"I see you've come to beg for your life Onima, you were given a chance to fight for it."
"I have come to save yours rather!" Replied Papa on a rather more serious note.
"What makes you think that you could save me? I am the head of the army of Domidus, at the snap of my fingers soldiers flinch. You are a coward Onima, you will die just just like your wife and sister."
"Speak no more of them, Dextrus!" Shouted Papa in rage. "You will speak no ill of my dead before me!"
Dextrus laughed and went to stand behind papa. "You are a fool Dextrus, you had fallen into my trap once and here you are again cowering before a young Prince just like they cowered before me begging for their lives." Stated Dextrus with pleasure.
"Dextrus," said Papa quietly, "I trusted you, I treated you like a son."
"I never told you I needed a father, did I? Thanks to you I am where I've always wanted to be and soon, very soon... I'll be king!"
"You are a traitor, Dextrus! I slaughtered people, children, women, innocent people because of you heartless monster!"
"It was for the greater good. You were turning weak and I needed to prove to the people, your army, that you are strong but how did that go?" Scoffed he. "You ran into your shell like an attacked tortoise because that is what you always have been, a coward." Papa walked to a soldier that stood beside the Prince, stood there for a while before swiftly withdrawing his sword from its sheath. It was very quick, nobody expected it.
Papa ran the sword right into Dextrus' neck. Before Dextrus could withdraw his own sword, his head was rolling on the floor. It happened in the twinkle of an eye. Nobody expected it; not the Prince, not even Dextrus.
Dextrus' lifeless body dropped first on his knees then to his shoulder. It seemed more like a dream as everything happened so fast. I shivered a bit as I pictured the scene in my head. I have never seen any dead body before nor have I witnessed anyone die.
"Do to me as it pleases His Majesty," said Papa laying the sword at the feet of the young Prince.
"Spilling blood is never a way to get justice. There are more than one way to get justice. I must admit I wanted justice for the murder of my clan as well but I had not known under which circumstance it was done. You did that in your ignorance, in your youth and gone are those days now. Growing up, I have had only one thing in mind and that is to kill the one that murdered my parents. To make him scream just like they did. For I know that they suffered a great deal at your hand. Your anger is no ordinary one. I have witnessed it myself today." Said the Prince.
"I have not been able to forgive myself since then. Day after day and night after night I hear them and it has made me weak in every aspect. I feel ashamed of myself and find it had to look at your face knowing that I watched you burn." Papa said as a tear slid down his cheek.
"Indeed, you have shown yourself to be a changed person. I cannot harm you for that is against my tradition and the throne forbids it."
"Pray me now by your throne that I go in peace, that they bother me no more. That they all rest in peace." Papa begged.
"Go in peace Onima and may the voices of the dead call you no more. May the shackles of memories bound you no more. May you live in fear no more!"
"Live long on the throne, Your Majesty!" Papa bowed.
THE END
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Shackled In Memories And Other Stories
Short StoryA warrior angrily slaughters people of a small village because they were said to have murdered his wife and sister. Years later a survivor from the slaughter decides to avenge the death of his village. After years of being haunted by the memories of...
