31 Plays in 31 Days, #26 - "Leviathan"

[breakinglight11]

This is only half a scene. I didn't want to be posting a lot of this Mrs. Frost stuff, but since I'm behind on posting, I'm not going to have a lot of time to write additional scenes. So I cut this at a shifting point, before the really high drama kicks in and they hash things out, because I don't want to spoil it.

Day #26 - "Leviathan"
From Mrs. Frost
By Phoebe Roberts

VICTORIA HAWKING, the lady's champion of London, mid forties
MALAIKA SHAH, colonial avenger, late forties

London, England, 1886
~~~

(MRS HAWKING waits on the street until MADAM MALAIKA appears.)

MADAM MALAIKA:

You again!

MRS. HAWKING:

I’m sorry. But I had no choice.

MADAM MALAIKA:

No choice but to come where you’re not wanted?

MRS. HAWKING:

Yes. Because Frost is a force of no common rate.

MADAM MALAIKA:

I told you, I will manage this without your help—

MRS. HAWKING:

But I need yours.

MADAM MALAIKA:

To do what? To settle the score between you? The great hunter, seeking her next trophy. I know what skin you have in this game.

MRS. HAWKING:

Perhaps not. She’s— she’s taken my nephew. For no greater crime than being mine.

MADAM MALAIKA:

That young man who was with you. The one who looks like the captain.

MRS. HAWKING:

She knows I’ve been tracking her. For the last year and half, looking for some weak point to break her operation. She took him to hold over me. That… may be nothing to you. But we have a common enemy, and a common purpose.

MADAM MALAIKA:

Working with you destroyed my life. After all that’s happened, why would I ever join with you again? Why would I trust you again?

MRS. HAWKING:

You worked with Frost when you needed to. If you’ve any loyalty to her, know that she has none to you.

MADAM MALAIKA:

Do you take me for a fool?

MRS. HAWKING:

Never. You make your way in what manner you can. And your skills are valuable; I can pay you for your labor as well as she can.

MADAM MALAIKA:

You think this is a matter of money?

MRS. HAWKING:

I think this is a matter of necessity. How many refugees do you have in hiding now? How many people are relying on you? If you cannot call off her forces, you know they will never escape.

MADAM MALAIKA:

I know.

MRS. HAWKING:

Elizabeth Frost is… a leviathan, a fathomless monster roiling beneath a silent sea. She has an ocean behind her, and endless currents of influence at her fingertips. Hers is an empire that drowns.

MADAM MALAIKA:

I know this as well as you! Why do you tell me this?

MRS. HAWKING:

Because I know I can’t beat her on my own. Can you?

(Pause.)

MADAM MALAIKA:

No.

MRS. HAWKING:

I’ve looked into your work. All across the colonies, the injustices you’ve struck against. The people you’ve fed, comforted, set free. You are a force, madam. And, I… well. You may doubt my motives, but not my skills. Perhaps neither of us is equal to her alone. But together… together, there’s a chance.