Makeshift traps

On that fateful day, Nero was only 8 years old.

He was still young and innocent, far from a conqueror of worlds. His family lived in a village, which resembled the one he had just seen.

His home was far away from the next big city, and only a few people strayed into the village.

Both the thoughts and behavior of everyone there were basically the same. Nero's family consisted of him, his mother, and of course his sister Eliza.

He had never met his father, but his sister had met him. She always told him that his father had been a great warrior who died in battle. Only later would he learn that his father has been a pacifist and a strong believer in peace, whose life had ended at the rope for the crime of desertion.

Eliza was 4 years older than him, meaning she was already 12. She had long black hair and the same dark black eyes as Nero. Since they both had inherited their looks from their mother, one could tell from a distance that they were siblings.

He didn't remember his mother's name, and he wasn't even sure if he knew it then. Not that his mother was bad or violent, she was probably one of the best mothers you could have. She was kind, accommodating, and Nero couldn't remember a moment when she lost her patience. But he wouldn't be taking on an entire world if his past had been rosy.

The first problem was, that his father had left them almost nothing to live on. They were very poor, and since there was no man in the family, they could hardly earn anything. His mother had to take very indecent jobs to keep them afloat and both his sister and he had to go hunting every night.

However, they were still young and clumsy, and their trips were mostly unsuccessful.

Nevertheless, they were quite happy, despite the circumstances.

Until this very day, when they went hunting in the forest.

---------------------------------------------------

They were walking through a thicket, which was dried out by the cold of the winter. Nero was shivering and freezing all over his flax, but he didn't let it show, because Eliza didn't let it show either. It had already snowed, and he sank already up to the knees into the snow.

"It's cold and you'll freeze your limbs off, this is also good. You can read the animals' tracks more easily, and they react more recklessly to open prey."

Whispered Eliza in her always optimistic manner.

"Then we're going to look for tracks now, and then we're going to set up traps."

Eliza carried a homemade spear made of a stick and a sharpened stone, together with a homemade bow that had a quiver full of homemade arrows. Nero carried only a backpack in which everything was, necessary to build a trap, and a small rusty hunting knife from his father.

It had just become noon and the sky was cloudless, but the sun gave very little warmth.

"If we catch a big boar, we can eat for months and mom would be super proud of us."

Said Nero with a bright smile, who couldn't help but be infected by Eliza's optimism.

Eliza grinned happily at him, but then her expression turned serious as she spotted something in the snow, "Shhh! Look at that!"

Nero walked next to her and looked at the snow. You could clearly see the tracks of an animal.

Nero just tried to assign the matching animal to the tracks, but his sister was faster,

"Probably a fox that passed by here. And since the tracks haven't been snowed over yet, he's still around." As she explained, she pointed to some spots in the snow.

"Fortunately, we caught this mouse. So we can do it like this..."

Half an hour later, they had somehow managed to construct a makeshift snare trap. As expected, it consisted of a looped rope in the middle of which lay the dead mouse.

It had been dead for several days, so it already stank terribly, but they simply sprinkled a powder made from a relbia flower, which could imitate the scent of game prey, over the carcass. Normally the powder was quite expensive, but Nero had stolen it from a local wholesaler's stall.

Now they huddled in the snow, and thanks to the white clothes they had cleverly kept for themselves compared to their other clothes, one could just barely see them.

One had to say, their mother was actually a very forward-thinking person. Some families in the same situation immediately sold all their clothes and only kept a few, when their food ran out, but in all her wisdom Nero's mother kept the clothes that had the most potential for use.

She also had not auctioned off her house, although it was quite a large one and probably would have brought them some money, but their mother did not want to sell it.

Although they went hungry from time to time, they rarely froze which resulted in fewer illnesses.

Mortality from illness was high and even the slightest cold could mean death.

Eliza lay in wait on one side with a bow in her hand and an arrow at the ready, and Nero on the other with the rope.

He had the task of pulling the rope closed as soon as the animal ran in to eat the mouse.

Nero was shivering all over from cold and nervousness. The wait seemed like an eternity, and he wondered if there really was a fox here. But finally, he heard it.

The beautiful sound of light paws creeping over the snow. It was very quiet and yet it was there. He looked over to Eliza, who gave him a promising look. And then he finally saw it; a lean yet lively fox, slowly creeping up on the mouse. He sniffed the air and his hungry gaze was fixed only on the mouse.

Tense, Nero awaited the important moment.

'Not yet. Not yet. Not yet...',

Nero thought to himself while watching the fox slowly approaching the mouse. Finally, almost mad with hunger, the fox forgot his caution and his surroundings and jumped towards the mouse.

Immediately Nero yanked as hard as he could on the rope and the rascal closed, but he made too much noise in the process.

The fox reacted insanely fast and jumped forward, startled. Only his back leg was caught in the snare and he was already threatening to break free, but Eliza was already on the spot.

She jumped up and shot an arrow and with professional precision, she hit the fox in the side. The fox immediately froze on the spot and squealed in pain.

But then the survival instinct took hold of him again and he began to fight back. He wriggled wildly and tried to escape. Skillfully, Nero jumped forward, grabbed the animal's head, and yanked it to the side. With a sickening crack, the poor animal's neck snapped.

But Nero neither cheered nor said anything, but fell on his knees before the dead beast and remained silent.

Eliza sat down opposite him and also remained silent. They had closed their eyes and murmured a prayer together.

This had long been a tradition of the two. Every animal they killed with their own hands deserved a prayer from them.

After they finished, Eliza clapped her hand and grinned at Nero,

"Well done Nero. You're getting better and faster."

She took him in her arms and kissed him on the forehead. Nero could not help but laugh and hug his sister tightly. Forgetting the cold and the hunger, he was only aware of himself and his sister. They were not rich or noble, but they were happy. He had his mother and his sister and he loved them both very much.

They broke away from each other again. Eliza looked at her catch,

"Not quite a wild boar but still good. Lucky he didn't eat the mouse. Let's take the fox back and then go again."

"Ok Eliza,"

Nero answered without hesitation. It was always exciting to go hunting with his sister. They wrapped the fox in a blanket so that it wouldn't attract any predators or hungry humans that might steal their prey.

They disguised their happy faces into sad grimaces and headed toward the village.

They walked through the long and brooding main street of the village, which was covered with high snow. They did not meet a single other person, but Nero felt the glances of the greedy people of the town.

Early on, his mother had told him that he should not be afraid of animals or disease, but of people. She explained to him that humans were much worse and crueler and worse than predators. "Animals kill out of hunger or fear, but humans kill out of greed and pure malice. Out of jealousy and out of anger. Don't trust anyone, trust only yourself."

Nero had not understood it then, but now he knew that his mother had been right so many years ago.

The only one you can trust and depend on is yourself!