Manslayer

Excerpt IV - Old Friend

Pretty soon, the shiny men stopped looking for me. It was surprising how easy it was to hide from them within the Capital. I hid in pots, behind boxes, mostly in alleys. For awhile after, I lived among beggars, and through this time I gained a friend. I forgot his name, but he had a scraggly grey beard, and he was always smiling. He was a kind man, and he was one of the few friends in my life. I wonder how sad he would be if he knew I murdered so many? But no matter, because he is no longer here. Although for once, he died in his sleep, not my murderous hands. But there was one day as a beggar boy that was particularly memorable. One day, this old friend of mine was trying to beg from one of the shiny men. I hid behind a box, just in case they were still looking for me. One of the shiny men kicked the old man down with his iron boot, and my old friend's nose bled. I pulled out the knife instinctually, my body shaking in anger. But I knew if I went out there I would be in a much worse situation. You see, the day was a day where the king rode his chariot through the streets in some meaningless parade, and knights were all over the city, knowing that the king was hated by many. After the knights left the old man I tried to care for him, and he thanked me for it but there was nothing I could do. With time it got better, but the old man could never smell again. This was the moment I knew that I hated the shiny men. Not just the ones that attacked me or got in my way, but all of them. I hated them all, and one day, some day, I would get revenge against them. But I also knew that by staying with the beggars, I put them in danger. For I was and am a fugitive, a murderer of man, and I knew that to survive I had to flee. I had to run away. But the two nights before I left them, the old man died in the night, surrounded by other beggars and rubbage from commoners and those privileged enough to have a home. He rotted among the rubbage... He didn't deserve it, but there was no way at that age I had the ability to carry him out of the city where there were plains of grass to bury him in. For the city had floors of stone, and buildings that clogged every space in the wall, and among it all a castle stood in the very middle of the city. It was like a hill, and the king was the top. The Capital was on an actual hill, and going through the streets was a constant slope. I left far away from the street where the beggars lived, and prayed that they would be okay, unlike my old friend...