Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord

[in the boat, Sun's guards blindfold Ashka]

Ashka:
What are you doing?

Sun:
Set the controls, Ashka. Whatever world you choose, that is where we'll leave you.

Ashka:
But I could end up anywhere!

Sun:
You're lucky to get any kind of chance after what you've done! Choose.

[Ashka blindly sets the controls and Sun engages them. The boat vanishes and reappears in a rocky clearing in a forest. The guards force Ashka out of the boat and she removes the blindfold]

Sun:
Welcome to your new home, Ashka.

Ashka:
You can't leave me here. There may be no people in this world!

Sun:
[smirks] Then you'll have to rule over the animals.

Aya:
Tell me, Kathy, are there people like us living in your world?

Kathy Morgan:
Yes, but most of them live in a place called China. Australia was first inhabited by Aborigines and then the English came.

Mek:
I've heard of the English: they're a primitive tribe who live in the Northern Hemisphere. They paint themselves blue and then they run around half-naked waving sticks.

Kathy Morgan:
[laughs] That's their football supporters.

Mek:
This world is a contradiction. It seems primitive, but it has powerful technology. How did the Spellbinder make that explosion?

Kathy Morgan:
I don't care! I just want to be back in a world where the worst thing that can happen is mass homework.

[Kathy and Mek are plotting an escape form the labor camp]

Ashka:
You'll never get past the guards on your own. You'll need my help.

Kathy:
Why should we trust a prisoner?

Ashka:
Because you have no choice... and because I believe you're from another world.

Kathy:
You do?

Ashka:
It has happened before. A boy came to this world. He knew things no one else knew. The Regents wanted his knowledge, so they captured him and took him to the castle. He has never been seen again.

Mek:
Why would you want to help us?

Ashka:
My name is Ashka. I was a Spellbinder once. I tried to help the boy, but the Regents became very angry and made me a slave. They can be very cruel. If I help you escape this world, I want you to take me and my friend with you.

Guard:
Ashka, get back to work! [to Gryvon] You too!

Ashka:
Will you take us? [Mek nods] Get ready, it won't be long.

[the Immortals are about to force their drug on Kathy]

Kathy:
I don't want to be immortal!

Arbiter:
Hush, child. It will be over soon.

[Dr. Elvo, Guin and Lem rush in]

Elvo:
Arbiter, stop!

Arbiter:
Stay out of this, Elvo!

Kathy:
Guin, help me!

[Guin runs forward and unhooks the infusion device]

Arbiter:
Woman, you have gone too far!

Elvo:
No, she had to do it. The immortality serum is too old. It would kill the child.

[Kathy and Mek have been captured by Dr. Elvo]

Mek:
You must let us return to the Land of the Dragon Lord.

Kathy:
Our friends and families are in danger. We're needed there.

Elvo:
You're needed here for more. Thanks to the immortality drug, you two are the only fertile humans in the world. You can produce a whole new generation of children.

Kathy:
You're crazy!

Elvo:
Not so, Kathy. With the advanced medical techniques I have developed, you can have a thousand babies before you die.

Ashka:
We made a deal, Sharak. We rule this land together.

Sharak:
The people of this land will continue to resist unless one of us becomes the Dragon Lord and only I can marry Aya.

Ashka:
Then I will marry Sun. We'll both be Dragon Lords.

Josh:
When Ashka heard that Sharak was gonna marry Aya, she said she was marrying Sun.

Carl:
That's sick! She's old enough to be his mother.

Elvo:
Tell me where you come from.

Kathy:
I came here by accident. I'm trying to get home, but those two crazies won't let me go. They think I'm the only child in the world.

Elvo:
You are.

Kathy:
What?

Elvo:
Nearly two hundred years ago, a new kind of plague appeared. Tens of thousands of people died before a cure was discovered. Only a few hundred were saved. Unfortunately, the cure had unforeseen side effects. Those who took it became immortal.

Kathy:
Immortal?

Elvo:
That's right. We discovered we could live forever.

Kathy:
That's impossible!

Elvo:
How old do you think I am?

Kathy:
Forty?

Elvo:
I was forty-two when I took the cure and that was 180 years ago.

Kathy:
But that means you're 222.

Elvo:
That's right. Unfortunately, the sure also made us infertile. Since we took it, we've never been able to have any children.

Sharak:
Princess Aya, I've had your advisor draw up a proclamation. It proclaims me the new Dragon Lord. Sign it.

Aya:
Only members of my family can become Dragon Lord.

Sharak:
Then you will have to make me a member of your family.

Aya:
You're mad!

Sharak:
That's no way to talk to your future husband.

Josh Morgan:
Hey, what's with this chain? Let me go!

Jasmine:
First, you must grant me three wishes.

Josh Morgan:
What?

Jasmine:
You are a water spirit and I caught you. If you catch a water spirit, and give it what it asks for, it has to grant you three wishes. I have brought food you asked for.

Josh Morgan:
I'm not a water spirit. I'm just an ordinary human being.

Jasmine:
Water spirits are very tricky. You can't trust them. You'd say anything to escape.

Zenzo:
[inspecting Ashka's power suit] What gives your weapon its power?

Ashka:
Spellbinder magic.

Zenzo:
[scoffs] I am a scientist, not a fool.

Ashka:
What do you two want?

Aya:
We need your help.

Ashka:
And if I give it?

Aya:
Then I promise you safe passage from this world.

Ashka:
What do you need me to do?

Kathy:
We want you to marry Sharak.

Zenzo:
[to an empty throne] Dragon Lord, Mighty Ruler and Protector, Keeper of the Oracle, Great and Fearsome Rule, Lauder of the Earth, the Water and the Sky. Your humble subject greets you.

[the Dragon Lord appears on his throne in a brilliant flash of light. He is a child]

Sun:
You forgot to say Lord of the Universe.

Zenzo:
[quickly] Dragon Lord, Mighty Ruler and Protector, Keeper of...

Sun:
It's too late now. You spoiled it!

Sun:
What gifts have you brought me?

Ashka:
I regret, Dragon Lord, that my visit was unplanned. I have brought nothing.

Sun:
Nothing at all?

Ashka:
In my world, Dragon Lord, the Spellbinders receive gifts, we don't give them. But I have mighty powers to rival your own. Would you like a demonstration?

[the royal court goes outside to the garden]

Kathy:
[to Ashka] Don't do anything to upset him.

Sun:
Well?

[Ashka fires a power bolt at a statue, destroying its head]

Ashka:
My power suit is a potent weapon, Dragon Lord. I can use it to protect you.

Sun:
I don't need your protection. [approaches an Oracle terminal] Oracle?

The Oracle:
Yes, Dragon Lord?

Sun:
Destroy that statue. [the Oracle fires an energy beam that utterly obliterates the statue] Weapons are forbidden here. Take off the suit.

Sun:
[to Ashka] I have decided to make you commander of my army. [Ashka is lead to a different part of the palace] Commander Ashka, here is your army.

[Ashka enters to find a room full of clay and wood-carved figures]

Sun:
Isn't this the most magnificent army you've ever seen? Well, don't you agree, Ashka?

Ashka:
Uh... yes, Dragon Lord.

Sun:
No it isn't, the soldiers are dirty. It is the commander's duty to clean them. I'll be back after dinner to inspect them. [leaves and locks Ashka in]

Kathy Morgan:
I don't get this world, Mek. The people wear clothes from a hundred years ago, but they've got robots more advanced than anything I've seen.

Mek:
In this world, history's taken a different course. I wonder what made it change.

Gobbo:
Lord Sharak, it's the boy who set fire to the camp.

Josh Morgan:
No. You must be confusing me with someone else. All us Australians look alike.

Mek:
I wish I never invented that boat. All it's done is cause trouble.

Sharak:
Why are you here, magician? Have you come to spy on me for the Dragon Lord?

Ashka:
If I wanted to spy on you, I would've changed myself into a bird and dropped dung on your head while I was doing it.

[Kathy comes across a group of people in turn-of-the-19th Century-style clothing]

Kathy:
Excuse me.

Guin:
Lem, look at her.

Lem:
The skin color... it's extraordinary!

Kathy:
I know I look a bit of a mess, but that's because I...

Lem:
She must be a new design.

Lem:
Is that a bandage on her arm? It looks like blood.

Lem:
Why would anyone want a child that bleeds?

Lem:
Where are your parents?

Kathy:
They're in another world.

Guin:
She means they're dead. Poor thing, she's an orphan. Let me look after her, Lem.

Lem:
You wanted something new to show off to our friends. Image their faces then they see this.

Guin:
They're going to be so jealous.

[Kathy has been taken to Lem and Guin's home]

Lem:
What is your name, child?

Kathy:
I'm not on my own, you know. My friend Mek will come for me. He's a great warrior, a kung-fu master, he'll be very angry.

Guin:
What a wonderful imagination she has. I can't wait to show her off.

[two strange clockwork children enter]

Artemis:
Hello, mother. Hello, father.

Lem:
Children, we have a nice surprise for you.

Kathy:
They're robots!

Guin:
Of course. That's why we are so excited about you. You are real.

Lem:
The only real child in the world.

[the Morgans and Sun are going into the city disguised as a parade dragon]

Ashka:
What are you doing here? Who are you?

Jasmine:
Greetings. We are a troupe of traveling players come to perform for the Dragon Lord.

Ashka:
The Dragon Lord is in mourning. She cannot be disturbed.

Jasmine:
We can turn sadness into mirth; misery into happiness. Even the dead have been known to laugh at our jokes.

Ashka:
Then go and play for them!

Spellbinder:
Your clothes are strange. Where are you from?

Kathy:
A long way away. We were just on our way home, weren't we, Mek? C'mon.

Mek:
No.

Kathy:
Yes!

Mek:
No, I would like to know more about this world before we leave. [Mek bows to the Spellbinder] What do you call this place?

Spellbinder:
This is the Land of Spellbinders.

Mek:
What is Spellbinders?

Apprentice:
Regent Correon said he wanted to meet any strangers.

Spellbinder:
Yes. You must come with us to the castle. The Regents will want to question you.

Mek:
It would be an honor.

Kathy Morgan:
Ashka. Were you happy as a child?

Ashka:
That's none of your concern.

Kathy Morgan:
Well, I was just trying to figure out what made you like you are.

Ashka:
I grew up with no family. All my life, I've had to look after myself.

Kathy Morgan:
Lots of people grow up like that, but they don't turn out totally selfish.

Ashka:
The only opportunities you get in life are the ones you make for yourself.

Kathy:
What's it like being immortal?

Guin:
At first, it was like a dream come true. We thought we could do anything and everything.

Kathy:
That sounds exciting.

Guin:
It was... for a while.

[the Immortals have taken Kathy to the old hospital and strapped her to a gurney]

Arbiter:
We're giving you the gift of immortality, girl. Think of all the things you'll be able to do.

Kathy:
I don't want those things. I want my own life. [they sterilize her arm and pick up an old, dusty infuser] Don't!

Arbiter:
It will be over soon. You will be one of us.

Parallel Kathy:
Who are you?

Kathy Morgan:
I'm... you.