The snow glowed alongside the rising sun, as a down of a new day erupted, the sound of mounts waking up was the only thing that broke the silence of the winds, the guy who suggested the boy as a rat killer woke up, walking to the room he found the door still closed, he opened it walking to the double bed inside, he kicked the lower part waking the first boy up, as he climbed the stairs for the second one he said
"Boy this is the adult life, we wake at dawn, don't take the one beneath you as a good example- "he stopped once he found the bed has already been done and is empty, a little hand pocked at him from behind him, he turned back and down to find Roman is all ready,
The other boy woke up, eyes half closed he said "Good morning and nice to meet you new comer" as he shacked the leg of the man
In the other room both kids are setting, in front of them standing the man, "now, my name is broody, although you won't be meeting me past today keep it in mind, you companion here is Yarem"
Said the man "My job was the same as you, of course my partner is the one beside you, or was" as he pointed at the boy beside Roman
As he handed Roman very heavy clothes he said "These you will need to treasure, you will die of coldness outside without them, you will have a day shift this time Roman, but Yerman will be guiding you"
Him and Yerman reached the storage, "This is what we are in charge off today" Said Yerman "As you can see below are little holes, don't worry they are maid by us" as he opened the door to go inside
"When you enter be sure to hang your torch here, so you don't burn anything by accident" as he hanged his by the side of the door
"As you can see bellow there are boxes of steel bars that let you see the insides for any caught things, we used to it the but after the sickness we don't eat any dirty animals anymore," said Yerman
"Now if any is caught, you will see the hole closed from outside, you will come in and take the box, and execute whatever inside with this"
As he showed him a very slim piece of metal that is very sharp,
"You get it through the bars and cut the creature in half, any questions?" as Roman stayed asked "What will you do now?"
"I will be going to get more sleep, mu shift is at night so we won't be meeting a lot, if you need anything I'm at my bed or eating"
"Now, at day there won't be any creatures that will hunt around here because of the noise from the people, so relax yourself and get used to it" as he left Roman and went away
There sat Roman on a small log by the door, looking at people coming from here to there, nothing exciting happened, only people doing their daily routines, some time passed, and the sun reached the peak of the sky, his stomach started growling as he grew hungrier, looking around him for any means of food, while he was sending his head from side to side, a hand gently tapped on his shoulder
He looked back to find it his aunt marry
"How is my big boy doing in his first day at work," said the aunt as she hugged him close
"I am fine" as he tried to push her
"What? You got a job so you are too big for such things" as she pinched his cheeks
"I am trying to watch over the rats" as she shacked his head while pinching his cheeks
"Well, you can't do such a thing with an empty stomach" she pulled from her basket some food for him as she named them," a hot soup, some small pieces of bread, and a hidden little piece of butter- "as he cut her with a happy and excited voice taking it out of her hand
"A butter honey bread!" he said excitedly
She laughed at him as she said "Don't expect to get it any other time soon, you know I hade to take it in secret, this is just for your first day here"
He hugged her before she could breathe after finishing her sentence, she was shocked for a second, but afterwords she too hugged him, a bright smile on her face then she pushed back and put both hands on his cheeks pushing them towards each other," now I have to go back to the orphanage, so be a good big boy and take care of finishing your food first, she said to him
"Don't you worry Aunt marry" with his cheeks still pushed together she gave him a kiss on his forehead and went away waving to him from a far
He went on devouring his food as night fell in, he was almost falling asleep but he fought it with all his might, just when he was about to, the sound of a closing cage woke him up, he slowly picked the torch from above him and opened the door, hanging it where Yerman told him to he saw a rat inside a cage, it was big enough to not escape it, the cage was tight around it so it was stuck there, he slowly picked the cage, carful not to get bitten and took it outside as he got out he put it down, took the light back to its place and closed the door, he slowly took out of his thick clothes the slim razor used to kill these creatures
Raising his hands up he looked at the creature staring at him with pitiful eyes
"Are you going to do it or not" a voice said behind him as he got scared and looked behind, it was Yerman staring at him while holding some bread in his hand
Roman did not know how to answer so Yerman took it out of his hand and said "Then let me do it" as he walked forward to the cage
"No!" yelled Roman "Let me do it, I need to, but not here, we don't want to spill blood in here do we?"
As he took both the cage and the flat knife, walking as the sun was going down, he walked out the village, the guards let him out as he showed them the cage, in the snow he stood, rat on the ground, and the execution weapon in his hand, ha stared at him before lifting it up, the rat closed it eyes after seeing so, just to hear the cage open
"Go!" said the boy as he poured the rat out its prison as if pouring water, Roman walked back holding the cage in his hand, he heard some squeaking noise behind him when he turned back he saw the rat standing, he walked more, and stopped to see, the rat is still behind him, the space in between them never got bigger no matter how much he walked, he tried running but its all the same, than he tried acting like he is going to run and looked back to see the rat walked some steps
"Aha!!" he said "Caught you, now go back to your family," no respond
"No really if you follow me, they will kill you" still no respond the boy looked back and forth at the setting sun and the rat
In the village Yerman who was waiting, "So did you finish it?" said Yerman
"Yes sir" said Roman as he showed him the empty cage
Yerman looked at the empty cage, and the slim knife empty of any sign of blood that Roman was trying to hide behind his back "Whatever as long as you got rid of it, now go eat dinner with the rest they are. Not really waiting, you are just lucky to be on time"
Roman put back the cage into its location and walked away, he walked weirdly to the dinner table, but Yerman did not care much of it at all as he sat on the log eating his bread
At the centre everybody gathered Roman was about to set on the kids table, but one of the big boys lifted him up from his armpits like a little baby and said "What do you thing you are doing here" as he put him standing down, he grabbed into his hand and walked alongside him
"I am eating at the table"
"No, you are not, you will be eating here" as he sat him on the adults table, the one on the other side
He sat down stunned by how he is small compared to them, but happy, when they noticed him the first to speak was one on his left," Aren't you the little rabbit from yesterday?"
"What?" said Roman
"Wow it is you, take this" as he handed him a chicken leg from a plat that was too far for him
Another one asked him "It is you! Where were you assigned to?"
"Me? Uh to the storage" said Roman
"Storage lucky you, I was assigned to clean the toilets" said another one
One after another he was drowning in questions until an adult spoke "Now children, eat and let others do the same no more chatting at the table "as silence creeped in
"Who is that" Roman whispered to his left
"That? Oh, he is the one who found the green lands this summer, the leader of the expedition team"
"He seems cool" said Roman
"Right? I know he is famous, but I guess you wouldn't know of him until you reach adult's life" replied the one on his left
As everyone continued eating, the sound grew larger, a big guy was eating from his plate until it was empty "Where is the rest" he said with a full mouth
"Search behind that fat" replied to him one of the boys as his friends laughed at it
"There is no more food" said the leader of the expedition team "you ate double the others because you were from the expedition team, be happy with that"
"I can't just stay like this, what about yesterday," said the big man
"Yesterday was special, not every day is the same," said another guy
"Then what I'm I supposed to do with an empty stomach like this," said the big man
The boy who joked on him from earlier replied "Exercise maybe" as he laughed again with his friend
The big man's face changed colour as he stood up his shadow covering the table," maybe I will eat your share, that might fill a little, you are too small to eat that much anyway"
"What are you a pig?!, I won't give it to you anyway" said the boy as everybody looked towards them and the air went silent
"I want asking" said the big man before a sound of a knife being planted in the table echoed
The chief was the one to do it" set down, or you will be shewing on soup for the rest of your life" he said
The big man looked around him, everybody is staring at him, some are glaring, others confused he pushed the chair behind him to the ground and walked away, as everybody went back to what they were doing
A kid spoke to Roman and said," If that man continues that, he will end up thrown to the talisman challenge"
"Talisman challenge?" asked Roman
"You don't know about it?" said the boy as Roman shacked his head from side to side not knowing anything
"Well, you see, if someone gets too bad, and does evil things too much, instead of execution they are sent in a cold storm to find the statue and place the talesman on its forehead, if he does it, his sins are forgiven and he becomes the chief, and the winter ends while bringing the lands riches and warmth"
"And how does the talisman man looks?" said Roman
"I don't know" said the boy his mouth filled with food "Last time someone did something that bad to be sent into the storm was about 12 years ago"
As Roman looked at the crowd, his eyes filled with curiosity, one that only a childe could ever have, "Becomes the chief." He said to himself