Chapter 2
Their house was made of wood and stone with only four rooms: the kitchen, the room they ate in, and two bedrooms. All the rooms had their own doorways with wooden doors attached by steel hinges. They did all their training outside. One bedroom was for Malachi, which no one was allowed to enter but himself. He never told us his reasoning, except for that he would tell us when the time is right. When we tried to sneak in, he caught us and almost killed us and then punished us harshly. He was very serious about not entering this room. The other bedroom was for the Ezra, Jezreel, Josiah, and Caiaphas. Jezreel didn’t mind sleeping in the same room as the men. She felt no need for privacy. They had even bathed in the lake together since they were children. She just didn’t care what they saw, or what she saw.
Their little stone house was on the outskirts of the village. The village was more like a bazaar, which sold things like clothes, weapons, livestock, and a great many things which Malachi would sometimes trade for things that he found in the woods. Money was not a currency on Balasque; all finance was done in trade. Malachi would travel to the village every now and then to buy supplies and even bring home some interesting kind of food. He would leave early in the morning and return late at night because it was a few hours there and a few hours back. They all lived by themselves in the stone house.
“Dinner is finally prepared,” said Malachi as he placed a roasted pig on the table in front of everyone. It was cooked to a perfect golden brown and smelled like it was cooked perfectly. Malachi even salted it, and salt was hard to find in these parts.
“That smells too delicious to wait for,” exclaimed Caiaphas as he ripped the leg off the pig and started devouring it. He always had a big appetite and ate more than the others, which the others would get annoyed with because sometimes he would eat more than he should and they wouldn’t get their fill of the food. This time, however, it was not a problem because the pig was so large and fat, so the others just let him continue and used their knives to cut off the pieces they wanted.
“Malachi, this is probably the best cooked pig I’ve ever had,” said Jezreel as she was licking her lips between every bite. The others nodded their heads in agreement as their mouths were full of pork. There were moans of satisfaction all around the table as they ate.
“Don’t thank me, thank Josiah. He’s the one that killed this magnificent pig. I only put it over a fire and added some salt,” said Malachi. Everyone thanked Josiah, and Josiah just put his hand up in compliance and continued eating. He didn’t like having attention.
“I don’t care who I’m supposed to thank for this, my mouth is too busy eating to properly thank anyone,” said Caiaphas as he continued shoveling the pork in his mouth.
Malachi looked at him and said, “Caiaphas, there is never a bad time to thank someone when gratitude is due. You should always show thanks when your thankful.” The others get really tired of listening to Malachi baby and lecture Caiaphas over such miniscule things.
“I’m sorry,” said Caiaphas as he slowed his eating and looked down. “Thank you, Josiah”
“No worries,” he replied quickly so he could return to eating and get the attention off of himself. The rest of dinner was eaten without a word being spoken. The only noises were the fires crackling around them, and the sound of pork being ripped off the bone and gnashed between their teeth.
Once dinner was finished, it was getting near time for them to retire for the night. They were all tired and a little sore from training all day. Malachi always had them train five days a week. The other two days the four could do as they pleased with the few exceptions that Malachi made, such as not entering his room. One of those two days, Malachi would rest. On the other day, he would travel to the village to see if they had anything he would want to buy.
