Rags and Riches

Ch. 3: Out in the Sun - Courtney

A week had passed since my birthday. I was now 21 years and a week old. But, I still felt like I was 14 when my sisters and brothers died.

It was awful: the blood, the bodies, their soulless eyes... It was like a nightmare but I knew - I knew - that it wasn't. It was a reality: a cold reality that felt no mercy.

I remember each death painfully well. The first death was my eldest brother. He was hunting in the forest, something he loved to do as a pastime. And since we were already so wealthy as it is, he would always donate his catches to families or people he found that needed them the most. But that day, he didn't come back for lunch like he normally did.

At first, we thought nothing of it. After all, he can get carried away with his hunts, sometimes taking the whole day rather than just the morning. Not that I could blame him, really. The whole day was just classes on manners, or fittings for dresses or suits that we had to wear for a portrait, or some other boring things. But then came nightfall, and he still wasn't home.

A search party went out to find him. We thought he got mauled by a bear, but that couldn't happen. It was impossible. My eldest brother was impressively skilled with weaponry, and was knowledgeable about animal habits; a good candidate for the next general. But, when someone from the search party came back into the courtroom where my family and I anxiously waited for the news, their eyes were wide with terror. My stomach dropped.

"Y-your Maj-Majesty... Your s-s-son... H-he's..."

The King rose from his throne, knowing what he was going to say, but not willing to believe it until he heard it with his own ears. His eyebrows were furrowed. "He's what? Speak up!"

"I'm s-so sor-sorry, b-but he..." The soldier took a breath. "He, your son... is dead."

My father stood there, mouth agape, still standing, but slowly sat down as the news sank in. My mother began to crumple, tears forming, sobs starting to emerge. All the siblings began to hug one another. I felt the embrace of my younger brother, but my arms seemed to mechanically wrap around him. I was unfeeling, I was numb, I was frozen.

No. This can't be happening. This isn't real.

But it was.

Who could ever want to kill my older brother? He was the most generous person I have ever met, and was the perfect heir to the throne. But now, he was gone. All the times we had spent together, like that time he took me horseback riding when Olivia had to leave for a small while and I didn't feel up to do anything without her... He made me feel better, a lot better.

And now he was just a memory.

They brought back the body, but I couldn't decipher anything. I could only see his mauled up and bloodied face, since the rest of his body was under a sheet. Blood still managed to seep through the sheet, though, creating giant stains of dark red. I couldn't look at him at first, it was too scary. It didn't look like him anymore. He was hurt beyond recognition. I wasn't told this at a time, but my eldest sister told me later of the condition he was in when the search party found him.

Apparently, there was only a knife involved. A knife, and a lot of stabbings. The murderer even used their surroundings, using branches and the tree bark. The whole place area was red. And what's more, the horse my brother always took out for hunting was already gone by the time they got there. My brother never stood a chance, suffering a deep fatal wound from the very beginning.

What stood out the most, however, was one side of my brother's face that was completely untouched. All except for a crudely etched sun.

And that was only the beginning of this murderer's slaughter. They slowly became known as the Blazing Sun: a legend whose heat you can feel, no matter how close or far you are away from it.