ARIANNA: An Original Screenplay (2 page)

She lifts the deaf/mute child into the air and kisses her cheek.

NIMUE (CONT'D): Such a kind daughter I

have.

She carries her back to their simple wooden shack.

EASTERN PROVINCE, SOUTHERN REALM.

1 YEAR LATER

CUT TO.

INT. SHACK - NIGHT

A small fire burns. Nimue tucks Naiyoo into their small bed.

NIMUE: A man came through Shihana this

morning. From the west. He spoke of great

miracles.

Naiyoo reads her mother's lips.

NIMUE (CONT'D): (smiles) It is no longer

the young that are being spared. The

sickness is leaving us all.

Nimue stops and looks up at the ceiling, tears forming.

NIMUE (CONT'D): He heard our prayers.

Naiyoo touches the sides of her forehead and raises her hands.

Nimue smiles, kissing her forehead.

NIMUE (CONT'D): Yes my love. Praise our

Great Father.

She tickles the white flower under her nose and gets up.

NIMUE (CONT'D): Get some sleep.

Naiyoo rolls onto her side, holding the flower to her lips.

CUT TO.

EXT. SHACK - NIGHT

Nimue takes in the air, resting back against the shack.

She looks up at the night sky and pauses.

Glimpsing a tiny object.

She steps forward, trying to get a better view, but its already lost behind the clouds.

She pauses again, curious, but then lets it go.

CUT TO.

EXT. ROAD - NIGHT

Horses charge past. The riders cloaked and hooded.

CUT TO.

INT. SHACK - LATE NIGHT

The fire dies down, Naiyoo asleep in her mother's arms.

Nimue's eyes slowly open.

The horses can be heard.

She slowly stands and looks to the window.

Naiyoo feels her movement and also wakes, rubbing her eyes.

She turns her head and sees her mother putting out the fire.

Naiyoo squints her eyes, leaning forward to read her lips.

NIMUE: (low) Go back to sleep.

Naiyoo turns to the window.

Nimue kneels beside her and turns her face away.

NIMUE (CONT'D): Wait here.

EXT. SHACK

Nimue steps out, hugging herself from the cold.

The riders dismount.

Nimue holds back by the door and politely bows.

NIMUE: Good evening my brothers.

The riders slowly approach, coming into the moonlight.

Nimue stops.

They all wear steel masks with thin eye slits.

INT. SHACK

Naiyoo slowly looks out the window, her mother's back to her.

NIMUE (O.S): Shihana is a short distance

south.

EXT. SHACK

She points down the road.

NIMUE: Just return the way you have come,

there is a crossing.

The riders remain silent.

Nimue steps back, nervous.

INT. SHACK

Naiyoo leans forward, unable to read her mother's lips.

NIMUE (O.S): You must not stay. The

sickness is here.

EXT. SHACK

She bows again and backs away.

NIMUE: Kalaar be with you.

INT. SHACK

Naiyoo climbs down from the window as her mother returns.

NIMUE: Go back to sleep.

Nimue turns around and stops.

Two of the riders have followed her in.

Naiyoo looks up at her mother, more confused than afraid.

Nimue looks away, making sure Naiyoo can't read her lips.

NIMUE (CONT'D): (beat) Do as you wish.

Just let my child go.

A third masked rider enters.

Nimue watches him walk past her and approach the fire.

NIMUE (CONT'D): What is it you want?

He fans the flames and waits until the small room is lit up.

He then turns to Naiyoo.

The other two riders move in on the little girl

NIMUE (CONT'D): No no...

Nimue pushes the riders back and grabs Naiyoo. They're almost out the door when the other two riders block their way.

NIMUE (CONT'D): NO!

Naiyoo is ripped from her arms.

NIMUE (CONT'D): What are you doing??

She dragged to the far side of the shack while two of the riders lie Naiyoo on the bed, face down.

NIMUE (CONT'D): Please no!

One of the riders holds her steady while the other turns her face towards the light of the fire.

NIMUE (CONT'D): In the name of Kalaar I

beg you!

Naiyoo makes eye contact with her mother, tears rolling down her cheek.

The riders brush back her long hair and use a cloth to clean the left side of her face.

NIMUE (CONT'D): Do not hurt her! Do not

hurt my child!

The rider by the fire takes a satchel from his belt and removes a small needle.

Naiyoo's eyes widen.

NIMUE (CONT'D): NO!

Nimue breaks free from her captors and leaps forward.

NIMUE (CONT'D): LEAVE MY CHILD

ALONE!

She's halfway to her when she stops still.

Naiyoo freezes.

Nimue tries to speak but no sound leaves her.

The rider behind her removes his knife from her back.

Naiyoo watches as her mother drops to her knees. The masked men already working away on the left side of her face.

CUT TO.

EXT. ROAD - WOODS - NIGHT

Horses pull a caged carriages, dozens of masked riders following.

We hear children cry.

Within each carriage are groups of children, some as young as five, others in their mid teens.

INT. PRISON CARRIAGE

Naiyoo sits in the far corner of one the carriages, hugging her knees as she stares out.

CRYING BOY (O.S): Mama! Where is

mama?!

She slowly turns her head.

Running down the left side of her face are shapes and symbols in black ink, half her face permanently tattooed.

The children wail and scream, reaching out through the bars.

All of them have similar tattoos on their faces, for the boys the markings are on the right side of their faces.

Naiyoo returns to the bars and looks up.

A small object follows the convoy.

A gold pyramid high up in the sky, rotating on itself every three seconds.

Naiyoo rests her forehead against her knees and closes her eyes.

A tear running down her right cheek.

CUT TO.

EXT. CAMP - WOODS - SUNSET

The masked men cook rabbits and pigs over a row of fires.

They tear off the meat and share it amongst the hungry children, also offering them flasks of water.

INT. PRISON CARRIAGE

Naiyoo nibbles on a small piece of rabbit meat.

She jumps as the meat is snatched from her hands.

A boy of 13 sit back down and eats her food.

Naiyoo draws back.

The boy watches her with cold eyes as he eats. The markings on the right side of his face identical to hers.

A masked rider approaches sets down another piece of meat for Naiyoo.

Naiyoo backs away and curls up in the corner.

DISSOLVE TO.

EXT. CAMP - WOODS - LATE NIGHT

The riders are all asleep in their tents. The children in the carriages also asleep under fresh blankets.

INT. PRISON CARRIAGE

Naiyoo's eyes open.

She looks up at the night sky.

The strange object is still there, watching them.

She lowers her head then stops.

A figure stands in the distance.

An old man with a white beard and a crooked staff.

He smiles and points up.

Naiyoo looks to the sky again.

The object is about to rotate but then stops.

She look back at the old man but he's gone.

She sits up and hears a "creak". She looks down and pulls back the blankets. One of the floorboards is loose.

She looks around, cautious, then slowly begins to pull at the plank.

EXT. CAMP - WOODS

Naiyoo crawls out from under the carriage and scrambles into the woods.

CUT TO.

INT. WOODS - NIGHT

Naiyoo runs as fast as she can, constantly looking back over her shoulder.

She trips on a branch and falls, scrambling to get back up when a hand reaches down and helps her up.

She looks up and stops.

It's the old man, WHITE BEARD.

She quickly backs away, hitting a tree

White Beard smiles.