01x07 - Behold The Lamb - Gweled Yr Oen

[bunniefuu]

Previously on The Bastard Executioner...

Blessed news. Lady Love is with child.

(murmuring happily)

The baron's parting gift-- an heir at Ventrishire.

That woman is not with child.

Lady Love: Nearly two weeks of thought has given me no better sense of how to carry out my deception.

Our shires deserve the fruits of a greater tree.

And Lady Love is a widow and her rule is in the hands of a frivolous king.

Pryce: You are quite aware that I'm already married?

My wife may well return to good health.

Of course, one could only hope.

Pryce: You knew she was in that wagon!

Corbett: I promised Baron Pryce swift justice in the trial and punishment of this godless m*rder*r.

The baron claims that the guilty man was under orders of the Wolf.

I am not your husband.

Nor am I an executioner.

Corbett holds that secret over my head.

Threatens the lives of all of you if I do not willingly commit his sins.

You commit no sins, Maddy.

All I do is commit sin.

Corbett: Sir Norton.

He is my offering.

t*rture him. k*ll him.

Your wrath will not touch our reeve or any of his other men.

You are well aware of the consequences if you turn against that.

Do not stop me!

Toran: This knight, he knows of the man who k*lled my Eva.

I need to take that from him.

If we are to be crushed under Corbett's thumb, at least give me the relief of knowing who took her life.

Boys' choir: ♪ Domine, Domine ♪
♪ Fili ♪

(bells chime)

♪ Unigenite ♪
♪ Jesu Christe ♪
♪ Jesu Christe... ♪
♪ Domine, Domine ♪
♪ Deus ♪
♪ Agnus Dei ♪
♪ Filius Patris ♪
♪ Qui tollis ♪
♪ Qui tollis... ♪
♪ Peccata mundi ♪
♪ Peccata mundi... ♪
♪ Miserere... ♪

(laughter, chatter, music playing)

We missed you at morning service.

I'm struggling sitting still with God.

I twist with guilt, knowing I caused that struggle.

The twist is mine, brother.

I've earned the blood that stains my hands.

What of the blood yet to spill?

What of it?

Locke, Denley and the reeve complete our vengeance.

And with that... tortured reveal comes the truth of Corbett's screws.

I needed to find a way out from under his screws before he took them to you.

Yea.

Is that why you make an effort to get close to our baroness?

I see it, brother.

As do others.

I am but a curiosity to Lady Love.

There is no effort to get close.

Man: Clear the way!

Ah. Punisher.

You need to ready your stock and chains.

This rebel must bear a death most agonizing.

For what crime is he guilty?

Corbett: One most heinous.

While the baroness of Pryceshire traveled to the salt springs for a cure, he ambushed her caravan.

k*lled her men.

Set her wagon on fire.

b*rned Lady Trula alive.

(crowd exclaiming)

Let's go! Move!

♪ born with a heart ♪
♪ that could ache more than b*at ♪
♪ the mind of a k*ller ♪
♪ the soul of the meek ♪
♪ flock with no shepherd ♪
♪ is a vulnerable game ♪
♪ I can live without a hearth ♪
♪ without love ♪
♪ but I do need a name ♪
♪ father, do you burn ♪
♪ if your hand is in fire? ♪
♪ does your head spin with rage ♪
♪ when fooled by the liars? ♪
♪ king of the kings ♪
♪ do you feel any pain? ♪
♪ do you feel any pain? ♪

Isabelle has prepared Erik's winter salon for Baron Pryce.

That should be suitable.

Yes. Most suitable, my lady.

Such a sad play of circumstances.

Baron Pryce, now without spouse, will find comfort in a room that gave our dear departed baron such joy.

You confuse eros with happiness, good chamberlain.

I know the winter salon was where Erik bedded his mistresses.

I hope that is not the comfort you propose we offer Baron Pryce.

No, Lady Love.

I believe that Edwin Pryce will only find comfort in a woman whose beauty and grace are matched by her wit and intellect.

Our relations with Pryceshire have become increasingly strained.

As would any relation where trust and fairness have been stripped away.

Perhaps God shines a ray of sunlight on this darkness, my lady.

An opportunity for Pryceshire and Ventrishire to unite in the execution of justice.

(screaming)

(man gasping)

Halt.

The baroness would like to speak to this prisoner.

(gasping)

I do not know what more this rebel can tell you, my lady.

His confession is complete and binds him to his fate.

Thank you, good chamberlain.

I have read your confession, Berwyn Cairn.

Although it's exact in the retelling of the horror, I am having difficulty understanding your loyalty.

My loyalty is to the Byth Encil.

That is my confusion.

You refuse to give the names of the rebels who were at your side, yet willingly condemn your leader as the one who demanded the m*rder.

Is not your loyalty backwards?

A good soldier protects his commander.

The Wolf is... he is not concerned with protection.

You heard this command for m*rder from his lips?

Yea.

I see.

I hear he is a beast of a man.

Thick-waisted, red-bearded and ruddy.

Yea.

A large, hard-looking man.

(crying quietly)

Did you hear what you needed, my lady?

Yes.

Tell me, Master Gawain, what would possess a man to tell a lie that seals a fate of a certain and awful death?

(panting, whimpering)

The prisoner did not commit this crime.

Frightened men tell desperate tales.

What is the man afraid of?

What all liars fear, Baroness.

The truth and its responsibility.

Is not the weight of the untruth a greater burden?

Always.

But a weight that some shoulders bear well and some even feel uneven without.

That is very sad.

Thank you for that insight, Master Gawain.

(panting)

Marshal.

What need?

A scout brings news of a rebel camp west of the marsh.

With Norton and Huxley still away on the chamberlain's duties, we need another able body.

The att*ck on Lady Trula rattles nerves on both sides of the marshes.

The rebel thr*at is to be crushed by any method, above or below manor law.

A mission with no decree.

Locke: Yea.

With the spoils of the hunt shared by all.

Leon: Can we count on your blade?

Yea.

(door opens)

Maddox.

I am told you need more suitable gear.

(door closes)

My stocks and chains are sufficient.

It is a guilty victim I require.

We both know this is a crime in need of swift punishment.

Berwyn Cairn.

A wife.

Two sons.

Two younger ones, dead.

Starvation.

His rye fields turned to swamp by summer flood, a debt that will take three generations to clear.

This is a writ of payment from Baron Pryce.

It clears all of Cairn's debts.

This is a letter from me to our steward, securing his wife and boys positions and shelter here at Castle Ventris.

You used his life as currency?

He was on his way to debtor's prison.

His family, a few days away from a hungry death.

We offered him salvation and he gladly accepted.

A m*rder conspired by greed.

ex*cuted by the ignorant.

I know you think of me as a simple demon, but you know a mere glimpse of me, Wilkin.

I have lived many hard lives.

And I survived by seeing the shadow of the axe before it falls.

Everything I have done since Erik's death, I do to protect this shire.

And yes, the benefits fall to my favor.

But they also fall to the favor of the one you care for most.

Lady Love.

(door opens)

Forgive me, Chamberlain.

The punisher's soldier and I need a word with him, when you are finished.

I think we are finished, are we not, Maddox?

Are you the strangers in servitude?

If not, these are the heaviest hides ever to wrap my feet.

Yea, and the loudest.

Are you in want of hog or...

Remove their chains. Archdeacon's request.

What's an "arshateeken"?

Something we don't need.

Pardon, scribe.

Baroness.

(chains rattle)

Indentured scribe, my lady.

I would like to see any records, testimony or accounts we may have on this family name in Ventrishire.

Baroness, please, let me be of service?

Not of nobility.

Perhaps some land deeds or receipts, my lady.

Gather what you can find.

With haste.

Yes, Baroness.

Good day, Moor.

Baroness.

(door closes)

Is there a service you require?

Sir.

Why is that you bring these men to my chapel?

Sorry, priest.

What is it that demands such secrecy?

Not your concern.

If it concerns my congregation, it concerns me.

Let me pass.

Will it not be a greater concern if your flock were to lose its shepherd?

(groans)

(ripping)

The brands of different shires.

Pilfered, no doubt.

These people are nomads, not rebels.

The Wolf enlists any deprived soul ready to throw a rock for his cause.

This is my charge, punisher.

You are here only at the beseech of Marshal.

Toran: He's right, Reeve.

If this were a rebel camp, we would have heard clicks and whistles a mile back.

And by this mark, we'd all be pinned with arrows.

Search the shelters.

Find the men.

(baby crying)

Wench att*cked with a blade.

Daffodil and dagger draped upon her bounty.

(thunder rumbling)

(bellowing)

(grunting)

(horses whinnying)

(grunting continues)

There can be no witness.

Hold.

There's been enough butchery.

The rebel?

Moves like a ghost.

Lost in the rocks.

Hyah!

Hyah.

(grunting)

Another guilty one dies.

Another of Leon's men.

Our chamberlain will think this was our brutal blade.

But the reeve, he will attest to...

Leon didn't see it.

And Corbett will only see betrayal.

Take the goods to the side gate.

The peddler should be waiting.

Reeve, I need our chamberlain's ear.

The chamberlain will be occupied with the duties of a host.

Baron Pryce and his chancellor arrived this evening.

But as for our part in this rebel mission, I need to explain...

There is nothing to explain, punisher.

We struck down a rebel camp and took the goods they use to pay for their att*cks and lost a good man in the task.

Give them their piece.

We want nothing of this.

Then you'll have none.

Do you think you can put enough truth into Corbett's ear?

Only God knows what sways his heart.

Until you convince him Denley's death was not our retaliation, all those we love are at risk.

Yea.

I can take watch at the square.

Watch my house and the stockyard.

I'll take guard below the stacks.

Make sure no one gets to Berber.

(playing slow song)

(song ends)

It is an exquisite instrument and such an extravagant gift, dear baron.

Hearing you play it, my lady, clearly, the gift is all ours.

(chuckles)

The bowing of an angel.

That kind of praise turns reason to revelry, Chancellor.

Let us not forget the sober reason we all gather.

Indeed.

May I share a revelation I had during my morning prayer, Lady Love?

Yes, please, Baron.

Through the cold haze of morning, I was struck by the warmth of a bright beam of sunlight.

In that moment, I saw the higher purpose for all the tragedy that has settled on us.

It is God's desire to melt away the years of ill will between our shires.

That Pryceshire and Ventrishire are to come together.

And in that effort, we become stronger, sounder and more pious than we were individually.

(chuckles)

That is most profound, dear baron.

Although not as divinely inspired as your vision, I, too, have been shown the grace in this sadness.

The opportunity for us to govern in harmony.

You from your magnificent, gifted castle in Pryceshire.

And myself from the humbler stones laid by my ancestors, here in Ventrishire.

And now, if you will kindly excuse me, gentlemen.

Tomorrow approaches with haste, and I do need my rest.

Of course, my lady.

Although you show but a hint of it, we are all aware you require the sleep of two.

Yes.

Good night, my lady.

It seems you and the good baron share a deep poetic connection.

It is as if you are reading each other's thoughts.

And perhaps writing them down and rehearsing them as well.

♪ ♪

Are you Master Gawain?

Yea.

We bring word from the baroness.

She needs your help.

Most urgently, she said.

She waits in her bed chamber.

She was quite upset, crying.

Why? What happened?

We only know of her needs, sir.

Should we tell her you refuse?

Oh, I am certain that you are quite lost.

I was told the baroness needed to see me.

An urgent matter.

By the sisters.

The twin maidens.

The twins?

They do not tend to the needs of my lady.

I'm surprised those giggle wenches aren't already warming Corbett's bed.

Who are you talking to, Isa...

I am sorry.

You should not be here, Master Gawain.

Yes. I have...

He carries a message for a Pryceshire noble, milady.

I'll show him the way.

My apologies, Baroness.

(sighs)

(door creaking)

(sighs)

Father, is all well?

Yes.

Will you put me to bed?

(grunts)

(grunts)

What did I...?

(shushing)

Not yet.

When I was nine... perhaps ten... this cleric that ran the foundling's home--

Darbone-- he would teach us piety and patience with a hot iron.

It was very cruel.

Very effective.

Please...

(shushing)

At night...

Darbone would visit us in the sleep hall.

And choose from...

20 or more boys.

I was his favorite.

Pretty and firm.

And as he would tear his gnarled meat into my innocent bottom, do you know what he would call me?

His Little Lammy.

Quite sweetly.

Softly.

Now... you, Little Lammy.

Speak it--

Little Lammy.

(crying)

Lit...

Little Lammy.

Yeah.

Little Lammy.

Keep speaking it.

Little Lammy.

Please.

Little Lammy.

(bleating nearby)

(moaning nearby)

Yea.

Who goes there?

Ash: No!

Calo, no!

Oh!

He got up to piss.

I didn't hear a thing.

(crying)

The yard boss doesn't remember k*lling Calo.

And he never will.

Just as the man awaiting these will never be able to recall his crime.

Corbett: Make sure the villagers stay clear of the pulling range.

I am not a man of idle threats.

You, more than anyone, should know that.

We didn't k*ll Denley.

Toran: It was nomads.

Slavic bandits.

I have no proof of that.

A knight, you were told not to harm, was found dead at your feet.

You gave me no choice, but to have to take a life in return.

To your work, punisher.

(grunting)

Moor.

I tried to speak to the others.

They were afraid.

Yes.

What happened in the chapel yesterday?

Your archdeacon.

He had us stripped from neck to waist, looking for heretical markings, b*rned with hue into the skin.

But no one among us had them.

He splashed us with holy water and gave a harsh warning.

And if we were to speak of what happened, it could bring the heretical marks to our skin.

Why just you and a few others?

No one among us had any holdings of land or history of wages.

Seems heretics keep no records.

The markings... did the archdeacon say what they looked like?

Were they letters and odd symbols?

You have seen such markings.

No.

Who gives penance when the priest tells a lie?

(quiet laugh)

The healer.

Yes.

Do you know her?

I do.

She is no heretic.

She is quite the opposite.

Why are they looking for her?

I do not know.

This archdeacon and his men?

They may be ordained in Christ's name, but they serve another.

You must warn Annora, good priest.

Our healer is in the Far Caverns.

In a cave at the base of the widest gorge.

(door opens)

(door closes)

You were greatly missed at morning meal, my lady.

Baron Pryce and myself so looked forward to your company.

I find it difficult to digest anything with the awareness that sundown brings such gruesome justice.

A justice well-deserved.

I had our scribe search for any records on our prisoner Berwyn Cairn.

He found no previous documents.

Only two recent ones, copied but yesterday.

If this prisoner's justice is well-deserved, then why does Baron Pryce see fit to buy off his debt?

And why do you offer standing to his family?

Matters you need not concern yourself with.

All matters of this shire concern me, Chamberlain.

Then I suggest you stop treating Pryce like the bastard of an ogre.

He is our only hope.

I am not a silent child to be married off to noble or bastard.

Nor do you carry a child, silent or otherwise.

We all know our baron was barren!

I am deeply sorry, my lady.

As am I, Milus.

I have been the offering of marriage once already.

I will not do it again.

My only concern is the welfare of this shire, dear Love.

Baron Pryce's hand in marriage is the only way you will hold your place here.

Did you have a hand in Lady Trula's death?

Of course not.

We know it was rebels by what we found at the wreckage.

But the man we punish today?

A brave representation, my lady.

An act of justice greater than the man.

A mind that is open and a heart that is shut tight.

Grandfather's requisite for leadership.

A very wise man.

A very sad man.

You think he spins a tale to save himself from servitude?

A converted Jew.

Who knows what darkness still clouds his soul?

We will see what becomes of it on our way out of this godless, damp hole.

I'm sorry, brother.

I owed you, Calo and the others the truth.

When I buried my sword, I should not have buried all of my past with it.

Farmer or fighter, I knew the man then.

I know him now.

You are a good friend, Toran.

I wish my friendship served you better.

Father, I should be helping.

You don't always need to help, Luca.

You can do other things.

I don't want to do other things.

I want to be just as you are.

Come on, you little pint of piss.

(short laugh)

We need to make our measurements.

Let him do the arithmetic.

He has to.

Because I can't.

Is this what one wears to watch a man pulled apart?

Is it not to your liking, my lady?

(knocking)

Are you expecting anyone, my lady?

No.

Your insolence swings heavier than your axe, headsman.

Forgive my boldness, my lady.

But I deliver a truth that will give comfort.

I need but a moment in private.

And that will happen when pigs learn to dance.

Allow us a moment, maiden.

Yes, Baroness.

I'll be in the yard dancing with pigs.

And what is this truth, Master Gawain?

That is not my name.

Gawain Maddox was an executioner k*lled in service to your husband.

I am one of the hooded bandits he pursued.

One of the men who k*lled Baron Ventris.

I took the punisher's identity to save myself and my friends.

Never was the farce to last more than a moment.

The wife?

The family was... tortured by Maddox.

It seems I offered them something different.

My name is Wilkin Brattle.

I was a knight in Longshanks' army.

Ventris was my commander.

He sent me and my legion into an ambush of certain death.

I was spared, by a miracle, and fled to your land.

Only to be roused again, in blood.

Why do you tell me all this now?

An innocent man will soon be brutally ex*cuted.

I need to save him.

Please honor the requests of my friends.

They, too, are innocent.

Master... Sir Brattle.

A confession of this candor...

I do not know how...

Give it to Baron Pryce's Chancellor.

He will take proper action.

Allow me but a brief time after I leave you for some final tasks and devotion.

I'm sorry I lied to you, Lady Love.

My time with you... it was worth the punishment I'm about to receive.

♪

I saw the vision, my Love.

So clearly.

A male child.

I believe it was ours.

♪

You are too late for midday meal and too early for supper, husband.

Too late or too early.

I'm never where I should be when I should be there.

I do not understand.

You're a sweet honest woman, Jessamy.

Good mother.

Good wife.

That is all you need to understand, my sweet.

Do you mean this?

Yea.

♪

There you are, punisher.

Ready the prisoner.

His stage is set.

Toran: Wilkin!

Wilkin?

Lady Love: Hold!

Lay down your blades.

Now.

Good reeve, Sir Locke.

Please take the prisoner to the square.

Assist them, soldier.

My lady, this punisher is...

Take the prisoner to the square!

Lady Love: I will call this breach of status but a foolish boy's test of virility.

I will not speak of it, nor will any of you.

Yes, Baroness.

Understood, my lady.

You cannot trade your life for another.

There is no trade-- I am the guilty one.

Your confession supports no logic.

Lady Trula was m*rder*d... by my hand.

A hand that would never intentionally k*ll an innocent.

Who gave the order?

This is about my guilt.

No one else's.

And my reeve and knight?

k*lling them, was that your final task?

You would have no guilt for those murders?

They are not innocent.

So you choose who lives and who dies?

Well, you must be so relieved to be down from that dreadful cross.

I'm doing this for you.

And I do this for you.

Please, Love.

My soul is so heavy.

Let me take this end.

I know the burden of your soul.

I recognize it as my own.

I do not know if what I feel for you is God's will or the work of a clever demon, but I am certain, Wilkin Brattle, that whatever this may be, it is the thing for which I've been waiting.

It is the other girl I hear in my heart.

The other life that lives in the shadow of my own.

Who are you, Love Aberffraw?

It would seem, my noble knight, that I need you to help me find that truth.

We'll find that truth as well.

But now we are both in need of Gawain Maddox.

I'm at your service, Baroness.

Black oak root and bees' honey.

It will settle the stirred mind.

(chuckles)

Thank you.

You said you bring a warning.

Yes, your mate in the gorge.

The Templar armor.

The Teutonic Order, an honored and pious knight.

With every new piece of truth, I grow more bewildered, good woman.

The archdeacon of Windsor, Father Robinus, He's looking...

Heretical markings.

Yes.

What are they?

It will be easier for you to read it in Latin.

The Book of the Nazarean.

Read.

Then we will talk.

♪

You know that we are being watched.

Ja.

One man.

Others are near.

(choir sings in Latin)

Will you do me the honor, dear Edwin?

The honor is mine, dear Love.

♪ ♪ ♪

(screams)

(screams)

♪