by J. R. Rain
ABDULLAH
We must stop now.
BORIS
(shakes his head)
I need more.
Abdullah clearly doesn’t like this, but he holds his tongue. Boris motions toward the village.
BORIS
Go see to the wounded.
Abdullah reluctantly nods and turns away.
INT. MEETING HALL
Jack spots Abdullah and a handful of soldiers coming. And as Abdullah and his men get closer, the American yells:
JACK
Now!
It’s an ambush; quickly, many of the soldiers are overwhelmed by the villagers.
CUT TO ABDULLAH: He is stripped of his weapon, but the slaver fights off his attackers and escapes through the village’s simple structures. As he rounds a corner, he’s met by Tessla. Abdullah pulls up short. He’s bruised and bloodied from the ambush. He grins.
ABDULLAH
Tessla the slave girl. I remember you well.
The one who got away.
Tess silently stands before him. Courage and fear radiates from her simultaneously. Abdullah senses her fear and grins again.
ABDULLAH
Your boy will make a fine jockey, too.
But his words have little effect on her. Instead, she executes a perfectly thrown punch, a strike that snaps Abdullah’s head back. But he counters with a terrifyingly powerful backhand that sends her sprawling to the ground.
EXT. THE TREE OF LIFE
Jack dashes through the chaos and pauses next to a Hummer that’s currently being loaded with drums of healing oil. Hiding, he sees Boris overseeing the loading of the oil. He turns his attention from the Russian to something on the ground. We see what Jack sees: the charred and blacked sword. The one-time Flaming Sword. When Boris’s attention is diverted, Jack scrambles for the sword, making just enough noise that Boris turns.
BORIS
Unfortunately, your sword seems to
have run out of gas.
In that moment, from out of the shadows, Zahir tosses Jack a blazing torch. Jack snatches it out of the air. Boris frowns and turns to his men.
BORIS
Kill him.
As his men bring their weapons up, Jack touches the torch to the tip of the sword. A blinding flash of light erupts from the sword. Jack is holding the mother of sparklers, as it blazes and crackles in his hand so brightly that all of Eden is once again illuminated. Jack is temporarily blinded as the sword burns brightly in his hands.
EXT. OUTSIDE THE VILLAGE
Abdullah and Tess circle each other. Blood trickles from Tess’s cut lip, courtesy of Abdullah’s backhand. Clearly she’s taken some self-defense classes. As they circle, she attacks again KICKING him hard across the face. The slaver is slow to react and she follows this with another punch. Abdullah falls to a knee. She keeps punching furiously, unleashing her hatred for the man—
That is, until Abdullah’s hand lashes out, grabs her wrist and yanks her to the ground. Soon he has her by the throat, strangling her, as blood pours from his broken nose. Abdullah applies more pressure, grinning through the blood running down his face.
TESS
(gasping, voice strangled)
Here’s a trick...I learned while riding...
your damn camels.
In an amazing move of dexterity, she’s able to swing her feet up and around the man’s neck, and using her knees and all the strength she has, she breaks Abdullah’s neck. He pitches forward, dead.
EXT. AT THE TREE OF LIFE
ZAHIR
(speaking behind Jack)
Well, do something with it.
JACK
I don’t know what to do.
ZAHIR
Aim it at something.
Jack does, turning it toward one of the Hummers. A glorious fireball of pure energy erupts from the end, obliterating the vehicle.
JACK
Sweet mother of God...
ZAHIR
Jack, to your left!
Jack turns—but sees nothing.
ZAHIR
I mean your right, my left!
Jack turns the other way and sees the last of Boris’s men bearing down on him. He swings the sword around—and promptly disintegrates the men.
JACK
Holy shit!
And that’s when he hears the click of a revolver’s hammer. He turns again, only to discover Boris pointing a gun at his face.
BORIS
Drop the...um...Flaming Sword.
Just then, a vine appears from the dying Tree of Life, moving quickly. It snakes around Boris’s throat and he drops his gun, gasping and clawing desperately at the vine. In one swift movement, the Russian is yanked off his feet and into the upper reaches of the Tree of Life, where he disappears.
Moments later, the image of Boris’s screaming face forms within the leaves above. The leaves ripple with an unfelt breeze, and the image of Boris is gone forever...
The fiery sword quivers in Jack’s hand. He releases it and it rises, circling, then reclaims its place in the sky above, providing light once again to all of Eden.
EXT. THE WORLD OVER
SWEEPING PANORAMIC SHOTS of skies clearing, hurricanes dissipating, tornadoes spinning harmlessly away, and stormy seas growing calm...
EXT. AT THE ENTRANCE
The entrance into the Garden, which is reached by a stone bridge, continues to crumble and cave in. By breaking lose, the cherubim have caused a chain reaction of destruction. Indeed, from high above, some of the surrounding rock wall is breaking lose as well, crashing down near the entrance. The intention is clear: with the guardian cherubim now gone, the entrance into Eden will forever be sealed shut.
EXT. IN THE VILLAGE
Jack dashes to the last Hummer. Zahir is right behind them. Thomas is standing with his daughter and grandson. Jack turns the ignition, fires up the vehicle. He leans out the driver’s side window.
JACK
Last call to freedom.
Tess turns to her parents.
TESS
Please come with me.
Her father surveys the carnage and destruction to Eden. He looks at his wife and she shakes her head, tears running down her face.
THOMAS
Our home is here. We need to rebuild.
Tess hugs her parents long and hard, who, in turn, hug little Ricky. And then Tess takes Ricky’s hand and dashes off, joining the others in the vehicle. Jack nods to the Edenites, then floors it. The Hummer tears away in a cloud of dust. Ricky, from the back seat, waves to his grandparents as they rapidly diminish in the rear window.
INT. INSIDE THE HUMMER
JACK
This is going to be close.
The Gateway into Eden is now crumbling at an alarming rate. Since Eden is domed by rock, massive chunks break loose as the ground continues to shake. Boulders drop from the sky like mortar shells. Jack does all he can to avoid them, yanking the steering wheel to the left or right, often just narrowly missing the hailing boulders.
Directly before them is the crumbled archway. Beyond the archway is the arching stone bridge that spans the river. And beyond that is the tunnel into Eden. Jack aims the vehicle for the archway, avoiding the rocks and boulders that are strewn in the path. The cherubim, once standing guard at the archway, are gone.
Now through the archway, he gives the Hummer some gas. The heavy vehicle tears along the wide stone bridge. Yet, the big Hummer is almost too wide, its huge tires just barely find purchase along the rutted edges. Jack is forced to use all his concentration to keep the thing from going off the side.
ZAHIR
Easy does it, buddy. Nice and easy.
JACK
Shut up, Zahir.
A boulder crashes down from above, obliterating the bridge behind them. Zahir sees this, eyes bugging out of his head as the bridge begins collapsing behind them, breaking away and plunging down into the racing waters far below.
WIDE CAMERA SHOT of the crumbling bridge as
it rapidly gains on the speeding Hummer.
INT. BACK INSIDE THE HUMMER
Jack glances into his rearview mirror—and sees the bridge falling away behind him. He floors the gas pedal, and the Hummer leaps forward, swerving dangerously close to the bridge’s edge. And just as they reach the far side of the bank, the bridge collapses completely, crumbling away into the river below. Zahir breathes a sigh of relief—until he sees what’s happening before them.
ZAHIR
Ah, heck...
Before them, the tunnel entrance itself is quickly disappearing in a hail of falling rock. It’s all Jack can to do to miss the falling projectiles.
An enormous boulder strikes the ground in front of them, and Jack hits the brakes, turning the wheel hard. They broadside the rock, smashing out some glass, but no serious damage. He punches the gas again, whips around the boulder, and plunges into the dark tunnel. He turns on the headlights and glances into the rearview mirror—
The tunnel behind them is collapsing. Jack continues flooring it, just able to keep the vehicle one step ahead of the falling debris—Jack swerves and weaves. Dust fills the tunnel, along with a shower of smaller rocks. And before them, a rift appears in the tunnel, spreading rapidly. Jack sets his jaw—and aims straight for the chasm.
ZAHIR
Allah, be with us—
JACK
You can say that again.
ZAHIR
Allah, be with us!
The Hummer launches over the ever-widening chasm. As they fly, Zahir sticks his head out the window, his face contorts with fear and excitement and horror as he looks straight down into the deep abyss...they land violently, and Zahir slams his head hard on the window frame.
TESS
There’s a light ahead!
Indeed, the stone elevator up to the Garden Chamber is still open. There’s a torch flickering within.
JACK
Okay, boys and girls. Hang on!
The Hummer races through the tunnel, careening off rocky walls, losing valuable parts, but still somehow managing to stay together. As the elevator shaft rapidly approaches, Zahir looks frantically from Jack to the elevator—
ZAHIR
The brakes, Jack!
Jack looks in the rearview mirror. Rock and dust pour down, approaching rapidly. Any second now they could be buried forever.
JACK
No time for brakes.
ZAHIR
There’s always time for brakes!
JACK
Not this time.
As the Hummer approaches the elevator, and as the collapsing tunnel closes in on them from every angle, Jack turns the wheel hard—
The Hummer begins a long and screeching 180 degree turn. Zahir, Jack, Tess and Ricky all scream—
And just like that, the Hummer is parked neatly in the stone elevator, facing the opposite direction. A churning dust plume races toward them—
With his elbow, Jack smashes through the driver’s side glass, moves aside a cleverly placed piece of wood which had locked the elevator into place, and pulls hard on the cherub’s sword arm. With agonizing sluggishness, the elevator begins its slow ascent.
ZAHIR
Can’t this thing move any faster?
The dust cloud is quickly upon them, followed by a storm of churning rocks. The elevator picks up pace, rising, but not quite fast enough—
The billowing dust cloud gushes into the elevator like a crashing ocean wave. Everyone ducks. The windshield shatters. The headlights burst. The elevator shakes violently as the tunnel beyond completely and utterly collapses. Eden is forever sealed. Above them, bright sunshine appears first through a crack, and then rapidly spreads as the stone elevator continues up, finally settling into place in the Garden Chamber.
RICKY
Did we make it?
JACK
I think we did.
The Garden chamber begins to shake.
ZAHIR
Spoke too soon.
Jack throws the Hummer into gear, floors it, weaves his way through the debris cleared by Boris’s men. The Hummer bursts out of the mountain temple and launches through the air. Following in its wake is a great billowing cloud of dust as the temple completely implodes.
The vehicle lands hard, bouncing. Amazingly, the vehicle continues on, tearing through the narrow mountain pass. Behind them, the entire mountainside seemingly collapses into the canyon. Zahir, covered in dust, looks back.
ZAHIR
Okay, now we made—
But he never gets to finish his sentence. Tess reaches around and clamps a hand over his mouth.
TESS
Don’t you dare say it.
INT. THE GARDEN OF EDEN – ETERNAL DAY
Pagnian is holding Thomas tightly around his waist. They can see that the tunnel has completely collapsed, sealing them forever in the Garden of Eden.
THOMAS
Do you think they made it?
PAGNIAN
Heroes always make it.
EXT. IN A FORGOTTEN CANYON – DAY
An hour so later. The four of them are in the Hummer. Jack is driving with Tess sitting next to him in the passenger seat. They are holding hands across the center console. In the back seat, Zahir and Ricky are playing “rock, paper, scissors.” Ricky keeps winning, to Zahir’s chagrin. The windshield has been knocked out, and hot wind blows over them all. But they don’t care. They’re just happy to be alive. As they drive, Tess notices something wriggling in Jack’s shirt pocket.
TESS
What’s that?
Jack reaches inside and removes what appears to be three Mexican jumping beans. In fact, they are seeds from the Garden of Eden. They wriggle in the palm of his hands.
JACK
Found them in the jungle.
TESS
Why do you want them?
JACK
I think they’d make great pets. You know,
like a guard dog. Only greener.
ZAHIR
I can see it now: ‘Beware the Vine!’
JACK
Sounds like a Stephen King novel.
Jack stuffs the seeds away, and Tess leans over and kisses him hard on the lips.
TESS
My hero.
From the back seat, Zahir and Ricky continue their game of “rock, paper scissors,” as Zahir continues to lose...
ZAHIR
By Allah, I think you can read my mind.
RICKY
By Allah, I think you can read my mind.
ZAHIR
(frustrated)
Quit copying me.
RICKY
(grinning)
Quit copying me.
And it goes on like this as the Hummer hurls through the empty canyon toward the setting sun. As the camera pulls back from the Hummer, we see in the rear of the vehicle the many drums of priceless Healing Oil...
FADE OUT:
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MERLIN’S TOMB
Copyright © 2011 by J.R. Rain
All rights reserved.
Author’s Note: “Merlin’s Tomb” is, in fact, the opening scene to a much bigger screenplay that never happened. That screenplay was going to be an epic, Indiana Jones-esque adventure about the search for the Holy Lance, or the Spear of Destiny. Except something funny happened along the way to the box office: my Hollywood agent and I had a falling out just as I began the screenplay. I left the agency, and never went back to writing screenplays.
For those of you who don’t know, the Holy Lance is the very lance used by a Roman Centurion long ago to pierce the side of Christ as he hung on the cross. The lance, or spear, is purported to give great power to its owner. In fact, according to legend, the owner of the lance can rule the earth.
Fun stuff.
Napoleon supposedly owned it. And so did Adolph Hitler. Or so the legends say. I mention Hitler here for a reason, as you are about to find out. Der Fuhrer was going to play an important role in my screenplay, and I thoug
ht it might be fun to introduce him in the opening sequence as a lad. Except the screenplay never got written.
Or, rather, never got completed.
The opening sequence was indeed written, a sequence that, I think, can stand alone. A sequence that also features one very popular wizard.