QUEEN OF SWORDS SYNOPSIS
101 DESTINY

WRITTEN BY: James Thorpe
DIRECTED BY: Jon Cassar
PRODUCED BY: Ken Gord
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: David Abramowitz

CAST:

TESSA ALVARADO/THE QUEEN OF SWORDS: Tessie Santiago
CAPTAIN GRISHAM: Anthony Lemke
SENORA HIDALGO: Else Pataky
DR. HELM: Peter Wingfield (not in this one, dang it!)
MARTA: Paulina Galvez
COLONEL MONTOYA: Valentin Pelka
SWORD MASTER/TORRES: Anthony De Longis

Awaiting her father's return from California, a young Spanish aristocrat, Tessa Alvarado, is shocked when she learns of his death. Sailing for the New World to assume control of the family hacienda, Tessa and her confidante and servant, Marta, find the once beautiful country in the hands of a military dictator who rules with an iron fist, taxing his subjects to the point of starvation. Amidst rumors of her father's murder, her last bit of strength crumbles. In her desperation, a mysterious destiny is revealed. Tessa will take up arms to avenge her father's death, to protect the weak and to punish the unjust - behind the mask of the Queen of Swords.

GUEST CAST:
ANTONIO MAYANS as Carlos
ENRIQUE RODRÍGUEZ as Fernando
TERESA DEL OLMO as Rubia
ANTHONY DE LONGIS as Torres
JOSÉ SANCHO as Don Alvarado
JAIME PALMER COLOM as Corporal Leandro

~~~~~

MADRID SPAIN
1817

A young woman, Tessa Alvarado, is in the midst of a training session with her teacher, Torres, each using a sword and dagger. He's making it seem that he's a seriously mean dude, but they end up teasing back and forth. That doesn't lesson the swings and lunges though. They really go at it and she does well.

During the session, there are flashes of a man (Don Alvarado) on horseback, being chased by other men. One of them is Captain Grisham, Colonel Montoya's right hand man.

Back at the training session, Tessa gets the better of her teacher, a sword to his throat.

Don Alvarado is shot by Grisham and his men.

After Tessa mentions that she doesn't want her father to know she had been taking fencing lessons, Marta, her gypsy maid, hands her a letter.

Don Alvarado is only wounded by the first shot, so Grisham takes aim with a rifle and kills him.

Marta tells Tessa as she reads the letter of her father's death. The story is that Don Alvarado died from falling off his horse, an accident. Tessa decides to return to California, her home.

~~~~~

CALIFORNIA

After landing on the shore of America, Tessa reminisces to Marta about her childhood and California as they make their way to town. They come across a man who's wagon wheel has broken and stop to help, only to be robbed by him. She recognizes him as Carlos, her father's manservant. He explains that he has to steal, his family is starving. She gives him money, in the name of her father. Just as he's going to accept it, he's shot in the arm. The charging force on horseback, lead by Grisham, rides up.

GRISHAM: Ma'am, Captain Grisham at your service.
TESSA: You shot him!
GRISHAM: No thanks are necessary.

The man is taken away.

~~~~~

At her home, things certainly have changed. It's almost dilapidated. She finds out from Grisham that there was a lot of debt left behind after her father's death and there are no workers left. Grisham also tells her that Montoya, who runs the town, will graciously allow her to stay on the property for a few days and that there will be a celebration later that day where she can thank him for herself.

Marta is an important person in Tessa's life, having tended her for over 15 years, probably a mother figure. While Tessa is distraught that her mother's rose bushes were destroyed from neglect, Marta tells her that they'll one day be beautiful again and is a comfort.

~~~~~

Tessa and Marta go into town for the celebration to see Carlos tied to a post in the town square, his wife, Rubina, wants to serve him water, but a guard doesn't allow it.

GUARD: I have my orders.
TESSA: Then obey them.
She takes the cup of water from Rubina and stands in front of the guard, arms wide.
TESSA: Shoot me.

Tessa gives Carlos the drink of water as the guard stands down.

~~~~~

Montoya is the main attraction at his party in the rose covered courtyard as he plays a selection on the violin. After he receives polite applause, he introduces himself to Tessa with:

MONTOYA: Now I must destroy my garden. Even my prize roses would pale and shrivel in comparison with the beautiful flower which I see before me.

Then they dance. He knows exactly who she is and offered his sympathy for her father's recent death, which he had obviously ordered. Tessa immediately asks about the prisoner outside. He tells her not to worry about such matters, but she's worried about the man's family.

MONTOYA: Surely, but tomorrow there will be one less mouth to feed.

After she compliments him, he tells her that he could review the man's situation. Aside from that, he needles her about paying the taxes on her home.

While dancers perform at the party, they are preparing to execute the prisoner, Carlos, in the square. Tessa hears Grisham shouting orders and goes outside to investigate. She sees the soldiers aim their rifles at Carlos, still tied to the post, and she rushes to stop it, but not in time.

MONTOYA: How unfortunate. It appears I am a little late to have saved your friend.
TESSA: That was murder.
MONTOYA: There is a difference, senorita, between execution and murder. It is the law. Here? I am the law.

~~~~~

In her house with sheets still covering the furniture, Tessa practices her sword skills once again. She tells Marta that she will send word back to Spain about what's happening there, but Marta tells her that they already know, but wouldn't do anything about it. They're still tending to the wounds left by Napoleon.

MARTA: Don Alvarado, the finest horseman in California falls from his horse and dies? People talk. Especially around servants with no ears.
TESSA: People lie.
MARTA: But the cards do not. They tell me he died at the hands of another.

~~~~~

Senora Hidalgo and Captain Grisham are enjoying themselves when Colonel Montoya walks in on them. Montoya looks at her after she gets out of bed to say:

MONTOYA: Ah, there's nothing like an execution to fire the blood, ay?

He tries to talk Grisham into plotting marriage to Tessa, so they can control her lands. Montoya also has something on Grisham. Turns out the dude left the army because of 'fraud' and 'murder'.

~~~~~

Tessa visits Carlo's family and the boy, Fernando, the new head of the family, is put off that she would show her face there. His mother, Rubina, sticks up for Tessa, slapping him across the face and telling him to get back to work. Tessa asks her about her father's murder and Rubina doesn't want to say anything. It's best to just let it go. Tessa gives her money to keep the family going. Rubina accepts it and tells her, "Talk to the Dons. They know."

~~~~~

Tessa goes to Don Hidalgo, who is tightlipped about the subject of murder, dismisses it. The only thing he does tell her is 'questions make enemies' and to go back to Spain and get a husband and make babies. "There is nothing like married life." This, from a man who's wife is sleeping with Grisham.

Grisham summons Tessa to have lunch with him on the beach.

~~~~~

TESSA: Champagne on a soldier's wages? Who have you been stealing from?

GRISHAM: A woman all alone... you need protecting.
TESSA: I quite agree. I'll get a dog.

He approaches the subject of marriage, but she turns to the subject of her father's murder, that he dismisses as an accident.

~~~~~

In town, Fernando is chased after stealing. He's captured as Grisham and Tessa arrive. He was labeled a thief because he purchased flour with a gold coin, he could only have stolen it. Tessa tells Grisham she had given it to him. What the kid shouldn't have done is profess his innocence, then spit on Grisham. You could get hanged for doing such a thing.

TESSA: For such a gentleman to serve champagne, surely he would be a gentle MAN and show mercy.
GRISHAM: For you, I will not execute him. (He tells his soldiers) Fifty lashes at dawn.

~~~~~

While Tessa goes out to her father's grave, Marta is in the house telling her fortune with tarot cards. The 6 of Cups, the past lives on. Tessa talks to her father's grave, that she feels so alone. A deep haunting voice tells her, "You are never alone." Marta flips over another card, The King of Cups, the protector has come. A man holding a glass of wine appears next to Tessa, the ghost of her father. He tells her that even though her father is dead, he still watches over his daughter and touches her face.

TESSA: You were murdered. Who?
DON ALVARADO'S GHOST: By one man and a gun. But there were many fingers on the trigger.

TESSA: You expect me to stand by while your murderers go free?
DON ALVARADO'S GHOST: They will not go unpunished. Look...

In the distance, a woman with long hair and dressed in black is on horseback, riding along the shoreline.

DON ALVARADO'S GHOST: She will see justice is done. She is my Avenging Angel.

The man disappears and Tessa dreams of him. She bolts up in bed and has the plan. She goes to Marta.

TESSA: Marta? I just had...
MARTA: The strangest dream. Yes, I know. It's all here.

She deals one tarot card face down on the table, Tessa's destiny. Tessa turns over the card, it's the Queen of Swords.

TESSA: Do you think my father was trying to tell me something?
MARTA: The dead don't visit your dreams for nothing.

They go down in the wine cellar and find a secret passage behind the wine rack. Everything of value is stored there. They find Tessa's mother's favorite black lace shawl. Gold. A sword that had been in the family for generations, that her father was waiting to give to the son he never had. Marta finds a portrait that was painted of Tessa when she was seven, before leaving for Spain. It has writing along the bottom, 'Teresa... Mi Angel'. Tessa puts two and two together and knows that she should be the Queen of Swords, the Avenging Angel.

TESSA: Me? What do you see?
MARTA: I see a lot of things. What do you see?

She slips behind a mirror and Tessa sees herself wearing her mother's black lace shawl.

DON ALVARADO'S VOICE: Never alone, my little angel. Don't be afraid. That is my Avenging Angel. She will see justice is done.
MARTA: What is it? What do you see?
TESSA: My destiny.

~~~~~

She puts a piece of her mother's lace over her face and she's in business. She breaks into the jail to spring Fernando, dressed in black and carrying a bad attitude. Defeats two guards with no problem. She frees Fernando and after he runs off, Grisham appears at the door.

GRISHAM: Someone is going to be punished.

Queen stands ready with her sword and Grisham unsheathes his.

GRISHAM: I've never killed a woman before.
After a bit of swordplay,
QUEEN: Your record's safe.

He finally gets her pinned against the cell.

GRISHAM: I guess I was a little more than you expected.
She flips her sword between his legs, and a dagger to his throat,
QUEEN: You could be a little less.

She knocks him upside the head with her hilt and takes off on horseback, Fernando on another stolen horse. Montoya isn't pleased.

MONTOYA: Who or what is that?!

He looks down to see a tarot card at his feet. The Queen of Swords.

~~~~~

The next morning, Tessa finds out that Fernando was captured when he went to say goodbye to his mother and will be hanged. Tessa gives Montoya coins to pay the taxes for her home and land.

TESSA: I've been saving for a rainy day.
MONTOYA: How fortunate. There are stormy days ahead, I fear.

He gives her the deed to her place and shows her Fernando being led into the square for his execution. Tessa feigns a fainting spell. Marta suggests that maybe she should lie down somewhere, the thought of an execution makes her dizzy. They go back into Montoya's study.

Montoya, standing at his balcony tells the townfolk as the hanging is being set up:

MONTOYA: Ladies and Gentlemen. I am not a cruel man. I am a just man. I am an honorable man. And when I see our community be threatened by crime and by violence, then I must take action. What kind of shepard does not protect his flock?

Tessa, as the Queen of Swords, is standing on the roof of the church.

QUEEN: Is that before, or after you lead them to slaughter?

She fights them all, and releases a herd of stampeding horses on the soldiers. She rides on one of them and cuts the noose that's around his neck and a soldier had kicked at the stool he was on. She and Fernando ride off. She leaves him outside of town, telling him to stay there and that his mother will come for him.

Montoya is of course pissed.

MONTOYA: (to Grisham) Either I will have the Queen of Swords' head. Or I will have yours.

He charges into his study to see Tessa on the couch, covered by a blanket, and Marta cooling off her forehead with a cloth. They told him that she has a slight fever from the excitement.

MONTOYA: The execution has been postponed.
TESSA: Oh, and you were so looking forward to it.
MONTOYA: There will be an execution, senorita. Not even a Queen can escape the guillotine.

He saw the dress she was wearing on the chair and asked for his office back. She would dress and be right out. He felt the dress and looked at her before leaving, shutting the door behind him to give them privacy. Tessa throws off the blanket to reveal that she was still wearing the Queen of Swords' black outfit. Both Marta and Tessa are pleased that they pulled one over on him.

~~~~~

Back at her father's grave, she lays down flowers and talks about her indecision about the future.

TESSA: So much is wrong here, so much injustice and Montoya's not a stupid man. How long will this mask fool him? (Good question)

Just when she wonders why her father didn't appear for her, after saying she wouldn't be alone, Marta arrives to tell her that Grisham is tearing the town apart looking for her, but the townfolk are praying for the Queen's return.

MARTA: Do you realize there this path could lead?
TESSA: It's my destiny.

The Queen is shown riding along the surf again with Don Alvarado's voice over about his avenging angel seeing that justice is done.

THE END

Synopsis by:
JoLayne
EnyaJo@aol.com

Manzana Core - Blatent Helm Worship
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