Scene 20. A dark cell.
FLORA is chained to a post, staring off into the distance as if in a dream..
FLORA: Oh Rossignol, I remember so clearly those days we spent in your summer castle. Why, you find it so different from this sad place. There, the sun shone in every hall of the keep, while here, no candle is so bright as to break through the darkness. There was a chandelier in your castle, all lit up with crystals and candles. One day, will we ever see it again?
(The LORD GENERAL enters the cell. ROSSIGNOL follows, posing as a guard, with his face obscured by his helmet.)
LORD GENERAL: Look at her, isn’t she a pretty little flower? The spoils of war, boy.
FLORA: War spoils all. You are wrong to glorify it so, Lord General.
LORD GENERAL:…show more content… You have some nerve. Come boy, and let me cut out your tongue!
(The LORD GENERAL draws his sword.)
ROSSIGNOL: Oh, but I have a name indeed. Mark it well: I am Prince Rossignol. I am your torment, and I am your salvation from this sad fate of yours. Find yourself a sow to marry, hog. Princess Flora belongs to me!
(The two men clash swords. They fight, and ROSSIGNOL disarms the LORD GENERAL, who falls to the floor.)
LORD GENERAL: Do it, boy. Kill me quick.
ROSSIGNOL: Kill you? You deserve no such reprieve. Your castle is fallen by now. You shall face judgement in the eyes of royal law. Get up, and face the carnage outside. Take one last look at this toppling fortress you call a home. Go!
(The LORD GENERAL exits quickly, leaving FLORA and ROSSIGNOL alone.)
FLORA: Rossignol! My prince!
ROSSIGNOL releases FLORA from her bindings, and they embrace.
ROSSIGNOL: Flora, my poor Flora, I’m so sorry I took so long. What God above would forgive me, for letting you suffer so long in this evil place?
FLORA: Rossignol, it does not matter. You have grown so old, my nightingale…You only had the beginnings of hair on your upper lip when last I saw you. But it seems this war has changed only your exterior: you are still that gallant prince I knew long ago. For a moment, I was afraid he would die, that sorry creature. Then, I saw as you stayed your