(The crew is actually resting)

Maeve: Where’s the Prince?

(Doubar shrugs)

Maeve: Have you seen him?

(Sinbad shakes his head; Maeve gets up to look for Xander)

Maeve: Prince Xander?

(She finds him, playing a game with Dermott)

Xander: Not again, cheater! How do you do that?

Maeve: Can I try that game? (sits down beside Xander and Dermott) I’m warning you, I’m pretty hard to fool. Not as good as Dermott, but he does have the eyes of a hawk, of course.

(Dermott chirps)

Xander: You’re lucky to have Dermott. He’s more than just a pet, isn’t he?

Maeve: Oh, yeah. He’s a friend.

Xander: He’s more than that even, isn’t he?

Maeve: This one. (points to one of the shells)

(Xander lifts the shell)

Maeve: You’re pretty good at this. I bet you used to be at awe of all your friends.

(Xander looks sad)

Maeve: Any brothers or sisters?

Xander: Not that I’ll ever know.

Maeve: What do you mean?

(Dermott chirps)

Maeve: Well, you know. I’ve had more than a past acquaintance with loneliness.

Xander: You think you know what loneliness is? You don’t! I never had a friend in my whole life! Now it’s too late.

Maeve: It’s never too late to open a door and let someone in.

(Maeve holds out her hand; Xander begins to reach out for it, but then pulls his arm back in)

Maeve: That’s okay. You don’t have to rush things. One step at a time.

Xander: Dermott’s lucky to have you too, Maeve.

(A bunch of guards ride over to them)

Guard: Over there!

Maeve: Sinbad! Help!

(Sinbad, Doubar, and Firouz pick up their swords and run to Xander and Maeve)

Sinbad: Come on!

(They fight the guards, but one soon grabs Maeve)

Guard: Drop your weapons or the wench dies!

(The crew all drop their weapons)

Guard: How brave, for one so young. And now, little Prince, you die. (holds axe, ready to kill Xander)

Maeve: No! Sinbad! Do something!

(Just then, what seems like a ghost appears and walks toward them)

Guard: It’s the Devil!

(The guards all drop their weapons and run for it)

Xander: Please forgive me, Father.

(The ghost walks past Xander; and soon trips and falls on the ground; the crew discovers that it was really Firouz; they laugh)

Firouz: (gets up) Lucky for us, my experiment was so effective.

Sinbad: Good work, Firouz.

Maeve: (sees a cut on Xander’s back) Sinbad! The boy’s hurt!

(The crew runs to Xander; Maeve watches the scar heal itself)

Maeve: Are you all right?

Xander: I thought it was my father’s ghost coming to punish me.

Maeve: Punish you for what, Xander? Why would you be afraid of your father?

Xander: There was so much blood. And the noise…the bones breaking…horses screaming…couldn’t breathe…ran away…to hide from the field the day my father died…I was a coward.

(Sinbad goes to touch Xander, but Maeve gestures not to)

Sinbad: Should’ve seen me at my first battle. Sithean horsemen to the left of us, banshees to the right, saber-tooth tigers flying overhead, all attacking at once. And me, and my little drum. I tell you, I dove for cover quicker than you can say Ali Baba and the forty thieves.

Xander: You hid.

Sinbad: You bet. I didn’t come out until I was sure the coast was clear…about a week later. Look, sometimes your instincts are right. You’re still here, aren’t you?

Xander: Yes.

Sinbad: And that’s why Drax is quaking in his boots right now. And you call yourself a coward. Doubar, Rongar, you see how he faced down that goon with a battleaxe?

Doubar: Aye. Didn’t even blink. I was amazed.

Sinbad: As was I. My Prince, I’ve known cowards. Believe me, you’re no coward.

(Drax is in the room where the Queen is tied up; Tiresias is there as well; Drax is pulling up the ropes the Queen is tied to, stretching her arms even more)

Drax: (stops) Ah, there. Now, all’s in readiness for the Prince’s homecoming. Oh look, I even brought decorations. See? Now, I shall await him in the throne room, with the other end of that rope in my hand. Only one tug, my dear, and poof! you’re boy’s an orphan. Nothing like a visit from her little boy to touch a mother’s heart. (laughs) Didn’t have to be this way, my lovely. It still doesn’t. The offer still stands. Marry me. Become my Queen. Prince Xander shall still be heir to the throne. Oh, and if, heaven forbid, something unfortunate should happen to him, well, well, you and I, we will have other sons to take his place. (puts ear to her chest) What’s this? Oh, your little heart’s beating like a frightened sparrow. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a heart beat so fast.

(Xander is alone in the forest, fading and an arrow shows up in his back, and he reveals that he’s really a ghost)

(Drax is still talking to the Queen)

Drax: You know, you’re becoming positively fat in all this captivity? The slim little youth you once were, my dear. Well, we should take care of that. Tiresias, cut the Queen’s rations of moldy bread and ditch water in half.

Tiresias: Your Majesty, hasn’t she suffered enough?

Drax: She needn’t suffer at all! If she would only say two little words: I do.

(The Queen spits in Drax’s face)

Drax: So be it. Married to a corpse. And soon to be mother of another. (goes to the door of the room)

Queen: Help me, Tiresias.

Drax: Come old man!

(Drax and Tiresias leave the Queen in the room, with the crossbow and the arrow pointed at her heart)

(Xander is still fading, etc., and Maeve is watching him; she walks up to him and puts her hand through Xander)

Maeve: I have seen the dead walk, the dead bleed. The ghost was you.

Xander: If Drax finds out, my mother is doomed. The whole kingdom is doomed. I couldn’t tell you. Not anyone. What would your friends have done if they had known? Would they have helped me?

(Maeve shakes her head)

Xander: They think I’m an evil thing. An unholy thing. Trusted by no one. Despised by everyone. Now you know what I meant about loneliness.

Maeve: But why hide it? You saw how those soldiers panicked, and that was just Firouz in a stupid get-up. Why not let your enemies know what you’ve become? Use their fear against them.

Xander: No. Nobody can know. If Drax were to find out, that would be the end of everything.

Maeve: But why?

(They hear the laugh of Doubar, meaning the crew was nearby)

Xander: Just trust me.

(They go back to the rest of the crew)

(The crew is watching the castle)

Sinbad: This place is as still as a tomb.

Doubar: Did you have to say ‘tomb’?

(They hear some kind of moaning)

Sinbad: What’s that god-awful noise, anyway?

Xander: No. It’s too soon. She’s not safe yet.

(They hear someone in the bushes; they all draw their swords; out pops Tiresias)

Tiresias: Oh, your Highness. Thank goodness!

Sinbad: Who is this?

Xander: Tiresias, my father’s court wizard.

Tiresias: And Drax’s too, to my eternal shame. It was either serve him, or be killed.

Xander: The Queen, Tiresias, where is she?

Tiresias: That’s why I came to warn you. She’s imprisoned in the North tower, above the throne room. And there’s a crossbow pointing at her heart. If you go barging in there, he’ll kill her!

Xander: No harm must come to her. She’s not well. Her condition is…delicate.

Tiresias: We’ll use the secret tunnel, into the courtyard.

(They all follow Tiresias)

(They enter the castle; the room is empty)

Sinbad: There must be some guards here.

(Then some guards come around the corner)

Doubar: You had to ask!

Guard: Kill the Prince!

Sinbad: (to Maeve) Guard the Prince!

(The crew fights the guards, while Maeve guards the Prince; at the end of the battle, the Prince puts his hand around a guard’s neck and uses some sort of magic to kill the guard; Maeve watches)

Xander: Come on! Quick! We’ll use the entrance into the castle!

(The crew and Xander leave the room)

Xander: Up the stairs, quickly! Drax will soon know of us.

(Some guards come; Xander hides behind the crew)

Sinbad: Look out!

(The crew fights them off)

Sinbad: Come on!

(They fight more; everywhere they run to, there are more guards)

Sinbad: Go with him, Maeve!

(Maeve and Xander run off, but they still keep on confronting more guards)

(Rongar throws a dirk at one of the guards, making him fall off the ledge he was on)

(Drax is waiting in his throne room; Xander enters)

Drax: Well, don’t tell me you’ve come alone.

(Maeve enters)

Drax: What, brought a witch with you?

Maeve: A friend.

Drax: Weren’t there others?

Maeve: You don’t see them now, do you?

(Drax laughs)

(The crew is still fighting)

(Drax, Maeve, and Xander are still in the throne room)

Drax: What made you come? Wretched little puppy!

Xander: I came, to offer you one final chance to save yourself, Drax. Surrender the throne.

(Drax goes after Xander, who ducks out of the way)

Drax: Oh, that would make papa proud.

Maeve: Spare the boy, Drax! (she wraps her arms around Drax, seducing him) I’ll make it worth your while.

Drax: And why would I do that?

(Maeve chuckles)

Drax: You would do that?

(One guard takes Sinbad’s head and tries to shove it to the sharp end of a flagpole, but Sinbad moves out of the way of the pointy end, and shoves it into the guard’s stomach, and throws him over the side)

Tiresias: Sinbad, I must take you to the Queen.

(Some more guards come, and Sinbad begins to go after them, but his crew shows up)

Doubar: You go on ahead, we’ll watch your back!

(Tiresias and Sinbad head on up to the room the Queen is in)

(Maeve is still seducing Drax)

Drax: You’d sacrifice yourself for the…boy?

Maeve: You make it sound like such a chore. You’re a good-looking man.

Drax: (looks at Xander) There are others, aren’t there? (pauses) Yes!

(Maeve goes and kicks Drax, but he throws her on the ground; Dermott swoops down)

Maeve: Dermott, get him!

(Drax is laughing…until Dermott attacks him)

Drax: Get this thing off me!

(He pulls the string that controls the arrow)

(Sinbad is cutting the Queen down, and they fall, just as the arrow zips past their heads)

Drax: A very commendable effort, my dear. But too little, too late. The only question now is, which of you shall go first?

(The door to the throne room opens)

Guard: Sire, they’re here!

(Drax is laughing, until the Queen and the rest of the crew enters)

Xander: Mother!

Queen: Xander, I’m fine.

Drax: No! (draws sword)

Sinbad: Maeve, stop him!

Drax: Die! (goes to cut Xander, but the blade goes right through him) You’re dead? You’ve been dead all this time? But the curse. Why have I not been able to sleep?

Xander: Because, King Alderon’s rightful heir still lives. In here. (puts hand on Queen’s stomach) My brother-to-be. Three moons ago, on the night in which my father died. That’s why we had to hurry. Mother couldn’t hide it much longer. See now why I couldn’t tell anyone? As long as he thought I still lived, he wouldn’t suspect there was another.

(Drax runs to the door and Sinbad runs after him)

Xander: No, Sinbad! Leave him to me.

(The door of the room closes, and a bunch of ghosts appear and fly around Drax)

Drax: What are all these?

Xander: These are just a few of the people you and your men have killed. The others are waiting on the other side. Yes, it is time. Now.

Drax: No!

(Drax disappears)

Xander: Don’t blame Maeve. She wanted to tell you, but I threatened her with terrible things. I vowed to haunt her forever.

Sinbad: That’s all right, little man. After some of the things that we said about…well, your kind, I wouldn’t have told us either.

Doubar: I guess ghosts are only as good or evil as they were before they became ghosts.

Xander: Thank you for everything. Goodbye. (walks over to Firouz) Now do you believe? (pauses) It doesn’t really matter if you do or not. Thank you all the same. (walks over to Maeve) Goodbye, Maeve, Dermott. Pity I had to die to make my first real friend.

Maeve: The real pity is you had to die at all, Xander. I think you would’ve made a fine King.

Xander: You do? Thank you. See you on the other side…not too soon, I hope.

(Maeve shakes her head)

Xander: (walks over to the Queen) Govern wisely, Mother. ‘Til he’s old enough to be King. You help her, Tiresias. I’m so sorry I’ll never know him. Can you tell him, when he’s older, about me? Will you tell him that his older brother loved him very much?

Queen: He will know, my son. Don’t worry.

Xander: I’ll go to Father now, Mother. Do you think he’s forgiven me?

(King Alderon appears in the room)

Queen: Goodbye, my son.

Xander: Goodbye, Mother. Goodbye.

(Xander walks over to Alderon and shakes his hand, but Alderon pulls him into a hug, and they disappear)

(The crew is walking on the deck of the Nomad)

Doubar: It’s good to be at sea again.

Firouz: Still, it’s a fascinating place, you must admit.

Doubar: You never answered me or the boy, Firouz. Do you believe now?

Firouz: No.

Sinbad: No? After everything you saw? Firouz, how do you explain it?

Firouz: Food poisoning. Those mushrooms we ate in the forest. Well, it’s a well-documented fact that some varieties of mushroom induce hallucinations. Often very vivid ones.

(The crew each takes food from the basket Firouz was holding, and leave; Sinbad climbs up a rope)

Firouz: With all the talk of ghosts and such, it’s only natural that our hallucinations would be of a ghostly or spectral nature. (pauses) Well it IS possible!

THE END