A small scene in Ghieste after this dispatch becomes public knowledge.
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The door slams behind him and he quickly throws the bolts. His head turned over one shoulder with a grimace of fear etched hard across his face, he screams at his children to go and hide under their beds. As soon as he had secured the heavy oaken frame and shooed his children up the stairs he turns to his wife and holds her in his arms while he sobs into her warm and soft neck. Once he has regained his composure she asks of him what it is that has him so afeared; it takes him several moment to summon the words and when he finally speaks his voice is cracked with the terror he feels.
"My love... something terrible has happened, something truely horrifying; you can hear it all over the palace and no one knows what to do. It's the Duke you see, the Duke himself....
He has been doing it now for over half an hour without stopping and everyone fears for what shall happen next!"
She looks at him, the same glimmer of concern now showing in her beautiful brown eyes, "but what is it he has done, what has everyone so afraid."
He returns her look to her, takes her hands in his, gulps heavily and then in a small voice says, "He is laughing."
They both shudder at the merest thought of what that could mean.
