CHARACTERS IN THE SCENE:
ATHUR/ARMENIA: Medi’s Princess, disguised as Wilson’s/The Independent’s Guide from Albion.
PRINCE: Prince of Medi.
WILSON: Independent Investigator from France, sent by the Albion King to investigate the Medi palace.
LIA: The Princess of Albion.
King Medi’s Castle
Enter Armenia
Armenia: Poor young boy, the poor Arthur. A guide no more powerful than a servant left to sink in his own tears. His parents; why, one be ill at home, the other been in bedlam for many a year now. The illness it’s told spreads from one generation to another. Poor, poor Arthur will be ill someday. Anger will bleed his body and sell his soul to Luther’s great power. Shall be Arthur who seeks Bedlam afore the end of this tragedy. Yet, he works quite freely within the palace walls, only being trusted with medial tasks. One day the King may see what he is turning to be, the poor bedlam base locked in the prison cells of kitchen service. He cries later on, locked away with no key to ‘scape. Poor, poor young boy. Will nobody weep with him? Will nobody see the tenderness in his tears? No! It is not of their way. We shall just see how the Kingdom of Medi should treat this beggar; he has already had to run from here for fear that his parents should be slaughtered. Oh! But what a wondrous game to play.
I see now why minstrels must love this so much. That Sommers must have the greatest of times prophesising false tales of his own creation. To act it out will be easy, Arthur be much like myself. Other than the apple and snake he feels shackled, as does the dear Princess Armenia.
It is good that Armenia left days ago, Arthur would not have felt comfortable in the presence of such a noble goddess. Ha! He knows who deserves to be rightful ruler. I must do all I can to make sure that Arthur’s view remains hidden from all who would dare harm him in such way. Arthur fights for Princess, for, of course, the Princess be too weak to fight for herself. She is merely female. Pah! How it sickens my tongue to speak such words.
Armenia travels to France, to go and learn what it must mean to be a woman for her King. Tis all arranged, she had flown already. Now, poor Arthur has every chance to do his deeds. A servants tongue to flicker his poisonous words into the mind of the independent Wilson. ‘Twill be perfect.
[Enter Prince]
Prince: Ah! I thought I heard noise from this area.
Armenia: [Aside] Oh look, the true heir comes near. The dreamer may be a perfect test for my new persona.
Prince: Hallo, who be you?
Armenia: I am not important enough for you to know sire. I should leave.
Prince: No, please do not. I wish to know your name, servant. I am keen on knowing all servants names; I am friends with all of my people.
Armenia: Sire.
Prince: Tell me. I will not chastise you for doing so.
Armenia: Arthur. I be Arthur, your highness.
Prince: You are new and so confused for directions?
Armenia: Yes, sire.
Prince: Strange, your face reminds me of somebody; but I cannot wonder who. You are sure you have not worked here before?
Armenia: I have not, sire.
Prince: Most peculiar.
Armenia: I come with Monsieur Wilson and his party, for to stay within these palace walls for some weeks.
Prince: You are with the enquirer? I hear it is most important that it is done, my Father is in high rage ‘bout it.
Armenia: Sire, if you permit me to ask, but you should not be telling me of such matters?
Prince: Oh, yes. I am sorry. I fear that since my sister has left for France I have begun to take her role as lead lips in the palace.
Armenia: Your sister talks a lot you say? And yet, you seem not to mind?
Prince: Why, of course not. She would not be my sister if she did not have those lips. Father says that it is a woman’s curse to speak with no concealment on her lips, but I fear that my sister is one of few people that could make even a pack mule run far from her gossip in embarrassment.
Armenia: Tis cruel.
Prince: I did not mean it in an offending way. I care for my sister a great deal; but her weaknesses are easy to find. My Father often plays with these so that she will do his bidding.
Armenia: Tis most certainly cruel.
Prince: Father is a good King, but his ideas are so old-fashioned. I wish to bring order and hope into our lands when I rule.
Armenia: You know that you will rule. How could you know such things?
Prince: It is either me or my sister’s husband, and as Armenia is not married the duty falls down to ‘Father’s son’.
Armenia: The Princess could marry?
Prince: Even then she would be second heir, after me. Did you not hear? I am my Father’s son, the throne does pass to me. Sometimes I wish I was not his Prince, but it was my right of birth.
Armenia: The Princess would rule if you were to die?
Prince: The Princess’s husband would rule, not my faithful sister. And as I have heard of Father’s plan for Armenia, I doubt she ever will. Father does not consider her worthy enough to marry. He has much the same respect for our friend Albion’s heir, so I have heard.
Armenia: Why? What be his plans for the Princess?
Prince: Ah! I could not say, I have already said far too much. You are very easy to talk to, young Arthur; I feel that with my sister as well. Thank you for being such good company when I feel so lonely.
Armenia: You’re very welcome, sire. [Aside] As welcome as pigswill over ‘top of your head, ungrateful Prince.
Prince: I should speak to you again. Just, do not tell my Father of what is said; I would be quartered for saying such truths against him.
Armenia: Do not fear, I shall not tell ‘him’.
Prince: Good. I shall see you, servant Arthur. I have much work to do.
[Exit Prince]
Armenia: What could my Father wish of me? He has plans against me and he did not utter a single word. The limit has been reached within these family ties, they stretch even longer. Oh! But did you not see him fall for the ‘guise his sister had adopted; he gives me more information than I could ever hope. War shall not be far from now if this moment be anything to work with. The stars look much brighter on this night than others. Shh! I hear the voices of Albion and France come close.
[Enter Wilson and Lia]
Wilson: You are sure that you do not wish me to tell Medi in my meeting that the Princess has arrived with me?
Lia: It is best if you don’t, fair Wilson. You wish to stay impartial, and I wish to stay secret. We will both help one another if you do not say anything and I do not judge.
Wilson: You are rightly sure?
Lia: Yes. I am sure.
Wilson: So be it. However, if anything were to turn then I would tell them of your truth right away. I cannot see you harmed, you are the daughter of Albion.
Lia: I know. It will be fine sir. If anything were to go wrong, which it surely won’t, I would come to you immediately and tell of the truth.
Wilson: Good. I shall wish you well and promise to see you after this meeting. Do not stray too far, Princess. I am sorry, I mean Lia.
Lia: Thank you Wilson of Calais. I promise not to stray as a cat would.
Wilson: You tease me yet again, but those words better remain truthful.
Lia: They will. Now go; you shall be late.
[Exit Wilson]
Lia: I wonder where would be some fun places to go within this palace.
Armenia: There are many places you could enter into, my Princess.
Lia: Oh! Arthur. You did give me a start. You should not sneak around so much; one day someone will sneak up on you and you shall jump as you make others do. ‘Twill not be fun for you.
Armenia: I know, my Princess. I am sorry for disturbing you so greatly.
Lia: Shh! Arthur, I am not to be called by my title whilst I am here. I am only to be called Lia; the same standing as you. I am to pretend to be a servant to Wilson, much the same as you are.
Armenia: That sentence may be much more right than you believe my Princess. So we are both to be servants?
Lia: Yes. Only, of course, one is to be a Princess disguised as a servant.
Armenia: Which one shall’t be?
Lia: You have a sense of humour. That is brilliant. People are so dull if they do not understand a good joke when it is right in front of their dreaded faces.
Armenia: I could not agree more.
[Enter Prince]
Prince: Arthur? You are still here?
Armenia: Yes. I be here, my lord.
Prince: Oh, good. I forgot to ask one more thing.
Armenia: Yes, my lord?
Prince: What do you–Who be this girl here?
Armenia: This girl? Oh! She be Lia, another of Monsieur Wilson’s servants.
Prince: He brings with him two servants? Well, it is greatly good to meet you, Lia. Your hand to kiss I must do, yes?
Lia: If you wish.
Prince: You have soft skin, and diamonds in your eyes. I do hope that we shall come to know one another better whilst you are staying here, Lia– I like to get to know all of my servants.
Lia: As do I.
Prince: Ha! You are funny. I like that.
Armenia: Will that be all, my lord?
Prince: Oh. I came to ask you something of another matter, but now I cannot seem to remember what that matter was. All I see is roses floating on a pool of crisp diamond water. Strange is it not?
Armenia: Certainly sire. Very strange indeed.
Lia: Strange indeed.
Prince: Yes, strange.
Armenia: Sire, did you not have something to attend to?
Prince: Oh yes. I should get back to it. I do hope we shall meet again fair Lia, I would be most grateful if we did.
Lia: Strange indeed.
Prince: Ha. You bring laughs to me quite easily; there is nothing better than to laugh. Goodbye, fair maid.
[Exit Prince]
Armenia: My Princess, you are in a daze.
Lia: He seemed nice, did he not?
Armenia: Bah! He is not as nice as he pretends to be. No girl should waste their time with a dreamer such as him.
Lia: He is a dreamer? How wonderful.
Armenia: You look pale Princess. Perhaps you should go lie in your bed chambers.
Lia: Sleep, yes that would be good.
[Exit Lia]
Armenia: This cannot be playing out like this. The Princess cannot fall for the Prince– Or can she? If they were to love then perhaps, if the King should hear of this, then a great war would start ‘tween Albion and Medi because of it. My Father would never let an Albion marry a Medi, especially after he has said such distaste of Bors’ daughter to my younger brother. It would not take much to trick the independent and spoil fools, ‘twould be the same would it not? The plot thickens to greater twists and turns than originally unfolded, and it is the Venus that controls the puppets strings now. Ha!
[Exeunt]
Wow. It’s been almost a month since I last updated. Well, I hope this makes up for it. Sometimes you can’t help but root for Armenia and she’s such a fun character to write and play. The Prince certainly doesn’t come off great in this scene– showing off his ignorance and all the stuff he’s just taken as wrote listening to his father. Hopefully he’ll learn something along the way. What do you think? Do you side with Armenia? Do you think her plan will work and what do you think her plan is? Is the Prince going to grow out of his ignorance? Join us next time on… Play On, Act 1, Scene 6.
The Literary Onion 