1
Hundreds of years ago,
when the Romans
occupied Britannia,
the clans of the north were
a people impossible to tame,
and so the emperor, Hadrian,
erected a wall across the isle
to stop their deadly raids
and control the countryside.
Though Rome eventually fell,
the Wall still stands.
Knights of the southern
kingdoms guard its ramparts,
ever fearful
of the mysterious north,
where some clans,
led by a wise circle of druids,
are content to work
their lands in peace,
while others envision a day
when the wall
comes tumbling down.
May the fire carry our voices
to the stars
under which we sleep,
let the spirits
bless our homelands
as we honor
the old codes we keep.
Oh, heavens,
druids from every clan gather
here to understand your mysteries
and learn of the future.
A falling star
from the constellation Draco.
This is a sign
to gather swords,
go over the wall
and claim the wealthy lands
that are rightfully ours.
Put this in our trove
for safekeeping.
Brother Brude,
sometimes you must leave
well enough alone.
Are we not guides to our
people of the north?
Why learn the spells
of the ancients
if not to use them
for a just cause?
I'm beginning to doubt
this druid circle
can effectively lead
the Celts any longer.
This falling star could mean
a new era for the Celts.
An era of peace.
Our people
are tired of fighting.
That is why I invited the
Painted Tribe to join us.
The Picti.
To spur the clans to war.
They can be quite motivational.
I will take
you!
By sun and moon
switching stance, two as one,
druids, dance!
By the light of the moon,
by which all power flows,
we will show our
people the way forward
with blood
and iron!
All right,
you puking foot-lickers!
Tomorrow, the squires
who have pleased me
will be knighted
and earn a Silver Sword.
This is your last test
of combat.
And the winner
gets a cut
of the collections.
Begin.
Don't take it too hard,
we can't all be knighted.
I'm sure you'll make
a fine soldier.
I'm not taking orders.
I'm giving them.
Put some weight in it!
Get a blade!
Finally, something interesting.
I'm getting a seat
at the knight's table.
Do you always need two
friends to get your sword up?
I've been waiting a long time
to give your tart
mouth a beating.
It's obvious
you should quit, Gareth.
I don't quit.
You will.
I quit.
Oh, now he'll see.
I quit.
Please, Gareth.
Sir Gareth.
First day
of the month! Pay up!
Make your payments!
Pay up!
Pay your respects to Sir Horsa.
What? No.
Please, sir.
Here's your blood money.
And much good may it do you.
Watch your mouth!
Pay up!
Come on, pay up!
Coins.
What good will a few coins
from a poor man do you?
You think that wall is enough to
protect you from the savages?
Show some respect.
It's that time!
Everyone pays!
These last few months,
they've been preparing for war.
How'd you like us to let
them meet your daughter?
Get inside. Go.
Who did you think
defends the garrison, eh?
You there.
You're next.
We're about to fetch you
some of those coins, squire.
Old man!
Got clay in those ears?
It's time for your tribute.
Trade's dried up.
People are scared,
they've moved south.
I haven't sold enough
to give you a cut.
You know the routine.
Need me to remind you?
Oh.
You've got a good eye.
Twelve days of my life in that.
How much of yourself have
you ever put into one thing?
Is he giving you
trouble in there?
No!
Just showing him
who's in charge.
Feels light.
Some of them were short, master.
But they won't do it again.
Keep my share.
A squire walking away
from his cut?
I only meant to honor you.
You honor me
by obeying my command.
Kneel.
Lower.
Lower.
You remember that smell?
It's the stench of the
poor and the common.
Why do you want
to go back there, boy?
I'm not a boy anymore, master.
And I don't want to go back.
I want to be a knight.
This is what you've
worked so hard for,
and you'd throw all that away.
For what?
You're good with a blade
but you've cost me money.
Get your kit and get out.
You're not gonna be knighted.
But I've done
all you've ever asked.
I've oiled your armor,
tended your horses.
I've got nothing else.
By my count, you owe me
a hundred crowns.
Bring it to me.
Then you can have your sword.
You can be one of us!
You can be a knight.
I'd have to steal
to earn that much.
Better get started then.
Swear by your life.
I swear my affinity.
Swear by your life.
I swear my affinity.
More knights, more war.
All rotten to the core.
Arise, knights of
Sir Horsa's Guard!
My roof leaks,
but not this much.
Come on.
More soup, Begilda.
He's a grown man.
The legends say that when dragons
were alive, they served mankind.
So I thought tableware
seemed appropriate.
But no one buys it.
Who wants to touch a lizard
every time you need a drink?
It'll be popular again,
you'll see.
People need a sign
to believe in.
You asked how long I put
myself into something?
Five years cleaning
my master's boots.
And is that an order
you still want to belong to?
Plague took my parents.
Priests got rid of me
as soon as they could.
Being a squire was hard,
but I belonged.
When you're a knight,
you get respect.
I'll find those hundred
crowns and my sword.
I won't be poor anymore.
Where I come from, we say,
"The poor are first to suffer,
but also first to help."
There's honor in that.
The heavens weep!
What sorcery is this?
Oh, it's a sign.
It's a sign! It's a sign!
Of what?
Maybe an opportunity!
Tell the gate
to double the watch.
This could be
a Celt-skin trick.
Yes, sir.
My father used to mine soil and rocks,
and sometimes, he said...
Ah! His tools!
He said sometimes,
the heavens would drop
a rock to the Earth,
a rock full of riches.
It is north of the wall.
There are painted
flesh-eaters everywhere.
You're right.
But I bet there's gold
at the end of that rainbow.
I can do it.
I wish you good fortune.
Watching you young boys
run around the village
made me wonder what a son
of ours would have become.
I would have passed him
this necklace
to give his true love.
Maybe you can use it one day.
Shh!
Saltpeter.
Did those supplies come in yet?
They have, sir.
I've got a knight's salary
to spend on you now, my lovely.
Cuthbert.
Is that a knight I see?
No, my mistake.
Just a beggar.
With no coins to my name.
Yet.
He's heading south,
looking for a warm
street to die on.
As usual you're mistaken.
I'm heading north.
Over the wall.
- Oh, I can't see!
- Arrest him!
He's got my sword!
Come on!
He's getting away!
Help! Thief!
He's on the wall!
To your posts!
You're fen-sucked now.
Good luck among the savages!
You'll eat your words when
I'm back with a full purse
and a knighthood to claim!
I can still get him!
Save your arrows.
They're gonna have
his liver for lunch.
No one will ever
remember you, Gareth!
Show yourself.
Ahhh!
A thousand crowns
if there are a hundred.
Pox me. A dragon.
Gold.
Fetch the sorcerer!
No, you don't. That's mine!
No!
Shade by day, bright by night,
to do my will
in full moon's light!
Brothers.
Our greatest weapon is now at hand.
It's a sign! It's a sign!
It took me an hour to brew that!
I'm sure making poison
takes great patience.
Poison?
This is to keep you
from getting sick.
What is this place?
All that remains of the collected
knowledge of the druids.
They're our prophets
and our oracles.
I was an apprentice
with the White Circle,
preparing to take
the Great Trial
and earn this robe.
That's when Brude
began his reign of terror,
and the druids were killed.
Brude.
That sorcerer?
I need to find him.
He has the dragon's eggs.
Yes.
And they're very valuable.
There's no telling
what he might do with them.
But save your strength.
The time to face Brude
will come soon enough,
now that you're on our side.
I'm on no one's side but my own.
Are you sure?
Look.
The druids prophesized that a
favorable omen would show in the sky.
And it has.
A dragon has returned
to our lands,
and I believe it
brought you to us.
It saved your life.
You've been chosen.
A sign.
A dragon was sometimes known to
share its heart with an ailing
human who'd earned its respect.
You selflessly
protected its eggs.
Could this be dangerous?
I don't know.
I'm just an apprentice.
Right now I'm learning
the unknotting spell.
The knots
are supposed to disappear.
I was once an apprentice.
A squire.
Before you became a knight.
Yes.
Oh, I knew it!
The way you handled this blade.
And how you stood up
to those savages.
You're a knight of the Old Code.
Old Code?
Uh, Merlin, the first druid,
kept company with dragons
over 400 years ago.
They helped the king named Arthur
bring peace to the whole isle.
The first dragons taught the
knights a code of honor.
"A knight is sworn to valor.
"His heart knows only virtue.
"His blade..."
Well, the rest is illegible,
it just says, "his blade."
Defends the helpless.
So you do know it.
Yes.
We recite it every day.
Lorne. Is that
wall-crawler awake?
Wall-crawler?
That's Rhonu.
You want my advice?
Just nod and say, yes.
I told you to keep
the southerner bound.
Stay back!
Rhonu, he can help us.
He's a knight, and the dragon saved him...
He's no knight.
I am, and have
no quarrel with you.
Now let me pass
and I'll be on my way.
Kill the boy
if you think it will help.
Wait!
You need our help to find Brude.
What if he could help us?
What if he could get the dragon
to fight on our side?
Not poison.
Ah.
My uncle and I cut down
five more bodies.
Brude has driven every
village into hiding
and hanged
the able-bodied men
who won't join his army.
We only want to live in peace.
But between him
and your accursed wall...
Lorne says this creature
saved your life.
Is it true?
Has a dragon
come from the stars?
And with nine eggs.
How will you convince it
to take up our cause?
When dragons were alive,
they served mankind.
Knights had a special bond with them.
We're chosen.
It's southern hogwash.
It was fate that
brought me to the dragon.
Perhaps it's fate
that our causes unite.
Each noose
yields a string
that I will shoot back
at Brude
in the name of the dead.
This one is for my mother.
Show us this dragon.
This way.
I can feel him!
It's moving.
Whoa!
My heart.
And your heart.
Is one heart, yes?
Me, Gareth.
Me, strong.
Good. Good human.
Uh...
The others, savages. Bad.
Really awful, evil, smelly...
I shared my heart
with the village idiot.
You talk?
And you're a male dragon.
But you lay eggs.
Don't make assumptions.
The eggs are not mine.
I'm their guardian.
No offense meant.
And I didn't know
dragons could talk.
We can't.
At least not like this.
You did this to me.
When our hearts were shared,
I suddenly found
words in my mouth.
Do you have a name?
Back home I am called,
Hissyoxyillammochogannatoss.
So...
How about something simpler?
Uh, I know.
You're a dragon.
How about Drago?
Drago.
Drago.
It'll do.
Why did you save me?
For your mercy.
The young dragons,
sit in their shells.
Without thinking of yourself,
you saved them.
Gareth. Great!
No, no, no.
It's all right.
They're friends.
They're friends.
Me, human.
You, dragon.
Been through that, thank you.
It speaks!
A witness
to a dragon and knight
sharing a heart.
A knight?
You?
Yes.
Sir Gareth.
Very well.
I can use a knight
to help me rescue the eggs.
In the wrong hands,
a great harm can be done with them.
Follow me.
Why don't you fly down
and burn them all to a cinder?
Watch.
Hurry! It's coming!
Keep the fires stoked.
You heard that!
Downwind!
I'll take a tongue for
every one that goes out!
The sorcerer has cursed me.
By day or by the light
of a torch,
I become ghostly.
If you can darken some torches,
I can get the eggs back and fulfill
my duty to raise the dragons
as friends to mankind.
And if we return
the eggs to you,
will you help us
defeat these savages?
Gladly.
Intruder!
Intruder!
Prepare!
Oil!
Fire!
Soon, my child.
You will understand
what I have in store for you.
Hmm.
Paint can't hide your true skin.
A southerner?
So far from home.
What brings you over the wall?
Are you a spy?
Ah.
You like my treasures?
I prayed
that the prophecy
would bring me one dragon
that I could make my own.
Stay down.
But nine?
They will grow up knowing me
as their only master,
and when their wings are strong,
they will fly over your wall
and show your people
the horror they've shown mine.
Tie him to the tree.
This is what happens to those
who stand against
the tide of the moon!
They share each other's pain.
Water!
Bonded,
just like Merlin said.
If you die,
so does the dragon.
So valuable.
Brude chose the moon
to be his spirit guide.
When it ebbs, at dawn,
his powers will be
at his weakest.
Sleep now, Mother Moon.
Swell thy belly to
bring upon a blacker night.
Come.
We're going hunting.
I can bring forth a fog
so thick it will
hide your movements,
yet so natural
they'll never suspect it's me.
You better be worth
a hundred crowns,
or I'm frying the lot of you.
Lorne.
Here.
I can do this.
Earth and water,
blackest bog,
water and air,
white as fog.
White as fog!
White as fog!
What's this?
Sorcery!
Horses from the trees!
Brace yourselves, men!
Get out of the way!
I'll take that.
Catch!
Ha! Ha!
You'll need more
than smoke tricks, runt.
Ha!
Ha!
Stop.
We'll wait for my uncle here.
We should keep
moving while we can.
Where I come from,
when you have the advantage,
you use it.
Wait!
Lorne! Lorne!
Are you hurt?
Sorcery has a cost.
Even when you get it right.
Here, get up.
The younger you are,
the more it drains your energy.
Drago.
Thank you for saving them.
Daylight burns.
I must stay in the shadows.
Did you see that?
He jumped.
And what good is a dragon
powerless beneath the sun?
We've staked everything on him.
Can't you break the curse?
I was never ordained.
But perhaps with time
I could study my scrolls.
Find your remedy?
We've some time until
they catch their horses,
but they'll hunt down every last
family in the vale to find you.
No, Brude will follow the eggs.
I'll take them south in the wagon,
drawing his forces away.
That will give you time
to gather those in hiding,
and a chance to make a stand.
Head south and you hit
the Wall in three days.
There's more road to the north.
Unless you're planning on taking
those eggs back over for yourself.
No. I can travel faster over
ground I've already covered.
Besides, I'm a knight.
I'm chosen.
The dragon trusts me.
All right.
South it is.
But Brude has men taking
slaves in the hills.
We'll have to be careful.
We?
Well, I'm coming with you.
And Lorne can study
his scrolls along the way.
Arm every man who can fight,
then come south and we'll
trap Brude against the Wall.
Rhonu, the journey will be difficult,
with little sleep.
Do I look like I've
lived a life of comfort?
I forbid it.
Forbid?
I'm only concerned
for your safety.
And can you blame me?
You must have felt something
when you touched my heart?
Let's get started.
She grows on you, does she not?
Like a thorny vine.
The answer is no, by the way.
I can't blame you
for feeling protective.
Well, laugh, if you will.
Come now,
you really think a Celt
could like a southerner?
Well, a man is a man, is he not?
Aye, a man be a man,
but his homeland
gives him his nature.
At least that's what we believe.
Inside the Wall.
Inside? You mean outside.
No, this side is inside.
The other side is inside.
This is outside.
You built the Wall
to keep us in.
Like animals in a cage.
It was built to keep you out,
like monsters at your door.
And I didn't build it.
And I am not
a monster.
I could have chosen wiser words.
Whoa!
What in hellfire just happened?
I was just holding it.
I didn't mean to.
Until the dragons hatch,
they have no control
over their fire.
I'm afraid some of them
might not survive this journey.
I need the southerner alive!
They'll have heard the sound.
Then we get off
the road. Go on foot.
Stick to broken ground.
Hand me the eggs.
Slowly.
That's it.
Careful.
That's it.
There's a cave up ahead.
Gareth.
What do you see?
A shadow.
It has shape and feeling.
Yes.
Brude's dark sorcery
has opened the shadows to me
and through our hearts,
to you as well.
Come. I'll show you
how it works.
Waiting for me to carry
you over the threshold?
Master shadow jumping
and you'll travel
with great speed.
Like growing wings!
Drago! Wait up!
Step number one,
think of the shadows as doors.
Use your imagination.
See? Every shadow
is a passageway.
Now give it a try.
It's shadow jumping,
not shadow standing.
Yeah, keep laughing,
lizard breath.
Step number two,
choose a shadow
to exit ahead of you.
Step number three,
focus and take your mind off distractions.
Now follow me.
Jump, jump, jump!
Jump!
Jump!
Jump, jump, jump!
Jump!
You can do it!
Concentrate!
Jump!
Ow.
Maybe you haven't
inherited anything from me.
Either that or Rhonu's
distracting you.
I do think she likes you.
You're mad.
Notice how she sneers at you.
When a female dragon
finds a male worthy,
she strikes him with her tail.
Let's hope that tradition
doesn't catch on amongst humans.
You like her too.
I do not.
Each day, our bond grows closer.
First it was pain, sorrow.
But now I can feel how your
heart races when she's near you.
We're being chased
by a murderous sorcerer.
Of course my heart's racing.
A true knight would
be able to train hard
and set aside distractions.
I trained for years,
you talking saddlebag.
How dare you? Take that.
Oh! Ow! Ow!
You're making assumptions again.
Armored.
You don't feel anything?
Maybe a tickle.
It's nice to see
you found the occasion
to play the fool.
Come.
Lorne's found something.
It is called, simply,
the Sorcerer's Curse,
an incantation of enslavement.
The victim will follow
the druid's command,
but only from dusk till dawn.
In daylight
they will be weak, useless.
There is always a price,
even to a sorcerer
such as Brude.
See here?
The curse takes its hold slowly.
But at the full moon,
the victim loses his own will.
Drago will be on Brude's side.
Two days.
Come to me.
Come to me.
Something wrong?
I was dreaming
of the great things
the dragons will do for mankind.
When I felt the curse quicken.
It seems evil desires
can spoil a dream
just like they can a heart.
Two more days to the Wall.
And for Drago.
What was her name?
Begilda.
Is she beautiful?
Has she borne children?
You'd have to ask her husband.
What wicked habits do
you keep over that Wall?
You misunderstand.
She's an old woman
who showed me kindness.
And as for beauty,
I've seen more of it on this side
of the Wall, truth be known.
They were here.
Signs of a fire.
Fear.
We're getting closer.
Put your feet on!
Get down.
Move yourself, you dog!
I know that clan.
Some are cousins from
homesteads to the east.
Five guards.
We could free them.
Are you mad?
We have to keep moving.
Once they pass, we can carry on
over the ridge
and into the forest.
The eggs are the only
thing that matter now.
What matters
is my people's freedom.
Here.
Careful.
Do what you will.
I'm helping them.
Rhonu, wait.
Listen.
You could have tried to stop her.
Me?
You're supposed to be the
knight in shining armor.
Oh, we're leaving?
She said to go on.
It's a clear shot south once
we get through the forest.
Sir Gareth.
I've seen you fight.
You can take them.
She's all alone.
You've already
lost us one dragon,
do you intend to kill the rest?
Keep going!
I said move!
The ties that bind,
hear my call,
un-entwine,
free from all!
We're free!
Lorne!
We're free!
Gareth.
Whoa!
A knight is sworn to valor.
Look!
I'm back!
Shade by day, bright by night,
to do my will
in full moon's light!
All cannot survive this journey.
Sacrifice what you must.
Shoot! Shoot!
Shoot!
Oh!
Through your own shadow!
What valor!
Southern man!
I see you've gone
dizzy-eyed
for that yeasty scut!
Kiss her neck while you can,
before I stretch it
like her mother's.
Hey, hey. Wait.
Let's go.
No!
No!
Let's go. Come on.
There's still too
many of them. Come on.
The code.
When Drago regained his form,
could that have been your doing?
Me? How?
Well, you upheld the code.
You came back.
And to my recollection that was
the precise moment Drago appeared.
You share feelings, pain.
Perhaps he can feel
the valor in you too.
How does it feel?
Seeing home?
Hard to see anything but a wall.
By end of day tomorrow
we'll be trapped
between it and Brude.
Your uncle will
make it, I'm sure.
He'll be riding
into certain death
if Drago has fallen
under Brude's control.
The men of the Wall will honor a
knight's request for protection,
won't they?
Yes, honor's
in their every word.
Well, I know
a place we can shelter.
The Druid's Circle,
where I was to get my robe.
No more.
The curse grows stronger.
I can't move.
You have to fight it.
Brude is a potent sorcerer,
which apparently I'll never be.
I can't find a way
to break the curse.
I am now a danger to you all.
You must leave.
We need you.
I will not be enslaved.
I will take my own life first.
And mine?
No!
There must be another way.
Rhonu is right.
I can't take your life.
Choices must be one's own.
I never thanked you for
sharing your heart with me.
And I never said I was sorry
for doubting
that you're a true knight.
It is time.
Will I still feel your heart?
What do I do?
What happens now?
Follow the code,
like a knight always does.
I'm not a knight.
I never was.
I don't even know
what one is anymore.
On the other side of the Wall,
there is no code.
It's just cruelty.
I'm sorry.
Gareth,
if you would truly be a knight,
your might will uphold the weak,
your word will speak only truth.
And if this is to be
my last dawn of freedom,
I'm glad you were
here by my side,
my friend.
Well, this is it.
We can't run any further.
Stay hidden.
Oh! Oh!
Hey, wait! They'll shoot
one of us on sight.
Hail! Hail!
Men of the Wall!
It's me! Gareth!
Don't shoot!
Hold your fire!
Don't shoot!
Man approaching!
Don't shoot!
On your post!
It's me!
Kalin, it's Gareth!
I returned from the north!
Kalin, open the gate.
Any moment, a pack
of savages will come
through those trees,
hundreds of them...
Well, what have we here?
...led by a cruel and powerful
sorcerer and a dragon.
You won't be laughing
when you're under attack.
So you've returned!
Not empty-handed, I hope.
A dragon's egg, made of gold.
What's he doing?
Showing his true heart.
Gareth! Wait!
Don't!
Archers ready!
No, wait.
They're with me.
Fire on my command.
Look!
I see you've found the fortune
you needed to buy
your knighthood.
Chosen, was it?
I don't want it anymore.
Open the gates.
You have to believe me.
I just want to help.
Open the gate!
Your quest hasn't improved
the company that you keep.
But you've certainly accomplished
what I asked of you.
For this marvelous creation,
I would knight you.
But, seeing as
you've brought this,
what is it,
a powerful sorcerer to my wall?
I'd have you denied.
Welcome,
my pet.
Tonight, you will be
mine in body and mind.
Was this part of your plan?
He's led us to our deaths.
And you, druid.
You said he'd help free us.
What are they waiting for?
The fools have
forgotten their ladders.
They can't get over the Wall.
They're waiting for the moon!
Waiting for Drago.
If we're up here
when he attacks,
we'll be burned to ash.
I can free Gareth.
But you can't do the rope trick
because he's in chains.
This is no rope trick.
I hear your king has
feasted on every creature
that walks, flies or swims.
He will pay handsomely
to consume these rarities.
Now, my child.
- To arms!
- To arms!
Moon and sun, two as one.
Switching stance, druids dance.
Lorne? How did he...
Get up to the wall, you cowards!
Feed!
- To battle!
- To battle!
We've lost him.
Drago's gone.
We've lost everything!
And the best thing
I could do is put an arrow
straight through
your heart and his!
Kill me if you want.
But the only good part
of Drago left is in here!
He shared his heart with me
before he was cursed.
But what are you gonna do?
Give it back to him?
I'm going to do
what the code requires.
Onward!
We've lost the dragon!
I've led you to a slaughter!
Come this far, my dillie.
I'm seeing the other
side of that wall!
Charge!
Grab what you can.
No need to count.
Closed for business.
You still trying to earn
a silver sword?
This one will do.
Leave.
You see what
caring about savages
unworthy of your status brings?
You've doomed this settlement.
A knight is sworn to valor.
That old rhyme?
Just poetry, boy.
It's more than
you ever taught me.
And if it wasn't
for those words,
I'd still be
stealing from the poor.
And you'd still have
your head!
My blade shall
defend the helpless.
See? I've taught
you something.
And now for your
last lesson, squire.
The old codes have
been bought and sold.
A knight is only
worth his profit!
Aim for their front line.
You, raise your elbow.
Don't they teach you
anything here?
Better.
Life takes some
damn strange turns.
Ahhh!
I won't leave their side.
Our hearts know only virtue.
Brave lass.
Show me the dragon's eggs
and I'll spare you the noose.
Rhonu!
For my mother!
Run! Run!
Gareth!
The curse is broken!
You saved me!
The village idiot strikes again!
I only see a knight.
Sir Gareth.
Druid's alive!
Get him down!
Gareth?
I guess it worked.
I'd say you've earned that robe.
Gareth!
Gareth!
Hold on, Rhonu.
We did it.
We won.
Gareth.
Now we really do have
something in common.
Let today mark
the beginning of a new age,
with the wisdom of the
dragons and the Old Code.
We can lay down our weapons
and unite together in peace.
Sir Gareth!
This will now be called
the Dragon's Gate,
and it will always remain open
for people from both sides.
Am I the chosen one now?
Choices must always
be one's own.
Ah! Welcome from the north.
Hi, there.
Would you like a gold dragon mug,
sir?
Uh, that one.
This one?
Yeah.
This is the best.
One only. That one?
Okay.
Welcome, Northerners.
Who would like a dragon pot?