Philippe
Gaston, enterprising young pickpocket, escapes through the sewer
system, from the prison at Aquila, stronghold of the evil Bishop. In
running from the pursuing “guard” he encounters a
strange man on a black horse, who has a hawk perched on his arm,
Etienne of Navarre. Navarre has saved him from certain death, and he
travels a way with him. His first discovery is that Navarre saved him
for a reason, to lead him back to Aquila.
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Little
time passes before Philippe discovers mysterious and magical secrets.
When night falls, Captain Navarre disappears. Simultaneously, a lovely
young woman appears. When day breaks, Navarre reappears and the lady
disappears. The hawk is Navarre’s daytime companion, and he
is never far from her. At night the large black wolf is near, and seems
to protect the encampment.
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They
could be together, but they would be forever apart: for a single
instant at sunrise and sunset they could be with one another, but it
would pass and either he would become a wolf by night or she would
become a hawk by day. Together forever, but forever apart.
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As long
as the sun rises and sets, as long as there is day and night, and for
as long as they both shall live.
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Philippe
is still in danger from the guards. One day, in a skirmish where
Navarre is once again rescuing Philippe from the Bishop’s
guard, an arrow escapes from a crossbow, and pierces the hawk.
Distraught, Navarre sends Philippe with the wounded hawk to a monk well
known to him, for medical care. Philippe discovers the truth about the
nocturnal changes. It was an evil curse visited on the couple by the
bishop, that they should “always be together, eternally
apart”. They are never in their human forms at the same time.
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Imperious
the monk reveals the story to young Philippe:
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...
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Phillipe:
It’s him, isn’t it? The wolf, somehow,
it’s him.
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Imperious:
Drink, forget!
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Phillipe:
An hour ago you were drunk, and you remembered.
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Imperious:
What do they call you, boy?
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Phillipe:
Phillipe Gaston.
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Imperious:
Her name is Isabeau D’Anjou. Her father was the count
D’Anjou, an ill-tempered fellow. He found his death slaying
Saracens in Antioch. She came to live, with her cousin I think it was,
in Aquila. I shall never forget the first time I saw her. It was like
looking at...
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Phillipe:
The face of love.
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Imperious:
Ah, you too? Well, I suppose we were all in love with her in different
ways. Even His Grace, the Bishop, couldn’t think of nothing
else.
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Phillipe:
The Bishop loved her?!
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Imperious:
As near as that evil man could come to it. His passion was a sort of
madness. He was a man possessed! But Isabeau sensed his wickedness, and
she shrank from him. She sent back all his letters and left his poems
unread. Her heart was already lost, you see. To the Captain of the
Guard.
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Phillipe:
Etienne Navarre!
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Imperious:
The Bishop knew nothing about their love. But every day he saw it grow
stronger and deeper and richer. Until...
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Phillipe:
Until?
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Imperious:
They were betrayed. They shared the same confessor, a weak, foolish
priest. On one day, on a drunken confession to his superior, he
committed a mortal sin. He revealed the lovers’ secret vows
to the Bishop. The old fool didn’t realize what he had done
at first, or the terrible revenge the Bishop would exact. His Grace
seemed to go mad, he lost both his sanctity and his reason. He swore,
that if he could not have her, no man would. So, Navarre and Isabeau
fled from Aquila. The Bishop followed, ever more ardent, ever more
persistent than a hound. An evil man, a powerful man, hated and feared;
rejected even by Rome itself. He called upon the powers of darkness for
the means to damn the lovers. In his fury and frustration, he struck a
dreadful bargain...with the Evil One. The dark powers of hell spat up a
terrible curse, and you have seen it working. By day, Isabeau is the
beautiful bird you brought to me. And by night, as you have already
guessed, the voice of the wolf that we hear is the cry of Navarre. Poor
dumb creatures, with no memory of the half-life of their human
existence, never touching in the flesh. Only the anguish of a split
second at sunrise and sunset, when they can almost touch... but not.
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Phillipe:
...always together...eternally apart...
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Imperious:
As long as the sun rises and sets, as long as there is day and night,
and for as long as they both shall live. You have stumbled onto a
tragic story, Phillipe Gaston. And now, whether you like it or not, you
are lost in it, with the rest of us.
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...
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He
carries the guilt of having betrayed the love of this cursed couple to
the Bishop, at a week moment while drunk, revealing their love in their
confessions.
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The
bishop, enraged and unwilling to let anyone have the woman is he could
not, placed a cruel and terrible curse upon them both.
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Imperious
though, has a plan , to reunite these two lovers in their human forms
and break the curse. Philippe at first protests and has no desire to
return to Aquila. Dismissing the “sign of God”
given to Navarre he says “I talk to God all the time and he
never mentioned your name.” Imperious also claims his plan is
God given.
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For
Navarre plans on ending at least part of the torment of his curse: kill
the Bishop of Aquila the same bishop that cursed him or die trying.
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But
things are not as simple as all that. Navarre has nearly lost all hope
of overcoming the curse and rides towards Aquila with death on his
mind. Isabeau, too, has begun to despair of ever being reunited with
her one true love. The monk, Imperius, has discovered the secret to
breaking the curse: a night without a day... and a day without a
night...
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...
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Imperious:
May God’s blessings be with you both, from this day forward.
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Navarre:
I bless the day he brought you back to us, father. And you. And you...
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Isabeau:
You’re the truest friend we could ever have. Thank you.
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Imperious:
I fully intend to meet you at the pearly gates, little thief.
Don’t you dare disappoint me!
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Phillipe:
I’ll meet you there, father. Even if I’d have to
pick the lock.
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