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King?
    UNFERTH
    You are the King. And that is a monster from Hell. There is no dishonor in fleeing from such a beast.
    Hrothgar pulls away from him, and stumbles toward Grendel, his sword in his hand.
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    But Grendel avoids him, with ease.
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    Grendel has pulled a man apart at the legs, as if it were splitting a wishbone. It throws the body at the fire, putting out the last of the light.
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    The room goes dark.
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    We hear PEOPLE SCREAMING AND SOBBING, in the darkness.
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    Then a torch is lit, and another, and another….
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    In the silence, we see that the room is literally awash with blood. And that many of the men are gone.
    WEALTHOW
    What was…that?
    We spiral in, dizzyingly, into HROTHGAR’s blood-spattered face. And he says:
    HROTHGAR
    Grendel.
    CUT TO:
    21 INT. GRENDEL’S LAIR - NIGHT
    21
    Grendel shambles into his lair -- a cave mouth, beside a pool. He is dragging two or three bodies in one hand, and has a couple of other dead warriors slung over his shoulders. We are watching him from behind, as he moves.
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    Then he steps into the water, walking down. The dead eyes of a dead warrior stare at us sightlessly, and then vanish under water.
    CUT TO:
    22 INT. THE GREAT CAVE - GRENDEL’S MOTHER’S LAIR - NIGHT
    22
    Somewhere under the water there is an underground cave. It is a strange and unnerving place. There are bones, many of them human. Greenish-golden light flickers in this place. Old weapons, of enormous size, are strewn around, hanging onthe glimmering rock walls - particularly a huge GIANT SWORD. There is a pool taking up some of the place.
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    Grendel comes, step by laborious step, out of the pool, dragging his warrior-bodies with him.
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    GRENDEL’S MOTHER is sitting a little way away, on a shipwreck. She is in the shadows, and swathed in dark cloth. What we can see of her skin glitters, like gold.
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    This is the first good look we have had at Grendel. He is huge, and strangely misshapen. His fingernails are sharp claws, his eyes are serpentine, his teeth are pointed. He is hairless. But he has charisma, and we feel for him. He is more or less naked.
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    Grendel’s mother’s VOICE is melodious and young.
    GRENDEL’S MOTHER
    Grendel? What have you done?
    GRENDEL
    Mother? Where are you?
    Grendel’s Mother stands up, and moves forward. We still can’t see her properly.
    GRENDEL’S MOTHER
    Men? Grendel…we had an agreement. Fish, and wolves, and bear, and sometimes a sheep or two. But not men.
    GRENDEL
    You like men.
    GRENDEL’S MOTHER
    Grendel. They will hurt us if they can. They have killed so many of us…the Giant-breed, the Dragon-kind…
    GRENDEL
    Here.
    He holds out a body.
    GRENDEL’S MOTHER
    (tired)
    Just put it down, Grendel.
    GRENDEL
    They were making such noise. So much noise. It hurt my head and my mind. I could not think.
    Tears begin to run down Grendel’s face. He lets go of all the warriors he is holding, and they float on the surface of the pool.
    GRENDEL’S MOTHER
    (sharply)
    Was Hrothgar there?
    GRENDEL
    I did not touch him.
    Grendel squats down on the rock-floor, and, almost absentmindedly, begins to eat the face of a warrior.
    GRENDEL’S MOTHER
    (pacified)
    Good boy. My poor sensitive boy.
    CUT TO BLACK:
    SEVERAL MONTHS LATER
    23 EXT. HEROT - VILLAGE - DAY
    23
    It’s a grey, wet, drizzling morning, wet and dull. Unferth walks though the camp. When he gets to the hall, he sees the great doors are open, and he goes in.
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    Then, a few seconds later, he runs out -- we can see that Unferth limps as he runs -- he has sustained some kind of injury to his legs from Grendel, since we last saw him.
    CUT TO:
    24 INT. HEROT - HROTHGAR’S QUARTERS - DAY
    24
    Hrothgar and Wealthow are asleep in their bed -- a straw pallet, covered with cloth and deer hides, and, covering them, more deer hides and furs. They both sleep naked, but are beneath the fur. The PITTER-PATTER OF RAIN on the