Axe Raiders (2007) - full transcript
Fingal is avenged by his daughter Ethne in a story of intrigue and revenge in the Highlands of Scotland during the Dark Ages when tribes fought against tribes.
(water splashes)
(drum beats)
(epic music)
- [Eric] Sailed from shore.
Ship from storms.
I sought and slayed my kin's killer.
Avenges in anger.
Eric's axe.
Sail fouly on
Eric's force.
Cruel cleft.
Fengal's naked neck.
Claimed his land,
Woden's wart.
(epic music)
(swords clank)
(warriors yell)
(sword slices loudly)
(Eric yells)
(epic music)
(dramatic music)
(thundering footsteps)
(dramatic music)
(men yell)
- I, hatch runes on me axe staff.
Those fell, spelt with blood.
Can they name notched next
on the wild ox horn, I'll drink from.
(men scream)
(arrow thuds)
Let your arrows cut the air.
My axe has split Fengal's skull.
Yeah!
(men yell)
It's a fair days' work.
(men yell)
- I swear to God, I will
kill you with your own axe.
(Eric laughs)
- Hear that, lads?
The Celts have only got wenches left
to do their fighting for them.
(men laugh)
(dramatic music)
(men laugh)
(oars splash in water)
(dramatic music)
- You were my father's retainer, Domlin.
Swear to me in the bonds of St. Andrew
that you will help me avenge him.
- You're a crazy girl, Ethne.
- Swear.
- Ah.
I swear.
- Thank God for that.
- You're gonna get me hung.
If you want to be a warrior,
then you have to start eating meat.
Come.
(birds chirp)
(dramatic music)
- Aren't you gonna send a ship after them?
- Fengal killed Eric's twin brother, Eida.
By their law, he had the right to revenge.
- We don't live by their laws, Tadwell.
They're our sworn enemies.
- Your father lives in the past, Ethne.
We must make peace with the Angles.
However, this is no land for
a young woman to flourish.
I'm sending you away.
- I'm not going anywhere.
- You know Roderick's agreed to marry
King Emir's daughter.
She won't want you in her household.
- So you want rid of me?
- No, Ethne.
I just don't want you to grow
up like your aunt, Melangal.
(birds call)
Garich has agreed to teach you
in a school in Glendt.
- What's wrong with
Mongel's school In Glasgow?
- He doesn't teach girls.
- Shut up, Tadwell.
Why won't you avenge my father?
- Enough of this.
Young King Meric will make
a good husband for you.
Defenwol will escort you
there in the morning.
- That witch and Yee's son.
No way, I'm not marrying anyone.
- He will make you a queen.
You will bare Coulhen
children, not common stock
like your father.
You know, he never cared
for your mother (laughs).
- This is a bad business.
We're being lied to.
(orchestral music)
- I'm glad I've arranged for you to marry
my second cousin.
It will be good for
appearances to have a woman
on your arm.
- I don't much care for
appearances, Tadwell.
I am what I am.
- And I, Roderick,
but the world is not so open yet.
Oh come, Roderick, you're cold with me.
Kiss me.
- What are you so cheerful about?
- In the name of peace,
I've sold some of my land
to those Anglo raiders.
- You traitor!
- This country, Roderick,
has been made penniless
by the civil war.
Your own lands are ruined.
Look at how you live.
If we have to sell some
land to make it whole again,
then it is a price worth paying.
- By trading with the Angles?
- Yes.
Otherwise, they will overrun us.
- Perhaps having Fengal killed
wasn't such a good idea after all.
- We're rid of him.
The time has come to move on.
- You're right, Fengal
was a thorn in my side.
- Exactly.
He had a hand in my father's death.
So in law, I had some right
to avenge just like Eric.
- I can't deny that.
- You're about to be made king.
You need to think like a king.
Besides, you had no love for Fengal.
He deserted your daughter with a child
and went off to war for how many years?
- Eight.
- Came back and brought
another wife with him.
There should be a law
against that, Roderick.
- Shut up, Tadwell.
Thanks to you, we no
longer have a champion.
And this country lives
in fear of Eric the Axe!
- Perhaps.
But if you hunt him down,
you'll be the saviour of Strathglide.
- I'm not going after that madman.
- I'll organise it.
With the help of that ox, Defenwol.
That is, if the terms are right.
- Are you bargaining with me?
- Eric's made for the lands I sold him.
Knowing where he is, that's
got to be worth something.
- What?
(birds chirp)
- Your daughter.
- Melengal (laughs)?
You must be mad.
- Oh, she has a comely
form despite her curses.
- She's older than you.
You find that attractive?
- No, course not,
but you are marrying and I
feel that I should marry also.
- She's a pain in the neck
and she has her own Defenwol.
Defenwol is a big ape.
Can you really imagine
him as your son-in-law?
- He is loyal, Tadwell.
- Loyalty comes at a price, Roderick.
Mine is Eric's head in
exchange for Melengal.
- You don't know what she's like.
At 12, we sent her to a
house of virgins in Erin.
She climbed up on the
rampart walls and consorted
with a thatcher.
It was a scandal!
Now no one wants her or will have her.
- You leave her to me.
Believe me, after a week on a serf's farm,
she'll be grateful to marry me.
(orchestral music)
- Fengal was opposed to
Roderick making himself king.
Now Fengal's dead.
- Are you saying Roderick
had my father killed?
- He had reason to.
(laughs) Fengal would have challenged him.
Now there's no one left to oppose Roderick
except for Tadwell.
- Tadwell's loyal to grandfather.
- Not as loyal as you think.
Tadwell plans to get rid of both of us
by getting Roderick to
marry his Irish cousin.
- That's just plain silly.
- Is it?
We're the last of the great Conaris blood
carried through the female line.
Whoever marries one of us will
become king of Strathglide.
The old fool should relinquish power.
Getting married at his age and
to Langrith O'Neal (laughs)
his last plot.
- What's wrong with her?
- What's right with her?
She's capricious, selfish,
she's an absolute trollope.
Her father's glad to be rid of her.
She tried to poison him.
- Really?
- Roderick intends to disinherit us
by having a Malesian child to Langrith.
- Malesian?
- The royal land of
the High Kings of Tara.
We're Britons, not Irish.
(laughs) Power's going to his head.
I hope she gets captured
by the Angles on her voyage
from Erin.
Where did you get that?
- Found it.
Do you know what it is?
- (laughs) It's the bride of Christ.
You better not let a
priest catch you with that.
You'll be denounced a pagan and walled up
in some godforsaken chapel.
(orchestral music)
- Eric's camped.
First ship appears on a loch
two day's march from here.
- What are you doing?
- I'm not waiting to be
sent off to Gwent tomorrow.
- The Angles will kill you!
- [Man] El's worth 10 Angles.
- And a Celt's 10 times more treacherous.
Do you think Roderick's going
to just let you slip off?
He's got guards posted everywhere.
- I've taken care of that.
(violin music)
- Defenwol?
(laughs) Oh, when he wakes up,
I don't want to be the
subject of a sore head.
I'm coming with you.
- Not dressed like that, you're not.
- Oh.
I'll meet you at Connedis Stone.
- You have 'til dawn.
(door shuts)
- You're an imbecile, Defenwol!
Ah.
I want them found!
- Roderick, I caught
this shrew on the road.
She tried to steal my sword.
My ears are still burning with her curses.
- You've been a vixen since
the day you were born!
- You're not my father.
No father would treat
his children as you do.
- Don't you speak to
the governor like that.
- Ah!
- You will learn humility.
I'm having you bonded to
one of my tenant farmers.
- You can't bond me, I'm royal born.
- [Roderick] That's what you think.
- Go on, carry out the order, Defenwol.
- Don't do it, Defenwol.
He's trying to disinherit me.
- Put her in rough cloth.
I want her tenanted with the
ugliest man you can find.
She's to cook and wash for him.
She's to be, in all matters,
his bond servant.
And find that runaway
girl while you're at it.
- Aye.
- That Langrith O'Neal
is a curse on us all.
- Be quiet, Melengal.
I've had enough trouble as it is.
- (sighs) She's not coming.
Let's go.
- Can we not wait a while?
I'm tired.
- When warriors tyre, they usually die.
(horn music)
Defenwol!
(dramatic music)
- It's Angles we should be chasing,
not Fengal's daughter.
She doesn't want to marry Mulic.
That should be the end of the matter.
- Aye.
- The old sod's gone mad.
Now let's get back before
Melengal trips from a rope.
(dramatic music)
- Where are we going, Domlin?
- I know a few friendly
Picts that might help
make up our numbers.
(dramatic music)
- [Ethne] What is it?
- I don't know.
- Ah!
- Hold there.
Who are you?
- (laughs) Some call me
Lae Lokin, but I'm a Drin,
bard of Gwindaloo.
Oh now, one worth of his name.
- The wizard Midrin.
- Lower your arrow.
We mean no harm.
You look hungry.
Let's eat.
(chime music)
- Hmm.
I'm suffering in this forest.
The dreadful fate to
which I've been appointed
on account of my sins.
- [Woman] You're thought to be dead.
- (laughs) Oh, do I look alive?
- Don't try to spellbind us, druid.
- It would not work.
You have no imagination, shorty,
unlike the lady.
Listen to me carefully (laughs).
Who cleft the devil's foot?
When did the 50 Danaeds come
with their saves to Britain?
What secret was woven into
the Gordian knot (laughs)?
Why did Jehovah create the trees and grass
before he created the sun,
moon, and stars (laughs)?
Where shall (mutters) be found?
- Cover your ears, Ethne.
- You'll have to find another
to babble the answers.
I'm no longer worthy
to furnish the answers.
Because of my injustices
among men, I was the cause
of the slaughter of that
battle so infamously borne.
Ah, (speaks foreign language).
I hear a mighty voice
calling, "Midren, Midren!
"You alone are guilty for the
blood of the 80,000 slain.
"You have been condemned
to the other world
"to dwell among the beasts
until the hour of your death!"
(orchestral music)
I am a stag of seven ruts!
I am a flood that crossed the plain.
I'm a wind on a deep lake.
I'm a tear the sun lets fall.
I'm a hawk above the cliff (laughs)!
I'm a thorn beneath the nail.
I'm a wonder among flowers.
I'm a wizard of many powers!
- Where's he gone?
- Who cares?
He's obviously mad.
Let's get out of here.
(bird chirps)
- Is it true that Midren's the last master
of the Drake order?
- Those days are done.
- But who knows the
answers to the lost wisdom?
- Don't ask me, Ethne.
My skills are in the hand, not in my head.
(dramatic music)
- Go check the ship covers
and not let any water.
- Go and check it yourself.
- So it's a decision by committee, is it?
- Aye.
(man laughs)
- Is that so?
- We paid you good money for land.
When are we going to get it?
- [Man] Right now.
(man screams)
(weapon slices loudly)
Get your ass to the ship now!
(men chant)
- She's a hag!
- Hag in a shawl.
- Drunken old hag.
(men laugh)
- Sounds like,
ship.
- Sunk ship.
- Monk!
Monk.
(men laugh)
- But you're still an old hag.
- Ship or I lay a curse on ya.
(woman screams)
Get off me, you big swine.
You need a bath.
Get off me.
Get off me, get off me!
(men laugh)
- I'm sodding you, you little pig.
- Get off me!
- Come on!
(men laugh)
- Get off me, get off me!
(woman screams)
You animal!
(woman screams)
(water splashes)
(woman screams)
(man laughs)
You animal!
(men laugh)
- Take care, Thorston.
I warrant Aretha's had
enough of your ways.
(men laugh)
(knife pounds loudly)
You, my merchant friend,
will remain there until
your bones turn white in sun
then I will take your skull
and smash it to pieces
before grinding it down into powder
to chalk my axe end (laughs).
(water splashes)
- Gallum!
Gallumor.
It's Defenwol from Roderick's host.
- I'm not leaving me with that brute.
- Be quiet.
He'll not harm you.
He's mute.
If he tries anything, slip him this.
Dewberry poison, slow but deadly.
- You're to have this woman
cook and clean for you
in return for providing for her.
She'll do your cooking, clean your hut,
and feed your animals.
Listen, your Pictish brute.
She'll sleep in her own bed.
You lay one of your filthy paws
and I'll personally come back
and lob your head off.
Got it?
- Ah.
(orchestral music)
- Why are you going along with
Tadwell Cathinson's plans?
- I'm just following orders.
Listen, one of these days, I'll tell you
what I really think of your
silly ideas about love.
I'll tell Sir Roderick to change his mind.
Good luck.
We'll be back in a few days
to fetch you home again.
Use the dagger if he doesn't behave.
He's been warned.
(drum beats)
- What are we waiting on?
- Picts.
- Do you not know where to find them?
- They have found us.
They've been watching
us for the last hour.
- Where?
- You'll not see them, but there they are.
- Are we not going to meet them?
- No, all we have to do
is stay on this road.
(men chant in foreign language)
- How much is it worth, Lewis?
- Ooh, that thing gives
me the heebie-jeebies.
(woman laughs)
(all laugh)
- She looks familiar.
- [Man] Aye, she does.
- She's that Fengal's daughter.
- No, Beth.
Fengal's daughter is a little lassie.
- Aye (mutters).
Her teeth were all crooked.
- Remember, she was a chickadee so-and-so.
- Aye (laughs).
Remember, she used to dress like a sheep?
(all laugh)
- That's right.
- Shut off, the pair of you.
I am Fengal's daughter.
Let me free.
- Why should we do that, man?
- Aye.
That Fengal still owes me a new dress.
- Fengal's death.
- Sir Roderick paid the
Angles to kill Fengal.
- That's what it looks like to me, Lewis.
- How else would they
have got away so easily?
- With Fengal dead, that
Roderick makes himself king
and gives his land to any
Tut, if, or (mutters).
- Even Anglo settlers, man!
- Grandfather wouldn't do that!
- Ooh, sensative.
- Goes with her age, Lewis.
It's made of wood.
- Is that a man, Beth?
- No, she's wearing a dress.
- I'm wearing a dress, man.
So is Nian.
- You're wearing skirts.
How can I get a dress like this?
- From a monk.
- A monk?
- You know, a Christian teacher.
- Maybe we can help you avenge Fengal
if you help us find a monk.
- We'll have to work out
some tactics before we go
chasing Angles.
- (speaks foreign language), those Picts
are pure (mutters) when
it comes to fighting.
(speaks foreign language)
(all yell in foreign language)
(man screams)
(man laughs)
Go on, Beth.
Show them how a Pict does it.
(grass rustles)
(man screams)
- Do it again.
I'm too old for this, Lewis.
- [Man] No, Beth.
We can still do it.
(man screams)
- We are marked men.
Look what he's already done to you.
Eric's already taken over your estate
and calling it his own.
- We won't give him the
satisfaction of being challenged.
- And how do we do that?
- Steal the ship.
- Take me with you.
(man grunts)
- What are you three crows looking at?
And you.
Get me some food!
(dramatic music)
(woman screams)
(man yells)
(water splashes)
(men yell)
(water splashes)
(dramatic music)
- They've taken the ship!
- [Man] No!
(dramatic music)
(Axe slices loudly)
(man yells)
- Cut the anchor!
Haul away.
(men yell)
(man and woman laugh)
- Take the helm!
(orchestral music)
(goat bleats)
- Come on.
(orchestral music)
(axe chops loudly)
(orchestral music)
Eat up, it's good for you.
(man spits loudly)
- You never asked for it to be hot.
Keep your temper.
No one else wants it.
(orchestral music)
(birds call)
- Thorston!
We are far from home
and we cannot
risk a winter
in this hostile land.
We must
find a new ship.
Yorick, you will be my second
until Thorston regains our favour.
Selwin,
you will guard the rear.
With our numbers, we'll put to fly any 20
who come against us.
(men chant in foreign language)
(orchestral music)
- That was no way to treat a lady.
- Said he couldn't bring
the ship close to shore.
- That's tripe, Orny.
You know it.
He just couldn't wait to get rid of me.
- That's not true, mum.
- And he hadn't even
the decency to escort me
to Roderick's court.
- I don't think Roderick
has a court in the sense
we know, mum.
- Oh!
Orn.
Please stop messing around
me like an old woman.
Orn!
Wait!
Go and ask that peasant
and ask him the way
to Roderick's castle.
- Yes, mum, right away.
- Oh!
Oh, my God.
What have I got myself into?
(horn music)
(man grunts)
(orchestral music)
(man grunts)
(orchestral music)
- It's time you learned
how to act around a lady.
Now dry yourself off and
go and cut some wood.
We need some kindling for the fire.
(orchestral music)
- Defenwol, what news?
- We found the bride, governor.
- Show it in.
- She doesn't want to see you.
- What?
- She expected a maidservant
to help present herself.
This would be a good time
to be mellow and go back
to your house.
- Where have you lodged her?
- In the farm at Talbot.
- Where?
- Talbot.
- You moron, Defenwol.
Get a band of men to arms now.
- [Man] For what purpose?
- Do as your ordered, Defenwol.
Eric had instructions for
me to put ashore at Talbot
and run the farmers off.
If he discovers Melengal there,
he'll hold her for ransom.
- What a mess.
You'll have to assemble a
band of men and march there
at first light.
- Keep it down, Roderick.
A small force should be adequate.
Otherwise, you'll alarm everyone.
- I am a (mutters).
- I told you to keep it down.
Now you leave this to me.
Now,
do you think you'll manage
to woo your wife-to-be
while I'm gone?
- I will handle Langrith O'Neal.
- I must warn you,
that monk of hers is a loose arrow.
- Take that bloody monk of hers with you.
Call it spiritual guidance.
The last thing I want is her lecturing me
on how to run our affairs.
(woman sighs)
- Get up.
Here.
Rub my legs.
Don't start any of that
mother Jesus stuff.
I've never walked so far in my life.
This is a hell hole.
These Britons or whatever
they call themselves
are a bunch of ignoramuses.
That Roderick must be a right idiot.
I mean, any man in his right
mind would have come down
to take me up by now.
Behave yourself!
Rub my haunches.
They're sore from that stupid donkey.
Oh, Orn.
As soon as we get the
change, we'll go to Rome
and tell the pope about this sorry land.
Oh!
Mm, mm.
(loud bellowing)
- One-and-a-half fathoms!
(loud bellowing)
- There must be a way
out of this fjord, Wilfred!
- It was dark when we sailed up here.
- I see rocks!
- [Man] Starboard!
- It's not rock,
it's a monster!
(loud bellowing)
(loud crash)
(dramatic music)
- Wilfred!
Where's Wilfred?
I can't swim!
- Well, you better learn quickly
before the monster eats you!
- You bitch.
You're leaving me to die.
I mean, I'm originally from Frisia
and there we don't treat
Christians well at all.
We tie them to the stake on the beach
and when the tide comes in, they drown.
- Shut up!
I should have let you drown.
- Ah, I get your point.
You'll hear no more from
me until we reach land.
- You've said too much already.
- I apologise.
I owe you my life.
(all laugh)
- The Angle ship will take them.
They're arks of war.
- Oh Beth, I told you not to say anything.
There'll be no stopping her
now until she finds them.
- As long as I get my new dress, Lewis.
(orchestral music)
- What do you want?
(loud slap)
(dramatic music)
(man grunts)
(dramatic music)
(woman breathes heavily)
(dramatic music)
(man laughs)
- That's a fine axe, my friend.
I'll fight you for it.
If you beat me, you can have me sword.
(man grunts)
Eric Copperson.
My fame precedes me.
They set out a field, then do it right.
If it please me, men, you will leave him
and his wife alone in peace.
If you lose,
I win your farm and she
becomes me bond servant.
What's fairer than that?
(loud spitting)
(man grunts)
(man laughs)
- Go on, Eric.
- Go on, Eric.
Take it!
- Come on, son.
- [Man] Make it quick!
(men yell)
- Lop his head off!
(Eric laughs)
- Go on, son.
- [Man] Lop his head off.
(men laugh)
- Fight, old man.
Fight!
(man grunts)
Come on!
(spear slices)
- Ah!
(men laugh)
(man grunts)
- Go on, take him Eric!
- Go on, son.
(man grunts)
(men laugh)
(man screams)
- Oh!
- Go on, son.
Take him out!
- Come on, Eric.
Half him!
Slit his throat.
Make it quick, for God's sake.
- [Man] Make it quick, Eric.
Come on!
(men yell and laugh)
- [Man] Get up, old man.
Come on!
- Come on!
- Come on, Eric!
Half him, slit his throat.
(men laugh)
Finish it.
(men yell)
(men laugh)
- Ooh!
(men laugh)
(man grunts)
- Come on, Eric.
This time, quickly Eric.
- Come on, come on.
- Finish him.
(men yell)
Take his head.
(loud crunching)
(men laugh)
- Yeah!
(men laugh)
- You're not English, are you?
- My father was a tailor
from the Dane land.
My mother, a cloth girl from Frisia.
- So, you can sew?
- Finest sewer this side
of the Germanic Sea.
Built my merchant business from nothing.
- You got rich by sewing?
- Flax farming.
I own two dozen wetland
farms that grow flax
for cloth making.
I employ 50 weavers in
Northumbria and 20 stitchers
in Yorick.
Do you know anybody looking for work?
- Are you for real?
- I'm a businessman.
Why else would I be in
this beautiful land?
- To rob it?
- Come now,
I'm here to invest, not to steal.
- Same thing, isn't it?
- Hey listen, I like you.
How would you like to
work for me full time?
- I only do short contracts.
Why?
What have you got in mind?
- Find that Eric and help me kill him.
- The finding will cost
you half that bag of gold.
- And the killing?
- I'll do that for free.
(orchestral music)
(men yell)
(man grunts)
- No matter how hard
I hacked, my blade would not bite.
Curse him.
He blunted it and near smashed my shield.
So,
I used all my might
on that axe hatching off.
Bated his breath before breaking
that whole cow's back.
(men yell)
- Braggarts.
- Hear that, lads?
She thinks I'm a braggart.
- [Man] Aye, that you are!
(man laughs)
- I'm proud of it.
(drum beats)
Where did you learn
English like that, girl?
Well lads, these are not the
hands of a Pictish farm wife,
are they?
- You all smell of fish.
(men laugh)
- We're men of the sea.
Salty, but well cured.
(men laugh)
Now my bonny lass, who are you?
- Who do you want me to be?
- One little slip and I'll push this
right through your skull.
- Eric!
We've a ship to find.
- Pack the valuables and throw
that farmer into the ditch.
Be two men here and get the rest ready.
She must know the way to Roderick's hall.
Bring her with you.
- What's that?
- A map of all the farms sold to me.
- I smell treachery here.
- Don't be crazy.
- You reap what you sew.
- Hey, where are you going?
I thought we had a bargain.
- I'm a good liar.
Got me freedom now and
I intend to keep it.
- Oh, suit yourself.
- You still intend to find that Eric?
- I think I'll stick to flax farming.
(orchestral music)
- So let's get down to it.
Will you give me an heir?
- No, I hate children.
I don't want to marry you anymore
than you want to marry me,
but it is a solution to our problems.
You need to legitimise
your claim to be king
of this godforsaken country
and I need to get marriage out of the way
before getting on with
the rest of my life.
- You want a sham of a marriage?
- Isn't that what you want?
Tadwell told me.
I'm happy to go along
with it on one condition.
- I don't sleep with you?
(woman laughs)
- That's hardly even imaginable.
No.
Once we marry, I'm allowed
to go on a long pilgrimage
through Rome.
- To Rome?
How long for?
- The rest of my life.
(man sighs)
- How much is that going to cost me?
- 500 gold pieces.
- What?
You're robbing me blind.
- Now you get it.
Come, Roderick.
Kingship comes with a price.
You can legitimately steal
from your subjects to pay me.
I'm going to count to three,
then I'm off back to Ulster.
One, two.
- I'll give you your money.
- I'll have Orn draw up a charter.
- What?
- We'll have it in writing.
If you stop the payments,
I can get the pope
to excommunicate you.
Can I have my deposit now, please?
- You want a deposit?
- Mm-hmm.
100 coin should do for the moment.
I'm sure you hide your money
somewhere in this cow shed.
(orchestral music)
- Caethonton!
- Well, well.
Aldric Aethelson.
I thought Eric would
have drowned you by now.
Eric must be getting soft.
- You double-crosser!
You never meant to sell me these lands.
- Put him with the others!
(dramatic music)
- [Man] Hey, Angle!
(woman gasps)
- I'm not an Angle,
I'm a druid's daughter.
- Druids don't have daughters.
They don't have wives.
She's a goblin!
- My name's Aretha Melgwin.
I was captured by the
Angles when I was a child.
- That's Eric's axe.
- You are an Angle!
- I'm not an Angle!
- If you're a druid's daughter,
answer me this riddle.
Who cleft the devil's foot?
- The prophet Ezekiel.
He's Jehovah.
Charged archangel Michael
to collect Adam's dust and create man.
It was a Wednesday,
Mercury's day, and he fought the devil,
the serpent of the minora
in the form of Nabu,
the winged god.
Hence, the cleft foot.
- What secret was woven
in the Gordian knot?
- That learning, patience,
and ingenuity are needed
to perform a task decently.
When Alexander cut the
knot, he set a precedent
for placing the sword above
religion, justice, and honour.
- Why did Jehovah create
the grass and the trees
before the sun, stars, and moon?
- Jehovah's name hides the
seven pillars of wisdom,
wrapping the five vowels of knowledge.
The tree for every letter of the alphabet.
And for each pillar a tree
makes each of the seven days
one of the seven heavenly bodies.
- She's not a goblin.
She's a druid's witch.
Let's burn her!
- No!
- I'm trying to learn about
the tree of knowledge, here.
One last question.
Where shall the weston be found?
- You'll find it in a virgin.
- (laughs) A virgin, look here.
What do you say to that, Beth?
- Well, there's as much
chance of finding a virgin
around here as there is a monk, Lewis.
- Beware the unicorn.
If it snuggles you here,
you lead it to its hunters!
- That's enough of that, sorceress.
Gag her!
- [Man] Oh, it's not happening, man.
- Bud's spoken, Domlin.
She's to be spared.
- Ah Lewis, that's not fair.
I'll have a good burning.
- Protect me from these heathens
and I'll use my powers
to lead you to Eric.
- I've got fire!
(men laugh)
- We've got a job to do.
(dramatic music)
- Tell me, have you got
anymore gold hidden away?
- I wouldn't give it to you if I had.
- (laughs) Well, that's a pity.
It might have saved your life.
- You didn't have to do that, Tadwell.
- He's an Angle, Defenwol.
Isn't that right, love?
We all know how much you hate Angles.
- I'm not the one who killed them.
- I have a good mind to be
getting on with this hanging.
- So you can keep the gold for yourself?
- I'm going to marry Roderick's daughter.
- Over my dead body.
- Is that so?
Well, we've got a spare rope.
String this big ape up with the others.
- In the name of God, what are you doing?
- You really should
have a little more faith
in my abilities, Defenwol.
(dramatic music)
Higher.
(dramatic music)
(axe slices)
- Picts!
Get after them!
(Diffenwol coughs)
- Ethne!
(Defenwol coughs)
(dramatic music)
(man grunts)
(dramatic music)
- Come on then, big man.
Let's see what you've got.
(dramatic music)
- Prepare to meet your maker.
(men yell)
(swords clang)
(dramatic music)
(swords clang)
(men yell)
- What's the matter?
Getting tired, love?
(dagger slices loudly)
- Ow!
(dramatic music)
(men yell)
(man gasps)
(dramatic music)
- Lay not a finger on me, my son.
I'm appointed by God.
- Hold yourselves.
Make Tadwell a big cross, priest.
All warriors deserve a decent burial.
(flute music)
Our duty is to rescue
Melengal from the Angles.
- This land is full of heathens!
- It just seems that way.
- Seems that way?
The king's daughter has
been kidnapped by Angle
warder knights.
Her granddaughter is in
league with an outlaw
and Pictish bandits.
And your men,
they're useless boys.
- They don't have the
heart for it, and nor do I,
but we'll do our duty.
- And I will do mine.
In the name of God, I'm taking
over this Christian mission.
- You're not on a mission.
This land's been Christian for 200 years.
- I can't see it.
God is our commander
and I'm His lieutenant.
You two,
make me a cross.
- We all love.
- [Warriors] God!
- Who do we love?
- [Warriors] God!
- [Orn] We all love.
- [Warriors] God!
- Who do we love?
- [Warriors] God!
- We all love.
- [Warriors] God!
(loud billowing)
- Who do we all love?
- [Warriors] God!
(loud billowing)
- [Orn] We all love.
(dramatic music)
Who do we love?
We all love.
We all love, we all love, we all love.
(Melengal yells)
(man laughs)
- Ain't you gonna untie me?
- Maybe,
if you're nice to me.
- I'm being as nice to you as I can
given the situation.
- I mean really nice to me.
- Wouldn't it be better
if I lead you to Roderick's hall?
(man laughs)
- I mean it!
(man laughs)
(man grunts)
- Now we're talking, girl.
- Would you kill him for me?
- Kill the governor?
Of course.
But as for a ship I own first.
(Melengal laughs)
Do you think he'd give you one
looking the way you do?
- What, the hair?
Well, that's just me
being one of the boys.
At home, I let it grow and everybody says
I'm very attractive.
- I think they're too frightened
to tell you the truth.
- You're probably right.
They know what I'm capable of.
I'm very good with my hands.
- I believe you.
I bet you've snapped a
few necks with those.
- I've lost count.
- Don't you get tired of killing?
- It's a job.
Someone's got to do it.
(Ethne laughs)
- Why don't you settle down, get a wife?
Have little Erics?
(Eric laughs)
My wife's fat and ugly.
I was thinking about
giving her to Thorston.
- She is ugly.
(men laugh)
- She was my brother's wife
until he was murdered by Fengal
four Wednesdays ago.
- Roderick's champion?
- The nobles, they are
rotten with jealousy.
Fengal boot was betrayed
without a single fight.
You Celts, you're so single-minded.
You're too fair to be a Pict's wife.
Everything about you is noble born.
The way you walk,
hold your head, your manner.
Who are you really, girl?
- There's nine of them.
- Too many for us.
We'll pick them off at
the High Pass tomorrow.
- [Woman] What about Melengal?
- She can fend for herself.
She's survived up 'til now.
(man speaks foreign language)
(dramatic music)
- You searched everywhere?
- What is that thing?
- The beastie.
It's harmless.
Forget the monk.
In the morning, we pursue the Angles.
Melengal's more important to me
than Roderick or Eric the Axe.
(fire crackles)
(loud knocking)
- Get out and shut the door!
- Why are there no women in your house?
- My wife, Munfield, died giving birth
to my last child, Melengal.
Morgana was my favourite child.
She eloped and ran off with
Fengal, who went off to war
and left her pregnant.
His brother married her and
brought up my grandchild, Ethne,
as his own.
After eight years, Fengal
returned with a Roman wife
called Lilian.
She brought the Yellow Plague with her.
Morgana died of it.
- Did the children die, too?
- No.
I love Ethne,
but my own child, Melengal,
she's a constant disappointment to me.
- Well, there must be some good in her.
You can't all be heathens.
- She's a whining child.
Nothing pleases her, nothing!
- Well, maybe if you
fixed the place up a bit
she might like it.
Where are they now?
- Who knows?
Women these days, they just
don't want to stay at home.
(woman laughs)
(flute music)
(bird calls)
(dramatic music)
(dramatic music)
(man whines)
(men laugh)
- Bring him, warden.
What's this?
- The enemy!
(men laugh)
- What shall we do with him, Yorick?
- [Yorick] Throw him over a cliff, Eric!
- No, no, no, no, no.
Too quick!
Let's have some sport.
(man groans)
(dramatic music)
- What's your name?
- A name you dare not speak (laughs).
What's your name, darling?
- A name they must not hear.
- Oh.
- Let me spare you this end.
It's dewberry poison.
- I'd rather have mistletoe juice.
- Ah!
- You sweet daughter of Alban (laughs).
How many, many months be in the year?
There are 13, I say.
A mid-summer moon is the merriest of all,
next to the merry month of May.
How many sacred trees be in the wood?
There are 13, I say.
Oh!
One, I say.
(men laugh)
She's dressed in white, riding on a horse,
queen of the merry month of May!
How many merry months be in the year?
There are 13, I say!
The mid-summer moon is
the merriest of all,
next to the merry month of May.
(man screams)
(men laugh)
(orchestral music)
- [Beth] Where are you going?
Ah, ah!
Lewis!
(orchestral music)
- You Celts,
still sending girls to do men's work?
- That's all we think of you.
- What do you want?
The hostage?
- Give yourself up.
(Eric laughs)
- What, so you can convene an assembly
and I can plea for me men's lives
before you hang me?
I don't think so.
Why don't I come over there and break
your scrawny little neck?
- Why don't you try it?
- I'll fight you for that axe, girl.
Let's set out in a field and duel.
I'll tie one hand behind me back,
wear a blindfold, hop on one leg,
and I'll still kill you.
- It's a Celt you seek.
I'm here.
(thunder rumbles)
- What quarrel do you have with me, lad?
- Bad poet that needs his tongue cut out.
(Eric laughs)
Thorston!
This loudmouth says I'm a bad poet.
- Aye Eric, that you are,
but you're also a bone-crusher
and a skull-smasher.
- No Thors, you're a liar.
I'm a blood-spurter and a throat-slicer.
I cleave heads off.
- No, this one's mine.
I'm going to chop you like a rabbit1
(dramatic music)
(men yell)
(dramatic music)
(men grunt)
- [Eric] So then,
get up!
Kill this kelp!
(men grunt)
(man laughs)
Come on, kill the Pict!
(men yell)
(man yells)
(man grunts)
(dramatic music)
- Come on, kill him!
(men laugh)
Come on!
(dramatic music)
(man grunts)
(water splashes)
(thunder rumbles)
(dramatic music)
- Go back, Yorick.
Eric's done wrong, Yorick.
You're a good man.
Quite this country now
before Eric ruins you all.
- I got Domlin killed.
What do you say we finish
this in the High Hills?
(weapons clank)
(orchestral music)
- Whoever you are, it's you they want!
Yorick, form a file.
We're going to march over
these hills 'til we come
to Roderick's hall.
Move out!
- Eric's gone berserk, Yorick.
- We have to follow orders, Alfred!
Quit whinging.
Get in line!
(dramatic music)
- We're being watched, lads.
By Picts.
- Picts.
This madman will lead us to our deaths.
- Aye.
- Let's take the girl,
trade her with the Celts for safe passage.
- We could never have it.
- Well, let's kill him.
(dramatic music)
- I want you to scour the pass.
- Why me?
- [Eric] I trust you not to run away.
- This land has bewitched you.
(dramatic music)
- A band of Celts!
- [Eric] How many?
- Too many for us!
Make her tell us who she is.
(loud smack)
(man laughs)
- Hold your your barbary, you heathens!
This is a Christian woman.
You will not defile her
with your dirty habits.
Get on your knees and recant your sins.
- You know nothing of our ways, priest.
- Where do you come from, Eric?
Guided by God and I haven't time to save
the chastity of King Roderick's daughter.
- This is Roderick's daughter, lads.
She is our passage home.
(man and woman grunt)
(daramatic music)
- This way!
- Get her!
(dramatic music)
(Eric yells)
(dramatic music)
(Orn yells)
- Ooh!
(dramatic music)
- Where are you, cowards?
Come out and fight like men.
(men yell)
- Drop your sword
and I'll spare you wounded.
- I have the right to die like a warrior.
- Let him run the arrow.
- On your knees.
Yonder, beyond that hill,
lies the sanctuary stone
where the priest went.
If he reaches it before
his pursuers catch him,
he'll be granted free
passage back to Northumbria.
- Who are to be my pursuers?
(Eric cries out)
- Those you hae wronged the most.
(Eric laughs)
Women?
(Eric laughs)
- You've mocked us and ridiculed us,
you've killed innocents,
you have no respect for life,
so we have no respect for you.
(Eric yells)
(dramatic music)
- You too, Aretha?
- You are destined to
rot in the black ground
of this mountain.
- Fie the arrow short, Celt
so I can break their scrawny little necks
sooner rather than later (laughs).
(dramatic music)
(Eric yells)
(thunder rumbles)
(dramatic music)
(Eric gasps)
(woman cries out)
(dramatic music)
- Try not to set the
last of the Angles free.
- You're all heathens!
I'll be back to teach you the ways of God.
- Look Lewis, I've got a dress
just like the statue.
(dramatic music)
- Come on, bitch.
- Go!
- What is it with you women?
- Come on.
(Eric grunts)
- Who are you, girl?
- Does it matter who we are?
We're women.
Our history is never written.
- Then write it now!
(axe slashes loudly)
(dramatic music)
- Five years upfront.
I should have thought of that earlier.
- Are you, Langrith O'Neal,
free of all disease?
- I should think so.
- Are you with any other man's child?
- Everyone knows I'm a virgin.
(Roderick laughs)
(all men laugh)
- All right, let's just get a move on
and away from these idiots.
- Are you, Roderick Coulhen,
free of all sickness of the mind?
- I am.
- Henceforth, Langrith O'Neal,
daughter of Havanmile of Ulster,
will be known as Queen
of Roderick Coulhen,
King of Strathglide, Prince of
Briton, defender of the wall.
In custom, all here assembled
are bid to witness this declaration
and say aye.
- [Men] Aye!
- Out of my way, Defenwol.
- I'm sworn to save the king, Melengal.
- (laughs) If he's a
king, then I'm an angel.
- You're bold, Melengal, to
dare to disrupt my wedding.
I could have you hung for this.
- Go back to bed and rest your wounds.
- You betrayed Fengal!
You were the last to know.
- The needs of the country came first.
- I put a curse on this hall
and on your kingship.
You can rot in hell.
- Melengal!
- Your role has come to an end.
One of these days, I'm going to tell you
what I really think about
your silly ideas of duty.
- Ethne!
(sword clatters to ground)
(flute music)
- Right, so, we'll be off.
- You can't leave me like this!
You're my wife.
- Oh!
We had a bargain and I
fulfilled my part of it.
It's not my fault if nobody likes you.
Looks like you won't be able
to afford my annual upkeep.
Not to worry.
When I see the pope, I'll kiss his ring
and he'll send his
archbishops, bishops, and monks
to collect it for me.
Come on, Orn.
- You have any more
trouble with them heathens,
send for me!
- [Woman] Come on, Orn!
(orchestral music)
- Did Lilian make it to Rome?
- She could charm her way to China.
- What happens now?
- I could marry Defenwol,
have children, continue
the royal line of Connede.
- No.
- No?
Nah.
- What about grandfather?
- Well, he needs to be retired.
Do you remember that Cullde island?
- Or the old castle where
they walled the nun in?
- Or the loch with the beastie.
- I think we should send
them to live with the Picts.
- Oh (laughs)!
That's an excellent idea.
I can just see it now.
(man mumbles)
- Roderick,
call yourself king (laughs)
of Strathglide.
(man mumbles)
Roderick, Roderick!
King of Strathglide, ah!
Roderick!
- One last thing.
The black madonna, who was she?
- Well, some people say she
was Jesus's woman friend.
- You mean Mrs. Jesus?
- Yeah.
- Really?
- Mm-hmm.
- [Ethne] Did he love her?
- Jesus loves everybody.
- Yeah, but did he love
her with all his heart?
- Yeah.
There's no doubt about that.
(orchestral music)
(drum beats)
(epic music)
- [Eric] Sailed from shore.
Ship from storms.
I sought and slayed my kin's killer.
Avenges in anger.
Eric's axe.
Sail fouly on
Eric's force.
Cruel cleft.
Fengal's naked neck.
Claimed his land,
Woden's wart.
(epic music)
(swords clank)
(warriors yell)
(sword slices loudly)
(Eric yells)
(epic music)
(dramatic music)
(thundering footsteps)
(dramatic music)
(men yell)
- I, hatch runes on me axe staff.
Those fell, spelt with blood.
Can they name notched next
on the wild ox horn, I'll drink from.
(men scream)
(arrow thuds)
Let your arrows cut the air.
My axe has split Fengal's skull.
Yeah!
(men yell)
It's a fair days' work.
(men yell)
- I swear to God, I will
kill you with your own axe.
(Eric laughs)
- Hear that, lads?
The Celts have only got wenches left
to do their fighting for them.
(men laugh)
(dramatic music)
(men laugh)
(oars splash in water)
(dramatic music)
- You were my father's retainer, Domlin.
Swear to me in the bonds of St. Andrew
that you will help me avenge him.
- You're a crazy girl, Ethne.
- Swear.
- Ah.
I swear.
- Thank God for that.
- You're gonna get me hung.
If you want to be a warrior,
then you have to start eating meat.
Come.
(birds chirp)
(dramatic music)
- Aren't you gonna send a ship after them?
- Fengal killed Eric's twin brother, Eida.
By their law, he had the right to revenge.
- We don't live by their laws, Tadwell.
They're our sworn enemies.
- Your father lives in the past, Ethne.
We must make peace with the Angles.
However, this is no land for
a young woman to flourish.
I'm sending you away.
- I'm not going anywhere.
- You know Roderick's agreed to marry
King Emir's daughter.
She won't want you in her household.
- So you want rid of me?
- No, Ethne.
I just don't want you to grow
up like your aunt, Melangal.
(birds call)
Garich has agreed to teach you
in a school in Glendt.
- What's wrong with
Mongel's school In Glasgow?
- He doesn't teach girls.
- Shut up, Tadwell.
Why won't you avenge my father?
- Enough of this.
Young King Meric will make
a good husband for you.
Defenwol will escort you
there in the morning.
- That witch and Yee's son.
No way, I'm not marrying anyone.
- He will make you a queen.
You will bare Coulhen
children, not common stock
like your father.
You know, he never cared
for your mother (laughs).
- This is a bad business.
We're being lied to.
(orchestral music)
- I'm glad I've arranged for you to marry
my second cousin.
It will be good for
appearances to have a woman
on your arm.
- I don't much care for
appearances, Tadwell.
I am what I am.
- And I, Roderick,
but the world is not so open yet.
Oh come, Roderick, you're cold with me.
Kiss me.
- What are you so cheerful about?
- In the name of peace,
I've sold some of my land
to those Anglo raiders.
- You traitor!
- This country, Roderick,
has been made penniless
by the civil war.
Your own lands are ruined.
Look at how you live.
If we have to sell some
land to make it whole again,
then it is a price worth paying.
- By trading with the Angles?
- Yes.
Otherwise, they will overrun us.
- Perhaps having Fengal killed
wasn't such a good idea after all.
- We're rid of him.
The time has come to move on.
- You're right, Fengal
was a thorn in my side.
- Exactly.
He had a hand in my father's death.
So in law, I had some right
to avenge just like Eric.
- I can't deny that.
- You're about to be made king.
You need to think like a king.
Besides, you had no love for Fengal.
He deserted your daughter with a child
and went off to war for how many years?
- Eight.
- Came back and brought
another wife with him.
There should be a law
against that, Roderick.
- Shut up, Tadwell.
Thanks to you, we no
longer have a champion.
And this country lives
in fear of Eric the Axe!
- Perhaps.
But if you hunt him down,
you'll be the saviour of Strathglide.
- I'm not going after that madman.
- I'll organise it.
With the help of that ox, Defenwol.
That is, if the terms are right.
- Are you bargaining with me?
- Eric's made for the lands I sold him.
Knowing where he is, that's
got to be worth something.
- What?
(birds chirp)
- Your daughter.
- Melengal (laughs)?
You must be mad.
- Oh, she has a comely
form despite her curses.
- She's older than you.
You find that attractive?
- No, course not,
but you are marrying and I
feel that I should marry also.
- She's a pain in the neck
and she has her own Defenwol.
Defenwol is a big ape.
Can you really imagine
him as your son-in-law?
- He is loyal, Tadwell.
- Loyalty comes at a price, Roderick.
Mine is Eric's head in
exchange for Melengal.
- You don't know what she's like.
At 12, we sent her to a
house of virgins in Erin.
She climbed up on the
rampart walls and consorted
with a thatcher.
It was a scandal!
Now no one wants her or will have her.
- You leave her to me.
Believe me, after a week on a serf's farm,
she'll be grateful to marry me.
(orchestral music)
- Fengal was opposed to
Roderick making himself king.
Now Fengal's dead.
- Are you saying Roderick
had my father killed?
- He had reason to.
(laughs) Fengal would have challenged him.
Now there's no one left to oppose Roderick
except for Tadwell.
- Tadwell's loyal to grandfather.
- Not as loyal as you think.
Tadwell plans to get rid of both of us
by getting Roderick to
marry his Irish cousin.
- That's just plain silly.
- Is it?
We're the last of the great Conaris blood
carried through the female line.
Whoever marries one of us will
become king of Strathglide.
The old fool should relinquish power.
Getting married at his age and
to Langrith O'Neal (laughs)
his last plot.
- What's wrong with her?
- What's right with her?
She's capricious, selfish,
she's an absolute trollope.
Her father's glad to be rid of her.
She tried to poison him.
- Really?
- Roderick intends to disinherit us
by having a Malesian child to Langrith.
- Malesian?
- The royal land of
the High Kings of Tara.
We're Britons, not Irish.
(laughs) Power's going to his head.
I hope she gets captured
by the Angles on her voyage
from Erin.
Where did you get that?
- Found it.
Do you know what it is?
- (laughs) It's the bride of Christ.
You better not let a
priest catch you with that.
You'll be denounced a pagan and walled up
in some godforsaken chapel.
(orchestral music)
- Eric's camped.
First ship appears on a loch
two day's march from here.
- What are you doing?
- I'm not waiting to be
sent off to Gwent tomorrow.
- The Angles will kill you!
- [Man] El's worth 10 Angles.
- And a Celt's 10 times more treacherous.
Do you think Roderick's going
to just let you slip off?
He's got guards posted everywhere.
- I've taken care of that.
(violin music)
- Defenwol?
(laughs) Oh, when he wakes up,
I don't want to be the
subject of a sore head.
I'm coming with you.
- Not dressed like that, you're not.
- Oh.
I'll meet you at Connedis Stone.
- You have 'til dawn.
(door shuts)
- You're an imbecile, Defenwol!
Ah.
I want them found!
- Roderick, I caught
this shrew on the road.
She tried to steal my sword.
My ears are still burning with her curses.
- You've been a vixen since
the day you were born!
- You're not my father.
No father would treat
his children as you do.
- Don't you speak to
the governor like that.
- Ah!
- You will learn humility.
I'm having you bonded to
one of my tenant farmers.
- You can't bond me, I'm royal born.
- [Roderick] That's what you think.
- Go on, carry out the order, Defenwol.
- Don't do it, Defenwol.
He's trying to disinherit me.
- Put her in rough cloth.
I want her tenanted with the
ugliest man you can find.
She's to cook and wash for him.
She's to be, in all matters,
his bond servant.
And find that runaway
girl while you're at it.
- Aye.
- That Langrith O'Neal
is a curse on us all.
- Be quiet, Melengal.
I've had enough trouble as it is.
- (sighs) She's not coming.
Let's go.
- Can we not wait a while?
I'm tired.
- When warriors tyre, they usually die.
(horn music)
Defenwol!
(dramatic music)
- It's Angles we should be chasing,
not Fengal's daughter.
She doesn't want to marry Mulic.
That should be the end of the matter.
- Aye.
- The old sod's gone mad.
Now let's get back before
Melengal trips from a rope.
(dramatic music)
- Where are we going, Domlin?
- I know a few friendly
Picts that might help
make up our numbers.
(dramatic music)
- [Ethne] What is it?
- I don't know.
- Ah!
- Hold there.
Who are you?
- (laughs) Some call me
Lae Lokin, but I'm a Drin,
bard of Gwindaloo.
Oh now, one worth of his name.
- The wizard Midrin.
- Lower your arrow.
We mean no harm.
You look hungry.
Let's eat.
(chime music)
- Hmm.
I'm suffering in this forest.
The dreadful fate to
which I've been appointed
on account of my sins.
- [Woman] You're thought to be dead.
- (laughs) Oh, do I look alive?
- Don't try to spellbind us, druid.
- It would not work.
You have no imagination, shorty,
unlike the lady.
Listen to me carefully (laughs).
Who cleft the devil's foot?
When did the 50 Danaeds come
with their saves to Britain?
What secret was woven into
the Gordian knot (laughs)?
Why did Jehovah create the trees and grass
before he created the sun,
moon, and stars (laughs)?
Where shall (mutters) be found?
- Cover your ears, Ethne.
- You'll have to find another
to babble the answers.
I'm no longer worthy
to furnish the answers.
Because of my injustices
among men, I was the cause
of the slaughter of that
battle so infamously borne.
Ah, (speaks foreign language).
I hear a mighty voice
calling, "Midren, Midren!
"You alone are guilty for the
blood of the 80,000 slain.
"You have been condemned
to the other world
"to dwell among the beasts
until the hour of your death!"
(orchestral music)
I am a stag of seven ruts!
I am a flood that crossed the plain.
I'm a wind on a deep lake.
I'm a tear the sun lets fall.
I'm a hawk above the cliff (laughs)!
I'm a thorn beneath the nail.
I'm a wonder among flowers.
I'm a wizard of many powers!
- Where's he gone?
- Who cares?
He's obviously mad.
Let's get out of here.
(bird chirps)
- Is it true that Midren's the last master
of the Drake order?
- Those days are done.
- But who knows the
answers to the lost wisdom?
- Don't ask me, Ethne.
My skills are in the hand, not in my head.
(dramatic music)
- Go check the ship covers
and not let any water.
- Go and check it yourself.
- So it's a decision by committee, is it?
- Aye.
(man laughs)
- Is that so?
- We paid you good money for land.
When are we going to get it?
- [Man] Right now.
(man screams)
(weapon slices loudly)
Get your ass to the ship now!
(men chant)
- She's a hag!
- Hag in a shawl.
- Drunken old hag.
(men laugh)
- Sounds like,
ship.
- Sunk ship.
- Monk!
Monk.
(men laugh)
- But you're still an old hag.
- Ship or I lay a curse on ya.
(woman screams)
Get off me, you big swine.
You need a bath.
Get off me.
Get off me, get off me!
(men laugh)
- I'm sodding you, you little pig.
- Get off me!
- Come on!
(men laugh)
- Get off me, get off me!
(woman screams)
You animal!
(woman screams)
(water splashes)
(woman screams)
(man laughs)
You animal!
(men laugh)
- Take care, Thorston.
I warrant Aretha's had
enough of your ways.
(men laugh)
(knife pounds loudly)
You, my merchant friend,
will remain there until
your bones turn white in sun
then I will take your skull
and smash it to pieces
before grinding it down into powder
to chalk my axe end (laughs).
(water splashes)
- Gallum!
Gallumor.
It's Defenwol from Roderick's host.
- I'm not leaving me with that brute.
- Be quiet.
He'll not harm you.
He's mute.
If he tries anything, slip him this.
Dewberry poison, slow but deadly.
- You're to have this woman
cook and clean for you
in return for providing for her.
She'll do your cooking, clean your hut,
and feed your animals.
Listen, your Pictish brute.
She'll sleep in her own bed.
You lay one of your filthy paws
and I'll personally come back
and lob your head off.
Got it?
- Ah.
(orchestral music)
- Why are you going along with
Tadwell Cathinson's plans?
- I'm just following orders.
Listen, one of these days, I'll tell you
what I really think of your
silly ideas about love.
I'll tell Sir Roderick to change his mind.
Good luck.
We'll be back in a few days
to fetch you home again.
Use the dagger if he doesn't behave.
He's been warned.
(drum beats)
- What are we waiting on?
- Picts.
- Do you not know where to find them?
- They have found us.
They've been watching
us for the last hour.
- Where?
- You'll not see them, but there they are.
- Are we not going to meet them?
- No, all we have to do
is stay on this road.
(men chant in foreign language)
- How much is it worth, Lewis?
- Ooh, that thing gives
me the heebie-jeebies.
(woman laughs)
(all laugh)
- She looks familiar.
- [Man] Aye, she does.
- She's that Fengal's daughter.
- No, Beth.
Fengal's daughter is a little lassie.
- Aye (mutters).
Her teeth were all crooked.
- Remember, she was a chickadee so-and-so.
- Aye (laughs).
Remember, she used to dress like a sheep?
(all laugh)
- That's right.
- Shut off, the pair of you.
I am Fengal's daughter.
Let me free.
- Why should we do that, man?
- Aye.
That Fengal still owes me a new dress.
- Fengal's death.
- Sir Roderick paid the
Angles to kill Fengal.
- That's what it looks like to me, Lewis.
- How else would they
have got away so easily?
- With Fengal dead, that
Roderick makes himself king
and gives his land to any
Tut, if, or (mutters).
- Even Anglo settlers, man!
- Grandfather wouldn't do that!
- Ooh, sensative.
- Goes with her age, Lewis.
It's made of wood.
- Is that a man, Beth?
- No, she's wearing a dress.
- I'm wearing a dress, man.
So is Nian.
- You're wearing skirts.
How can I get a dress like this?
- From a monk.
- A monk?
- You know, a Christian teacher.
- Maybe we can help you avenge Fengal
if you help us find a monk.
- We'll have to work out
some tactics before we go
chasing Angles.
- (speaks foreign language), those Picts
are pure (mutters) when
it comes to fighting.
(speaks foreign language)
(all yell in foreign language)
(man screams)
(man laughs)
Go on, Beth.
Show them how a Pict does it.
(grass rustles)
(man screams)
- Do it again.
I'm too old for this, Lewis.
- [Man] No, Beth.
We can still do it.
(man screams)
- We are marked men.
Look what he's already done to you.
Eric's already taken over your estate
and calling it his own.
- We won't give him the
satisfaction of being challenged.
- And how do we do that?
- Steal the ship.
- Take me with you.
(man grunts)
- What are you three crows looking at?
And you.
Get me some food!
(dramatic music)
(woman screams)
(man yells)
(water splashes)
(men yell)
(water splashes)
(dramatic music)
- They've taken the ship!
- [Man] No!
(dramatic music)
(Axe slices loudly)
(man yells)
- Cut the anchor!
Haul away.
(men yell)
(man and woman laugh)
- Take the helm!
(orchestral music)
(goat bleats)
- Come on.
(orchestral music)
(axe chops loudly)
(orchestral music)
Eat up, it's good for you.
(man spits loudly)
- You never asked for it to be hot.
Keep your temper.
No one else wants it.
(orchestral music)
(birds call)
- Thorston!
We are far from home
and we cannot
risk a winter
in this hostile land.
We must
find a new ship.
Yorick, you will be my second
until Thorston regains our favour.
Selwin,
you will guard the rear.
With our numbers, we'll put to fly any 20
who come against us.
(men chant in foreign language)
(orchestral music)
- That was no way to treat a lady.
- Said he couldn't bring
the ship close to shore.
- That's tripe, Orny.
You know it.
He just couldn't wait to get rid of me.
- That's not true, mum.
- And he hadn't even
the decency to escort me
to Roderick's court.
- I don't think Roderick
has a court in the sense
we know, mum.
- Oh!
Orn.
Please stop messing around
me like an old woman.
Orn!
Wait!
Go and ask that peasant
and ask him the way
to Roderick's castle.
- Yes, mum, right away.
- Oh!
Oh, my God.
What have I got myself into?
(horn music)
(man grunts)
(orchestral music)
(man grunts)
(orchestral music)
- It's time you learned
how to act around a lady.
Now dry yourself off and
go and cut some wood.
We need some kindling for the fire.
(orchestral music)
- Defenwol, what news?
- We found the bride, governor.
- Show it in.
- She doesn't want to see you.
- What?
- She expected a maidservant
to help present herself.
This would be a good time
to be mellow and go back
to your house.
- Where have you lodged her?
- In the farm at Talbot.
- Where?
- Talbot.
- You moron, Defenwol.
Get a band of men to arms now.
- [Man] For what purpose?
- Do as your ordered, Defenwol.
Eric had instructions for
me to put ashore at Talbot
and run the farmers off.
If he discovers Melengal there,
he'll hold her for ransom.
- What a mess.
You'll have to assemble a
band of men and march there
at first light.
- Keep it down, Roderick.
A small force should be adequate.
Otherwise, you'll alarm everyone.
- I am a (mutters).
- I told you to keep it down.
Now you leave this to me.
Now,
do you think you'll manage
to woo your wife-to-be
while I'm gone?
- I will handle Langrith O'Neal.
- I must warn you,
that monk of hers is a loose arrow.
- Take that bloody monk of hers with you.
Call it spiritual guidance.
The last thing I want is her lecturing me
on how to run our affairs.
(woman sighs)
- Get up.
Here.
Rub my legs.
Don't start any of that
mother Jesus stuff.
I've never walked so far in my life.
This is a hell hole.
These Britons or whatever
they call themselves
are a bunch of ignoramuses.
That Roderick must be a right idiot.
I mean, any man in his right
mind would have come down
to take me up by now.
Behave yourself!
Rub my haunches.
They're sore from that stupid donkey.
Oh, Orn.
As soon as we get the
change, we'll go to Rome
and tell the pope about this sorry land.
Oh!
Mm, mm.
(loud bellowing)
- One-and-a-half fathoms!
(loud bellowing)
- There must be a way
out of this fjord, Wilfred!
- It was dark when we sailed up here.
- I see rocks!
- [Man] Starboard!
- It's not rock,
it's a monster!
(loud bellowing)
(loud crash)
(dramatic music)
- Wilfred!
Where's Wilfred?
I can't swim!
- Well, you better learn quickly
before the monster eats you!
- You bitch.
You're leaving me to die.
I mean, I'm originally from Frisia
and there we don't treat
Christians well at all.
We tie them to the stake on the beach
and when the tide comes in, they drown.
- Shut up!
I should have let you drown.
- Ah, I get your point.
You'll hear no more from
me until we reach land.
- You've said too much already.
- I apologise.
I owe you my life.
(all laugh)
- The Angle ship will take them.
They're arks of war.
- Oh Beth, I told you not to say anything.
There'll be no stopping her
now until she finds them.
- As long as I get my new dress, Lewis.
(orchestral music)
- What do you want?
(loud slap)
(dramatic music)
(man grunts)
(dramatic music)
(woman breathes heavily)
(dramatic music)
(man laughs)
- That's a fine axe, my friend.
I'll fight you for it.
If you beat me, you can have me sword.
(man grunts)
Eric Copperson.
My fame precedes me.
They set out a field, then do it right.
If it please me, men, you will leave him
and his wife alone in peace.
If you lose,
I win your farm and she
becomes me bond servant.
What's fairer than that?
(loud spitting)
(man grunts)
(man laughs)
- Go on, Eric.
- Go on, Eric.
Take it!
- Come on, son.
- [Man] Make it quick!
(men yell)
- Lop his head off!
(Eric laughs)
- Go on, son.
- [Man] Lop his head off.
(men laugh)
- Fight, old man.
Fight!
(man grunts)
Come on!
(spear slices)
- Ah!
(men laugh)
(man grunts)
- Go on, take him Eric!
- Go on, son.
(man grunts)
(men laugh)
(man screams)
- Oh!
- Go on, son.
Take him out!
- Come on, Eric.
Half him!
Slit his throat.
Make it quick, for God's sake.
- [Man] Make it quick, Eric.
Come on!
(men yell and laugh)
- [Man] Get up, old man.
Come on!
- Come on!
- Come on, Eric!
Half him, slit his throat.
(men laugh)
Finish it.
(men yell)
(men laugh)
- Ooh!
(men laugh)
(man grunts)
- Come on, Eric.
This time, quickly Eric.
- Come on, come on.
- Finish him.
(men yell)
Take his head.
(loud crunching)
(men laugh)
- Yeah!
(men laugh)
- You're not English, are you?
- My father was a tailor
from the Dane land.
My mother, a cloth girl from Frisia.
- So, you can sew?
- Finest sewer this side
of the Germanic Sea.
Built my merchant business from nothing.
- You got rich by sewing?
- Flax farming.
I own two dozen wetland
farms that grow flax
for cloth making.
I employ 50 weavers in
Northumbria and 20 stitchers
in Yorick.
Do you know anybody looking for work?
- Are you for real?
- I'm a businessman.
Why else would I be in
this beautiful land?
- To rob it?
- Come now,
I'm here to invest, not to steal.
- Same thing, isn't it?
- Hey listen, I like you.
How would you like to
work for me full time?
- I only do short contracts.
Why?
What have you got in mind?
- Find that Eric and help me kill him.
- The finding will cost
you half that bag of gold.
- And the killing?
- I'll do that for free.
(orchestral music)
(men yell)
(man grunts)
- No matter how hard
I hacked, my blade would not bite.
Curse him.
He blunted it and near smashed my shield.
So,
I used all my might
on that axe hatching off.
Bated his breath before breaking
that whole cow's back.
(men yell)
- Braggarts.
- Hear that, lads?
She thinks I'm a braggart.
- [Man] Aye, that you are!
(man laughs)
- I'm proud of it.
(drum beats)
Where did you learn
English like that, girl?
Well lads, these are not the
hands of a Pictish farm wife,
are they?
- You all smell of fish.
(men laugh)
- We're men of the sea.
Salty, but well cured.
(men laugh)
Now my bonny lass, who are you?
- Who do you want me to be?
- One little slip and I'll push this
right through your skull.
- Eric!
We've a ship to find.
- Pack the valuables and throw
that farmer into the ditch.
Be two men here and get the rest ready.
She must know the way to Roderick's hall.
Bring her with you.
- What's that?
- A map of all the farms sold to me.
- I smell treachery here.
- Don't be crazy.
- You reap what you sew.
- Hey, where are you going?
I thought we had a bargain.
- I'm a good liar.
Got me freedom now and
I intend to keep it.
- Oh, suit yourself.
- You still intend to find that Eric?
- I think I'll stick to flax farming.
(orchestral music)
- So let's get down to it.
Will you give me an heir?
- No, I hate children.
I don't want to marry you anymore
than you want to marry me,
but it is a solution to our problems.
You need to legitimise
your claim to be king
of this godforsaken country
and I need to get marriage out of the way
before getting on with
the rest of my life.
- You want a sham of a marriage?
- Isn't that what you want?
Tadwell told me.
I'm happy to go along
with it on one condition.
- I don't sleep with you?
(woman laughs)
- That's hardly even imaginable.
No.
Once we marry, I'm allowed
to go on a long pilgrimage
through Rome.
- To Rome?
How long for?
- The rest of my life.
(man sighs)
- How much is that going to cost me?
- 500 gold pieces.
- What?
You're robbing me blind.
- Now you get it.
Come, Roderick.
Kingship comes with a price.
You can legitimately steal
from your subjects to pay me.
I'm going to count to three,
then I'm off back to Ulster.
One, two.
- I'll give you your money.
- I'll have Orn draw up a charter.
- What?
- We'll have it in writing.
If you stop the payments,
I can get the pope
to excommunicate you.
Can I have my deposit now, please?
- You want a deposit?
- Mm-hmm.
100 coin should do for the moment.
I'm sure you hide your money
somewhere in this cow shed.
(orchestral music)
- Caethonton!
- Well, well.
Aldric Aethelson.
I thought Eric would
have drowned you by now.
Eric must be getting soft.
- You double-crosser!
You never meant to sell me these lands.
- Put him with the others!
(dramatic music)
- [Man] Hey, Angle!
(woman gasps)
- I'm not an Angle,
I'm a druid's daughter.
- Druids don't have daughters.
They don't have wives.
She's a goblin!
- My name's Aretha Melgwin.
I was captured by the
Angles when I was a child.
- That's Eric's axe.
- You are an Angle!
- I'm not an Angle!
- If you're a druid's daughter,
answer me this riddle.
Who cleft the devil's foot?
- The prophet Ezekiel.
He's Jehovah.
Charged archangel Michael
to collect Adam's dust and create man.
It was a Wednesday,
Mercury's day, and he fought the devil,
the serpent of the minora
in the form of Nabu,
the winged god.
Hence, the cleft foot.
- What secret was woven
in the Gordian knot?
- That learning, patience,
and ingenuity are needed
to perform a task decently.
When Alexander cut the
knot, he set a precedent
for placing the sword above
religion, justice, and honour.
- Why did Jehovah create
the grass and the trees
before the sun, stars, and moon?
- Jehovah's name hides the
seven pillars of wisdom,
wrapping the five vowels of knowledge.
The tree for every letter of the alphabet.
And for each pillar a tree
makes each of the seven days
one of the seven heavenly bodies.
- She's not a goblin.
She's a druid's witch.
Let's burn her!
- No!
- I'm trying to learn about
the tree of knowledge, here.
One last question.
Where shall the weston be found?
- You'll find it in a virgin.
- (laughs) A virgin, look here.
What do you say to that, Beth?
- Well, there's as much
chance of finding a virgin
around here as there is a monk, Lewis.
- Beware the unicorn.
If it snuggles you here,
you lead it to its hunters!
- That's enough of that, sorceress.
Gag her!
- [Man] Oh, it's not happening, man.
- Bud's spoken, Domlin.
She's to be spared.
- Ah Lewis, that's not fair.
I'll have a good burning.
- Protect me from these heathens
and I'll use my powers
to lead you to Eric.
- I've got fire!
(men laugh)
- We've got a job to do.
(dramatic music)
- Tell me, have you got
anymore gold hidden away?
- I wouldn't give it to you if I had.
- (laughs) Well, that's a pity.
It might have saved your life.
- You didn't have to do that, Tadwell.
- He's an Angle, Defenwol.
Isn't that right, love?
We all know how much you hate Angles.
- I'm not the one who killed them.
- I have a good mind to be
getting on with this hanging.
- So you can keep the gold for yourself?
- I'm going to marry Roderick's daughter.
- Over my dead body.
- Is that so?
Well, we've got a spare rope.
String this big ape up with the others.
- In the name of God, what are you doing?
- You really should
have a little more faith
in my abilities, Defenwol.
(dramatic music)
Higher.
(dramatic music)
(axe slices)
- Picts!
Get after them!
(Diffenwol coughs)
- Ethne!
(Defenwol coughs)
(dramatic music)
(man grunts)
(dramatic music)
- Come on then, big man.
Let's see what you've got.
(dramatic music)
- Prepare to meet your maker.
(men yell)
(swords clang)
(dramatic music)
(swords clang)
(men yell)
- What's the matter?
Getting tired, love?
(dagger slices loudly)
- Ow!
(dramatic music)
(men yell)
(man gasps)
(dramatic music)
- Lay not a finger on me, my son.
I'm appointed by God.
- Hold yourselves.
Make Tadwell a big cross, priest.
All warriors deserve a decent burial.
(flute music)
Our duty is to rescue
Melengal from the Angles.
- This land is full of heathens!
- It just seems that way.
- Seems that way?
The king's daughter has
been kidnapped by Angle
warder knights.
Her granddaughter is in
league with an outlaw
and Pictish bandits.
And your men,
they're useless boys.
- They don't have the
heart for it, and nor do I,
but we'll do our duty.
- And I will do mine.
In the name of God, I'm taking
over this Christian mission.
- You're not on a mission.
This land's been Christian for 200 years.
- I can't see it.
God is our commander
and I'm His lieutenant.
You two,
make me a cross.
- We all love.
- [Warriors] God!
- Who do we love?
- [Warriors] God!
- [Orn] We all love.
- [Warriors] God!
- Who do we love?
- [Warriors] God!
- We all love.
- [Warriors] God!
(loud billowing)
- Who do we all love?
- [Warriors] God!
(loud billowing)
- [Orn] We all love.
(dramatic music)
Who do we love?
We all love.
We all love, we all love, we all love.
(Melengal yells)
(man laughs)
- Ain't you gonna untie me?
- Maybe,
if you're nice to me.
- I'm being as nice to you as I can
given the situation.
- I mean really nice to me.
- Wouldn't it be better
if I lead you to Roderick's hall?
(man laughs)
- I mean it!
(man laughs)
(man grunts)
- Now we're talking, girl.
- Would you kill him for me?
- Kill the governor?
Of course.
But as for a ship I own first.
(Melengal laughs)
Do you think he'd give you one
looking the way you do?
- What, the hair?
Well, that's just me
being one of the boys.
At home, I let it grow and everybody says
I'm very attractive.
- I think they're too frightened
to tell you the truth.
- You're probably right.
They know what I'm capable of.
I'm very good with my hands.
- I believe you.
I bet you've snapped a
few necks with those.
- I've lost count.
- Don't you get tired of killing?
- It's a job.
Someone's got to do it.
(Ethne laughs)
- Why don't you settle down, get a wife?
Have little Erics?
(Eric laughs)
My wife's fat and ugly.
I was thinking about
giving her to Thorston.
- She is ugly.
(men laugh)
- She was my brother's wife
until he was murdered by Fengal
four Wednesdays ago.
- Roderick's champion?
- The nobles, they are
rotten with jealousy.
Fengal boot was betrayed
without a single fight.
You Celts, you're so single-minded.
You're too fair to be a Pict's wife.
Everything about you is noble born.
The way you walk,
hold your head, your manner.
Who are you really, girl?
- There's nine of them.
- Too many for us.
We'll pick them off at
the High Pass tomorrow.
- [Woman] What about Melengal?
- She can fend for herself.
She's survived up 'til now.
(man speaks foreign language)
(dramatic music)
- You searched everywhere?
- What is that thing?
- The beastie.
It's harmless.
Forget the monk.
In the morning, we pursue the Angles.
Melengal's more important to me
than Roderick or Eric the Axe.
(fire crackles)
(loud knocking)
- Get out and shut the door!
- Why are there no women in your house?
- My wife, Munfield, died giving birth
to my last child, Melengal.
Morgana was my favourite child.
She eloped and ran off with
Fengal, who went off to war
and left her pregnant.
His brother married her and
brought up my grandchild, Ethne,
as his own.
After eight years, Fengal
returned with a Roman wife
called Lilian.
She brought the Yellow Plague with her.
Morgana died of it.
- Did the children die, too?
- No.
I love Ethne,
but my own child, Melengal,
she's a constant disappointment to me.
- Well, there must be some good in her.
You can't all be heathens.
- She's a whining child.
Nothing pleases her, nothing!
- Well, maybe if you
fixed the place up a bit
she might like it.
Where are they now?
- Who knows?
Women these days, they just
don't want to stay at home.
(woman laughs)
(flute music)
(bird calls)
(dramatic music)
(dramatic music)
(man whines)
(men laugh)
- Bring him, warden.
What's this?
- The enemy!
(men laugh)
- What shall we do with him, Yorick?
- [Yorick] Throw him over a cliff, Eric!
- No, no, no, no, no.
Too quick!
Let's have some sport.
(man groans)
(dramatic music)
- What's your name?
- A name you dare not speak (laughs).
What's your name, darling?
- A name they must not hear.
- Oh.
- Let me spare you this end.
It's dewberry poison.
- I'd rather have mistletoe juice.
- Ah!
- You sweet daughter of Alban (laughs).
How many, many months be in the year?
There are 13, I say.
A mid-summer moon is the merriest of all,
next to the merry month of May.
How many sacred trees be in the wood?
There are 13, I say.
Oh!
One, I say.
(men laugh)
She's dressed in white, riding on a horse,
queen of the merry month of May!
How many merry months be in the year?
There are 13, I say!
The mid-summer moon is
the merriest of all,
next to the merry month of May.
(man screams)
(men laugh)
(orchestral music)
- [Beth] Where are you going?
Ah, ah!
Lewis!
(orchestral music)
- You Celts,
still sending girls to do men's work?
- That's all we think of you.
- What do you want?
The hostage?
- Give yourself up.
(Eric laughs)
- What, so you can convene an assembly
and I can plea for me men's lives
before you hang me?
I don't think so.
Why don't I come over there and break
your scrawny little neck?
- Why don't you try it?
- I'll fight you for that axe, girl.
Let's set out in a field and duel.
I'll tie one hand behind me back,
wear a blindfold, hop on one leg,
and I'll still kill you.
- It's a Celt you seek.
I'm here.
(thunder rumbles)
- What quarrel do you have with me, lad?
- Bad poet that needs his tongue cut out.
(Eric laughs)
Thorston!
This loudmouth says I'm a bad poet.
- Aye Eric, that you are,
but you're also a bone-crusher
and a skull-smasher.
- No Thors, you're a liar.
I'm a blood-spurter and a throat-slicer.
I cleave heads off.
- No, this one's mine.
I'm going to chop you like a rabbit1
(dramatic music)
(men yell)
(dramatic music)
(men grunt)
- [Eric] So then,
get up!
Kill this kelp!
(men grunt)
(man laughs)
Come on, kill the Pict!
(men yell)
(man yells)
(man grunts)
(dramatic music)
- Come on, kill him!
(men laugh)
Come on!
(dramatic music)
(man grunts)
(water splashes)
(thunder rumbles)
(dramatic music)
- Go back, Yorick.
Eric's done wrong, Yorick.
You're a good man.
Quite this country now
before Eric ruins you all.
- I got Domlin killed.
What do you say we finish
this in the High Hills?
(weapons clank)
(orchestral music)
- Whoever you are, it's you they want!
Yorick, form a file.
We're going to march over
these hills 'til we come
to Roderick's hall.
Move out!
- Eric's gone berserk, Yorick.
- We have to follow orders, Alfred!
Quit whinging.
Get in line!
(dramatic music)
- We're being watched, lads.
By Picts.
- Picts.
This madman will lead us to our deaths.
- Aye.
- Let's take the girl,
trade her with the Celts for safe passage.
- We could never have it.
- Well, let's kill him.
(dramatic music)
- I want you to scour the pass.
- Why me?
- [Eric] I trust you not to run away.
- This land has bewitched you.
(dramatic music)
- A band of Celts!
- [Eric] How many?
- Too many for us!
Make her tell us who she is.
(loud smack)
(man laughs)
- Hold your your barbary, you heathens!
This is a Christian woman.
You will not defile her
with your dirty habits.
Get on your knees and recant your sins.
- You know nothing of our ways, priest.
- Where do you come from, Eric?
Guided by God and I haven't time to save
the chastity of King Roderick's daughter.
- This is Roderick's daughter, lads.
She is our passage home.
(man and woman grunt)
(daramatic music)
- This way!
- Get her!
(dramatic music)
(Eric yells)
(dramatic music)
(Orn yells)
- Ooh!
(dramatic music)
- Where are you, cowards?
Come out and fight like men.
(men yell)
- Drop your sword
and I'll spare you wounded.
- I have the right to die like a warrior.
- Let him run the arrow.
- On your knees.
Yonder, beyond that hill,
lies the sanctuary stone
where the priest went.
If he reaches it before
his pursuers catch him,
he'll be granted free
passage back to Northumbria.
- Who are to be my pursuers?
(Eric cries out)
- Those you hae wronged the most.
(Eric laughs)
Women?
(Eric laughs)
- You've mocked us and ridiculed us,
you've killed innocents,
you have no respect for life,
so we have no respect for you.
(Eric yells)
(dramatic music)
- You too, Aretha?
- You are destined to
rot in the black ground
of this mountain.
- Fie the arrow short, Celt
so I can break their scrawny little necks
sooner rather than later (laughs).
(dramatic music)
(Eric yells)
(thunder rumbles)
(dramatic music)
(Eric gasps)
(woman cries out)
(dramatic music)
- Try not to set the
last of the Angles free.
- You're all heathens!
I'll be back to teach you the ways of God.
- Look Lewis, I've got a dress
just like the statue.
(dramatic music)
- Come on, bitch.
- Go!
- What is it with you women?
- Come on.
(Eric grunts)
- Who are you, girl?
- Does it matter who we are?
We're women.
Our history is never written.
- Then write it now!
(axe slashes loudly)
(dramatic music)
- Five years upfront.
I should have thought of that earlier.
- Are you, Langrith O'Neal,
free of all disease?
- I should think so.
- Are you with any other man's child?
- Everyone knows I'm a virgin.
(Roderick laughs)
(all men laugh)
- All right, let's just get a move on
and away from these idiots.
- Are you, Roderick Coulhen,
free of all sickness of the mind?
- I am.
- Henceforth, Langrith O'Neal,
daughter of Havanmile of Ulster,
will be known as Queen
of Roderick Coulhen,
King of Strathglide, Prince of
Briton, defender of the wall.
In custom, all here assembled
are bid to witness this declaration
and say aye.
- [Men] Aye!
- Out of my way, Defenwol.
- I'm sworn to save the king, Melengal.
- (laughs) If he's a
king, then I'm an angel.
- You're bold, Melengal, to
dare to disrupt my wedding.
I could have you hung for this.
- Go back to bed and rest your wounds.
- You betrayed Fengal!
You were the last to know.
- The needs of the country came first.
- I put a curse on this hall
and on your kingship.
You can rot in hell.
- Melengal!
- Your role has come to an end.
One of these days, I'm going to tell you
what I really think about
your silly ideas of duty.
- Ethne!
(sword clatters to ground)
(flute music)
- Right, so, we'll be off.
- You can't leave me like this!
You're my wife.
- Oh!
We had a bargain and I
fulfilled my part of it.
It's not my fault if nobody likes you.
Looks like you won't be able
to afford my annual upkeep.
Not to worry.
When I see the pope, I'll kiss his ring
and he'll send his
archbishops, bishops, and monks
to collect it for me.
Come on, Orn.
- You have any more
trouble with them heathens,
send for me!
- [Woman] Come on, Orn!
(orchestral music)
- Did Lilian make it to Rome?
- She could charm her way to China.
- What happens now?
- I could marry Defenwol,
have children, continue
the royal line of Connede.
- No.
- No?
Nah.
- What about grandfather?
- Well, he needs to be retired.
Do you remember that Cullde island?
- Or the old castle where
they walled the nun in?
- Or the loch with the beastie.
- I think we should send
them to live with the Picts.
- Oh (laughs)!
That's an excellent idea.
I can just see it now.
(man mumbles)
- Roderick,
call yourself king (laughs)
of Strathglide.
(man mumbles)
Roderick, Roderick!
King of Strathglide, ah!
Roderick!
- One last thing.
The black madonna, who was she?
- Well, some people say she
was Jesus's woman friend.
- You mean Mrs. Jesus?
- Yeah.
- Really?
- Mm-hmm.
- [Ethne] Did he love her?
- Jesus loves everybody.
- Yeah, but did he love
her with all his heart?
- Yeah.
There's no doubt about that.
(orchestral music)