1 Rats

How dare you steal from us, you filthy one-eyed rat!" roared a bald, muscular man as he punched a dark-haired boy who laid on the ground harder and harder. 

Two of his henchmen stood behind the man with arms crossed, one of them harbored a twisted smile on his face, while the other one's expression showed reluctance.

 The boy neither fought back nor screamed. He just crouched, holding a loaf of bread in his arms, defending it from the bald man. 

The man could see that the child would not give in, he just looked back at him with his blood-like red eye, which made him even more furious. He pulled out his knife to finish the boy once and for all. 

"Zachary, please stop, there is no need to kill him, he is just a child!' interrupted the reluctant henchman. 

"Don't stop him, Dale. What message would it send to the others if we show mercy to every single rat that you begin to pity?" Said the other henchmen towards Dale with a tone that indicated his annoyance. 

"Oh please! So you want us to kill everyone in the slums? If so, be my guest, Zolen!" Spat back, Dale.

Their argument started getting increasingly heated, almost devolving into a fistfight.

"Enough, both of you! It's your lucky day, rat! But the next time I see you, you will wish that I killed you just now." 

Before leaving, Zachary kicked the boy in the guts, but strangely, the boy did not try to defend himself this time either

Instead, he subtly tapped Zachary's boots, releasing a barely visible red mist from his hands. It was so faint that Zachary completely missed it.

"G...d n…. Z....ry" Muttered the boy, a sinister smile crept up his face before his consciousness faded into nothing.

Luckily for him, Zachary and the others had already left so they could not hear his mutters. 

After about an hour, he slowly regained consciousness.

Checking to ensure he still had his bread, he weakly got up from the ground and dusted himself off. 

The loaf had gathered a bit of dirt from being on the ground and had even dried out, but the boy couldn't care less. Despite bleeding from his nose, at this point, it didn't bother him either. 

Slowly and painfully, he walked into the dark alleyways, traversing the streets of Dein, one of Rondor's biggest cities, over the years, it had become second nature to him.

These alleyways were just like the rest of the city, full of filth. 

The houses were nothing more at this point but run-down shacks crumbling brickwork, peeling paint, and shattered windows. 

As the boy wandered through the dark alleyways, his bare feet stumbled upon something that initially felt warm, but quickly turned painful—a rat sank its teeth into his leg. 

Instead of panicking, he calmly crushed the rat with his feet before continuing his journey in the dark alleyways.

After five minutes, he arrived at a run-down tent.

The moment he entered, a bunch of sharp threads instantly wrapped around his neck, but the moment they drew his blood, they retreated immediately. 

"What took you so long, you bastard? I was worried sick. I began to think that they caught you!" A girl cried out in frustration, tears beginning to form around her eyes. 

The girl had strange, bright green hair like grass, her eyes were green like emeralds, and her long pointy ears indicated her elven heritage.

"Well… to be honest, they did catch me, but hey, at least we got a loaf of bread," shrugged the boy before slowly lying down on the ground.

The moment she heard that, her expression turned angry.

"Should we kill them?" asked the girl, her anger slowly retreating as her expression warmed up, looking at the wounds of her friend.

The boy stood still for a couple of moments, seemingly deep in thought, then started to show the same anger the girl did.

"This time, it's personal, no 'We', just me!" Said the boy while rubbing his bloody nose with a dark expression. 

The girl's previous rage was gone, replaced with worry, she cast a glance at his injured nose, she knew it was nothing for him. But as she looked at his neck, a feeling of guilt washed over her.

"By the way… sorry for your neck…" Hearing this, his expression softened instantly, mirroring hers, and then a mischievous grin found its way to his face.

"To be honest… I feel betrayed, you just attacked me out of nowhere, even though I brought us bread. Isn't this a little too heartless, even for you?" It was hard to take him seriously with a grin on his face.

"I take that back, now I don't even feel bad!"

The moment their gazes locked onto each other, they threw their heads back, laughing hysterically.

"We are laughing now, but I was honest when I said that it hurts."Said the boy with a light chuckle, but a small wince came from him, showing that he truly was in pain.

Hearing this, she stopped laughing and immediately tore a strip from her clothing to use as a bandage.

As she cautiously wrapped the bandage tightly around his neck, she asked him:

"When do you plan to kill him?"

"I have to act fast, I will heal fast, so they will know right away that I'm gifted... I'll kill him tonight. Then we immediately move somewhere else before they find us."

"Do we really have to run away again? I'm so tired of running." As she said that, the boy furrowed his brows.

"You know why we have to run. It's either getting burned at the stake or getting drafted into the war against Edoran. I don't know about you, but I don't like either option."

"I don't like either, and you know it. I'm just so tired... of all of this." Seeing her like this broke the boy's heart. He knew that they had been on the run for too long, and for that, he blamed himself.

The boy hugged her gently and whispered:

"I know it's been tough, but we'll manage somehow. We always do."

These comforting words brought tears to the girl's eyes, while a subtle smile crept its way onto her face. What she felt was a mixture of gratitude and relief, thanks to his words, their situation didn't seem that frightening anymore. 

She just whispered, "Thank you."

After a couple of minutes, the boy slowly pulled out of their hug and said:

"We should sleep for a while because tonight, we strike!"

"So now it's 'we,' not just you?" Asked the girl teasingly, which made both of them smile.

"Just sleep, damn it!" Said the boy, in an annoyed tone, but the smile remained on his face, betraying how he truly felt.

Before heading to sleep, the two of them ate the slightly dirty and dried bread, savoring their meager feast while bickering with each other. 

The bread wasn't much, but it helped to ease their hunger.

 *** 

In the cover of the night, the two of them stood on one of the rooftops close to the camp of Zachary and his henchmen.

"Did you mark him? Or do we just run them down here?" asked the woman, her voice cool and calculating, while her fingertips moved in a strange manner. 

Upon closer inspection, one could see barely visible strings extending from her fingertips. 

"Don't worry, I marked him after he kicked me in the stomach. Just be ready in case I fail, even though I won't!" said the boy as he winked at the girl before disappearing from sight.