Episode 3 - Written in Lies and Blood

The Narrator:
…And we are back! Greeting listeners it is I, your narrator, here in my secluded London studio with more tall tales of woe and wonder. I must thank you again for all your insightful emails and letters, I can hardly believe I have fans! If I am in luck I might pick up one of those creepy stalker-types that rummages through my rubbish and wants to buy my underwear, I’m game!

In this episode we will step back in time to a simpler yet more brutal age somewhere in antiquity, though some names and places have been changed to protect the historical figures involved, too soon?! Ha! Get it? Too soon… sigh why do I bother.

I do ask myself sometimes if anyone really listens to me, if they’ve truly listened, I mean I’m on my third psychiatrist, you’d think they’d be more mentally robust, even they’re not immune to psychotic episodes it seems! Regardless, I’ve found you can often find a subtext lurking just beneath the surface of the spoken word and oh, I’ve done that thing, where you reference the show from inside it! What a naughty little cliche. Anyway, usually when you hear the skin of a conversation everything works out just fine. But on those rare occasions it hides a blooming corruption - you might be struck down with the unwanted revelation, the sudden upheaval upending all you thought was certain

---

Goatherd

Campfire crackling, blade sharpening on stone, distant wind and desert night ambience, occasional

Bekash:
Singing and playing a simple stringed instrument The women of the alleyways know how to please / Hanging from their windows they call, and they tease / The noble and the common man all but agree / They are happiest when they are down on their…

rustle in the bushes, sound of readying weapons

Bekash:
Who is there!?

Akan:
Calm, Bekash, it is me Akan… and this one

Goatherd:
Please, Please! I am just a Goatherd!

Akan:
I found him creeping around, on the rise over there with his herd.

Goatherd:
P… please, I am just…

Bekash:
We know you are a fucking Goatherd, I can smell you from here.

Akan:
Bind him and cook this.

A thud as a leg of goat lands on the ground.

Bekash:
Goat meat, well, it’s better than nothing. If I cut it thin, it will cook quickly

Butchering and the sizzling of meat on a fire

Akan:
If you are a Goatherd, that means you spend all day standing around, you must see much. Sit… I said sit.

Bekash:
How does the saying go? A goatherd has nothing but time and the shrubs for company; so every rustle becomes a story?

Akan:
Bekash, put the knife in the fire. You talk or we start using the knife

Bekash:
Or we could cut off his manhood, ha!

Goatherd:
What!? I will talk, but I know nothing.

Akan:
Tell me, Goatherd, where did you see them?

Goatherd:
A day from here, as the sun rises, where the two rivers meet.

Akan:
And numbers. How many men?

Goatherd:
Many, many men in armour with spears.

Bekash:
How many, you mumbling fool?

Goatherd is slapped

Goatherd:
More than the village many times over

Akan:
He doesn’t know his numbers

Bekash:
Peasant fool!

Goatherd is slapped

Akan:
How many wagons? More than the goats in your herd?

Goatherd:
As many and again

Akan:
Around 100 wagons that could be… 10,000 men

Bekash:
Fuck, it’s him, isn’t it?

Akan:
What did these men look like? Colours? What banner do they march under?

Goatherd:
The wore black and have a black cloth with a yellow many legged serpent

Bekash:
The what?

Akan:
He means the banner of the centipede, It is the Hierophant’s butchers.

Goatherd whimpering in the background

Bekash:
Ach! You stop whimpering, no one is coming for you! Count yourself lucky they didn’t find you!

the thud of a kick and more whimpering

Akan:
Enough Bekash! Tell me, Goatherd, did you see anyone important amongst these men? Goatherd!!

Goatherd:
There was one man who wore yellow, the rest wore black.

Bekash:
Ach! There is not enough gold in the world to deal with this donkey shit!

Akan:
You are paid plenty

Goatherd:
Y… you are the emperors men?

Bekash:
Ha ha! Emperors men! YES! And we flew here on the backs of silver eagles carrying flaming swords! No, no little man, our loyalty is to one thing; gold. Also, women and wine, you don’t have any of those on you, do you?

Goatherd:
No, I do not

Bekash:
Men like you prefer the company of goats. Ha!

Goatherd is slapped

Bekash:
We are free company, we track and kill for our oh so glorious Emperor!

Akan:
Goatherd, tell me of this man in yellow.

Goatherd:
I only saw from a distance, but men kneel in his presence.

Bekash:
Ach! It’s him in the flesh, isn’t it, Akan.

Akan:
He is here with his honour guard. Keep talking goatherd, Bekash pass me the knife from the fire.

Goatherd:
No, wait, I am telling you all I know!!

Sizzle of a hot blade on flesh

Goatherd:
scream

Akan:
There exhales enjoying himself Hmmmm

quiet choked whimpering in background

Akan:
Now, I’m sure you think you’re giving me everything—every scrap of truth—but pain has a way of pulling hidden threads loose, doesn’t it? Sizzle scream Hmm, can you smell that? That not the goat meat on the fire, that you. inhales Perhaps it’s pried loose some memories from your skull? What secrets are coiled in those shadowy folds, waiting to be unearthed? I’d hate to mistake your frailty for deceit. Innocent or not, a liar’s a liar. And you? You know more than you’re saying. Don’t you?

Bekash:
Oh? He’s been lying to us, Akan? And I was starting to warm to you.

Goatherd is kicked. Sound of retching

Bekash:
Keep your tales for your goats, goatherd. I like a story as much as any, but I hate to be thought a fool.

Goatherd is slapped. Bekash lets out a satisfied sigh

Bekash:
That’s a pretty mark you’ve left him, Akan. What next?

Akan:
Well, the way I see it a goatherd needs his eyes and ears and his hands and feet to keep watch over his flock and to bring them in safe at night. It’d be an evil thing indeed to rob a flock of its protector…But I don’t think that this is a goatherd. I think that this is a liar.

Bekash:
And all a liar needs is a tongue, ha Ha!

Akan:
What say you goatherd? Any more crumbs been shaken free?

Goatherd:
Please, please…no more…

Akan:
Seems he doesn’t appreciate our tender ministrations, seems a little ungrateful, don’t you think?

Bekash:
Ha! If he doesn’t want more its a simple thing to solve

Akan:
I say again, goatherd, what else did you see?

Goatherd:
There was another…another group met them on the marsh…

Akan:
Now, was that so hard? Bekash put this back in the fire, don’t want our friend’s tongue to get stuck again

Bekash:
A little heat helps the lever, Haha!

Akan:
Who was this other group?

Goatherd:
I don’t know…there were half as many as the first…all wearing different colours

Akan:
What do you mean? They were wearing different colours to the Hierophant’s gang or they all wore different colours from each other?

Goatherd:
The second…they looked like a carnival fools who come for the harvest festival…

Bekash:
You thin-

Akan:
Hold Bek, go on goatherd what else?

Goatherd:
None of them bowed to the man in yellow, the hiephorant? That who he is?

Bekash:
Haaha you’re lucky we’re not pious men, people have been flayed for less

Akan:
What then? Did they leave together?

Goatherd:
I’m not sure what you mean…

lets out a yelp

Goatherd:
Don’t hit me! …please…the men with the yellow banner stayed by the river and the crowd of fools went back the way they came…please…please that’s all I saw…

Akan hums thinking

Bekash:
What you think,m Akan? He’s holding out on us?

Goatherd:
No…plea-

Akan:
Be quiet goatherd, I’m thinking

Bekash:
Sounds like the Harlequin Akan, when was the last time he had the whole troupe out?

Akan:
It’s been years…seems like he’s picked a side, I wonder what it means…

Bekash:
Does it matter? Sizzling sound Ah, the goat is ready.

Bekash:
Casually while eating We know where they are camped, we know their numbers and more importantly we know Queshk has thrice the men with better armour and weapons, and they fight for gold, not faith! Eat, Akan eat!

Akan:
Fine, pass me a piece

Bekash:
What good is a circus troupe and some fanatics against the somewhat sardonically Emperor’s best, ha ha ha? And of course us free company bolstering them…eating their food, slowly bleeding them of gold, for services rendered of course. The odds couldn’t be better!

Akan:
There is something not right, I can feel it in my bones.

Bekash:
You worry too much, give this one a kick, it would make you feel…

kick, whimper

Bekash:
Better, the goat meat is good, right! Eat, eat!

Akan:
It’s fine

Bekash:
We have what we need, we go back to that dun heap of a village, seek an audience with the great General Queshk, tell that fat fool what we found and get paid.

Akan:
We have to be sure

Bekash:
This one is broken. He has nothing more for us. Do you? Do you little Goatheard

Akan:
Scouts

Bekash:
What? Where?

Akan:
No, why are there no scouts?

Bekash:
What… ah… Exactly, exactly! They are not a professional army, Akahn, they are a rag tag bunch of fools.

Goatherd:
The Raven Free company…

Bekash:
Ha, see, even a lowly goat fucker like this one has heard of us! Ha! Heard… Goatherd!

Akan:
This feels too simple. No scouts, no watch posts, camped out in the open for the Goatherd to see. We will go see for ourselves

Bekash:
Oh Akan, we are already 3 days out from the village, can’t we just… just this once…

Goatherd:
his voice transforms as he says this sentence from terrified goatherd to something akin to a mocking camp actor. Around, 40000 imperial troops led by General Queshk plus the Ravens camped in Kushk Village which is the only village 3 days from here, thank you, thank you. How are you enjoying the goat?

Bekash:
What Coughing and heavy breathing What did you say?!

The sound of the drawn weapon

Akan:
The goat!

The Fool:
You are a sharp one Akan, and not as greedy as your fat friend the mocking Bekash impression blusterous Bekash! You really are quite the pair. In better times, I would write you into a play… Hum, I might still do that.

Bekash:
I can’t breathe body hitting the floor… My… I… Please… Choking and coughing continues in the background

The Fool:
Please? PLEASE! Ha, that is rich coming from you! Who is the fool now? Humm? Bekash? Are you listening to me? Will technically I suppose I could be seen as Thee Fool, but that’s more of an honorific than a description of my behaviour. And you… Akan, ever the pragmatist. You got so, so close, didn’t you. This is the part of the play where you ask me who I am to a big reveal where the audience is shocked? Or perhaps it’s the part where you suddenly realise I am free from my bonds? Sound effects ropes falling to the floor No, no, it’s the poison, you’re wondering if you’ve eaten enough roasted goat to die like your friend is dying.

Bekash:
the… Pain gurgle… I cant…

The Fool:
Doing an impression of Bekash Ach! You fool! Will you stop whimpering, no one is coming for you! Count yourself lucky they didn’t find you! Back to his normal voice I’m guessing you can’t count yourself lucky now.

Akan:
You, you are… Cough

The Fool:
You have rediscovered your tongue! I am indeed… he… faking concern mock anxiety How was my bow? Was it courtly enough?

Akan:
coughing - breathing deeply

The Fool:
Oh come now, you barely had a mouthful, I expected more from one of the terror’s of the Raven Free Company. Here, let me have a little look at you

sound of him walking across

Akan:
Keep back!

sound of a jump back

The Fool:
Ah, ah, aahhh well then goodness me and I thought I was the only artist at this fire, you’ve some skill for mummery there, shame your strength can’t match it

Akan:

• panting * What do you want?

The Fool:
sound of the blade leaving the fire This is a start

sizzle and scream

Akan:
Curse you. What do you want?

The Fool:
There’s something I’d like to explore more, a doorway you opened before all this… like is searching for a word Hmmmmm… unpleasantness

Akan:
What does that mean?

The Fool:
You said a liar only needed a tongue, I would have to disagree, in fact a liar would need their tongue and everything you granted the goatherd and more besides.

Akan:
Where are you going with this you… you fool

The Fool:
tuts That’s the last time you’ll take that name in vain

Akan:
laughs I thought the Harlequin’s men could take a joke

sizzle and scream

The Fool:
I’ll take your tongue next

pause

Good, like I said, a liar needs all that and more, but an honest man, now all they need is a tongue, that and their wagging head to nod along with all the pretty hypocrisies their betters tell them they should mind. I am not an honest man, I am thee Fool and a fool needs a dog. Are you a dog? Can you be trained? Well, speak.

Akan:
coughing What the fuck are you talking about?

The Fool:
A dog, four-legged dumb animal, sometimes a two-legged clown.

Akan:
trouble pronouncing words I heard you, what are you talking about? I’m no man’s hound.

The Fool:
You sound mighty sure there dog, anything, no any one can be trained

Akan:
ugly voice Fuck you, fool, a curse on you a–

The Fool:
Well, neither a liar nor an honest man you’ll be, leaves you just a dog mute and unspeaking, come here dog, come here so I don’t have to beat you

muffled scream

The Fool:
You know how we join the troupe? bitter laugh ah yes, your voice, you may get it back one day, you never know

pause

well, it’s never a choice, this could be your first step to becoming part of the alley, to be fair mine was no more auspicious

pause

Sit down dog

pause

Good boy. If you’re picked, there’s not much more to be done, you’ll dance one way or the other. I was found by the side of the road, half dead from thirst. You’d think I’d be grateful, and I am, though the trials after made me hate those that found me laughs why am I telling you this? Well, you’ll know soon enough. Willing or not, you killed my dog when I was playing my part as the mock sadness poor and helpless goatherd. mock shock I won’t stand for it. A fool needs his dog, and you killed mine. I’m taking you back to the troupe, my free flying bird, his wings clipped, his beak muzzled and led in on a rope. It’ll go some way to heal my poor weeping heart

laughs

Now come on dog, excited let’s go see the Harlequin.

SPX: SOUND OF AKHAN TRYING TO SCREAM

The Fool:
singing The women of the alleyways know how to please / Hanging from their windows they call, and they tease / The noble and the common man all but agree / They are happiest when they are down on their… sinister knees

---

The Narrator:
Ahhh there was no messing around back in those days and do you know what? I love it! All that revenge, retribution and blood! The cruel and unkind earning their just deserts. Now, that phrase is older than dessert, don’t you know, it’s spelt the same as the sandy wasteland but pronounced like the sweet treat. In fact I’m like both, sweet but awfully abrasive. I consider myself a budding etymologist, a gentleman linguist, if you will, rooting through the dusty library of language. And, in fact, many of the books I’ve consumed share that double meaning. They seem so cloying to start with then flay away superfluous parts leaving you raw….

---

Spilt Ink

This starts in a tavern, three associates or friends sitting down to talk over a venture one of them is bringing to the table.

BALOR:
Barkeep! Another round for the table, bring us a flagon of red, something rough and spicy! And some cheese and bread to soak it up

AXELROD:
Why are we here, Bal? What have you got you old lush?

BALOR:
Give it a minute, wait till the drinks are here, I hate talking with a parched throat

JAKASEN:
Laughs That’s something we can both agree on

AXELROD:
Fine, fine, I haven’t eaten since sun up so food would be welcome addressing JAKASEN you I haven’t seen before, how did Bal drag you into whatever scheme he’s running?

JAKASEN:
Laughs delightedly

BALOR:
Pretending to be offended After all the time we’ve known each other?! Have I ever led you wrong?

AXELROD:
Yeah, many times

BALOR:
…you’ve a point there

AXELROD:
Well now you see how I’m involved - back to you, how’s he roped you in?

BALOR:
lets out a snort / harrumph

JAKASEN:
Well..Balor and I have some mutual friends, he put the word out that he needed someone with - particular - talents. I happen to have the ones he’s looking for - that he needs them at all is enough to pique my interest

AXELROD:
..Interesting, particular talents? The fuck you got planned this time Bal?

BALOR:
Ach, don’t trouble yourself with it, everything will be revealed soon enough..ah as if summoned in on the backs of angels

Sound of someone walking over, shouts and the like from all around

Barkeep:
Lets out a breath Aaaaahhhnd here we are, flagon of red, three mugs and enough bread and cheese to stop a river

BALOR:
Thank you kindly, money for the refreshments and a little extra for yourself, see we’re not disturbed for the moment, we need anything else I’ll come up to the bar

Barkeep:
Right you are, I’ll keep the girls away from ya when they start

Sound of steps going away and the gurgle of wine being poured then a gulp and a satisfied sigh / belch BALOR:
Ach, that’s good - been too long - nothing but pissy beer lately, am I right.

AXELROD:
…..

BALOR:
Ulp! Aaand here we go one for you and you and another for me

AXELROD:
cheeers…alright Bal what’s the job? Why’ve you brought us out here to meet?

BALOR:
to JAKASEN No sense of drama, not a drop of it sighs

AXELROD:
For fuck’s sake Bal!

BALOR:
Fine, fine, here it is. I’ve been approached with a job, a simple switch and the money’s good

AXELROD:
Alright, why do you need her then? Why are we here?

BALOR:
Getting to that mate. So, like I said a simple switch, a book that we’re to snag and replace with a copy, a copy I’ve already got

AXELROD:
Ok, who owns the book? Where’s the room it’s held in?

BALOR:
…pained sigh then muttered to himself - no sense of story -

To the rest of them - well you’ve got it Ax, that’s the wrinkle in this easy job, we’ve got to lift it from the Lictor’s place out between here and Dunfarmlene

AXELROD:
Did you say what I thought you did?

JAKASEN:
Laughs delightedly You really are crazy, I didn’t believe the rest of them

AXELROD:
Angrily, voice getting louder - you can’t be fucking serious, you CAN’T –

BALOR:
Be quiet….take a drink and a breath…right, normally I’d agree with you - most of the time trying anything out there would be an easy way to a hard painful death

AXELROD:

hisses / sharp exhalation

BALOR:
But not this time

AXELROD:
What do you mean

BALOR:
If you let me finish I’d tell you….now there’s a big celebration coming up, sure you’ve both heard of it

A & J make sounds of agreement

BALOR:
Well, being the big high almighty round here the Lictor’s due at the capital for some celebration, show his face to the crowds, show them the Archduke’s got his backing. He’s travelling over with a whole parade of household troops. They’re going in procession, all the pomp you can imagine, so his journey’s going to be long, a week at least.

AXELROD:
Right, how does this help?

BALOR:
Well, with only a token force there and him gone, no one’s left to handle the traps or the more… unconventional defences.

AXELROD:
Not like they’re all going to evaporate though is it

BALOR:
I know, that’s where JAKASEN comes in

JAKASEN:
That’s about the shape of it, yeah

AXELROD:
You a weaver then?

JAKASEN:
After a fashion, got enough of the gift to manage anything the Lictor’s left behind, wouldn’t chance it if he were there though, that’s for sure

AXELROD:
Alright, alright not as crazy as I first thought, still his place is fucking big and even if there’s only a token force that’s enough to find our dumb selves while we’re trying to find a single fucking book

BALOR:
Oh ye of little faith, we’ve got a map and I know where we’ve got to go

map being rolled out on the table

AXELROD:
How in the hells did you get the villa schema?

BALOR:
The what now?

AXELROD:
This, the map.

BALOR:
I have my ways, dear friend, I have my ways. It just so happens I know a man in a guild who happens to have access to all kinds of interesting documents. And this man has a hankering for, well, how do I put this politely, certain… substances.

AXELROD:
You got him addicted to Whiteleaf.

BALOR:
faking having his feelings hurt Oh no, no, no, no I would never do such a thing. No, he was already addicted to Whiteleaf. I just leveraged the crippling debt he was in when he couldn’t pay me for all the Whiteleaf. Humorously This man is in so much debt. These Guilds really must be more careful who they let in.

JAKASEN:
How old is this parchment?

BALOR:
How should I know?

JAKASEN:
I can’t make much sense of these, I’m not an architect.

AXELROD:
They look like the original construction plans, or at least a copy of them. Bal… tension slowly rising when you say you know your way, and you have a map, you mean you know your way to the villa and I have to use this shake map this to make a plan? Well!?

BALOR:
You are awfully good at making plans…

JAKASEN:
Are you two serious? Is this some kind of mummers act?

BALOR:
Mistress JAKASEN! I can assure you we are both professionals.

AXELROD:
Ha!

JAKASEN:
Looking at this sound of moving papers we don’t even know where the book is kept!

AXELROD:
Tapping the map with his finger It’s here. This room, this is the library. See? There’s a light well… down. It was put there for a reason. Tapping the map And the villa’s on a rise. The hills around Dunfarmlene? Full of limestone—keeps the place dry. The air will stay fresh too, with that well letting in light and drawing out the damp. If I had a book, there that’s where I would put it. It is a big library, and that’s weird. Tapping the map

JAKASEN:
Some kind of structural reinforcement?

AXELROD:
Possibly, but what for?

BALOR:
What are you pair on about?

JAKASEN:
ignoring BALOR if I am looking at this right, I can’t see a need for additional support here… or here…

AXELROD:
As I said, it’s all limestone.

JAKASEN:
You’re right, that is odd

BALOR:
What is?

AXELROD:
ignoring BALOR Look here, we can slip in by river then just off the west of the house there is a ridgeline away from the guard tower.

JAKASEN:
It would be a climb

AXELROD:
Yes, but eyes are less likely to be on it if most of the household guard are prancing around the city.

pause

BALOR:
Sooo that’s… good?

AXELROD:
distracted What? Good? Well, It’s our way in

BALOR:
Grand!

AXELROD:
Still, that is a lot of floors to get through unseen, I don’t fancy a fight with household guard, even if most of them are off with the Lictor

BALOR:
Mistress JAKASEN can help with that, I am sure.

JAKASEN:
I can if we stay together, and we don’t take too long.

AXELROD:
A weaver after a fashion, hay?

JAKASEN:
Yes, that’s right.

BALOR:
nervously Now… now AXELROD! You can’t ask a lady to reveal all her secrets!

AXELROD:
slightly menacingly How about just one, then? Who are these “mutual friends” of you and Balor?

JAKASEN:
It’s best if you don’t know, trust me.

AXELROD:
Why would I trust you?

tense pause

AXELROD:
That’s why we need you, that’s why we need a weaver, you’re not some kind of dabbler, are you?

JAKASEN:
… Shall we meet at the crossroads at dusk and set out then?

BALOR:
Great… Great idea.

JAKASEN walks off

BALOR:
Be seeing you now! Charming woman.

AXELROD:
Bal… if we get out of this alive… I am going to kill you

BALOR:
sigh, yeah, that seems fair.

---

sound of crunching gravel and two voices arguing, getting closer

quietly to herself

JAKASEN:
Here they come I guess, best be hidden in case it’s someone else, if it’s them a little demonstration wouldn’t go amiss

two voices getting closer

BALOR:
I don’t understand your problem Ax, it’ll be like every other caper we’ve pulled just a bigger payoff is all

AXELROD:
What like that silver merchant job?

BALOR:
Well..

AXELROD:
Or that burnout in Chestfield?

BALOR:
I mean there were…

AXELROD:
Oh, and how could I forget, how about the last time we did anything with a fucking weaver?! You remember how Gully came off at the end of all that??

BALOR:
Come on Ax, that was his own fault and you know it. As for the other two we got out and came away with what we went for, so what’s the problem?

AXELROD:
What’s the problem?! Are you serious? You are…

BALOR:
Look Ax you’ve got to expect some…um..hiccups every now and then, can’t be trusting to The Shaper to take care of all our woes. Hells, if that was possible I’d lay abed every morning, a satchel open by the window waiting for the welcome clink of coin to start my day

AXELROD:
ugly, angry voice Listen here you smug fuck if we weren’t working tonight I’d show you how much your god smiles on you…here we are anyway…crossroads at dusk…and just the two of us… great

JAKASEN:
….and then there were three

AXELROD:
….pretty quiet aren’t you, that’s some trick stepping out of the air in front of our faces, you teleport here or fall from the sky and land lightly?

JAKASEN:
small laugh nothing so gauche, I’ve been here the whole time and simply made it so you couldn’t see me

AXELROD:
What like a spook or a spectre? You turned yourself invisible?!

JAKASEN:
laughs with genuine delight Shaper no! The amount of thread that would take would light us up across the entire shire for anyone with the eyes to see, we’d be crawling with the Lictor’s lapdogs like a rat and its fleas

AXELROD:
Well…how was it done?

JAKASEN:
said obviously taking the piss Now, now what about a lady and her secrets?! Oh whist, throw that scowl away, all I did was fade from your notice, that’s what we’ll be using tonight - for anyone it’ll be as if there’s a dull bit of wall that they’ve seen a hundred times before - without the marker that someone with the right nose could smell

BALOR:
delight in his voice See Ax! That put your mind at rest?

AXELROD:
mollified Uhm, that why we’ve gotta stay close yeah?

JAKASEN:
Exactly

AXELROD:
Alright then, well we’ve got the route charted, we’ll fill you in on the way to the ridge

---

Sound of a rope creaking, laboured breathing, stones crunching maybe one or two falling down a cliff

All speech in this section in a whisper / stage whisper / hushed voice

AXELROD:
Alright, I’ve got you Bal, the weaver behind you?

BALOR:
Yeah

JAKASEN:
I’m up

AXELROD:
Another one of your weaver’s tricks

JAKASEN:
low laugh Not so much, mostly climbing, you know, scrambling up rigging and walls…

AXELROD:
….

BALOR:
catching his breath then speaking with delight Ax you could take a couple of pointers from her about a little levity to leaven your tedious professionalism

AXELROD:
Right. We’re here, tedious professionalism is the name of the game. The guard tower is on the other side of the villa from us, the lightwell down to the library is in the courtyard over that wall there. We leave this rope here, if anything goes wrong and any of us manage to make it out, we’ll want a ready exit. I’ve got rope. I take it both of you do too?

Sounds of assent

AXELROD:
We don’t know if the lightwell is open, it’s not on the plans. Can your skills cover us to have a look?

JAKASEN:
If we’re steady, yes

AXELROD:
We’re going over that wall there, with a pause at the top to see who’s still around, if the lightwell’s open that’s our route in - it’s the right size to shimmy down. If not I’ve got the route through the villa sorted.

BALOR:
serious voice Alright, well ready as I’ll ever be, luck to you both

AXELROD:
Hand signals only from here on out, let’s go

---

The sound of running and heavy breathing

JAKASEN:
Just leave him

AXELROD:
I am not leaving him. strain Come on you old bastard

BALOR:
moaning The sign… I can see…

JAKASEN:
He is slowing us down

AXELROD:
annoyed strain Yes, I know that, but if those bastards catch him… Plus, how do you think he will do under torture? Don’t you think he will blather out who you are, or more importantly to you, who your paymasters are?

JAKASEN:
…

AXELROD:
Yeah, though that would shut you up. Now help

JAKASEN:
gritted teeth Fine. Strain

AXELROD:
Down there, the skiff is just ahead.

more moving and the sound of shifting shale under foot. Slow increase of volume of river as they approach the river.

AXELROD:
What the fuck was that? That…

JAKASEN:
Some kind of bound spirit or spectre… When he touched the book. I… I don’t know.

AXELROD:
angry Well you’re not much fucking good then are you!

JAKASEN:
shouting Not my fucking field, is it! Not… not this anyway. I… I think it was bound to the chamber. I don’t think it can follow.

AXELROD:
losing it Every time I work with a fucking weaver…

BALOR:
moaning barely audible The capillaries…. pathways to… to the

JAKASEN:
What… what is he saying?

AXELROD:
I don’t know something about blood, is he bleeding?

JAKASEN:
Where… where is the book?

AXELROD:
I got it, and I am keeping it until me and the old man get paid.

JAKASEN:
Show it to me

AXELROD:
I give you the book, and then you just disappear, no, no, thanks.

JAKASEN:
Look, look! Where am I going to go?

AXELROD:
Just get on the skiff

sound of straining as they load BALOR onto the skiff

BALOR:
moaning barely audible On high… soaring on high…

AXELROD:
Easy Bal, easy there. I’ve been thinking. He didn’t come to you, did he? You came to him. Bal’s scared of you, no not you, your masters.

JAKASEN:
You don’t know what you are talking about.

AXELROD:
You ain’t a bad liar, I give you that… Tell you what, cast off so we’re moving, tell me who you work for, and I’ll give you a look at this book here. Well? he is running through it in his head - trying to work it out It’s not the syndicate, no, no, they ain’t this subtle. Some foreign power, not sure why you would need us locals. And you’re no freelancer… oh, oh no.

JAKASEN:
I- I work for the archduke. Whisperings of the Lictor’s pursuit of dark forbidden arts have echoed round the palace, we had a man on the inside but he disappeared weeks ago and the Lictor is too powerful to move against without proof. We have it now thanks to you. You know, for an uneducated man, you really do have quite the mind, there’s a job for you if we get out of this

AXELROD:
Fucking nobles! Every time! sound of a pack opening What is it, what is this fucking book.

BALOR:
whispering, barely audible Must get out… must

JAKASEN:
I don’t know, show me it. No, this cannot be. The Sanguine Prophecies pages turn I-I don’t understand, it’s blank. There’s nothing… wait she murmurs something arcane EE-na TSEH-ree-ya AHM-roo wah-LAH-dah-nee a magic hum for the spell the writings, they are not hidden on the pages but there is a convergence, a link to

BALOR:
whispering, barely audible The words… of blood… the fountain of…

AXELROD:
drawing of a weapon angry What’s he talking about, what the fuck are you doing to him? Fucking weavers!!

JAKASEN:
It’s not me, you have to listen.

AXELROD:
I am done listening to you

JAKASEN:
P-put the blade down, you don’t understand, pause in the action for effect it’s what it wants.

BALOR:
Freeeeeee Meeeeeeee

AXELROD:
Bal, sit down, what are.. What are you doing! sound of a knife slowly being impaled Bal, what, what are you doing. Fuck, why would you do that?

JAKASEN:
No, no no no no. Flee sound of her jumping overboard, sound of splashing

AXELROD:
Oh Bal, I cut you bad, what got into you… Fuck Bal why, why would you…

BALOR:
I am Infinite!

Gory ripping sound

---

The Narrator
spoken faster than normal/more frantic Well, well how about that then. You know I’m sure I’ve heard something like that before, funny how the same themes can echo through the ages. Though the more I think about it the clearer it seems. Wait, can you feel that? Something’s…changed. Something’s…shifted. It feels like a pattern warping itself into view. No, no, can’t be, just being silly again, hearing things that aren’t quite there, well, not yet anyway. [returns to clarity] Still three’s the magic number, as they say, but do let us know if you agree! We’ll be back with another missive before you know it and, as I’m sure you know by now, reality writes itself.