Underground in Vaults

Cast

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR…any pronouns.

KNIGHT…she/her/hers.

HUNGER DEMON…they/them/theirs.

SOLDIER and GENERAL…she/her/hers and he/him/his. played by one actor.

Curtain:

(A DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR sits in a recording studio.)

(A tree stump.)

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

a tree stump.

distant shouting.

a light snow.

the sound of heavy breathing, soft

at first

then louder,

as a knight stumbles through the woods

carrying a bloodied broadsword

out of breath.

(The KNIGHT enters.)

KNIGHT

woof.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

she sits upon the stump.

she takes a rag from the leather bag strapped to her waist.

she wipes the blade of her sword.

KNIGHT

little

flakes of guts.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

she looks around her, 

breathes.

she can see her breath in the cold air.

an observer might hear:

her heavy breathing

the sound of crinkling leaves

distant shouting.

the sound of crinkling leaves ceases,

and the knight’s shoulders tense.

she murmurs to herself:

KNIGHT

I will protect the light

I will kindle the light

I will be courageous in the face of adversity

I will fight only when the light is under threat

or when the Sisterhood is under threat.

(The HUNGER DEMON enters, gnawing on a human arm.)

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the hunger demon stalks the outskirts of the battlefield,

hungry.

for food.

KNIGHT

that’s a battle out there.

have some respect.

HUNGER DEMON

you said no living humans.

this was not a living human.

KNIGHT 

Sisters give me strength.

HUNGER DEMON

I could eat you right now.

KNIGHT

I’ll give you a finger.

if you promise to leave and never come back.

HUNGER DEMON

no you won’t.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the knight holds out her left hand.

KNIGHT

any but the first two.

HUNGER DEMON

you’re not so clever.

not so noble either.

KNIGHT

I just want you to leave.

HUNGER DEMON

I won’t.

I know what I am permitted

and what I am not.

consumption is not the same as murder.

and on that subject, may I say,

that you are one to fucking talk.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the knight wipes her blade again.

the hunger demon takes a bite from the arm.

HUNGER DEMON

running away?

KNIGHT

I grew faint.

HUNGER DEMON

convenient.

KNIGHT

I’m going right back.

HUNGER DEMON

certainly.

KNIGHT

shut your mouth.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the hunger demon takes another bite and spits.

HUNGER DEMON

bit of gristle.

KNIGHT

maladjusted rat.

HUNGER DEMON

I had a difficult youth.

do you think it’s easy to be a hunger demon?

do you hear that?

KNIGHT

hear what?

HUNGER DEMON

the shouting.

it has ceased.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the knight stands.

KNIGHT

it cannot be finished.

HUNGER DEMON

who was winning?

KNIGHT

we were.

HUNGER DEMON

perhaps you’ve won.

(A SOLDIER enters.)

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the sound of crinkling leaves returns,

and a soldier from the knight’s army sprints through the glade.

the knight grabs her.

KNIGHT

where are you going?

SOLDIER

we have to run

we have to

KNIGHT

why?

SOLDIER

I don’t know.

we were pushing towards the bridge

and suddenly there was smoke everywhere.

somebody shouted ‘dragon’, but

I did not see a dragon.

HUNGER DEMON

it was not a dragon.

I’d know if there was a dragon in these parts.

SOLDIER

foul beast!

HUNGER DEMON

do not tempt me.

KNIGHT

smoke?

SOLIDER

we began dropping like flies.

I could not breathe at all.

we need to run.

KNIGHT

there is no smoke here.

SOLDIER

it doesn’t matter.

they’ve won.

KNIGHT

we’re still here.

I am sure there are others.

SOLDIER

I will not stay.

there were needles in my lungs.

I saw my companion’s eyes melt out of his face.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the eyes,

sadly,

were the hunger demon’s favorite part.

KNIGHT

don’t stay then.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the soldier makes to leave.

KNIGHT

but don’t ever come back, either.

(The SOLIDER exits.)

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the soldier leaves.

the knight picks up her sword

and begins to head back towards the battlefield.

the hunger demon follows.

KNIGHT

no.

HUNGER DEMON

I have to see for myself.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

they cast aside the arm.

HUNGER DEMON

no eating.

(The KNIGHT and the HUNGER DEMON exit.)

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the hunger demon and the knight leave together.

wind.

a light snow.

the sun sinks low and spreads a pinkish glow across the sky.

a general from the opposing army enters

wearing a rudimentary gas mask,

which he removes.

GENERAL

oooooooha.

woah.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

he sits upon the stump.

he takes a rag from his pocket.

he wipes the blade of his sword.

GENERAL

always

little flakes of guts.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR 

an observer might hear:

his heavy breathing

the sound of crinkling leaves

the general murmuring to himself:

(The HUNKER DEMON enters, lurking in shadow.)

GENERAL

the right thing to do

we did

the right thing to do:

they dropped the bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima for the same reason:

to finish a war,

which is the most humane thing to do,

in the end,

no matter what the cost or repercussion.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the hunger demon lurks at the edge of the glade

eating a human brain

startling the general.

GENERAL

maladjusted rat!

HUNGER DEMON

how did you do that?

GENERAL

do what?

HUNGER DEMON

I have just seen the battlefield.

GENERAL

this is how battles go:

many die, and the aftermath is grisly.

HUNGER DEMON

not like that.

you did something to them.

GENERAL

I didn’t do anything.

HUNGER DEMON

you don’t have a dragon.

GENERAL

it’s not a dragon.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the hunger demon sighs with relief.

HUNGER DEMON

I didn’t think there were any warlocks left.

GENERAL

not a warlock either.

HUNGER DEMON

then what?

GENERAL

I don’t owe you an explanation.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the hunger demon takes a juicy bite of brain.

GENERAL

a powder.

I don’t know where they got it.

when it burns

the

the smoke curdles the organs.

is that brain from-

HUNGER DEMON

no, no.

GENERAL

because I wouldn’t eat from their corpses if I were you.

that powder is

HUNGER DEMON

this is a fresh one right here.

I made sure of it.

GENERAL

the Sisterhood would have your head.

HUNGER DEMON

all of you humans are the same.

“The Sisterhood” on every side,

and yet you slaughter each other and your Sisterhood does nothing.

GENERAL

I should not be speaking to you.

HUNGER DEMON

then leave.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the general does not move.

HUNGER DEMON

could it kill me?

GENERAL

what?

HUNGER DEMON

the powder.

you said not to eat…

could it kill me?

GENERAL

I do not know.

it melts the organs of human beings,

but you are no such thing.

HUNGER DEMON

I would like to die someday.

not today.

but I’d like to have the option.

GENERAL

you wouldn’t want to die like this.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the sound of crinkling leaves.

HUNGER DEMON

she’s coming back.

GENERAL

who?

HUNGER DEMON

she’ll want your head.

she’ll want you dead.

I will eat your pancreas when she’s through.

(The KNIGHT enters.)

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the knight enters the glade and draws her sword.

GENERAL

I don’t want to fight you.

KNIGHT

how did you do it?

GENERAL

a powder.

you burn it,

and the smoke curdles organs, melts the lungs and the brain and the heart and the eyes.

I will not fight you.

KNIGHT

pray, then.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the general gets to his knees.

he puts one hand to his forehead

one in the snow.

his lips fly

his tongue dances

his eyes flutter

he looks to the sky

he looks to the earth.

a moment, and:

GENERAL

Sisters have mercy.

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

the knight removes his head.

a moment, and:

she sits upon the stump.

she picks up the general’s rag and wipes the blade of her sword.

KNIGHT

little flakes of neck.

HUNGER DEMON

take me to the Temple of the Sisterhood.

KNIGHT

you do not want to go to the Temple of the Sisterhood.

they’ll

HUNGER DEMON

what?

KNIGHT

they would have your kind eradicated from the face of the

HUNGER DEMON

but what

actually

would they do?

they cannot kill me.

nobody can kill me.

nothing.

what would they do to me

for walking in their sacred place?

the same which they did to Klephmut the Blood Leech?

nobody has seen her for two hundred years.

the same which they did to Lovinnitha, Queen of the Deadly Fungal Infection?

I remember when they hunted her down and dragged her off.

how do they do it?

how do they kill us?

how? 

KNGIHT

I don’t know.

HUNGER DEMON

you do know.

you were present for the Trial of the Lavender Hills

when my very brother was sentenced to Final Punishment

for eating the wrong horse.

what would they do to me for crossing the sacred threshold of the temple?

KNIGHT

not killed.

they are locked underground.

in vaults.

HUNGER DEMON

are they fed?

KNIGHT

no.

HUNGER DEMON

you

utter

fools.

underground vaults! 

unbelievable.

Klephmut the Blood Leech,

unfed

for two hundred years, in an underground vault?

this whole planet will pay.

you think this battlefield is a horror?

do you know what Klephmut the Blood Leech is capable of when she is hungry?

vaults.

your Sisterhood is cruel and stupid.

KNIGHT

it is not my place to question the Sisterhood.

HUNGER DEMON

you ought to consider it.

KNIGHT

after what they’ve done to Klephmut the Blood Leech?

HUNGER DEMON

then bring me to them.

is that not what they would want?

bring me to them.

I will cross their precious threshold.

let them do to me as they will.

no longer will you have to ward me off from your kills.

let them put me in a vault.

let them dare.

KNIGHT

they will dare.

and you will waste away for centuries.

you are making a mistake.

HUNGER DEMON

you will take me?

KNIGHT

you will dress in a monk’s habit and you will speak to nobody.

you will follow my every command.

you will not consume human flesh

but animal, as I do.

you will not disparage the Sisterhood.

you will not besmirch the names of those who died here today

on either side.

you will not kill or steal. 

you will not lie to me.

you will stay within my sight.

you will do all of this

or I will leave you to your wandering

to your life of picking at the bones of the dead.

do you understand?

DOCUMENTARY NARRATOR

so began the undertaking we now refer to as:

The Opening of the Vaults

and what followed, 

the Civil War of the Sisterhood,

fought as it was by demigods and demons and humankind

a family of dragons and a cult of mysterious warlocks

with swords and spells and prisons and fires and floods, 

and a chemical weapon:

a powder

that melted the organs of humans

and

as this knight discovered when,

for the first time in all of recorded history,

she managed to kill one of the Sisterhood:

those of demigods, too.

this

is The Powder Which Rocked The World.

HUNGER DEMON

I understand completely.

Blackout.

© Marge J. Buckley, 2020