Episode 10: A Price to Pay
ext. Forest Path night
There is a stillness after the brief duel, disturbed only by the faint breathing of the defeated Page of Swords, who’s breath hisses between broken teeth. Other than this strain of oxygen, he dares not move beneath the commanding gaze of the silver-haired Pale Horse. The Pale Horse still holds his poleaxe in steely, skeletal hands. His jaw, sheer bone, glistens glistens in the moonlight that drips between the patches of overhanging branches. He doesn’t bother to threaten the beaten page. The difference in their strength has been demonstrated.
The Alice stands a few feet away, still impressed. She had expected a rescue. She had not expected THIS, a man of black steel and spindled, exposed bone. Similarly, the Knight of Swords, further yet up the path, is caught off guard. She knows to respect the distance between herself and the horse but does not extinguish her sword. This is how one deals with a monster- as amicably as possible, while expecting the worst possible outcome. And the Pale Horse is one of Arcana’s very special monsters.
PALE HORSE
(to the Knight of Swords)
Allow us honorable passage, and I will release this man’s life back to you.
The Knight of Swords quietly considers this. She then replies.
KNIGHT OF SWORDS
An amusing offer, Pale Horse. But unfortunately, I lack the authority to negotiate terms.
The Pale Horse grits his teeth, the exposed bone grinding together. It is a fierce and ugly thing to behold.
PALE HORSE
Has the House of Swords fallen so far that you lack the right to even negotiate for a single page’s life? Has the Sun truly reduced you to such a lowly state?
VOICE
(offscreen)
Not at all, Pale Horse. Unlike you, she knows her place.
The Pale Horse and Alice turn to see the KNIGHT OF PENTACLES facing them from the opposite way down the path. The Knight is clad in brown-tinged copper armor and is seated upon a black horse. The Knight of Pentacles has the shark-ish features of a man who is always ambitious- and always hungry. His cheeks give way to angular bones, his nose jutting outward like a shark’s fine, and his brilliant white teeth are often exposed when he speaks, his lips willfully pulling back to expose his incisors. His pupils are tainted with a faint run of red which matches that of the sash he wears across his breastplate, adornment which serves no battle purpose save to draw attention to the Knight’s rank . At his belt are numerous bulging sacks of gold coins. He holds one such sack in his right hand. His gaze never drifts far from the sight of gold.
