The bucket poured and there was a sizzle as the flames died down. Ralph tossed the bucket to the side, finally done with putting out the stupid fire. 'Of all the times for a fire to start…' Ralph thought to himself. He headed back towards the building.
"Hey brother, I finally got that fire put out."
He stepped towards the doorway. There was no answer. Opening the door, Ralph saw his brother lying still on the ground and no one else in the room. Rushing over to his brother, he felt the side of his neck and it was cold. Looking at the pool of blood that had expanded out from his brother's body, Ralph stumbled back and fell on his behind.
"No, no, no…" Ralph grabbed his face and struggled to get his breathing under control. "What happened?"
Ralph stood from the ground. Looking over at his brother again, he hardened himself and turned away. Heading for the door, he stepped outside. He heard the sound of a horse far off in the distance. The wheels of the carriage creaked along over the crushed road. There sat an old gangly man on the front. A sour face as scarred and battered as the years he was old. The man's face remained as stone as the carriage approached. He stood and stepped down from the carriage. Going to the side, the man grabbed the handle to the door and pulled it open.
An even taller man with jet black hair, slicked back stepped down from the carriage. This man had a crude look to him. His eyes were dark and a scowl was fixed upon his face.
"Where's the girl?" the man said with no preamble.
Ralph gulped. "Uh..sir.."
The man continued to look at Ralph, his face becoming even more stern.
"Don't tell me, you and that idiot brother of yours failed to do what I asked of you?" the man said.
Ralph was angry. Forgetting who he was talking to, he allowed his face to show it.
"My "idiot" brother is dead, sir." He said, spitting the word sir out harshly.
The man was unphased. "The girl?" he continued as if nothing had changed.
"She's gone. There was a fire and I left to go put it out –" The man struck Ralph hard on the side of his head.
Ralph fell to the ground. The man proceeded to lay into Ralph, hitting him another time, and another time. Holding Ralph by the collar of his shirt, the man looked lethally at Ralph. Ralph was bleeding from his nose, snot running, and the man struck him again. Delighted in how Ralph's head bounced back as he hit him. 'Some small pleasure in this utter disappointment,' the man thought to himself. He dropped Ralph back to the ground and stood up, adjusting his collar, he looked at his driver. "Seems we've wasted a trip."
"Only because your brother is dead, am I giving you one more chance to fix your mistake." the man said, looking down at Ralph.
"You have a week to find the girl and bring her to me. If you fail to do it this time, you will join the same fate as your "dearest brother". Do you understand?"
Ralph lay still on the ground.
"NOD, if you understand." the man said again.
Ralph nodded. "Do not fail me again," the man said.
He walked back over to the carriage. His driver opened the door again and the man stepped inside. The driver mounted the front of the carriage and without a word to Ralph, still the sour face, turned the carriage around. Ralph watched as the carriage rolled away, struggling to get himself off the ground.
"What the hell am I gonna do…We should have never gotten involved with this guy." Ralph said to himself.
Ralph finally got to his feet. He walked over to the building where his brother laid and proceeded to carry him out. Ralph grabbed a sturdy branch from nearby and began the hard task of digging a hole with a branch. Once the hole was deep enough, he lowered his brother's body into the shallow grave and dragged the dirt back over it.
"I'm sorry, little brother. This is all my fault."
He patted down the soft earth. After a while, Ralph finally stood and after taking the deepest breath he could, he turned away from his brother.
Ralph wiped his face on the inside of his shirt. The bleeding had finally stopped. His face was swollen and one of his eyes was difficult to keep open, but Ralph started to walk around the building looking for any sign of the girl. Coming upon the side of the building, he noticed two sets of tracks. One, he could determine was the girls, but the other set he did not know who they belonged to. Ralph continued to follow the tracks which led to the fence on the side of the property. It was late in the day at this point and the sun was starting to set.
There was a man standing in a field not too far off in the distance. Ralph crouched down and watched the man for a while. The man was shoveling in the dirt it looked like, and he watched as the man grabbed a handful of seed from the sack by his side and spread it across the ground. 'Ah..a farmer.' Ralph thought to himself. Ralph continued to watch the man, hunkered down in the shade where he could not be seen. Ralph wondered if this man was somehow involved in what had happened. After watching the man go inside, Ralph stood to full standing and started to walk back towards town. Maybe, he would see a sign of the girl in town, he thought as he trudged along the path.