The Unnamed Saga: The Four Thrones, Chapter Nine: "Darkness"

Chapter Nine: Darkness

Open on the Black Castle at day, overlooking the crib of Baby Zelos.  Baby Zelos sleeps quietly.  Outside the sky is pale.  Inside, the room is dark.  Mary stands over his crib, her eyes gleaming with tears, a tired smile upon her face.

The door opens behind her, letting warm light spill in.

Younger Glenn enters the room wearing his guard’s uniform.

 

Younger Glenn: "Miss Mary, I was told that you wished to speak with me."

 

Mary: "Indeed."

Mary smiles over her shoulder at Glenn.

Mary: "Come, Sir Glenn, join me."

 

Younger Glenn hesitates.

Younger Glenn joins Mary at the crib.

They stand together in silence, both looking down into the crib.

Mary reaches down and tucks in the blanket around Baby Zelos as he sleeps.

 

Mary: "He is a beautiful baby, isn't he?"

 

Younger Glenn: "I guess so."

 

Mary: "And there's something very special about him, don't you think?"

 

Younger Glenn: "I hadn't thought about it."

 

Mary: "Do.  Really think on things since his appearance.  And not just in the castle, in the world around us.  This little man has softened the king, found mercy in him somewhere in the deepest reaches of his heart.  I dare to say that because of Zelos our nation might someday find peace."

 

Younger Glenn: "You really think the prince is responsible for that?"

 

Mary: "I know he is.  We're not there yet, though.  There are dark things here, young man.  Shadows deeper than the sea itself, saturating this nation's history with countless bloody pages."

Younger Glenn stares uncertainly at Mary while she clutches tightly to the crib and cries.

Mary: "Glenn, a tragedy occurred in the night, one which will forever change the history of this very nation in ways previously unexpected."

Younger Glenn remains quiet.

 

Mary: "I have a task for you."

 

Younger Glenn: "Ma'am?"

 

Mary: "Promise me, whatever happens tonight, whatever screams you hear, whatever pleas, you will not leave this room."

 

Younger Glenn: "What?"

 

Mary: "Promise me that no matter what happens you will forever protect this child."

 

Mary caresses Baby Zelos' head.  Tears are in her eyes.

 

Younger Glenn: "Miss Mary, I'm afraid I don't..."

 

Mary: "Please, Glenn, promise me this."

 

Younger Glenn looks into the crib.

Younger Glenn: "I promise, I'll never let anything happen to him."

 

Mary smiles sadly.

Mary: "I know you won't."

Mary gives a shuddered breath.

Mary kisses Baby Zelos on the forehead while he sleeps.

Mary gathers her dress as she stands and turns her back on the crib.

 

Glenn: "Miss Mary, what’s this all about?"

 

Mary stops at the door and looks back at him, tears cascading down her cheeks.

Mary: "You stay here.  This won't be long."

Mary closes the door behind her as she leaves.

Younger Glenn looks back into the crib.

 

-The Four Thrones-

 

Cut to Mary marching through the halls, passing guards on the way.  The guards greet her, but she stares ahead, unwavering.

Mary passes the broad-shouldered form of Guard Captain Victor, with his sideburns and goatee, as he speaks to his guards.

Mary passes through the foyer, sparse evening light spilling through the large windows, making the interior shimmer, but her features are obscured by shadows.  There is a faint red shine to her eyes.

Mary passes another hall.

Mary comes to stop at the king’s room, two guards posted outside of it.

 

Mary: "Excuse me, gentlemen, but is in the queen in?  I am in a rather dire need of her to speak privately on a matter."

 

Black Guard6: "Course, ma'am, she's just preparing for supper."

 

Mary: "Thank you very much!"

Mary enters without knocking, passing the guards on the way.

Hold outside of the room, with the door closed, the guards standing at attention.  There is a muffled conversation inside.

Beat.

The door shatters outward in a shower of shrapnel.  Red light spills from the interior, the queen lies on the floor, face down, hair spread around her gown.

The queen is lifted to where her feet are the only thing in frame.  The guards stand astonished.  Mary is in the doorway, her body a series of red, shining runes.

The guards draw their blades as Mary lifts her free hand.  Her eyes glow red.

 

Black Guard7: "Miss Mary, what are you..."

 

Mary: "I'll offer this only once: drop your weapons and walk away.  There are no other options."

 

Black Guard6: "The bitch has gone mad! Kill her be-!"

Black Guard6 has his guts scooped out and splattered against the wall in a brilliant red flash.

 

Black Guard7: "Everyone, quickly-"

Black Guard7's head falls cleanly from his shoulders.

Black Guard7 falls to the floor.

Show them from the side, the queen now on the floor, her hair over her face.  The wall is cracked behind her.  Her features are swallowed by red light.

 

Mary grabs the queen by the throat.

Mary holds the queen up and leans in, holding her off frame.

Mary: "I just want you to know, to hear it from me, I know what you did, I know the lies you sow, and I know the sins you've committed.  It is far too late for you now, but your death will not come from me, not from my hands.  No, I have a far more fitting end for you!"

Mary turns to look toward the screen while holding the queen off screen with one hand, her body still aglow.  Off screen, Fionan soldiers can be heard moving, their plate rattling as they mobilized.

Show the castle guard assembled, swords and bows drawn, arrows nocked, fright clear in their features.

Victor pushes his way through the group, brandishing both sword and shield, his shield bearing the black wolf of Fiona.

 

Victor: "Mary, what do you think you're doing?  Unhand the queen immediately!"

 

Mary: "This isn't something for you or yours to die over.  I will extend to you the same courtesy I extended to these poor men.  Drop your weapons and grant me passage, elsewise I shall cut my way through you.  All of you."

 

Victor: "Drop her now, Mary, this is not a negotiation!"

 

Mary: "No, it's not."

Mary’s eyes flash, still staring at the screen.

Show the queen rocketing through the group of soldiers, her body wrapped in a shawl of red light, scattering the guard’s front line.

Show the guards further parted by a wall of red light, Mary arms out and hands parted, runes flashing, guards being throwing over the balcony into the foyer in the process.

Show three bowmen ready at the far end of the hall, arrows nocked, kneeling, eyes trained.  One is squinting.

Show the queen come to a landing before them, head down, hair fanned, a red glow outlining her body, a streak of blood showing where she slid to a stop.

One bowman draws his arrow.

Show Mary moving through the parted guards, a single guard charging her with his blade overhead.

Mary waves her hand, the guard’s head twists off with a red flash.

An arrow zips by Mary’s face, leaving a shallow cut across her cheek.

Mary glances back over her shoulder to see the arrow buried into the floor among the soldiers she left dazed.

Mary looks ahead, a thin trail of blood replacing the tears on her cheek.

Show the bowman at the end of the hall drawing another arrow, a faint red light forming around his body.

The bowman lifts into the air, body rigid, his arrow-arm yanked from his body at the shoulder.

Same image, save for the bowman to the right now bleeding from the neck.

The third bowman sobs at his allies are dropped to the floor in bloody messes, the queen motionless in front of them.

Hold as Mary passes the sobbing bowman, dragging the queen after her by the hair.

Show a room interior, the room being what will someday be Metis’ room but is now a library.  The door explodes inward in a flash of red light, Mary walking through the writing red flames, dragging the queen after her.

Mary goes to a bookshelf, using magic to scatter the books in a storm of covers and pages.

Mary reaches through the open bookshelf and presses a switch which clicks.

The wall opens, swinging the shelf with it.

Mary opens the passage and throws the queen inside.

Show a series of long stairs cut into the darkness, the queen tumbling down them.

Show the bottom of the stairs where the queen comes to a stop.

The queen scrambles to her feet, scuffling forward, blood running down her body, her features in shadow save for one open eye, pupil dilated with fear, Mary descending the stairs after her.

Red light seizes the queen.

Mary catches the queen again by the hair, smiling as she does, the queen screaming.

 

Mary: "No, no, you don't get to beg!  You forfeited that right long ago!"

 

-The Four Thrones-

 

Show the King, younger, bearded, and only with the beginnings of a belly, and Victor enter the library.  Victor is bleeding from the mouth and holding his side.  The King brandishes his own jeweled blade.

 

The King: "Victor, I want you to take your most loyal men and stop that mad woman, do you understand me?"

 

Victor: "Yes, my lord!"

 

-The Four Thrones-

 

Show Mary at the base of the stairs, standing at the threshold of a darkened chamber, shadows clinging to the far sides of the room.  Before her is a raised stone platform, circular in shape, elaborate runes cut in circles across the surface.  Four torches burn at a distance around the edges. The queen sobs behind her.

Mary smiles.

Mary: "I hear tale that you are hungry!  Well, here!"

Mary throws the queen into the center of the platform, eyes gleaming red, red magic streaming from the queen’s form as she arcs through the air.

Mary: "Eat!  Eat to your heart's content!"

The queen sits up, features hidden behind her hair, body rigid.

Show a torch flicker.

The screen goes black, there are wet tearing sounds.

Show Mary’s face in the darkness, features contorted with monstrous glee, a faint red gleam in her iris. Behind, over her shoulder, Teen Metis can be seen, clutching her staff with both hands, staring in satisfied horror.

Hold this image.

Shift to present day Mary looking mildly amused.

Pull out to show Mary watching as the party packs.  Glenn is hard at work, as is Elsea. Zelos is working, too, packing a roll.  Zara stands, goods gathered at her feet, glaring firmly at Mary.

 

Zara: "This wouldn't take half as long if you would help us, you know!"

 

Mary: "Why, princess darling, I needn't either bedrolls or rations, and I take none from you.  My part of the work is finished long before you even wake in the morning."

 

Zara looks to Elsea.

Zara: "Sometimes, I hate that woman."

 

Elsea: "My apologies, princess."

 

The party leaves before sunrise, Zelos walking on his own but moving slowly.  He walks in the rear with Mary close behind.  Glenn leads, while Zara and Elsea stay at the center.  The barrens of Emeraldine disappear behind them as they enter the thin forests of the mountain’s base.

They pass an old fence post, largely rotted, walking a dusty trail leading up to a cavern mouth.  An old sign announces the location as a former trade road between Emeraldine and Silvara.

The party stops to survey the sign.  Zelos shields his eyes and stares up the mountain.  Zara stares, wide-eyed.

 

Zara: "We passed by these mountains by way of the royal road on the way to Fiona.  If this tunnel is anything like that then we've a long, long journey ahead of us."

 

Mary: "It shan't be so bad, princess.  This road was favored by travelers for its brevity and was left derelict only in favor of the royal road due to the danger that the badlands of Emeraldine posed, considering the high concentration of magic in the area.  Our time in these tunnels shall be quite short, and when on the other side you shall find yourself breathing fresh Silvaran air."

 

Zara smiles.

Zara: "Now that you mention it, Silvara is just beyond these mountains, isn't it? Elsea, we're almost home!"

 

Elsea smiles at Zara.

Elsea: "Yes, m'lady."

 

Mary: "Be not idle in your excitement, ladies.  We've lost enough days as is."

Mary, Zara, and Elsea enter the tunnels while Zelos waits in the back.

Zelos turns to look back toward Emeraldine.

Show the image of Emeraldine, mostly flat, the ruins scattered in the sand, the sky glowing red in the morning light, the forests drawing a thin line between them.

Show Zelos staring soberly into the distance.

Glenn joins Zelos.

 

Glenn: "We'll come back."

 

Zelos: "You think?"

 

Glenn: "Yes.”

 

Zelos: "When we do, will it be as traitors or heroes?"

Zelos looks at Glenn.

 

Glenn: "We'll be a prince and his guard."

 

Zelos smiles.

 

Zara, off screen: "Zelos, haven't you held us up enough already?"

 

Zelos: "No more than your constant bathroom breaks!  Come, Glenn, I don't think she's capable of waiting much longer."

 

-The Four Thrones-

 

Cut to the stone-laid streets surrounding the Magical Research Facility in the Academy.  Metis stands outside of the dining hall, wrapped in his winter travel cloak.  The windows are frosted with ice and a thin snow has gathered outside.  He has his arm extended with a messenger hawk perched on him while he ties a message to its leg.

Metis releases the hawk, which sets off into the sky.

Metis enters the Magical Research Facility.

The facility’s interior is crowded.  He removes his cloak as he moves through the sea of figures.

Metis is greeted by researchers and scholars as he passes their tables and is friendly in turn.

Metis stops to speak to an elderly man at another table.

Metis enters the door at the end of the hall.

Metis finds a personal meal waiting for him.  He has his cloak off and folded over his arm.

Metis leaves the folded cloak neatly on the seat.

Metis seats himself as a waitress approaches him.

 

Waitress1: "Your meal is ready, my lord.  Can I get you anything else?"

 

Metis: "Nothing for now, thank you.  Have my guests arrived?"

 

Waitress1: "Yes, my lord, they are waiting on you."

 

Metis: "Send them in, if you would."

 

Waitress1: "Is there anything I can get for them?"

 

Metis: "Privacy."

 

The waitress’ eyes adopt a purple glow as he speaks.

The waitress bows.

The waitress leaves as a foreign woman enters the room. The woman is of average height, has dark hair and slender eyes.  She is muscular and tattooed and has bones and trinkets woven into her hair.

Metis stands to greet the woman, both bowing to each other.

Metis shows her to her seat.

 

Yue: "Prince Metis, I am pleased to see you again."

 

Metis: "No more pleased than I am, your ladyship.  Come, sit."

 

Yue joins Metis at the table.

 

Metis: "How are things with you and your people."

 

Yue: "As they always are."

 

Metis: "And your Dragon Hunters?"

 

Yue: "Brave, fierce, and determined, as they should be."

 

Metis: "That is good to hear.  I often feel somewhat guilty for stealing you away as I do."

 

Yue: "It is for the best that I am here.  The research your people are doing will someday wipe my land clean of those beasts."

 

Metis smiles.

Metis: "That is the plan, isn't it?  I take it you've been to see the prototype."

 

Yue: "Yes.  They took me to it upon my arrival."

 

Metis laughs politely.

Metis: "Yes, Daedalus and his men are quite proud."

 

Yue: "They should be."

 

Metis: "I take it you approve."

 

Yue: "Yes, their work—your work—is incredible."

 

Metis: "And here I was fearing our progress was insubstantial."

 

Yue: "It is progress, and that is all that matters.  We have fought dragons for hundreds of years.  We can continue to do so for hundreds more.  I want a real solution, a final solution, so there is no need to rush."

 

Metis: "And does your lord agree?"

 

Yue: "My lord is kind enough to leave these matters in my hands."

 

Metis: "Then I am quite lucky, aren't I?"

 

Yue smiles.

Yue: "Don't misunderstand me, Lord Metis.  I am not giving you an invitation to stall your work so that you might keep me to yourself.  I do have an existing obligation to my people and my soldiers."

 

Metis: "As do I, but I see no harm in forgetting it all for one night.  Do you?"

 

Yue: "An...arrangement might be made."

 

-The Four Thrones-

 

Cut to the party walking the cavern paths.  Zara leads, with Mary and Elsea flanking her.  The light from outside casts long shadows that bleed into the darkness.

Zelos and Glenn join them.

 

Zara: "It's quite dark in there."

 

Zelos: "You're not losing your nerve now, are you?"

 

Zara: "Hardly.  I just don't know how we'll find our way without the aid of a light or a map."

 

Mary: "You worry overmuch, princess.  We magicians have ways of making light out of the air, don't we, Lady Elsea."

 

Elsea nods quietly.

 

Zara: "Of course, magic.  I hadn't thought of that."

 

Glenn: "Let’s go.”

 

The party goes deeper, Elsea leading, Zara and Zelos following, with Glenn and Mary at the rear.

Mary stops Glenn.

Mary: "Sir Knight, may I have a private moment with you?"

 

Glenn crosses his arms.

Glenn: "What?"

 

Mary: "There is magic within this cavern."

 

Glenn glances into the tunnel.

Glenn: "Why tell me?”

 

Mary: "Because Lady Elsea would already know, and the children would worry over it."

 

Glenn: "Should we take the Royal Road?”

 

Mary: "No, this is nothing so dramatic.  The magic is subtle, not enough to cause much of a stir."

 

Glenn: "Then why tell me?”

 

Mary: "Because, even magic as light as this can stir up unimaginable things.  While magic does exist in this world naturally, this magic is anything but natural."

 

Glenn: "What does that mean? Have people been casting spells here?”

 

Mary: "Indeed, there were spells cast here, though how far back I am uncertain.  The magic is stale, old, but not nearly as old as that of Emeraldine."

 

Glenn: "And Zelos?"

 

Mary: "Is something of an uncertainty.  We must be vigilant."

 

Glenn: "Right.  We'll keep an eye on him.  Now, let's go before they ask questions."

 

Mary: "Let's."

 

They enter together, following the party at a distance.

Elsea conjures a sphere of sky-blue light.  Behind her, Mary conjures her own sphere of red light in the rear.

Fade to black.

 

-The Four Thrones-

 

Cut to the chambers beneath the Black Castle.  The shadows clung thick to the center of the circular stone platform.  The torches were dimmed.  Mary stood at the base of the stairs, wide-eyed and breathless.

The shadows receded, leaving a bloody mass of lacerated limbs and shattered bones that were once the queen.

The queen’s maimed body landed wetly on the stone.  The torches grew brighter.

The black guard clanked down the stairs.

Mary swayed as she sighed with relief.

Mary: "It's over..."

The guards stopped at the base of the stairs, Victor at their lead.

Mary turned to them.

The black guard collectively recoiled, Victor included.

Show the queen’s mangled body, nearly unrecognizable save for her long hair.  Blood pooled in the stonework around and beneath her.

Show the collected guards again.  One in the back vomited while the others recoiled and grimaced at the sight of their queen so mangled.

Victor stepped forward, sweat gathered at his brow, his sword and shield ready.

Victor: "The queen..."

 

Mary: "You know very well her crime and her punishment, Victor."

 

Victor grimaced.

Victor: "So, you killed the queen with your own hands, then?"

 

Mary: "In a sense."

 

Victor approached as the runes on Mary’s body came alive.  Her eye glowed red.

Show Victor from the front, body cast in red light, sword extended, shield up.  Behind him was Metis, cowering in the stairwell.

Show Mary’s recognition.

Show Mary’s guilt as her magic faded.

Mary extended her arms, wrists up, showing her defeat.

Victor hesitated.

Victor: "And now you're...surrendering?"

 

Mary: "I have finished this, blood for blood.  There is no sense in losing any more innocent lives."

 

Victor sheathed his sword.

Victor took a pair of strange, rune-etched cuffs from a nearby guard.

Victor fastens the cuffs about Mary’s wrists.

Victor: "Maybe you should have thought of that before killing the queen."

 

Mary: "That bitch was anything but innocent!"

 

Show Victor lead Mary up the stairs in chains.  The guards behind her gave a wide berth.

Show Victor lead Mary through the halls which she ravaged, the bodies of guards scattered, limbs displaced, blood soiling everything.

Show Victor remove a stone at the chapel entrance, the wall clicking open.

Cut to the chambers beneath the castle, Victor standing in the water, a guard holding a torch nearby.  There were a cluster of magicians gathered, using magic of various colors to lift Mary in the air.  Everything was cast in color.  Mary’s tears glistened on her cheeks as she screams.  A nearby apprentice held an ornate box in his hand.

 

Mary: "I will not allow this!"

Mary flexed her hands.

When nothing happened, she went into shock.

Mary: "My magic?

 

Victor smiled.

Victor: "We had thought something like this may come to pass."

Victor drew a jagged coil from inside of the ornate box.

Victor: "Those rings about your wrists bear the same runes as this.  Specially crafted by Lord Metis himself to limit your magic and keep you in check."

Using magic, the mages pinned Mary to the wall with the jagged coils.

The cuffs about her wrists snapped off.

The coils spilled blood down the stone around her while she screamed.

Victor: "Did you think this crime would go unpunished?  Or did you hope we would be foolish enough to try and kill you?"

 

Mary: "You know well the power I have, Victor!  You know that these bindings shan't hold me forever."

 

Victor: "Metis used your staff to create those runes.  That steel absorbs the magic around it.  The more you struggle, the more you fail."

The second cuff fell as blood ran down the creased in the stone.

Mary sagged.

Victor: "You always thought you were so damn clever, but this time you got ahead of yourself.  You forgot what you are: a tool, and a dangerous one at that.  Now it's time to dispose of you."

 

Mary: "I swear, I will get free, and I will make you pay!"

 

Victor: "Even should you get free, by then the world will have changed, have no place for someone like you.  You'll just be a ghost, wandering around with nothing to sate its revenge on.  Goodbye, Mary, I can't say that I'll miss you."

Victor turned his back on her, his cape flourishing, while Mary screamed in frustration.

Show Mary scream, struggling against her bindings, blood gushing from her arms and pouring down the wall face.

Show a droplet of blood hit the water.

Show it spread.

Fade to black.

Chapter End.