A Thousand Year Summer

Chapter Three - A Sixth Sense

A few weeks after her parents' kidnapping, Ludmilla sat on a damp log in the middle of an ancient forest in a land she had never seen before. It would not be a surprise to her if she was the first of her line to ever leave, to see the trees she saw now, to leave the land in which her family had found such solace. Her mother had warned her against the dangers lying just outside the village borders. Warriors from Scandinavia descended and killed hundreds of unsuspecting peasants at a time, kingdoms hurt their subjects for not conforming to the religion standards, kings sent entire armies to fight another army in melee combat with little regard to human life. Would she be exposed to that so early?

Her companions still did not know her name, and when she questioned why they had taken such a massive detour from Poland into Belarus, they avoided the question. András's story really didn't hold up from her perspective. There was a large amount of distrust, not just between Ludmilla and the others, but between the boys themselves. András and Giselbert seemed to enjoy butting heads, and did so regularly. Toris was just as quiet as always.

Giselbert and Toris spoke very little Ruthenian, and conversation between each other became extremely difficult with the language barrier. Ludmilla found that Toris spoke some Yiddish as one of his best friends had taught him a good percentage of the language. She attempted to get answers out of him as well, but he avoided them with razor precision.

On the fourth week of her travels, András happily reported to her that they were nearing their destination. So far Ludmilla had seen so many new places, but was weary from the stress put on her from her family's ordeal and her great voyage to the southwest.

During the long walk to Hungary, he had also taught Ludmilla some Hungarian, enough for her to get a start there. András very much confused Ludmilla. He was incredibly nice for a noble; Ludmilla's people had not had a great run with Christian authorities. She was obviously very grateful for his aid, but did not entirely trust him.

Over the last few days, a feeling had awoken in her that she had not been previously aware of. The trio of boys had a strange energy that she, all at once, had never felt or seen, but was quite familiar to her. She wanted to say something to András, but felt that it would be strange and out of bounds for her to bring something somewhat personal up with him.

As for Giselbert and Toris, neither of them struck her as entirely trustworthy. Giselbert appeared to be somewhat silly, from what she understood, but was not serious about what he did not care for. For example, he couldn't care less if Ludmilla was mauled by a bear, but would destroy everything in his path to save András. They were extremely close, it was easy to see.

Toris, on the other hand, was the quiet type, neither brooding nor anxious. She wondered if her situation was at all similar to his. András and Giselbert had obviously known each other for far longer than they had known Toris, and they were not completely on good terms; Giselbert and Toris regularly disagreed, and had the occasional heated argument.

He sat on a log across from her, wet from the recent rain. Toris grumbled as he attempted fire with a fire kit and moist wood. Giselbert walked up from behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You know what would be very funny?" he asked, speaking Hungarian in a harsh accent.

Toris didn't look up, but humored Giselbert. "What would that be?"

Giselbert grinned, and replied, "If a bandit shot me in the back with a bow and arrow," and promptly stumbled and fell onto Toris's log.

"Fuck!" shouted Toris, standing up and dropping the flint and steel that he was holding. They tumbled onto the bed of dead leaves below him, as he fell on Giselbert, attempting to remove the arrow.

Shouting in the forest erupted, and from it ran András. He and Giselbert had gone to find plants that they could make a meal out of, and must have stumbled on a band of bandits, or had been stumbled upon. There had been a few close brushes in the last few months, so it was not a surprise that there would be an attack, but for a band of ten-year-olds it was worrying.

András's skills with the sword were impressive, but he could not hold off a duo grown men without his partner in action, Giselbert. He was still collapsed on the log, gasping in pain as Toris extracted the arrow the best he could.

In that moment, Ludmilla knew she had to do something, despite being frozen with fear.

She had to break free. She knew this, but couldn't seem to shake the hold of panic on her body. She couldn't move her head, nor her eyes, nor her feet, not with all the strength in her body. "Help me!" shouted András, glancing at Toris.

Her feet inched forward, away from the log, but on it she remained, an invisible barrier depriving her of saving András.

Then Ludmilla remembered the sacrifice made by her sister. So selfishly had Kalyna given her freedom to save her, and here Ludmilla was using her liberty to let someone, whom had shown her such kindness, be run through.

With a sudden burst of resolve, Ludmilla stood, and from her belt drew her skinning knife. It was small, but so sharp to ensure that the skin slid off the bone easily. She wouldn't have to use too much force to leave a mark.

Hopping over the obstacles in her path and weaving through thin trees, Ludmilla snuck up from behind one of the men. They hadn't noticed her yet, they were preoccupied with András. He put up too much of a fight.

She lodged her knife into the base of his neck and twisted it, a spray of blood going up in the air. He screamed and flailed his sword back towards her, and with his hand clapped over the wide gash in his neck, set his sights on her. With a quick step, she reversed towards the camp, hand held her hands in front of her to protect her chest area from attack. Blinded with anger, he slashed at her, allowing her to avoid the imprecise attacks.

He charged at her, his sword outreached towards her body, longing to make content with her organs. With a level of swiftness she was not aware she had, she avoided the attack and instead rebutted it with a well-aimed stab at his side.

Stumbling towards her, he fell to his knees, a blank look in his eyes, and fell to the ground. Panting, she became hyper aware of her surroundings. The golden and red leaves on the ground were dappled with soft light filtering through the dense canopy overhead. The sky was bright blue, but the light warned of an upcoming shower of rain. The violence was entirely misplaced in Ludmilla's opinion.

Jolting back to reality, Ludmilla dashed forward to András just as he thrust his blade into the abdomen of the second bandit with a grunt. The man fell as András did himself, the both of them falling from injury, the former far more severe. Stumbling onto András's body, she exclaimed, "András, you're hurt!"

"I know," he replied with a smirk, his head dropping to the grown and letting out a groan. "Help me up, I can see smoke from Budapest town, we must make good time."

With ease, Ludmilla hoisted him to his feet, grunting a little. She had spent time in the fields, but did not possess enough strength to completely support his weight. She shuffled to Toris, and said, "Let's go. We can get medical attention when we get them home."

Toris shook his head. "Giselbert can't walk, I'll have to carry him. I think the arrow damaged his spine. We need to rest."

He had a point, but so did the clamor of armed swordsmen from a distance, back in the dense forest. They would be coming soon to avenge their fallen brothers in arms, and to kill Ludmilla's protectors. She couldn't let that happen, not after what they had done for her. She owed them a debt for taking her on.

"No," she said, "we must press on. It is of utmost importance that we get them back. More are coming, and neither of them will make it in this condition."

Toris looked doubtful for a moment, but gave in after a moment's thought. "Fine. Let's go."