A Discovery of Witches (2018) s02e07 Episode Script

1 We are interested in a book in the possession of Edward Kelley.
I've sent ambassadors to Bohemia to retrieve Kelley.
The emperor rebuffed them.
Perhaps he will be more receptive to me.
You can be very persuasive.
My father has commanded me to return to Sept-Tours.
(MAN SCREAMING) - Matthew! - Stay back! This is what we call blood rage.
It is an affliction, sickness of the vampire blood.
MAN: The body was torn apart.
I haven't seen anything like that in centuries and we do all know the rumors about the De Clermonts' infected bloodline.
You're reborn and forever a member of our family.
I, Matthew, give my body to you, Diana, in faithful matrimony.
And I receive it.
My dearest Ysabeau, I am able to find words to straddle the centuries that separated.
Our son mated to a woman who walks in the footsteps of the goddess.
Theyjourney now to Bohemia in search of the Book of Life.
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING) (EPIC MUSIC PLAYING) (BELLS TOLLING) VON RUMPF: Halt.
Wie geht dahin? I'm Matthew Roydon, I'm here on business for Queen Elizabeth of England.
His Imperial Majesty Rudolf II tires of Elizabeth's ambassadors.
I am no mere ambassador, and I will have the Emperor's answer from his own lips.
Not yours.
Find Gallowglass and my man Pierre, would you? (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) Wait here.
This is just the Emperor's hunting lodge? Yes.
Kelley chose his benefactor very well.
The might of the Holy Roman Empire dwarves that of England in every respect.
He certainly has an eye for beauty.
Hmm.
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING) His Imperial Majesty grants you a brief audience.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER) Even when I retreat into the mountains, I cannot escape a pestering by England's diplomatic hordes.
Matthew Roydon, Your Majesty.
I know exactly who you are, Mattheus de Clermont.
Since you introduce yourself as Roydon, I then assume you are here in your capacity as Elizabeth's spy? I come representing my Queen, but not as a spy.
I would speak with her subject, Edward Kelley.
Then you are in the wrong place.
Herr Kelley resides in Prague.
I have heard that he travels with your court.
Do you question me? I know what you are vampire.
Remember, you are only permitted on Bohemian soil by my grace.
I apologize, Your Majesty Matthew is only pressing my case.
I'd hoped I'd be given an opportunity for discourse with one of England's most esteemed alchemists.
You have an interest in alchemy? It has been my life's work.
Might an Emperor ask your name? Diana, Your Majesty.
La diosa del casa! The goddess of the hunt.
May I introduce my wife, Your Majesty? My spies would have informed me had Elizabeth's Shadow taken a wife, particularly one so intriguing.
Perhaps you should consider hiring more thorough spies, Your Majesty.
Enjoy your time in Bohemia, Mistress Roydon.
Use it to teach your husband manners befitting my court.
(EPIC MUSIC PLAYING) (SIGHS) (OPENING THEME MUSIC PLAYING) MATTHEW: I don't like the way he looks at you.
Like a jewel he wanted to add to his collection.
Oh, I can handle a little clumsy flirting if it gets us closer to the Book.
(WHISTLING) (LAUGHING) Gallowglass! (LAUGHS) Oh! You've mated? Well I shall call you Auntie now.
Where is Pierre? At the lodgings.
We have an unexpected guest.
This way.
- Mistress Roydon! - Jack! JACK: We was on an enormous ship and there was a storm and lots of people were sick but I wasn't.
(PIERRE CLEARS THROAT) Come now, Jack, bedtime.
I know.
But once you left nightmares every time he slept, weeping through the day.
And you brought him to Bohemia? FRANCOISE: He tried to come on his own.
I couldn't take my eyes off him.
It wasn't safe.
It's not safe here! (SIGHS) I'm sorry.
But what would you have me do? Keep him prisoner? GALLOWGLASS: Rudolf might be telling the truth.
No one I've spoken to has seen Kelley.
I doubt that the Emperor would leave behind the man who's offered him eternal life.
He'll be here somewhere.
What about the Book? As long as we can reach Kelley he'll lead us to it.
Or he'll bring it to us.
Rudolf thinks the Book is key to creating the Philosopher's Stone, he's won't let Kelley take it.
GALLOWGLASS: Aye, you're right there.
They say once the Emperor sets his heart on something, he'll stop at nothing to get it.
- And once he has it - (BANGING AT THE DOOR) (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) MESSENGER: For the goddess.
GALLOWGLASS: The goddess? I assume that's not you, Matthew.
(AMUSING MUSIC PLAYING) DIANA: It's an automaton.
The goddess of the hunt.
What is the matter? What's the matter? I take it you saw how hostile the Emperor was.
I saw how hostile he was towards you.
He lit up when I mentioned alchemy.
(SCOFFS) You saw the gift he sent me.
He's practically inviting me back to the castle.
I can bring him Dee's book, convince him it's something that he wants No.
Kelley is the key.
And the less we arouse the attention of the Emperor, the more likely we'll be able to get Kelley back to England safely.
We don't even know if he's here.
At least, let me try while you look for him.
(SIGHS) I'll take Gallowglass with me.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) Diana Roydon.
I have a gift for His Imperial Majesty.
So does everyone, Frau Roydon.
So does everyone.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER) Madame will be all right.
Mm.
Kelley must have a laboratory here, somewhere he can continue his work undisturbed.
Let's take a look at the apothecary, Pierre.
GALLOWGLASS: I'm surprised Matthew let you approach the Emperor alone.
Well, my husband's changed a lot in the 400 years since you knew him.
But now you're mated.
And it's different.
Blood rage is harder to control, it's primal.
Physical.
If provoked he will struggle to contain himself.
(DOOR BANGS) Oh we're gonna be here till midnight at this rate.
Wait here.
(WHISPERING) What are you doing? Accelerating proceedings.
Madame De Clermont? Apologies.
Such a recent blood vow is positively deafening.
I am Benjamin Fuchs.
I work as a collector for the Emperor.
Are you a friend of the de Clermonts? I fear I am beneath their interests.
I was cast out of my own clan.
I have always found myself more comfortable around other kinds of creature.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) - (SPEAKING IN GERMAN) - Even for the Emperor's alchemist? You are not the Imperial alchemist.
Ah, so, you have met him then? It seems strange to be closing during the middle of the day, Herr Steiner.
But then, perhaps, you're expecting more customers after the sun has fallen? I open only by appointment, sir.
My exclusive list of clients commands the utmost discretion.
If you wish to browse, might I suggest you visit the market? (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) (INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING) MAN: The audience with His Imperial Majesty is over for today.
Come out.
Keep moving.
Keep moving.
Auntie.
Auntie? (WHISPERING) What did you do? I may have intimated to the Chamberlain that we have a very desirable painting for sale.
(PLEASANT MUSIC PLAYING) RUDOLF: La Diosa! You are a woman of many surprises.
I hear that you are the owner of a curious work by Hieronymous Bosch? You did? Uh Your Majesty, I In my haste to be admitted to your presence, I I fear there has been some miscommunication.
- A miscommunication? - Yes.
I so desperately wanted to thank you for the wonderful gift you sent me.
The work of Joachim Fries, if I'm not mistaken.
It is indeed! You have quite an eye, mistress.
I do not have the painting that you wanted.
However, I do have another gift.
I've seen this before.
It offers no answers, no meaning.
RUDOLF: So You lie about something I want, in order to present me with something I do not.
Even books that do not provide the answers we seek can still help us to ask better questions.
Nothing is worthless to an enquiring mind.
The deepest truths always come from the most unexpected sources.
Send for the rabbi.
Tell me, La Diosa are you interested in the rare and uncanny arts? PIERRE: Steiner was rattled.
He's hiding something.
He clearly had met Kelley.
He recognized that I wasn't him.
There's no appointments for Kelley in his ledger.
No, but there's a Talbot and that's an English name.
- Oh.
- It's tenuous, I know, but there are no other appointments listed with him until a week ago.
Shortly after Rudolf arrived here.
Mm.
And every appointment with Talbot is at an odd hour.
It's always after dark.
Someone keen to avoid being seen.
But how can we be sure Talbot is Kelley? I suppose we see for ourselves.
Talbot has an appointment booked for tonight.
Thank you, Pierre.
(SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) Allow me to introduce the Rabbi Loew, known as The Maharal.
A learned scholar and my honored guest.
The honor is mine, Your Majesty.
Another tome for you to decipher.
Come! RUDOLF: The Rabbi has a gift for ancient languages.
The Hebrew of his people's book is perhaps closer to the primitive tongues long lost to Christian ears.
I have no knowledge that cannot be learned by anyone with sufficient reading, Jew or Gentile.
I cannot believe that.
Please.
RUDOLF: Of course the bulk of my Kunstkammer, I had to leave behind, in Prague.
But the quest for knowledge must not be abandoned.
I hope the goddess of the hunt is not disappointed with my traveling collection? This drinking vessel (DOOR CLOSES) is fashioned from the horn of a unicorn.
Incredible.
Entirely incredible.
In Prague, men speak of a man of clay, animated by Jewish magics the name of God written inside its skull.
Rumors, Your Highness.
Designed to inspire fear of our people, who are nothing but loyal subjects.
RUDOLF: But words have power, do they not? I have heard Jews know the secret names of angels.
LOEW: Is that so, Your Highness? As the true meaning of an artwork is disguised by symbols so might the hidden meaning of words be revealed through the mathematics of their letters.
DIANA: You have so many miraculous items, things I would hardly have believed existed.
I half expect to find that you've acquired the Philosopher's Stone.
Alas.
The means to create the Philosopher's Stone is yet to be discovered, La Diosa.
Ah, the Root of Eppendorf? It has the miraculous form of Jesus Christ.
Trifle late to be shopping, isn't it, Edward? Oh, and Queen Elizabeth sends her regards.
What do you want from me? Wearh.
To talk.
Just to talk.
You can stand your men down.
They don't answer to me.
So, you are a prisoner? Has the Emperor lost patience with your empty promises? You know nothing of my work! I know you stole the Book from Dee.
No! The Book is mine.
It speaks to me.
It screams! You You have no claim! It begins with absence and desire.
Blood and fear.
It begins with a discovery of witches.
I must work.
My work! (SOBBING) (BIRDS SCREECHING) It's very gallant of you to escort me all the way from our lodgings.
I wanted to speak to the Maharal myself.
Rabbi Loew is one of history's most esteemed scholars.
Rudolf brought him here specifically to decipher books.
Diana Kelley was raving.
Rudolf has him as his prisoner.
Just Be careful what you say.
Whatever rumors Gallowglass heard, Rudolf has been nothing but kind to me.
We can trust Loew.
I'm sure of it.
Matthew, son of Philippe.
Please.
Thank you.
A witch, a vampire, and a Jew, meeting in secret.
It would set Christian tongues wagging for miles around.
Oh I noticed a yellow circle.
Men fear what they do not see more than what they do.
The Emperor is convinced my people hoard secret magics.
Rudolf brought you here to study a book, didn't he? Your husband believes that is a dangerous question to ask.
One should find wholeness in a marriage, Matthew.
But it should never become a prison.
MATTHEW: Let us be honest with each other, Maharal.
We are looking for a very particular alchemical book.
I knew as soon as I saw it, I was not the one God has chosen to read it.
Perhaps you are, Frau Roydon? Rabbi, how did you convince Rudolf to let you see it? He convinced himself, imagining I would succeed where others had failed.
He will be furious when I cannot.
DIANA: Why not just tell him? Frau Roydon, to disappoint the Emperor is dangerous.
But to refuse him could be deadly.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) No, I'm done.
- Jack, are you cheating? - He's won again! (DOOR OPENS) A letter came.
- MATTHEW: Oh, yes? - For Mistress Roydon.
Oh It's a summons to a pheasant hunt with the Emperor.
Can I come? Give them a moment to talk, Jack.
Come on.
This has gone too far.
Kelley won't bring us the Book.
We need to go through Rudolf.
- He let Rabbi Loew read it.
- And when the Rabbi fails Rudolf will imprison you like Kelley, or worse.
But I can read it.
All I have to do is convince Rudolf to let me try.
And what then? He won't give up the Book.
He will lock you away with it.
His new curiosity.
You just don't like the way he is around me.
- You have to trust me.
- This is not a matter of trust.
Then let me try.
What other plan do you have? I've got one.
Both of you join the Emperor's hunt.
I think I can get into the Kunstkammer Annex.
The Book must be in there somewhere.
If I can steal it, we can all get out of here before Rudolf even knows it's gone.
And what are the Queen's interests? We need Kelley.
Without the Book, Rudolf will have no use for poor old Edward.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER) RUDOLF: Strange.
I only required Frau Roydon's presence.
Not yours.
My apologies.
I simply cannot resist a spot of falconry.
Then I suppose we must find you an appropriate bird.
Artemis, as the Greeks called Diana.
I cannot say which of you I should rather hunt with.
Artemis will be mine, Mattheus.
Sarka will be your bird.
So, she's a warrior then? Yes.
During the Maiden's War, Sarka destroyed an entire battalion by herself.
You flatter me, Your Majesty.
Success in the hunt relies on the skill of the falconer not the wiles of his bird, Mattheus.
Play nice.
(GRUNTS) (DOOR OPENS) (FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING) (CROWD CLAPPING) Well done, Your Majesty.
Has Rabbi Loew looked at the book I gave you yet? RUDOLF: The rabbi has been busy.
With other books? I fear the Rabbi's learning has been somewhat exaggerated.
Ask no more about him or his books.
You have been slow to loose Sarka, Mattheus.
Afraid to let your bird fly free, lest she find a more comfortable place to roost? I have some experience with alchemical texts myself Yes.
You are an intriguing case, Frau Roydon.
An alchemist and a witch, and supposedly married to a vampire.
Don't you find his touch a little cold? (DIANA CHUCKLES) You jest, Your Majesty.
Do you not sometimes wish for something warmer in your bed? Release.
(BIRDS SCREECHING) You broke my bird! Your Majesty, my husband Begone! You have abused my kindness monstrously.
Agents! Spies! I want you gone from my lands! The Book wasn't there but I found something else.
Rudolf's secret collection.
That hand belonged to a witch.
It was in a box with a necklace of wearh teeth.
The preserved brain of some poor demon Bits of creatures.
That's it.
We leave tonight.
What about the Book? Enough of the Book! I'll, um (DOOR OPENS) If you're angry at me, just say it.
You are never to see him again.
God's sake, Matthew! Why don't you trust me? You don't understand.
I don't trust myself.
Then let me speak to Rudolf alone.
I cannot! I cannot I can smell him on you.
(MATTHEW GRUNTS) This is why I lied to you.
This is what mating is.
An unspeakable urge to possess you, body and soul.
The rage The rage that feeds on it.
(MATTHEW GRUNTS) It's all right, Matthew.
You have never seen what it makes me do.
You won't hurt me.
No! Not you.
For you.
I would wade through the blood of kings, queens and emperors.
I would stop at nothing to prevent that from happening to you.
Matthew We're still talking.
Let me go! You are not defined by the worst things you have done.
You are my husband.
And the most brilliant man I know.
You are kind and gentle.
Come back to me.
You are Matthew de Clermont.
And stronger than this.
(INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING) (KNOCK ON DOOR) (DOOR OPENS) The Emperor sends his apologies and summons you both to view the Kunstkammer.
We have to go.
Tell Pierre to bring Francoise and Jack, and horses enough for all of us to the main gates by nightfall.
It's very likely we'll be leaving in a hurry.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER) Your Majesty, may I apologize Nonsense, nonsense.
It was all just sport! Please A medicinal.
The horn renders it twice as efficacious.
Exquisite, is it not? Hmm.
It represents the serpent in the Garden, reminding us to be watchful for the poison tongue of flatterers and deceivers.
Is there part of your collection you keep from the public eye? Is there something in particular you wish to see? I hear you possess a book, one that contains the secrets of life itself.
Lately, La Diosa, my trust and generosity has been much abused by dissemblers and liars.
Many of you expressed surprise when I invited a Jewish mystic into my court.
But you need not have worried.
This Jew has no arcane talent beyond the typical low cunning of his people.
Is that not so, Rabbi? As you say, Your Majesty.
Get this deceiver out of my sight.
If I did have this book you speak of, why would I give it to you? A prying English spy and charlatan? I am no charlatan.
You You are magnificent.
Anything you want, anything, anything, name it.
Show me the Book.
(KELLEY GASPS) This is an outrage.
Kelley is an Englishman and under the Queen's protection.
You had your chance, Edward.
- Let La Diosa see the book.
- No.
(BOOK SCREAMING) Screaming It won't stop screaming in my head! (KELLEY GASPS) Screaming You may have Kelley, Shadow.
I no longer need him.
I have found something much more precious.
(KELLEY SCREAMING) DIANA: The Book! KELLEY: It won't stop screaming.
DIANA: No! Give me the book.
Diana! Matthew! This way! Stop them! (KELLEY CRIES) (INDISTINCT SHOUTING) Go! Where is Jack? Francoise's waiting with him, two miles north.
Pierre.
This book is made from the skin of creatures.
GALLOWGLASS: Matthew Witches, demons, vampires The ink is made from our blood.
The pages are bound together with our hair.
I'm sorry, Diana, but this is more like a book of death.
Matthew, we have to go.
Hyah! Absence and desire.
Blood and fear I can still hear the book screaming.
GUARD: Quiet! No one cares about your book.
- (GROWLING) - (GUARD GROANING) (KELLEY GASPING) I care about your book, Edward.
GUIDE: Most of the items in Rudolf II's Kunstkammer now reside in different collections across the world.
But here We have some of the writings made by the English alchemist Edward Kelley while he was imprisoned.
Most are illegible however.
And the mysterious "Screaming Book" he mentions has never been conclusively identified.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER) Edward Kelley claims to have bequeathed a single page to each of the three species.
If we could find one Becca, what are you trying to tell us? This is the property of the Knights of Lazarus.
I am Grandmaster of the Knights.
And I'm Princess Leia.
MARCUS: All you will find are questions.
Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you.
I trust you're here with solid information.
DOMENICO: I've established a connection I think will interest you.
- BALDWIN: A baby? - MARCUS: A witch born to demons.
If this is true the witches will want the child.
I'd hate to assume you a part of some de Clermont conspiracy involving blood rage.
Whatever you know, you should tell me.
Now.
See into the dark Just follow your eyes In the dark I hear whose wish is far too wild Into the dreams