|
EXT. BELLTOWER FIELD -- NIGHT
The torches burn bright. ABOVE, in the Belltower, Jonathan Masbath
loads a rifle. THUNDER BOOMS.
Jonathan stands, looking to a sky that is all stars and moon. A
HORSE is HEARD SHRIEKING. Below, the horse tied at the base of the
tower is spooked.
A COMMOTION is HEARD,, ground rumbling. Jonathan grips a rifle,
cocks it and moves to look...
At the forest edge, a herd of deer stampedes out. They sprint past
the tower and across the field.
Jonathan crosses to watch the herd scatter. He crosses back to
peer at the forest. Bad news...
A thick FOG creeps from the woods.
As the fog overtakes the base of each torch, a tentacle of mist
snakes up to the flame, killing it. All along the forest, arms of
vapor snuff torches... one by one by one...
Above, Jonathan sights the rifle along the trees.
JONATHAN
Come out, devil... come....
INT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE ICHABOD'S ROOM -- NIGHT
Ichabod leans on a dresser. Katrina's still seated.
KATRINA
Not all think it is the Horseman. many say witches come from the
Western Woods to steal skulls for their cauldrons. Some believe
a person in this very town kneels before Lucifer, offering death
as tribute. And, still others believe none of it.
ICHABOD
Are you so superstitious?
KATRINA
To call a person superstitious is to imply they fear magic, but
not all magic is black.
ICHABOD
There is no such thing as magic.
KATRINA
Really? Then... what is your rebuttal to those romantic poets claiming
proof of magic in a rose at full bloom, or even in a teardrop?
ICHABOD
Poets have silly notions about plants and bodily secretions.
KATRINA
(laughs)
You are funny.
Ichabod doesn't get what's so funny about that. The DISTANT TOLL
of a BELL is HEARD. Katrina looks fearful.
She goes to open a window. The BELL TOLLS...
EXT. SLEEPY HOLLOW, OVERVIEW -- NIGHT
... TOLLS mournfully over farms and forests...
EXT. FARM -- NIGHT
... TOLLS as a MAN comes from his barn, listening, then sprinting
towards his home.
EXT. TOWN SQUARE -- NIGHT
... TOLLS across the deserted square. Windows go dark. Shutters
are slammed shut.
EXT. VAN TASSEL HOUSE -- NIGHT
... TOLLS. Ichabod bounds out to the lawn, halting to listen. Katrina
and Baltus come out on the porch.
BALTUS
Constable, where are you going!?
... TOLLS... TOLLS... then, SILENCE. Ichabod chases away.
BALTUS
Come back, sir... (watches him go)
Madness.
Baltus ushers Katrina back in. The door slams.
EXT. BELLTOWER FIELD -- NIGHT
Ichabod charges across the rocky field. He slows, awed...
The Belltower is down, its mast is splintered. The horse is gone.
Ichabod moves to where the crow's nest lies smashed. No sign of
Jonathan.
EXT. SLEEPY HOLLOW FOREST -- NIGHT
Jonathan runs past, gripping his bow. It's QUIET... till HOOFBEATS
are HEARD in pursuit.
Trees are silhouetted against the sky. As HOOFBEATS get LOUDER,
branches bend like arms and fingers yearning to touch. As HOOFBEATS
ROAR PAST, the trees relax.
FURTHER ON, Jonathan runs. WIND begins to BLOW.
BEHIND, in motion, WE SEE Daredevil's snorting visage; eyes lizard-like,
with vertical slits literally aglow.
The Horseman's hand yanks a wooden WAR HAMMER from a saddle mount.
(No clear view of the Horseman.)
HORSEMAN'S P.O.V.: closing in on Jonathan.
Jonathan is overtaken. The Horseman swings the hammer WHOOMP --sends
Jonathan sprawling.
HOOFBEATS FADE. Jonathan tries to get up, but pain shoots through
him. He crawls to retrieve his bow.
Against a tree, he takes an arrow from his shoulder quiver and
readies it. Waiting. A metal TAPPING is HEARD O.S. CLINK... CLINK...
CLINK. A HORSE SNORTS.
Jonathan pulls the bow taut, pained, lips bloody.
Elsewhere, Daredevil approaches slow. The Horseman taps his sword
on his spur, CLINK... CLINK... CLINK...
Foliage moves as the Horseman's form pushes through.
Jonathan releases -- the arrow WHISTLES...
THWACK! -- imbeds in the Horseman's chest.
CLINK... CLINK... CLINK... continues - Jonathan readies a second
arrow. Pulls and releases -- O.S. THWACK!
CLINK... CLINK... CLINK... Jonathan cries out, crawling away desperately.
Crawling through underbrush, over roots and rocks. CLINK... CLINK...
CLINK...
Jonathan gives up, spent, face to the dirt. He closes his eyes.
CLINKING STOPS. Daredevil halts astride Jonathan; two legs on each
side of Jonathan's body.
EXT. SLEEPY HOLLOW FARMLAND -- MORNING
Baltus and a large, DULLARDLY MAN ride. Behind, Ichabod rides with
Magistrate Philipse.
Ichabod is not adept at riding his old nag, Gunpowder.
ICHABOD
The Van Garretts died first; a man and his son, survived by a wife
and two infants. And the Widow Windsor was next...
PHILIPSE
And now Jonathan Masbath.
ICHABOD
(looks back, ponders)
Why would he flee this direction, with so much open ground to cross
before he reached cover?
PHILIPSE
He would not have gone into the Western Woods. No sane man would.
Philipse drinks from a whiskey flask, sees Ichabod watching and
offers some. Ichabod declines.
PHILIPSE
Van Ripper there...
Ahead, the dullard, VAN RIPPER, sloppily spits tobacco.
PHILIPSE
... found the body this morning. (pause)
You do believe now, don't you?
ICHABOD
Believe?
LADY VAN TASSEL
You said yourself. What mere man could have downed the Belltower?
ICHABOD
It is a prime tenet of science, Philipse, that because one thing
appears improbable does not mean you embrace the utterly fantastical.
PHILIPSE
You need less big words, and more common sense.
Philipse fingers an IRON KEY talisman he wears on a cord.
ICHABOD
What is that you wear?
PHILIPSE
My talisman. It will, protect against the Horseman if I show a brave
face. But, I cannot run. If I run in fear, it is worthless.
ICHABOD
Well... so much for common sense.
EXT. SLEEPY HOLLOW FORESTS, FURT ER ON -- MORNING
Brom and Baltus stand at a HORSE'S CORPSE amongst jagged boulders.
The flesh has been stripped, guts exposed. Philipse and Ichabod
arrive and dismount.
BALTUS
Was this Jonathan's?
BROM
Yes. Seem she panicked across here and broke two legs.
ICHABOD
Who took the meat?
BALTUS
Must have been the Redman. A Lenape Indian lives in the Western
Woods.
ICHABOD
These woods of yours sound a bit crowded, what with all the witches,
ghouls and Indians living there.
Brom climbs up onto his own horse, a black beauty.
BROM
There's only one Lenape. He eats small animals and lost children...
and the occasional constable when he can get it.
Brom rides. Ichabod goes to the dead horse, digs in his satchel
for a thin iron tool, which he uses it to pry off one HORSESHOE.
A WHISTLE is HEARD O.S.
Everyone looks far ahead to where Van Ripper has ridden. The doctor
and others are there. Van Ripper waves.
INT. FOREST, MASBATH MURDER SITE -- MORNING
Doctor Lancaster stands with SEVERAL ARMED MEN. A coffin on a cart
is covered by a blanket. Ichabod is crouched nearby.
ICHABOD
Why did you move the body, Doctor?
DOCTOR LANCASTER
To place it inside its coffin.
Ichabod, nods, vaguely annoyed. He puts the horseshoe into a hoofprint
in the dirt. It fits.
Ichabod rises, walks, studying the ground, kicking up leaves. Brom,
Van Ripper, Baltus and Philipse watch.
Ichabod finds a deep hoofprint. Huge. He compares the horseshoe.
The hoofprint is much larger.
Ichabod pulls his satchel off his shoulder, takes out a bowl, bottle
of water and bag of brown powder; begins mixing. water and powder
with a fork to make plaster.
The others watch, finding this bizarre, whispering. Brom comes
up to stand over Ichabod, irritated.
BROM
What the hell are you doing?
ICHABOD
(ignoring pause)
You are the blacksmith. Ever shod a horse with a hoof this large?
BROM
Never. A shoe that size I would have remembered.
Ichabod starts to fill the print with plaster.
ICHABOD
Van Ripper. Can you show where the body lay?
VAN RIPPER
I can show exactly.
Van Ripper dismounts, wiping tobacco drool. Ichabod rises to follow
with his satchel.
VAN RIPPER
Here... in front of this oak, facing north. Horrible...
ICHABOD
To the best of your recollection, where did the open wound fall?
Van Ripper points. Ichabod takes a BOTTLE of WHITE POWDER from
his pocket.
He uncorks the bottle, cautiously pouring powder in an x on the
dirt there, then waiting.
A chemical reaction causes the powder to bubble a bit.
ICHABOD
There was not much blood, was there?
VAN RIPPER
I didn't see none.
Ichabod stands, puzzled. He walks to the coffin cart, rolling up
his sleeves. Others come to watch, but keep their distance. Ichabod
removes the blanket...
Reveals Jonathan's headless corpse.
Philipse can't look. Ichabod takes strange spectacles from his
satchel; wire-framed with many lenses. MAGNIFICATION SPECTACLES.
He examines the gross neck wound, sniffs it.
He pokes the flesh and severed spinal cord.
ICHABOD
No bleeding.
DOCTOR LANCASTER
What is that?
ICHABOD
This should have bled by the pint. Yet, no blistering or scorched
flesh. How... ? Whatever weapon was used... it cauterized somehow....
Ichabod straightens, eyes weirdly big in the spectacles.
ICHABOD
It instantly burnt the wound shut.
EXT. CHURCHYARD AND CEMETERY -- DAY
A coffin in a grave. Headstone reads MASBATH, 1799." A CROWD
gathered. Young Masbath broods. Clergyman Steenwyck steps forward
to take a handful of newly dug dirt.
Men with guns stand at the outskirts, like on guard.
Steenwyck sprinkles dirt into the grave with prayerful words. In
the crowd people whisper. They steal glances at Ichabod, who stands
with the Van Tassels.
INT. VAN-TASSEL HOUSE, DINING/VARIOUS ROOMS -- DAY
Dining room. Sarah and two other servants collect plates. A few
people still sup, including Van Ripper, his warty WIFE and two kids.
Van Ripper guzzles ale, laughs at something his also-drunk wife
says.
IN the HALL and FOYER, funeral goers socialize quietly. FURTHER
ON, in the SITTING ROOM, men smoke. Young Masbath is confronting
Ichabod, who is leaving...
ICHABOD
I am not here for revenge. I am here to bring justice.
YOUNG MASBATH
Whatever. You still need a second to tend to your things.
ICHABOD
I manage fine alone.
YOUNG MASBATH
I deserve to help you. Don't you see how much this means? My father...
he... he was a good man...
ICHABOD
(faces Masbath)
Young Masbath, I am sorry for your loss. It is a great and sad tragedy.
However... I cannot be the one to look after you now.
YOUNG MASBATH
(angry)
I did not ask you to, did I?
Young Masbath exits. Ichabod remains impassive.
|
