Scene I – Lord Dorian's estate. ELRIC arrives with GUARDS. DORIAN is unshaken.
LORD DORIAN:
So comes the lion's cub with fangs bared wide.
What proof hath thou that I thy sire defied?
PRINCE ELRIC:
A priest hath sworn, thy guilt is drawn and known.
Prepare thy soul, for soon thy blood shall moan.
LORD DORIAN:
A priest? One frail with age and riddled brain?
Dost thou condemn a man for one man's strain?
PRINCE ELRIC:
No more! Guards, take this traitor to the cell,
Where judgment sharp and swift shall with him dwell.
[DORIAN is dragged away, but his smile lingers.]
LORD DORIAN (aside):
Let fools believe what shallow truths they see—
The game runs deeper than thy mind can be.
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Scene II – A midnight vision. ELRIC alone in the forest. The THREE WITCHES appear.
FIRST WITCH:
Thou think'st thy enemy lies bound and caught—
Yet one still strikes with hidden, burning thought.
SECOND WITCH:
The crown is closer, aye, but thorns draw nigh—
One blood of thine shall cause a king to die.
THIRD WITCH:
When trust is broke by kin with silken hand,
Then shall the throne fall like a house of sand.
ALL:
Beware the rose that blooms too near thy name—
Its beauty masks the root of death and flame.
[They vanish.]
PRINCE ELRIC (trembling):
What doom is this? What kin? What bloody seed?
Could Maeren—no! Yet fate plants twisted weed…