My Mother's Killer - Ch. 10

I often think that I understand Sarah’s pain and know how she feels but I could never understand the pain she feels. Thoughts of her holding the lifeless body in her pale arms bombard my brain still to this day. She cradled the body so close to her heart that I couldn’t make out the face but I knew by the screams that it was John. Tears rolled down her face as she kept sweeping his bloody hair away from his face. "No,no,no" is all she replied. I could feel my face turn red as rage begun to take over. I had lost my parents and now the one I called little brother. I turned to the soldier still pinned to the wall with my blade. He will pay for this how could he take the life of a child. I never asked Sarah how John died; I figure he tried to protect her.

I still sometimes blame myself; I trained John to be strong just like me; he was only nine and didn’t have the strength to take down a grown man. My mind raced back to the man; I headed out to the shop and grabbed a small hammer. I couldn’t find any nails but I had left hair pins in my room before I left five months ago so I checked to see if they were still there. They were, so I straightened them out and headed over to the man. He was weak now his face was pale white; I knew he wouldn’t struggle so I grabbed his hand. I placed the first pin under his middle nail and hit it with the hammer as hard as I could. His voice shrieked in agony, I continued to do this with each of his fingers.

He begged for me to end it but I stared at him coldly and said, "I might have if you didn’t kill the boy!" I reached for his other hand when Sarah grabbed my arm. "End it," she whimpered. I couldn’t understand, he had killed her son yet she would be merciful. I nodded and reached for my sword pulling it straight up cutting up towards his throat; ending his life. I turned towards Sarah not knowing what to say. "If this man was telling the truth, we must bury the body and hide the horse." Sarah said calmly. I agreed and quickly rushed outside to grab a shovel. I hooked Nobel up to the wagon and threw the body in and headed for the forest.

I traveled to the outskirts of the forest and started to dig. It took me to almost dusk before I had finished. Just before leaving I spit on his grave and prayed that the wolves would dig him up and eat his remains. I returned home to find Sarah cleaning the blood from the floor. "We should head to the castle and find Michael," I replied. "We will leave tomorrow," Sarah said with pain still in her voice, "For now we need to bury John." She had wrapped him in wolves’ skin, and had some of his toys out. I headed outside and dug a hole next to his favorite place to play. When I was finished I returned inside and told Sarah it was time. I tried to reach for his tiny body but she quickly scooped him up. I think she needed a little longer so I told her I would be outside. For what seemed like hours she finally arrived next to the shallow grave; carefully placing his body in surrounding it with his toys weeping the whole time.

Together we begun placing dirt over him; we had finished and placed a small wooden cross with his name on it above his grave. We said a prayer for him and I told Sarah that my parents would keep him safe until she arrives in heaven. She thanked me and said she needed a minute so it would be best if I went to sleep. I did as she said and quickly drifted off. I awoke from my nightmare as usual around dawn. I looked around the house but couldn’t find her anywhere; my heart began to race as I worried about why she wasn’t in bed. I quickly darted outside ready to saddle up Nobel when I saw her. She was lying next to John’s grave with a peaceful smile on her face that I knew wouldn’t last when she woke up. I almost felt bad waking her from a dream that she seemed to be enjoying but it would be a long journey to the castle and we needed to get a move on.