World of Mages. Outskirts of the Southern Continent. Kingdom of Arun. City of Rent.

My name is Sam.

I am now 10 years old and have been an orphan for as long as I can remember.

My first memories were when I was 4-5 years old. Earning money for my father as a beggar. I remember his disgusting stench of urine mixed with alcohol. From his words I remember only something about the fact that being a beggar is a crime. He was repeating those words all the time.

Although I have been afraid and hated my father since early childhood, these words have etched themselves into my mind forever. I was born as a criminal, but I did not intend to die as a criminal.

However the memories of my father were fleeting. I fell into the hands of a local gang and later learned that he had died. It didn't change anything for me it just changed people who I earn money for and since then I was working along with some other orphans.

One of the gang's sources of income was children from 5 to 12 years old. Begging was our main but not our only occupation. However you could be beaten to death or limbed for stealing so we tried to resort to it only if there was no other choice.

With age many of the children joined the gang or we were used for other purposes.

A bandit named Rotten looked after us. In fact he was a small fry in the gang hierarchy but for us he was a nightmare. Often he beat those who did not fulfill the weekly wage or tried to hide income. Or he could do it if he had a bad day.

For the last four years, it was he who looked after us and I remember very well that initially he was not like that. However over time he became angrier and ruthless. Although he still tried not to maim the children because in fact we were the property of the gang and brought in income.

Today Rotten was angry as never before and it was I who became its victim.

I made friends with several children and we planned to run away from here but when the day of the escape came Rotten met me at the exit.

Subjected to many years of beating both physically and psychologically the children quickly broke down and it was difficult for them to try to change something. I was the same but still deep down I did not lose hope of escaping and believed that I had found like-minded people. But as it turned out I was wrong.

- Little piece of shit! - hissed Rotten continuing to beat me.

This time he did not try to restrain himself too much striking not only on the body but also on the face. Luckily he took breaks cursing me and letting me catch my breath so I wouldn't choke. But he soon decided that this was not enough and after a little thought smiled ominously.

- You know what? We have too few disabled people in our team I think if I break your leg you will be even more useful as a beggar.

When I heard this statement I was horrified in earnest. Even after the current beatings it will take a long time to recover and if he breaks my leg then with a high probability I will simply die. There is no proper medicines in this hole it would be easier to feed me to the rats.

I could hardly breathe and my whole body burned with pain. My face was smeared with blood and snot but even so, after hearing his words I found the strength to speak.

- Three times more! I will bring in three times more money weekly ... - I said with difficulty bursting into tears.

I knew that it was useless to rely on his pity the only thing that could help me was Rotten's greed for money. All money other than the weekly minimum will belong to Rotten.

Luckily that was enough to make Rotten finally forget the idea of ​​hurting me. Perhaps he originally planned to make more profit or wanted to scare me to death in order to finally break me. In any case I was able to survive this day.

Other children tried to help me in any way they could. I tried to behave as usual although I felt a terrible cold in my heart. I didn't care who betrayed me. From now on I could only rely on myself.

The first couple of days were very hard but after a week I was finally able to recover a bit. Even though I didn't work all week I still gave Rotten 3 times the week's earnings. I have long tried to put aside some money for a rainy day otherwise an unenviable fate awaited me.

However even for me it was impossible to earn such a sum every week so every day I had less and less time to escape.

On one of the counters a woman cut several varieties of apples and removed the stagnant apples from the counter and put fresh ones in their place. Suddenly a piece of tile fell from the roof of the house and tearing the thin fabric covering the counter fell behind the saleswoman.

Frightened she turned towards the sound and saw that the tile had landed in one of the boxes damaging several apples.

- Well what a trouble. - she wailed and began to fiddle with the goods.

Soon she returned behind the counter and warmly greeted the customers. Only a few hours later when she decided to renew the apples on the counter she suddenly remembered about the knife. But no matter how much she searched she could not find it.

A month later I finally waited for the right moment.

I thought a lot about what happened and in the end decided not only to leave but also to get rid of the Rotten.

I hated this piece of shit with all my heart but I was not sure that I could accomplish my plan. However I was sure that if I will just ran away like this the Rotten would definitely kill or maim one of the children.

Although I didn't know who exactly betrayed me I still didn't want someone from those with whom I spent several years of my life to be killed because of me.

In addition Rotten was not so cruel initially so I came to the conclusion that if you change the warden then at least at the beginning it will be easier for kids. That's all I could do for my friends.

Another thing is that I was terrified at the mere thought of what I was going to do so I was not as sure of myself as I would like. But my decision was firm and I did not let doubts stand in my way.

Rotten lived in a tavern and drank there regularly although he rarely got drunk to the point of unconsciousness. But tonight he clearly reached the desired condition.

I hid in the darkness of a nearby alley and held a knife in my bosom. The street was deserted and the guards rarely appeared in this quarter at all and even more so at night.

Once again Rotten went out of the tavern to relieve himself while he hardly moved his legs and muttered curses to himself.

Not noticing anyone in the area I moved in his direction. I moved barefoot so I hardly made any sounds. Soon I was already standing right behind the Rotten. While at that time he himself leaned with one hand against the wall bending over and staggering to relieve himself.

Diligently trying to control my breathing and not think about anything I grabbed the knife with both hands and began to go around his side.

Even imagining what I had to do I was seized with fear and horror. So preparing for this moment I repeated to myself a million times that in no case should I think or use my imagination. Just clear my mind and mechanically do what I had planned for a long time. No pauses or reflections.

And so it happened. As soon as I picked up the right angle taking a couple of light steps I swung with both hands and stabbed the knife right in the throat of Rotten.

Most of all I was afraid that I would miss at the most crucial moment. It's scary to imagine what would happen to me after. But luckily I didn't miss.

Feeling the knife sinking into flesh I finally woke up and recoiled the knife remaining in Rotten's neck. Despite the fact that I could not plunge the knife into the neck even by a half, judging by what happened next this was enough.

By inertia Rotten leaned against the wall and slid to the ground after which he turned in bewilderment in my direction. Seeing me his pupils dilated but not from horror but from anger. He was obviously trying to say something but instead a wheeze was heard and blood spurted from his mouth.

Then he seemed to begin to understand what had happened and the anger was finally replaced by horror. He continued to emit incomprehensible wheezing. The body began to tremble strangely but after a minute or two he finally calmed down.

I myself was laying on my ass and watched with horror the whole process from beginning to the end. I came to my senses only after Rotten finally died.

Then everything was like in a dream. I headed towards the city wall. Towards the place I had long ago chosen for my escape. Having found a hidden rope I climbed a tree and jumped from it to the city wall then tying the rope began to descend. Jumping off I wandered away from the city.

The chill of the night brought me to my senses a little and I finally began to slowly calm down. However I kept looking back and praying that I wouldn't be chased.

I have never seen snow only heard about it. Even in the winter it was warm during the day. Even at night it was difficult to freeze to death. This kind of weather has been a blessing for the locals and for me in particular.

I had only a piece of bread and no weapons with me. I was afraid that with a weapon in my hands I would get hurt during the escape or create unnecessary noise. I didn't plan my escape too far anyway so had to run as it is.

I kept close to the road. Outside the city were the territories of different lords so as long as I was moving along the road the likelihood of meeting a dangerous beast was minimized.

By morning, I saw in the distance something like a castle apparently it was there that the lord of the local territory lived. I walked around him but continued to move in the opposite direction from the city.

Closer to dinner I was very tired and I was already hungry and very thirsty. Luckily I found a river and got drunk after which I found something like fields and started digging trying to dig up something edible while trying to stay away from the local huts.

Finally having satisfied my hunger and thirst I felt terribly tired. Soon I fell into the grass and quickly passed out.