PART TWO – The First Bit
A few hours later, in a courtyard within Malgeth's fortress. Barthou enters with his son, Falear, who is carrying a spotlight.
Barthou: What time is it, son?
Falear: The moon's gone down. I haven't heard the bell tower yet.
Barthou: The moon goes down at twelve. Midnight.
Falear: I believe it's later than that.
Barthou: Hold up a second, hold my lasgun. There must be budget cuts in the heavens; they've put out the stars. Here, hold my pistol and dagger as well. (Yawns) I can't keep my eyes open a second longer, but I don't want to sleep. Emperor take the dark dreams that plague me in my sleep. Give me my lasgun! Who goes there?
(Malgeth enters with an Attendant)
Malgeth: A friend.
Barthou: Still up, good host? The governor's asleep. He's been in a good mood, and tipped all your servants very well. He wishes to give your wife this diamond for being such a kind hostess, and has gone to bed very content.
Malgeth: We were unprepared for his visit, but have done the best we could on such short notice.
Barthou: It was a splendid reception. I dreamt of the Wyrd Sisters last night. In your case, it seems that they've been pretty accurate.
Malgeth: I haven't given them a second thought. But someday, when we have more time to spare, we must talk about their prophecies.
Barthou: Whenever you want.
Malgeth: Back me when the time comes, and you shall be rewarded.
Barthou: If I can remain honorable and loyal to the Throne while doing it, I'll listen to your advice.
Malgeth: Sleep well 'til then.
Barthou: Thanks, sir. And the same to you.
(Barthou and Falear leave)
Malgeth: Tell your mistress to ring the bell when my drink is ready, then get yourself to bed as well.
(The Attendant leaves. Malgeth remains, standing deep in thought.)
Is this a dagger I see before me? With its handle toward my hand? Let me hold you! I can't touch you, but I can still see you. Why, dark premonition, are you only seen and not felt? Are you just a dagger of thought? An illusion created by feverish thoughts? I still see you, as real as this dagger I now draw. You're leading me the way I was heading, appearing like the tool I was going to use. Do my eyes deceive me, or my other senses? I see you still. Now with a bloody blade and hilt. But there's nothing there. It's the dark thoughts of murder which makes me see this thing. Half the world is asleep, with wicked dreams abusing the sleepers. It is the time for Wyrds to practice their craft. Murderers, awoken by the wolf's howls, quietly pursue their goals like ghosts. Solid earth, hear not my steps or the way I go. My footsteps must not give away my actions, not when the time is right for action. I make threats while he still lives. I may talk myself out of this.
(A bell rings)
I'm off, and the deed is good as done. The bell is my signal. Do not hear it, Dairgon, for it's the bell that summons you to heaven…or to hell.
(Malgeth silently heads for Dairgon's bedroom)
PART TWO -The Second Bit
Lady Malgeth enters, carrying a goblet.
Lady Malgeth: The drink that has made them drunk has given me courage. What has put out their fire, has ignited mine. What was that? Listen. Only an owl, bellman of death, saying good night. He should be doing it now. The doors are unlocked, and the drunken guards snore along with the one they're supposed to be protecting. I've drugged their drinks so heavily, they're halfway dead themselves.
Malgeth (calling from upstairs): Who's there? Halt!
Lady Malgeth: What? They're awake, and it hasn't been done! He's been caught in the act! Wait…I had the guard's blades ready. He couldn't miss them. If Dairgon hadn't looked like my father as he slept, I'd have done the deed myself.
(Malgeth comes in, carrying two daggers. His hands and arms are bathed in blood.)
My husband!
Malgeth: I have done the deed. Did you hear any noise?
Lady Malgeth: I heard an owl scream, and the crickets chirp. Didn't you say something?
Malgeth: When?
Lady Malgeth: Just now.
Malgeth: When I came down the stairs?
Lady Malgeth: Yes.
Malgeth: Listen! Who's in the second chamber?
Lady Malgeth: Delborn.
Malgeth: I am a dreadful mess.
Lady Malgeth: That's a foolish thought - "a dreadful mess".
Malgeth: There was one person who laughed in his sleep, and another who cried out "Murder!" so that they woke each other up. I stood and listened, but they only said their prayers and went back to sleep.
Lady Malgeth: Delborn and Mordan are both in that room.
Malgeth: One cried "Emperor bless us", and the other said "Amen". It was as if they'd seen me with these executioner's hands. Listening to their fear, I couldn't say "Amen" when they said "Emperor bless us".
Lady Malgeth: Don't think about it so much.
Malgeth: But why couldn't I say "Amen"? I, who needed blessing the most, couldn't even say "Amen"!
Lady Malgeth: The deed mustn't be thought of like this! It'll drive us mad!
Malgeth: I thought I heard a voice cry out "Sleep no more! Malgeth has murdered sleep!" Innocent sleep. Sleep that fixes all our cares, the peace at the end of the day, like a bath after hard labor, rest for injured minds, rejuvenator of our souls, the main course in the feast of life…
Lady Malgeth: What do you mean?
Malgeth: It kept crying "Sleep no more!" to the entire house. "Lord Glomys has murdered sleep, therefore Lord Cawdor shall sleep no more! Malgeth shall sleep no more!"
Lady Malgeth: Who was it that cried out like that? My noble lord, you will waste all your strength thinking such things. Go get some water, and wash this evidence from your hands. Why did you bring the daggers with you? They must stay there. Bring them back, and smear the guards with blood.
Malgeth: I won't go back. I'm afraid of what I've done… I dare not look at it again!
Lady Malgeth: Coward! Give me the daggers! The sleeping and the dead are like pictures. Only children fear pictures of a daemon. If he still bleeds, I'll paint the faces of the guards with it, for they need to look guilty.
(She goes upstairs. Knocking is heard from outside)
Malgeth: What is this knocking? Why does every noise frighten me? Whose hands are these? Pluck out my eyes! Will the entire ocean be enough to wash my hands clean? No, it's more likely that my hands will stain even the green seas red.
(Lady Malgeth returns. Her hands are also stained with blood.)
Lady Malgeth: My hands are now the same color as yours, but I'd be ashamed if my heart was as white as yours is. (There is more knocking.) Someone's knocking at the south entrance. We must get to our bedchamber. A little water will wash away the evidence of our deed. The rest will be easy. Get yourself together! (More knocking) Listen, more knocking! Get into your bedclothes! In case we're called we must look like we've been sleeping. You mustn't be so lost in your thoughts!
Malgeth: Knowing what I've done, I'd rather not know myself. (More knocking) Just try to wake Dairgon with your knocking! I wish you could!
(They hurry off to their bedroom)
PART TWO – The Third Bit
The main gate of Malgeth's fortress. The Porter enters to answer the knocking. He has drunk a bit too much at the evening's feast.
Porter: Here's someone who knows how to knock! If I were the porter of a hell-gate, I'd spend forever turning the key. (More knocking) "Knock, knock, knock!" "By the Four, who's there?" "Why, it's a farmer, who hung himself when the crops didn't come in the way he wanted! C'mon in, time waster! Make sure you brought enough kerchiefs, for you'll surely sweat it out down here!" (Knocking) "Knock, knock, knock!" "By the great enemy, who's there?" "Faith, it's a double-talker, who could speak for both sides of an argument and committed treason enough for the sake of the Throne, but couldn't talk his way past the Emperor's Judgment. Come in, spinster!" (Knocking) "Knock, knock, knock!" "Who's there? Well, if it isn't a Delaque tailor, sent down here for stealing cloth from Esher dresses. Welcome tailor! You can easily heat your iron here." (Knocking) Knock, knock, knock! Give it a rest! What are you? Gah! This place is too cold to be hell. I'm done playing the hell-gate porter. I had thought to wait long enough to let in all the professions, including those who go to hell the righteous way. (Knocking) All right! Enough! Remember to tip the porter!
(He opens the portal door. Maldiov and Ulanti enter)
Maldiov: Did you stay up so late, friend, that it took you so long to answer the door?
Porter: Emperor's Blood, sir. We were partying past the second hour. And drink, sir, is great for three things.
Maldiov: And what are these three things?
Porter: Well, sir, blood-shot noses, deep sleep, and urine. It turns sex on and off. The desire turns on, but the performance turns off. Therefore, too much drink could be said to be the double-edged sword of lustful thoughts. It makes it, and mars it. It turns you on, but shuts you down. Gives you the urge, but then takes it away. Makes you stand tall, and then shrinks you down. It tricks you with a fantasy, and once you get the lie, it leaves you.
Maldiov: I think the drink lied to you this night.
Porter: It sure did, sir. It had me by the throat. But I paid it back for that. I was too strong for it. Even though it took my legs out from under me, I still managed to throw it back up.
Maldiov: Is your master up?
(Malgeth enters in his sleeping robe)
Our knocking must have woken him. Here he comes.
Ulanti: Good morning, sir!
Malgeth: Good morning to you both.
Maldiov: Is the governor up yet, my lord?
Malgeth: Not yet.
Maldiov: He ordered me to call on him early. I'm nearly late.
Malgeth: I'll take you to him. Follow me, this way.
Maldiov: I know this is a great honor for you, even though it must be an inconvenience.
Malgeth: Tasks we enjoy are never tiresome. This is his door.
Maldiov: I guess I'd better wake him. It is what I'm here for, after all.
(Maldiov enters the room)
Ulanti: Is the governor leaving today?
Malgeth: He is. That was his plan.
Ulanti: It has been a stormy night. Where we stayed, the chimneys were blown down. And, as the saying goes, voices cried in the wind, screaming of death and making prophecies of dreadful fire and chaotic events leading us to a troubled time. An owl screeched all night, and, some said, the ground itself was sick and shook.
Malgeth: Sounds like a rough night.
Ulanti: I can't remember another like it in my short lifetime.
(Maldiov returns)
Maldiov: Horror! Horror! Horror! There are no words…I cannot even conceive of it!
Malgeth/Ulanti: What's the matter?
Maldiov: Chaos has made its masterpiece! Murder has broken open the Golden Throne and stolen the life within!
Malgeth: What are you saying? What life?
Ulanti: Do you mean the governor?
Maldiov: Enter and see for yourself, though the sight will turn you to stone. Do not ask me to speak. See for yourself. (Malgeth and Ulanti enter the bedroom) Wake up! Wake up! Sound the alarm! Murder and treason! Barthou and Delborn! Mordan, wake up! Shake off your sleep, death's fake, and look upon death itself! Mordan! Barthou! Rise from your graves and walk like the dead to face this horror! Sound the alarm!
(Lady Malgeth enters)
Lady Malgeth: What's going on? Why does such a hideous alarm summon our guests from their beds? Speak! Speak!
Maldiov: Oh, gentle lady, what I have to say is not for your ears. The words themselves would murder any woman who heard them.
(Barthou enters)
Barthou! The governor has been murdered!
Lady Malgeth: Despair! What? In our house?
Barthou: It is too horrible, anywhere. Friend Diov, please, take it back. Say it isn't true!
(Malgeth and Ulanti return)
Malgeth: If I had died an hour before this tragedy, I'd have lived a blessed life. From this instant on, there's nothing worth living for. Everything is empty. Celebrity and grace are dead. The flavor of life is gone, leaving only dust behind.
(Mordan and Delborn enter)
Delborn: What's the trouble?
Malgeth: The trouble's yours, but you don't know it yet. The spring, the fountain, the very source of your bloodline has been stopped up.
Maldiov: Your imperial father has been murdered.
Mordan: What? Who did this?
Ulanti: His own guards appear to have done it. Their hands and faces were all coated with blood. Their daggers too, which we found unwiped, lying on their pillows. They stared around and seemed unaware of their surroundings. No man's life was safe in their hands.
Malgeth: I do regret my fury, which caused me to kill them.
Maldiov: Why did you do this?
Malgeth: Who can be wise, surprised, cool, furious, loyal, and neutral, all at the same time? No one. The expression of my anger outran my reason. Here lay Dairgon, his skin splattered with his life's blood, his wounds gaping like holes in reality, letting in the ruinous powers. There lay the murderers, covered in the evidence of their deed, their daggers still dripping with blood. Who could hold back, with a loving heart and the courage to show that love?
Lady Malgeth: Help me, please (she pretends to faint).
Maldiov: Look after the lady.
Mordan (to Delborn): Why do we hold our tongues? This affects us the most!
Delborn: What can we say, when our own lives are on the line? We must escape. My tears are not yet ready.
Mordan: And my sorrow isn't real yet.
Barthou: Guards, look after the lady. It's too cold here in our night robes. Let's get dressed and meet to discuss this most bloody piece of work. We'll try to figure it out. Fears and suspicions make us tremble. By the Golden Throne I stand, and from there I will fight against the unknown subterfuge of evil treason.
Maldiov: And so do I.
All: So do we all.
Malgeth: Let's get dressed quickly and meet together in the hall.
All: Agreed.
(Everyone leaves except for Mordan and Delborn)
Mordan: What will you do? We shouldn't stay with them. A false man can easily feign sorrow. I'll go to Secundus.
Delborn: Ashland for me. We'll be safer if we're apart. Here, there are daggers hidden in smiles. Our closest relatives have the most reasons to kill us.
Mordan: This murder is just the beginning. Our safest way is out of the line of fire. Let's get out of here as quickly as possible. To hell with the niceties. There's no point in adhering to protocol if it'll just get us killed. We'll steal our own lives, there's no mercy here.
(They leave)
PART TWO – The Fourth Bit
The next morning, outside Malgeth's fortress. Ran Lo and an Old Man enter.
Old Man: I can remember seventy years, and within that time I have seen some strange and dreadful things, but this night has surpassed them all.
Ran Lo: Ah, good father, you are seeing the skies, angry with the acts of men, threatening the world they've made. By my chrono it's day, and yet the night seems to smother the sun. Is the night so dominant, or the day so ashamed that darkness entombs the earth when life-bringing light should hold sway?
Old Man: It's unnatural, just like the deed that was just done. Last Tuesday a predator bird was attacked and killed by mousing owl.
Ran Lo: And Dairgon's mounts (this is strange, but true) both beautiful and swift, stunning specimens of their breeds, turned wild. They broke from their stalls, kicked at the grooms, and refused to obey. It was as if they had declared war on mankind.
Old Man: I heard that they ate each other.
Ran Lo: And they did! I saw it with my own eyes.
(Maldiov enters)
Here comes the good Maldiov. How are things now, sir?
Maldiov: What, can't you see the weather for yourself?
Ran Lo: Has anyone figured out who did this unbelievably bloody thing?
Maldiov: The guards that Malgeth killed.
Ran Lo: What a horrible day! What could they have hoped to gain?
Maldiov: They were corrupted. Mordan and Delborn, the governor's owns sons, have fled the scene. This puts them high on the list of suspects.
Ran Lo: Another act against nature! Such careless ambition is its own demise. Then it's most likely that Malgeth will be named governor.
Maldiov: He's already been chosen, and has gone to the Governor's Palace for the investment.
Ran Lo: And what of Dairgon's body?
Maldiov: It has been taken home, to his families tombs.
Ran Lo: Are you headed for the palace?
Maldiov: No, cousin. I'm heading home.
Ran Lo: Well, I'll head to the palace.
Maldiov: I hope you will see things going well there. Farewell! Things may have changed for the worse.
Ran Lo: Farewell, father.
Old Man: Emperor's Mercy go with you, and with all who would make good of bad and friends of foes.
(They all go in different directions)