Original subtitles

Greetings, Yorat.

Yorath.

There�s your wine. As promised.

Sit down.

Well now, how much?

And I won�t pay silly money, eh? Just bronze.

Not money, Jute. A trade.

Uh-huh? What then?

Some Saxon women.

Five will do.

Ohhh.

A pleasant night�s outing for you.

A few er... throats... slit?

A few miles of forest walked.

But they must be young.

And fair.

I see, yeah.

Herded down onto your boat.

Sent across the sea, eh?

To be sold as concubines on the slave blocks of Athens, eh?

You bastard!

Father! No!

But, father... � Gooo!

I too am a woman.

Then you will know your place!

You will know that a woman is born to be the property of a man!

See the markings on the horse? Jute.

One of Yorath�s men.

Arthur, I would talk with you.

Well...

Kai, her horse.

A Greek trader has come with wine.

Wine my father would have at any price.

What the trader wants for it... is...

A dozen haunches of good meat?

He asks for women. � You see?

Five young Saxon women!

Don�t you understand?

They are to be sold, like animals.

I have an alliance with your father.

Women like me!

And I�m not seeing it placed in jeopardy by a few Saxons.

But it won�t stop with Saxons!

Next he will ask... Saxons for Celtic women, and other traders will follow.

The Romans, and Spaniards, and...

Kai, give her back her horse.

Llud?

You have no pride!

Yes, pride!

I should have thought your own would have stopped you from selling women.

I have sold no one.

But you are willing to stand aside and see others do it!

Get on your horse. Ride!

Arthur, can�t you see what is at stake?

Will you get her out of here?

Leave me!

She goes now!

Cowards! Hypocrites!

You talk with your gored tongue!

We�ll not see her for a month or two.

Count it not in months, but in moments.

Not easily dissuaded, that one.

And still I say...

Hold your tongue!

We shall see.

Ulah!

Get behind!

Yorath.

Welcome, Arthur.

What brings you to our poor country?

Hunting.

Your daughter chanced upon us, and told us

of a hundred nights of rare vintage pleasure.

Hah!

Yeah! Wine!

Men have gathered to talk.

To drink, and to rape defenceless women.

Go.

Before they are sold, pound for pound, like cattle.

To our alliance and friendship... Arthur.

And may no woman ever come between us, mmm?

That�s what you�ve come about, isn�t it?

Those Saxon sows?

My daughter�s pretty tongue been buzzing nonsense again.

Honey one moment,

viper�s venom the next.

She�s right, Yorath.

Sell your Saxon women to this Greek thief, and he�ll be back next year.

But up the coast, to some Saxon chief,

and the price will be Celtic women, or Jute women.

No wine is worth the human life.

But they are Saxons!

Saxons to us.

But daughters and sisters to their fathers and brothers.

They have fathers and brothers no longer, Arthur, ya? Drink.

Our alliance, Yorath. The peace between us.

Isn�t it built on trust in each other?

Enough, Arthur!

On something more than savagery?

Enough!

On respect for human dignity and life?

I said, enough!

I am the king here!

And a fool!

Have care!

An old fool, at that.

Old and foolish enough not to respect the first law of life.

Huh! Law!

Hark at this pup, speaking of law! Heh!

Legal-minded, are you?

Well then let me tell you one thing, and then call me a fool.

There is a treaty between us.

It says that each shall respect the law of the other.

And my law, and all our law, is... the Jute law,

brought with me across from my own native land when I settled here.

The law in my country says that women are property.

Laws that died with your grandfather.

The law says that each woman shall be worth not less than two pigs,

and the hides of ten deer.

Untie them.

Touch them, and our alliance is finished.

I said, free them.

I warn you!

He means what he says.

Is it worth it?

We fought long and hard to make this alliance real.

Blood flowed, Arthur. Friends died.

The blood that flows in the veins of those women is the same as yours.

I know that. So perhaps one of them could be my sister.

The treaty, your treaty!

Am I to submit to blackmail?

If you want to keep this alliance real, you have no choice.

More wine! Tonight, we drink! Yeah!

My women!

My women.

My women!

My women!

Yorat!

Yorath! � Yeah.

They�ve gone! � Who?

My women! They�ve gone!

Where are they?

Those Saxon women?

Gone! In the night!

Where�ve you taken them?

Perhaps you�d better ask your daughter!

Eh! My daughter!

She would have never dared it alone.

He had a hand in it! � No.

True, I came to seek their freedom, but...

Aaargh!

Wait!

I will not see blood shed in my camp

for the ravings of your maniac daughter.

I tell you again.

I had nothing to do with the freeing of those women.

And I tell you,

that she would never have dared their rescue without your help.

You must believe what you believe.

Our alliance is finished.

If you dare set foot on my land, you will be treated as an enemy!

Get out of here!

Arthur�s word is suspect.

So a hard-fought-for treaty disappears on the wind.

What would you have me do, Kai?

Admit to a wrong I have not done?

And what would that achieve?

It could not bring back our alliance.

Not by itself, no.

But if you then brought back to Yorath...

those Saxon women,

then all the fighting and death that preceded that alliance

would not have been in vain.

Not only would you have me a confessed liar in Yorath�s eyes,

but...

But we would keep our treaty with him.

The law.

Law?

The treaty with Yorath did say, each should respect the laws of the other.

And Yorath was careful to explain his laws in detail.

I will send my apologies to Yorath.

And I will fetch him back his Saxon women.

We�re getting near. Tie the horses.

Come out!

Leave us in peace!

If we go back to Yorath, we go back dead.

Better still, return to life and freedom.

I give you my promise.

Your promises mean nothing!

No one of them is my sister.

We cannot attack them.

Not if we want to take them back to Yorath�s camp in one piece.

What about us?

While we�re trying to take them alive,

they�ll beat us to death with their clubs.

Follow them, and leave a trail.

I�ll be back.

Now!

Your women, Yorath.

Your Saxon maidens. May you wax rich.

What is this?

The law.

The law?

The law of your kingdom, Yorath.

The law you brought from your foreign lands. The Jute law.

Stand back.

The trader takes these women, now!

No. They die.

They die?

Now!

And by your hand!

The laws of your kingdom say that no captives shall be taken.

The law of the Jutes says, all captives shall die at once by the sword.

Kill them!

Oooh!

It�s a good joke, Arthur!

You got your own back.

Fair game, eh?

Kill them.

Enough is enough, Arthur.

We are friends. Allies together.

They�re only women.

Be reasonable.

Saxon women.

Once on the Greek boat, and away from the shores,

they�ll be as good as dead, anyway.

A woman is born to belong to a man.

To be used, bought or sold, and do with as he wishes.

Prisoners are to be killed.

We�re waiting, Yorath.

So are your men.

Waiting to see if their leader will stand by his laws.

Very well. Aaaarghh!

Yorat!

Don�t dare touch them!

Aaaarghh!

What are you doing!

My wine! My wine!

My wine!

A sly dog you are, Arthur.

You knew me too well, eh?

To our alliance, Arthur!

To Yorath!

Yorat! Call off your men!

These women are mine! You can�t free them, they�re mine!

We made a bargain, Yorat!

Yorath!

Arthur?

Are you going to say it? � Say what?

That you�re a fool.

A shrew, with a viper�s tongue.

That you were wrong.

Wrongfully wrong.

I was wrong.

I was a fool.

I beg your forgiveness.