Faith Inc. ep 6 – Heartland of Heresy

Episode 6

”Heartland of heresy”

Basque Country – Languedoc – Rome

A younger-looking Henri de Lorraine sits by the bed of a small boy tucked in for sleep. He starts telling the boy a story. (set in motion pictures).

”A long, long time ago nine brave knights travelled the long way from this fortress to Jerusalem. There they protected the pilgrims on the way to the Holy Land because there were many bandits preying along the way. The knights also had a secret mission, to find what was hidden a millennia ago under the Temple mount of Jerusalem by the Temple priests. For nine long years they toiled under the temple your ancestor Salomo built. And they found treasures beyond words.

Soon after the Knights of the Temple, the Knights Templar, was born. And because they held the secret of the elders, people flocked to them. Soon they was the most powerful men in the world, bowing to no king and no lord, save for The Lord himself. They became the guardians of the Holy Grail because what could be more holy than the blood of Christ? They fought mighty splendid wars against the infidel but in time they became fat and rich, and lost the holy city and then the Holy Land.

We, who had founded them and supported them, took our hand from them at Gisors. Without our support, they became vulnerable and Philip the fair, the French king, saw his chance. He owed them so much money he never could pay them back. He told the Pope vile lies and accused them of the most horrible things, and the Pope all too readily believed him because he knew he held no power over us or over the Knights. We always have been more powerful than they have.

So the king took the coward’s way. He arrested them. But we knew what was coming so we had already saved our treasures and sent them to the gentle Cathars for safe-keeping because these were troubled times. And we brought most of the Knights to other places where they would be safe. The French king was so angry that he burned the poor grandmaster Jaques de Mornay over a slow-burning fire.

The pope got more and more angry that he had no power of the Cathars either and so he unleashed a horrible crusade against them. In the name of the Lord they butchered innocent people, whole towns, and the land of Languedoc flowed red with blood.

At the last stand, at the citadel of Montfort long under siege, our ancestor, who also was named Jean, performed a ceremony celebrating the holy Baptist on his birthday. Then he did a daring escape with three of his men. They climbed down a sheer drop a hundred meters deep in the middle of the night. And the next day all the people in the citadel peacefully and happy went out to meet their horrible destiny, knowing they had been touched by the holy of the holy. And to this day, the world believes the Cathars and the Knights Templar are no more. But you and I know better, don’t we?”

Lorraine tucks the small boy in as he asks for more of the story.

Jean wakes up in the back of the car, watching the mountains outside the window.

The camera climbs up into the mountains. On a scenic parking the two french-speaking men wait by their car. Another car pulls into the parking and Maria Sanboto exits, followed by two tough-looking BASQUE TERRORISTS. The men give her a tracking device. She turns it on and the small display shows a blimp indicating where our heroes are. She pays them well and leaves.

In the car, Sinclair passes the time by reading the story of the German excavations in Languedoc during World War 2 where Licio Melli took part.

Adolf Hitler was obsessed with finding the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant, or at best, both. Success would mean nothing could stop his Third Reich, or so he believed. The only substantial the Germans got out of the expedition was a copy of an ancient grimoire, and that came more from terrorizing the local population than archaeological work. But the grimoire inspired even more obsession in Hitler as he read about the prophecy of a man being able to unlock the greatest power of all, that of the Ark of the Covenant.

After passing the Spanish-French border, a road accident slows the pace to a crawl. As Ghost steers the car closer to the wreck, it suddenly explodes. The explosion is so heavy it can not only be the gas tank.

A school bus, passing in the other lane, is lifted high in the air by impact and crashes into the rockface. Ghost steps on the gas.

”That was meant for us, I think.”

Madeleine and Jean stare horrified at the wrecked bus where the bloody and lifeless faces of children can be seen.

Higher up on the mountainside Sanboto and her accomplices escape.

Sitting in a car speeding away on narrow mountain roads, Sanboto calls Carriera and reports they failed, blaming an interfering radio signal that triggered the ignition device prematurely.

With his fiery temperament in tight rein, Carriera calls his contact at the French military intelligence, monsieur DUBOIS.

From their conversation we understand that it was French agents that put the tracker on Ghost’s car. Carriera tells Dubois that the much-wanted female leader of the ETA, Maria Sanboto, is in the car and she’s just blown up a schoolbus on French territory. Dubois readily agrees with Carriera’s suggestion of calling in a strike force.

The road runs at the bottom of a valley, through sunflower fields in full bloom. Madeleine is excited. It’s among the most beautiful things she ever seen. Behind them two attack helicopters sink down and take aim. They shoot at the car and turn for a second round. Catherine Sinclair is badly hit. Ghost stops the car with tires squealing and screams at Jean, Madeleine and Alain to get out and hide in the sunflower field. Urged on by Alain, Jean and Madeleine run out in the field, ducking to reduce the risk of being seen.

Sinclair orders Ghost out of the car. She knows she won’t survive and protecting Jean is more important than anything. Ghost follow her orders and she gives him her bag with the folder. Moving over to the drivers seat she floors the gas, hoping to lure the helicopters away. They buy the trick and shoot the car into oblivion.

Ghost waits amongst the sunflowers, searching the sky for a return of the helicopters. When none is sighted he calls out for the others. Still shocked, they start hiking on the far side of the fields, keeping out of prying eyes.

Dubois at the French intelligence calls Carriera and lets him know the mission is completed. Carriera is satisfied with the outcome.

Our heroes step off a local bus in a small town. Ghost buys a used car with money he found in Sinclair’s bag.

Their journey continues to the heartland of Languedoc where they try to find anyone who knows anything about the lost book.

At the Information Centre for Cathar studies, a RESEARCHER gives them a lead. A Madame Blanchefort might know something. Her ancestors did not only belong to one of the most prominent Cathar families, but one of them was also grandmaster of the Knights Templar. He warns them though; she is something of a sour eccentric.

After receiving road directions, Ghost drives to a great old mansion close to Chateau-la-Rennes. When the old lady, MADAME BLANCHEFORT, opens the door she stares at Jean. Abruptly, she asks them to come in. Keeping her eyes on Jean, she says they have been waiting for him for several hundred years.

She leads them through the old house to a painting by Leonardo da Vinci. The exact face of Jean, painted centuries before, stares at them. Beside him, with his back turned and a Templar cross tattooed on the naked flesh, is the spitting image of Alain. The group gape at the painting.

Madame Blanchefort says in her abrupt manner that she has the book they have come for. Our heroes look at each other, no one has even had time to mention the book yet.

They follow her out into the garden where a small building looking like an old grave vault, stands. However, there is nothing old about the high-tech lock in the massive door. She lets them in and lights a storm lamp standing on a stone shelf close to the door.

The room only contains a staircase leading downward. They descend the stairs and come to a heavy steel door. Madame Blanchefort unlocks it and they enter a natural cave with walls roughly smoothed out. The cave is a treasure-trove of times gone by. From a glass-case Mme Blanchefort retrieves a large, ancient book and presents it to Jean. She explains the background of how the book came to her possession and what its prophesy means for Jean; he and he alone has the genetic make-up to unlock the ark of the covenant. Finally he has found the destiny he has been searching for.

Bucci enters Carriera’s office and urgently demands that he turn on the TV. BBC reports that Linda Crowley’s body has been found and identified. The New Scotland Yard is working on the theory that she was shot for her public exposé of Miles Militis Deus. The report goes on to make connections to the recent exposure of the link between Miles Militis Deus, the international businessman Hernando Carriera and the regime of Pinochet. Carriera is once again working himself into a rage.

In the Vatican, the group of counter-revolutionaries has gathered to see the BBC-report together. After turning off the TV, they discuss the implications for Catholicism and how the new pope, Miguel Cipriani, is becoming a liability to the faith and to the church.

In Languedoc, Mme Blachefort treats our heroes to a nice dinner. She tells them they should go to Rome. In the secret archives of the Vatican there are documents that will clarify the rather dimly worded prophecies of the grimoire. She urges them to contact Cardinal Soforza and she will prepare him for their call. Alain remarks that he had thought the Cathar movement died with the Albigensian crusade of the 13th century. The old lady simply smiles, adding: ”That’s exactly what we want people to believe.”

During credits:

The website of Virgil and Lombard publish more damaging information on Carriera.

Interested in producing? Contact Annika Lidne

© Annika Lidne & Henrik Jansson 2002 – WGA reg no 857741