Characters:
**Note** All people wear their hair down and it can be of any length. Skirts are only worn when not flying as flying with skirts is indecent, to say the least.
**Note** The number of main young girl parts can be reduced to three (Wildflower, Windsong and one other) and the number of kidnapper parts to two.
Script:
Scene One
Set in a village. The head villager is standing on a raised area away from the other villagers who are below him. There is a hut behind him and a guard is standing next to the door. There is a path leading from the back of the village square to offstage. The lights are down.
Head villager: There was a great battle. Amberwing fought bravely and won. But she was injured and finally, she fell. The Goddess Amberwing, her once-bright wings dull, fell to the soft earth, dying. But not yet dead. The earth opened and the grassy bed on which she lay slowly sank down, through the layers of soil and rock, to a chamber deep below the earth. There she lay, almost dead, but...not quite, slowly healing, over the eons, until she was well. But her wings never shone again. They remained dull, dull and brown, instead of amber. They say that Amberwing lives among us still, reborn again and again as a girl with different features. But always, one thing remains: her wings are brown and dull. It is said that one day Amberwing will know who she is and her wings will blaze bright. But never a dull-winged girl found here - until now...(Fade lights up)...(to guard) Bring her in.
(Guard goes through door of hut and emerges shepherding Wildflower.)
Wildflower: (confused) What is happening?
Head villager: You must go to the temple of Amberwing in Tolera.
Wildflower: (still confused) But why?
Head villager: Because you are the chosen one. You must go.
Wildflower: How will I get there? (Chokes over words) It�s not as if I can (sniff) fly.
Head villager: You can walk there. It is not that far, a few days flying down the path. Come and get ready.
(Head villager and Wildflower go into hut. Head villager emerges the same. Wildflower emerges with a cloak on and pouches strapped to her waist.)
Wildflower: (waves) Goodbye mummy. (Walks off platform and onto path. Turns and waves once and then keeps going. Villagers wave.)
(Fade lights down.)
Scene two
Set in the forest. Path running down the middle of stage one side to the other. A path joins the main path at 45 degrees centre stage. Wildflower onstage. The lights are up. Wildflower walks along the main path.
(Fade lights up.)
(Sound of dry leaves being crunched)
Wildflower: Is anyone there? (Crunching stops and then starts again) Who�s there?(Windsong walks out onto main path from little path and stares at Wildflower, who stares back) (breathily - trance like) There are more of us! I believed that I was the only one! (Walks forward while speaking) How many more are there? How many girls believe they are the only chosen ones? (Shakes head and dispels trance; looks at Windsong as if for the first time) What is your name and where are you going?
Windsong: My name is Windsong and I am going to the Temple of Amberwing at Tolera. What is your name and where are you going?
Wildflower: My name is Wildflower and I am going to the Temple of Amberwing at Tolera as well, to present myself to the High Priestess. Will you travel with me? (Windsong nods and the two girls walk down the path side by side to offstage)
(lights fade down)
Narrator: (offstage) Wildflower and Windsong continued along the path to the Temple of Amberwing. They met many other girls who shared their dull, dead wings. Then, a few days later, they reached Tolera...
Scene three
The stage is divided in half, with a shielded section shaped like a trapezium a few metres wide centre stage. The left is a street with the temple doors forming one slanted side of the trapezium. The right is a garden inside the temple. The door into the garden forms the other slanted side. There are a few girls with dull brown wings in the garden playing/talking/etc. The lights are down on both sides.
(Fade lights up left side.)
(Wildflower, Windsong, Willow, Rose and Brook are standing outside the doors. Wildflower knocks with the doorknocker - one of the ones with a ring attached that you bang on the door. The doors open and a priest appears standing there.)
Wildflower: I am Wildflower and this is Windsong, Willow, Rose and Brook. We have come to present ourselves to the High Priestess of Amberwing.
Priest: (nods) Come in. The High Priestess will see you and then you will be given a room to stay in. This way. (Priest turns and walks into temple. Girls follow and the doors close.)
(fade lights down left side. Fade lights up right side.)
(girls, including Oakapple, are moving around the garden, playing/talking/etc. The door opens and another priestess ushers them into the garden. Oakapple notices and walks over to them.)
Oakapple: More people, priestess?
Priestess: Yes. Wildflower, Windsong, Willow, Rose and Brook (pointing). They have come from the north-west villages. Can you look after them? I have to tend to the ledgers.
Oakapple: Of course. (Nods at priestess, who smiles and walks back out the door.) (to girls) What would you like to know?
Windsong: How many of us are there?
Oakapple: About 200 so far. There seems to be about one from every village, or two if they�re twins, and a one from each city district. Come on, I�ll introduce you to some of the others.
(Lights on right fade)
Scene four
The setting is in the same garden as scene three. There are the same girls. Oakapple is sitting facing the audience, her wings hidden, further forward than the door. The other girls are sitting around. Wildflower is not there.
(Lights fade up right side)
Wildflower: (opens door and comes into room. Walks toward Oakapple�s group in front of her and then stops and stares at Oakapple�s wings) Oakapple! Your wings! Look at them!
Oakapple: What? What�s happened?
Wildflower: They�ve gone green on the bit next to your back and in the middle. When they change completely you�ll be able to fly! (They hug) I�m so happy for you. You�re free, Oakapple, free.
(Fade lights down)
Narrator: (offstage) All over the temple, girls discovered that their wings were changing too. Every day at least one girl would bow before the High Priestess and walk out the temple doors into the sunlight, free. Free at last to do what they wanted. Free at last to fly. Soon the only earthbound people in the temple were Wildflower and the group that she�d come with. And that was where the trouble started...
Scene five
The setting is in a room in the palace. There are five beds in the room and the five girls are sleeping in them. There is a window in the room and the full moon can be seen high in the sky.
(Fade lights up to �moonlight� level)
(door creaks open and three kidnappers move in. They gag the girls and tie their hands together and march them out of the room. The door swings shut.)
(fade lights up)
Priestess: (enters room) Come on gir- girls? (stares around room and runs to the door) High Priestess!
(Fade lights down)
Scene Six
The setting is on a bush track. The girls are chained in a line. There are two kidnappers in front of the girls and another behind. Wildflower is last, behind Willow, behind Brook, behind Windsong, behind Rose.
(Fade lights up.)
Main kidnapper: Get a move on!
Last kidnapper: Sir!
Main kidnapper: (irritably) What?
Last kidnapper: (points at Willow) Her wings! They�re going green!
Main kidnapper: (looks at Willow) Unchain her. She is not the Goddess, who has amber wings, so we do not need her. Bind her and hide her.
(Willow is bound and hidden and they carry on.)
(fade lights down.)
Narrator: (offstage) The next day Brook�s wings were tinted with blue, and she was left behind. On the day after, Rose�s wings were tinted with pink and she was left behind. The kidnappers expected Windsong or Wildflower�s wings to shade the next day. But instead...
Scene 7
The setting is the same as scene 6. Windsong is chained in front of Wildflower. They�re sitting down.
(Fade lights up)
Main kidnapper: Wing check!
(Windsong and Wildflower�s wings are checked. They are not shaded.)
Main kidnapper: Move on!
(They stand up and move on. Windsong trips over a sharp rock and falls over. She picks it up and hides it.)
(fade lights down to �moonlight level�. Three-quarter moon in sky. Windsong and Wildflower are wrapped up in blankets. There is a kidnapper on watch and the other two are asleep.)
Windsong: (whisper) Wildflower?
Wildflower: (whisper) What?
Windsong: (whisper) I�ve got a stone. I picked it up and it�s sharp and I�ve cut my ropes. You do the same.
(Windsong and Wildflower cut their ropes and creep slowly away from the kidnapper, who is facing the other way. Windsong steps on a stick, which cracks loudly. The kidnapper whirls and another wakes. They reach for crossbows. The girls start running. The fire blazes brightly and Windsong�s wings are clearly blue.)
Wildflower: Windsong! Your wings!
(Windsong slows and looks at her wings. The kidnappers take aim and shoot. They hit Windsong, who falls to the ground. Wildflower drops to her knees and cradles her in her arms.)
Wildflower: (Screaming) Windsong! (Pause) Goddess! I want Windsong back! I want her back!
(A bright light shines down on her from above. Her wings blaze bright amber. Windsong moves and opens her eyes.)
Windsong: Wildflower?
(Wildflower nods and Windsong smiles. The kidnappers disappear. The girls get up and walk down the path back to the temple.)
(fade lights down.)
Amberwing
Original Fiction
Home