The Highland Tale; The King Act Two Scene Three Sub Act Two

 

A NEW DAY

ACT TWO

SCENE THREE

SUB ACT TWO

 

“Can we move on, Lennox? I need... of the garden to smell the roses.”

“Yes, my Lord. I am finished here.” The gentleman spoke to the porter who approached him.

“Why do you speak to him there?” Lennox asked. “MacDuff, I would have taken you to be more...”

“The servant who works before dawn knows more of the goings on at the castle.” MacDuff said. “The pots are bearable to the stench of the unburied corpses.”

“Our host is here.” Lennox indicated this to the arriving MacBeth. “Did we wake you, Thane of Gladis?”

“Good morning to you both.” MacBeth smiled. “I am an early riser and checked on my guests.”

“Is the King awake, noble Thane?” MacDuff asked.

“Not to my knowledge.” MacBeth replied. “Does he wake up early too?”

“He commanded me to call on him early this morning. I am late to my task.” MacDuff moved forward. “

“I will bring you to him.” MacBeth. “He is my guest here.”

“I know that hosting the King is a labor of love, but that doesn’t make it any less work.” Lennox said.

“Work we enjoy removes the pain of the effort.” MacBeth smiled. He led the two lords to the King’s chamber.

“I will wake him, because it is my task.” MacDuff excused himself.

“Will the King move on from here today?” MacBeth asked.

“Yes. He told me to have everything ready for his departure.” Lennox replied. “The night was wild. Where we were sleeping, the wind blew down the chimneys. People are saying they heard cries of grief in the air, strange screams of death, and terrifying voices prophesying fire and chaos that will result in the beginning of a new and awful time.”

“It is an old castle. It needs repairs.” MacBeth defended the state of the castle.

“Yes, I heard the owl, the night bird, with the omen of destruction. It hooted all night long. Some people are saying that their sleep was woken by that bird.”

“It was a rough night; I believed for the guests.” MacBeth bowed to the other. “I ….”

"You have done your best, MacBeth. It was the King’s wish to be here. Do not be concerned with that. He is old and cannot remember much when it passes later.”

They saw then the rush of MacDuff.

“Oh, horror, horror, horror! I do not have the words to describe this or the heart to believe it.” MacDuff called out.

“What is the matter?” Lennox asked.

“Chaos has taken over. A blasphemous murder has been committed, and the life from it.”

“Whose? The life that was taken?” MacBeth asked.

“You mean the King?” Lennox asked.

“Go look into the chamber, and you will be appalled and frozen as if you’d seen death for the first time.” MacDuff took a sigh. “Do not ask me to describe it. Go, see it, and then describe it yourselves.”

MacBeth and Lennox rushed to the chamber. MacDuff was in a hysterical mood.

“Get up, get up! Ring the alarm bell.” MacDuff called out.

“Murder and treason! Banquo and Donalbain! Malcolm!” MacDuff knocked on the other chambers and said, “Wake up! Shake off your sleep—that fake death—and look at death itself!”

“Get up, get up, and see the exact image of doomsday!” MacDuff saw the two princes appear in the corridor.

“Malcolm! Donalbain! Get up as if from your graves, and come here like ghosts to see this horror. Ring the bell.”

The alarm sounded.