The Tempest Act 1, Scene 2 Part 3.1

Act 1, Scene 2 Part 3

Stanley cursed at the roots of those trees, and the bumping in the dark. He wished they had a torch or several but they were without any. He had a box of matches but it was wet from the rain. He looked at Anthony who had just tripped on a root.

"Hey, Tony. You could make out the shit place we are in." Stanley hissed out. The fifteen of them were all scattered in the woods. "Tony?"

There was no reply. Stanley took out his .45 and shot at the upper tree branches. That shot attracted the men with their guns drawn. There was Anthony among them.

"Why did you shoot?" Alan who rushed over shouted to his nephew. He could hardly make out the nephew's face but his own face was seen by all despite the rain.

"I could not find Anthony." Stanley voiced out his defence. "The rain here is killing me."

"Well, I am here." Anthony replied to the right of Stanley. They all laughed when they realized that in the dark, it was quite difficult to know who was where. Gonzales who was standing there at the right with his shoulders hunk down, then looked up when the lightning struck out. The lightning struck out the outlined of the building ahead. It also revealed a face that made the Attorney called out in fright. He was no hit man nor a henchman, so bravery did not count into his scope of works.

"Who are you?" The Attorney looked at the frail person there hunk down with the umbrella over his bald head. He looked like an imp.

"Hello, my name is Ariel. I saw you from the house. Do you need help?" The man raised his body frame to stepped up to the level of the Attorney' chest. He then uncovered the hurricane lamp he was holding.

"Yes, we need shelter." Gonzales told the umbrella man.

"Please follow me. The paths are treacherous." The so named imp frame motioned to the group of tired and wet men. They followed him and was led into a side door on Block West One. They went in and found themselves in a Hall with a burning fireplace. There was some seaters and there was the long table. It was filled with food and drinks. There were several pots of coffee and of course the whiskey bottles. It was a lavish spread on the long table.

"My master had that prepared for you. Its not much but its food and drinks." The men needed no invitation; they went for the food like hungry spirits, even though it was plain layout but who cares when they are hungry.

No one noticed that Freddy was missing. Not even Alan who was helping himself to the food.

It was then Ariel slipped out by a hidden doorway. He was on his way to see his master and benefactor. The men ate the food on the table and soon would be resting. No one saw Ariel who had left the hall for the next phase of the operation.

Ariel smiled when he emerged from the fireplace back at the Library. He was always glad that the benefactor was appreciative of his last task. He then asked his benefactor.

"Is there more toil?" Ariel was smiling. "Let me remind you that this was to be my last one."

Ariel had performed one too many tasks for his benefactor in the last twenty years. For every task, he was rewarded some money, which he had saved for the day he would leave this place. He would be free of here.

"Toil?" Paul replied to his servant. "Ariel, I had you fed and sheltered for years. You owed me your life or you would had been dead. Or worse, in some freak shows."

Ariel cringed back on his haunches when confronted. He was always a timid person; one who was bullied by the staff and also the other inmates. They did all kinds of things on him, or into him. He was their specimen for drugs or tests. Only the benefactor saw to his well being, but the benefactor was not always around. When he was, Ariel was the prince among the knaves. He liked that, but he also valued his own life. He had enough of it; the pain and screaming that he dreamed of nightly.

"I am sorry, Ariel. I did not mean to scold you." Paul changed his tone. He reached out for the impish person to stand up. "You are like a son to me."

Ariel ran to his benefactor. It was not nice to see the benefactor cry. He made the benefactor cry. He was bad. He raised up his hands to slapped at his own face. His strikes attracted the benefactor who saved him from the pain.

"No, Ariel. Do not punish yourself. I have forgiven you." Paul soothed his servant. "Once these tasks are done, you may leave for the world outside of the ground."

Ariel nodded. He was happy that his benefactor remembered the promise. He was to leave when his benefactor told him.

"Spy on them, not be seen. Use the corridors. Let me know on their whereabouts." Paul told him. "Be gone now."

Ariel creeped away into the hidden doorway next to the fireplace. Then after the servant had left, Paul walked to the hidden doorway behind the book shelf.

"Come out, you fool." Paul called out to the figure hidden in the corridor behind the book shelf. The figure inside refused.

"Kabib, come out now." Paul was getting agitated when he was made to wait. "Do it now, or be banished from my sight forever."

"I would not come." The voice came from within. "You are not my father...to obey."

"Your father I was not. I know not who fathered you lest alone could fornicate with one that looked so vile like your mother." Paul mocked the hidden person in the corridor.

"Do not desecrate the one who birth me?" The hidden person stepped out; a hunchback, disfigured from the beatings by his own birth mother who brought him to the world in this place. He was unlike Ariel who had the short stay outside before he was brought in. Kabib was born here and never left the place. He was dressed in the worn out clothes of the nurses, and was barefooted. He hobbled on one foot due to his disfigurement. When hunched, he stood only to his benefactor's chest but on upright, he was taller than him.

"And you disobeyed the one who fed you, clothed you and shelter you." Paul replied.

"I was not educated by you. I had my teachers; the staff of the place taught me for the favors I do for them." Kabib replied form his hunched frame. He dared not stand up right or he would be punished for it. "I had books to be copied on and read later."

"Let me show you the word I knew." Kabib continued on. He wanted to impressed the benefactor.

'You taught me language; and my profit on't
Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you
For learning me your language!'

"On it, you knew nothing of the meaning." Paul laughed. He knew that Kabib was a frequent visitor to the library after dark where he spent his time reading. He was an avid reader of the books, especially Shakespeare.

"This is no Tempest you had read. This is my Tempest that I am to unleashed on the ones who done me wrong. They would suffered for my ten years of isolation. No apologies would be entertained, and none would be forwarded. It would now ashes to ashes, imprisoned for them too."

Kabib stepped back in fear of his benefactor.

"Tempest? You doing a Tempest. I liked that. Would you then forgive me too?" Kabib asked but the older man did not reply. Instead he was given a task he could performed.