8FOLD: Red Hart # 3, "The Forest Prince Returns"

[Tom Russell]

  EIGHTFOLD PROUDLY PRESENTS MR. TOM RUSSELL'S
               HISTORY OF THE

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 ##         [8F-123] ACT THREE [PW-04]
             The Forest Prince Returns


               ~-<>-~

THE ARGUMENT.
Sedenion finds himself before the Dark Sleep, Citadel of the
Never-Lord, where he is greeted as master by his thralls, the Shades.
Still unaware that he himself is the Never-Lord, Sedenion sends some
Shades to Earth in hopes that this will expedite the process of Red
Hart finding a human host. The Shades are confronted by the costumed
hero Fahrenheit Man and his paramour, the musician Tina Wazowie. A
soldier returned home, Matt Sharp, becomes the host of Red Hart, and
dispatches the Shades before being returned to his mortal form.
Fahrenheit Man and Wazowie decide to take the unconscious Sharp to the
Lighthouse, the headquarters of the Seven Wonders. Meanwhile, Van
returns to Earth to bring warning of the dread death-moon Awides; her
ship loses power and she plunges towards the Earth...

               ~-<>-~

Dramatis Personae.

SEDENION, god of sixteenth-dimensional algebra,
     secretly the dread NEVER-LORD

The SHADES, mindless slaves to the Never-Lord

RED HART, the Prince of All Forests

PETER SAMPSON, the FAHRENHEIT MAN

TINA WAZOWIE, the Polish Princess of Punk Rock

MATT SHARP, a soldier returned from war

VANESSA MORRISON, captain of the ship Plus-One,
    ex-patriot of Earth, called Van

               ~-<>-~


Scene I. Outside the Dark Sleep.
[A massive, multi-spired citadel. Enter SEDENION, descending from space.]

SEDENION
What place is this? And what has drawn me here?
Tis strange, but familiar. Tis like those dreams
Recalled when waking: fleeting, yet just there,
Just out of reach, receding. Likewise seems
I've seen before this bleak and haunting keep.

[Enter the SHADES.]

SEDENION
By fruit is known the tree; as these are Shades,
The uncle's thralls, so this must be Dark Sleep,
His citadel. What's this? They bend their blades
To me! They think Sedenion's their Lord!
They fathom not that he is dead and dust.
And watch: I raise my arm, and they their sword!
Strange! Sinister! How have I earned their trust?
It matters not; for now a plan I see
These soulless souls may be of use to me.

FIRST SHADE [of many]
The master lives again!

SEDENION [aside]
                        I'll play along.

SECOND SHADE
Command us, sire! We'll carry out your will!

SEDENION
My faithful faceless slaves, I wish to know
To where my wretched nephew's fled?

SECOND SHADE
                                    To Earth!

SEDENION
Where walls between the worlds are weak, and blur.
The perfect place to fight the ancient flood.
And full of allies, champions of Light.
Has he, the Forest Prince, yet found his host?

FIRST SHADE
He circles aimlessly, sweet Nothing King.

SEDENION [aside]
If Earth is threatened, quick he'll spring to life.
The need is now, Red Hart. I'll send these Shades
To run amok, then he'll run them aground.

SECOND SHADE
My Lord?

SEDENION
          My slave. I bid you go to Earth,
And take thy brothers bleak, to control minds
And make them ours, or else to kill them dead.

SECOND SHADE
Thy will be done! Thy will, and only thine!

[Exit most of the SHADES, ascending.]

SEDENION
My father would just end them all, these Shades.
Again, the son is smarter than the eight.
In name of Love I'll wield the tools of Hate.

[Exeunt all to inside the Dark Sleep.]


SCENE II. Earth's troposphere.
[Enter WAZOWIE and FAHRENHEIT MAN, aloft on auras of ice and flame.]

WAZOWIE
But man, it is a scrumptious day.

FAHRENHEIT MAN
And yet it pales next to you, my sweet Tina.

WAZOWIE
You're gonna make me barf with all that mushy-gushy stuff, hot-pants.

FAHRENHEIT MAN
But I speak only the words that are emblazoned upon my heart.

WAZOWIE
Not to lay some exposition on you here, Peter, but look-it: the number
of days when I'm not on tour this month I can count on my left hand.
Number of days when you don't have to do some save-the-world crap,
that's my right hand. Finding a finger that's on both hands is, like,
physically impossible, because again, we're talking two different
hands here, but somehow, we've done it, and we have a perfectly
scrumptious-- again, sir, I say scrumptious!-- afternoon to knock some
boots in the clouds, and you're wasting it waxing iambic. So, shut up
your face already.

FAHRENHEIT MAN
You shut up your face.

WAZOWIE
I'll shut up yours!

[She kisses him forcefully.]

FAHRENHEIT MAN
Tina... I...

WAZOWIE
You're still talking.

FAHRENHEIT MAN [spying something]
Tina! Watch out!

[The SHADES enter, descending like comets, and exit towards the
surface. WAZOWIE and FAHRENHEIT MAN scramble out of the way.]

WAZOWIE
Like I was saying, a perfectly scrumptious day we can spend saving the world.

[Exeunt to the surface.]


SCENE III. A forest.
[Enter MATT SHARP with an urn.]

MATT
Here we are. This spot's as good as any, right? Hoping... hoping
you're not too particular about it. You said a river in the woods, and
woods is woods, and these are woods and this is a river.

[He opens the urn and scatters the ashes.]

MATT
I don't have any words for you, Ryan. Don't think you'll mind
over-much, as you ain't here to hear them. Wish you were. By rights
our places should be swapped. Some mornings I wish they were. Some
mornings I wish you never put yourself out there for me in
Afghanistan. I should've been the one. But only some mornings; I ain't
ungrateful for the life you gave me. Quite the opposite. Just
sometimes wish I knew what I was supposed to do with it.

[He is struck by a bolt of red lightning. His body crackles with energy.]

MATT
What's happening to me? It feels like every bit of me is being pulled
apart inside of me and slammed back together into something...
something new!

[He is transformed into RED HART: he wears a red costume that covers
everything except his face. From the top of the headpiece sprouts two
magnificent antlers composed of pure and brilliant light.]

RED HART
In double hearts now beats Forever-Pulse,
And once more I am free! The Forest Prince!
The champion of Light and Life! Red Hart!
I sense his Shades are near, and so I start!

[He exits, leaping into the sky.]


SCENE IV. New York City.
[Enter, then exit, a fleeing, screaming swarm of CITIZENS. Enter
FAHRENHEIT MAN and WAZOWIE, throwing blasts of concentrated fire and
ice energy off-stage. Finally, enter the SHADES.]

FAHRENHEIT MAN
They neither burn nor freeze!

WAZOWIE
Yeah, but it's slowing them down, right? Buys all these people time to evacuate.

[One of the SHADES fires a blast of dark energy, sending WAZOWIE into
the side of a building. FAHRENHEIT MAN rushes to her.]

FAHRENHEIT MAN
Tina!

WAZOWIE
Don't fuss over me, you big doofus! I can handle myself!

[She takes to the air, and gets back to blasting.]

FAHRENHEIT MAN [using a comm device]
This is Fahrenheit Man of the Seven Wonders! With me is Tina Wazowie,
ice-siren of my secret heart!

WAZOWIE
Seriously, not the time!

FAHRENHEIT MAN [taking to the air]
We are requesting assistance against unknown entities of vast cosmic
power! Without help, I fear we shall soon be overwhelmed!

RED HART [off, booming]
I hear your call, o man of flame; I come!

WAZOWIE
What the goof?

[RED HART crashes to the Earth like a meteor. Several of the SHADES
are destroyed in his cosmic wake. He stands.]

FIRST SHADE
Red Hart! The master's hated nephew's here!

RED HART
Oh yes, you slaves of Nothing! Now you face
My mystic Battle-Antlers! Die, you fiends!
Now die, and scatter to the cosmic winds!

[RED HART charges at them, head-bent, his antlers aglow. Each one he
charges is thrown into a building, and explodes.]

WAZOWIE
Hey moose-guy, let's try to minimize the property damage, huh?

FAHRENHEIT MAN
I don't think he's listening! But look! I think his mere presence is
weakening them! Maybe at last we can do some damage!

[FAHRENHEIT MAN and WAZOWIE blast some of the remaining SHADES, and it
destroys them. Between them and RED HART, soon only the FIRST SHADE
remains.]

RED HART
Now speak, you Shade, and tell me where's your Lord?

FIRST SHADE
You Prince of Fools! I'm but my master's sword!
No voice or thought have I to call my own;
And for my failure must I now atone!

[He disappears in a flash of black energy.]

RED HART
Mine uncle's wrath is terror incarnate,
Yet he shall live, if life without free thought
Can still be called a life. And that I doubt.

WAZOWIE
That... that's deep and all, guy, but would you mind telling us what's
the what? Who're those goons? Who're you? What's the deal with the
antlers?

FAHRENHEIT MAN
They called you Red Hart?

RED HART
I'm called by that, and other ancient names.
I am the sacred Prince of Forests-All,
And these, mine mighty antlers of battle be.
With them, I wield the wild untamed light-force,
The primal stuff of Creation itself!

WAZOWIE
Um, okay. I got that. I think.

RED HART
And those, the Shades that serve the Never-Lord,
my father's brother, who doth seek to bind
All life, free life, to his dark boundless will!
If I am free, so must be he, for we
Were locked us both behind the seven seals,
For thirteen billion years as reckons Earth.

FAHRENHEIT MAN
Thirteen... billion...?

WAZOWIE [quietly]
I don't think there were deer thirteen billion years ago.

RED HART
The door was sealed with powers far beyond
E'en mine; to open it would take e'en more.
I fear some god has gone insane, or worse:
Some evil threatens end the universe!

[An explosion of cosmic red light, centered on RED HART. In its wake,
unconscious, is MATT SHARP.]

FAHRENHEIT MAN
It looks like a man. Probably host to this cosmic entity called the
Red Hart. We need to get him to a hospital.

WAZOWIE
I'll carry him so he doesn't go up in flames. Wait, hospital? No, man.
He needs medical attention and monitoring and maybe a cup to whiz in,
sure, but not a hospital. What happens if he exploderizes again?

FAHRENHEIT MAN
You're right, sweet Tina. We'll take him to the Lighthouse and keep
him in our med-bay for observation. For if any might aid him in his
dire quest, and safeguard both Earth and universe, it could only be
the Seven Wonders!

WAZOWIE
I really wonder sometimes why I'm dating you.

[Exeunt, in flight.]


SCENE V. The Plus-One.
[A beeping alarm. VAN rushes in and shuts it off.]

VAN
Approaching the Earth. Great. Just great. Just what I always wanted.
And by always, I mean never. Still. If anyone can stop a crazy
murder-moon, it's going to be the four-colour crowd.

[The ship shakes and rocks. VAN grips the dashboard.]

VAN
Whoa! What's going on, girl?

[She presses some buttons.]

VAN
Oh, I knew I should have got the core changed last year! I know it's
overdue. I was going to do it after this job. Just hang on a little
bit longer, sweetheart, okay?

[The ship shakes again.]

VAN
Worthless lemon.

[The lights go out.]

VAN
Hey! I didn't mean it! Oh, c'mon...!

[Exit VAN and her ship, spiraling uncontrollably towards the Earth.]

COPYRIGHT (C) 2014 TOM RUSSELL.