"While I'm proud of you for taking care of a orphaned child now... How can you manage with the cult and the red crown? People will notice she is a lamb, Ratau..." a voice spoke to Ratau as they roll the dice.
Two rat brothers had been playing knucklebones for several minutes, the oldest of the two, Ratoo sits down a 2 that has wiped out a row of 2 from Ratau's side of the board "I do not know yet...but i can't keep her locked away forever, a child needs freedom and friends..." Ratau spoke with a sigh, he only has taken Adaline in as his own for only 3 weeks now. "I understand ratau, but she could get killed if the wrong person notices, or worse...the bishops" Ratoo warns, Ratau can tell that Ratoo is trying to help and is just being cautious, worried of the small lamb as much as he is. Ratau rolls a die "I will manage Ratoo, I just...need your help." "and i will help, I would be a fool to not help you and the poor lamb" Ratoo promised, a sense of determination in his tone, he would do anything to help his younger brother.
Ratau places a 1 faced die on the board "You know the way to Shamura's library right?" "Yes?" "And you can go in without being detected right?" Ratoo wonders where he is going with this as ratau keeps building up with questions "I have many times before, you know this" he answered. "I need you to get me books. About parenting, maybe anything about lamb culture?" Ratau finally asked, he wanted to make sure to keep Adaline connected to her roots, to help her remember her origins. Ratoo thinks for a moment as he rolled the die for his turn "I'll see what I can do, but I'm not sure if I can find those right away, Shamura's library is very big" he then places a 6 while he answered, Ratoo has won knucklebones by 10 points "I win" Ratoo chuckles in triumph "You always was a cheater" Ratau jokes, but takes the loss in stride and hands his brother five coins from the friendly bet.
"I guess I got to get going to find those books for you, tell the little ball of wool I said hello" Ratoo says in a goodbye as he leaves, Ratau waves as his older brother leaves the shack and begins to put away the game, right before a tug at his robe catches his attention. The little lamb, Adaline, pulled at his robe silently as Ratau looks down at her "what is it little lamb...? was it another nightmare?" Ratau asked as softly as he could, knowing that Adaline should not be awake at this time of night, Adaline responded with a nod before speaking up "you and him was playing games again...can I play now?" She the yawns after speaking, Adaline does not know a thing about knucklebones, but Ratau believes she could have fun while also getting her mind off her nightmare, so she can sleep before the sun rise. "Ok Adaline, I'll teach you how to play the game first alright?" Ratau speaks before getting a stool for Adaline to stand on, as she is to short to see or reach over the knucklebones board.
"Now, why don't you start first..." Ratau hands Adaline a die, Adaline then just drops the die instead of rolling it and it faces up a 6 "What a lucky roll" Ratau smiles in praise "Now you see these squares? you can place it at the top of any of these rows" Ratau points to the top 3 squares, after moments of hesitation Adaline then places the die at the middle row. Ratau then picks up a die "Now it is my turn" Ratau then rolls the die and also rolls a 6, he places it on the right row. After a couple of rolls Adaline then rolls another 6 and places the 6 on the right row "Good job little lamb, if u place a 6 down and i have a 6 across from you, that makes my 6 go away" Ratau then removes his 6 off the board "Does that mean I lose a number if you do that too?" The little lamb asks, her eyes slightly sparkling in wonder by her winning "Yes, but I don't think you have to worry about losing, you are a natural" Ratau smiles with pride.
After several rolls of the dice and Ratau tallying the points for Adaline, because she does not know math just yet, he declares her to be the winner of the game. Adaline raises her hoofs in the air in triumph "Yay! I won!" "Good job little lamb" Ratau praises her, before he picks her off the stool and sits her back on the floor "I think it's time for you to go back to bed now" Ratau suggested, Adaline looks up at him with a sad look in her eyes "But I'm not tired! And I want to keep playing!" she whines before she lets out a yawn "We can play knucklebones all you want tomorrow, but for now it is late, and growing lambs need sleep" He leads her back to her bed as he speaks. "Promise?" little Adaline yawns before crawling under the covers "I promise" Ratau then pats her head "Goodnight Adaline" "Goodnight..." Ratau then leaves Adaline to sleep and goes back to cleaning up the boardgame....
Maybe Ratau should give Adaline her own custom dice?
YOU ARE READING
Fields of blue
FanfictionA cult of the lamb au (alternate universe) that I put together for several months. some characters do not exist just yet and bonus chapters are flashbacks! Follow Adaline, the last lamb of her race. On a long and agonizing journey through life and a...
