She woke up early in the morning with her mother and sister. They had a quick breakfast, some fruit they had picked a few days ago that was already a bit overripe, and some pieces of stale bread.
As soon as they finished, they went together to the forest to look for fruit.
For a few weeks now, due to the current lack of security, they often go together. This way, they also spend time together as a family, since Kees especially complains if she has to stay indoors all day.
"Little brother, catch me if you can!" Kees shouted as she ran off into the woods.
She started running into the woods and after a few seconds, she stood between some bushes and held her breath as she heard footsteps coming. Her brother appeared, and, disoriented and not knowing where she had gone, he continued onward and disappeared into the thicket.
Kees chuckled at the sight of her managing to escape from her brother. She was usually caught right when they started playing. But of course, now he was 7 years old and old enough to fool even his brother.
"I'll go back to Mom's, so when Borwur comes back, dejected for not finding me, he'll see I was back where I started all along," she thought proudly with a smile on his face.
She was about to leave the bush when a hand grabbed his shoulder, and she jumped.
Kees turned to see who it was and was saddened to see it was Borwur.
"You caught me, brother," she said.
"It's just that your brother is very smart, so you can't fool me," Borwur said, smiling somewhat contemptuously.
"Yeah, whatever you say, mhm," Kees said, turning angrily and going back to her mother.
As Kees moved forward, Borwur stood for a moment, looking back.
A moment ago, he had been turning around the forest to appear behind her, trying to hide and scare her, since he had seen her go into the bushes. But just at that moment, he saw a large number of footsteps, too many, in several directions.
It was very strange, so he decided to quickly leave his hiding place and grab his sister and take her back to his mother.
What could be going on? Why would there be so many people passing through the depths of the forest? And on top of that, people heavy enough to leave deep footprints in the ground.
His train of thought was cut short by his sister's call. And so they returned together to their mother's and continued picking fruit as if nothing had happened.
Everything seemed to be normal, as far as that was possible, until a few days later.
While Borwur was home alone. He had gone ahead of his family to chop some firewood, as winter was beginning and the weather had worsened, dropping the temperature significantly.
As he was placing the freshly chopped firewood on the fire, he heard knocking on the door and prepared to open it for his mother and sister. However, he was surprised to see about five men in armor, the first being someone he knew. Although he had never seen him in such attire, he recognized him immediately. This was Rento, a man for whom he had done several small jobs, the last being delivering a letter to a nearby town.
The arrival surprised him quite a bit, but before he could continue to ponder the suddenness of the situation, one of the men next to Rento punched him in the stomach, causing him to drop to one knee.
"You should have had some manners and knelt from the start, insect," Rento said contemptuously as he spat at him.
"Well, whatever," Rento continued, "I'm here for something important. A little bird told us that you have a weapon in your possession, and hereby, following the rules of our great nobleman Viscount Reiner, everyone here will be sentenced to death."
A cold sweat ran down his forehead, followed by a shiver." How do they know I have a weapon?" Borwur thought. "I haven't told anyone since Volgur gave it to me, nor have I even spoken to Mother." His expression was so strong that Rento couldn't contain himself, and he started laughing as he said, "Look at your face. Are you wondering why we know this? Because it's going to be. Volgur told us."
Borwur didn't even know what expression to put on. "What do you mean, Volgur betrayed him? Why?"
Rento couldn't stop laughing along with his companions. "Look at that kid's stupid face," said one of the knights, grinning through his teeth. "Do you think he'll make the same face, or even worse, when he finds out what's happening to the rest of them?" laughed another of them.
"Okay, guys, that's enough," said Rento. "Come out and leave me alone with him for a moment."
Within seconds, the room emptied, and there they were, Rento standing in armor, with Borwur leaning head down on the floor.
Rento began to speak calmly: "Hey, kid. Do you remember when I met you? You were a skinny kid begging in the eastern parts of the village. And do you remember what I did? You made me feel so sorry for you, even though you were a forgotten, that I even gave you work, allowed you to live, helped you get ahead, for years without asking for anything in return." I'm so kind and friendly, even to people like you. But do you know what happened after I picked up the letter you gave me? I met your mother by chance and took an interest in her. I, a decent citizen, set my eyes on a disgusting forgotten woman. I'm that venerable and good. And do you know how she responded? That she couldn't, that even though the man she fell in love with has already passed away, she can't cheat on him, and that she was so sorry.
He continued talking, his voice getting louder and louder. "You know, I treated you so well. I gave you a job, money. You were able to survive because of me, and this is how that bitch repays me."
He lowered his gaze to meet Borwur's. "Ahh, fuck, how disgusting. You remind me of her with those dark black eyes. Okay, whatever, it doesn't matter now. Everything's ready. You have to come with me."
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