Kovács Castle, front courtyard.
Grgur walked toward the prisoners, his gaze sweeping over their faces one by one. The most important target was not among them.
"Where is Uroš? Find him, now."
On their ruler's orders, the soldiers laid out all the bodies of the nobles and their attendants in the front courtyard and identified them one by one. None had Uroš's face.
The captain of the guards explained to Grgur, "Before the operation, I showed the soldiers a portrait of Uroš and told them to take him alive if possible. I don't think he would die so easily. He must be hiding in a cellar or woodshed."
The captain ordered the soldiers to search the entire castle, but they found no trace of Uroš. At dusk, someone remembered the body south of the castle. They dragged it over for a look-it was indeed Uroš Dragases.
Three bullet holes remained in the corpse. The commander of the musket troops stepped forward to explain:
"Your Majesty, you can't blame us. Uroš was fleeing in a ragged cloak. Who could have recognized him as a noble?"
Looking at his childhood playmate, Grgur felt a tangle of emotions. He had never intended to kill the man. Unfortunately, luck had failed Uroš, and he had been shot dead before he even knew what was happening.
Once word of Uroš's death spread, the Palaiologos family would surely demand an accounting.
"You never behaved yourself while you were alive. Now that you're dead, you're still saddling me with a mountain of trouble."
After a few curses, Grgur turned his attention to business. He prepared to send troops to take over the southern nobles' lands while writing to Hungary in the north to request its support.
November 7, Buda, Hunyadi's residence.
László-Hunyadi's eldest son, not Ladislaus