Mercy Seat

INT. PALACE CHAPEL. DAY

CLEMENT jumps on Molay and rips the shard free.

CLEMENT: Get help!

PHILLIP: Let the dog die if he won’t talk.

CLEMENT ties a strip of cloth from his clothing and binds Molay’s wound.

CLEMENT: He’ll die when I say!

PHILLIP hesitates.

CLEMENT: Go!

PHILLIP stares at Clement a moment, shocked.

PHILLIP: You don’t give the orders!

CLEMENT: Your sniveling little puppet? Is that what I am?

PHILLIP: I made you! I can destroy you just as easily.

CLEMENT turns his sword on Phillip. PHILLIP holds his position.

CLEMENT: If Molay dies, you get nothing?

PHILLIP: ...but another dead Pope.

CLEMENT lunges at Phillip clumsily. PHILLIP ducks the blow.

PHILLIP: You’re a little slug leaving your slime trail through the streets of Rome, thinking you can get the best of me? My father rode with Lionheart!

CLEMENT: It’s not hard to best a backwoods mongrel!

PHILLIP attacks Clement, attempting to wrestle the sword away. Both are clumsy fighters. MOLAY coughs and spits blood. CLEMENT forces Phillip back.

CLEMENT: I’ll let them all go! I’ll drop the charges against the Templars and excommunicate all of France.

PHILLIP: You’ll have to get out of my house alive first.

CLEMENT: Your subjects will be happy to roast you too, Phillip the Pretty!

PHILLIP lunges at Clement. CLEMENT slashes Phillip across the chest. PHILLIP backs off. He is bleeding, but the wound is superficial. He is poised to attack again.

CLEMENT: My journals tell everything.

PHILLIP: You wouldn’t be that stupid.

CLEMENT: Every last detail: poisoning my predecessor, bribing the arch-bishops, everything we did.

PHILLIP: No one would believe it.

CLEMENT: If I die here, you'll be quick to follow.

PHILLIP hesitates. CLEMENT looks down at Molay.

CLEMENT: Get him help.

Exit PHILLIP. CLEMENT cradles Molay in his arms.

MOLAY: Who’s the puppet after all?

CLEMENT: Do you think I enjoy chasing his heels like a puppy?

MOLAY: What did you promise?

CLEMENT: It didn’t take much. I even made him think it was his idea. If the Templars were gone, he wouldn’t have to pay back his gambling debts.

MOLAY: Phillip will never take up the Cross.

CLEMENT: He’ll sit out here in the woods and declare himself Emperor to all who hear him shout.

MOLAY: What of us?

CLEMENT: We would blow down the walls of Jerusalem and any man that stood between us and the Temple Mount.

MOLAY: The glory of Jerusalem would have been restored.

CLEMENT: And we would be worshiped like Kings of Old.

MOLAY: Sweeping the Saracen away like ants.

CLEMENT: It’s not too late.

MOLAY: (Laughs weakly) It is for you.

CLEMENT: When I have the Ark, Phillip will do as I say.

MOLAY: I told you, there is no Ark. It’s a children’s story. How much did you pay that soldier for his information?

CLEMENT: Liar!

CLEMENT shakes Molay violently.

CLEMENT: Give it to me, you pig! Give me the Ark!

MOLAY: I’ve given all I can give. You will never leave this palace. There will be no Crusade.

CLEMENT: When I’m done with you, there will hardly be a body left to burn

MOLAY: God wills it.

LIGHTS DOWN

The End