02x13 - The Witching Hour

[bunniefuu]

Previously on "Salem"...

Mary: I've come from the docks. The countess has our son on board.

Boy: Why must I be baptized?

Countess Marburg: So that you can be born again. More powerful than before, with me at your side.

Cotton: And what is it you want from me?

John: There's a boy. If we don't get the devil out of him, we're done.

Mary: Go, John! Save him!

Countess Marburg: I really must have the boy.

Anne: Or else what?

Countess Marburg: I will k*ll Cotton Mather.

John: Where'd you take the boy?

Cotton: He's with Anne.

John: Anne Hale is a witch.

Cotton: Why are you saying this utter nonsense?! See with my own eyes.

Countess Marburg: You made the wise decision, dearest daughter.

Sebastian: Your battle is over.

John: [Grunts, groans]

Mary: No!

Countess Marburg: Ah, birth. Such terrible hard work. We're all born howling and then must rest. But what dark dreams of our new world flicker behind those perfect lids? Shall I give you a glimpse? For 2,000 years, they have tried and failed to build the kingdom of God here on earth. Now it is our turn. Under our dark lord's dominion, Salem will prosper and grow, becoming a mighty nation. And it all begins here, with this little boy.

Mary: I had a dream, too, once. A dream of a new birth of freedom. But my sleep produced only a monster.

Countess Marburg: A monster is but a God seen through fearful eyes. Wisdom comes with acceptance, my dear.

Mary: I do accept. Oh, I accept that I have played my role in this tragedy all too well. Now I'm done.

Countess Marburg: Hardly. Very little has been asked of you thus far. You should be honored to serve your son.

Mary: I saw my son die in the crags... Watched as you drowned him. That... that cannot be my son.

Countess Marburg: Your son was but an empty jar of Clay, worthless until filled. One day you will thank me for forcing your hand.

Sebastian: When he wakes, Mary, you will feel differently.

Mary: The world is a much darker place now that your light has grown as dim as the rest of ours.

Countess Marburg: Oh, pay her no mind. In your place, she'd have done the same thing.

Sebastian: Have patience. A mother's love will win out over her resistance.

["Cupid Carries a g*n" plays]

♪ Pound me the witch drums ♪
♪ witch drums ♪
♪ pound me the witch drums ♪
♪ pound me the witch drums ♪
♪ the witch drums ♪
♪ better pray for hell ♪
♪ not hallelujah ♪ I'm dreaming. I can't. My son. Mary.

Shaman: John.

[Horse neighs]

[Door closes]

[Clatter]

Anne: You are alive.

Cotton: Where is he? What have you done with the boy?

Anne: Are you sure you want to know? A kind woman once told me that the problem with knowing things is you can never unknow them.

Cotton: Yes. I must know everything.

Anne: I traded his life for yours.

Cotton: [Breathes sharply]

[Screams] Now I see why I already burn in hell.

Anne: You're not in hell, Cotton. You're here with me in Salem.

Cotton: Is this not hell's new capital?!

[Sighs]

Anne: [Sobs]

Cotton: So... You are a witch.

Anne: I am.

Cotton: And I suppose Mary Sibley made you one.

Anne: Hardly... Though she offered a few signposts along the way.

Anne: It was my father. And my mother... the Countess Marburg.

Cotton: The countess? Your mother?

Anne: Yes. But, Cotton... I'm still your Anne, the woman who loves you.

Cotton: Oh. No. Witches are the very embodiment of evil.

Anne: Cotton...

Cotton: I thought you were the very embodiment of good.

Anne: So why can't I use my power for good? To make the world a better, fairer place?

Cotton: Because such powers come from the devil himself. No.

Anne: Just give me a chance, husband... To show you what I can do. I've only ever used my power to protect myself... And you. I saved us that night in the woods when the militia stopped our carriage. They would have r*ped me and k*lled you, k*lled both of us, but I stopped them. Surely that was not an evil act.

Cotton: A man d*ed that night. I thought it divine judgment.

Anne: It was not God's judgment... but mine.

Cotton: Then it was m*rder.

Anne: It was him or us. Cotton, where are you going?

Cotton: To the magistrate.

Anne: What?

Cotton: I must tell him about the countess and the others... and that you k*lled that man.

Anne: Cotton... I can't let you do that.

Cotton: Goodbye, Anne.

[Breathing shakily]

[Door closes]

[Door opens]

Sebastian: He's awake now.

[Door closes]

Mary: What is it to me?

Sebastian: That is up to you. What did you call it? Your love for your son? Unconditional? Then come. Prove it.

Countess Marburg: Lie back, and I'll tell you a story. Now, once, in ancient Harraby, there was a little prince. The oldest wife was his favorite because she was the most beautiful and the most clever.

Boy: [Gasps] M... m... mother! Mother. Mother, I've missed you. When I finally met my father, he was all the things you said he was. If only it could be the three of us... a family.

Mary: That was... All I ever wanted.

Boy: I need you... your songs... Your stories... Your kisses. I've never forgotten the sight of you lying on the damp forest ground... mouth agape in pain, legs strained wide in birth, and your eyes as black as the endless night where I dwelled. And I knew, at last, you were the one.

Mary: I remember that night, too. Thank you for reminding me that you are not my son. You are his tomb.

Boy: Mother!

Countess Marburg: My love, forget about her. Well, she has done her duty. You have no further need of her. She has nothing to offer you.

Boy: A true God wants true love. Now, who will give me that?

Countess Marburg: I will. I do. My whole long life, I have loved no one else.

Boy: That is very good of you, madam. But it is her love I must have.

John: No, I can't do that. I said I would die in Salem.

Countess Marburg: Where have you been? Your place is here. Until he has acknowledged you, you must await his blessing.

Boy: Come to me, girl.

Mercy: Me?

Countess Marburg: Yes, of course you. On your knees. Lower your eyes.

Boy: You brought me to the countess. And that is good. But you took me away from my true mother, and how can that go unpunished? Behold the hands. Without a word, they may thr*aten, plead, beckon, command... Or simply point. You used this finger well... pointed to all who would die for me. You even bit the tip off yourself, and the countess made it whole again.

Mercy: [Screams]

[Sobbing]

Countess Marburg: Shh.

Mercy: [Crying]

Boy: This time, take care not to heal it entirely, lest the lesson be forgotten.

Mercy: [Crying]

Countess Marburg: Out.

Boy: You. I know everything about you... every lie you ever told... Every subtle way you've turned one against another. Look at me. My good mother would never bear to see you live.

Tituba: Oh, please, my lord.

Boy: And with that kiss, I give you back your freedom. Use it to go as far from Salem as you're able. Now.

Tituba: Thank you, my lord.

Mercy: [Crying] You promised me.

Countess Marburg: Promised you what, child?

Mercy: To be my mother, to make me one of you, that I might marry Sebastian and become a princess.

Countess Marburg: Your wishful mind promised you all those things. I promised you to return the beauty with which you were born and to make Mary Sibley feel your pain and beyond.

Mercy: It's not enough. But what was Anne Hale doing in there? That spoiled, stupid Anne Hale.

Countess Marburg: Anne Hale is my true and precious daughter. She is a real Marburg.

Mercy: Since when? What has she ever done for you?! I... I have fetched those children for your bath.

Countess Marburg: As a good servant must.

Mercy: I am nobody's sl*ve.

Countess Marburg: Oh, that was an awful mistake.

Mercy: I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. It was a mistake.

Countess Marburg: Shh, shh, shh, shh.

Mercy: I'm so sorry.

Countess Marburg: It's too late. Too late. See, trust is a very fragile thing. Trust is so easily broken and so impossible to rebuild. It's as fragile as flesh and bone.

[Sizzling]

Mercy: No. No. No, no, no, no. Please! I'm so sorry! I really am! No, please!

Countess Marburg: Now get out! And if you are so powerful, heal yourself! If I see your ungrateful face again, I will peel it like an apple. And what shall we do first? How shall we conquer and rule?

Boy: I truly love all you do for me.

Countess Marburg: [Chuckles]

Boy: But... you know, I really must have my mother beside me. Today my mother, but tomorrow my queen. She, and she alone, must one day be my bride.

Countess Marburg: Hm. But...

Boy: There can be only one royal marriage... One true consummation. You know it, and you must make it be. You understand?

Countess Marburg: Yes.

[Sighs]

Boy: Then go.

Countess Marburg: [Gasps]

Boy: See to her.

[Wind gusting]

[Birds cawing]

[Wings flapping]

[Bird caws]

[Wind gusting]

[Cawing continues]

[Birds cawing]

[Wings flapping]

Tituba: [Screams]

[Screaming]

[Cawing continues]

[Footsteps approaching]

Countess Marburg: Why are you praying to God? He is blind and deaf... A senile watchmaker who long ago forgot about the creatures of mud he formed with his bored breath.

Mary: A prayer doesn't have to be heard to be answered. Sometimes all that matters is the asking.

Countess Marburg: No. The living miracle of your son is the only answer to any prayer. Now come. He wants you.

Mary: No. A mother knows her son.

Countess Marburg: And he will know you. You do not understand. You have never understood. The holy marriage of heaven and earth is wasted on an ignorant and ungrateful peasant girl!

Mary: You want him. I do not. Be my guest. He's all yours.

Countess Marburg: If only. But no. You were his father's whore, and now you will be his. Come along.

Mary: He doesn't want you? All your lives longing for one who only wants me.

[Laughs] How that must hurt.

Countess Marburg: Shut up.

Mary: I will. I'll shut us both up... in our meeting house... Every part of it built of the tallest, oldest trees that once stood right here. Even here, you are in the woods. My woods. Increase Mather was right. My fate is to burn for my sins, and I'm ready to start right now... For the pleasure of smelling you burning beside me.

Countess Marburg: Stop it this instant, or I'll...

Mary: What? You have nothing left to thr*aten me with. My son is gone, my love dead, my own life worthless to me. You're all out of threats. Go on, mighty water witch. Bring the rain. You can't, can you? You haven't the heart, haven't the tears. I wager that you've never cried once in all your lives. But you'll wish you had tears now, if only to quench the burn.

Countess Marburg: No matter what happens to this body, you know I will survive to live again.

Mary: But how long will that resurrection take? And what of all your plans? Do you remember how it felt the last time you b*rned?

[Grunts]

Sebastian: Well, little sister... welcome to the family.

Anne: How long have you known about me?

Sebastian: Always. Mother never ceased to tell me about her special one.

[Indistinct shouting in distance]

[Shouting continues]

Man: Please, please get back.

Sebastian: I believe the grown-ups are fighting.

Anne: Aren't you gonna do something?

Sebastian: I rather think that's up to you.

Countess Marburg: Bitch!

Mary: I will k*ll you. I will k*ll you.

[Breathing heavily]

[Grunts]

Countess Marburg: Die!

[Water hissing]

Mary: No! Let me die!

[Voice breaking] Let me die.

Anne: I cannot, for the same reason you could not let me. There is no easy way out, Mary... for any of us.

[Indistinct conversations]

Girl: ♪ hush, little baby, don't say a word ♪
♪ mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird ♪
♪ if that mockingbird doesn't sing ♪
♪ mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring ♪

[Sighs]

[Singsongy voice] Don't cry. Mama's here.

Mercy: Maybe your little angel's cold. Wrap her in this warm blanket. It will soothe your baby's cries. Come. It's all right. Come. Come.

Girl: [Screams]

[Muffled screaming]

Mercy: Quiet, you.

Girl: No!

Mercy: Quiet! Quit your struggle, wretch. You have nothing to live for. I need your blood more than you do. I deserve it.

Isaac: No! You will not take her blood. Get behind me, child. You leave this monster to me.

Mercy: You have no right to stop me. I'm only taking what I've been promised, what I deserve.

Isaac: You deserve? What does she deserve? What did my Dollie deserve?

Mercy: Shall I tell you about Dollie? About how she wept and pleaded when I drained her? About how she looked as her heart blood rained down on my scorched flesh?

Isaac: You k*lled her?

Mercy: She was my Dollie doll, to do with as I pleased.

Dollie: [Echoing] My dear Isaac. Isaac.

Isaac: [Panting]

Dollie: Isaac.

Isaac: Stop it! Stop it! Stop it. That ain't Dollie. There will be no more of your foul magic here!

Mercy: Who says so?

Isaac: I do. This is my watch now.

Mercy: Your watch, is it? Well, good luck to Salem, then... protected by sir Isaac the idiot. I still have friends in this town. I told them one night I'd call for them. Give me back the girl. Yes, run! There's plenty of other wretches for me. I won't be forgotten. I'm still here. A true queen. [Voice breaking] And I will rule. I will rule, if only in their nightmares. I will... I will rule.

Sebastian: You have tried everything else. Why not try surrendering?

Mary: [Scoffs] Yes, you'd like that, wouldn't you? For me to just give in.

Sebastian: No. Trust me, I learned long ago to surrender while yet holding firm inside. Keep going. Sometimes, you just keep going. Now collect yourself. I will take you to him. All is well. Given time, she will accept the way things are now.

Countess Marburg: I'm very nearly impressed. But I have another thought now. I can see my mistake clearly. He should never even have seen her. We should have been rid of her before he awoke. All will be right when she is gone.

Sebastian: Gone?

Countess Marburg: Gone. And let this be an end to it.

Sebastian: [Breathing shakily] Mother...

Countess Marburg: Mary Sibley is finished. She must not be allowed to see another sunrise. And you must take care of it for me. Take her out to the woods and k*ll her.

Sebastian: You go too far. If the boy finds out we k*lled his mother, he will destroy us.

Countess Marburg: He will not know. Just do your part!

Sebastian: As you wish.

Countess Marburg: And bring me her blood. I should have bathed in it long ago, but we will rectify that mistake. And once she is gone... He will see that I'm the one.

[Footsteps approaching]

Cotton: It's almost painful. Despite everything I know about you... I can't help loving you. And so, I've decided.

[Breathes deeply] We will find a way.

[Chuckles] You must come away with me.

Anne: I don't think I can.

Cotton: Are you afraid of them? Afraid that they might m*rder me? I don't care. At least then you would be free. She would have nothing to hold over you.

Anne: What if I don't want to?

Cotton: Don't want to?

Anne: You have no idea what it is like, Cotton, to be filled with ideas, with dreams, with visions of how things should be, and yet be utterly powerless to do anything about them. That is what it is to be a woman.

Cotton: I don't understand.

Anne: Of course you don't. You are a man. But I am no mere woman. I am a witch, and I can make a difference.

Cotton: But, uh, didn't you hear what I said? I... I love you.

Anne: If only you had loved me when I really needed you to, I might not have had to pledge myself. I might not have had to quicken your love with my first spell.

Cotton: A spell? That is what you did to me. You have robbed us both with your witchery... Forfeited the one and only human freedom, to love... To have truly chosen to love! And for nothing... Because I did love you. I have loved you since almost the first we met. I just needed a little time.

Anne: I didn't have time! [Sobs] You don't understand. You will someday. I had no choice... not then... And not now.

[Rat squeaking]

Cotton: What are you doing?

Anne: I have to protect you.

Cotton: [Grunts]

[Whimpering]

[Rat squeaking]

[Gasping]

Anne: Don't fight it, Cotton.

Cotton: [Gagging]

Anne: It will only hurt more.

[Grunts]

Cotton: [Muffled shouting]

[Gagging]

Anne: [Breathing shakily]

Mary: So, this is the fate you urged me to surrender to? Thank you. I am ready to die. I really don't mind.

Sebastian: But I do.

[Blood trickling]

Sebastian: That should do. Now Mother will taste your blood, bathe in it, and think it is done. But you still have just enough left if you are careful. Now, for as strong as you are, you will soon replenish it. You are free, my love. I chose to release you here for a reason. Just there. See that blood? It is not yours, but Captain John Alden's. He fled this way. You can see by the track of blood. Now follow it, and you will find him... most likely dead, but I know it is him you want.

Mary: Why are you doing this?

Sebastian: I, too, am capable of unconditional love. So go... without conditions. Someday, when you have buried your past and I have buried mine, we may yet meet again.

[Hoofbeats departing]

Mary: [Breathing heavily] John. John, it's me, your Mary. Let blood to love flow and quicken love's light. My love's life let grow as my soul takes flight.

[Breathes heavily]

[Gasps]

John: [Sucking]

Boy: Have you found my mother?

Countess Marburg: I hardly know the words to tell you. I wanted to be sure first.

Boy: What is it?

Countess Marburg: She's gone.

Boy: Gone?

Countess Marburg: [Breathes sharply, sniffles] She was not strong enough. [Sniffles] Perhaps your sheer radiance, your power... The awesome privilege and responsibility of being your consort was too much for the poor thing. She threw herself from a high place, and the river carried her away. Oh. Pour your sorrow on my bosom. I am here for you... Always.

[Gasps]

Boy: How dare you try to k*ll my bride.

Countess Marburg: [Gasps, moans weakly] No, lord. Not I. I... I love you! [Whimpers]

[Screaming]

[Whimpers]

[Weakly] Sebastian. [Gasps] Sebastian. Help me. Help... [Gasps]

[Breathes deeply]

Sebastian: Someday, perhaps... But not today.

Countess Marburg: [Wheezing]

Sebastian: Good night, Mother.

[Creaking]

Woman: ♪ little baby, don't say a word ♪
♪ mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird ♪
♪ if that mockingbird won't sing ♪
♪ mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring ♪
♪ and if that diamond ring turns... ♪

John: [Gasps] [Coughs] Mary? Oh. Mary? No. [Sniffles, sobs] Mary. [Crying] I love you. Please don't go. I love you.