A Life for a Life

I found Jon covered in blood and holding a crimson-coated knife in his hand. He was standing over my brother Will’s corpse. When he caught sight of me, he ran in the other direction. I pursued him for a while, running through plains and the nearby woods, over fallen trees and quiet streams, until I finally caught up to him. I forced him to the ground with my sword at the ready.

“Why Jon?” was all I could manage to say.

He painfully turned his head until his eyes had met mine. They were green, but clouded with fear, a fear I later learned was for my own sake.

“It was for your own protection, Robert. Kill me if you must, but know that I do not die holding anything against you. In fact, I would embrace death were it to come from your hand, because I know my death would come because you thought it necessary. My duty to you has been fulfilled at the expense of you brother’s life.”

I looked at him for a long time, passing judgment on him, trying to decide whether he was telling me the truth. When I finally found my voice, I said to him “Why did you run?”

“I did not want you to make a mistake and kill me when you did not yet know the whole truth.”

“What truth?’

Jon’s hand opened in response, revealing a note. I picked it up and read the following:

Will,
Kill Robert now! You know as well as do I that another
opportunity like this will not present itself again for a long
time. With your younger brother Geoffrey away, there is no
one to stop you from killing Robert and becoming your father’s
heir. I will meet you in front of “The Grape and Olive Inn.”
-Rayon

I reread the letter at least twice more before fully comprehending it, but I still would not believe what I had read. It was true that my father was very close to death and if Will were to kill me, he would be a lord when my father died. Suddenly Jon pushed me from him. Rising to his feet, he said to me “Will you not kill me?’

“This letter, is it fraud? How did you come by it.”

“I found it in the dirt where your brother had dropped it.”

“I will not believe that my brother would agree to such a thing.” I told Jon, with anger dripping from my voice.

“It is no concern of mine what you believe. You once saved my life and I vowed that someday, I would return the favor. My debt is now repaid, but I have still done a crime in killing you brother, and for that I must be punished. If you can not kill me, then I will do it for you.”

Before I could reply, Jon had pulled his own knife from its sheath and drawn it across his throat, as smooth as silk.

I slowly walked back to town to partake in the unpleasant task of burying my brother, still not believing that he had agreed to kill me, or even that the letter was real. When I found his corpse again (already beginning to decay in the sunlight), I stared in amazement at the sign above him: “The Grape and the Olive Inn.”