The snow just wouldn’t let up.
“Damn blizzard, freezing my nuts off.” Said the man to himself over the sound of the howling wind.
He handled the reins of his sled and commanded his reindeer to slow down. He wiped the snow from his goggles and looked around, it was near whiteout and all he could see was a mountainside in the distance.
He fiddled with his gloves and had the reindeer head in that direction. He hoped they might find some shelter from the cold.
He was right, or lucky as he’d say. The mountainside had a cave, it was about what one would expect but it would do. Pretty soon he had a small fire going inside and nestled against the stone wall with his four deer.
He finally removed his goggles, tugging them away from his greying hair. He sat by the fire warming his hands when he heard a distant sound from within the cave.
His bones creaked but he moved as quiet as he could, taking a bow and arrow from his pack and standing up. He’d explored enough to know the sound of a footstep.
He drew the bow taught and took a step into the cave. He was worried, the fire had made his eyes unadjusted to the dark. Whoever was deeper inside would have an edge.
“Whoever you are, come out now!”
He took a gamble.
From the darkness came a figure. Small, clothes tattered and torn, and blood speckled to and fro. The man nearly mistook it for a goblin, but no, it was a dirty little boy with long dark hair.
“Don’t move kid.”
The man closed an eye and aimed the arrow. He’d seen enough to know the world was a grim place, and a little kid wasn’t cause to let your guard down.
“I won’t hurt you.” Said the boy. He sounded as tired as he looked, like he hadn’t eaten well in a while.
“We won’t hurt you.”
The man fired an arrow at the boy’s feet, planting it in the ground as a warning shot. He quickly nocked another arrow and took aim at the boy’s head.
His eyes wavered a moment, something had moved. He glanced at the boy’s feet and saw a shiny beady pair of eyes staring at him.
A rat. Not just any rat, a dungeon rat. The size of a small dog and ravenous for anything that moved. The man shifted his aim toward it.
“N-no!”
The boy leapt over on top of the rat, shielding it with his body.
“Don’t hurt him! He’s my friend!”
He loosened the bowstring a bit, “Is that thing tame?”
The boy looked up, “He won’t bite. Not if I don’t tell him to.”
“Hmm.” The man grunted and lowered the bow. “Have a seat kid.”
A while later the two sat at the fire, eating what little food the man had brought with him. The rat was nestled in the boy’s lap, squeaking happily when he gave it some of his helping.
“How long you been here?” Asked the man between bites of jerky.
“I dunno. Few days maybe? It’s hard to tell in the dark.”
The man could tell it had been longer than that. The boy looked like he’d been stranded for weeks.
“How’d you get here?”
“My parents brought me.”
“Guess they’re dead, huh.”
“...Yeah.”
They were quiet for a while.
“That thing got a name?”
“Reginald.”
The man cracked a smile, “Reginald? Kinda dumbass name is that?”
“H-hey! It’s a perfectly decent name for a noble rat!”
The man laughed, “Sure thing kid.”
The two sat there eating and chatting till it was night time.
“Take these, keep your hands warm.” The man handed the boy his gloves. They were ridiculously oversized, but they did the job.
“And the name’s Riker. Get some shuteye, we’re heading out in the morning.”
“To where?”
“My place. Can’t just leave you here I guess. If you wanna go back to the city later, or wherever you’re from, be my guest. But for now, sleep.”
Neither had much in terms of bedding, so they clung to their animals. It was a harsh night, Riker had a hard time sleeping over the squeaking of the rat, it was louder than he expected. But eventually he drifted off, and morning came.
The blizzard had passed and he got the reindeer settled in, ready to leave. His things were packed, and all was ready.
“Hop in the sled kid, time to go.”
“Is your place nice?”
“If you wanna stay you’ll have to pull your weight. But yeah, better than nothing I guess. I’m gone a lot so you can help yourself to whatever I got there if you behave.”
The boy hopped in the sled and got seated, “Guess it doesn’t sound too bad…”
Riker fiddled with the reins as he spoke, “Better than some cave.” He took a glance over toward the cave mouth a hundred or so feet away. “‘Specially living in the dark with-”
He stopped. Another pair of eyes stared at him from the cave. And another. And another. And another.
Hundreds.
“With rats…”
The boy smiled, “Ready to go, mister Riker?”
The man cracked the reins without another word and sent them off, never looking back.
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