Beneath the Ground

Restless and enraged, consumed by jealousy and fear, he hung about the
castle grounds long after he had drawn the diabolical charges. He knew
that Baldos was inside the castle, favored, while he, a noble of the
realm, was relegated to ignominy and the promise of degradation.
Encamped outside the city walls the army lay without a leader. Each hour
saw the numbers augmented by the arrival of reserves from the districts
of the principality. His place was out there with the staff. Yet he
could not drag himself away from the charmed circle in which his prey
was sleeping. Morose and grim, he anxiously paced to and fro in an
obscure corner of the grounds.

"What keeps the scoundrel?" he said to himself angrily.

Presently, a villainous looking man dressed in the uniform of the
guards, stealthily approached. "I missed him, general, but I will get
him the next time." growled the man.

"Curse you for a fool!" hissed Marlanx through his teeth. As another
hireling came up. "What have you got to say?"

The man reported that Baldos had been seen on the balcony alone,
evidently on watch.

Marlanx ground his teeth and his blood stormed his reason. "The job must
be done to-night. You have your instructions. Capture him if possible;
but if necessary, kill him. You know your fate, if you fail." Marlanx
actually grinned at the thought of the punishment he would mete out to
them. "Now be off!"