LITMIR.BIZ

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a long, tiring day. Later that evening, when Saskia and I had retired to our rooms, Draga had entered quietly to ask me about my day.

      “Ermentrude, you work hard. You. . . ask of your friends. I ask one man . . . took your friend . . . at camp. Man not tell me. He tell me . . . they kill; one of friends . . . blind with . . . knife . . . leave—for bear, or, wolves to eat,” she explained with a sad look in her eyes. My heart and stomach ached for the men she spoke of. Tears spilled down my cheeks onto my tunic. I sighed and tried to speak.

      “I must thank you for telling me this, Draga. Did he tell you anything else about the blinded man?” I had hope that Gerulf was still alive. I hoped Draga could understand me.

      “Ne. He—say—man . . . in tree, hide, throw ax. He fall, he look up, knife to eyes. They not want he to take revenge,” Draga revealed, “I sorry, I know not more.”

      I held my hands up to cover my eyes. I did not understand clearly what Draga had told me, but I understood enough to know that Gerulf was blinded and left to die. His comrades were murdered—left to be devoured by the beasts that wandered the hills. My eyes were wet with tears. I had to let Saskia know that our dear friends were gone—especially Anselm. I had to let her know that soon, Gerulf would be dead, as well. Draga comforted me with her arms held around me. So, that’s why her eyes looked so sad. She had known what had happened to our friends. She didn’t want to tell us. I was glad to know though. It would give me the courage to revenge their deaths and suffering—somehow. Draga left, and I sat down and wept. I thought of how to get back at the cruel men who murdered and tortured the men we had grown to love.

      That night, as I waited in bed, the evil man returned to my room. His eyes were dark and his hot breath upon my face made me feel uncomfortable. I breathed shallow breaths, waiting for him to touch me. His hand grabbed my breast. He leaned closer, as his legs climbed on me . . . a beast in heat. Suddenly, he moaned and rolled off me, trying to clutch at something behind him. Saskia withdrew her knife from his back, and we lifted him to the floor. After digging out the straw from my bed, we lifted him and buried him in the bed frame, covering him with straw and linen. He would not be found until the whole farm was searched. I slept in Saskia’s room that night.

      “Saskia!” I whispered, as we went to breakfast the next morning. “I found out from Draga. She told me that all the brothers, maybe Anselm, were killed. They found one man who fell out of a tree—I think it might have been Gerulf. He was blinded and left for the wolves,” I hurried to tell her, squeezing her hand quite hard. She sobbed for the loss of Anselm and all the brothers. She imagined their deaths.

      “What? How could this happen? They were armed! Oh . . . Wodanaz . . . you must help us revenge their deaths! What murderous heathens those men are . . . to do such a horrible deed! May a great flood spill over their land and drown them all . . . the rats!” Her eyes welled up with tears, and mine filled again. We paused by a stack of hay, to hug each other. Our grieving hearts would never recover from the pain heaving in our chests—oh, the unbearable ache! We could not sit at breakfast with the other slaves this day. We could only cry for our friends and hope that one of them was still alive. A dead man buried in my bed caused me to worry for our safety. We had to escape.

      My thoughts were interrupted by a whinny in the distance . . . from a horse. We separated from our hug, sniffed our runny noses, and stared at each other for a moment. Together, we crept over to the open barn, where the animals were kept. I peered inside, to see whether there were any people around. Several horses, some goats, and swine, along with a young boy of ten or eleven years were in the barn. The boy was grooming a horse, speaking to it. He must be a servant or slave, I guessed.

      “Should we talk to him to find out if our horses were captured and brought here?” I whispered to Saskia. She nodded her head.

      “If we go together, he might help us find our horses . . . or he might tell us to leave!” she said. “We have to try.”

      We walked quietly into the barn, carefully looking around for any other person that might object to us being there, but we didn’t see anyone, besides the boy.

      Upon seeing our entrance, the boy stopped brushing the horse he was grooming and spoke, “You . . . want to help?” I had forgotten that he probably wouldn’t understand our language. So I attempted to demonstrate what we wanted with my hand language. I gestured with my hands, using voice, and facial expressions, to indicate that:

      “We are looking for our horses—did you see two horses come . . . yesterday? Where are these horses, now?” With the final word, I pounded my closed fist on my other open hand. I thought that I was becoming really good at communicating this way.

      The boy looked intimidated by us. He probably thought that I had demanded something of him. The boy seemed to capture the meaning a little differently from what I had intended. He smiled weakly and put down the brush, walking over to a storage chest to get two blankets, saddles, and leather stirrups, as he continued to ready the horses for us to ride. Saskia and I smiled at him and curtsied with much appreciation. We mounted the horses and rode away quietly. Once we had left the farm, Saskia and I burst out laughing!

      “Can you believe how easy that was? We just rode away, and no one questioned us,” Saskia spouted with joy.

      “I think we must keep our voices low and stay off the trail for a while, though. Eventually, someone will come looking for us. We murdered the overseer and stole two horses. We don’t have weapons, other than the small knife you took from the kitchen, nor do we have water and food. We must be careful. Saskia, do you know how to catch food without a weapon?”

      “We can use rocks if we are quick. I could try a snare, as well. First, we must ride as fast as the wind, or we will be discovered with stolen horses. We would surely be killed for that, as well as, for escaping and murdering the overseer.” Saskia was always thinking ahead.

      “Saskia, should we ride home, so we can get help? We need to find Gerulf, and we cannot do that alone, without weapons and supplies.”

      “That’s exactly what I was thinking,” Saskia said. “Great women think alike!”

      I smiled at Saskia, as we began our journey over the hillocks, around the lakes, through great rivers, and finally north toward the Wisla, where our families were probably waiting for our return. We stopped one night by a stream. Both of us threw rocks at some small creatures and at some fish, but we failed to hit either animals or fish. So we had no supper that night.

      Chapter V Where the Goats Roam

      By nightfall, we had covered some distance along the Wisla and were almost at my parent’s home. Something was odd, though. At a distance, I noticed there was no light inside the house. My parents always had a fire lit in the house. That made me nervous. Did they leave home to search for me? I thought it best, if I searched the house for signs of them, and, if needed, I would ride over to one of my uncles’ homes to inquire about my family.

      “Saskia, I am worried! I don’t think my parents would have left together to look for me. Mama would have stayed, hoping I’d return.”

      “I hope my parents are still at home . . . at least my mother,” she said.

      We rode closer, up to the front door. It was open. I jumped off my horse and walked into the doorway to peer inside. I heard nothing and saw no one. I didn’t want to go inside, either. I yelled, “Is anyone home? Mama? . . . Att-a? . . . Adalwulf? . . . Ava? Anyone?” I didn’t hear a sound. It was the stalls that we visited next. That was just as peculiar! Not a single animal had remained. I wondered where the animals could be.

      We decided to ride over to my Uncle Vaclav’s house a few minutes away. I leaped off my horse, ran up to the door, and knocked. Not a sound came from their house. I slowly unlatched the door and looked inside. There were no fires glowing here either. “Let’s check the stalls!” I suggested. We raced over to the barn. There were no signs of any animals, as well. “Saskia, this is very strange. Now I am really troubled. Where is everyone?”

      “I think we should look around at your other relatives’ homes

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