Castor and Ambrosia

[Castor is sitting center stage on a wooden bench or a large horizontal wooden beam if available. Castor is dressed in simple brown clothing. Ambrosia, dressed in a simple black clothing enters from stage right. She aproaches in inline with the bench or beam as if she's walking across the beam.]

AMBROSIA: Castor? What are you doing here?

CASTOR: Ambrosia? Well I suppose I'm here for the same reason you are. Somebody's going to die here today.

AMBROSIA: I didn't sense it but everyone else was sure, so I got sent on escort duty. Did you sense it?

[Ambrosia sits down next to Castor.]

CASTOR: Yeah, I could definitely feel it. Gosh, I haven't seen you since, well, back in Kingston when the mad king still reigned.

AMBROSIA: Oh yeah, those were the days. Food for everyone. Peace and harmony.

CASTOR: Except for the humans.

AMBROSIA: Well, of course. Can't have everything. We've got mouths to feed.

CASTOR: By the way, [Castor pauses and makes a puzzled face, eyebrow raised] you picked a raven for today?

AMBROSIA: Yes? And what's wrong with a raven? I love being a raven! It's traditional!

CASTOR: Well, it's just, there's been a raven disease going around here. No one in this area has seen a raven for months. It's a pretty bad choice of form.

AMBROSIA: I'll be fine. No one will see us until whoever down there dies and we escort his remains. And even if they know we're here they hardly ever attack escorts, you silly owl.

[Ambrosia looks down.]

AMBROSIA: So, how long have you been here? Any idea who it's going to be?

CASTOR: I've been up here for a couple hours. An old man comes and goes into this room a lot and looks like his family lives on the other side of the building. I think the man works here as a scientist or some sort of tinkerer. Look over there.

[Castor points to down stage left. Ambrosia gets close to him and peers down as if looking down from a rafter.]

CASTOR: I think that's a distilling array. It's used to make potions and solutions. He also carried in a lot of materials a while ago. Some optical machinery parts and an intricately designed wooden box. He opened the box but I couldn't tell what was inside except a fine red velvet lining.

AMBROSIA: A tinkerer, eh? Well It'll probably be him that goes. Sure, someone in the family could die or they might have an unlucky visitor but the old fart's the most likely to kick the bucket with all this stuff in here.

[Castor points down and whispers.]

CASTOR: There he is. Ugh he sure is old and ugly. Op there he goes, back to the other room.

AMBROSIA: I've seen worse ones. One escort mission I had to dig up an old rotting sea captain from a burial at sea. Everyone could smell the soul even from coast. They said it could feed a whole family, but nobody cares to go catch it before he's dumped overboard. And guess who gets stuck with the task of going to the bottom of the ocean and fishing his soul out. I did get to swim around as a dolphin for a bit but I smelled like seaweed for a week.

CASTOR: I think my worst was a sacrifice at Mount Krag. You know, the volcanic Mount Krag?

AMBROSIA: A sacrifice?

CASTOR: Some tribe from the cliffs had kidnapped a young maiden from a nearby village and kept her imprisoned for a year. She survived though. One of the strongest hearts we'd ever seen. Couldn't risk it getting picked up by anyone else. So I hung on the very edge of the volcanic mountain with the maiden within arms reach for who knows how long as the shaman recited some incantation. He probably thought he was going to bring good crops or something.

AMBROSIA: Why do they think that?

CASTOR: I never understand how humans think. So I'm hanging of this edge, in the form of a vulture, right underneath the girl. The shaman's been talking forever and I'm completely dozing off. [Castor punctuates his story with gesticulations] Then out of nowhere he stabs the girl. [a stabbing motion] I have to launch off the cliff above the lava and fly to go catch her. [spread out arms like wings] I don't even have enough time to change into something more suited to catching falling maidens so I'm stuck with my vulture talons. I swoop down and she's already halfway to the churning lava below. I can't just grab her heart because I might miss and totally drop her so I have to hoist the whole body back up. Have you ever tried to lift a whole being up? It weighs a ton!

AMBROSIA: The whole being? That's disgusting!

CASTOR: Yeah, I had to carry all of her back up to a cliff where I could get her heart out. Boy, it was strong. I was really tempted to keep it to myself and just eat it right there but I took it back to our realm and it was added to our supplies. If I had just eaten it there Titania would've eaten my heart.



[Ambrosia holds Castor's hand.]

AMBROSIA: You always tell stories so well, Castor.

[Silence for a few moments]

CASTOR: Do you remember the fall of Tyria?

AMBROSIA: Do I remember the fall of Tyria. It may have been a couple thousand years ago but I don't easily forget feasts like that. We were camped downstream in the river with nets of soul gems just catching all the souls of the dead in the river. Easily thousands souls were captured that day and escorted to the Netherworld.

CASTOR: We were up on the city walls. Easy access to both inside and out. Pluck a heart here, grab a heart there. [Castor makes pinching motions with his hands] Ah, it was glorious for all, except for the humans. And if I remember correctly, you and I had a particularly nice moment on the king's terrace that night, holding each other in the glow of the burning city.

[Ambrosia lays her head on Castor's shoulder.]

AMBROSIA: It was particularly nice. Oh he's back!

[Ambrosia sits up and points down again. The conversation is in hushed tones.]

AMBROSIA: I think he's working on a machine now.

CASTOR: Is that a table?

AMBROSIA: Looks like it has leather straps on it. And the machine above it. It's connected to the ceiling.

CASTOR: It leads to a window. I saw it outside. Oh look, the box. He's taking something out!

[They both remain silent for a bit. They sit on the very edge of the beam. Then in unison]

AMBROSIA and CASTOR: A soul crystal!

AMBROSIA: But what's he doing with a soul crystal? Surely he can't be planning on... No, not his own soul... He can't possibly be planning on trying to survive that.

CASTOR: [Quietly] Look. A boy.

AMBROSIA: Sky above, he's going to steal that boy's soul. The boy will die. That's who was sensed.

CASTOR: Why would the old man do that? The boy surely won't survive and chances are so slim that the light hits the crystal right and he does capture the soul. This is mad!

AMBROSIA: Look, the light is starting to come in. The boy looks so calm. Like he doesn't even know what's going to happen.

[Castor leans forward]

CASTOR: Wait, what's on his chest? That large necklace... It'll reflect the beam... and the way... it's angled... [Castors head moves as if following the presumed trajectory of a laser, with the endpoint being Ambrosia] Ambrosia move!

[As Castor lunges towards Ambrosia, Ambrosia screams out in pain and falls to her side. Castor moves on top of her looking down to her. Both stare at each other breathing heavily.]

CASTOR: No, no, not like this. Please not like this.

AMBROSIA: [Very weakly] Castor, at least we got to...

CASTOR: Yes?

AMBROSIA: [Writhing in pain] Aaaah!

[Ambrosia collapses and goes limp. Castor hugs her tightly and cries. As he lets go and sits up, he pulls a stuffed heart seemingly from her chest. He holds it in both his hands gingerly, then looks back towards Ambrosia's face. He then seemingly eats it. He stands up and backs away slowly at first, and then runs off stage left.]