Hannah arrived back at the Clearing just after Matthew. It was now just after midday, Matthew thought. He was feeling very tired; as was Hannah by the look of her. He looked at the Clearing again remembering the first time he had seen it, with the two big trees at either side, a fallen branch on the left, and the pond with the crane and the other animals; not to mention the ubiquitous reeds. He and Hannah then left for the place near the Castle where they had agreed to meet Curt and the others again.
After about five minutes of walking down the path, however, Hannah suddenly stopped. ‘Get down!’ she whispered. Matthew followed her instruction; he knew Hannah’s abilities as a guide by now. In the distance in front of them, they could now hear the unmistakeable sound of people moving in the forest coming towards them; very likely soldiers, Matthew realised. Hannah gestured for him to follow her off the path into the forest. They got down amongst some ferns by a tree and looked in the direction they had come.
They could see two soldiers on foot, obviously heading towards the Clearing; obviously looking for him, thought Matthew. He looked at Hannah and thought that as long as he and she kept still and then moved off quietly they should be safe. Suddenly, however, Hannah sneezed. The soldiers looked in their direction and got their swords out. Matthew froze with fear, his breathing now getting shorter.
He looked over at Hannah, praying that the soldiers had not recognised the sound of a sneeze and thought it was just an animal. She looked back, mouthed the word ‘sorry’ and was obviously scared herself. But the soldiers started to move in their direction. Damn, Matthew thought. What am I going to do now? There was no doubt they were coming straight for them and he knew that he had to act before they were caught.
Why couldn’t this have happened while Curt or Tobias were here? thought Matthew. But he knew that he would have to deal with this situation himself. He looked around him and spotted a branch he could use as a weapon. He whispered to Hannah, ‘Stay here’, and got up and went for it, revealing himself to the soldiers in doing so. they were about two metres away and went for him. He got the branch and stood to face them. He knew what he was doing was stupid and that he would not stand a chance against them but he had felt he had to do something.
‘Unless you want to die, boy, you’d better put that down,’ demanded one of the soldiers, both of whom were now encircling Matthew. He looked at them with fear, the adrenalin pumping in his body, knowing that he would have to surrender soon. The soldiers were getting nearer and nearer all the time. ‘Come on, boy’, one of them said again, ‘Don’t be – ‘
He did not finish his sentence. Hannah had just hit him over the head with a rock. He fell straight down with the rock falling to his side. But the other soldier went to attack Hannah with his sword, as if to kill her. She backed away. Matthew then suddenly got angry. There is no way he’s going to hurt Hannah, he thought, as he rushed at the soldier with the branch.
But the soldier was quicker than he and turned around and slashed at the branch with his sword. The force knocked it out of Matthew’s hand. The soldier then went to stab Matthew. But Hannah jumped on his back. The soldier tried to get her off him, punching at her with his left hand. This angered Matthew even more as he quickly took off his rucksack, which had been hindering him before. He then whacked the soldier in the face with it. The soldier fell back with Hannah onto the floor and dropped his sword. Hannah was still holding on to his neck but the soldier was stronger than she and was twisting himself around to get at her.
Matthew then saw the rock Hannah had attacked the other soldier with, got it, and hit the soldier on the head. He stopped moving, and Matthew grabbed his body off Hannah. He then pulled her up and away from him. ‘Are you ok? He didn’t hurt you did he?’ asked Matthew full of concern.
‘I’m ok, Matthew. Hell, you acted more quickly than me. I’m impressed,’ she said out of breath.
Matthew found he was still holding her and suddenly let go, embarrassed. ‘You did well yourself,’ he said. ‘They would have easily caught me without you.’
‘We obviously make a good team,’ said Hannah looking into Matthew’s eyes.
He wanted to touch her – to - but he broke her gaze when he saw his rucksack on the floor out of the corner of his eye and quickly put it back on. He then looked back at the two soldiers. Hannah was already checking to see if they were still alive.
‘Come on, before they wake up or some others come,’ said Matthew as he began to move. ‘What’s the best way back?’
‘This way,’ she said, as she took two daggers from the soldiers and gave one to Matthew ‘No more paths for us,’ she said as she moved into the forest. An hour and a half later after they had passed the road leading to the crossroads and had gone quite deep into the forest the other side of it, they nearly collapsed by a stream in exhaustion. Their bodies and minds had experienced too much for them to carry on; they had to rest. After they had drunk some water, they lay down next to each other, too tired to care if any danger was around, and fell asleep.