Dark Quests (Three Screenplays)
Page 9
out in the middle of the loch, lad?
TREY
Just out for a little swim.
EXT. PIER – DUSK
The fishing boat docks at the pier. As Trey steps out of the boat and onto the pier, three speed boats race across the loch.
OLD MAN
Crazy bastards.
But the three boats catch Trey’s attention, especially since it appears to be manned by men dressed entirely in black. Trey peers hard, watching the boats, and then we see what he sees: Eve sitting between two men. Trey jumps back into the boat just as the old man steps off.
OLD MAN
Hey, waddya doin?!
Trey apologizes to the old man, fires up the boat, and throws it into reverse.
INT. FISHING BOAT – DUSK
Trey’s fishing boat has surprising power, cutting through the loch at a fairly high speed. He angles toward the three speeding boats to cut them off.
INT. POWERBOAT – DUSK
Draken sees Trey—and can barely conceal his surprise. His dark eyes narrow. Eve follows Draken’s gaze and is elated to see Trey Jordan speeding toward them, at the helm of a big clumsy boat. Draken looks at Eve.
DRAKEN
It appears your friend has nine lives.
FULL SHOT – LOCH ENDES
Trey’s fishing boat doggedly keeps pace with the three speed boats. Draken motions to his men, and two of the speed boats peal away and circle back for Trey. Shooters begin firing from semiautomatic weapons.
INT. FISHING BOAT
Trey ducks as bullets shatter the windshield. Now the two speedboats are on either side of him. Trey looks desperately from one to the other. Both men level their weapons, taking careful aim. And just as they fire, Trey throws the boat into reverse. The craft’s engine screeches and the boar slows dramatically, just as bullets crisscross the now empty space. One of the shooters is hit, and topples into the loch.
The other speedboat veers around, turning hard, and once again gives chase, dogging Trey move for move, firing at him, tearing apart the fishing boat. Trey watches as Draken and company dock at the far side of the loch. Eve is led away. Trey angles his sputtering boat in their direction.
But the next few bullets impact the fuel tank, and a second later, the overheated engine explodes. Trey loses all control of the boat. The rudders are gone, everything is gone. The boat is helplessly out of control. Directly before him looms a mud embankment, with dense trees beyond—
Behind him, the speedboat pulls away, back toward the others. The shooter grins, his work here done. And as the fishing boat slams into the mud bank and launches high into the air, Trey leaps clear of the vessel. He hits the mossy ground rolling, but promptly crashes into the thick trunk of a tree, knocking him instantly unconscious.
WIPE TO: Dusk turns into full night. Trey’s eyes open. He groans and rolls over. He sits up and takes stock of his injuries. Cuts and bruises, nothing too serious. Just as he stands, he hears the crunch of leaves behind him. He turns his head—and standing behind him is O’Brien, who waves a pistol.
O’BRIEN
Hurry along, or we’ll be late for the party.
EXT. RING OF STONES – NIGHT
WIDE SHOT on a Druidic ring of stones. Like Stonehenge, the ancient stone megaliths are arranged in a haphazard circular pattern within a small grassy area. Beyond the ring is the deep, dark forest. Above is a full moon, looking remarkably like one of the silver Judas Coins. Within the ring are many dozens of dark-robed figures. All hold blazing torches.
Draken is standing before his fellow cult members, and lying on a stone slab next to him is Eve Friday, whose hands and feet are bound by thick chains. She struggles in vain against them.
EXT. OUTSIDE THE RING OF STONES – NIGHT
Trey Jordan has been tied to one of the massive standing stones. Not too far away is O’Brien, who’s casually leaning a shoulder against another such rock formation, watching the bizarre ritual.
O’BRIEN
Looks like we’re just in time for the
big show.
TREY
What show?
O’Brien pulls out a silver lighter and a pack of cigarettes. He shakes a cigarette loose.
O’BRIEN
Rituals, sacrifices, the usual shit.
TREY
Where’s Eve?
O’BRIEN
Refer back to the ‘sacrifice’ part.
Trey strains against his ropes, but it’s useless.
TREY
How about a smoke then?
O’Brien considers the suggestion, and then shrugs.
O’BRIEN
What the hell? Even a man standing
before a firing squad gets a final smoke.
As O’Brien holds out a cigarette, Trey attacks, kicking up both legs and hooking them around O’Brien’s neck.
TREY
On second thought, I don’t smoke.
The Irish thief fights back, but Trey has a hell of a leg lock around his neck. He applies more and more pressure. The fight goes unnoticed, as those within the cult are preoccupied with their ritual.
O’Brien quickly turns purple. Trey squeezes harder. The Irishman’s glancing blows quickly loose steam. Trey holds on a little longer, and then releases O’Brien, who topples to the ground, lying motionless.
Next to O’Brien’s unmoving body is the silver lighter. Trey digs the toe of his boot into the soft grass, under the lighter. He lifts the lighter off the ground, balanced now on top of his boot. He kicks up and the lighter flips through the air—
And lands precariously between his shoulder blades and the stone megalith behind him. Trey next works his hand behind his back, fighting the ropes that bind him. Once done, he makes a slight adjustment with his shoulder, and as he does so, the lighter slips down between his back and the rock—and lands squarely in the center of his palm.
Trey, a skilled and extremely lucky man, breathes a sigh of relief. He flips the lighter open, snaps to life a blue flame, and blindly holds it beneath the heavy ropes that bind his wrists. It’s a slow way to break free, but it’s better than nothing. As the ropes burn, he anxiously watches the strange ritual happening within the circle of stones—
Suddenly, a fist appears in Trey’s vision, hitting him hard squarely in the jaw, rocking his world. The master thief’s head snaps back and smashes into the stone behind him. He promptly drops the lighter. The ropes binding him have only been partially burned through. Perhaps he’s not so lucky after all. As Trey’s vision clears, we see what he sees: a very blurry and a very pissed-off O’Brien standing in front of him.
O’BRIEN
You don’t smoke, huh?
SMACK! O’Brien’s second punch sends Trey reeling. Still tied, his eyes roll up in his head, blood pouring from his nose. He sags helplessly against his bindings.
O’BRIEN
I hate when people take advantage of
my kindness.
Trey cracks open a rapidly swelling eye when O’Brien smashes him again. Hard as hell, bone against bone, busting Trey’s face. Trey goes limp.
O’BRIEN
I really hate it.
INT. WITHIN THE CIRCLE OF STONES – NIGHT
Draken raises his hands. The leather pouch, which contains the eight remaining Judas Coins, sits on a stone pedestal next to Draken. The pouch pulsates even brighter. In the sky beyond, lightning flashes and thunder rumbles. Purple, swollen clouds swirl high above in a slow-moving vortex of energy.
EXT. OUTSIDE THE STONES
Trey hangs limp, nearly unconscious. O’Brien circles him. Trey watches him with half-open eyes, blood pouring from his nose and mouth.
O’BRIEN
Now, my friend, it’s time to close
the curtain on this show.
O’Brien picks up a heavy tree branch. He smiles wickedly and swings the branch hard—
But at the last possible second, Trey ducks. The branch smashes the section of rock where Trey’s head had once been.
Wood splinters everywhere. Behind his back, Trey is still straining against his bindings. We see that the rope is, in fact, burned nearly all the way through. His muscles bulge as he struggles against his bindings. O’Brien grins, tosses the branch from hand to hand. Cocks his arms back, and is ready to deliver a fatal blow, when—
As if shot from a canon, Trey bursts forward, ropes snapping free. He tackles O’Brien to the ground, and the two men tumble through the grass and mud, fists flying.
INT. WITHIN THE CIRCLE OF STONES
Draken waves his hand and the leather pouch opens on its own. The remaining coins rise magically into the air. Each coin is glowing fiercely, like drops of silver lava. Draken opens his shirt, and the coins strapped across his body rise up from their slots, as well, joining the others. All thirty Judas Coins together again. Draken moves his fingers in an intricate pattern and the coins begin rotating and spinning...
EXT. OUTSIDE THE STONE CIRCLE – NIGHT
The two fighting men stop rolling, covered now in dirt and twigs. Trey is still badly wounded, but summons some inner reserve, and throws a punch that drives O’Brien’s head back into the soft earth. From his back, the Irishman, a street brawler himself, kicks Trey square in the face, sending the master thief straight to his knees.
Both men stand and square off. Trey looks horrible. O’Brien, eyes swelling rapidly, doesn’t look much better. Behind O’Brien is the circle of stones, which rise up into the mist like gray giants.
INT. WITHIN THE CIRCLE OF STONES
One by one the coins group together. Still hovering in mid-air, the coins begin taking on the shape of a rotating three-dimensional silver globe. In fact, we see that it’s not a globe at all—the coins are forming a human face. The face revolves slowly, and we see it from all perspectives. It’s still incomplete. Two coins are missing. Draken turns to Eve, who’s staring openly at the coins, clearly still entranced by the dark powers they hold.
DRAKEN
Join me—Join me, and the coins will
be yours, too.
It takes all of Eve’s will power to resist, and when she speaks, she does so weakly.
EVE
Go to hell.
DRAKEN
Better yet, why don’t I bring hell to you?
Draken motions with his right hand and two disk shapes rise up against the fabric of her blouse. The disks, of course, are the last two Judas Coins. They slip out from under her blouse and rise up into the air. Draken smiles wickedly.
EXT. OUTSIDE THE CIRCLE OF STONES
O’Brien, now bleeding badly from a cut to his head, suddenly reaches inside his jacket and produces the same silver glove we saw earlier. The Hand of Nuada. He pulls it on. As he does so, something remarkable happens. The glove supernaturally seals itself to his hand. More, the glove becomes a part of his hand, transforming his entire arm into something animal-like. Muscular and bulging, fingers impossibly long, black, hideous claws. O’Brien, with an evil light in his eyes, flexes his new hand, displaying the wicked-looking claws.
O’BRIEN
The bearer of the hand is imbued with
the Power of the old Celtic gods.
(a beat)
I like that part. Good-bye, Trey Jordan.
With the transformation to his arm complete, O’Brien makes a powerful fist and smashes it against a nearby boulder, pulverizing it.
TREY
Okay, now that’s just not fair.
Like a man possessed, the Irishman unleashes a deadly lightning-quick assault. The supernatural fist appears again and again, and it’s all Trey can do to stay out of its deadly path. With each swing, a crackling trail of hissing quicksilver follows in the air behind the swinging arm.
Trey is soon backed into a stone megalith. O’Brien grins wickedly—and swings the deadly hand. Trey ducks, narrowly avoiding the claws that leave behind a searing black trail deep within the rock behind him.
O’Brien reaches out with his non-supernatural hand and throws Trey back against the stone megalith. Trey slams into it hard, and as he does so, something bounces up and out of his shirt. The Fourth Nail. Without hesitation, he snaps it free from his neck.
O’Brien raises the Hand of Nuada...and opens the long fingers, spreading them wild. It’s a ghastly supernatural weapon. O’Brien grins, makes a powerful fist, and throws one hell of wicked punch. Trey ducks, slides to his left, and slashes hard with the Fourth Nail.
The Hand of Nuada and the Fourth Nail come together in a massive explosion of light. Trey is blown backward, tumbling.
He scrambles to his feet, turns—and sees that the Fourth Nail has plunged deep into palm of the Hand of Nuada—and into the stone megalith itself. The very nail that was meant for the palm of Christ has instead penetrated the hand of this ancient supernatural relic.
Screaming in agony, O’Brien yanks with all his strength, but his hand has been securely impaled to the stone megalith.
Now, amazingly, the Hand of Nuada begins to crumble away—along with O’Brien’s real hand. But the crumbling doesn’t just stop at his hand; it travels all the way up his entire arm and to his shoulder...and then beyond. O’Brien continues to scream even as the crumbling consumes his entire body. Trey turns away, sickened, and instead watches the bizarre scene within the circle of stones...
INT. WITHIN THE RING OF STONES
The final two coins, once hidden within Eve’s blouse, rise into the air and complete the three-dimensional face, forming the eyes. The face continues spinning in the air above the worshiping cult. Finally, it stops revolving and settles on Draken.
We can see that the face is, in fact, the face of Judas Iscariot, the Great Betrayer. The lips curl into a smile. The silver eyes, composed of the silver coins, glance over at Draken, who bows before it.
DRAKEN
Welcome back, my Lord. You’ve been sealed
away for far too long. It’s my great pleasure
to give you freedom, and in so doing so,
I can only hope that you will reward your
humble servant.
The silver head of Judas tilts back with laughter. The sound is pure evil. Even Draken takes a step back.
Now the coins burst apart. Like butterflies on crack, they swirl frenetically and come together once again. But this time they do not form the face of Judas. This time they form a very hideous, horned creature, a creature straight from the bowels of Hell. It is, in fact, the face of Satan.
Once again, the coins explode, and now swirl crazily around Draken’s body. Draken holds out his arms and tilts his head back, loving this, pure evil bliss.
The coins spin around him faster and faster. They begin to take on a shape much larger than Draken. The coins are soon a blur, and finally disappear altogether in a flash of silver light. Above, the sky is a chaos of angry storm clouds. A jagged bolt of lightning appears from these storm clouds, streaking down from the heavens, and strikes Draken. For a few brief seconds he’s surrounded in molten silvery light. The bolt of lightning holds a bit longer, galvanizing Draken with pure, evil energy. Draken, it seems, has grown by several feet.
EXT. OUTSIDE THE RING OF STONES
Trey Jordan watches all this in horror, his blue eyes reflecting the silvery light.
INT. WITHIN THE RING OF STONES
Draken points at a nearby megalith, a monstrous twenty-foot piece of granite. The granite explodes as if detonated by TNT. Fragments of rock shower down.
Draken next gestures toward one of his cult members. The terrified man rises supernaturally into the air. Draken motions again and now the man rotates slowly, as a yellow light appears in his chest. The light grows brighter and brighter. The man looks down, screams, and then explodes into bloody oblivion.
WIDE SHOT on the ring of stones as total pandemonium breaks out. Cult members dash in every direction. Eve, however, is still trapped.
EXT. OUTSIDE THE RING OF STONES
Trey uses a hand-sized stone to bash the embedded Fourth Nail free from the megalith.
Now, with the Fourth Nail in hand, he dashes into the pandemonium—
INT. WITHIN THE RING OF STONES
He weaves his way through the fleeing cult members and soon finds himself at Eve’s side. Using the same rock, he bashes away at the chains that bind her. The loud pounding attracts the attention of Draken, who whips around. Draken, now more demon than man, screeches with fury, and hurls a blazing fireball. The ball of fire hits Trey, but somehow easily dissolves. Trey, after all, is still protected by the Fourth Nail.
EVE
Hurry, Trey!
TREY
Trust me, I’m hurrying.
Trey raises the rock again, and smashes down with all of his strength. Sparks and rock fragments fly in all directions. Finally, one link breaks off, but still the chain is intact.
Draken, overcome with fury, begins changing before our very eyes. Like a shape-shifter, he twists and contorts into something very large and hideous. A few horrific seconds later, Draken is gone completely, having been replaced by a monstrous silver demon. The thing stands fifteen feet tall, and its body seems to be composed of molten silver. But he’s not the only one changing.