LITMIR.BIZ

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and that included the animals; we panicked!

      “Ermentrude—I’m afraid that something has happened to my village, too. My family should be at home though. Maybe they know what has happened here.”

      Our horses rode away swiftly, with us hovered over their withers, holding on for dear life. As we approached Saskia’s village, we realized it was the same . . . no inhabitants, no livestock. There was no one to explain what had occurred. Saskia took the lead, dismounting at her parent’s home, and running up to the door to open it. Inside, she found no one. We raced over to the stable and saw nothing in the dark, empty stalls. Again, we searched the whole village, only to find emptiness. The only thing we could do now, was to gather any supplies we found and look for signs of what had happened.

      “Saskia, I am so puzzled by this. What could have happened to hundreds of people and their livestock? Gerulf is probably blind and in serious danger, so we need to find him, but we must also discover where our kinsmen have gone. I wish we had someone to help figure this out. Do you have any ideas?” I asked.

      Saskia looked at me with her consoling eyes and said, “You know what this means, don’t you? We must go to the other tribes to ask if they know where our two villages have gone. They may have seen intruders. We should get one of those tribes to help us find our kinsmen. We must ask the Gepids first, as they are the friendliest to our people. The Venethi’s might also assist us. It’s difficult to know which group will help and which will capture us these days!”

      “We must find weapons somewhere. I am sorry your mother’s ax was stolen. It would be very useful, now,” I said. “Where should we look for weapons? If someone captured our people, they surely took every weapon they found. They took the animals and probably all of our valuable goods and food, too,” I look disheartened. Saskia knew just what I was feeling.

      “Ermentrude, climb into the roof, you might find a spare weapon. If I search in the stalls, there might be some food that was stored in a secret place. Even look in the trees! Att-a hid many things in the trees so they would be safe from threatening tribes,” she told me. We both spent hours examining every possible spot for weapons and supplies. I found some grain for porridge, some old pots for cooking, along with three wooden bowls and some tools. Saskia discovered a frayed blanket and some torn linen, a sling for throwing rocks, and a badly dented kettle. When I searched the stalls, I uncovered a broken spear, a club, and a few old tools that could be used as weapons.

      “Saskia! Look at what I found!” I displayed everything in a pile on the ground. “I will look over by the trees, now. This is similar to playing a game of hidden treasures. It’s exciting!” I started to smile at having so much pleasure retrieving hidden objects.

      “Good! Very good! I have found a few things, as well. I hope we find sufficient food though. I am starving!” Saskia added, with satisfaction showing on her face in the morning light. We continued looking until we could not keep our eyes open any longer. We were both exhausted, so we went into a house near our piles of supplies and fell asleep.

      Sometime in the early afternoon, we awoke, feeling more alert. I sat up and later, walked to the door to check on our supplies. They were still there. I thought to myself—how will we carry all these things? I thought we must decide what to carry with us and what to hide again. We spent some time deciding this, as we prepared some porridge to eat. After burying some of the items, we spread branches and leaves over the burial site.

      “Let’s pack up and get on the trail, Saskia!”

      “Ja! We are prepared to find our people and maybe Gerulf.” We left the abandoned village of the Gutthiuda, determined to resolve the mystery and find Gerulf. For hours, we rode to the village of the Gepids, our allies. We hoped they would want to help us find their Gepid friends and our families. We had to convince them that the Gutthiuda needed their help. The Gutthiuda had always helped the Gepids defend their villages. Now, it was time for the Gepids to find where the Gutthiuda had been taken, if an enemy had dragged them off as slaves.

      As we rode into the village of the Gepids, I thought of Gerulf. A single tear fell from the corner of my eye. I thought of the morning we kissed. I felt my heart would never be the same . . . not until I found Gerulf again. Saskia thought it best to visit an old acquaintance of her father first. His name was Hathus. I wondered whether my own father had any old friends in this village. Saskia and I dismounted and walked up to the home of Hathus, where she remembered visiting a few times as a child. She called out and knocked on the door, “Hathus! It’s Saskia of the Hunter. I need your help! May I enter?”

      “Saskia? Of course, my little fox! Come in, come in!” said a voice within the house. Hathus, an older man, sat in a chair, whittling a small piece of wood with a knife.

      We stepped inside the cheery home and saw that each wall had been tinted colors. Many homes had this feature, as they were otherwise dreary and dark inside. Mama wanted our walls colored in a similar fashion, but never had the time to do it. Of course, the slaves could have found the time. I thought . . . even the slaves had disappeared back in our villages. They were probably captured, as well.

      “Hello, dear Hathus, my father’s friend! I’m happy to find you in such good health at sixty years,” Saskia greeted, “I have come to find you, to ask for your advice,” she mentioned, as she kissed his cheek. Hathus squinted to take a better look at Saskia.

      “I don’t know how much advice you’ll get from me, as I am older now, Saskia,” Hathus explained, as he slowly lifted himself out of his chair and tried to walk over to the fire pit with the aid of a walking stick.

      “Oh, you always gave my father advice, so I came for a dose myself. I am very grieved at returning home to find our village empty—my parents gone. My friend, Ermentrude, is lacking her entire family, as well,” she explained.

      “Hello, my dear Ermentrude. Welcome. Would you both be interested in a bite to eat? I have some good cheese and fresh bread from my friend’s farm, which is too much for me to eat by myself, now that Simildi, my dear wife has died this past year,” Hathus divulged.

      “Oh . . . Hathus, we are very saddened by this news of your wife departing for Valhalla. May Wodanaz look after her for you. She was a good wife and mother . She was a good friend of my mother, as well. She will be missed. We will surely keep you company and share your meal as we talk,” Saskia continued.

      “So, all the villagers are missing? I heard about this . . . from some of the traders in our village. They traveled there a few weeks ago, and returned here, saying that no one was around . . . not even a sign of a mouse,” he declared with his bushy eyebrows raised an inch above his eyes. “Everyone wondered where they went off to.”

      “Has anyone tried to search for them?” I asked, with hopefulness written on my face.

      “Ne, you know that our people are strong, and at times, fierce fighters, but they do not go out of their way to find trouble, knowing that it’s so difficult to get out of it,” he spoke, gesturing with his hands raised in the air.

      “We have another concern—for a good friend, who is a Gepid. We met him and his brothers on a trip about a month ago. We were captured as slaves, our Gepid friend was blinded, and his brothers were slain—left for the wolves and bears to devour. We need your men to help us find our friend, and our families. We must find our friend, Gerulf. We think he might still wander below the Carpathians.” My tears slid down my face and onto the linen tunic I wore.

      “You were captured as slaves? My dear . . . how did you escape? Do you know who captured you? Where were you captured, and where were your friends attacked? Do you know? Without this information, we could search forever and never find your friends, nor the men who did this terrible deed.” Hathus was filled with wrath.

      “It was interesting—how we escaped with two stolen horses, from a Sporoi farm near the Carpathians. We left hastily from this farm, somewhere northeast of the mountains in a lowland, near a river east of the Wisla. It was probably the Hypanis River, near the Bastarnae tribe—or it could have been further north in Venethi territory. Their language sounded different from our own words. They might have been Sporoi,”

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