ACT 3

FADE IN:

15.

INT. VILLAGE COUNCIL CHAMBER - NIGHT (RESUME)

Xena and Gabrielle draw their weapon as a loud roll of sound is heard outside. The villagers are beginning to panic and the guards have a desperate look in their eyes as they close in on their two prisoners.

GABRIELLE
We still humoring them?

XENA
No. My sense of humor just
gave up the ghost again.

(louder)

Hold it right there!

GABRIELLE
Wait a minute. We're not going to
just stand by and let you kill us.

The men pause and listen.

XENA
She's right. Somebody's gonna
get hurt, and it's not going to be
us, if you catch my drift.

For a moment, the sight of their bright weapons and determined faces make the men hesitate. Then a low, booming roar sounds outside, and they surge forward, frantically attacking Xena and Gabrielle, letting out screams again.

LEADER
Get them! Quickly!

Xena cuts the heads off the spears of three of the men coming after her. They look at their stubs, then start striking Xena with them.

XENA
Slow learners.

Xena whirls her sword in a figure eight, slicing down the spears a foot at a time. Bits of wood go flying everywhere.

XENA
(cont'd)
(to Gabrielle)
We need a distraction!

Gabrielle catches two of the guard's weapons in her sais She twists her wrists expertly, and the guard's spears get yanked out of their hands. One spear almost hits the leader. The other bounces off the ground then hits a torch. The torch falls over and sets the wall thatch on fire. The fire spreads rapidly across the wall and up into the roof.

GABRIELLE
How's that!

Xena ducks as a flaming piece of wood almost falls on her.

XENA
Not what I had in mind,
but I'll work with it.

LEADER
Run! We'll all be killed!

There is pandemonium in the hall. Everyone runs for the door, pushing and shoving to get out. The fire now consumes the entire roof, putting a layer of flame over their heads and dropping burning thatch all over them.

Xena and Gabrielle watch the crowd jam the door. Xena turns and plunges her sword into the wall, cutting a hole big enough to walk through. Xena jumps though the hole. Gabrielle follows her, but turns at the last moment to see the Leader buried by a falling piece of roof.

GABRIELLE
Xena!

Gabrielle re-enters the room and grabs the Leader's arm, pulling him out from under the burning wood. The roof is now collapsing all around her, and she covers her face with her arm as she struggles towards the door.

CUT TO:

16.

EXT. VILLAGE COUNCIL CHAMBER - NIGHT

The sounds from the mountain are now continuous. The villagers run from the council chamber, coughing and choking, only to be faced with the ground vibrating under their feet.

Xena turns and finds that Gabrielle has not followed her. She jumps to the opening in the wall, and plunges back inside the fire.

CUT TO:

17.

INT. VILLAGE COUNCIL CHAMBER - NIGHT

Gabrielle can barely see in front of her. She feels her way towards the opening in the wall, and her hand suddenly meets something that does not feel like wood or thatch. She clamps down on it.

XENA

Ow!

Gabrielle has grabbed Xena's nose.

GABRIELLE
Thought that felt like you.

Xena grabs Gabrielle and pulls her out the hole in the wall.

CUT TO:

18.

EXT. VILLAGE COUNCIL CHAMBER - NIGHT

The villagers are weeping. Xena and Gabrielle drag the leader over to the horse trough and sit him down on it. Rocks tumble down the street from the opening in the mountain. A woman simply stands and shrieks nearby. Xena shakes her.

XENA

Hey!

The woman continues to scream. Gabrielle goes to her and grabs her by the shoulders.

GABRIELLE
Why are you screaming?
You got out, look!

The woman stops.

WOMAN
Out of the fire, into worse! Toola will kill us!
He will burn the crops, drown the village...
send the mountain down upon us!

GABRIELLE
Is that what he's done before?

LEADER
Yes. He is a demanding god. We
must do something, quickly.

The Leader stands.

LEADER

(cont'd)

Guard

Xena draws her sword.

XENA
You're not gonna try
that again, are you?

The guard stumbles over. The rest of the villagers cluster anxiously around, plainly terrified.

GABRIELLE
Listen, we can find a
way to stop this.

LEADER
Yes. I know of a way.

The Leader lifts his hands.

LEADER

(cont'd)
My friends, our god is angry.

The ground vibrates.

LEADER

(cont'd)
We have not given him what
he demands. We cannot
defeat these strangers.

A low keening sound rises, covering the leader's voice. It sounds like very large fingernails on an even larger piece of slate. Everyone covers their ears, especially Xena, who feels actual pain from the noise.

XENA

Augh!

LEADER

(yells)
Only one thing will appease him!
We must offer him our tribute.

WOMAN
But we have no one to send!

The sound decreases into a moan. Everyone uncovers their ears.

XENA
(grimaces)
Any more of that, and your
god'll get more than a tribute.

LEADER
I will go. I will take the tribute,
and give myself to the waters.
Quickly, take me!

The crowd cries out in relief. The surround the Leader and cheer him, patting him on the back and thanking him. The guard surround the Leader, pick him up onto their shoulders and carry him off. The villagers follow, chanting, very happy and relived. Xena and Gabrielle are left behind, completely forgotten. They look at each other, stunned.

GABRIELLE
Xena, this is insane. What kind of
god makes it's followers mindlessly
sacrifice strangers to it?

XENA

(grim)
I don't know. Let's see
if we can find out.

Xena and Gabrielle follow the crowd.

FADE TO:

19.

INT. LEADER'S HOUSE - NIGHT

The Leader stands in the center of the room. The other villagers pack the small room, surrounding the guards. The guards are wrapping the Leader in strips of linen. Nearby, the chest the prisoner had been carrying earlier in the day is being polished by one of the villagers. Everyone is happy and excited, with the exception of a small, dark haired woman, the LEADER'S WIFE.

WIFE
Don't do this! Please!

LEADER

(gently)
I must. The safety of all
of us depends on me.

Xena and Gabrielle enter, and watch quietly.

WIFE
What about us? Doesn't
your family matter?

The villagers pull the woman away, and push her towards the rear of the room.

MAN
Get out of the way. We have
to hurry, before Toola sends
the waters on us. Come on!

The guards surround the leader, and one of them places the chest in his hands. Another one is hurriedly painting the symbols of the god on the strips of linen. They start to hustle the Leader out the door.

WIFE
Wait! Brandon!

The Leader looks back and their eyes meet.

LEADER
When they are older,
tell the children.

The villagers push past the Wife, and file out the door, following the guard. They are relieved, and also a little embarrassed at the Wife's evident distress.

GABRIELLE
Xena, we have to stop this.

XENA
And take on the entire village?
Then what? You saw what was
going on outside, Gabrielle.
That damn god means business.

GABRIELLE
So, we just let him die?

XENA
His god, his choice.

Gabrielle gives Xena a shocked, then somber look.

The Wife notices them. She becomes angry, and grabs a broom, brandishing it at them.

WIFE
You! It's all your fault! Why did
you have to interfere?

GABRIELLE
We saw someone being attacked.
We thought we were helping.

WIFE
Helping? Now my fool
husband is rushing to his
death for it. Thanks a lot!

Gabrielle looks at the woman, understanding her anger better than the woman knows. Xena walks over to her, ignoring the threat of the broom.

XENA
Your husband is doing what he
thinks is right. If this god is
as dangerous as you all claim.

WIFE
(subdued)
Toola is a terrible god.

XENA
Then your husband is a hero to
the rest of them, isn't he?

WIFE
Hero?

(laughs bitterly)

If he was a hero he'd care about
his family. Only fools are so eager
to die. Dying is easy. It's left to the
living to suffer the hardships of it.

The Wife throws her broom into the corner and storms through an inner door to a second room. She slams the wooden thatch door behind her, causing bits of it to drift to the ground.

Xena shakes her head and walks back over to where Gabrielle is standing. Gabrielle doesn't react. Her face is set and very still.

XENA
If their god is so dangerous, you'd
think she'd appreciate the choice
he made to save all of them.

Gabrielle looks very hard at Xena.

GABRIELLE
Yeah. Well, you know something?
The losing side of that choice
is a real nasty place to be.

Gabrielle turns and walks to the inner door, opening it and going through, without giving Xena a backwards look.

XENA

Gab...

(beat)

Damn.

Xena is left alone in the room. Gabrielle's anger surprised her, and she remains still, thinking hard about what Gabrielle said and why she might have said it.

CUT TO:

20.

EXT. VILLAGE STREET - NIGHT

The villagers surround the guard, who surrounds the Leader. They march up towards the mountain. As they get closer, the sounds, and the stones slowly reduce. The villagers begin chanting in relief and joy.

CUT TO:

21. 

INT. LEADER'S HOUSE - NIGHT

The Leader's Wife stands at the window, watching the torches recede towards the mountain. Beside her are two children, a boy and girl. The children hang on to their mother, obviously scared and very confused.

Xena enters, and looks around for Gabrielle, then stops when she spots the family at the window.

BOY
Mama, where's daddy?

WIFE
(in tears)
He's going to talk to
Toola, sweetheart.

GIRL
Why? Does Toola want to
tell him something? Will he
tell us when he gets back?

Xena watches and listens from the shadows. She closes her eyes as she sees bits of her own memories - of the suffering she felt after Gabrielle fell into the lava pit with Hope.

WIFE
He... won't be back for a long time.
But maybe he will tell us what
Toola said, when we see him again.

BOY
Daddy's not coming home tonight?
Can I sleep in his bed?

The Wife can barely keep her composure. She puts the two children in the large bed and pulls the covers up.

WIFE
That's it. You go to sleep, and
dream good dreams.

The Wife turns, and sees Xena standing there. They both listen as the loud noises and vibrations die down, and then cease.

WIFE

(cont'd)
You must think I'm
selfish, don't you?

Xena is shaken.

XENA

No.

(beat)

Just someone who loves.

The Wife looks puzzled.

XENA

(cont'd)
My friend, where did she go?

WIFE
She said she was going for
a long walk, to think.

The sounds outside have stopped. Now only cheers can be heard of the happy villagers. The sounds get closer and closer. Then the door bursts open, and men and women pour in, relieved and happy that the threat is over.

The men part, and suddenly the Leader emerges. He is covered in tatters of linen, and the CHEST is gone. He spots Xena.

WIFE

(cont'd)

(very surprised)

Brandon!

Xena's face shows she realizes what is coming next. She is already in motion when the Leader speaks.

LEADER
We were at the mountain,
then your friend insisted on taking
my place! How wonderful! How brave!
She wanted so much to meet Toola!

Xena shoves through the crowd and bolts out the door, scattering people everywhere without a backwards look.

FADE OUT:

ACT 4