[Scene: Humperdinck's Office]
[HUMPERDINCK is seated at his desk. YELLIN enters and clears his throat to get HUMPERDINCK's attention.]

Humperdinck: Yellin.

Yellin: Sire.

Humperdinck: [motions YELLIN to join him] As chief enforcer of all Florin, I trust you with this secret: killers from Gilder are infiltrating the Thieves' Forest and plan to murder my bride on our wedding night.

Yellin: [surprised] My spy network has heard no such news.

[BUTTERCUP appears at the door. HUMPERDINCK and YELLIN quickly stop their conversation and stand up, alarmed that she might have overheard.]

Buttercup: Any word from Westley?

Humperdinck: Too soon, my angel. Patience.

Buttercup: He will come for me.

Humperdinck: Of course.

[BUTTERCUP leaves.]

Yellin: [distraught] Many of the thieves will resist. My regular enforcers will be inadequate.

Humperdinck: [angered] Form a brute squad, then! I want the Thieves' Forest emptied before I wed.

Yellin: It won't be easy, sire.

Humperdinck: [sarcastically] Try ruling the world sometime.

[Scene: Thieves' Forest.]

[A Brute Squad moving in and about huts and rounding up people.]

Grandfather: [v.o.] The day of the wedding arrived. The brute squad had their hands full carrying out Humperdinck's orders.

Yellin: Is everybody out?

Assistant Brute: Almost. There's a Spaniard giving us some trouble.

Yellin: Well, you give him some trouble. Move.

[Scene: Outside a hut.]
[INIGO is laying, propped up against a wall, nursing a bottle. He is drunk.]

Inigo: [loud] I am waiting for you, Vizzini. You told me to go back to the beginning. So I have. This is where I am, and this is where I will stay. I will not be moved.

Assistant Brute: Ho there!

Inigo: I do not budge. Keep your "Ho there."

Assistant Brute: But the prince gave orders.

[INIGO jumps up and wildly slashes at the Brute. The Brute is taken aback.]

Inigo: So did Vizzini… When the job went wrong he went back to the beginning. Well, this is where we got the job, so it's the beginning. And I am staying 'til Vizzini come.

Assistant Brute: [calls out behind INIGO] You, brute, come here!

Inigo: [mumbling to himself] I...am...waiting...for...Vizzini.

[Just then, and hand grabs INIGO from behind]

Fezzik: You surely are a meanie.

[INIGO looks at the huge hand in front of him and then up to see that it's FEZZIK.]

Hello.

Inigo: It's you.

[The Brute jumps in to see what's going on, but FEZZIK knocks him out with one punch.]

Fezzik: You don't look so good.

[INIGO burps in his direction.]

Fezzik: You don't smell so good either.

Inigo: Perhaps no. I feel fine.

Fezzik: Yeah?

[FEZZIK lets go of INIGO, who falls on his face.]

[Scene: Inside a Cottage.]
[FEZZIK begins to sober INIGO up, first by feeding him.]

Grandfather: [v.o.] Fezzik and Inigo were reunited. And as Fezzik nursed his inebriated friend back to health, he told Inigo of Vizzini's death and the existence of Count Rugen, the six-fingered man. Considering Inigo's lifelong search, he handled the news surprisingly well.

[INIGO falls face first into a bowl of soup.]

[FEZZIK repeatedly dunks INIGO's head into buckets of hot and cold water.]

[v.o.] Fezzik took great care in reviving Inigo.

[INIGO shakes him off.]

Inigo: That's enough! That's enough! Where is this Rugen now, so I may kill him?

Fezzik: He's with the prince, in the castle. But the castle gate is guarded by thirty men.

Inigo: How many could you handle?

Fezzik: I don't think more than ten.

Inigo: [counts on fingers] Leaving twenty for me. At my best, I could never defeat that many. [sits] I need Vizzini to plan. I have no gift for strategy.

Fezzik: But Vizzini's dead.

Inigo: [inspired] No, not Vizzini. I need the Man in Black.

Fezzik: What?

Inigo: [standing] Look, he bested you with strength, your greatness. He bested me with steel. He must have out-thought Vizzini. And a man who can do that can plan my castle onslaught any day. Let's go!

Fezzik: Where?

Inigo: To find the Man in Black, obviously.

Fezzik: But we don't know where he is!

Inigo: Don't bother me with trifles. After twenty years, at last my father's soul will be at peace. There will be blood tonight!

[Scene: Humperdinck's office.]
[HUMPERDINCK sits at his desk, sharpening a dagger. YELLIN enters and kneels.]

Humperdinck: Rise and report.

Yellin: The Thieves' Forest is emptied. Thirty men guard the castle gate.

Humperdinck: Double it! My princess must be safe.

Yellin: The gate has but one key, and I carry that.

[BUTTERCUP enters.]

Humperdinck: Ahhh, my dulcet darling! Tonight, we marry. [to YELLIN] Tomorrow morning your men will escort us to Florin Channel, where every ship in my armada waits to accompany us on our honeymoon.

Buttercup: Every ship but your four fastest, you mean.

[HUMPERDINCK looks confused.]

Humperdinck: [recovers, but badly] Yes. Yes, of course. Naturally not those four.

Yellin: Ahem. Your majesty.

[YELLIN exits.]

Buttercup: You never sent the ships. Don't bother lying. Doesn't matter. Westley will come for me anyway.

Humperdinck: You're a silly girl.

Buttercup: Yes, I am a silly girl, for not having seen sooner that you are nothing but a coward with a heart full of fear.

Humperdinck: [threatening] I would not say such things if I were you.

Buttercup: Why not? You can't hurt me. [noble music plays] Westley and I are joined by the bonds of love. And you cannot track that, not with a thousand bloodhounds. And you cannot break it, not with a thousand swords. And when I say you are a coward, that is only because you are the slimiest weakling ever to crawl the Earth.

Humperdinck: [furious] I would not say such things if I were you!

[HUMPERDINCK takes BUTTERCUP by the arm and forcibly escorts her to her chamber.]

[Scene: Pit of Despair.]

[HUMPERDINCK runs in to lean over WESTLEY.]

Humperdinck: You truly love each other, and so you might have been truly happy. Not one couple in a century has that chance, no matter what the storybooks say. So I think no man in a century will suffer as greatly as you will.

[Humperdinck takes the control of The Machine, and puts it to 50, the highest setting.]

Rugen: Not to 50!!!!

[WESTLEY begins to scream hideously, convulsing. The entire kingdom, including BUTTERCUP, hears the strange tortured cries.]

[Scene: Village.]
[INIGO and FEZZIK look around as they hear WESTLEY's cry.]

Inigo: Fezzik! Fezzik! Listen! Do you hear? That is the sound of ultimate suffering. My heart made that sound when Rugen slaughtered my father. The Man in Black makes it now.

Fezzik: The Man in Black?

Inigo: His true love is marrying another tonight, so who else has the cause for ultimate suffering?

[They start moving through a crowd. They struggle to move even a few feet.]

Fezzik: [bellows] Everybody move!!!

[The crowd parts.]

Inigo: Thank you.

[Scene: Outside entrance to Pit of Despair.]
[INIGO and FEZZIK have stopped the ALBINO, who is pushing a wheelbarrow.]

Inigo: Where is the Man in Black? You get that from this grove, yes? [no response] Fezzik, jog his memory.

[FEZZIK thumps the ALBINO over the head and he falls over, unconscious.]

Fezzik: I'm sorry, Inigo. I didn't mean to jog him so hard. [realizes INIGO is no longer beside him] Inigo?

[INIGO has gone to the center of the clearing, where he kneels, praying, holding his sword in front of him.]

Inigo: Father, I have failed you for twenty years. Now our misery can end. Somewhere, somewhere close by is a man who can help us. I cannot find him alone. I need you. I need you to guide my sword. Please… Guide my sword.

[INIGO stands, his eyes closed, and begins to follow the sword. He stumbles around and then lurches, the blade impaling a nearby tree. Deflated, INIGO stares at the tree and then collapses with defeat onto it, only to lean on the secret knot. The door to the secret entrance opens. Joyous, but cautious, INIGO and FEZZIK enter the Pit of Despair.]

[Scene: Pit of Despair]

[INIGO and FEZZIK stand next to the table, where WESTLEY lies, motionless. FEZZIK puts his ear to WESTLEY's chest, but hears nothing.]

Fezzik: He's dead.

Inigo: It just is not fair.

[Scene: Bedroom.]

Grandson: Grandpa, grandpa, wait! What did Fezzik mean "He's dead"? I mean, he didn't mean dead. Westley's only faking, right?

Grandfather: You want me to read this or not?

Grandson: [angry] Who gets Humperdinck?

Grandfather: I don't understand.

Grandson: [annoyed] Who kills Prince Humperdinck? At the end. Somebody's got to do it! Is it Inigo? Who?!

Grandfather: Nobody. Nobody kills him. He lives.

Grandson: You mean he wins? Jesus, Grandpa! What did you read me this thing for?

Grandfather: You know, you've been very sick and you're taking this story very seriously. I think we oughta stop now.

Grandson: No, I… I'm okay. I'm okay. Sit down. I'm alright.

Grandfather: Okay. Alright. Now let's see… where were we? Ohhh, yes. In the Pit of Despair.

[Scene: Pit of Despair]

Inigo: Well, the Montoyas have never taken defeat easily. Come along, Fezzik. Bring the body.

Fezzik: The body?

Inigo: Have you any money?

Fezzik: I have a little.

Inigo: I just hope it's enough to buy a miracle, that's all.

[Scene: Outside a Thatched hut]