OVER BLACK:
Waves lull.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
The Celts once said that men are
made by Destiny...
CERRIDWEN (V.O.)
(whisper)
Ciumhnich air na daoine o'n
d'thainig thu.
FADE UP ON:
EXT. ENGLISH CHANNEL - NIGHT
Mist swirls as a Roman man o' war sluices through the sea.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
By the age of fifty, Julius Caesar
had conquered all of Gaul and
established himself as a supreme
military commander and strategist.
INT. ROMAN SHIP - SAME
A calloused hand scratches furiously on a wax tablet.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
His campaigns had brought scores of
Gaelic tribes into submission after
only nine years of war...
The letter is placed reverently on a stack of others, which
rest on chests and barrels brimming with the spoils of war.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
In the summer of his forty-fifth
year, Caesar crossed the dark
waters beyond Gaul, and drove his
armies onto the soil of Britannia.
EXT. ENGLISH CHANNEL - SAME
The sea-fog parts, revealing the white cliffs of Dover.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
For the Romans, it was as if they
had discovered the edge of the
world. For the Celts of Lower Britain, it
marked the end of their world, as
they knew it. For Artos, it was the
call of destiny.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. CELTIC VILLAGE - SAME
Subtitle appears: "DOVER, ENGLAND. EVE OF BELTANE. 55 B.C."
A protective outer wall forms a tight circle around thatched
communal huts. Doused bonfires lay before the central altar.
ARTOS, 12, wide-eyed, wiry, sneaks out of his hut.
EXT. / INT. ARTOS' HUT - SAME
With an indulgent smile, KYNAN, mid-fifties, Chieftain and
Artos' father, watches Artos steal across the compound.
EXT. VILLAGE WALL - MOMENTS LATER
Artos slips past the sentry, tucks his necklace pouch under
his clothes, and dashes into the eerie summer night.
EXT. BEACH - LATER
Artos wades waist-deep into the waters and prays to the moon.
Stillness coats the shore.
The distant, rhythmic plunge of oars... Overtop the sea-fog
appear triangular sails... Masts... The slender bodies of
cypress longboats.
The ships slice through the water like knives through butter.
Artos scrambles up the beach and sets off at a dead run...
A sandaled foot steps over his footprint.
EXT. WOODS - MOMENTS LATER
Artos tears through the dense forest. Bramble and branches
slash at his skin. He trips on a gnarled tree root, tumbling
down a steep ravine.
EXT. RAVINE - MOMENTS LATER
Artos slams into a deep gorge. He scrapes his head against a
flat rock. Blood trickles from his forehead. He rolls to his
back and sees the brilliant full moon before blacking out.
DISSOLVE TO:
A woman steps over him. She is CERRIDWEN--- luminescent,
ageless, ethereal--- a Goddess. Behind her the moon looms,
pregnant, golden.
CERRIDWEN
(in Celtic with subtitles)
Waken, Artos.
The hem of her skirt wisps into smoke. Her short white hair
frames her face in tiny ringlets. She kisses his wound,
healing it.
CERRIDWEN
(in Celtic with subtitles)
Artos. You must wake up. Artos...
SMASH CUT TO:
EXT. RAVINE - DAWN
Artos jerks awake. Realization crashes over him. He claws his
way up the ravine and runs towards his village.
EXT. PLAINS - MORNING
Smoke billows and curls. Artos looks down at his village.
EXT. VILLAGE - SAME
The protective wall is scorched and dismantled. Fires lick at
the communal huts.
Clothing, weapons, and wares litter the ground. Corpses lay
burst open like fruit.
Small CHILDREN crawl through the chaos. ROMAN SOLDIERS gather
them roughly.
Artos walks numbly past dead DRUIDS, WOMEN and WARRIORS
splayed along the altar and ground, twisted in agony.
EXT. HUT - MOMENTS LATER
Against the lintel sits Kynan, clutching his sword, eyes
wide. Artos drops to his knees and paws at Kynan.
Kynan's head snaps back, blood spilling from his mouth.
