NEW: Ziyal at Terok Nor 3/3 [PG] (DS9, adaptation)
Laura Taylor
*****
DUKAT: Daughter of Bajor, 'tis lucky I have found thee outside the
tent, to discuss with thee in our daughter's absence subjects not suited
for the ears of maidens on the eve of marriage.
KIRA: What, pray, is dependent on the present crisis?
DUKAT: Send the maiden out to join her father, for the lustral water
stands there ready, and barley-meal to scatter with the hand on the
cleansing flame, to usher in the marriage.
KIRA: Though fair the words thou usest, I know not how I am to name thy
deeds in terms of praise.
Come forth, Ziyal; full well thou knowest what is in thy father's mind.
Enter ZIYAL.
Behold chold she comes, in obedience to thy summons. Myself will speak
the rest alike for her and me.
DUKAT: My child, why weepest thou and no longer lookest cheerfully? why
art thou fixing thine eyes upon the ground and holding thy robe before
them?
KIRA: Alas! with which of my woes shall I begin? for I may treat them
all as first, or put them last or midway anywhere.
DUKAT: How now? I find you all alike, confusion and alarm in every eye.
KIRA: Dukat, answer frankly the questions I ask thee.
DUKAT: There is no necessity to order me; I am willing to be
questioned.
KIRA: Dost thou mean to slay thy child and mine?
DUKAT (starting): Ha! these are heartless words, unwarranted
suspicions!
KIRA: Peace! answer me that question first.
DUKAT: Put a fair question and thou shalt have a fair answer.
KIRA: I have no other questions to put; give me no other answers.
DUKAT: O fate revered, O destiny, and fortune mine!
KIRA: Aye, and mine and this maid's too; the three share one bad
fortune.
DUKAT: Whom have I injured?
KIRA: Dost thou ask me this question? A thought like that itself
amounts to thoughtlessness.
DUKAT: Ruined! my secret out!
KIRA: I know all; I have heard what thou art bent on doing to me. Thy
very silence and those frequent groans are a confession; tire not
thyself by telling it.
DUKAT: Lo! I am silent; for, if I tell thee a falsehood, needs must I
add effrontery to misfortune.
KIRA: Well, listen; for I will now unfold my meaning and no longer
employ dark riddles. In the first place-to reproach thee first with
this-it was not of my own free will but by force that thou didst take
me, after conquering Bajors with brutal violence. Then, when the sons of
Bajor, who were likewise my brothers, came to war with thee, the
Prophets rescued thee.
If anyone asks thee thy reason for slaying Ziyal, tell me, what wilt
thou say? or must say it for thee? "It is that Weyoun may recover the
Celestial Temple." An honourable exchange, indeed, to pay a wicked
woman's price in children's lives! 'Tis buying what we most detest with
what we hold most dear. Again, if thou go forth with the host, leaving
me in thy halls, and art long absent at Terra, what will my feelings be
at home, dost think? when I behold each vacant chair and her chamber now
deserted, and then sit down alone in tears, making ceaseless lamentation
for her, "Ah! my child, he that begat thee hath slain thee himself, he
and no one else, nor was it by another's hand...to thy home, after
leaving such a price to be paid; for it needs now but a trifling pretext
for me to give thee the reception it is right thou shouldst receive. I
adjure thee by the gods, compel me not to sin against thee, nor sin
thyself. Go to; suppose thou sacrifice the child; what prayer wilt thou
utter, when 'tis done? what will the blessing be that thou wilt invoke
upon thyself as thou art slaying our daughter? an ill returning maybe,
seeing the disgrace that speeds thy going forth. Is it right that I
should pray for any luck to attend thee? Surely we should deem the gods
devoid of sense, if we harboured a kindly feeling towards murderers.
Shalt thou embrace me on thy coming back to Bajor? Nay, thou hast no
right. Will any child of thing e'er face thee, if thou have surrendered
one of them to death? Has this ever entered into thy calculations, or
does thy one duty consist in carrying a sceptre about and marching at
the head of an army? when thou mightest have made this fair proposal
among the Jem'Hadar; "Is it your wish, the Dominion, to sail for Terra's
shores? Why then, cast lots whose daughter has to die." For that would
have been a fair course for thee to pursue, instead of picking out thy
own child for the victim and presenting her to the Jem'Hadar; or Weyoun,
inasmuch as it was his concern. As it is, I, who still am true to thee,
must lose Ziyal; while she, who went astray, will return, and live in
glory. If I am wrong in aught herein, answer me; but if my words have
been fairly urged, do not still slay thy child, who is mine too, and
thou wilt be wise.
CHORUS: Hearken to her Dukat, for to join in saving thy children's
lives is surely a noble deed; none would gainsay this.
ZIYAL: Had I the eloquence of Garak to move the rocks by chanted spells
to follow me, or to charm by speaking whom I would, I had resorted to
it. But as it is, I'll bring my tears-the only art I know; for that I
might attempt. And about thy knees, in suppliant wise, I twine my limbs.
Destroy me not before my time, for sweet is to look upon the light, and
force me not to visit scenes below. I was the first to call thee father,
thou the first to call me child; the first was I to sit upon thy knee
and give and take the fond caress. And this was what thou then wouldst
say, "Shall I see thee, my child, living a happy prosperous life in a
husband's home one day, in a manner worthy of myself?" And I in my turn
would ask, as I hung about thee, whereto I now am clinging, "How shall I
see thee? Shall I be giving thee a glad reception in my halls, father,
in thy old age, repaying all thy anxious care in rearing me?
I remember all we said, 'tis thou who hast forgotten and now wouldst
take my life. I entreat thee spare me, by thy father Cardassia and the
major here, who suffers now a second time the pangs she felt before!
What have I to do with the marriage of Sisko and the Celestial Temple?
why is his coming to prove my ruin, father? Look upon me; one glance,
one kiss bestow, that this at least I may carry to my death as a
memorial of thee, though thou heed not my pleading.
O father, see this speechless supplication made to thee; pity me; have
mercy on my tender years! Yea, by thy ridges I implore thy pity. By
summing all my pleas in one, I will prevail in what I say. To gaze upon
yon light is man's most cherished gift; that life below is nothingness,
and whoso longs for death is mad. Better live a life of woe than die a
death of glory!
CHORUS: Ah, wretched the Celestial Temple! Awful the struggle that has
come to the sons of Cardassia and their children, thanks to thee.
DUKAT: While loving my own children, I yet understand what should move
my pity and what should not; I were a madman else. 'Tis terrible for me
to bring myself to this, nor less terrible is it to refuse, daughter;
for I must fare the same. Ye see the vastness of von naval host, and the
numbers of bronze clad warriors from the Dominion, who can neither make
their way to the Federation's towers nor raze the far-famed citadel of
Terra, unless I offer thee according to the word of the Foundress. Some
mad desire possesses the host of the Dominion to sail forthwith to the
land of the barbarians, and put a stop to the rape of worlds from the
Dominion, and they will slay my daughters in Cardassia as well as you
and me, if I disregard their behests. It is not Weyoun who hath enslaved
me to him, child, nor have I followed wish of his; nay, 'tis the
Dominion, for whom I must sacrifice thee whether I will or no; to this
necessity I bow my head; for her freedom must be preserved, as far as
any help of thine, daughter, or mine can go; nor must they, who are the
sons the Dominion, be pillaged of their worlds by barbarian robbery.
DUKAT rushes from the stage.
KIRA: My child Ye stranger ladies!
Woe is me for this thy death! Thy father flies, surrendering thee to
death.
ZIYAL: Woe is me, O Major! for the same strain hath fallen to both of
us in our fortune. No more for me the light of day! no more the beams of
yonder sun! Woe for that snow-beat glen in Terra, where was once exposed
a tender babe, torn from his mother's arms to meet a deadly doom, e'en
Sisko, called the child of the Prophets in the Terrans' town. It is my
death, maidens-fraught, 'tis true, with glory to the Jem'Hadar-that has
been received as an offering, before they begin the voyage to Terra.
O Major, Major! he that begat me to this life of sorrow has gone and
left me all alone. Ah! woe is me! a bitter, bitter sight for me was the
Celestial Temple, evil wormhole! to me now doomed to bleed and die,
slaughtered by an impious sire.
I would this Terok Nor had never received in its havens here the sterns
of their bronze-beaked ships, the fleet which was speeding them to
Terra; and would that there had never breathed a wind to stop the
expedition, tempering a different breeze to different men, so that some
have joy in setting sail, and sorrow some, and others hard constraint,
to make some start and others stay and others furl their sails! Full of
trouble then, it seems, is the race of mortals, full of trouble verily;
and 'tis ever Fate's decree that man should find distress.
Woe! woe to thee, thou child of the Prophets, for the suffering and
anguish sore, which thou art causing the Jem'Hadar!
CHORUS: I pity thee for thy cruel fate-a fate I would thou ne'er hadst
met!
ZIYAL: O Major! I see a throng of men approaching.
KIRA: It is Damar thou seest, child, for whom thou camest hither.
ZIYAL (calling into the tent): Open the tent-door to me, servants, that
I may hide myself.
KIRA: Why seek to fly, my child?
ZIYAL: I am ashamed to face Damar.
KIRA: Wherefore?
ZIYAL: The luckless ending to our marriage causes me to feel abashed.
KIRA: No time for affectation now in face of what has chanced. Stay
then; reserve will do no good, if only we can-
Enter DAMAR.
DAMAR: Daughter of Bajor, lady of sorrows!
KIRA: No misnomer that.
DAMAR: A fearful cry is heard among the Jem'Hadar.
KIRA: What is it? tell me.
DAMAR: It concerns Ziyal.
KIRA: An evil omen for thy words.
DAMAR: They say her sacrifice is necessary.
KIRA: And is there no one to say a word against them?
DAMAR: Indeed I was in some danger myself from the tumult.
KIRA: In danger of what? kind sir.
DAMAR: Of being stoned.
KIRA: Surely not for trying to save Ziyal?
DAMAR: The very reason.
KIRA: Who would have dared to lay a finger on thee?
DAMAR: The men of the Jem'Hadar, one and all.
KIRA: Were not thy glinns at thy side?
DAMAR: They were the first who turned against me.
KIRA: My child! we are lost, undone, it seems.
DAMAR: They taunted me as the man whom marriage had enslaved.
KIRA: And what didst thou answer them?
DAMAR: I craved the life of her I meant to wed-
KIRA: Justly so.
DAMAR: The wife her father promised me.
KIRA: Aye, and sent to fetch from Bajor.
DAMAR: But I was overcome by clamorous cries.
KIRA: Truly the mob is a dire mischief.
DAMAR: But I will help thee for all that.
KIRA: Wilt thou really fight them single-handed?
DAMAR: Dost see these warriors here, carrying my arms?
KIRA: Bless thee for thy kind intent!
DAMAR: Well, I shall be blessed.
KIRA: Then my child will not be slaughtered now?
DAMAR: No, not with my consent at any rate.
KIRA: But will any of them come to lay hands on the maid?
DAMAR: Thousands of them, with Weyoun at their head.
KIRA: Acting for himself or by the army's order?
DAMAR: By their choice-and his own.
KIRA: An evil choice indeed, to stain his hands in blood!
DAMAR: But I will hold him back.
KIRA: Will he seize and bear her hence against her will?
DAMAR: Aye, by her raven hair no doubt.
KIRA: What must I do, when it comes to that?
DAMAR: Keep hold of thy child.
KIRA: Be sure that she shall not be slain, as far as that can help her.
DAMAR: Believe me, it will come to this.
ZIYAL: Mother, hear me while I speak, for I see that thou art wroth to
no purpose; 'tis hard for us to persist in impossibilities. Our thanks
are due to this stranger for his ready help; but thou must also see to
it that he is not reproached by the army, leaving us no better off and
himself involved in trouble. Listen, Major; hear what thoughts have
passed across my mind. I am resolved to die; and this I fain would do
with honour, dismissing from me what is mean. Towards this now, mother,
turn thy thoughts, and with me weigh how well I speak; to me the whole
of the mighty Dominion looks; on me the passage o'er the sea depends; on
me the sack of Terra; and in my power it lies to check henceforth
barbarian raids on happy Cardassia, if ever in the days to come they
seek to seize her daughters, when once they have atoned by death for the
violation of the Celestial Temple's marriage by Sisko. All this
deliverance will my death insure, and my fame for setting Cardassia free
will be a happy one. What! shall countless warriors, armed with shields,
those myriads sitting at the oar, find courage to attack the foe and die
for the Dominion, because their fatherland is wronged, and my one life
prevent all this? What kind of justice is that? could I find a word in
answer? Now turn we to that other point. It is not right that this man
should enter the lists with all Bajor or be slain fox a woman's sake.
Better a single man should see the light than ten thousand women. To the
Dominion I resign it; offer this sacrifice and make an utter end of
Terra. This is my enduring monument; marriage, motherhood, and fame-all
these is it to me. And it is but right, Major, that Cardassians should
rule barbarians, but not barbarians Cardassians, those being slaves,
while these are free.
CHORUS: Thou playest a noble part, maiden; but sickly are the whims of
Fate.
DAMAR: Daughter of Dukat if some god was bent on blessing me, could I
but have won thee for my wife. In thee I reckon Cardassia happy, and
thee in Cardassia; for this that thou hast said is good and worthy of
thy fatherland; since thou, abandoning a strife with heavenly powers,
which are too strong for thee, has fairly weighed advantages and needs.
But now that I have looked into thy noble nature, I feel still more a
fond desire to win thee for my bride. Look to it; for I would fain serve
thee and receive thee in my halls; and witness how I grieve to think I
shall not save thy life by doing battle with the Jem'Hadar. Reflect, I
say; a dreadful ill is death.
ZIYAL: This I say, without regard to anyone. Enough that the Celestial
Temple is causing wars and bloodshed; then be not slain thyself, sir
stranger, nor seek to slay another on my account; but let me, if I can,
save Cardassia.
DAMAR: Heroic spirit! I can say no more to this, since thou art so
minded; for thine is a noble resolve; why should not one avow the truth?
Yet will I speak, for thou wilt haply change thy mind; that thou mayst
know then what my offer is, I will go and place these arms of mine near
the altar, resolved not to permit thy death but to prevent it; for brave
as thou art, at sight of the knife held at thy throat, thou wilt soon
avail thyself of what I said. So I will not let thee perish through any
thoughtlessness of thine, but will go to the wardroom with these arms
and await thy arrival there.
Exit DAMAR.
ZIYAL: Major, why so silent, thine eyes wet with tears?
KIRA: I have reason, woe is me! to be sad at heart.
ZIYAL: Forbear; make me not a coward; here in one thing obey me.
KIRA: Say what it is, my child, for at my hands thou shalt ne'er suffer
injury.
ZIYAL: Remove not thy earring for me, nor clothe thyself in sable garb.
KIRA: Why, my child, What is it thou hast said? Shall I, when I lose
thee-
ZIYAL: "Lose" me, thou dost not; I am saved and thou renowned, as far
as I can make thee.
KIRA: How so? Must I not mourn thy death?
ZIYAL: By no means, for I shall have no tomb heaped o'er me.
KIRA: What, is not the act of dying held to imply burial?
ZIYAL: The altar will be my tomb.
KIRA: Well, my child, I will let thee persuade me, for thou sayest
well.
ZIYAL: Aye, as one who prospereth and doeth the Dominion service.
KIRA: What message shall I carry to Bajor?
ZIYAL: Put not mourning raiment on there either.
KIRA: But is there no fond message I can give the maidens from thee?
ZIYAL: Yes, my farewell words.
KIRA: Is there anything I can do to pleasure thee in Bajor?
ZIYAL: Yes, hate not my father.
KIRA: Fearful are the trials through which he has to go because of
thee.
ZIYAL: It was against his will he ruined me for the sake of the
Dominion.
KIRA: Ah! but be employed base treachery, unworthy of Cardassia.
ZIYAL: Who will escort me hence, before my hair is torn?
KIRA: I will go with thee.
ZIYAL: No, not thou; thou say'st not well.
KIRA: I will, clinging to thy robes.
ZIYAL: Be persuaded by me, Major, stay here; for this is the better way
alike for me and thee; but let one of these Cardassians of my father
conduct me to the wardroom, where I shall be sacrificed.
KIRA: Art gone from me, my child?
ZIYAL: Aye, and with no chance of ever returning.
KIRA: Leaving thy patron?
ZIYAL: Yes, as thou seest, undeservedly.
KIRA: Hold! leave me not!
ZIYAL: I cannot let thee shed a tear.
Exit KIRA. To the CHORUS
Be it yours, maidens, to hymn in joyous strains for my hard lot; and let
the order for a solemn hush go forth to the Jem'Hadar. Begin the
sacrifice with the baskets, let the fire blaze for the purifying meal of
sprinkling, and my father pace from left to right about the altar; for I
come to bestow on Cardassia safety crowned with victory. Lead me hence,
me the destroyer of Terra and the Federation; give me wreaths to cast
about me; bring them hither; here are my tresses to crown; bring lustral
water too. Dance around the altar; for by the blood of my sacrifice I
will blot out the oracle, if it needs must be.
O Major, lady revered! for thee shall my tears be shed, and now; for at
the holy rites I may not weep.
Sing with me, maidens, sing praises of Bajor, where angry spearmen madly
chafe, here in the narrow havens of Terok Nor, because of me.
To be a light to the Dominion didst thou rear me, and so I say not No to
death.
CHORUS: Thou art right; no fear that fame will e'er desert thee!
ZIYAL: Hail to thee, bright lamp of day and light of Bajor! A different
life, different lot is henceforth mine. Farewell I bid thee, light
beloved!
Exit ZIYAL.
CHORUS: Behold the maiden on her way, the destroyer of Terra and the
Federation, with garlands twined about her head, and drops of lustral
water on her, soon to besprinkle with her gushing blood the altar of a
murderous father, what time her shapely neck is severed.
For thee fair streams of a father's pouring and lustral waters are in
store, for thee the Jem'Hadar host is waiting, eager to reach the
citadel of the Federation. But let us celebrate the Prophets, as if upon
some happy chance.
O Prophets revered, delighting in sacrifice, send on its way to Terra's
land the host of the Cardassians, to Terra's abodes of guile, and grant
that Dukat may wreathe his head with deathless fame, a crown of fairest
glory for the spearmen of the Dominion.
Enter MESSENGER.
MESSENGER: Come forth, O Kira, daughter of the Prophets, from the tent,
to hear my news.
Enter KIRA.
KIRA: I heard thy voice and am come in sad dismay and fearful dread,
not sure but what thou hast arrived with tidings of some fresh trouble
for me besides the present woe.
MESSENGER: Nay, rather would I unfold to thee a story strange and
marvellous about thy ward.
KIRA: Delay not, then, but speak at once.
MESSENGER: Dear mistress, thou shalt learn all clearly; from the outset
will I tell it, unless my memory fail me somewhat and confuse my tongue
in its account. As soon as we reached the wardroom, where the Jem'Hadar
troops were gathered, bringing thy daughter with us, forthwith the
Cardassian host began assembling; but when Gul Dukat saw the maiden on
her way to be sacrificed, he gave one groan, and, turning away his face,
let the tears burst from his eyes, as he held his robe before them. But
the maid, standing close by him that begot her, spake on this wise, "O
my father, here am I to do thy bidding; freely I offer this body of mine
for my country and all the Dominion, that ye may lead me to the altar of
the goddess and sacrifice me, since this is Heaven's ordinance. Good
luck be yours for any help that I afford! and may ye obtain the victor's
gift and come again to the land of your fathers. So then let none of the
Cardassians lay hands on me, for I will bravely yield my neck without a
word."
She spake; and each man marvelled, as he heard the maiden's brave,
unflinching speech. Then the Foundress, drawing a sharp sword from out
its scabbard laid it in a basket of beaten gold, crowning the maiden's
head the while. Then Ramata'klan, taking the basket and with it lustral
water in his hand, ran round the altar of the goddess uttering these
words, "O Prophets, accept this sacrifice, which we, the host of the the
Dominion and Gul Dukat with us, offer to thee, even pure blood from a
beauteous maiden's neck; and grant us safe sailing for our ships and the
sack of Terra's towers by our phasers."
Meantime the sons of Cardassia and all the host stood looking on the
ground, while the Foundress, seizing her knife, offered up a prayer and
was closely scanning the maiden's throat to see where she should strike.
'Twas no slight sorrow filled my heart, as I stood by with bowed head;
when lo! a sudden miracle! Each one of us distinctly heard the sound of
a blow, but none saw the spot where the maiden vanished. Loudly the
Foundress cried out, and all the host took up the cry at the sight of a
marvel all unlooked for, due to some agency, and passing all belief,
although 'twas seen; for there upon the ground lay a hind of size
immense and passing fair to sec, gasping out her life, with whose blood
the altar was thoroughly bedewed. Whereon spake the Foundress thus "Ye
captains of this leagued Jem'Hadar host, do ye see this victim, which
has been set before her altar, a mountain roaming hind? This is more
welcome by far than the maid, that she may not defile the altar by
shedding noble blood. Gladly has it been accepted to grant us a
prosperous voyage for our attack on the Federation. Wherefore take
heart, sailors, each man of you, and away to your ships, for to-day must
we leave the hollow bays of Terok Nor and cross the Alpha Quadrant."
Then, when the sacrifice was wholly burnt to ashes in the blazing flame,
he offered such prayers as were meet, that the army might win return;
but me Dukat sends to tell thee this, and say what Heaven-sent luck is
his, and how he hath secured undying fame throughout the length of the
Dominion. Now I was there myself and speak as an eye-witness; without a
doubt thy child flew away to the Prophets. A truce then to thy
sorrowing, and cease to be wroth with Dukat; for the Prophets' ways with
man are not what we expect, and those whom they love, they keepeth safe;
yea, for this day hath seen thy daughter dead and brought to life again.
Exit MESSENGER.
CHORUS: What joy to hear these tidings from the messenger! He tells
thee thy child is living still, among the Prophets.
KIRA: Which of the Prophets, my child, hath stolen thee? How am I to
address thee? How can I be sure that this is not an idle tale told to
cheer me, to make me cease my piteous lamentation for thee?
CHORUS: Lo! Gul Dukat approaches, to confirm this story for thee.
Enter DUKAT.
DUKAT: Happy may we be counted, lady, as far as concerns our daughter;
for she hath fellowship with Prophets in very sooth. But thou must start
for home, for the host is looking now to sail. Fare thee well! 'tis long
ere I shall greet thee on my return from Terra; may it be well with
thee!
CHORUS: Son of Cardassia, start for Terra's land with joy and so
return, I pray, after taking from Terra her fairest spoils.
Exeunt OMNES.
--
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"This city of monuments [Washington, D.C.] is itself a monument to
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