Wisdom's Kiss (66 page)

TIPS:
Caution, my love. In your ire, you resemble a beautiful raptor poised for attack.

WISDOM:
Then you are wise beyond measure to moor me to this Globe! No, vengeance waits until my sister, and her throne, are safe.

TIPS:
And Trudy, too.

WISDOM:
Yes, and Trudy, too. She deserves that, and happiness in abundance.

TIPS:
Let us hope it comes to pass, for there is no truer friend in all the world than Trudy.

WISDOM:
Well phrased, my love; and she has no truer friend than you.

They embrace.

A P
LAY IN
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PENNED BY ANONYMOUS

Act II, Seene v.

Phraugheloch Palace Banquet Room.

Wisdom lies in a glass coffin.

Enter Rüdiger IV, Benevolence, Wilhelmina, Roger and attendants.

RÜDIGER:
What gruesome draught it must have been to fell this vibrant princess so.

BENEVOLENCE:
A fortnight has passed, and still she neither lives nor dies.

WILHELMINA:
Your Majesty, I beg you hear me out: I had no hand in this crime. I swear it.

BENEVOLENCE
[aside]
: 'Tis irony indeed that the vixen is penalized for the one offense she did not perpetrate.

RÜDIGER:
Your actions betray your words, Your Grace. Once before a poisoning was attempted on this innocent; this time, good fortune failed her. My duke, tell me: will you obey your vows and attend your bride?

ROGER:
The law would have that I attend her, but my heart cries out that I adore her. O my beloved, I shall be at your side forever!

BENEVOLENCE:
Well phrased, well phrased indeed.
[Aside]
Farina, now bound to this lifeless form! Thus can no alliance be configured against Montagne.

RÜDIGER:
None could ask for more devotion. And yet while Farina has gained a wife, Montagne is deprived of a daughter. Though murder has not transpired, a penalty must still be levied.

BENEVOLENCE
[aside]
: Now comes the unveiling of His Majesty's grand strategy!

RÜDIGER:
Farina, we would you granted this grieving nation Alpsburg and Bridgeriver in recompense.

WILHELMINA:
Two territories, so wealthy? I refuse it.

RÜDIGER:
You refuse the will of the emperor? You would prefer transport by jailer's wagon to the capital of Lax, there to stand trial for attempted murder?

Wilhelmina falls to her knees.

WILHELMINA:
Your Majesty.

RÜDIGER:
Humility becomes you, Your Grace. Would that you displayed it more frequently. My queen, accept you this donation?

BENEVOLENCE:
In bereavement, yes. I shall promptly eliminate the tolls within them, for it does not become a nation to earn its wealth from others' toil.
[Aside]
The emperor has no feeling for our grief, but constraints on trade raise his bile. Nor would Montagne object to more land 'twixt it and this.

RÜDIGER:
This tragedy is concluded. We depart now with our circus, for word has reached us that the Globe d'Or awaits us in the fair city of Rigorus with a remarkably new operator, a young woman of no small skill ... You must attend our next performance, Your Majesty...

Exit Rüdiger and Benevolence. Roger embraces Wisdom's coffin.

WILHELMINA:
Observe His Grace. He prefers a silent wife to a speaking mother; such is the gratitude of sons.

ROGER:
O Wisdom! I lodge myself before you; never will we part, my sweet!

Queen of All the Heavens: Deleted Scene
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"Kill your darlings" is a standard adage in writing instruction. A middling writer can usually tell when prose is so bad that it has to go, but only a strong, undaunted writer will say, "This is beautiful—I love these words, I love the way they sound—but they don't belong here. Much as it breaks my heart, I must delete." Or, more succinctly: "Kill your darlings."

I would like to say that I was strong and undaunted about deleting the scene below, but in truth I sniveled and rearranged and did everything I could to preserve it. Then my editor at Houghton Mifflin nailed me with a Post-it, stuck to the margin, on which she had penned three immortal words: "This bit nec?" Which I initially read as "This bit rec?" until I realized she meant "necessary," not "recreational." Ah. No, this bit wasn't nec. Nec makes the whole story better, and removing nec would irreparably weaken it; this, on the other hand, is great fun but adds nothing. In fact, it's rather confusing, because why the heck would anyone include dragons—oh, okay, wyverns (which I specified because I, like Dizzy, am weary of dragon stories)—in only one scene? Aren't dragons/wyverns rather a book's whole point? Nutritionally, this scene is potato chips when it needs to be multigrain bread. Now, I'm a huge fan of multigrain bread, so by "multigrain" I don't mean overly chewy, fibrous, and boring. Quite the opposite: I mean textured and full of life. And of course relevant.

So I set to work mulling what in fact would make this scene nec. How could I turn it into multigrain bread? Well, I didn't need to demonstrate Tips's physical prowess—that was about to be accomplished in his battle with the evil gardener. But I still wanted to illustrate the bond between Tips and Dizzy, to show they have a connection beyond simple physical attraction. I also wanted to make clear that Tips knew he'd broken Trudy's heart but he still cared about her, and that even Dizzy evinced compassion. That very important point had been lost in the heat of the dragon battle. It would also be nice to exploit the physical drama of the Globe d'Or, to create a scene that, you know, looked theatrical. Hence the current act 2, scene 3.

More on dragons
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A P
LAY IN
T
HREE
A
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PENNED BY ANONYMOUS

Act II, Seene iii.

Night, Globe d'Or.

Trudy and Escoffier sleep. Wisdom and Tips stand watch.
TIPS: We should rest, my love.

WISDOM:
Your presence provides all the repose I require. Nor can we tarry en route to Montagne.

TIPS:
Your intent is admirable, my sweet, but—Heavens above, what is that?

WISDOM:
I see nothing—O! 'Tis some kind of monster!

A flying beast attacks the Globe d'Or.

TIPS:
If it tears this orb, we are doomed! It is a dragon!

WISDOM:
I discern it now in the moonlight. O dragons, how weary I am of dragons; they clot every story! No, 'tis a wyvern.

TIPS:
Does this difference matter?

WISDOM:
Only for our headstones.

TIPS:
We must stop it! Depart, beast, I command you!

WISDOM:
If that be magic, it fails.

TIPS:
It strikes again!

WISDOM:
Fie, wyvern, or we smite thee!

TIPS:
Better I risk my life than all perish...

Tips leaps from the balloon to battle the beast midair.

TIPS:
Die—die—I strike you! Ah, it returns th'blow!

WISDOM:
Beware! It attacks the wire! Zounds, cur, you deserve not life. I add my wrath to your suffering.

Wisdom rains fire upon the beast.

TIPS:
One more cut, I suspect, and it would quit us.

WISDOM:
Behold, it has perished!

The beast drops.

TIPS:
My darling, you saved us!

WISDOM:
'Twas not me the savior. Here, return aboard and let me tend your wounds. O you are burnt! Yet again I acted too rash.

TIPS:
Not too rash, but just rash enough! We have preserved each other.

WISDOM:
And them as well, my love. What sacrifice we make!

TIPS:
'Tis no sacrifice for me to fight aside an Amazon, nor naught but bliss to observe the wreckage of thine enemies.

WISDOM:
Such excitement keeps my heart abeat; I could not sleep again this night.

TIPS:
Nor I in your company.

They embrace.

8TH EDITION

Printed in the Capital City of Rigorus
by Hazelnut & Filbert, Publishers to the Crown

*=enhanced ebook only

* Author Commentary
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Alpsburg
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Circus Primus
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