Act 4
Scene 3
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				(enter Lilia, Armus)

Armus		I thought to glimpse you here.

Lilia						Then you thought true.

Armus		Your royal mother do demand your ear.

Lilia		Ah; well, then, as she ask, I do obey.
		Know you the reason why I be request?			5


Armus		Good Queen Alexia have the concern
		That in its fair proceedings might our join
		In matrimony lack some styled flair.

Lilia		'Twas ever seeming that her mind did turn.

Armus		My darling?						10

Lilia				Let it go.  I rise to her
		Requirement, and to yours.

Armus					As should it be.

Lilia		Of course, as should it be.

				(enter Queen Alexia)

					Hello, my mother.		15

Queen Alexia	I wishéd to discuss with you the pomp
		And fanfare of the nuptials bearing soon.
		--No, go thee not; for this marks you as well.

Armus		Aye, as you wish.  Be what you do request,
		I move to fill, as servant to his master.		20

Queen Alexia	Ye've never yet declared your pref'rence hence
		As to the true procession of your wed.
		A girl be married, truly should she have
		The choice of howabouts her day unfolds.
		One final use of will, and then a life			25
		Of quiet and of proper 'bedience
		To he who'll keep her will in better hands.

Lilia		The planning then be wholly in my grasp?
		I thank you mother, for this freedom, but
		I'm sure that Armus -- (aside) Yet within this offer,	30
		A glimpse, a glimmer of a chance that I
		Might there achieve my goal - I would be pleased
		To choose whereby the festive might proceed.
		But might I take an evening to reflect
		Upon it?						35

Queen Alexia		Very well.  Then take this eve
		To plan, and we'll convene upon the morrow.

				(She exits)

Armus		Good eve, my darling.

Lilia					And good eve to you.

				(He exits)

		It cannot be by chance I've opportune			40
		To set about and plan the day myself.
		As I am sure of substance in these things,
		There must be way to turn't to mine advantage.

Marcis(offstage)There yet might be.

Lilia				Ah, no!  Marcis?			45

Marcis(offstage)				Indeed.

Lilia		But thou art dead, I watched you as you died!

Marcis(offstage)I am, I am, quite dead, nor yet am restful.

Lilia		O curse my ears, for surely they betray me!

				(enter Marcis's ghost)

Ghost		Soft, soft!  Curse not, the humors in your soul		50
		Have thought of me, and heart, though mind do not.

Lilia		You are a devil, surely, in his guise!

Ghost		Sweet sister, please; if ever you did love
		Me, truly do I beg upon you for
		This love, even in death, as was in life.		55
		--Have you the knowledge of the chalice oath?

Lilia		I've never heard it spoke.

Ghost					Then listen well;
		It is your only hope of my revenge.

Lilia		Aye, give me now the ken of it.				60

Ghost						You shall
		Request the Viking Chalice be your oath,
		That fiend and innocent may drink from it,
		As a precursor to the seal of wed.

Lilia		I'll not complete it; he shall die before.		65

Ghost		Soft, Lilia!  I never would betray
		My love for you with such.  Once you have drunk
		Each from the chalice, then the final words,
		Of "You are mine" and bride's agreement thus,
		Then is the union sealed.  But you'll not say		70
		"I now am yours;" his vows shall go unsworn
		By yours, as dead he'll be.

Lilia					The chalice!

Ghost							Aye.

Lilia		And of the gathered crowd?				75

Ghost					Request a small
		Affair, no one but kin of the betrothed.

Lilia		But I -

Ghost 			It be not sin to sin avenge.

Lilia		And so I shall.						80

Ghost				And so you shall succeed.

Lilia		And live?

Ghost			Sister, I cannot promise that.

Lilia		I thought it so.  But I have been prepared
		For longer than I knew to end it.  I			85
		Am overtired of the ancient pull
		Of light and dark that stabs my weary eyes.
		How sweet it yet would be, to throw my soul
		Upon the rocks of night's eternity,
		Where self and will are one with nothing, and		90
		I finally can rest from these attacks. - 
		O no, not yet, that pleasure yet eludes me,
		For this one final act I've now to do.
		One last and greatest moment for this life,
		My only triumph 'gainst the ways and fates		95
		That have entrapped me such, and I'll be free
		To seek that last reward and 'waited peace.
		All hope of being gone, my only dream
		And consolation that of honored death.
		There's nothing else I want.  O, o, it be		100
		Not just that my exist should lead to this!
		Was I then born to sorrow and to fall
		As once you did declare?

Ghost					O, I was wrong,
		More grievous wrong than I did ever know. 		105
		You shall not bear the weight of failure, you	
		Shall not by wayside fall, shall not deprave
		The honor of your soul, but shall remain
		Your own, untainted by the blasted wiles
		Of those you once did trust.  The sins they seek	110
		To place upon you shall not find their mark,
		For in you lies a core of greatest mettle,
		Which be in quite amusement for their schemes.
		He knows his strength, and knows it very well.
		Trust in that strength yourself, and you'll prevail.	115

Lilia		You were but e'er the one who thought it so.

Ghost		You were but e'er the one who thought me so.

Lilia		Together shall we be again.

Ghost						Indeed.
		I go, but always with you.  Remember.			120

				(exits)

Lilia		A chance, a plan, and now it all begins
		To end; the road that brings me to my death.
		The canon of the land is set against
		The self-preformed remove of breath and life;
		But one can breathe, and live, and still be dead.	125
		It is the soul that matters, not this husk
		Of useless form that brings me all my ills.
		If I capitulate to my arrang'd
		And unsupported fate, my seem will live,
		But every way which matters shall I die.		130
		Then if I take the pains to keep what counts
		Alive, what matter if my body die?
		God will forgive.

				(exits)