The forest was dark, the sound of winds was like a whistle in between the thick trees, the only light source was the guard's, and there was many of them. From the horizon the rays of sunlight showed mercy upon the land with warm kisses, the camp was divided by three
the right side where the men slept, the middle where the guard's tents were at, the left side with a big stable was at, alongside it women and children spent the night
Some guards knocked on the worn out doors of the men's house, The men that stepped out were of an unusual sizes, 2 meter tall each, except for one who was a little smaller then the rest, the women on the other side were no less in sizes, even the children were big, but what they had most in common, each of them had chains over their bodies
The men were guided through the dark forest, while the women and children stayed at the camp, cleaning the minerals from dirt and rocks
The men reached a cave entrance, in front of them tools for the job they had, the first to step out of the crowd was one who had bandages all over his face and head, his gaze low not daring to meet the head of the guards that stood their, he was handed a torch and a pickaxe as he went inside, each followed after him shortly
By sunset they were escorted from the cave in a straight line, each of them hooding full buckets, from 2 all the way to 4 buckets, for each bucket they handed they got a ticket, in wish they exchanged for a plate of food in the other line
"I think there is a mistake here," said a man that handed 1 bucket and another that was almost full
"I think not, move to the next line" replied the one in charge of giving the tickets
"No like really, I gave you 2 , I should get 2 tickets " said the man
"You gave me one and a half" replied the guard
"Then give me one ticket and a half?" said the man
"There is no such thing as half a ticket, now move to the next line before you sleep on an empty stomach" replied the guard
The man moved to the next line handing over the tickets and taking a one-person meal, one after another everybody took their food and walked across the guard's camp towards their families? or whatever is left from them beside the stable
A bot who seemed to be 15 years old and his sister of 6 were waiting for their father, as he got to them everyone went inside the stable for their meal
Everybody started eating not wasting a moment of time, kids, men, women, they were all exhausted, the men who was angry about about his ticket spoke to the boy who was waiting for his father earlier and said
"So, Jason I heard your entering 14 tomorrow, you're going to be an adult I see, going to the mines and getting your own food, sleeping with the adults"
Jason wanted to speak while his mouth was full, his father did not allow
"Finish your food first" he said
The man continued without care
"Who knows, with enough hard work you will be like your father, such a trusted worker amongst the guards" in a sarcastic tone
As whispers started to appear in the stable the man spoke again
"Such a hard worker your father is, no pressure can stop his work ethic, even a rock slide inside a cave wont"
"And perhaps what did you do Aron? Did you strike a skull open "finally the father replied
From the door entered the guards and their chief, all sounds disappeared
"Now food time is over, head back to your dorms already" said the chief, everybody poured their food in the bucket, wither they finished it or not
As they were leaving Jason's father walked on his right as if covering him, he was nervous, Jason noticed it and did not speak, it was as if he was been hidden
he walked him out and the moment he wished to push him in the women's crowd he heard a sound
"Hold on there" said the chief putting his hand on the father's shoulder, he leaned down to Jason and said "I think this one is going in the other line" he looked up at the father and said "Right?"
A moment passed, it seemed like the father had every possible scenario dancing under his flesh, he hesitated to talk out, but out of fear he said "Yes..."
the chief stood up and stretched his hand showing him the way, the father followed quietly holding his son, Jason looked at his sister who wished to follow but the women took her alongside them
They went inside the men's house, half fallen roof, cracks in the wall gave the cold air a way in to dance under their ripped covering over the beds
Morning came back once more, the guards woke them up and guided them through the forest, Jason walked beside his father
Everybody went inside and started working, as they mined an old men dropped out of hunger and exhaustion, the guard in charge of the cave noticed that and went to him
"Pick it up" he said looking down on him
The old man showed no sign of replaying ,the guard said once more "Pick, it, up" before taking big whip, one hit after another carved his skin inside out, no more then 4 hits before the old man fainted of pain, when the 5th hit was about to strike the guard heard a sound "Ser!"
he looked at the source, it was Aron, "I will take him to be treated, ser" he said, the guard grinned and moved back, Aron took him on his shoulder and walked out
the men went back to their work silently, they were used to such things happening every now and then
Although Jason was suppressed, stunned, that is something they weren't used to in the women's side, but his father woke him up from his daydreaming
As the night closed in everyone left the cave taking their buckets alongside them, as they entered the camp, they saw some weird carriages there, beside them were a total of 6 children 2 girls and 4 boys, and a man with a mask of metal not showing any facial features, there was also some nice looking knights that came with them, Jason did not care much of it as they went to eat their food.
Although his father stared at the masked man for a moment, as if trying to remember something he thought he knew, he let it pass walking alongside his
Right before handing the buckets some guards came closer with a horse carriage that handles food, a big piece of clothing painted in mud and blood was inside of it, it was covering something, they dropped down some shovels, and without a word, the men carried everything as they went towards a little garden
Jason looked to see it's a human hand, they dig until Jason hit something, a human hand, time ate its part of it already, he felt speechless as the men uncovered the white cloth giving it back to the guards, the old men was dead inside it, they threw him over the bodies and covered what they could
Everybody went back to eat without a word, what can they say? Jason ate silently, Aron was playing with his food, he hit the plate over and over with his spoon, he was dee in his own world before he spoke
"Are we really going to stay like this? Dying one after another like rats? This camp is a death sentence"
He was like a crazy man speaking to himself, none wished to start a rebellion, they were hesitant, Aron gave a quick look at someone before they spoke up two
One after another some people started to talk and noise reached the guards, Aron spoke once more pointing at Jason's father
"If you wish upon living the life of a slave, be his guest",
in no time they sat silent once more as the man by the door alarmed them "The guards are coming"
The guards came forward, the place was silent,
The next morning the guards barged into the houses of both men and women, took almost everyone who talked yesterday about freedom, and dragged them out, as everybody watched in horror, The chief stepped up while the salves were tied above some wooden planks
"These demons wished upon your distraction; they wanted to sway you towards unauthorized rebellion that will lead you nowhere" said the chief as he was looked at the terrified and confused crowd
The chief took a torch of fire and continued saying "Thankfully a brave warrior of yours stopped the dangerous act with our help"
Panic and confusion grew bigger, people started questioning each other, fights were about to break out, some stared at Jason's father who clinched his son's hand tightly
the chief without hesitation pointed into the crowd and said, "All thanks to Aron and his friends for spotting and reporting these people" before lighting the ones caught on fire
Aron filled with fear said "Wait what?, you must be mistaken something" Aron said trying to convince the people that he is no traitor
the chief doubled on it and said "Weren't you the one who started the rebellion, we agreed that you will do it and tell me who joined in didn't we?"
Eyes glared at Aron, he tried to plead for help from the chief " This wasn't what we agreed on, how does this help you?!"
"No, it does not help me, specifically" the chief said before going back to his tent inside the guard's camp
Jason was too stunned by the smell of flesh and screams to give a care to the conversation,
Aron spoke up to the crowd and said "This is a trap, he is trying to divide us, don't listen to him,"
They did not care for such things, the sound of screams from the fire was loud enough to break any attempts of fixing his reputation
"I was tricked, it was not my fault" when night fell and everybody went to sleep, Aron tried his hardest not to close his eyes, it wasn't long before fatigue caught him, and the people surrounded his bed
The next morning, they buried his body, but the tension in the camp did not calm down, it only hardened, trust became a lie
This time the people weren't sent to the camps or the caves, the chief called upon them and spoke
"Your work for the next couple of days will be to fix the stable, clean its surroundings, and rebuild the houses"
The guards handed the people the materials before the chief continued "in a couple of days you will be sent to another camp to join your brothers" before he left the people to work it out
By night time when the people went to get food, they noticed their portions went low.
"What is this? This is half a meal for each person" said one of the people
"You are not working in the mines to take a full meal" replied the guard writing down that another one got his meal
"You are the ones that made us work in the stable for our low numbers" said the man frustrated and angry
"I am not the one that led half my people to their doom" replied the guard "maybe next time you will think twice before trying to star a rebellion"
People went to eat in the stable that is undergoing a reconstruction, Jason overheard one of the guards saying,
"The cleaning is almost over in the other camps, it will be a matter of time before it happens to this one as well"
He reached the stable to eat and asked his father
"What do they mean by cleaning the camp" everybody in the room went silent, there was no replays from his father either, no spoons moved for a minute, only the children continued eating for they did not understand the horrible truth, the whisper uncovered by one lucky ear.