21. ATTACK OF THE WOLVES.
{The people of Caldecott, led by Sean and Rogue, and accompanied by Scott, Warren, and Logan, are moving across the plain from Castle Caldecott towards the mountains where Shield's Deep stands. Scott is looking thoughtfully at the Phoenix jewel that Jean had given him back at the Institute.
Flashback to the Institute.}
JEAN: The Phoenix always arises from its ashes, bringing new hope when all seems lost. It is mine to give to whom I will... like my heart.
{Scott and Jean are standing in the garden on the Institute's grounds, in the early morning.}
SCOTT: You told me once this day would come.
JEAN: This is not the end. It is the beginning. You must go with Kurt. That is your path.
SCOTT: My path is hidden from me.
JEAN: It is already laid before your feet. You cannot falter now.
SCOTT: Jean.
JEAN: If you trust nothing else, trust this.
{She indicates the Phoenix jewel.}
JEAN: Trust us.
{Return to Caldecott. Rogue walks close to Scott, and looks closely at the Phoenix.}
ROGUE: Where is she? The woman who gave you this jewel?
{Flashback to the Institute. Scott and Beast are talking on the Institute grounds.}
BEAST: There is no future for us here. Our kind are being persecuted by the humans. I had hoped once, like the Professor, that we could make peace with them, but that hope is fading. If we remain here, they will hunt us down like animals. I do not wish to see that happen. Yet I do not want to take Magneto's path, and repay the humans in kind. That is the one course that we must not take, that we must refuse.
SCOTT: So what else is there?
BEAST: Genosha. More mutants flee there every year, finding refuge there from the hatred and fear of the humans. And it is my intent that my ward Jean and I go there as well, where we will be safe. Let her go there.
SCOTT: She stays because she has hope.
BEAST: There is no hope.
{Return to the plains of Caldecott again. Scott and Rogue are continuing to walk along together.}
ROGUE: My lord?
SCOTT: She may be still at the Institute. Or she may be sailing to Genosha. I do not know.
{The horses suddenly snort uneasily, as if smelling something coming their way, something dreadful. The people of Caldecott halt, the warriors among them readying their swords and bows. They wait, but nothing appears.}
DIRECTOR: And queue the wolf pack! I said, queue the wolf pack! Where are the wolves?
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: I'm sorry, sir, but they left.
DIRECTOR: What? What's the meaning of this?
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Rahne refused to take part in this scene. She said that she wouldn't carry out a role that portrayed wolves in a bad light.
DIRECTOR: But what about all the other wolves? We've got a whole wolf pack left over from the flashback scene in "Shadowed Past"! Where are they?
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Rahne talked them into joining her. They all quit as well.
DIRECTOR: All right, we need some emergency Wargs, people! Where are we going to find them now?
{Moments later, a pack of astonishingly small-looking wolves appears on the scene, all charging towards the people of Caldecott, uttering high-pitched yips. A few Acolytes are chasing after them, having somehow failed to get on top of them and ride them, regardless of the "wolf-rider" part in the dialogue.}
WOLVERINE (in disbelief): These are Magneto's dreaded wolves?
{The others clearly share his viewpoint, but hurriedly make ready for battle anyway.}
SEAN (to Rogue): You must lead the people to Shield's Deep, and make haste.
ROGUE: Ah can fight!
SEAN: No! You must do this for me.
{He turns to his riders.}
SEAN: Follow me!
ROGUE (to the civilians): Head for the lower ground. Stay together.
{The small wolves battle the horsemen of Caldecott, Scott, Warren, and Logan. It is much less of a battle than the combatants try to make it seem, particularly since a few of the wolves start winking out of existence. Wolverine heads towards one wolf charging at him.}
WOLVERINE: Bring your furry face to my claws.
{Warren lets fly with an arrow from above. The wolf winks out before the arrow can reach it, the shaft vibrating in the ground where the wolf had just stood.}
WOLVERINE: Arrghhh! That one counts as mine!
{He slashes at another wolf as it approaches him, which lands on top of him, pinning him to the ground.}
WOLVERINE: Stinking creature!
{He tries to push it off him, but more wolves wind up piling on top of him in a tremendous heap, to his disgust and annoyance.
Elsewhere, Scott is knocked off his horse, but gets to his feet. As another wolf charges at him, Scott shoots out an optic blast at it, but misses. The wolf rams into him, knocking both off a cliff into the river below.
Wolverine digs himself out from underneath the pile of wolves, which vanish as he does so. All but one of the wolves have now disappeared, and that one is retreating slowly from Warren. Nearly all the Acolytes have fled, but Warren and Logan corner the last one.}
WARREN: Where's Scott?
{Wolverine also notices that Scott has gone missing. He grabs hold of the Acolyte, and holds his claws out in front of him.}
WOLVERINE: All right, bub. Tell me what happened, and I will ease your passing.
ACOLYTE: He's dead! He took a little tumble off the cliff.
WOLVERINE (furiously): You're lying, bub!
{The Acolyte collapses motionless to the ground. The final wolf slinks away, unnoticed, but as it passes a thorn bush, its fur gets tangled in the thorns. The wolf yanks hard and the wolf pelt comes off, revealing that it was actually Jamie in a costume - and that all the other wolves were Jamie's duplicates, also in costume, which explains why it vanished.}
DIRECTOR: I'll say one thing for the kid. He's the best way I've seen yet to getting a whole crowd of extras for a scene.
{Warren, Logan, and King Sean are standing at the edge of the cliff, looking down at the river below. There is no sign of Scott to be seen, but they find the Phoenix jewel lying on the grass at the cliff's edge. Warren picks it up.}
SEAN: Get the wounded on horses. The wolves will return. Leave the dead.
{He motions to Warren and Logan.}
SEAN: Come.
{Warren and Logan follow him from the scene of the late battle.
The civilians under Rogue's leadership have reached the fortress of Shield's Deep, in the meantime.}
FIRST VILLAGER: There it is! Shield's Deep!
SECOND VILLAGER: We're safe!
THIRD VILLAGER (to Rogue): We're safe, my lady.
ROGUE: Thank you.
{Shortly after they enter the fortress, King Sean leads the surviving warriors of Caldecott through the gates and into the courtyard. Rogue leaves off helping the villagers settle in to welcome her uncle.}
ROGUE: So few. So few of you have returned.
SEAN (dismounting): Our people are safe. We have paid for it with many lives.
WOLVERINE (approaching Rogue): My lady.
ROGUE: Scott Summers. Where is he?
WOLVERINE (sadly): He fell.
{Tears form in Rogue's eyes as she takes it in.
As the villagers retreat deeper into the castle, Sean and Shield's Deep's commanding officer, Nick Fury, direct Sean's horsemen and the castle's regular garrison, preparing to defend Shield's Deep against the forthcoming assault.}
SEAN: Draw all our forces behind the wall. Bar the gate, and set a watch on the surrounding area.
NICK FURY: What of those who cannot fight, my lord? The women and children?
SEAN: Get them into the caves. Magneto's arm will have grown long indeed if he thinks he can reach us here.
{In Magneto's study, Mastermind is making his report.}
MASTERMIND: Shield's Deep has one weakness. Its outer wall is rock but for a small culvert at its base, which is little more than a drain.
{Magneto nods thoughtfully, taking in the information. He rises from his chair and walks over to a table in another part of the room, where some primitive explosives rest. Mastermind follows him, holding a candle.}
MASTERMIND: How - how can fire undo stone? What kind of device could bring down a wall?
{Magneto waves him away from the table, so that Mastermind won't get the lighted candle too close to the explosives.}
MAGNETO: If the wall is breached, Shield's Deep will fall.
MASTERMIND: Even if it is breached, it would take a number beyond reckoning, thousands, to storm the keep.
{Magneto turns and walks from the table towards a balcony overlooking the courtyard below.}
MAGNETO: Tens of thousands.
MASTERMIND (following him): But, my lord, there is no such force!
{Magneto steps out onto the balcony. A vast army of Acolytes awaits below, proving Mastermind's statement to be incorrect. Mastermind stares in awe at the war-host, rank upon rank extending out into the distance, banners raised, ready to march.}
MAGNETO (to the Acolytes): A new power is rising. Its victory is at hand. This night, the land will be stained with the blood of Caldecott. March to Shield's Deep. Leave none alive. To war! There will be no dawn for humans.
{Mastermind brushes a tear from his eye. The Acolytes cheer and march out from Magneto's fortress towards Shield's Deep.}
{The people of Caldecott, led by Sean and Rogue, and accompanied by Scott, Warren, and Logan, are moving across the plain from Castle Caldecott towards the mountains where Shield's Deep stands. Scott is looking thoughtfully at the Phoenix jewel that Jean had given him back at the Institute.
Flashback to the Institute.}
JEAN: The Phoenix always arises from its ashes, bringing new hope when all seems lost. It is mine to give to whom I will... like my heart.
{Scott and Jean are standing in the garden on the Institute's grounds, in the early morning.}
SCOTT: You told me once this day would come.
JEAN: This is not the end. It is the beginning. You must go with Kurt. That is your path.
SCOTT: My path is hidden from me.
JEAN: It is already laid before your feet. You cannot falter now.
SCOTT: Jean.
JEAN: If you trust nothing else, trust this.
{She indicates the Phoenix jewel.}
JEAN: Trust us.
{Return to Caldecott. Rogue walks close to Scott, and looks closely at the Phoenix.}
ROGUE: Where is she? The woman who gave you this jewel?
{Flashback to the Institute. Scott and Beast are talking on the Institute grounds.}
BEAST: There is no future for us here. Our kind are being persecuted by the humans. I had hoped once, like the Professor, that we could make peace with them, but that hope is fading. If we remain here, they will hunt us down like animals. I do not wish to see that happen. Yet I do not want to take Magneto's path, and repay the humans in kind. That is the one course that we must not take, that we must refuse.
SCOTT: So what else is there?
BEAST: Genosha. More mutants flee there every year, finding refuge there from the hatred and fear of the humans. And it is my intent that my ward Jean and I go there as well, where we will be safe. Let her go there.
SCOTT: She stays because she has hope.
BEAST: There is no hope.
{Return to the plains of Caldecott again. Scott and Rogue are continuing to walk along together.}
ROGUE: My lord?
SCOTT: She may be still at the Institute. Or she may be sailing to Genosha. I do not know.
{The horses suddenly snort uneasily, as if smelling something coming their way, something dreadful. The people of Caldecott halt, the warriors among them readying their swords and bows. They wait, but nothing appears.}
DIRECTOR: And queue the wolf pack! I said, queue the wolf pack! Where are the wolves?
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: I'm sorry, sir, but they left.
DIRECTOR: What? What's the meaning of this?
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Rahne refused to take part in this scene. She said that she wouldn't carry out a role that portrayed wolves in a bad light.
DIRECTOR: But what about all the other wolves? We've got a whole wolf pack left over from the flashback scene in "Shadowed Past"! Where are they?
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Rahne talked them into joining her. They all quit as well.
DIRECTOR: All right, we need some emergency Wargs, people! Where are we going to find them now?
{Moments later, a pack of astonishingly small-looking wolves appears on the scene, all charging towards the people of Caldecott, uttering high-pitched yips. A few Acolytes are chasing after them, having somehow failed to get on top of them and ride them, regardless of the "wolf-rider" part in the dialogue.}
WOLVERINE (in disbelief): These are Magneto's dreaded wolves?
{The others clearly share his viewpoint, but hurriedly make ready for battle anyway.}
SEAN (to Rogue): You must lead the people to Shield's Deep, and make haste.
ROGUE: Ah can fight!
SEAN: No! You must do this for me.
{He turns to his riders.}
SEAN: Follow me!
ROGUE (to the civilians): Head for the lower ground. Stay together.
{The small wolves battle the horsemen of Caldecott, Scott, Warren, and Logan. It is much less of a battle than the combatants try to make it seem, particularly since a few of the wolves start winking out of existence. Wolverine heads towards one wolf charging at him.}
WOLVERINE: Bring your furry face to my claws.
{Warren lets fly with an arrow from above. The wolf winks out before the arrow can reach it, the shaft vibrating in the ground where the wolf had just stood.}
WOLVERINE: Arrghhh! That one counts as mine!
{He slashes at another wolf as it approaches him, which lands on top of him, pinning him to the ground.}
WOLVERINE: Stinking creature!
{He tries to push it off him, but more wolves wind up piling on top of him in a tremendous heap, to his disgust and annoyance.
Elsewhere, Scott is knocked off his horse, but gets to his feet. As another wolf charges at him, Scott shoots out an optic blast at it, but misses. The wolf rams into him, knocking both off a cliff into the river below.
Wolverine digs himself out from underneath the pile of wolves, which vanish as he does so. All but one of the wolves have now disappeared, and that one is retreating slowly from Warren. Nearly all the Acolytes have fled, but Warren and Logan corner the last one.}
WARREN: Where's Scott?
{Wolverine also notices that Scott has gone missing. He grabs hold of the Acolyte, and holds his claws out in front of him.}
WOLVERINE: All right, bub. Tell me what happened, and I will ease your passing.
ACOLYTE: He's dead! He took a little tumble off the cliff.
WOLVERINE (furiously): You're lying, bub!
{The Acolyte collapses motionless to the ground. The final wolf slinks away, unnoticed, but as it passes a thorn bush, its fur gets tangled in the thorns. The wolf yanks hard and the wolf pelt comes off, revealing that it was actually Jamie in a costume - and that all the other wolves were Jamie's duplicates, also in costume, which explains why it vanished.}
DIRECTOR: I'll say one thing for the kid. He's the best way I've seen yet to getting a whole crowd of extras for a scene.
{Warren, Logan, and King Sean are standing at the edge of the cliff, looking down at the river below. There is no sign of Scott to be seen, but they find the Phoenix jewel lying on the grass at the cliff's edge. Warren picks it up.}
SEAN: Get the wounded on horses. The wolves will return. Leave the dead.
{He motions to Warren and Logan.}
SEAN: Come.
{Warren and Logan follow him from the scene of the late battle.
The civilians under Rogue's leadership have reached the fortress of Shield's Deep, in the meantime.}
FIRST VILLAGER: There it is! Shield's Deep!
SECOND VILLAGER: We're safe!
THIRD VILLAGER (to Rogue): We're safe, my lady.
ROGUE: Thank you.
{Shortly after they enter the fortress, King Sean leads the surviving warriors of Caldecott through the gates and into the courtyard. Rogue leaves off helping the villagers settle in to welcome her uncle.}
ROGUE: So few. So few of you have returned.
SEAN (dismounting): Our people are safe. We have paid for it with many lives.
WOLVERINE (approaching Rogue): My lady.
ROGUE: Scott Summers. Where is he?
WOLVERINE (sadly): He fell.
{Tears form in Rogue's eyes as she takes it in.
As the villagers retreat deeper into the castle, Sean and Shield's Deep's commanding officer, Nick Fury, direct Sean's horsemen and the castle's regular garrison, preparing to defend Shield's Deep against the forthcoming assault.}
SEAN: Draw all our forces behind the wall. Bar the gate, and set a watch on the surrounding area.
NICK FURY: What of those who cannot fight, my lord? The women and children?
SEAN: Get them into the caves. Magneto's arm will have grown long indeed if he thinks he can reach us here.
{In Magneto's study, Mastermind is making his report.}
MASTERMIND: Shield's Deep has one weakness. Its outer wall is rock but for a small culvert at its base, which is little more than a drain.
{Magneto nods thoughtfully, taking in the information. He rises from his chair and walks over to a table in another part of the room, where some primitive explosives rest. Mastermind follows him, holding a candle.}
MASTERMIND: How - how can fire undo stone? What kind of device could bring down a wall?
{Magneto waves him away from the table, so that Mastermind won't get the lighted candle too close to the explosives.}
MAGNETO: If the wall is breached, Shield's Deep will fall.
MASTERMIND: Even if it is breached, it would take a number beyond reckoning, thousands, to storm the keep.
{Magneto turns and walks from the table towards a balcony overlooking the courtyard below.}
MAGNETO: Tens of thousands.
MASTERMIND (following him): But, my lord, there is no such force!
{Magneto steps out onto the balcony. A vast army of Acolytes awaits below, proving Mastermind's statement to be incorrect. Mastermind stares in awe at the war-host, rank upon rank extending out into the distance, banners raised, ready to march.}
MAGNETO (to the Acolytes): A new power is rising. Its victory is at hand. This night, the land will be stained with the blood of Caldecott. March to Shield's Deep. Leave none alive. To war! There will be no dawn for humans.
{Mastermind brushes a tear from his eye. The Acolytes cheer and march out from Magneto's fortress towards Shield's Deep.}