MacBathory Act One Scene One

[ellyssian]

L'Abattoir
by Everett A Warren

started November 30, 2006

A mouse among cats is a furtive creature. A nervous creature. A meal.

"Away w' ye!" scowled the tavern master, a heavy jowled, heavy accented, heavy bodied gorilla of a man. Still and all, perhaps the least dangerous one in the room save for the object of his scorn.

"B-b-b-buh-but I do have business here," replied the mouse to the cat, poking his thin-rimmed spectacles back up the thin line of his nose, his voice thin and fragile, like a delicate wine glass set upon a bar amongst overflowing tankards of ale.

"Is that business you have here, good sir, or b-b-b-buh-business!" guffawed the one sitting beside him - no housecat, this one, but a lion, full of mane and wilder than any king of the jungle might hope to be. His companions roared in laughter, lifting high their ale for the jest and for the good natured slap that nearly broke the poor mouse's back.

Perhaps he was not even a mouse: a mere insect, who crawled away as their good humour overflowed and he was no longer its target.

Charles Stefan Worsley stood quickly upon making the door, leaving the noise of the tavern behind him, slinking as best he could down to the docks.

Scene Two