Chapter Four: Horizon
Open on the village of Selim. The Black Castle
looms in the background, a dark, imposing figure rising like a mountain. The
sun rises over the castle, peeking over its broad, dark shoulder. It is
still morning. Snow has dusted the town. The main street is
empty, save for a few traders rising for the day.
Show an inn filled with travelers, horses and carts bound
and waiting. Through the window, people can be seen preparing inside,
eating and drinking as they start their day.
Show vendors plying their wares while other stalls open.
Show a small crowd forming, a mixture of ages. Small
children weave through the bodies with ease. Some adults reprimand the
children as they pass but the children laugh.
Show Mary and Elsea among the crowd. Elsea carries
a large basket filled with supplies and a satchel over her shoulder. Mary
walks with her hands free and surveys everything with a smile.
Elsea stops at a bakery and examines their goods through
a window. Mary stops beside Elsea, back to the bakery.
A small child stops and looks at Mary, who smiles at the
child.
Mary holds out her hand.
A sphere of red light forms in Mary’s palm.
The sphere splits.
The sphere spreads.
The sphere blossoms into a flower of red light.
The child marvels.
The child sprints off.
Mary closes her palm, her smile broadening.
Mary: “So, then, the young knight what we travel with.”
Elsea pays a merchant.
Elsea: “Yes?”
Mary: “He’s quite comely, don’t you think?”
Elsea blushes and moves to the next stall. Mary
follows closely.
Elsea: “D-Do you think? I hadn’t noticed.”
Mary laughs.
Mary: “But haven’t you? Why, judging from your approving
glances I had thought so. Most curious.”
Elsea moves to another stall. Mary moves with her.
Mary: “How bashful you are. Becoming, yet unnecessary. Our
time together may be short, but we shall travel far in the days to come. You
needn’t keep a thing from me. So, I free you to give air to the issue.”
Elsea: “With all due respect, miss, it hardly seems the time
to discuss such…trivial things.”
Mary: “Trivial? I hadn’t considered that. Mayhap you are
right. What shall we discuss then? The colorful nature of our companions the
rebel prince and the regicide princess?”
Elsea: “Ah…”
Mary: “There is little about this situation as a whole what
is appropriate for public discussion. So, I say we make light and discuss the
nature of the princess’ blushing handmaiden what follows her so closely.
Indulge me, if you would.”
Elsea purchases some bedrolls and hands them off to Mary.
Elsea: “Maybe silence would be best.”
Mary: “But it would hardly seem normal, would it? Two
beautiful maidens—one quite young—such as ourselves out and about, buying
travel gear and rations and yet not keeping even idle conversation.”
Elsea: “Not all women gossip.”
Mary: “My, it seems the times have changed indeed since my
incarceration.”
Elsea leaves. Mary rushes after, arms filled with
bundles.
Mary: “Fine, fine, we shan’t speak of the chivalrous knight
what came to our combined rescue.”
Elsea: “Thank you, miss.”
Mary: “Allow me but one question, if you would, and then I
shall remain satisfied in my silence for the duration of our trip.”
Elsea sighs.
Elsea: “Yes?”
Mary: “What sort of lover might you imagine him to be? I,
for one, figure him to be more frigid than the frosts.”
Elsea blushes, dropping her things, while Mary laughs
impishly beside her.
-The Four Thrones-
Cut to Glenn, Zara, and Zelos waiting in the woods. Zara
is huddled up on a downed log, hugging her dress tight to her body. Glenn
watches the forest while Zelos sulks near Zara.
Zara shivers.
Zara: “It’s so cold out here.”
A cloak flies over her from off-screen.
Zara pulls the cloak off and looks at it.
Zelos now stands without a cloak, shivering and sulking.
Zara slips the cloak on.
Zara: “Thanks.”
Zelos grunts.
Zara glares at him.
Zelos goes wide-eyed.
Show shadowy figures moving between the trees in the
distance.
Zelos: “Glenn.”
Glenn joins Zelos.
Glenn pulls both Zara and Zelos into hiding behind a
large tree.
Glenn pins his back to the tree, peeking around with one
hand resting on his sword’s hilt.
Show Mary and Elsea moving through the trees. Mary is
smiling.
Mary: “My, my, how you do scurry like rabbits when
frightened. Fear not, no boogeymen are we, come to take your children.”
Glenn steps out of hiding. Zara and Zelos join
him.
Glenn: “Best to be cautious.”
Elsea sets out their things. Each person has a
travel pack with rations and bedding, save for Mary. Each also has a
travel cloak and alternate outfit.
Zara looks on the clothing with displeasure.
Zara: “Do you honestly expect me to wear this?”
Elsea: “If we’re to travel these lands unnoticed, then we
had better blend in, not draw attention.”
Zara sighs.
Zara: “I suppose. Now, where shall we change, then?”
Glenn: “Out here.”
Zara looks around.
Zara: “In the forest? In the open?”
Glenn: “There’s no one to look.”
Zara: “It’s cold.”
Mary: “Then you had best dress quickly, shouldn’t you?
Consider the chill a motivation.”
Zara: “But—I am a princess. This—This is hardly becoming!”
Glenn: “No choice. Change here or freeze.”
Zara: “I—Why I should—Hmph! Come, Elsea!”
Zara and Elea find cover behind a tree.
Zara: “I don’t want any of you peeking.”
Zara looks around the tree.
Zara: “Especially you, Zelos!”
Zelos scoffs.
Zelos: “Like I’d want to look at that flat chest of yours!”
Zara: “What!”
Elsea: “Princess, I will hold my cloak for your privacy.”
Zara grumbles behind the tree while Elsea lifts her
cloak.
Glenn and Zelos begin to undress.
Zelos stops and stares at Mary, who is staring at him.
Mary: “Oh, don’t mind me. I share no such concerns for
privacy. Feel free to dress and undress at your leisure.”
Zelos blushes.
Zelos: “Know what? I think I’ll find a tree of my own.”
Mary turns expectantly to Glenn as Zelos leaves.
Glenn: “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”
Mary: “More than you could ever know.”
-The Four Thrones-
Cut to everyone putting away their packs. They
have changed, even Mary.
Glenn and Zelos strap on their swords.
Glenn lays out a map of Albion on a nearby stump, the
mainland framing the edges.
Glenn points to the western coast on the map.
Glenn: “We’re in this forest outside of Selim. The castle
will send soldiers soon with wanted notices. We need to stay ahead of them.”
Zara: “And where are we going exactly? We can’t just run
blindly ahead. No offense Zelos.”
Zelos glares.
Glenn: “Silverthrone. It’s the only place outside of Fiona’s
reach.”
Zara: “For now, anyway.”
Glenn: “Only choice.”
Zara: “I know, I just don’t want to get my family involved.”
Glenn: “They already are. Silverthrone will be targeted next
no matter what we do.”
Elsea: “At least we can warn them this way.”
Zara: “I guess it’s the best of bad options.”
Elsea: “But it is an option.”
Zelos: “It’s no option at all. What do we do once we make it
to Silverthrone? Hide? What will that solve? We were framed. I’m a fugitive in
my own land! I say we return to the castle and talk to my brothers. They’ll
listen. They’ll understand.”
Glenn and Mary exchange looks while Zara mutters.
Zara: “Now you say that…”
Glenn: “I don’t think so. We need time to think. Maybe after
we reach Silverthrone we can send an emissary who will argue on our behalf.”
Zelos grabs his pack.
Zelos: “Or I can go back now because I have nothing to run
from, Glenn. Because I’m innocent and so is Zara.”
Zara looks away.
Glenn: “You’re not going back.”
Zelos: “YOU aren’t going back. I am going back right now.”
Zelos turns to leave and Glenn grabs him by the shoulder.
Zelos jerks away.
Glenn pins Zelos to a nearby tree.
Zelos: “What are you—Glenn! Let go of me right now!”
Glenn: “Listen!”
Zelos struggles.
Zelos stops.
Glenn loosens his grip.
Glenn: “When the guards attacked, what did I say?”
Zelos: “What?”
Glenn: “What did I say?”
Zelos: “You said—You said that you didn’t know what was
going on but that if I trusted you, then you would protect me.”
Glenn: “Did you trust me?”
Zelos nods.
Glenn: “Then keep trusting me. We can’t go back. Not now.
Our only hope—our ONLY HOPE—is to go to Silverthrone and speak through an
emissary.”
Zelos: “But…my brothers…”
Glenn: “Won’t listen.”
Zelos: “They will!”
Glenn: “Please. I know this is hard for you. You always see
the best in everyone, and that’s always seen you through, but this time you’re
wrong. We. Can’t. Return.”
Zelos stares at Glenn.
Zelos looks past Glenn and at Elsea, Mary, and Zara all
watching silently.
Zelos: “Glenn, listen, I know you’re trying to help, but
they’re my family. If anyone will listen, they will. They will believe me.”
Glenn sighs.
Glenn: “Fine. Maybe they’ll believe you. What about Zara?”
Zelos: “What?”
Glenn: “Will they trust her?”
Zelos looks at Zara, who is looking away anxiously,
hugging her left arm.
Zelos sags against the tree in Glenn’s grip.
Zelos: “We—We can’t go back, can we?”
Glenn: “Not now, no.”
Zelos: “But we will someday, won’t we?”
Glenn pats Zelos’ head.
Glenn: “Someday. I promise.”
Glenn and Zelos face the party.
Zelos scratches the side of his nose.
Zelos: “To Silverthrone then?”
Zara: “Yes but how do we get there? The royal trading roads
will be watching for us already, and they’ll be far too slow for our purposes
if we’re to warn my family.”
Elsea: “We could travel them by night?”
Glenn: “But that gives them the day to catch us. We need a
straight shot there.”
Mary: “Then I know the way.”
Mary points to a part in the mountains on the map.
Mary: “We go through here, through the ruins of Emeraldine.”
Glenn: “But…There are mountains.”
Mary: “Mountains with a tunnel cut straight through. Once
upon a time they mined those mountains, but the vein has long since run dry. At
a later time, they converted the mining tunnels for travel and trade between
Silvara and Emeraldine. Following Emeraldine’s fall, the path was shut down in
favor of the royal roadway.”
Zara: “Well, aren’t you a fountain of information?”
Mary: “As they say, princess, knowledge is power, and I am
most certainly the most powerful person here. Excluding the good Lady Elsea, of
course.”
Zelos: “Well, we have our course. Let’s get going. The
sooner we get to Silverthrone, the sooner we can sort out this mess.”
Mary: “Now, now, pumpkin, not so fast. We can’t be off just
yet.”
Zara: “Oh, now what?”
Mary: “While the sweet lady and I were away I had a thought:
We’ve gathered costumes what protect us from prying eyes, but yet we continue
with our given names? Would that not draw similar attention?”
Mary leans onto Elsea’s shoulder. Elsea looks
extremely uncomfortable.
Mary: “An example: the lovely lady refers often to the
princess and always by her title, and there are only so many princesses whom
the good people of this nation may know. Certainly, they would immediately
discern the truth and report us to the nearest guard, would they not?”
Zara: “Maybe. So, you want to give us nicknames?”
Mary: “No, not simple nicknames. Aliases to match our
costumes. We needn’t discuss it at length, though, for I’ve already created
finely crafted identities to accommodate our charade, each capturing our most
defining traits. Another example: the good lady Elsea will be Lady Sunshine,
for her glowing disposition.”
Elsea smiles.
Mary: “And the princess shall be Regina, for her regal
bearing.”
Zara: “That…is acceptable.”
Mary: “The young prince shall be Hero, for selfless action
is in his very nature.”
Zelos: “Sounds good to me.”
Mary: “And the Sir Knight…We shall call Clod.”
Glenn: “No, I won’t.”
Mary: “Ah! I see! We will give you a second name as a form
of double subversion. How very clever! In public we shall call you Todd rather
than Clod so as to further throw the wolves from our scent.”
Beat.
Glenn: “Whatever. Let’s go.”
Mary: “As you say…”
Mary winks.
Mary: “Todd.”
-The Four Thrones-
Cut to the tunnels beneath the castle, showing the long
forgotten walkways, the stones deep set but fractured.
Show the cavern where Mary was found.
Show Kratos wading through the water with a torch in
hand, his bow unstrung and sheathed, a quiver of arrows strapped to his back.
His beard is wet. His cloak floats in the water behind him.
Show the collapsed wall where Mary was once held, the
torchlight flickering along the crumbled rock.
Kratos stops beside the wall.
Kratos: “The Red Witch? They’ve freed her. If that is true,
then perhaps Zelos really does mean to usurp the throne.”
Kratos kneels beside the platform and finds muddy
footprints along the wooden walkway leading deeper into the tunnel.
Kratos: “Another set of footprints. With her among their
ranks the hunt truly begins.”
Kratos stands.
Kratos: “She cannot be allowed to walk free in Fiona.”
Kratos leaves.
-The Four Thrones-
Cut to the party walking through the forest, Glenn at the
fore, Zelos at his side. Elsea and Zara lead the rear with Mary at the
center. The trees of the forest are bare, their leaves gathered in dark,
rotting bunches at their base. Snow is falling.
Mary looks around.
Mary clears her throat.
Mary: “Does the silence not drive you mad?”
Glenn: “Tactically, silence is best.”
Mary: “Mayhap, but consider this, Sir Knight: I’ve been kept
in silence for fifteen years—save for my own company—nary a person to share a
word with. Now, I am surrounded by people delightful and attractive as
yourselves, and you ask that I not fraternize? Torture, I say, of the highest
sort.”
Zelos: “She’s right. If we have to make this journey, we can
at least make conversation.”
Zara: “Well, I, for one, enjoy the silence.”
Zelos: “Why are you always so contrary?”
Zara: “I am not contrary. You’re just always wrong.”
Glenn: “Enough.”
Mary: “Clod is right, children. We must be kind to one
another. After all, we are companions now.”
Glenn sighs.
Mary: “I know! Why don’t I tell a story what will bring us
all together? How about the myth of the Seven Sisters?”
Zara: “Please. We’re not children.”
Mary: “No? Then the tale of the Infertile Field?”
Elsea: “Miss! That story is hardly appropriate for ones so
young.”
Glenn: “Chose another.”
Mary: “Fine, fine…What say you to the Dragon Suitor then?”
Zelos: “I’ve heard that one at least a thousand times.”
Mary grouse.
Mary: “Then why don’t I just go and tell you the story of
the Fox and the Flame, the Wolf and the Whale, the Song and the Serpent…”
Mary looks around in surprised silence as the party
offers no objection.
Mary: “Really? No complaints? Honestly? This story has been
sung to you daily since your infancy.”
Zelos: “Never heard of it.”
Zara: “Neither have I.”
Mary: “Oh, you most certainly have. I know for fact that
your mother was quite fond of it. Why, she hardly spoke of little else than the
old gods.”
Zelos: “Well, mom died when I was real little, so I don’t
remember much about her.”
Glenn and Mary exchange glances while Zara looks briefly
uncomfortable.
Mary: “I am well-aware, and I apologize for that. You father
had shared her interest—when I knew him, at least—so I had assumed. Obviously,
I was mistaken.”
Zelos: “When you mentioned the old gods it sounded a bit
familiar, actually. What is it about?”
Mary: “The myth itself is quite long and composed of a
collection of different stories, but it tells the story of the twelve gods what
once shepherded mankind and ruled over them.”
Zelos: “And what happened to the old gods, anyway? Why don’t
they rule anymore?”
Mary: “Well, according to the final myth, one of the old
gods—the Fox, should memory serve—tricked the other gods. Stealing the magic of
the gods, he gave it to man and made them gods themselves. Mankind, now freed
from divine rule, could write their own destiny and so fought the gods for
dominion. In the end, the gods were sealed into the stars, which is where we
get our constellations.”
Zelos: “See, I knew it sounded familiar. There is a question
I’ve always had, though. Why would the Fox do that? He was a god, too, wasn’t
he?”
Mary shrugged.
Mary: “Fox was a funny sort. Most-like did it for a good
laugh, I’d assume.”
Zara: “Sounds to me like he got what was coming to him.
Mary: “Well, princess, I am sure that there are many what
agree with you.”
-The Four Thrones-
Cut to the outskirts of Black Well city. The
castle walls are hard shadows in the distance. It is midday, the sun
peeking through heavy, low-hanging clouds. Soldiers walk the streets in
large numbers. The people seem frightened.
Eros walks the streets in royal garb, soldiers escorting
him.
Two soldiers pull a child from the crowd and show her a
sketch.
A group of soldiers are speaking with shopkeepers.
Eros leads his own soldiers to a tavern.
Eros: “Put it up here. Plenty of bounty hunters are bound to
see it this way.”
Fionan Soldier1: “Yes, m’lord.”
Fionan Soldier1 pins a cluster of wanted notices to the
tavern’s exterior wall.
Eros: “Come, there’s an inn down the way. If they’re here,
then we’ll be certain to find them there.”
Eros leaves with the soldiers trailing.
Burgess and Crane approach the wall.
Burgess: “Peel them off and hand them to me, if you would. I
can’t see them right from this angle.”
Crane: “Of course, my dear.”
Crane peels each sketch from the wall, one by one.
Crane looks over each sketch.
Crane hands each sketch to Burgess, who drops them to the
ground.
Crane: “The bounties are high.”
Burgess: “Course they are. A traitor prince, a bloodied princess,
and a former captain of the guard—can’t make such things up.”
Crane: “If we brought them in, we’d be rich.”
Burgess: “We’d be legends.”
Crane: “Tell me, Burgess, with your keen mind, where would
you go if you were a fugitive on the run from the crown.”
Burgess leans against the tavern wall while rolling a
cigarette.
Burgess: “To shelter.”
Crane: “And who would be fool enough to harbor criminals?”
Burgess: “Enemies of the crown, I’d wager.”
Crane stares at the ground, where Zara’s notice lies.
Crane: “Silvara.”
Burgess: “Silverthrone.”
Crane: “They will avoid the royal roads.”
Burgess: “I would if I were them.”
Crane: “The guard…”
Burgess: “Sir Glenn.”
Crane: “He will lead them, a shepherd in the storm. How old
would you say he is?”
Burgess: “Old enough to know the old ways.”
Crane: “Old enough to know the safe ways.”
Burgess: “They’ll go by roads old enough to be abandoned,
but not so old as to be forgotten.”
Crane: “They’ll go through Emeraldine.”
Burgess smiles up at Crane, a cigarette smoking between
his lips.
Burgess: “Then so will we, my love.”
Crane takes Burgess’ hand.
Together, they disappear into the busy city streets.
Chapter End.
