies. We should notice that some of the men are whirling long leather ropes around their heads and these are making the nolse we heard in the cave. The ropes have blades and rocks fastened to them and they fast. The throbbing, roaring noigse adds to the strangeness. The village has been built on a plateau near the top of a mountain and beyond, there is a breathtakingly beautiful view of mountains and a river valley. The sun is rising magnificently and we see a caption. ‘The Adirondak Mountains. New York State. June. 2617° As we join, the village is in a panic. Men and women race around, all holding the ropes which act as tram lines. Some of the men beat war drums. A second caption. ‘Following the outbreak of a deadly virus in the 22nd century, the earth's human population has been reduced to less than two Fade out and up... ‘Those humans who still survive are all blind’. We come close to a warrior (ARCA) dispensing weapons and we see that his eyes reflect the sunrise without focus. Those coming for weapons hold out hands and feel the air for the blades that are held out for them. The people have their hair greased into twisted ringlets with elaborate contours. The intricate ‘dread worn by women are different to those of men but, on both sexes, the result should be (accidentally) beautiful. Caption... ‘The Tenebris virus spread across the globe, altering human DNA, causing the human retina to thicken and lose all sensitivity to We come back to Baba Voss at the bonfire. (Beside the fire there is a large steel BANK SAFE of 2lst century vintage with its door closed. It is close enough to the fire to be heated by it. For now we don’t dwell). Baba Voss is now joined by a man in his fifties, though his limp and thin frame age him.

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - June 16th 2017 6. He wears furs and dozens of odd metal items such as keys and twisted nails which hang from a leather necklace. This is THE DREAMER. He comes to Baba Voss, fretting... DREAMER Baba Voss! Baba Voss!! Before you go into battle we must make sacrifice to the Gods. Baba Vosgs appears reluctant to delay but yells... BABA VOSS Very well. Empty the traps! Instantly the younger villagers reach up and grab particular ropes and run with one hand cupped around their ropes. The ropes lead them in different directions and we follow a young boy as he runs to the edge of the village (where there are shells and bones tied into bundles on ropes to make a rattling noise when the wind blows). The boy feels with his hand and finds an intricately built trap made of sticks with a trap door entrance. Inside are two mice. The boy reaches in and grabs the mice. Caption; ‘Since the virus struck, humanity has survived using the technologies of darkness, without sight or even the memory of sight’. A little way beyond, a young girl has followed her rope to a tangle of twine which has captured a struggling pigeon. The girl grabs the pigeon and then grabs her rope with her free hand and runs back toward the fire. The young villagers who emptied the traps now bring their captured animals to the fire. As they return they hand the animals to the Dreamer, who with shaking hands begins to impale the living creatures on skewers and put them on the flames. As he does, he offers a prayer... DREAMER Great Flame. May my prayer rise with the smoke. Put your heat into our God bones. Protect our mountain home, £ill the enemy’s bowels with our rope music. Amen. Over this prayer another caption... Caption- ‘In this age of darkness, blind Kingdom fights blind Kingdom. Village fights village. The idea that vision ever even existed i1s now a dangerous and forbidden heresy’.

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - June 16th 2017 7. We move back through smoke to where Paris is emerging from the darkness of the cave. She uses a rope to hurry to the fire. As she approaches, a final caption... Caption: But this is all about to change... Paris takes Baba Voss's arm and he turns. PARIS Baba Voss, the baby is about to be born... He touches her face gently.... BABA VOSS How is Maghra? PARIS Afraid for you. Baba Voss and Parils touch each other’s faces and we see their clogeness. Baba Voss whispers.... BABA Please tell her this. I will return. I will love and protect them both. Paris half smiles.... PARIS You are a sweet big lump Baba Voss. She tweaks his nose. PARIS (CONT’D) But right now the tribe needs you to be a bear. Baba Voss grunts assent. He uses his sword to sweep the air toward the steel safe beside the fire. He stands on top of it, framed by smoke and flames and he yells... BABA VOSS From our holy altar, I swear to defend from man, wolf or bear the flame of the Alkenny. The villagers around all yell. Baba Voss holds his sword in the flame for a moment then spins... BABA VOSS (CONT'D) To the wall!

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - steven Knight - June 16th 2017 8. EXT. HILLSIDE, DAWN The sun is rising, There is a roaring, throbbing, howling sound. Close up now and terrifying. Then we hear the clatter of men and metal, chains and boots and grunts. The warriors wear metal armor fashioned from reclaimed steel, iron, brass, even old oil drums, though we can’t yet make out what these things once were. The metal has been beaten flat and held together with leather or wire. There is no decoration of any kind on any of the warriors. The men all wear helmets that have no slits or holes for eyes. There are holes cut for ears and a hole for the nose, but this army fights without wision. The line of warriors at the front are the ones spinning the leather ropes. As well as being weapons, the spinning ropes also find obstacles. (When a rope hits a tree or a rock it tangles around it. The man holding the rope then pulls himself to the obstacle. Once he is at the obstacle he beginsg to hit it with a hollow stick. The noise prevents others hitting the obstacle and they walk around the sound). Other warriors beat drums to keep the army together. All the men are armed with swords and lances fashioned roughly from steel or iron. They are now chanting a tuneless war song as they march forward. Baba Voss is at the head. As the army reaches the crest of a hill Baba Voss removes his eyeless helmet. He yells... BABA VOSS Halt! The drumming and wailing stops and the men fall silent. Those with leather ropes suddenly direct their leashes into the ground and they hit the earth with a thud. A dry wind blows. BABA VOSS (CONT’D) Scentiers! Dream the wind! Four warriors selected for their evolved enhanced sense of smell (SCENTIERS) remove their helmets and begin to sniff the air like dogs. The four take huge breaths in and out through thelr noses, their breath clouding. They breath in unison. As we study their faces we see that they have livid raised scars running across their faces, from cheeks and ears and foreheads to the base of their nostrils, as if guiding energy into their noses.

SEE - 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - June 16th 2017 9. As they snort the air they stare directly at the sun. Finally the four Scentiers consult quickly and then one of them calls out. SCENTIER 1 Dogs, horses and men cutting up mud and reeds. SCENTIER 2 Mixed with wet clay. They are crossing the river. SCENTIER 3 They burn Beechwood smoke of the Payan-Ne-Shon tribe. A pause as the wind blows more information. Baba Voss is puzzled. BABA VOSS Why would the Payan come so far? ARCA Maybe they are just passing by. BABA No one comes to these mountains for no reason. Ayuras! How many?! Two warriors angle their heads and listen to the wind. AYURA WARRIOR Hooves squashing pebbles. The two consult, angling their head.... AYURA WARRIOR 2 A hundred horse. The second Ayura then gets down on his knees and puts his ear to the ground. He places the flats of his palms on the ground, then calls out. AYURA WARRIOR 2 (CONT'D) Two hundred horse. And men marching. Four hundred, maybe more. Baba Voss now incredulous. BABA VOSS Thig isn‘t a raiding party, it’s a whole army. There are less than a hundred warriors in Baba's army. On hearing the numbers they slowly begin to remove their helmets and shake out their hair. We see some are young men, some are women, some are teenage boys and girls.

SEE - Episods 1 - Third Draft - Gteven Knight - June 16th 2017 10. ARCA Maybe they are just following the river to another valley. BABA VOSS Matal? Presage. What is their intention. A woman in her thirties with her hair pulled back sharply and with a scroll of raised tattoos on her face raises her head a little. (We will get to know MATAL well, she is a woman with gifts of intuition). I feel savage intent in the air. Savage and soon. I would need Paris here to know for certain. Baba Voss senses fear in his troops. He speaks calmly... BABA Then prepare for steep ground. The soldiers instantly and in unison begin to unfasten leather mittens that hang on sinews from their belts. They expertly (and without looking) pull draw strings tight around their wrists with their teeth. Some have bear paws which have been hollowed out to make mittens. Having pulled on their mittens the warriors gguat down onto all fours and begin to make their way down the steep slope like an army of four legged animals. The warriors almost bounce down the slope, with their palms protected by leather. Their animal movement is even and graceful, legs strong as Cossack dancers. Sometimes they turn and roll for a few yards then straighten and bounce down the slope again. Their strange advance is as fast as a gallop. Only Baba Voss walks upright, and he treads with a deliberately heavy step, digging his heels into the scrabble of loose rock, using a long stick dug into the earth. He looks mighty as he walks and knocks a small hollow stick against his larger stick and the sound echoes... Baba Voss now cups his hand to his mouth to direct his voice and begins to exclaim as he strides down the mountain.... BABA VOSS Ba, ba, ba, ba!l He listens to the echo of his voice. He then whacks his stick against the rocks as he walks and listens again to the echo. Finally....

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - Jume 16th 2017 11. BABA VOSS (CONT’D) Slow! The warriors in unison roll onto their sides and roll a couple of times then spring back to all fours. Baba Voss marches through them and we realize he is using a kind of echo sonar to guide himself... BABA VOSS (CONT'D) Ba! Ba! Bal We walk with him until he stops dead in a shadow. Then we come around to a surprise. Five yards ahead of him there is a wall of boulders, twenty feet high. Baba Voss extends his staff and walks forward until his stick hits the wall of boulders. He hits the wall three times then whispers to the rocks. BABA VOSS (CONT'D) Blessed rocks. Gift of the ancestors. Protect us as you have always done before. The other warriors get to their feet and walk slowly toward the wall of boulders. They walk evenly, with a particular rhythm, with one hand in front of their faces until their palms touch the rock. As they approach, we rise up to see the extent of the wall and its shape. For a mile in both directions rocks and boulders and debris has been piled up against a huge fence made from cut timber. The wall is on the steepest part of the slope, so that it ‘leans’ over the mountain at an angle, If the wooden supports were to be removed, the boulders would cascade down the mountainsgide. At each end of the wall the mountain turns into a sheer cliff. There is no way up or down other than over the wall. BABA VOSS (CONT'D) Now sharpen your God-bone! The warriors begin to spit on the boulders and use them as whetstones to scrape their blades sharp. As they work.... Meanwhile Baba Voss uses his sense of touch to climb up the stone wall and reach the summit. Below we see (though he doesn’t) a line of men and horses crossing a river a mile down below at a shallow point. We will learn that this is Queen Kane’'s army but, for now, they are just the glints of metal armor and trails of smoke (to be explained) which rise from the warriors.

SEE - Episode 1 - Thixd Draft - Steven Knight - June 16th 2017 12. Baba Voss angles his head and listens to the wind blowing his thick straggle of beard. He hears the odd clank of metal, volces, horses, dogs barking. He yells... BABA VOSS (CONT’D) I can hear them so they can hear us! Sharpen louder! The men scrape and drag their blades harder across the rocks and the air is filled with the sound of screeching metal. Down below, dogs begin to howl. We stay on Baba Voss's defiant face as he listens to the wind. Baba Voss clambers down the stone wall and lands heavily. He calls out. BABA VOSS (CONT'D) If they come, we will send them back to their Queen Rane in the bellies of their own dogs! The warriors, (terrified but defiant) all roar. INT. CAVE - DAWN The roar of the warriors becomes Maghra grunting in pain. Paris is an experienced midwife and is feeling for the baby’'s head. The cave is now almost lit and we see more detail. Beyond the mouth of the cave we can just make out smoke from fires, the outlines of indistinct structures. Lots of ropes and threads running in all directiomns. We see people hurrying, gathering belongings in panic. Inside the cave there is now a living quality to the color. A swirl, movement like dust in a flashlight beam. It should be beautiful. Maghra's contraction ends and she gathers her breath... MAGHRA Who is attacking us? We paid our taxes before the rivers froze. Paris feigns indifference... PARIS it’s just nomads hunting for slaves. Now I must ask you to push. Maghra gasps with pain but reaches out to feel Paris’s face. MAGHRA Don’t forget, Paris, I am an Ayura. Nothing egcapes my ears. I have not known you long but I hear doors cloging in your voice.

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - June 16th 2017 13. Paris takes hold of her face. PARIS Your job right now is to breath and push. MAGHRA T hear secrets. What are you not telling me? A pause. PARIS How would I know anything. I am an old woman.... MAGHRA ...Who talks to birds and hears the future in her sleep. Maghra fights a contraction. Paris looks deeply uncertain as she busies herself and reveals... PARIS For three nights a raven has been calling out in the night. MAGHRA Saying what? Paris strokes damp hair from Maghra's face. PARIS Saying that The Witchfinders are coming. EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE Horse hooves splash across a ford. An army of terrifying, elite warriors has just crossed a river and is preparing to climb a mountain. We see a line of men on horseback. The horses each have a dog ahead of them and the dog collars are tied to the horse bits, so that the dogs are leading the horses. The warriors on the back of the horses are wild and fierce. Their hair is greased into huge plumes and swirls. Their faces and bodies are branded with deep swirling designs. They wear wooden armor, like the armor of Japanese Samurai. They all have spiked collars around their necks to deter fatal animal bites. They carry long spears with tips burnt and sharpened. The lead warrior carries a small metal bucket which contains burning embers. he rides he adds wood chips and herbs to the embers, so that a plume of smoke engulfs the riders.

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - June 16th 2017 14. On the woven saddles of the warriors we see severed human heads dangling, along with severed hands and feet. There are other dogs trotting beside them, a stringy breed of hunting dog. The rider behind the rider with the fire bucket has a tunic made from snake skin and it is swirled around his body as if he is being consumed by a giant python. This man is TAMACTI JUN, THE WITCHFINDER GENERAL. All the men have long mustaches and beards, twisted into points. They also have bear skins slung over the rumps of their horses. They have odd metal objects clanking from their saddles and around their necks. Wrenches, nails, pieces of car engine. The oddest things seem precious, all are metal... In the near distance we see the smoke of Alkenny village. We also see the long line of boulders that form the wall high up the slope. The dogs begin to bark and howl and the column is halted by Tamacti with a grunt. Tamacti sniffs the air and calls out.... TAMACTI JUN Who goes there! A galloping horse breaks cover on the other side of the river. A waxrrior on horseback is dragging a man in his early twenties behind him. (We will learn the man being dragged is GETHER BAX) He has been lassoed and the mounted warrior drags him across the river, pulling him over gravel shallows and through deep water. Flies buzz around the severed heads as Tamacti sniffs the air and listens to the man’s cries. On the wind we can hear a sharp scraping noise of swords being sharpened from high up the mountain. The dogs begin to snarl and bark as the warrior comes to a halt. WARRIOR I smelt a boy in the bushes. Gether Bax, twisting in the rope... GETHER BAX Untie this fucking rope right now! Instantly.... TAMACTI JUN Ah. A boy in need of education. The warrior tosses the rope to Tamacti Jun and Tamacti gives the rope a mighty tug and Gether Bax falls to the ground.

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - Jume 16th 2017 15. Tamacti Jun winds the rope around the horn of his saddle and then quickly dismounts and follows the rope to Gether Bax. TAMACTI JUN (CONT’D) I am Tamacti Jun, the Witchfinder General. In my presence it is customary to kneel. Gether Bax gets up onto his knees. GETHER BAX Forgive me Sir... Tamacti Jun whacks him across the face with his cane. Gether Bax explains fast... GETHER BAX (CONT'D) ...But I am Gether Bax. It was me who sent you the message to come here. Tamacti Jun reacts then hauls him to his feet with the rope... TAMACTI JUN Ah. Then it is I who should apologize. Tamacti Jun half turns to his warriors then speaks with heavy irony.... TAMACTI JUN (CONT'D) Behold. Our informant. A man who would betray his own tribe to fight the devil and do God’s work. Gether wipes blood from his face and we assess him for the first time. He pumps himself up.... GETHER BaAX That I am indeed. Gether iz a skinny man with an intelligent look. He has his hair twisted into a coil on his head and has a steel coil hanging from a leather cord around his neck. We will get to know Gether Bax well. Tamacti Jun then reaches to his belt and takes a length of string, half a yard long. TAMACTI JUN Your mesgsage says you have information of use to the Holy Guardians... We come close to the string and see it has a complex series of knots in it. Tamacti Jun licks his thumb and forefinger and begins to feed the strings through his fingers...

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight — June 2017 16. TAMACTI JUN (CONT’D) ...regarding a particular disciple of the devil... Gether Bax interrupts with authority. GETHER BAX ...Who as I understand it, you have been hunting for two winters. Gether's voice suggests he believes this gives him leverage. GETHER BAX (CONT'D} ...A heretic who Queen Kane herself has condemned to death. A conjuror who turns into a bird or a wolf sometimes... Tamacti Jun grabs Gether's face. TAMACTI JUN Just tell us what you know about him. Gether Bax gathers courage and dares hold back... GETHER BAX I know from your heralds that there is a reward for information leading to his capture. A dry wind blows. JUN So your motivation is not holy. GETHER BAX A reward of a girl slave and a Royal permit to own two trained dogs. That’s what I heard. Silence quickly makes Gether lose his nerve... GETHER BAX (CONT'D) Though actually T will settle for just the girl. I hate dogs. Tamacti effortlessly winds the rope around Gether Bax's throat and tugs it. Gether Bax breaths fast, terrified now... TAMACTI JUN Your reward will be your next breath if the Holy Guardians find your information of use. Tamacti Jun pulls the rope. Gether Bax whispers...

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - June 16th 2017 17. GETHER BAX To speak, I need my throat. Tamactli Jun loosens the rope. Three Ayura warriors step closer. TAMACTI JUN My Ayuras will hear any lie like a foot through ice. GETHER BAX I promise Sir. No ice will I break. TAMACTI JUN Speak. Gether Bax feels the heat and speaks for his life... GETHER BAX At the end of winter a woman wandered into our village. A stranger to us... INT. CAVE We come close to Maghra. She is in the final stages of child birth. Paris has prepared a bowl of warm water on the fire. GETHER BAX ...she was found among our berry bushes. She is Mascaripok tribe. She said she had got lost in a blizzard... Paris feels the head... GETHER BAX She asked to be taken in. Because she was two months pregnant... We see Maghra react to a huge contraction and she screams. PARTS (SCFTLY) Maghra, the baby is coming.... Paris takes a position to deliver the baby. Gether Bax continues in voiceover... GETHER BAX (OOV) We held a Parliament. The head of the village said he would take care of her. He has not been able to have children of his own so he married her. She has been with him ever since... The baby slithers into the world and Paris takes the baby up with a gasp. Suddenly....

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Xnight - June 16th 2017 18. EXT. RIVERSIDE ...Tamacti Jun has pulled a knife and puts it sharply to Gether Bax's throat... TAMACTI JUN Tell me something that I can use. Quickly. Gether Bax fumbles in his tunic. He finds a length of leather strap a foot long. GETHER BAX (HURRYING) She never said who the father of her baby was. But when she came to the village, she was wearing this necklace. Goat leather so it’s a love token. Gather Bax stretches the necklace out between his hands and we see intricate knots tied into it. His hands shake a little. GETHER BAX (CONT'D) It has a name written into it. Read. Tamacti Jun licks his fingers and reads the knots... TAMACTI JUN (READING) ‘Je’, *la’, ‘ma’, ‘rel’. Jerlamarel. On hearing the name the other warriors shiver a little. A raven in a nearby tree begins to caw. A wind blows the thick fur on Tamacti’s coat. GETHER BAX That is the name of the heretic you have been seeking for two winters. Yes? The one Queen Kane fears. A pause. GETHER BAX (CONT’D) Well even now in the village on the mountain a woman is giving birth to that devil’s child. That counts as information doesn’t it? Tamactl Jun snatches the necklace from him. He half turns to his warriors. TAMACTI JUN Ayuras? Does this boy speak the truth?... A warrior speaks up.

SEE - Dpisode 1 ~ Third Draft - Steven Kright - June 16th 2017 19. WITCHFINDER AYURA The truth as he believes it. A pause. More Ravens are cawing in the nearby trees. Tamacti Jun buries the necklace in his pocket and walks quickly to his horse and calls back... TAMACTI JUN Gether Bax. Tell my Generals how your village 1s defended... He leaps into the saddle... TAMACTI JUN (CONT'D) If we find a woman giving birth to a devil I may let you live. He wheels his horse around... TAMACTTI JUN (CONT'D) If not, you will burn too. EXT. WALL OF BOULDERS The Alkenny army is now lined along the top of the boulder wall. Baba Voss is standing tall with his head angled. He hears (and we see) the army down below beginning to fan out into a line ready for the ascent and assault on the village. BABA VOSS Ayuras! The two Ayuras angle their heads. WARRIOR They are forming a battle line. The Alkenny warriors pull their swords. WARRIOR 2 There are two lines. The horses are still at the river’s edge. Baba Voss begins to walk along the top of the line of the boulders and bolsters their resolve. BABA VOSS They are many and we are few but we have the slope. He marches on, sure-footed with his stick tapping the boulders gently... BABA VOSS (CONT'D) And we have the help of our brothers, the rocks.

20. SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - June 16th 2017 He hammers the rocks beneath his feet with his stick as he returns along the line of boulders... BABA VOSS (CONT'D) It took our ancestors many years to build this wall. It has served us well. And will do so again. Baba Voss also stares up at the sun, which is now blazing... BABA VOSS (CONT’D) Great Flame. Protect us. A pause. He speaks more softly... BABA VOSS (CONT’D) ....And deliver Maghra’s child safely into the world. He yells.... BABA VOSS (CONT’D) Spin the ropes! The warriors carrying the long ropes stand and begin to spin them. The unearthly throbbing wailing sound begins and the warriors pull on their eyeless helmets. INT. CAVE - DAY Paris is inspecting the baby’s body with her fingertips. Maghra is just recovering. Paris clutches the baby’s hands and feet.... MAGHRA Boy or girl? PARIS Boy. Whole. Ten fingers, ten toes. The baby begins to cry loudly... PARIS (CONT'D) Two clean lungs. Paris hands the bloody baby to Maghra who sobs and holds the baby tight. PARIS (CONT’D) I will cut the cord.... Paris reaches into her tunic and produces a blade. She reaches down and, as Magrha smiles love to the bloody face in her arms...

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - Juna 16th 2017 21. (OOV) (CONT'D) Ah! No! Gad! A little foot. MAGHRA (SLURS) (OOV) A what? PARIS (OOQV) There are two. There is another. Sinjay! MAGHRA (0OOV) A foot? PARIS (OOV) Tt’s two. The second is the wrong way. Sinjayl... We hear a clatter as a metal bowl of water is kicked over and a young girl (SINJAY) yelps in pain and approaches, running her hand along one of the threads. PARIS (OQV) (CONT'D) Bring the knife hanging on the wall. Here. No, here. Papapapapa. The rapid pop of the ‘papapapa’ echoes. Sinjay feels the rock wall then finds a bone handled knife. Paris takes Maghra's face in her hand... PARIS (OCV) (CONT'D) I must bring the other out quickly or you will both die. Maghra growls like an animal with visceral agony.... EXT. ROCK WALL ...A blade smashes the head of one of Tamacti Jun’s warriors. Now we encounter ‘blind combat’ in all its savage glory. We find Baba Voss in the middle of a battle that is now raging. The Alkenny army are on the wall and are using their long killing ropes to good effect. The ropes cut and scythe through the mounted warriors and become entwined around arms and necks. We might notice that no cavalry are involved in the attack. Each time a rope hits an enemy the warrior yanks it tight to strangle or pull the victim close to be stabbed by the long lances the defenders are using. The attack dogs of Queen Kane's army are no use at the foot of the wall and the warriors hurl boulders down from on high.

SEE - Bpisode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - June 16ta 2017 22. However, Tamactl Jun’s men are also using killing ropes too and the ropes of attackers and defenders become tangled. The warriors then engage in a deadly tug of war. Defenders are pulled from the wall to be devoured by dogs. The ropes skim the top of the wall, wrapping around ankles and legs. Baba Voss is in the middle of the line, using a long length of steel, too heavy for most men to handle, and ig sweeping it and stabbing it into any flesh that comes close to the wall. This blind fighting is targeted and random at the same time. Soon attackers are finding footings in the rock and are climbing up the steep wall. Ayuras angle their heads and listen for the sound of climbers. When they locate one they drive down with long sharp spikes to cut them from the wall. The battle is hand-to-hand and bloody. Baba Voss gets a killing rope wrapped around his ankle and is pulled over. He is about to be dragged off the wall but he uses his super strength to hold on. He then grabs the rope and pulls with all his might. An attacker is pulled from his saddle. Baba Voss cuts the rope and gets back to his feet. He hears Arca yell.... ARCA Baba voss! They are too many! They are on the wall! The battle continues and Baba Voss feels a blow to his back and spins and beheads attackers with a sweep of his blade. The battle is now happening on the top of the wall and is murderous. Baba Voss takes a moment then makes an agonizing decision. He yells.... BABA VOSS Fall back! Fall back! The defenders take the cue and begin to scramble away from the wall. The attackers yell and begin to swarm up the rock face. Meanwhile, on the other side of the wall, Baba Voss has found three thick steel chains that run from the timber supports that hold the wall in place. Baba Voss uses his mighty strength and an iron bar to hammer open a metal lock that holds the chain in place around a steel spike driven into the ground. Arca calls out... ARCA Baba Voss, what are you doing?!

SEE - Episode 1 — Third Draft - Steven Knight - Juna 16th 2017 23, BABA VOSS Help me! Arca approaches as Baba Voss unfastens another chain... BABA VOSS (CONT'D) We can’t hold back a whole army. He beats another lock open. With each beat.. BABA VOSS (CONT'D) Parliamentary statute allows us to release the rocks. As a last resort. If there is no other hope. A spinning rope zips overhead and they duck.... BABA VOSS (CONT'D) And there is no other hope. He yells... BABA VOSS (CONT’D) Locan! Ilun! Bak! Release the chains! Four big men are now hammering open locks. The chains, once freed, fly fast through the air and over the wall. Baba Voss and the others run relay to unfasten the chains and cut ropes. BABA VOSS (CONT'D) Clear the wall and may the invaders be damned! Fly my brothers! Soon there is a mighty crack as the first of the unsupported timbers give way under the weight of the rocks they are holding. Once the first breach is made, the other timbers begin to snap and pieces fly. BABA VOSS Avalanche!! On the other side of the wall the attackers can hear what is happening and begin to turn and run. Tamacti’s warriors fall onto all fours and begin to gallop and bounce down the hill. The boulder wall bursts and the huge boulders begin to tumble down the steep slope. The infantry are soon being smashed to pieces by the wall of boulders. We come around to Baba Voss, bloodied, breathless, as he listens to the terrible screams of the soldiers and the earth- shaking rumble of the avalanche.

SEE ~ Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - June 16th 2017 24. EXT. RIVERSIDE We see the avalanche and carnage from down below. Then find Tamacti Jun and his cavalry mounted beside the river. Gether Bax is on foot in the shallow water. Tamacti Jun listens to the terrible sound of rocks and men. TAMACTI JUN Gether Bax, your prediction was correct. A pause. Some rocks are now rolling slowly on the shallow incline into the water. We come close to Gether Bax and see a look of defiance and regret on his face. TAMACTI JUN (CONT'D) And there is only one way off this mountain, yes? GETHER BAX Ravines and sheer cliffs on all sides except this. That’s why this place was chosen by the ancestors. On the word ‘ancestors’, Gether Bax’s voice breaks a little. Tamacti Jun agsesses his voice. TAMACTI JUN How long has your tribe been here? Gether Bax hears more rocks splashing around him. He takes a breath to hide emotion... GETHER BAX King John of the Nayak defeated the Alkenny Confederacy. Three generations. We are the only Alkenny left. TAMACTI JUN And you betray your people for what? A girl and a dog? GETHER BAX No. A pause. GETHER BAX (CONT'D) My reason would disturb even your dreams Witchfinder. A pause. GETHER BAX (CONT'D) Burn them all for all I care.

8EE - Episode 1 - Third braft - Steven Knlght — June 16th 2017 25. We will learn more about the nmotive of his betrayal over time. There is a rumble of thunder on the horizon. Everyone instantly angles their head... TAMACTI JUN Ayuras!? AYURA WARRIOR Storm coming from the warm wind! TAMCTI JUN How far? AYURA WARRIOR A thousand beats of a calm heart. (We will learn that, in our world, South is ‘warm-wind’, north is ‘cold-wind’, East is and West is ‘sun- grave’.) EXT. MOUNTAINSIDE -~ DAY Another crack of thunder. The defending army is silent as the rocks come to rest in the river below. Baba Voss calls ocut... BABA VOSS Ayuras! Scentiers! The rocks have all come to rest. Silence. A wind blows in the faceg of the warriors. Two Scentiers who have survived read the wind. SCENTIER Blood. Human offal. Many dead. AYURA WARRIOR But horses snorting. Pawing pebbles. Many horses.... On the breeze we hear the beat of drums from down in the valley. AYURA WARRIOR (CONT'D) Their cavalry untouched. We come close to Baba Voss's face as he registers. BABA VOSS They knew to hold back. How could they know? Matal has survived too and comes close.... MATAL The Payan have presagers too. Maybe they read our intentions.

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - June 16th 2017 26. Baba Voss reacts to suspicion. But Arca comes to him and speaks softly. ARCA Baba Vosgs, we are defenceless. What do we do now? INT. CAVE - SAME TIME We join just as a second baby is born. The baby girl is lifted into a roll of buckskin. Paris holds it while Sinjay cuddles the new born boy. Paris wipes her brow with a bloody wrist and takes the baby and inspects. PARIS A girl this time. Whole. Maghra please, no more. Maghra is panting and laughs and cries at the same time. She has lost a lot of blood and is almost delirious. MAGHRA I heard the earth shaking. Or did I imagine that? PARIS (AFRAID) You didn’t imagine it.... Maghra laughs and cries, hardly caring with the babies in her arms... PARIS (OOV) (CONT’D) Take them to your breasts and try to feed them. Paris offers Maghra her babies but she is more concerned with the moment. ... MAGHRA Paris, I promised myself that the moment they were born I would tell you the truth about their father. PARIS (SOFTLY) Maghra, thig is not the time and, anyway, I know more than you think. Take this one first. Maghra takes one of the babies but continues... MAGHRA The true father was a man like no other... PARIS Push her firmly to the breast. Like this...

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven — June 16th 2017 27. Maghra babbling... MAGHRA He led me to safety in a blizzard on a mountain path. How did he do that? He found shelter in a strange place. And he brought me here to this village. I didn’t wander here, he brought me here as if he had a reason... Interrupting... PARIS Yes, a reason he had. Silence. Maghra hears deep significance. Paris continues. PARIS (SOFTLY) (CONT’D) He knew things no man can know. He could do things no man can do. And he told you wild heresies about the history of humankind... Maghra pauses, shocked. MAGHRA Yes. Paris, how do you know? Paris touches Maghra’s face gently.... PARIS There is much I know that I must tell when you are healed. The future is beyond your imagination. For now, feed these precious ones. Softly... PARIS (CONT’D) These chosen ones... Maghra is about to speak but Paris puts her finger to her lips. At that moment we hear yelling outside and men running. Paris angles her head. PARIS (CONT’D) The warriors are back. EXT. ALKENNY VILLAGE Rain is falling hard now. Baba Voss 1s leading his warriors back into the village where the women and children who didn’t fight are waiting. Villagers call out to their loved ones and use volces to find them and hug.

SEE - Episode 1 - Third Draft - Steven Knight - June 16th 2017 28. BABA V0SS No time for this. To the fire! Parliament! The Dreamer comes to Baba Voss and hisses... DREAMER Baba Voss? You sacrificed the rocks? Our brothers.... BABA VOSS I had no choice. Half of Queen Kane’s army is in the valley. The Dreamer trots beside Baba Voss as he walks fast. DREAMER If they are an army and not bandits perhaps we can surrender to them. BABA VOSS No. They are led by the Witchfinder General. Witchfinders take no prisoners, they only burn. The word ‘witchfinders’ spreads among the crowd gathering in the rain. DREAMER But there are no witches here Baba Voss. Why did they come? Baba Voss steps up onto the metal safe beside the fire and announces, quickening the formalities. BABA VOSS I declare the Alkenny Parliament in session. Hear this. Our wall has gone. We had no choice. But the enemy remain in the valley. Raindrops hiss in the fire and thunder rumbles. BABA VOSS (CONT'D) God flame has raised rain. They won't attempt the slope in this weather, go we have time. VOICE Time for what? We’re trapped. Silence, rain falls. There is hopelessness in Baba Voss’s voice. BABA VOSS We must prepare to make a last stand. Here.