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The two boys raced excitedly through the woods. Their goal was to collect more firewood then the other. They dove in and out of the thick trees as they had done many times before. They had begun this race about two years before when they become aware of each other.
Hubert was the older of the two. He had reached his seventh birthday recently and had to torment Wulhard daily. Hubert had been the first born out of four children. He was the oldest and thus trusted with the chore of finding firewood on his own. He wore his chores and age has an honor.
Wulhard was an only child. His parents had reached that age when they knew they would have no more children. They had tried for many children but that those that they conceived did not make it past their first days. Just as they begun to give up hope Wulhard was born. Wulhard has followed Hubert around and copied him since the day they met.
Wulhard had been out collecting firewood when he spotted a small rabbit in the grass. Wulhard began to stalk his query, hunkering low into the brush. He followed the rabbit for a while until he was sure he had it cornered. Just as he was about to jump on his prey Hubert burst from the outside and grinning like a silly fool. The rabbit made a clean get away and Wulhard sat on his heels most forlornly. Hubert tried to make up the lost quarry to Wulhard by helping him collect firewood he should have collected by then. Since then they have always hunted, played, and gathered firewood together.
Today they had spent a lot of time playing around at the swimming hole and were running quit late. They were still sopping wet, and if they weren't back home soon they knew they would have to face their fathers. It wasn't their fault really, they had been challenged by the other boys there. The other boys bet and dared them that they could not hold their breath under water to the count of one hundred. They had both proven the other boys wrong.
They ran through the thick trees and the rocky paths they knew by heart. Jumping over logs and crawling under low hanging trees. They reached the small ravine that they both had jumped before with ease. The ravine was roughly thirty feet long, four feet wide and fifteen feet deep. Wulhard has never done anything first since he met Hubert and since he was still glowing under his accomplishments from early, he jumped. He landed with a cocky grin and turned to taunt Hubert. Hubert had not wanted to be beat, and had also jumped as soon as he saw Wulhard jump. He landed a bit behind Wulhard and lost his footing. He began to side backward back into the ravine, dropping all of the wood he had gathered. As soon as Wulhard realized what was happening to his friend, he dropped his wood, and made a grab for his friend.
He missed.
Hubert tumbled down into the dark ravine. He landed with a sickening crack as his leg broke through his skin. Hubert laid still in the darkness.
Wulhard stared hard into the darkness willing his friend to move. He cried to Hubert, but Hubert did not respond.
"Hubert I am going to go get our fathers. Please, please be okay," Wulhard cried as he started to run home.
As Wulhard's figure retreated into the woods, a well dress man stepped out of the shadows. He turned to his misty companion and stated, "Child�s play."
"Feel like some candy?" He asked as he dropped into the ravine.
Wulhard went to his home first, as it was the closest. His father Burgolf was out chopping wood. It didn�t take him long to tell him the story. They both ran to Hubert�s home. They didn�t find Hubert�s father Ascric at first, he was out hunting. Knowing their neighbor well it didn�t take them to long to find him. Ascric did not wait for Wulhard to finish his tale before he started running for the ravine.
Ascric was the first to arrive. He shouted back to Burgolf to hold Wulhard back.
"Send the boy home," Ascric stated.
Burgolf turned to his son and nodded his head. Wulhard tried to plead with his father, but he wouldn't be moved.
"Now do as you are told," Burgolf said. "Return home and tell your mother we will return shortly."
Wulhard started back home with a longing glance towards the ravine.
Burgolf took a deep breath and turned his head to one side listening.
"How bad is it?" Burgolf asked.
"Bad." Ascric moaned as he dropped into the ravine.
Burgolf turned and stopped mid step. The trees themselves seamed to have turned for the fall. The leaves were all shades of red and brown. They swayed softly in the wind letting drops of their precious color fall onto the ground.
Ascric crouched low into the earth made tomb. Burgolf stepped to the edge of the ravine and looked down. There were pieces of flesh sliced thinly hung around the ravine with care, as if someone took the time to hang each piece. Both men were so engrossed in the carnage before them that neither one saw the little girl approach.
"How is Hubert?"
She had walked up to Burgolf as she asked this. Both men seamed to panic as they realized she was there. Burgolf picked her up and started running back to her home. Ascric began to cry as he started to collect his son. He refused to let any piece be missed.
Burgolf made it back to the house in less time it had taken to get there. He put her down and told Ada to keep all of the children inside. He then left to gather as many men as he could find. There was going to be a hunt.
No one noticed until much later that Energa had left brownish footprints as she walked inside.
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