Scene I – The throne room. A storm outside. ELRIC confronts MAEREN.
PRINCE ELRIC:
Too long hath silence stung me in the night.
Speak now, and shine this darkness into light.
Didst thou slay our sire with venom'd breath?
Or was his doom a stranger's gift of death?
LADY MAEREN:
Yea, I did it. And would again, forsooth.
He left me naught but chains and hollow truth.
You were the star, and I the shaded moon—
Now let us both meet fate, and end too soon.
PRINCE ELRIC (drawing his sword):
Then woe upon us both, and on our line.
The crown was cursed, and now shall none be thine.
[They fight. ELRIC wounds MAEREN, but she stabs him in return. Both fall.]
LADY MAEREN (dying):
We were both but pawns upon this cruel stage.
Fate wrote the play, and we fulfilled its rage.
PRINCE ELRIC (gasping):
The thorn-crown'd king... was never meant to reign.
Let Wythmere sleep, and dream no more of pain…
(EPILOGUE) The witches return to the heath.
FIRST WITCH:
So ends the line of Alaric, by fire.
SECOND WITCH:
By blood and blade, fulfilled the doom entire.
THIRD WITCH:
Another age shall rise from ash and woe—
But who shall rule, we may or may not know.
ALL:
Thus spins the wheel, thus breaks the kingly chain—
All crowns are thorn'd, and all men die for gain.