Chapter Text
Enter Jackie and V.
Jackie: Ay, ‘tis a pretty rod-staff. Anon, we may begin our undertaking.
V: Did Wakako tell thee of the labour?
Jackie: She told me thus: “I am not your kinswoman. If you take the pains of the task, you shall reap ducats plenty. ’Tis a petty labour.”
V: It shall be, by and by.
Jackie: The stairs are near.
T-Bug [from under the stage]: Sandra Dorsett is our fair thrall. Her spirit is drainéd, yea, and I am afeared that the sleep of death hath come upon her. Thou mayest yet be tardy.
Jackie: We are not tardy, an’ I say we, for though thou’rt wielding syballine sorcery from afar, and though thou speakest sans tongue, thou’rt yet a member of our fair company.
T-Bug: To be of thy company I am e’er charm’d.
V: Bug, hold thy spleen.
T-Bug: If thou seek’st ardor, then, marry– buy thee a polecat. Th’ bed-room is twelve and thirty-seven, an’ the thrall’s spirit yet sleepeth. O, that we are not tardy– I am gast to straddle the welkin and the firmament. Prithee, destroy the hasp. Canst thou do ‘t, V?
V and Jackie destroy the hasp and enter. They approach a nearby corpse.
Jackie: Prithee, with the quietude of a mouse! Zounds, have we tarried long? V– examine her.
V: Sandra Dorsett hath Echelon II guild embedments. She is as a magistrate’s coinpurse– o’erflowing with ducats and an apt trophy to be burgled. But, yea, this woman hath Zetatech facsimiles. ‘Tis a circus-magician’s mending— she is not our dame. Nay, let us hie with our hunt.
Enter Scavenger.
Jackie: V, see thou this— ‘Tis a pendejo. Give him blows.
V strikes the man. He dies.
Jackie: An artful practice— I could not have given better blows.
T-Bug: The company doth come upon thee.
Enter two Scavengers.
Jackie: Ay, thy opportunity draweth near. Strike him, swift and with the quietude of a spider. We shall cloak ourselves. Ay, they are as thick as Teweksbury mustard. Let us tarry and arm ourselves, and V, strike the one closest. Suerte.
V and Jackie strike the men and they die.
Jackie: They are felled, ay, but ‘tis not the last one. Hie and make haste.
T-Bug: Ay, the room is as still as the Sea o’ Galilee. Thou hast slain them- go forth.
V: Where doth she lie?
T-Bug: Prithee, search.
Jackie: Guau. We have evaded the scavengers with quietude– ‘tis not my ordinary way of things, but ‘tis a fair dealing iwis.
V and Jackie gaze upon several mutilated corpses in the bathtub.
V: Jesu Maria…
Jackie: Ay, V– mine own stomach is of iron wrought, but I am faint at heart. Nay, I was not crafted for such dealings– tis a butcher’s chamber. Ay, Scavengers are mad indeed, and no more shall I do such labour. Te lo juro por mi madre.
V: Marry, I have found the woman.
T-Bug: Doth she yet live?
V: I shall examine.
T-Bug: Jackie, pray thee, attune thyself to her embedments– I needs must know if she doth live.
Jackie: This is a gast thing.
V: She lieth in a tub of ice aside a man— they are as cutlets of meat in a butcher’s barrel– zounds!
T-Bug: Keep a good stoutness in thy head. Should she yet live, her memory shall rid itself of our dealings. ‘Tis a scar on the inner mind.
V: I have heard mickle of those who brush with the broad welkin, and yea, they doth tremble with knowing naught of wherefore. Thou mayest drink of a flagon of cold mead, and thence, thy hand is set a-quiver.
T-Bug: Attune thyself to her embedment– a spirit of wellness liveth within her. I needs must know if she doth live.
V: I am attuned. Her name is Sandra Dorsett, and she is writ in the ledger as NC570442. Yea, she hath good regards to the Trauma Guild, for her status is thus: Gold.
Jackie: ‘Tis Gold? Aye, Sandra would sneeze but one time and the Trauma Guild would be to her e’er leash’d.
T-Bug: Aye, the Scavengers have silenced the spirit. Her embedment hath been toiled with and her soul is blighted.
Jackie: Zounds, T-Bug! Thou dost stand from afar and speak through whispers o’ the mind. Thou’rt blinded to the gast horrors of the room— ‘tis with cleavers, tubs, and hooks fill’d.
T-Bug: ‘Tis fly-bitten droll. I have a conjecture– ay, find thou the embedment in her head. If there is a fragment within, prithee, pull it. ‘Tis what doth injure her spirit.
V: Shall injury come to her? We needs must haul her forth.
T-Bug: We found her and she doth live. She needs not be slain. If the spirit is quiet, ay, she is ill-fated. Pull out the fragment.
V: I shall take the fragment.
T-Bug: Prithee, commune with her spirit. Are there changes thus?
Spirit: Hail, Sandra.
If you are quickened, couch you not, and hark–
My word is earnest, salient and stark–
To Trauma Guild word of your wound shall hie,
Three minutes hence, and mickle aid is nigh.
V: Aye, the spirit sayeth that the Trauma Guild shall come hither in three minutes’ time.
Spirit:
Trauma holdeth you in fair accordance–
Extrication’s fees oft let affordance.
Nine-tenths of aught you owe shall hence be paid,
As Trauma cometh thither to your aid.
Jackie: Pobrecita. Let us remove her from the ice.
V: Jack, ho! We are not finished. The outer world is yet shrouded in a gabardine.
Jackie: My sword standeth tall, hermano. Thou’rt the master o’ this tale.
V: Zounds!
Jackie: Ay, she doth swoon!
T-Bug: V, marry– what fares?
V: Jackie, bring me the elixir! Zounds, I am faint at heart!
Jackie: Take thou this.
Jackie gives V an elixir and V gives it to Sandra.
V: Ay, by Jove– she liveth!
Jackie: Fuera, bellaco. Pray thee, bring her to the terrace! The rat-plagued Scavengers doth abandon their barque– methinks they saw the Trauma Guild and were fain to be parted.
V brings Sandra from the apartment and a physician rides forth, halting and dismounting.
Physician: Stand you afar. Heed thus– halt and bring yourself five paces rearwards.
The physician takes Sandra from V.
Exit physician and Sandra.
Jackie: Let us hie away. Th’ stairs lead to the inn-yard on a path unbroken.
T-Bug: A fine labour– the maggot-bitten masque hath been palled. I shall sever my clairvoyance and leave thee. Until we meet again, and fare thee well.
Jackie: Hermano, I needs must borrow thy steed.
V: Needs must?
Jackie: Aye, I am courting Misty to-night, but I would be gast to walk as a common man doth.
V: I am a generous man– but, pray thee– ‘tis not my ordinary dealing.
Jackie: Thou art my savior, V. Gramercy. I shall captain the reins.
V: She is thine own. My bones groweth stale.
Jackie: Ay, V– you needs must pen a missive to Wakako an’ tell her that Sandra liveth.
V: Aye. I shall give this to a courier ere night falleth upon Night.
V pens a missive to Wakako before folding it and placing it in his pocket.
V: Tongues doth wag that the Night Watchmen shall bar fair Watson’s borders– marry, Jack, I pray to sleep in mine own bed tonight– prithee, gallop.
Jackie: Night is a fair kingdom.
V: ‘Tis as any other kingdom, only vaster.
Jackie: Nay. ‘Tis not as any other kingdom– Morgan Blackhand, Andrew Weyland, and Adam Smasher hath scurried their fair names to e’ery corner o’ the kingdom. But, pay no mind– I am in such a famine as Egypt. Let us sup.
V: Jackie, Watson’s borders shall be barred.
Jackie: Zounds, thy word is true. But, ‘tis no matter, for mine eyes grow leery. Zounds! ‘Tis another steed in short tow. I am ware of unapt tidings, V. ‘Tis the roving company of the Scavengers! ¡Válgame Dios!
Enter several Scavengers.
V: We needs must ride faster, Jackie!
Jackie: Shoot him!
V: Nay, I cannot! Marry, keep her gait steadfast!
Jackie: Zounds, perdon! V, loose thine arrow upon the coachman!
The Scavengers are felled severally.
Jackie: Thy steed is wounded.
V: ‘Tis no matter– I shall bring her to the stable master hence our arrival in Watson.
Enter several Night Watchmen.
Jackie: Ay– they are well arm’d.
Watchwoman: Watson is barr’d ‘till the herald sayeth that my word is false. ‘Tis a necessary sanctuary.
Jackie: Ho, my lady– we are fain to see you.
Watchwoman: Marry, wherefore am I absolute?
Jackie: Your heart is wrought of gold, for only a heart wrought of gold knoweth thus: I needs must return to my fair lady.
Watchwoman: Your fair lady?
Jackie: Yea. I needs must hie home lest she be afeared ‘till she is blighted. Yea, I am a fair gentleman, and she yet waiteth as a lame man for a miracle.
Watchwoman: ‘Tis a shame.
V: Gaze upon my friend, my lady– he is nary a kingsman, but he is a good knave.
Watchwoman: Open the barricade, but marry, they shall be the final. Hie forth.
Jackie: God be with ye, my lady.
Exit watchmen.
V: Thou’rt a kindly fellow? O, that this weren’t a dream!
Jackie: I am ever a kindly fellow.
V: Nay.
Enter two knaves of a roving company and several watchmen.
Knave: Dismount thy steed! I am not fain to tarry!
Jackie: Hark, V– there is a rabble-rouser.
Knave: Zounds, they are here!
Knave 2: Loose thine arrow!
The watchmen kill the knaves and are felled severally.
V: ‘Tis not an ordinary dealing.
Jackie: Nay. They are not ordinary watchmen– they are the Night Watchmen’s predators, an’ they are called thus: the MaxTac Guild. They doth hearken when a rabble too great for the Night Watchmen to entrap doth fall upon the kingdom. The ill-brainèd men outside– ‘tis merely a luncheon for them. The curtain falleth on the masque. Aye, woeful bastards! But, their dealings led them to their star-crossed fate. But, pay no mind– we are almost to thy home.
V: And thyself? Heywood is outside o’ the barricade.
Jackie: Soothe thyself, my brother. They shall allow me to cross.
V: Art thou certain?
Jackie: I shall be a good and fair Jack. Have thyself dreams bless’d by Queen Mab.
V: Prithee, bid Misty a fair hello from me.
Jackie: I shall. Buenas noches.
Enter courier.
Courier: A message from T-Bug, sir V– she sayeth that she hath a gift from a magician whom she knoweth. I have for thee a missive.
V: Gramercy, sirrah.
Exeunt.