The warm sun on his skin brought smile to Raijens face as he shifted in his bed. Wanting nothing more then to sleep for a few more minutes before he was forced to wake up and go to school. As he stretched his arms, his hand scraped over the wooden surface and hit a metal bar.

Bolting upright his eyes went wide as he took in his surroundings. Driving through a countryside they were enveloped by wast grass plains with nothing around them other then a road and mountains in the distance. The mountains were huge, bigger then anything he ever saw. He couldn’t even see the edge of them, as they we were going closer and closer to the forest under the mountains.

What really surprised him was when he looked around, Raijen was riding in some kind of carriage. More like a moving cage, with wooden floor and roof and metal bars instead of walls, it was quite a change compared to stone blocks enveloping him for the last five years. There were several other children inside as well all staring at him.

“Yeah, it is quite intense seeing so much new things after all the time in the room.”

One of the boys with emerald eyes mumbled as Raijen’s eyes went over them.

“So you all were too?”

“Yea, it is an actually common thing amongst slaves from what mother told me.”

Spear hit the bar next to them starting them with the metal clang.

“Shut it, little bastards.”

Guard shouted and all the boys went instantly silent, with visible fear on their faces their eyes went to the floor.

I guess that isn’t the first time they met him, and they are all afraid.

Now looking at the kids, all of them sat in the middle of the cell, away from the bars, as if not to get anywhere near the guards and the violence they promised. Scrambling on his knees near them, two of the boys made some space between each other without any hint of hesitation. Turning around Raijen sat down between them, bringing his knees close and locking hands around them.

The guard in the tunnels mentioned some mountains and the hell they are on it is own.

Shivering at the though Raijen glanced at the grey peaks of mountains they were approaching. The sun was warm in the midday, but when he looked closer at the grass, it was starting to turn brown and all the men had thick cloaks around shoulders.

Winter was coming, and we were taken to the mountains. There is no way we can survive whatever is waiting for us there, can we?

Two days passed by since Raijen first woke up in the carriage, staring at the gray mass in front of them, his guts were twisting into knots.

We are probably on our last day of travel, based on the distance from mountains now, we would reach them today, just before the sun falls behind those sharp, white peaks.

The day felt colder than yesterday, with only rags on their bodies and one warm bowl of slop for food, they were huddled close to each other sapping the warmth from one another in the contest of who would survive the journey. Raijen was almost certain one of the boys was dead, but getting up to confirm it meant losing that so treasured warmth. And it felt like too much of a bother to make sure of something they all knew.

Nobody said anything since that first warning when Raijen woke up. He didn’t see much of a point and there was nothing they could tell him what he didn’t already know or gleaned from the conversations of men who were escorting them.

I wonder what his name was, or what are the names of any of them. Do I really care, or are they just bodies to keep me from freezing to death?

Probably the later one.

When they passed the first body several hours from their destination, nobody so much as stirred. They all knew people were taken here to die, the bodies littering the road meant they weren’t the only ones.

When the bodies started to pile up something in Raijen’s stomach shifted. He hoped this would be some kind of test. That they were simply taken into a place were it was expected for most people to die, for children to die. And maybe, he could use the fact that he was way above any other normal kid his age to navigate through it all.

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This is just a dead man's land. We easily crossed over two, three dozens of bodies and no one from the guards even batted an eye.

Chill started to set into Raijens bones over the apathy he felt a moments ago towards the uncertain future. Only now did he realize it was much colder around them then he though a moment ago.

Looking to his left the boy he talked to at the beginning wasn’t moving. His body was sucking the temperature from Raijens. Closing eyes and deciding to wait for what would come he felt himself snoozing into surprising comfort.

Maybe I can rest for a while longer.

His thoughts were cut way too short as the carriage suddenly halted and guards forced them out of the cage. The fact that three out of seven come out registered on his mind only briefly. Looking around he saw dozens of boys sitting in small groups huddled together looking at them. Surprisingly at the edge of the forest under the mountains wasn’t that many dead bodies, but mostly the living ones.

Did they drag the dead away or did some of them try to get away from the forest hoping they could cross the plains on foot?

“You, come here!”

Not wanting to get into trouble Raijen dragged his feet near the men who pointed at him.

Grabbing his shirt the guard pinned piece of metal on it and moved to call the others. Watching him pin tags on others Raijen realised all of the kids had them, each was different, but there was no one alive near the woods who didn’t have the metal piece of iron.

As the guards finished they saddled horses and rode away without looking back, eager to be rid of this place and return to their home.

With the sun hiding behind the peaks of the mountains and bathing horizon in rich orange, chill of the night started to settle into their bones. Most of the kids huddled together attempting to share in the little warmth their bodies provided. The pin on Raijens chest was heavy, oval shape with imprinted cross and chains.

Representing the House of Chains which took everything from him without ever considering the kind of life it meant for them.

But for the first time since he was reborn, for the first time he opened his eyes to this world, there was something he could do about it. It wasn’t hard to imagine what the pins were for. Fingering his with dirty hands, there was the lingering fear at the back of his mind, some apprehension nagging at him.

What if something happens when I take it off? No, the better question is, what would happen when I take it off?

He grabbed the cold metal and pulled with all his strength. His hand shot forwards as the pin come off much easier then expected. Looking at it for a few seconds his hand started to lose strength as the tension in muscles relaxed and the pin dropped to the ground. Sparing it one last look he attempted to join others, but something in the forest caught his attention.

Lights.

Torch lights were closing on them, slowly but steadily they were coming closer. Another breeze touched his pale skin through the hole in the shirt. And at that moment something in his mind clicked.

What if the tags aren’t just indication of which house you are from, but something more? Surely the people coming for us weren’t looking for some random strangles, but expected selected few from the slavers they had contract with. What if they find someone without a tag amongst the rest?

Glancing behind his back on the cross with chains in the dirt, the boys started to stand up as if anticipating what was to come. They looked as if they knew what is next.

Raijen darted for a bunch of corpses few hundred feet away. Heart pounding in his ears, sweat soaking his shirt and hair plastered to the face Raijen turned one of the corpses around. Looking at the dead body his stomach flipped over and he trowed whatever was left in it all over the corpse. Wheezing from extortion of his exhausted body Raijen turned from the corpse, grabbed the hand of another and pulled it closer.

This one was in better shape but not much. The same oval tag was on his chest, but this one had encrusted two roses strangling one another, over which will reach higher and survive. Ripping the pin off he clipped it on his tattered shirt just in a moment when first of the figures exited the foliage.