Scene Twelve

The Eastern Countryside

(After a disastrous raft ride, Sabin finds himself wandering the world on his own. He is uncertain about the fate of his friends, and his only hope now is to hike the long trip back to Narshe)

Sabin:
Confounded be so false a tide!
To fall from grace once made ill,
Now lose I my strength of will?!
Spite for the River Lete!

(He begins to walk, and spies an oddly dressed man in black standing by an old house.)

Sabin:
Relief washes clear!
All scent I had lost of hope!
Be that civility hold in so far a land?
Separate paths have taken mine,
And you seem no way in burden!
Be that I need find Narshe,
Mayhaps you direct my cause?

Shadow (With little emotion):
Truly, sparrow, you have fallen,
And far from the nest at that!
Paths converge in infamy,
As south to Doma be you set.

Sabin:
Doma? Be that the south?
Ne'er was I so far from Figaro,
Not so far to believe mineself lost!

Shadow (Almost without care):
Gestahl bid Doma fall into fold,
And beset upon yonder kingdom
A reign of the wolf.
Leo hold counsel a league south,
And as a hound to the scent,
Gives no sample of losing hold.

Sabin:
Destiny, thine ways amuse me still,
And share we a bed many a night!

Shadow:
Steel grows dull with time,
Well might rust grip with the dew.
No crimson run awash of my dagger,
And if such company hold intrigue,
Then by all means, mine service be yours!

Sabin:
Obliged and well met, friend stranger!
Most evil sense give comfort to care,
Be no such mark place'd nigh!
To destiny's bed march we both!

(Exeunt Shadow and Sabin)

(Curtain)

Scene Thirteen

The Imperial Military Base

(Shadow and Sabin arrive at the base and hide behind some crates to gather as much information about the Imperials as possible. Enter Leo and soldier.)

Soldier:
Sir Leo, Sir Leo!

Leo:
Soothe such haste in sense!
Be there report?

Soldier:
Nay, sir. All falls as was.
Many a man waits to rush,
For to clash under thine noble banner
Make no man greater of pride!
Command, General Leo, that we attack!
Be our taste for honor no better than Doma?

Leo:
Peace! So hefty weight make blood thin!
Lives concern me where honor nears confusion!
Doma's force remain steadfast and alert,
So ne'er was mine thought moreso placed rightly!

Soldier:
My life counts as waste,
Lest it be used for your aim!

Leo:
Again, I entreat thee, peace and rest!
Distress follows by unneeded loss!
Have you not a mother? A father proud?
War tears down many walls,
And rend nature from the core!
Let not the next tree which falls,
Be that of your own kin!
My own part shall be to tend pain,
And such loss mars my spirit
A million times o'er!

Soldier:
Thy will falls as command!

(Exeunt Soldier)

Sabin:
Ah, Leo, well played, good man!
If war be not the wall of fate,
Then on another day,
Arms might be cast
For views of the right and true!

(Enter another soldier)

Soldier:
Sir Leo, if please you my report,
A word is sent from our Lord!

(Leo reads the carrier pigeon)

Leo:
False hope lies in this,
That my will doth rebel,
Yet in Gestahl's care my life resides!
To Vector I travel,
For it be the throne's will.
Battle turns now to the squire,
Though the knight be wary
And hesitant in so early a weaning.

Soldier:
By your word, m'lord,
All plans rest in honor!

Leo:
Then I take leave.

(Exeunt Leo, Enter Kefka)

Kefka:
Rightly so be the fate of an ass,
As to be herded by mere word!
Such hold no man place on me,
Lest he find the binds soon revers'd!
Absence makes just effort,
That command fawns at my feet!
O, woe to pitiful Doma!
Be so wretched a land mine,
To make wretched from within!
Turn on yourselves in taint,
Slavish bodies of fools!
Let the pit of your meals,
Be the grave of your souls!

(Enter Leo)

Leo:
I am summoned to away.
Make no haste to end this contest,
As haste falls ill to victory!
Honor escapes you yet,
But orders are of equal bearing!
Lest you remember your stock,
Forget not that within walls lie brothers!

Kefka:
If brothers to you they be,
Then a wretch had you for mother!
That you are of yet failed
Makes mine own course the greater.
Before your counsel begin,
MY men shall vanquish all within!

(Uncertain, Leo leaves Kefka behind to command the troops.)

(Exeunt Leo)

(Enter Soldier)

Kefka:
Mine patience fails with the hour!
Be my brew set for the serving?
Toxins works best when fed,
And as sheep to the trough,
So ready Doma to the river!

Soldier:
Yet Leo gave command...

Kefka:
Weary I am of Leo's thin spine!
So frail and weak it bends,
That his steps fall awkward,
And his stride with lesser care!
Generals are to be made of firmer stuff!
Hasten to comply in good faith,
As a god to you my law shall act
Lest your life hold you no worth,
And your flesh readied for pain!

Soldier:
Aye, m'lord, then all be set,
Though plans so sour of nature...

Kefka:
Enough! Pour the brew,
And we shall let Doma writhe,
Be it an hour or a day,
Mortal men can but deter such fate!

Sabin:
Stay thine course, inhuman cur!

Kefka:
Silence, lest life fall in red cascade!

(They fight, but Kefka is hit once and scampers off yelping, Sabin in close pursuit. Soldiers come in aid of Kefka, and Shadow and Sabin have no choice but to fight them off while Kefka sneaks away to pour the poison in the river.)

Kefka:
Pan never played so fine a melody,
That the voice of pain doth compare,
For in the wond'rous truth o' agony,
My ears scream their pleasure bare!

(Curtain)

Scene Fourteen

The Castle of Doma

(Cyan is standing watch atop the tower of Doma Castle, watching as the Imperial Base bustles with some activity. Concerned, he notices that the water looks a bit odd in color.)

Doma Sentry:
Sir Cyan, lest sight gives chase,
Certain it is that Gestahl moves quickly,
Agitated by so stoic a resolve,
Another plan must we weather,
Though all end seems so lost in blood.

Cyan:
Tarry not in ragged waste,
That the mind grow more ragged still!
Fix your pains on living,
And through this storm tread we safely!

(He looks at the water. Suddenly, soldiers around the castle start to drop like flies.)

Cyan:
By what foul machinations...?

Sentry:
Can all fate be so sealed?
Has God turned face from this battle?

Cyan:
Nay! Observe with care the water,
See how gray the flow,
How thick it writhe as it laps?
No such act of nature force our hand!
Low has the Imperial aim fallen,
As to use so vile a tool!
Poison flows through Doma's great heart!

Sentry:
Contemptible spite!
Be there such cowards alive?!

Cyan:
Yet duty has been misplaced!
The king yet dines this night!
Hurry forth!

(They race to the throne room, where the King of Doma has fallen and lies as if dead.)

Cyan:
Your highness! Be you sound?

King of Doma:
Be that you, Cyan?
Darkness lays upon mine eyes!
Noble wars no longer break,
That Gestahl would stoop to Hell!
Yet nothing halts time,
And Doma's runs short...

Cyan:
Never!

King of Doma:
Cyan, most favored of knights,
That your service follows two lines,
You are of true valor!
There be no other in this world,
That doth match thine might!
I...I am not long of time,
I feel...much burn!
Run, now, and show...
Show this might, for your...
For your son and wife!

Cyan:
You highness! Say not such words!

(Doma dies)

Cyan:
Black winds howl through
This damned and honorless world!
How that so noble a sovereign
Doth lie while the world continues,
Without sword to avenge!
Fickle love for brothers
Is shown by Imperial spite!

(Cyan runs from the room to meet with his family, but gets there too late.)

Cyan:
Elayne! Owain!
A voice to call, I beg!
Be you safe from harms way,
Then my life to no ends is save!

(He rustles his wife, who is holding her son. The boy falls from her limp arms, both lifeless.)

Cyan:
No....!
This is...
Inhuman fiends!
Whores of Satan!
By mine blade,
I shall slay all,
And send you back to mingle
With your dark lord!

(Exeunt Cyan)

(Curtain)