Chapter 1 - And it began...
The wind whistled through the old wooden beams of the farmhouse, finding its way through every crack the years had carved into the building. In the fireplace, the fire flickered weakly, its tired crackling the only warmth left in the small room.
Aldric sat on the rough wooden bench at the table, his elbows heavy on his knees, his head buried in his hands. For a long moment, he did not move.
Seren stood in front of him. His sister had her arms crossed over her chest, her slender fingers digging into the sleeves of her worn dress as if she needed something to hold on to. She looked down at him in silence, and the worry on her face was impossible to miss.
It was like almost every evening. After they had finished their work outside—if it could even still be called that—they sat here in the small farmhouse at the edge of their village, the place that had always been their home.
But in the past few weeks, something had changed. It had grown colder and emptier. Quiet in a way that felt wrong.
Seren studied her older brother, and Aldric knew all too well what she saw.
A face that had grown hollow. Deep shadows beneath his eyes that could no longer be ignored. A man marked by too many days without proper food and too many nights without sleep.
That morning, he had seen his reflection in the water barrel and had barely recognized the man staring back at him.
But what was he supposed to do?
The land around their village had never been easy to farm. The soil was hard and barren, and even in good years, every sack of grain had to be earned through backbreaking labor.
But this was not a good year.
It was worse than anything Aldric could remember.
The crops had withered in the fields long before they could properly ripen. The animals had grown weak, some had already died despite all their efforts. And what little remained had to be stretched thinner with each passing day.
Worst of all, it wasn’t just them. Everywhere around them, the same stories were being told. A devastating famine was spreading.
And there was no help in sight. The capital did not respond to pleas for aid, and the governor of their village refused to release any supplies from the stores. No one even knew if there were any reserves left at all.
And from there, too, they received nothing but silence.
At last, Aldric lifted his head.
“This can’t go on, Seren,” he said, his voice low and rough with exhaustion. “The farm gives us nothing anymore, and I can’t conjure money out of thin air.”
He let out a quiet, bitter breath.
“If we keep going like this, we’ll starve.”
Seren pressed her lips tightly together. She knew he was right. They had tried everything. Turned the soil again, even though it was already drained. Spoken to the neighbors, traded supplies, used every small opportunity to find something edible.
But nothing had helped.
The fields remained barren. The barn empty.
“Then we have to earn money another way,” she said quietly at last. “I can go work in the city.”
Aldric lifted his head. His gaze hit her hard, almost angry.
“No. You’re a woman. No one will hire you. And if they do… then only at a price I will never allow.”
Seren lifted her chin stubbornly, even though a shadow of exhaustion lingered in her eyes.
“I’m not a child anymore, Aldric. I can help. I want to help!”
“Not like that!”
He shot up from the bench as if stung.
In a land like this, honest work was rare. Farms could not afford workers. Every extra person meant another mouth to feed—and food was already scarce. Those looking for work rarely found it honestly.
And women… women were needed for entirely different things in times like these. The thought alone made anger rise in Aldric’s chest.
“I know exactly what you’re thinking,” he said sharply. “And that is not an option.”
Seren did not look away.
“We have to do something.”
“But not that.”
His voice hardened. He remembered all too well the promise he had made at their father’s deathbed. He had sworn to protect his sister, to ensure that nothing terrible would ever happen to her. And he would never break that promise.
He knew that out in the surrounding lands, some families had already made different choices. Children disappeared from homes. Boys were sold as laborers, and girls… for other purposes. Aldric could hardly blame them. When hunger came, many saw no other way out.
But for him, one thing was certain.
Seren would never be sold at such a price just to survive a few more weeks.
Not while he was still breathing.
Seren continued to look at him, and despite her firm words, there was a desperation in her gaze that matched his own. She only wanted to help, to find a solution—just like he did.
But Aldric already knew that this conversation would lead nowhere.
They were both too stubborn.
And both far too desperate.
Aldric stared silently into the fire for several minutes as it burned weakly in the hearth. The flames licked tiredly over the half-charred wood, their light flickering across the soot-darkened stones of the fireplace.
Even a fire in the evening would soon become a luxury.
Wood had grown scarce. Food even more so. And if the winter truly became as harsh as some claimed, they would eventually freeze without warmth.
The nights were already too cold.
His fingers unconsciously dug into the crumbling stone of the mantel. A piece of mortar broke loose under his pressure and trickled to the floor.
At some point, he let out a heavy sigh.
“I could ask the governor for work.”
Seren froze.
“He always needs strong men,” Aldric continued, still staring into the embers as if searching for an answer there. “I can make myself useful.”
Seren’s breath caught. She stared at her brother in disbelief.
“You can’t seriously be thinking about entering that man’s service!”
Her voice had turned sharp.
“Aldric, you know what happens to the people who work for him. Have you forgotten that most of them never come back?
And if they do… they’re not the same anymore.”
“Those are just rumors,” Aldric growled.
But even to his own ears, his voice sounded hollow. He knew just as well as she did that there was more behind those stories.
“I can’t just sit here and watch you sacrifice yourself while I do nothing,” he went on. “I am the man of this house, Seren. I have to find a solution.”
“And you really think the governor will give you honest work?”
Seren stepped closer, her voice trembling with suppressed fear.
“He will break you, Aldric. He will turn you into something you are not. And then I won’t just lose our farm… I’ll lose you too.”
Her eyes shimmered as tears gathered in them.
Aldric slowly shook his head and ran a hand through his disheveled hair.
“I have no choice.”
“Yes, you do!”
Seren remained firm.
“We will find another way. Maybe I can work for a wealthy family. Sewing, cleaning, anything. Or maybe we’ll still find a way to save the harvest.”
Aldric closed his eyes for a moment. These thoughts were not unfamiliar to him. He knew them all too well, had played them through countless times during long nights when sleep would not come and all he had were the circling doubts in his mind.
And yet he always reached the same conclusion.
There was no other way.
It was not only Seren and him standing at the edge of the abyss. The people around their village suffered just the same—neighbors, friends, entire families who had lived on this land for generations and now no longer knew how they would survive the coming winter. To Aldric, they were not just villagers. They were part of his life. And with that, part of his responsibility.
Perhaps there truly was no other way left.
“Do you even hear yourself?” he asked hoarsely, without lifting his gaze. “You really think you can earn enough with a few mended clothes or scrubbed floors to keep us both alive?”
Seren’s hands clenched into fists, the fabric of her dress tightening under her grip.
“And you really think you’re stronger than all the other men who have submitted to the governor?”
Her eyes flashed at him, full of anger—and something beneath it that weighed heavier than fury.
“You think you can just work for him for a few years and come back the same man?”
Her voice grew quieter, but that only made it more intense, each word cutting deeper.
“I know you, Aldric. You won’t bend to him. You’re far too stubborn for that.”
She swallowed, and for a brief moment something in her expression cracked.
“But if you resist him… then he will break you.”
A tremor entered her voice, barely audible and yet unmistakable.
“And then… there will be nothing left of you that can return to me.”
Silence settled over the room.
The fire in the hearth had almost completely died. Only glowing embers remained among the charred wood, casting a faint reddish light into the ever-darkening room.
Aldric breathed heavily, feeling his chest rise and fall slowly as his sister’s words settled within him.
He knew she was right.
But what was he supposed to do?
Just stand by and watch her sacrifice herself?
“I can’t let this world take you, little star,” he finally said quietly.
His voice sounded tired and heavy.
“You’re safe here on the farm.”
Slowly, he lifted his gaze to her.
“And you are important, Seren. The children from the neighboring farms need you.”
For a moment, he hesitated, as if the next admission was difficult for him.
“I need you here.”
Seren stepped closer, her voice barely more than a whisper.
“Then let me be there for you too.”
Carefully, she placed her hand over his rough fingers that still rested on the mantel. Her touch was gentle, almost hesitant, as if she feared that even the smallest movement might pull him away from her.
“Let me help.”
Aldric closed his eyes.
For a moment, he had to fight something within himself. His shoulders tensed, his breathing grew heavier, as if he had to make a decision that would drain all his strength.
Then he slowly pulled his hand away.
“Let’s talk about it again tomorrow,” he murmured at last and turned away from her.
He was too tired for another argument.
Seren remained where she was. Pain lingered in her eyes—and a growing frustration she could barely hide. She knew just as well as he did that time was running out, but Aldric did not want to feed the fear already taking hold of her.
Outside, the wind howled and rattled against the shutters as if trying to tear apart the tense silence in the room. The old wooden boards of the house groaned under the force of the gusts.
Aldric stared into the faint glow of the embers. The last red sparks flickered within the gray ash, as if they were struggling just as desperately against fading as he was against the thoughts in his head.
He could feel Seren behind him, feel her disappointment like a heavy weight on his shoulders.
He hated moments like this.
Hated arguing with her when they only had each other left. But even more, he hated this feeling of helplessness that kept eating deeper into his chest.
A dull knock suddenly broke the silence.
Aldric’s head snapped up, and a shadow crossed his face.
“Who could that be at this hour?”
Seren stepped back uneasily.
Aldric instinctively reached to the side, where his old axe leaned against the wall. His fingers wrapped tightly around the handle, the wood creaking softly under the pressure.
Normally, he would not have hesitated to open the door. He knew every man and woman, every child in the area. In a village like this, no one remained a stranger for long, and faces were as familiar as the fields they worked.
But since the famine had begun to threaten them, something had changed.
Strangers appeared more often. People no one knew, with hungry eyes and empty hands, trying to cling to whatever others still had left.
With a brief glance at Seren, silently telling her to stay behind him, he finally stepped toward the door and opened it.
Cold night air rushed into the room.
In the darkness outside, the figure of a man took shape, wrapped in a worn, greasy coat, its fabric marked by rain and hardship. His face looked pale in the dim moonlight, his skin weathered by wind and labor. His eyes were wide, filled with panic.
Aldric immediately recognized one of his neighbors—Stefan. Slowly, he loosened his grip on the axe just a little.
“Aldric… you have to come… quickly…”
The man’s voice trembled, broken and hoarse, as if he had barely had the breath to make it here, and even those few words seemed to cost him effort.
“They… they took him… he…”
“Easy, Stefan. What happened?” Aldric replied, trying to keep his voice calm, even as his body tensed again and his hand unconsciously tightened around the axe.
Stefan leaned forward slightly, gasping for air as if he had to piece the words together with effort.
“They took Garren…!”
He drew in a sharp breath, then forced out the next words as if they weighed heavily on his tongue.
“The governor’s men… they took him, Aldric. When he couldn’t pay his dues today, they just took him.”
Aldric felt something tighten inside him as the meaning of those words hit him with full force.
“Damn it…” he breathed, low and rough.
Garren had never been just a neighbor to him.
The old miller had helped him often—more than Aldric would ever openly admit—and Stefan knew that all too well, or he would not have come here in the middle of the night.
Since the accident that had destroyed Garren’s leg years ago, every task had become a burden for him, and yet he had never given up. He had always kept going, even when there had long been no reason left to do so.
Aldric and Seren had helped as best they could, had tried to give back even a fraction of what he had once given them, but they all knew their strength was limited—that they could not carry the weight of an entire life.
And yet it could not end like this.
To Aldric, Garren had been more than a neighbor, more than a friend—he had been the closest thing to an older brother. And the thought of simply letting him go without doing anything was unbearable.
With a firm motion, Aldric pulled his worn coat from the wall.
“Gather the others, Stefan,” he said calmly, but there was a determination in his voice that allowed no argument.
Stefan nodded immediately, as if he had expected exactly that answer, and disappeared back into the darkness and the pouring rain without another word.
Until recently, it had only been rumors—nothing more than whispered stories that the governor’s men took people when they could no longer pay their dues. No one had truly wanted to believe it, because it sounded too cruel, even for times like these.
But now it had become reality.
The people here had always fought to survive, had endured bad years and carried on through hunger and cold—and somehow, until now, things had always continued.
But apparently, the city had seen enough.
And Aldric knew they could not simply accept this—not when no help came from above, even though they needed it most.
He grabbed his axe and was about to turn away when he suddenly felt Seren’s hand on his wrist, holding him back.
“Aldric…” she said softly, and when he turned to her, there was panic in her eyes. “What are you going to do?”
“You’re staying here,” he answered calmly, but firmly. “Barricade the house and don’t go outside, do you hear me?”
For a moment, he pulled her into an embrace, holding her tighter than he meant to, before letting her go again and looking directly into her eyes.
“You’ll see. Everything will be fine,” he said quietly, and though his voice was calm, there was a promise in it.
“We’ll bring Garren back.”
Hey everyone,
I hope chapter 1 made you curious!
Feel free to leave a like or a comment – I’d really appreciate it.
Enjoy reading! 🖤
With Love, Luna
