CHARACTER SHEET
NARRATOR: The echoes of steel could be heard from the castle halls. Queen Victoria stumbled the halls avoiding the roaring fires. Sneaking down the stairs she saw that the dungeon was still untouched. Elijah sat in his cell in deep prayer, not moving in her presence. Shakily she moved a stone near his cell, collapsing on to it, she sat there listening to his small whispers to God. VICTORIA: The castle, it’s ruined.
ELIJAH: That it is.
VICTORIA: The soldiers, they come for me.
ELIJAH: The end of a tyrant.
VICTORIA: [whisper] No…
NARRATOR: Elijah got up from praying. Pulling himself closer to Queen Victoria.
ELIJAH: Why are you here?
VICTORIA: They’ve come for you. All of this destruction is for you.
ELIJAH: And why then do you sit with me?
VICTORIA: You are my only way out.
ELIJAH: Death?
VICTORIA: My death would be one that involves a false trial, or worse, rotting inside prison for the rest of my life. Treated to kindly to be killed, a political trophy. Down goes a queen! Paying for everything she has done. Slowly, and without remorse.
ELIJAH: Is that not what you deserve?
VICTORIA: Where is this comfort you always spoke of? A god that took people like me in?
ELIJAH: Who’s to say that you deserve such a gift? You’ve been my bane since I’ve entered your prison.
VICTORIA: You claim it’s for all! That is what you promised!
ELIJAH: Perhaps you are an exception?
VICTORIA: Stop you awful ghoul! What good are your accusations now? I have nothing! I am doomed.
ELIJAH: When you burnt my ribs? When you flogged my feet? When you sliced out my eyes? Did you have mercy for me? In my screams of powerlessness? Where was your mercy when I was doomed?
NARRATOR: Victoria stopped a moment hearing the patterning of soldiers’ footsteps.
VICTORIA: You must give me mercy! Please, I know this what you’ve learned!
ELIJAH: You do not know of what I learned.
VICTORIA: I heard it in your cries! I heard in your pleads! You asked for mercy from a god that never came! And yet you continued to beg for it! You were forsaken and yet you still cried out!
ELIJAH: [shouting] Why would it come for you then?
VICTORIA: Because you must know something. You’ve survived much by my hand. You must.. know something!.
ELIJAH: Perhaps I have forgotten in my suffering. Maybe I have been forsaken by your hands. There is nothing stopping me from forsaking you.
VICTORIA: If this was true, why haven’t you left your cage?
NARRATOR: Elijah’s cell door held broken open by the rumbles of the castle. Its hinges lay lamely on the ground.
ELIJAH: I am enjoying your pain, seeing you feel what has been due for far too long.
VICTORIA: Then why have you not once screamed for the guards? Finish this forsaken queen?
ELIJAH: I do not know.
VICTORIA: There- there! Something in you is asking for something more.
ELIJAH: All I know is you will hang or you will rot. That is your fate, that is all I know.
NARRATOR: The soldiers rushed to the dungeon, quickly pulling their swords on her.
SOLDIER: [shouting] Found you! You will face God for your crimes, great Tyrant!
NARRATOR: The soldiers pulled closer, cuffs in hand.
ELIJAH: [yell] Stop!
SOLDIER: Great prophet?
ELIJAH: Do not hurt her, do not cuff her.
SOLDIER: Sir? She’s a fiend, she must hang!
ELIJAH: That may be, but I know she must not be treated harshly. Let her not be paraded in front of her realm. She deserves more than that.
SOLDIER: Sir, if your word is true we shall not defy it.
ELIJAH: It is not mine. Help me up, let me be tied to her so she may not be striked.
NARRATOR: The soldiers picked Elijah up from his cell. His scarred and broken legs weakly climbed out. Carefully the soldiers linked his arms with her.
VICTORIA: [whisper to Elijah] Thank you.
ELIJAH: [whisper to Victoria] This is not for you.
VICTORIA: I know, that is why I thank you.
NARRATOR: Victoria and Elijah walked hand in hand to jeering Chrisitan soldiers. They mocked the fallen queen. One soldier braved enough to try and hit her with the back of his sword. Elijah swung to take the blow. The soldier pulled his sword back in shock.
SOLDIER: Prophet! Please leave this woman! Let us take you back home where you deserve.
ELIJAH: My home is with this woman. Do not deny what the Lord has told me, nor what he has given her.
SOLDIER: Sir! I don’t know what that means…
ELIJAH: You do not have to.
NARRATOR: They walked through the jeering crowd, enduring abuses. Only ending when they entered the jailor’s wagon.
VICTORIA: I’m sorry for what I have done to you, I know it may mean nothing. But, perhaps it can mean something one day, a day in a better place.
ELIJAH: Perhaps…