Erik the Viking Page #10

KING ARNULF:

Well... where is he?

AUD:

There's nobody here, Father. Look for yourself.

King Arnulf looks around the chamber carefully. He looks straight through Erik as if he weren't there. Suddenly the King strides over to Erik and Erik instinctively cowers out of the way. The King walks straight over to a very small cupboard no more than a foot high, flings the door of it open, and starts throwing clothes around the room.

AUD:

He wouldn't be a midget, Father!

The King turns on her.

KING ARNULF:

Ah! So you admit there IS someone!

AUD:

You're losing your temper!

KING:

(becoming instantly pleasant)

Of course I'm not. I never lose my temper...

Ivar's horn sounds again. A shadow passes over King Arnulf's face.

KING ARNULF:

Oh dear... more visitors!

He strides to the window and sees Halfdan's ship. As he does so, Erik has to leap out of the way, inadvertently knocking a chest. The King spins round and addresses the chest.

KING ARNULF:

Come out... come out like a man... I know you're in there...

King Arnulf flings the chest open. revealing nothing but clothes. He is baffled. He reluctantly starts to leave.

AUD:

(gently)

It's all in your own mind, Father... It's YOU who imagine that

I'm always up here with some man or other....

KING ARNULF:

I don't know how you do it, Aud... I sometimes think you've got

some of your mother's magic...

He suddenly spies a small trinket-box and looks in that. But he doesn't find any strange man in it.

AUD:

There is no magic, Father... My mother had no magic...

KING ARNULF:

She did, I tell you! She could blind me as easily as the night

the day.

AUD:

It's your fantasy...

KING ARNULF:

But one day I'll catch you... Like I caught her...

He leaves. Aud closes the door. Erik throws the cloak off and starts getting dressed.

AUD:

The Cloak Invisible. It was my mother's parting gift.

ERIK:

"The fifth one this week"!

AUD:

Oh, for goodness' sake!

ERIK:

And I thought you said it was something special...

Aud runs to his side and puts her arms around him.

AUD:

That's just what I was trying to tell you. You ARE...

ERIK:

Five this week; how many the week before?

AUD:

You're as bad as my father.

ERIK:

And the week before that?

ERIK:

Erik...!

(she is really sincere)

I want to help you get to

Asgaard.

Erik is torn. He doesn't know whether to believe her or not. Ivar's horn sounds for a third time. Erik races to the window. He looks out. Halfdan's ship is even closer.

ERIK:

We mustn't let him land!

AUD:

Who?

ERIK:

Halfdan the Black.

AUD:

But, Erik...

But Erik is off out of the door.

AUD:

No. Wait! My father will be -

There is a thump and a yell as Erik is set upon by the King's two musicians.

KING ARNULF:

I might have known it was you!

MUSICIAN 1

(pinning Erik's arms behind him)

I'm not hurting you, am I?

ERIK:

What?

MUSICIAN 2

You WILL tell us if we hurt you?

They start to march Erik through the palace.

ERIK:

Let me go!

Erik struggles.

KING ARNULF:

(to musicians)

Careful!

(to Erik)

They're not supposed to hurt you.

ERIK:

You've got to let me go!

MUSICIAN 2

Oh no! We can hold onto you - just so long we don't squeeze too hard or bump you.

In the distance we hear the horn again.

ERIK:

Halfdan the Black's here!

They have reached a cell. The musicians starts to chain Erik up.

KING ARNULF:

It's all part of our safety regulations. You see if someone

were to get hurt they might get angry and then... well...

ERIK:

They'll be more than "hurt" if Halfdan the Black lands! Ow!

MUSICIAN:

Ooh! I'm terribly sorry.

KING ARNULF:

Who is Halfdan the Black?

ERIK:

He's trying to stop us waking the Gods.

KING ARNULF:

Why?

ERIK:

Because that's how he makes his money, by war and plunder!

KING ARNULF:

Don't talk nonsense.

ERIK:

He wants to kill US!

KING ARNULF:

Not when we explain about the Great Blessing.

ERIK:

You don't know Halfdan the Black.

KING ARNULF:

I know that the Great Blessing has kept the peace for a

thousand years, and will keep it for the next thousand.

The horn sounds again. Erik is about to argue this point when Thorfinn suddenly bursts in.

THORFINN:

Erik!

MUSICIAN 2

We're not hurting him!

MUSICIAN 1

(to Erik)

Are we?

ERIK:

Just let me go!

THORFINN:

Halfdan the Black's here!

ERIK:

I know!

THORFINN:

(to the King)

He wants to KILL us.

They both look at King Arnulf. The King thinks.

ERIK:

You don't want him to kill us ON Hy-Brasil! Do you?

The King thinks some more. The horn sounds once more. Cut to GOLDEN DRAGON. Erik and the Vikings are scrambling into their war gear. They glance nervously over to where Halfdan the Black's ship is riding on the waves.

THORFINN:

I feel strange.

Erik looks at Thorfinn, shocked.

IVAR THE BONELESS

(his throat dry)

Sort of wobbly and excited?

THORFINN:

Sort of...

IVAR:

That's fear.

SVEN:

But Thorfinn doesn't know the meaning of fear.

THORFINN:

Is it sort of... like a sinking feeling in your stomach?

IVAR:

That's it!

ERIK:

But. You're not even afraid of DEATH, Thorfinn!

THORFINN:

I know. I know.

SVEN'S DAD

It's magic.

ERIK:

What "magic"?

SVEN'S DAD

I've heard stories of a magic that strikes fear into the heart

so you cannot fight.

SVEN:

(deadly serious)

Yes... I can feel it.

IVAR THE BONELESS

(eagerly)

I always feel like this!

Suddenly Halfdan's ship rises up out of the water , and revealing the secret of its hidden power. Under the water-line is another line of oars! The Vikings are dumbfounded. Ivar drops trembling to his knees. The rest go white. Thorfinn draws his sword. Erik realizes his men are rapidly talking themselves into a blue funk.

ERIK:

It's not magic! It's just a trick!

THORFINN:

(turning on him angrily)

Don't you FEEL it?

Erik looks around at his paralysed crew. He realizes he is the only one who can save the situation.

ERIK:

Very well! It they're using magic - we'll use magic of our own!

He leaps out of GOLDEN DRAGON and races up to the shore towards the city of Hy-Brasil. Erik races into the Forum and gazes up at the high walls of the Palace. Without a thought he produces two daggers and plunges them into the stonework. Then he hauls himself up the sheer cliff of wall up to Aud's bedchamber fist over fist. It is, indeed, a prodigious feat. He arrives at Aud's window exhausted. Aud, who has appeared at the window, looks at him curiously.

AUD:

Why didn't you come up by the stairs?

Erik looks around and notices for the first time the magnificent flights of stairs leading up to the top of Aud's tower.

ERIK:

(rather miffed)

Just give me a hand.

AUD:

I mean, you could have killed yourself.

Erik clambers into Aud's room.

ERIK:

Where's the Cloak Invisible?

AUD:

Why?

Erik looks around and is suddenly suspicious.

ERIK:

I can't see it!

(Indignation suddenly seizes him)

Have you got

another man in here?

Erik starts feeling the air as if expecting to find an invisible body.

AUD:

It's in the chest.

Erik races over and grabs the cloak.

AUD:

No!

ERIK:

I'll bring it back.

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