EXT. STEAMSHIP RUS -- WHARF -- TOBOLSK -- DAY
The SUN shines. Alexei, pale and thin, sits on deck in his wheelchair, accompanied by his sisters and servants. Alexei smiles and beckons to the people who stare at him curiously.
Olga wears her black hat, black jacket and skirt, her white blouse buttoned to the throat. She looks anxious and somber, one of her hands caressing her brother's hair.
Tatiana holds her dog Jemmy. Anastasia clasps a doll in her arms.
A few Bolshevik SOLDIERS dance boisterously while other SOLDIERS clap their hands and sing Russian folk songs accompanied by an accordionist.
Some drunken soldiers, smashing their wine bottles on the deck floor, fire birds with their rifles and throw hand grenades over the ship rail into the water.
A WHISTLE blasts. The engines start and the SHIP steams across the river.
INT. STEAMSHIP RUS -- NIGHT
Bands of soldiers hasten about form cabin to cabin, reshuffle and confine all the men together in a few cabins. The doors slam shut with loud bangs and are nailed. Alexei and Nagorny are padlocked into a cabin.
NAGORNY
(yelling)
Hey, you can't lock us. The sick child might need a doctor.
Rodionov's soldiers open the doors of women's cabins, leering at the three grand duchesses and their maids who remain dressed.
RODIONOV
Keep your cabin doors open all night.
INT. GRAND DUCHESSES' CABIN -- NIGHT
A DRUNKEN GUARD staggers into the cabin to harass Tatiana and Anastasia. The girls scream with fear. A LADY-IN-WAITING begs the drunken guard to leave but fails. She prays and makes the sign of the cross.
LADY-IN-WAITING
God's mercy, please save these girls. They've been raised in the cloistered palace. How traumatic it is.
Olga comes to her sisters' rescue by pulling the drunken guard from their cabin to the corridor.
INT. CORRIDOR -- NIGHT
The drunken guard turns to assault Olga. PAVEL KHOKHRYAKOV, the handsome former Baltic sailor and stoke who now becomes a head of the Tobolsk Soviet, jumps the drunken guard to stop the assault. The drunken guard flees, chased by Pavel.
EXT. DECK -- NIGHT
Pavel catches up with the drunken guard. They wrestle and beat up each other. While forcibly throwing the drunken guard into the river, Pavel slips from a ladder and injures his foot. Olga comes to his rescue.
OLGA
Are you injured? Let me examine your feet. I worked as a nurse during the war.
PAVEL
(gruffly)
No. Don't bother.
OLGA
Trust me. I've completed nursing course and got diploma from the International Red Cross.
PAVEL
I said no. I mean it.
As the other soldiers begin to gather, surround and watch them, Pavel feels vexed and limps away.
EXT. DECK -- DAY
Olga leans on the rail and watches the sea striking the ship. Pavel approaches.
PAVEL
I must apologize. I was rude yesterday.
OLGA
I understand.
PAVEL
I knew you were a qualified Sister of Mercy. I saw you on duty in a military hospital before. You looked so beautiful in nurse's uniform.
OLGA
You saw me? When?
PAVEL
During the World War I, I was wounded and delivered to a ward in the Winter Palace. There, you bandaged up my injured head.
OLGA
Oh, I don't remember.
PAVEL
But I remember. I remember every detail. I'd never forget. My deep thanks.
Olga nods and leaves, smiling gently. Pavel sees her off admiringly.
INT. LADY-IN-WAITING'S CABIN -- DAY
While some SOLDIERS search a LADY-IN-WAITING'S cabin, she trembles, listening to the terrified SCREAMS from the next door. Crumbled under the pressure, the lady-in-waiting, in fear, kneels on the floor, begging.
LADY-IN-WAITING
Please, don't hurt me. I' tell you where their jewels are concealed. You can find jewels beneath their clothes.
SOLDIER
Give us all the details.
LADY-IN-WAITING
The buttons on their coats aren't buttons, they're diamonds. A diamond from the Shah of Persia is concealed in the aigrette of a hat. Underneath the belts are ropes of pearls.
INT. CABINS -- NIGHT
Soldiers rushes from one cabins to another, searching jewelry. An immense hidden cache of jewels is piled on the tables.
EXT. RAILROAD STATION -- TYUMEN -- DAY
The STEAMER RUS is moored to the bank opposite a TRAIN. Between two rows of soldiers, the three grand duchesses and their retainers step along the muddy path. Alexei is carried in Nagorny's arms.
Some LADIES throw flowers at the former emperor's children, but are roughly pushed aside by the soldiers.
EXT. SIBERIA -- URALS -- NIGHT
The train clatters into the thick forests around the slope of the Urals. Clumps of Snow swirl. Wind blows in gusts.
EXT. RAILROAD STATION -- EKATERINBURG -- DAY
In the rain, the train halts by the siding posted by heavily armed guards and filled with a curious and hostile PUBLIC. They mock and jeer as the luggage is taken out.
A barefooted MAN grabs a box and pulls it open. Nicholas' old boots fall out of the box.
MAN 1
Hey, look, the Tsar has six pairs of boots, but I have none.
MAN 2
Death to the tyrant. Death to the bourgeois.
Another box is torn open, fall out of it Alexandra's dresses and gowns.
WOMAN 1
Look, what gorgeous dresses these women wore. How I envy them.
WOMAN 2
Wow, what splendid satin court gowns. Off with their damned heads.
A MAN climbs onto one of the boxes, exhorting the crowd.
MAN 3
Tovarish, while these blood suckers were gloating over their ill-gotten gains, we were sweating the sap of our lives in working for them. Now it's their turn. Down with the Tsar. Hang them. Drown them in the lake.
The guarding soldiers laugh as the crowd swells. Rodionov directs the soldiers to separate the luggage.
RODIONOV
These go to the Ipatiev House, those go to the Soviet.
Rodionov directs the three grand duchesses, Nagorny who carries Alexei in his arms, the footman Trupp, the chef Kharitonov and his assistant cook Leonid toward a string of covered droshkies that wait alongside the train.
Olga moves ahead slowly with her heavy luggage. Tatiana carries her dog Jemmy while struggling to drag a heavy brown valise. Anastasia walks unsteadily, carrying leather suitcases too big and heavy for her.
Nagorny gently places Alexei in the droshky and runs to assist the grand duchesses. The sentries roughly push Nagorny aside.
The prisoners sink their feet into the mud at each step, floundering about in the slush with their heavy luggage.
The prisoners climb into the droshkies and sit down. The droshkies lurch along, bouncing down the muddy road.
More than twenty retainers still remain in the station, waiting for the order.
RODIONOV (CONT'D)
As to you, the rest of the imperial retainers, you're free to go wherever you want to.
