Read Online Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Sorceress by Wesley Allison - Free Book Online

Mistress.

    Myolaena:
    In exchange, you will do a thing for me.

    Penny:
    What can I do? Steal something?

    Myolaena:
    Perhaps you can do just that. I have brewed
this potion. One drop will bring forth the greatest amore-- love,
devotion, and kind affection. With it, you will steal the King’s
heart for me. You will sneak into the castle and pour this dram
upon the King’s head as he sleeps. He will fall horribly in love
with the first woman he sees wearing a golden locket, as indeed I
will be wearing.

    Penny:
    I know not what I should do,
    But one thing’s sure, I am through,
    No matter which way that I turn,
    My lot’s beheading or a slow burn.

    To turn on the King is treason, true,
    But you don’t know HER, like I do,
    There’s nothing worse than magic ladies,
    Not scary giants, not burning Hades.

    What a fix my deeds have wrought,
    Oh what a prize my sins have bought,
    I sought with guile to fetch my bread,
    So they want to part me from my head.

    Oh wretched me, a pretty child,
    Whose way went out a little wild,
    I can’t escape to foreign lands,
    So I do as she commands.

    I will do as you instruct. (Exits)

    Myolaena:
    And when you poor this liquid on the King,
he will have you killed. And I will have no witnesses to my
designs, and nothing these buffoons could ever uncover.

    (Myolaena exits. David and Thomas
unfreeze.)

    Thomas:
    What?
    David:
    I was just saying that I have a mind to go
find a dragon and kill it.

    (Enter Priss)

    Priss:
    Did I hear someone mention
dragonslaying?

    David:
    Yes, citizen.

    Priss:
    Aren’t you afraid? Dragons are over two
hundred feet long. They can fly. They can breath fire and cast
magic spells. They can shoot beams of energy from their eyes.

    David:
    I can see that you know much of dragons,
friend. What is your name?

    Priss:
    Prissus Draco Noventus Augustus, but my
friends all call me Priss.

    David:
    Well, Priss. Did you know dragons can use
magic to take on human form?

    Priss:
    (Incredulous) Really? Then how can you tell
they are dragons?

    David:
    It’s not easy. They have coppery
complexions, not unlike yourself. But unlike you Priss, they have
very long names.

    Priss:
    I see. Are they dangerous in human form?

    David:
    Quite. And they walk among the cities to
study men so that they may trick them. But we are way too smart to
be fooled by a dragon.

    Thomas:
    Yup.

    Priss:
    Oh, I can see that. Would you mind if I
tagged along to see the dragon?

    David:
    Sure! Come along! (Exit David and Priss)

    (Enter Knights’ Girls who step forward and
deliver their lines as a chorus.)

    Knights’ Girls:
    They hunt for a dragon, and we say OH
MY!
    Some fellow among them might possibly
die,
    Dragons are scary and can make one dead,
    Then there’d be one less bachelor to
wed.
    Nothing good comes from hunting dragons,
    These boys should stick to baseball and red
wagons.

    (Exit Knights’ Girls. Enter Britomart, who
confronts Sir Thomas.)

    Britomart:
    Halt Knight!

    Thomas:
    Okay.

    Britomart:
    I am Britomart, Lady Knight. I am cursed to
challenge all the knights in Celestria until I am defeated.

    Thomas:
    Okay. (They fight)

    Britomart:
    Alas, you are doomed, Knight. You see I am
destined to slay every foe I face until I meet the simplest man in
the realm. (They continue to fight.)

    Thomas:
    Okay. (He strikes and she falls.) Goodbye.
(Thomas exits.)

    Britomart:
    But Wait!

    (Steps forward and speaks to the sky.)
    Oh, great guardians above,
    Can this thing I feel be love,
    I’ve been defeated by his sword,
    But his face has struck a chord,
    Of love within this sad, sad breast,
    I now of men have found the best!

    (Exit Britomart)

    (Enter the Queen)

    Queen:
    Alas! Why is it that I was not married to a
man who could love me? I have been a dutiful daughter and a dutiful
wife. I have born two strong young Princes to be heirs to my
husband. All I desire in life is love, and love is the one thing I
do not have.

    (Folds her hands in prayer)
    I ask the sky and stars