Temple Sword

Chapter 151 Three Marks

1322, St. George's Month (April)
匈牙利

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It turned out that on this early spring night they were in the southern part of the kingdom, on the northern bank of the Danube, somewhere outside Bach.

Olivier put some strong stupor herb into the drinks of the three boys, which quelled their resistance for a few hours.

When the twins woke up, they were already in another carriage, bound limbs and headed to another unknown destination, and Ealy was not with them.

When they realized this, they started yelling and begging the man in the wagon to stop and go back to get their friend, because they weren't going anywhere without him.

To their surprise, the wagon did stop, only for the big man driving the wagon to shut them up with a big stick.

They went from place to place, and the boys were a little anxious without their little master.

A few days later, they reached their destination, a remote farm west of Bulgar's White Castle, on the edge of the forest.

Many buildings are still unfinished, and carpenters, stonemasons and masons are still at work. The new mansion was built on the charred ruins of a landowner in his 40s. The minions are just as scary.

He was always gnashing his teeth, angrily bossing everyone around, and never had a kind word for his sad-eyed, gray-haired wife.

The twins lived in a log cabin, away from the owner's house, next to the stables, apparently built to house servants.In addition to the hay beds, there is also a manure bucket in the corner.

The owner of the manor locked the door every night, and for the first few days only Sepuk and Corta lived there, but soon new servants moved in.

The grumpy coachman brings two people to the farm: a muscular man and a thin girl, both Wallachians.

Regardless of their previous status, everyone in the cabin was equal, a servant in a linen shirt and brown or gray trousers.

As time went on and the weeks passed, Sepke and Corta learned everything about the place.

They had to work from early morning until late at night, doing the most tiring physical work.

It turned out that last summer, around the same time as the attack on Dubica's estate, ruthless bandit-killers ransacked the place, slaughtered the servants, and then set fire to the house.

The manor and his wife were away, and they believed that the servants were too free and weak, making easy targets and inviting violence, so they adopted a new management method on the manor: the first was to make the farm The surrounding work was given to the slaves, not the semi-free servants.

The manor was serious about his change of approach, and bloody serious.

Sepke once told him that he and his brother were minor nobles who were good at fighting, maintaining armor, riding horses, writing and reading.

It was the only time he tried to speak to the man, and it wasn't long before he was thrown back into the cabin with swollen and bleeding eyes, a broken nose and half unconscious.

The landowners were not interested in the stories of the servants.

However, other things often caught his attention.

Almost every night, after the farm had quieted down, the man would appear at the cabin and quietly take away the emaciated Wallachian maiden, who was trembling when he brought her back a few minutes later. , crying until dawn, until drowsiness overwhelmed her.

"Listen to me!" said the Wallachian man one day, when they were cutting new wood for the winter, "do you want to be free?"

Sepke and Corta looked at each other in shock. They had been working hard in this manor for more than a month, and they agreed without saying a word. They didn't want to stay for a minute longer.

"I don't care about my own situation. I deserve to be enslaved." The Wallachian man said in a low voice, even as a slave, he looked very strong. "But Annika...I can't bear to see what this cruel beast has done to my sister."

The twins looked at each other again.

"What are you going to do?" Sepke asked. "How can we help you?"

"I don't need help, I just need you to act."

"Acting?" Corta repeated, confused.

"Pretend to sleep," the Wallachian man explained, "and when that scumbag wants to take Annika away again, lie down near the door and doze off with your eyes closed, but don't let me fall asleep!

I'd be lying close to Annika, and luckily we weren't tied up, which meant the manor figured there would be no trouble and just locked the door to keep us from escaping.This would be a wrong decision, and I've already figured out what to do. "

"What have you thought about?" Sepke asked expectantly and worriedly, "I think you should know that if we make any noise, the guards will arrive immediately, and then we are finished!"

"When the bastard came looking for my sister, the guards were never around," the man said. "I think he was afraid these people would tell his wife what he did..."

"Then what are your plans?" Corta asked impatiently.

"I'll lie down, close my eyes, and snore," said the Wallachian, "and when the manor comes up to Annika, I'll jump up and grab his dirty throat and squeeze it until he until dead."

"After that, we can escape," Sepke nodded, "The door will also be open, but you must keep quiet!"

"He won't make any noise," the man assured, "and once I have him by the neck, nothing will come in or out of his throat, neither air nor words.

Believe me, I know what I'm talking about, and then we got on those two horses in the stable and they never saw us again. "

It seemed like a good plan, and made sense, not to mention that the twins could do anything to get their freedom.

What is it to them to provide a little silent help in an elaborate murder?They just want to escape, as far away as possible!

Even if they are no longer with Ire, they are now very close to Timisoara, and may reach the palace in a week, where they can tell Antal Barto everything, their loyalty only Belongs to him alone.

On this day, perhaps because of the excitement, the night fell more slowly than in previous spring days.Everyone in the cabin braced itself for the carnage to come, and could almost taste the tension inside.

Suddenly there was the sound of light footsteps on the dry grass, probably shortly after sunset.

The footsteps became louder and louder, someone approached the cabin, the lock was snapped open, and the door was also opened. The strong Wallachian man tensed all his muscles, waiting for the best time to get up.

"Wake up!" The stern voice sounded, "Wake up, can't you hear me, stand up!"

The person inside opened his eyes in surprise: the voice was not from the murderous manor owner, but from his always melancholy wife.

The woman stood before them, a lantern in her hand, her ruddy face stained with tears.

"Get up, hurry up!" she ordered in a trembling voice. "We're getting out of here."

Sepke, Korta, and the Wallachia brothers and sisters couldn't believe their ears.They sat stiffly on the uncomfortable dry grass, but the woman seemed anxious.

"Get out of here quickly, do you want to stay here forever?"

She moved a little away from the door, and beckoned them with her free hand, signaling that the road was clear.

"Come here, get out of here before the guards find out what happened!"

This sentence made the servants move like magic, and they stood up in unison and walked towards the door.They galloped into the darkness, blindly following the woman walking in front of them.

The woman went to the stables, where a two-horse carriage was already waiting for them, the same one that had brought Sepuk and Corta here.

"Get in the car!" the woman ordered them, climbing into the front seat.

Corta noticed then that the woman's right hand holding the lantern was almost black with thick blood.But he didn't ask any questions, thinking he should know what might have happened, and why they left in such haste.

The four quickly got into the carriage, and the carriage drove out of the farm, bumping on the dirt road without stopping. The twins believed that this kind woman would go to freedom with them.

However, the next afternoon, the same thing happened to them again.

It was like a never-ending nightmare: they were all standing in the slave market in the nearest town, and the woman hastily sold them to the slavers for a silver mark each.

The money was enough to get her back to her father's estate in the North, where she hadn't been in at least 20 years.

Corta looked sadly at the departing carriage, and he thought about shouting that the woman had murdered her husband, but he was not even in the mood to do so.

why?He knew very well that the woman would never reach the North, that his husband's men would catch her within days, he was somewhat sure of that.

And exposing the poor woman's crimes would not have any effect on their fate, so he kept silent, looking bitterly at the galloping carriage.

Soon they were handcuffed again, and the slaver put them in the cage, took a deep breath, and shouted:

"Healthy and strong young men, for three marks!"

(End of this chapter)