getting a feel for it

Beck There is nought left for us here Gordo. The day is gone and lost with our wealth. Perhaps if I throw myself at my father’s mercy he may only beat me.

Gordo Nought left for you, but perhaps I might yet leave with a prize.

Gordo approaches the serving maid

Girl Alas my lord, you have lost your hand

Gordo Might I be compensated with yours? Link it with mine own. With tips we brush and caress the canvas of each others palms, tracing tender affections upon.

Girl It is smooth to the touch, though I’d thought it be rough

Gordo And yours be cold when I’d hope it be warm. Let me breathe upon this snow, and paint it less pale with my breath. A better reason to breath than merely to sustain myself

Beck approaches, looking pained

Beck If stay you must, then I leave alone. I fear my bed is calling me home

Gordo I shall see you in the …afternoon. Morning might yet be much too soon.

Beck Departs

Girl Perhaps we might heed the same calling my lord. The work of mine here is done

Gordo True. And though your hand is now coloured and framed, much else of you there still remains.



Scene shifts to Elmin, walking desolately down the streets


Narrator Luckless Elmin broods through cobbles and dirt and grass. His steps are careless, for there is no destination in mind. Only the small solace to be found in motion

Elmin My spirits have ebbed away like the tides. Fitting, given that no moon graces the sky. Her ghostly light refuses to illuminate, nor can my lantern imitate. Darkness grips us all, and the pool of light that I bathe in only covers me with the stink of my own thin, wavering shadow.

Beck Gordo!

Elmin What! What apparition approaches me?

Beck Hold fast Gordo, did that woman prove herself canny and see through your thin grinning guise? Just as well, you idiotic baboon arsed clown…

Beck reaches Elmin

Beck Ah, apologies my lord. Though night’s thick cloak I mistook you for a companion of mine.

Elmin An honest mistake, as most mistakes are

Beck Ha, you speak true my lord. Yet honest mistakes are oft punished with the rest. Tell me, now I get a look at you, for I wish no disservice. Are you Prince Elmin?

Elmin That I am

Beck Indeed!? This night makes strangers of us all. A father would not recognise his son.

Elmin No, no he would not

Beck Well, unless there is any service you need of me, I shall depart, and hope my own father will not distinguish me. Farewell

Beck exits

Elmin How the fates toy with me, like young cats with a mouse. Sending words, though spoken in goodwill from an unwitting vessel, that might rub salt in fresh wounds.

Drunken laughter is heard

Elmin The sweet sound draws nearer. No doubt another mocking blow awaits.

Gordo What want have I for light my lady? The steps of the dance are well known to me, and the velvet darkness is a garment I would never shorn. Though certainly I could do without a chill

Girl Hold me closer then Gordo. Also warm yourself with this fine wine I have thefted for us. Indeed half I have already had!

Gordo My love for you grows and grows

Girl So I see

Gordo That would be the bottles neck. But look, a stranger appears

They reach Elmin

Elmin Good eve to you both

Gordo And a good eve to your good self my good good sir

Girl A strange thing Gordo, he resembles you in many ways, though his brow be less kingly and his chin less manly.

Gordo Indeed, I might call him brother, though I treat all men as such. But come! To home we go, so I might hold you even closer. Adieu brother.

Gordo and Girl exit

Elmin Well played my unchosen foe. Twice you send me reeling. The Scorn of my father follows me far. Yet I cannot help but feel that through the cruel teacher of pain a lesson may be learned. A father would not recognise his son? Then perhaps a wife might not recognise her husband. It does not bear to dwell on such thoughts, yet encamp I must!

Elmins lamp goes out

Narrator And though it pains him so, Elmin schemes with darkness. Thus for the good of all, his heart is rendered heartless