Suspicion falls on Malcolm and Donalbain for the murder of their father, King Duncan, because they run away after Duncan's body is found. They run, however, because they realize that as Duncan's heirs, their lives, too, are most likely in danger. Donalbain tells his brother they should flee immediately, even before they have had time to mourn their father:
What should be spoken here,
Where our fate, hid in an auger-hole,
May rush, and seize us? Let's away:
Our tears are not yet brewed.
Agreed, they do leave, with Malcom going to England and Donalbain to Ireland. By separating, they are individually safer. As they part, Donalbain sums up their situation:
Where we are
There's daggers in men's smiles; the near in blood,
The nearer bloody.
When they are discovered missing the morning after the murder, guilt immediately shifts to them simply because they have left without explanation. It is Macduff who gives this news to Ross in Act II.
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