dungeon: limestone quarry
Guildenstern: This it?
Rosencrantz: In the upper stories, I believe.
Guildenstern: Move out!
[Rosencrantz turns and goes down the cloudstone, instead of following Guildenstern and Samantha]
[Meanwhile, Hardin, Merlose, and Joshua are in a room in the temple.]
Merlose: ...You're a brave boy.
Hardin: All the excitement at the manor got to him. He's not said a word. You hungry, boy?
Merlose: You care well for your charges.
[She looks up, and sees Ghostly Hardin]
Ghostly Hardin: ...It was during my days in the Peaceguard. there was an investigation into an incident. I was part of a special team, entrusted with delivering blades to rebels in a neighboring kingdom. Apparently, some did not reach their destination. They claimed some of us were making coppers selling the steel on the black market. ...We were all guilty. I was not the only one. They presented me with an offer. Betray my friends, and I would walk free. ...I had a brother, half my age. He was gravely ill, and we knew not when he would leave us. I wanted money ... I wanted my freedom. I sold my friend, my brother. But they did not set me free. When I escaped from prison, my brother was dead.
Merlose: So you joined Müllenkamp ... to revenge this "injustice" done to you?
Hardin: You scrye too deep, woman!
Merlose: This thing you do will not bring your brother back!
Hardin: Silence! What do you know?
Merlose: Do not play the child! Do not blame your weakness on another!!
Hardin: Witch!!
[He goes to hit Merlose, and bends over with a crossbow bolt in his side as Guildenstern comes up on the cloudstone]
Hardin: Quicker than a damned bloodhoud!
Guildenstern: Our dark "hounds" know your stench, cultist.
Guildenstern: Speak! Where is the key?
Hardin: ...How should I know?
Guildenstern: (Holds out hand, tries to use the Dark on Hardin) You are at my mercy. Now, speak!
Hardin: T-truly, I do not know.
Guildenstern: You must know something -- anything!!
[The room shivers]
Hardin: Y-You... your power, like Sydney's...! How! You do not draw from the wellspring!
Guildenstern: You think the Dark flows only within your city? You underestimate the Cardinal!!
[Guildenstern holds out a hand -- Hardin finds himself in the Grey, with Sydney watching]
Sydney: A mite close, that was.
Hardin: Y-yes.
Sydney: It is time to take the city. Let us perform the rite of succession.
Hardin: The key... you've found it?
Sydney: The key?
Hardin: The "Blood-Sin".
Sydney: Ah, yes. The Blood-Sin...
Hardin: Is this a test, Sydney?
Sydney: Yes, a test. Tell me of this key, brother.
Hardin: Only he who holds the Blood-Sin can succeed to the Dark City. The would-be successor must cede his phantom soul if he is to accept his prize -- Control of the Dark. These streets already teem with souls. All that is needed is the key. We have no time. The key, show it to me.
[Sydney smiles and becomes Guildenstern. Hardin drops back to his knees.]
Hardin: Diablerie!!
Guildenstern: The Blood-Sin, you say? It has a familiar ring...
[Guildenstern looks up, sees the Rood on the ceiling]
Guildenstern: Years past, during the inquisition of the heretics, the "Rood Inverse" was carved on them, an abjuration of the flesh... Those who bore this tattoo called it the Blood-Sin.
[Flashback to Sydney turning around, with the Rood Inverse on his back]
Guildenstern: Good God! Sydney held the key all along!!
Hardin: What?
Guildenstern: The tattoo on his back, it is the Blood-Sin! He has the key! He has played you false!
Hardin: N--no, I won't...
Guildenstern: Then why does Sydney not take the city? The Duke is in his final hours...
Hardin: Surely ... Surely he would not follow the Duke's wishes...?
[Merlose holds Joshua back.]
Merlose: Stop!
[Guildenstern stabs Hardin. Joshua screams silently.]
[Change to shot of statue, with little Sydney watching -- or is it Joshua? Turns and runs to the Duke, embraces him.]
[Flash -- fade to Sydney standing in front of an altar, from behind]
Sydney: ...Hardin.
[The door opens. Sydney turns to see Rosencrantz]
Rosencrantz: What are your designs for the Riskbreaker?
Sydney: Not yet figured it out, eh?
Rosencrantz: I thought so... So he is to succeed to the Legacy, then?
Sydney: I've given up. There is no meaning in an "incomplete death".
Rosencrantz: What are you ranting about?
Sydney: You do not understand? He is the perfect one to rule this city of darkness. He shows all the signs; he is ready.
Rosencrantz: That weak-spirited vagrant? He has the unquestioning faith of a child in his morality.
Sydney: Better a pious child than an iniquitous rogue! Unlik you, he would not misuse the Dark.
[Sydney smiles. Rosencrantz hits him, and Sydney falls.]
Sydney: Why try to harry me, when it is he who has shamed you? Nonetheless, you could not harm me.
Rosencrantz: Your powers hold no sway over me! Prepare yourself, Sydney!
Vagrant Story, all its characters, and all associated text is copyright © 2000 SQUARE Co. Ltd. All rights remain with original authors. This script is provided for educational and informative purposes only.