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Garmund and Cnebba reached the ruins undetected. First they had been covered by the tall grass and nearer the ruins they had taken to crawling beneath the underbrush. They were panting heavily, leaning their backs to the remnants of a once powerful tower giving to the east.
They had seen three rugged men dragging the twins by force into the mound from a half collapsed doorway. One of them had slapped Ritun brutally to the face when he had cried for help.
Both of them were trying to control their breath but couldn’t help it. Their cheeks were red from exhaustion and their hearts were beating on overrates. Cnebba’s hands were shaking visibly and he tried to bury them under his legs not to show the trembling to his friend. Garmund was pressing the shearing knife so hard in his hand that his knuckles were white. With one word, they were scared to death after seeing how the outlaws had handled the twins.
“What do we do now?” Cnebba hissed from between his teeth.
Garmund was quiet for a while but then seemed to pull himself together and whispered back to Cnebba. “I have these...”, he raised his hand to show the shearing knife to Cnebba, “Pick some pebbles... we must get the twins out from here”.
Cnebba was about to voice his fear of the big men but decided to shut his mouth as he saw the determined look on Garmund’s face.
Armed with a shearing knife and a few pebbles the boys started crawling beneath the underbrush towards the doorway some twenty yards from them. They stayed close to the broken ancient wall that had been growing grass for decades for the vegetation was thickest just beside it.
“More of them coming! Hurry up guys! Giddyup!”
The sharp voice coming from the left froze them both to their positions. Neither dared even to breathe.
Suddenly there was movement all around the place. Four men appeared from behind the corner some thirty yards in front of them and ran towards the voice. Two of the men who had dragged the twins inside the mound emerged from the doorway and followed the four. There were also sounds of running feet behind them but they didn’t dare to turn their heads to see. For a while they just waited.
Eventually Garmund started to crawl forwards again. Cnebba had no choice but to follow. He didn’t wish to be left alone in this place anyhow. He was hoping, he was hoping indeed, that his father and Garmund’s father, and lord Thornden and all of the men from the Mead Hall would be here. He just hoped.
Garmund stopped abruptly and turned to look at Cnebba. “Okay Cnebba. Now we get up and run... we run fast but quiet. You understand? The doorway is just a few yards away.” He pointed carefully forwards. “You see it?”
Cnebba nodded slowly and pressed the pebble he had in his hand. He swallowed and then looked at Garmund to the eye. “We run then”, he said quietly.
“As I count to three...” Garmund whispered.
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