Transcript:Monsters, Part 5

Dream Sequence: Country Manor - Time Unclear
 NARRATOR
 Nia dreamt of her childhood, of riding ponies on her
 father’s lands with her sisters. It was a fond memory,
 which made the black silhouette dancing frantically on
 the horizon all the more worrying in comparison.
 Nia jumped as a small hand brushed her leg. She looked
 down at a small girl she had never seen before. The
 girl seemed unperturbed by the gaping puncture wound in
 her chest.
 YOUNG GIRL
 There are seven things you must know to save me. The
 fourth thing is: I shall ride to safety on the wings of
 the Storm.
 Int. Nia’s Room in Madame Bailey’s - Continuous
 NARRATOR
 Nia’s eyes popped open in the armchair in her room at
 Madame Bailey’s. She was moist with cold sweat. Across
 the room in her bed were the prostitute and his young
 sister.
 Int. Bath in Madame Bailey’s - Simultaneous
 NARRATOR
 Elsewhere in the house, Jen bathed in a brass tub. She
 found her anger had improved her concentration. If you
 had looked closely, you would have seen the fine hairs
 on her arm stand on end, though the skin around them
 was not raised as it would have been were she cold.
 BILLY
 Hey babe?
 NARRATOR
 Jen opened her eyes to see Billy standing in the
 doorway.
 BILLY
 I’m sorry. I’m kinda...messed up right now.
 JEN
 Yeah. Me too.
 NARRATOR
 Billy sat near the tub.
 JEN
 You wanna talk about it?
 BILLY
 Not really. But not because of you or anything. I just
 don’t know what to say.
 JEN
 That’s okay.
 BILLY
 You seemed pretty pissed before.
 JEN
 We don’t have to talk about everything. I
 just...neither of us was ready for this place. We need
 each other. It’s okay for me to have your back
 sometimes.
 BILLY
 I know. But it’s like...a crisis is when a man has to
 be a man the most.
 JEN
 Your dad tell you that?
 BILLY TV.
 JEN
 To be honest, I was getting pretty tired of the men on
 TV.
 NARRATOR
 She leaned in gently to kiss Billy--
 SOUND: STATIC ELECTRICITY CRACKLES
 BILLY Ow!
 JEN What?
 BILLY
 Got shocked. That was weird.
 JEN
 Come here.
 NARRATOR
 She kissed him passionately as she removed his shirt.
 Int. Castle Guernatal Dungeon - Middle of the Night
 NARRATOR
 In the dungeon of Castle Guernatal, Regan opened the
 cell that held Brennen.
 REGAN
 On your feet, grandpa. Don’t make me regret this.
 NARRATOR
 She dropped his weapons on the floor in front of him.
 BRENNEN
 Get His Majesty.
 NARRATOR
 Regan opened the adjacent cell. She and His Majesty,
 High King Gunther Guernatal saw each other for the
 first time.
 GUNTHER
 Is this her, Brennen?
 BRENNEN Aye.
 GUNTHER
 Let me look on you.
 REGAN
 So this is my grandpa...grandpa?
 BRENNEN
 You should kneel before His Majesty.
 REGAN
 We should get the fuck out of here. Please tell me you
 know a better way than straight up the stairs.
 Int. Castle Guernatal, SecretPassage - Late Night
 NARRATOR
 Brennen led them through the same tunnel he used when
 last he left Castle Guernatal.
 REGAN
 Why’d you say my name like that?
 GUNTHER
 Aerona?
 REGAN
 Yeah, that’s what my ma used to say when she was mad at
 me.
 GUNTHER
 That’s how it was said in the old times. Your
 grandmother used to love stories about the old times.
 REGAN
 You mean before you fucked her and left her to starve?
 BRENNEN
 See what I mean?
 GUNTHER
 You could do to learn some manners, girl.
 REGAN
 Gods, I shoulda just left you behind.
 BRENNEN
 (MOCKING)
 I see you went back for your bedroll.
 REGAN
 I sleep better with it.
 BRENNEN
 You never struck me as one concerned with creature
 comforts.
 REGAN
 I sleep better with it.
 BRENNEN
 Here we are.
 NARRATOR
 The light from the torch Brennen carried revealed a
 lever on the wall, and a faint outline of a doorway.
 GUNTHER
 It breaks my heart to retreat from my own house,
 Brennen.
 BRENNEN
 We’ll be back before long. And I’ll bring you the head
 of that usurping little shit.
 NARRATOR 
 Brennen pulled the lever and the wall slid open--
 SOUND: POURING RAIN
 --A Redmoor soldier was waiting in the pouring rain
 with a crossbow. Brennen and Regan reflexively dodged
 his bolt as Regan sent a razor star whistling through
 the soldier’s throat.
 GUNTHER [GROANS AND COUGHS]
 NARRATOR
 They looked back and saw the bolt buried in Gunther’s
 chest. He coughed blood and fell to his knees as
 Brennen ran to catch him.
 BRENNEN
 Don’t worry, we’ll get you to a doctor. I’m sure we can
 find one in Armstrungard.
 NARRATOR
 But the King’s eyes were empty.
 BRENNEN
 You just need to stay awake for a little while.
 REGAN
 Brennen...
 BRENNEN
 Be quiet and help me move him.
 REGAN
 Brennen, you know damn well--
 BRENNEN
 --Shut up.
 REGAN
 He’s dead, and we will be too if we don’t leave right
 now.
 NARRATOR
 Three Redmoor pikemen came to block the apparently
 not-so-secret exit.
 REDMOOR SOLDIER
 Halt! In the name of The Lord Regent!
 NARRATOR
 Brennen looked them in the eyes for half a moment, and
 then unleashed a terrible and inhuman sound.
 BRENNEN [INHUMAN ROAR]
 NARRATOR
 The faces of the soldiers turned to pale terror. They
 dropped their pikes and turned to flee, but Brennen was
 on them. He swung his axe once, and cut the three men
 clean in half.
 Through the rain, Brennen could make out two men trying
 clumsily to run away through the mud. This time, he
 recognized the two Guernatal officers who had aided in
 his capture immediately.
 He hit each in the leg with a throwing axe and trotted
 up to the now lamed men.
 OFFICER 1
 General! Mercy please.
 NARRATOR
 He ripped off both of their helms, quickly and
 deliberately.
 OFFICER 1 They had my wife. What could I--[muffled]
 NARRATOR
 Brennen grabbed each man around the mouth and lifted
 them off the ground, one in each hand.
 OFFICER 1
 (MUFFLED)
 My wife will starve--
 NARRATOR
 He brought their heads together with terrible force.
 OFFICER 1
 (DAZED) No. Please.
 NARRATOR
 Again. And again. And again.
 SOUND: CRACK. CRUNCH. EACH SUCCESSIVE BASH BECOMES MORE AND
 MORE OF A SQUISH.
 NARRATOR (cont’d)
 When he held only two fistfuls of bloody pulp, only
 then did he let the bodies fall into the mud.
 The excitement of battle and exhaustion in his arms
 meant that he noticed the arrow strike his arm as a
 NARRATOR (cont’d)
 detached observer. He saw the archer on the ramparts
 frantically trying to reload and planted a throwing axe
 squarely in his chest.
 Before more could replace him, Brennen made haste back
 to the secret exit.
 SOUND: SWORD SLASH AND IMPACT
 He arrived in time to see Regan deliver a killing
 stroke to the last of four Redmoor soldiers.
 BRENNEN
 There’ll be more coming.
 NARRATOR
 Regan produced a large clay pot.
 REGAN
 Not through this door.
 NARRATOR
 Brennen saw that the creek into which the sewage pipe
 entered was running white and furious in the downpour.
 He hoisted Gunther’s body over his shoulders...
 BRENNEN
 Into the creek.
 NARRATOR
 ...and dove in. Regan lobbed the pot down the corridor,
 and dove in as well, as her pot exploded and collapsed
 the tunnel.
 Redmoor cavalry tried to give chase, but the mud was
 disastrous for their horses. Arrows fell ineffectually
 into the water, and archers watched with despair as
 three shapes disappeared in the torrent.
 Int. Nia’s Room in Madame Bailey’s - Dawn
 NARRATOR
 The sun was just rising on Madame Bailey’s when there
 was a knock on Nia’s door.
 NIA Who is it?
 NARRATOR
 The young girl Nia was hiding darted under the bed.
 JEN t’s Jen.
 NARRATOR
 Nia cautiously cracked the door to check, and then let
 Jen in.
 JEN
 I saw him outside. Getting ready to leave.
 NIA McShane?
 JEN Yeah.
 NIA
 Good. When he does, we can depart this wicked place.
 JEN
 That won’t fix anything. It’s gonna keep happening.
 NIA
 We’ll have saved one child. At least for a while.
 Please, Jen. Let it go. This is the kind of wickedness
 so vile and rotten that it pollutes even those who
 combat it.
 NARRATOR
 Jen looked over to the prostitute and his young sister,
 desperate for something to say.
 JEN
 I’m sorry.
 PROSTITUTE
 What are you sorry for?
 JEN
 I don’t know. Everything.
 PROSTITUTE
 I do like some things about my life.
 JEN
 I know what--I just wouldn’t have liked it if someone
 looked at me the way I was looking at you.
 PROSTITUTE
 You’re not me.
 JEN
 No. I coulda walked away.
 NIA
 You should go and gather your things. Tell the boys as
 well.
 Ext. Shallow Creek - Dawn
 NARRATOR
 Regan awoke on the banks of a small lake to the sound
 of Brennen groaning...
 BRENNEN [GROANS]
 NARRATOR
 ...and popped up with her sword ready.
 REGAN
 What’s happening?!
 BRENNEN
 I’m fucking old is what’s happening.
 NARRATOR
 Brennen ripped the arrow out of his arm and held his
 hand over the bleeding wound.
 REGAN
 You just fought harder than most young men I’ve seen.
 BRENNEN
 Aye, and I did it with the body of one fucking old one.
 NARRATOR
 That’s when he saw the lifeless body of the former High
 King, His Late Majesty Gunther Guernatal. As he
 painfully remembered all that had brought him to the
 banks of this lake, his face betrayed a furious kind of
 despair that very few people could understand.
 REGAN
 I’m sorry about the King, Brennen. There was nothing
 you--
 NARRATOR
 Brennen leapt to his feet and unslung his axe. Regan
 instinctively went for her sword, but Brennen dropped
 his axe at her feet.
 BRENNEN
 The King is dead.
 NARRATOR
 He knelt.
 BRENNEN
 Long live the Queen.
 REGAN
 ...Sorry, what?
 BRENNEN
 I await Your Grace’s orders.
 REGAN
 Okay, first, stand up because that’s fucking weird.
 NARRATOR
 He did.
 REGAN
 All right, now sit down and let’s deal with the hole in
 your arm.
 NARRATOR
 Regan unraveled her bedroll to reveal a small armory of
 very nasty-looking things. And, of course, her
 longsword, half-sword, and dagger.
 REGAN
 I told you I sleep better with it.
 NARRATOR
 From among the weapons, the likes of many of which
 Brennen had never seen, despite his decades on the
 fields of battle, she produced some bandages.
 REGAN
 So, uh, by royal decree, I...what the fuck do we do
 now?
 BRENNEN
 First we find the children. Then, we may need to appeal
 to the Elves directly. Tell them the High Throne has
 been usurped. If only we could have gotten Gunther’s
 Talisman of Dominion.
 REGAN
 What’s that?
 BRENNEN
 Talismans of Dominion are Elven artifacts. Very
 beautiful. Given to each of the great houses to signify
 that the Elvish High Council will recognize their rule.
 REGAN
 And there was one of these back at the castle?
 BRENNEN
 Aye. Kept in a heavily guarded vault, far below ground.
 REGAN
 Was it, by any chance, like a platinum egg with all
 kinds of jewels and shit on it?
 BRENNEN
 Aye! How did you-- You stole it didn’t you?
 NARRATOR
 Regan unwrapped the cloth bundle she had carried since
 the castle to reveal the exact artifact Brennen had
 just described.
 REGAN I’m not gonna escape from a castle and not stop by the vault.
 BRENNEN [LAUGHS HEARTILY]
 BRENNEN
 You know something, Your Grace? If I ever had a
 daughter...I’d pray to every god there is she’d turn
 out nothing like you. All the same, I think we can get
 along.
 REGAN
 I think I know what you mean.
 BRENNEN
 The night we met, at the tavern. That was clever, with
 the brandy.
 REGAN
 Please. A cheap desperate trick. Beating two men to
 death with each other? That was inspired.
 BRENNEN [SCOFFS GRUFFLY]
 NARRATOR
 Now Brennen grew very somber.
 BRENNEN
 Does it trouble you, how easy it is to kill?
 REGAN
 At least I’m alive to be troubled.
 BRENNEN
 Before we spoke of monsters. Men so twisted that the
 world is better off without them. I’m one of them.
 REGAN
 If you’re a monster, I don’t wanna know what I am. But
 I’m starting to think the world needs us.
 BRENNEN
 What good can a man possibly do, when all he knows is
 how to destroy?
 REGAN
 He can destroy bad people - the people who make it so
 that I had to be this way or die. I don’t want anyone
 else to get backed into that corner.
 BRENNEN
 In songs it’s always virtuous men who vanquish evil.
 Truth of it is, though, you can’t fight evil and live
 without becoming a bit evil yourself.
 REGAN
 That’s why you and I are so well suited for it.
 Int. Jen’s Room in Madame Bailey’s - Early Morning
 NARRATOR
 In her own room at Madame Bailey’s, Jen looked at her
 ashen visage in a looking glass. She splashed water
 into her mouth in a futile attempt to wash out the sick
 taste.
 She tried to steady her breathing, but found she could
 not stop shaking. She searched her mind for a peaceful
 memory. Cheerleading. The applause of a crowd directed
 at her. Her teammates congratulating her in the locker
 room.
 The Locker Room. Her hand mindlessly found the dirk she
 had left on her dresser, and she felt a strange sense
 of calm.
 Ext. Madame Bailey’s - Continuous
 NARRATOR
 As she walked across the foyer and through the batwing
 doors into the accusing light of the early morning, she
 felt as though her steadily-pumping legs belonged to
 someone she did not know.
 Sergeant McShane took a step down from his coach to
 look her up and down.
 MCSHANE
 Sorry, dearie. Maybe a few years ago.
 NARRATOR
 Jen plunged the dirk into McShane’s belly.
 MCSHANE [SURPRISED GROAN]
 NARRATOR
 His shock was almost as profound as hers. Coming to her
 senses after a short eternity, Jen yanked the sword up
 to McShane’s ribs and then out.
 He fell forwards into a pile of his own innards.
 Jen looked down at his corpse. Shaking and weeping, she
 closed her eyes.
 END OF CHAPTER.
Category:Episode Transcripts