The Bad Boy on the Balcony (a blogfest entry)

Since people are already posting their entries, and since I am kind of lying low on the W.I.P. while I do some planning....

I now present to you my entry in the Bad Boy Blogfest. It is from The Adventure of Anna The Great, a YA swashbuckler.

Setup: The view point character is Anna, a runaway girl disguised as a stableboy. The Marquis is the good and true but stuffy hero. I think you can guess who the bad boy is.

***

It was at this point that we heard a scream. It was not very loud and it came from above us, in the palace. The two of us moved forward as one, and looked up. A second cry sounded and one of the unlit windows on the second floor burst open.

A human figure swung out and crawled down the wall like a spider, using the decorative moldings as a handhold. As he dropped lightly to the roof of the portico, I realized that the thin, agile figure must be Tybalt. With a quick glance at the window he had just left, he swung off the roof and dropped to the ground, and there he stopped to lean against a column and light a cigarette.

The marquis checked himself before he left the shadow, and put out a hand to stop me, whispering, “what’s he up to?” and glancing with alarm back up at the window. “That’s Claire Linder’s room.”

There was now a light behind that window, but I could see nothing of the inside of the room. Below Tybalt tossed away his cigarette and dashed out into the open, all wild-eyed and in alarm.

“Claire!” he called up at the window. Claire’s silhouette appeared at the window and tentatively she leaned out. “Claire, I thought I heard a scream.”

“Oh, Tyb,” she cried out. “Oh, Tyb, there was a man in here.”

“Where? In...,” he said, in seeming disbelief, pointing up at her.

“In here,” she said, nodding. “In my room.”

“No!”

“Yes! He...he grabbed me, then ran away when I screamed.”

Tybalt whipped out his sword. “Where did he go?” he cried. “I’ll kill him for you.”

“I don’t know,” she called back, starting to whimper.

“I say,” said Tybalt, lowering his sword. “Are you all right?”

“I think so,” said Claire. “I’m only frightened.”

“Oh, Claire,” said Tybalt, sheathing his sword. He took a step and made a fantastic leap to reach the cornice of the portico, swinging up and climbing the wall as easily as he had come down. Once inside the window, she collapsed into his arms, and they moved out of sight.

The marquis snorted, and I swallowed a chuckle. I did think it was funny. The marquis, however, moved out of the shadow sharply, looking up at the window.

“It’s about time somebody taught that young man some manners,” he said, moving toward the palace.

“Do you think it will do any good?” I asked.

“Probably not,” he said smiling grimly back at me. He moved on again, this time a little less purposefully.

***

(The Adventure of Anna the Great is available for Amazon Kindle as well as on Smashwords.)