Revenge That Isn’t

"Sophie?" King Vantrune said, holding her against the wet soil with his blade at her throat.

"I'm not Sophie you dolt," the woman said, knocking his blade away from her throat. 

She pushed him off of her and stood up. The rays of sun shined through the treetops, highlighting her flawless skin. Her red hair glistened while she shook a few bits of mud out of it and readjusted her dark cloak. Her silver necklace hugged her chest.

"Sophie, it’s me? Henry. Your husband.”

"My name is Lena. Don't you remember me?"

Henry shook his head. "Whatever that witch did to you, we can fix it."

"You can't fix what she did to Sophie."

"Sophie, I know you're in there somewhere. Please you can fight this."

Henry put his hands on her shoulders. Lena responded with a swift kick to the crouch. He grunted and fell to the ground. The mud splashed around him as he made a little crater in the soft ground.

"My name is Lena you prick. Sophie's twin sister."

Henry was still writhing on the ground. "I remember...you always...were a mean one."

"Maybe if you didn't mix us up I wouldn't have to kick you."

Henry caught his breath and his pain started to subside. He got up and brushed himself off.

"I'm sorry. You just look so much like her. It's been hard…"

"I know. I miss her too."

They stood in silence while the birds sang from the trees and the leaves rustled in the wind. His sword still dangled from his hand touching the mud.

"What brings you all the way out here? Aren't you busy ruling the kingdom?" Lena asked.

"I'm looking for her killer. My informant said she would be out here by a cave. You were the first person I saw.”

"I got the same information. From Barnabas at the tavern?"

"The same."

"Then we might as well work together. Seeing as we both want the same thing.”

"Do you know where this cave is supposed to be?"

"Not far. Just past this clearing."

Henry followed her to the cave, along with some bunnies that bounced from bush to bush trying to avoid the open field. Deer stared at them from afar like they were the first people they had ever seen in the forest. Lena stopped at the entrance. Unable to see inside, the opening cut through the side of a hill. Foliage drooped over the top and vines wrapped around the sides. 

"This must be it," Lena said.

"Ladies first."

"Really? You're going to make me go first. You're the one with the sword."

"No, I insist," he said, running her through with his sword. 

She gasped. Her eyes wide open, staring at his smug face. 

"You want to know how I knew you aren't Lena?"

She continued to gasp for air. He leaned in close to smell her. Onions and old person stench leaked from her pores. Wrinkles started to take shape in her face.

"It was the necklace. Lena is allergic to silver. I tried to give her one as a gift one year. Her whole chest turned red like her hair."

Her hair faded to grey along with her skin. His fingers sunk in basically touching her bones against her clothes.

"So, Witch, any last words?"

"I never killed Sophie. I killed Lena," the witch coughed. "But I know who killed Sophie."

"Who?" he asked. The witch smiled and blood snuck out of the corner of her lips. He shook her, rubbing the sword back and forth inside her. "Who!”

She snapped her feeble fingers. "You." 

A high pitched scream echoed from the cave and a light appeared.

"Sophie!" Henry yelled.

Her voice was unmistakable. He ripped the sword out of the witch and ran to the entrance. The light got brighter until he realized it was a flame. It rushed toward Henry, consuming the entire cave. Henry got a few steps into the cave when the fireball was almost upon him. He doved to the ground, facing his back toward it. The fire rushed over him for only a second or two, leaving his cloak steaming from the intense heat. 

He got up and sprinted down the dim cave lit by the few bits of foliage that still burned. 

"Sophie! Sophie!" His desperate calls echoed down the tunnel without an answer. Once he got to the end of the cave, he saw his wife on the floor amongst the grey ash. Her body charred from the intense heat, arms behind her back, melted together like a black wax sculpture.

Henry kneeled by her corpse while tears dripped down his burnt face. Her body crumbled when he tried to touch her with his roasted hands.

"Please...Sophie...forgive me."

Those were his final words before he collapsed next to her. The life faded from his eyes with every blink. Completely transfixed on his wife, he knew his time had come. To be with his wife once again.