Ilka and Dominik lie huddled together in a pile of HAY. Dominik sleeps - Ilka watches him.
A SCRATCHING sound nearby. Ilka is terrified - she’s entered a state where everything is a threat. The sound gets closer. Ilka pulls the dagger out. It shakes.
But it’s just a CAT, stalking through the hay. A pounce, and it comes up with a big RAT in its mouth. Two good shakes, and the rat hangs limp. The cat and Ilka stare at each other for a beat, and then the cat turns and trots away, the rat’s limp tail dragging through the hay.
DOMINIK (O.S.)
He’s coming down to the village.
DOMINIK (CONT’D)
I don’t think he’s man-shaped anymore.
ILKA
You can see him?
DOMINIK
I see what he sees.
DOMINIK (CONT’D)
(points to his eye)
Not here.
(points to his forehead)
Here.
ILKA
What do you see?
DOMINIK
A house. A lamp in the window. There’s smoke coming
out of the chimbley. He’s at the back of
the house. He’s watching.
ILKA
Watching what?
DOMINIK
He’s making a sound. It’s not a man sound. A dog
is coming over. It’s sniffing around. It’s a friendly
dog. It comes over to me, and I grab it and
break it with my hands. The dog is making a
smell, a good smell, but I don’t want the dog, so I throw it away.
DOMINIK (CONT’D)
Now I’m making a dog sound. A hurt dog sound. I make
it louder. The lamp in the window is moving. The door is
opening. There is a girl there. She is holding the
lamp out and looking. She is calling out a name. She is
looking for the dog. She is walking toward me.
ILKA
(whispers)
No. Please, no.
DOMINIK
I am letting her get very close. I am letting her see me. She
is afraid. The good smell is all around her. I am
jumping now. I am very strong. I knock her to
the ground. I am biting her neck.
ILKA
Stop it! Enough!
DOMINIK
I am drinking. It is thick and good. It is
making me even stronger.
DOMINIK (CONT’D)
She looked like Mama. The girl.
(crying)
She looked like Mama.
Ilka is ANGRY.
CUT TO:
INT. CASTLE - MIRA’S ROOM - DAY
Mira prepares, in her petticoats.
BEGIN MONTAGE
1. She belts ROPE around her waist.
2. She hides a DAGGER in her shoe.
3. She empties PERFUME from a bottle, fills it with LAMP OIL.
4. She pulls the NECKLACE out of her dress, puts it on. [AN: this will be a different necklace, to replace the ruby necklace; when she decides to return to the castle for Samuel, Dominik will give it back to her, to “keep her safe.”]
END MONTAGE
Mira studies herself in the mirror. Dress on, hiding everything, even the necklace. Her expression is unreadable.
