Hynek could dismiss the screen in front of him by just thinking, this was natural to him from his childhood, so he just did that and walked out of the yard and closed the low wooden fence behind him.
Then he leisurely walked towards the forest. His house was in the middle of the village, and when he walked towards the forest, he just had to pass some houses and then a merchant road to enter the clearings of the forest and then the deep forest, where he spends time alone while working.
"Hey! Hynek, Are you going to work again? You do remember tomorrow is the dance, right?"
A beautiful young female voice called out to Hynek from the back as he was walking on the village path, and hearing the voice, his ears turned red, and he was as if afraid to look back.
"Hey!! Are you deaf or something?"
The female voice said once again, and Hynek sighed deeply, then looked back. A young woman around thirteen to fourteen years old was standing in the middle of a cow farm field. She was wearing a head cover, and her sleeves were rolled up to her forearms. She looked cute and had a youthful appearance.
"Agnes, I didn't see you there, God bless."
Hynek said with a smile on his face, he was also blushing a little, as Agnes was his betrothed, and she was too forward for him to handle.
"God bless, Come here, give me a hand with these cows a little"
Agnes said while gesturing to him to come inside the field with her hand too.
Hynek had no choice but to accept. He jumped the fence and put his axe down by a tree trunk. He didn't talk much, he simply pulled the cows to their places where they could eat fresh and long grasses. Agnes also didn't waste time, she ran and pulled out water buckets to fill up the water trough. This water trough was for the cows to drink from after eating their fill.
After some time, Hynek finished moving eight to ten cattle. Agnes was also done with filling the trough, and then she stood near Hynek's axe. She likes to talk with this man who will be her husband next summer or winter, maybe.
Hynek came and picked up the axe. Agnes smiled at him sweetly, she wanted him to start a conversation nowadays, and Hynek knew it.
Hynek, scratching his head, foolishly smiled and said, "I will be coming to the dance tomorrow. It's in Skalice, right?"
"Yes, where else? That village has a castle, and it will be fun. Did you talk to Father?"
Agnes asked, Yesterday she demanded something from Hynek, she wanted to build a small house near the only huge linden tree in her village as a dowry to her marriage from Hynek, and she also wanted him to talk with her father.
"N… No, I will do that tonight. You do know I have lots of Groschen saved up, so you don't have to…"
Hynek wanted to say that he has lots of Groschen (silver coins), so she doesn't have to make things easier for him, but before he could finish his sentence, she said something so ridiculous that he almost fainted.
"Yeah, yeah, I know you're rich, save that money for our future children. Mother said I can have babies after bleeding... Hey! Hey! Where are you going?"
Agnes smiled, seeing Hynek run towards the forest as fast as he could. She looked at his back with a proud expression. She was proud to be with him, and her friends in the Skalice village would be jealous for sure.
"Agnes, get to work and stop teasing him that much."
A female voice came from far away, a woman wearing a wool cloak. Her whole head was covered with a scarf, and she looked unbothered by her daughter's pranks on Hynek. He was a good boy, and she didn't mind them at all, she preferred Hynek this way, simple and not so mature.
Agnes heard her mother went back to work, she was helping out her mother to make some baskets. Their village was too small, they had to sell them in the market of Skalice, a bigger village.
Hynek, on the other hand, walked in the jungle, and today he was planning on staying late. He recently bought rights from the village headman to fell sixty trees, so he was going to make the most of it as soon as possible. He was not afraid of wolves in these woods and could protect himself by using fire and his axe.
As Hynek became busy with his work after hiding his groschen in a tree trunk, soon the sun went down, and also darkness was creeping up on him, so he, as usual, lit up three big wooden fires to protect himself and to keep him warm. He was working hard because he had to gather extra wood for that small house Agnes was asking for, he wanted to give her a surprise. Also, his firewood was a great, valuable commodity in the winter.
Hynek, after feeling a little tired, thought today was enough. He put out the three fires he lit earlier, and then, grabbing a wooden torch in his hand and gripping his axe, walked towards the village. He was in a happy mood, he even decided to eat the bread he purchased yesterday and sleep like a log.
Agnes is so naughty.
Hynek blushed thinking about what she was talking about in the day, shaking his head from distracting thoughts. He focused on the path and went outside of the deep forest, then slowly walked out of the forest. As soon as he did, he saw huge lights coming from the village.
Hynek looked towards the village with surprise, as at this time only the night guard appointed by the local lord should be patrolling the area, no other person should usually be awake at this time of night.
Hynek's eyes saw something he was not prepared for: he saw his whole village was in flames, torched to the ground. By instinct, he looked towards his house, it was razed to the ground. There was hardly any wood left that was not burned.
Hynek gripped his axe tightly, despair filled his eyes, he threw the torch, and he walked slowly as his legs were not working as usual, he felt shock and grief.
Gripping his axe, he advanced towards the village, then he looked towards the west. There was a bigger village called Skalice with a castle and a lord in it. He was shocked to see that direction was brighter than his own village as well.
Hynek, shaking, walked towards his own village. He was praying no one was hurt. As he reached down from the forest clearing and was about to enter the merchant road, he saw some men gathered around. Only one person was sitting on horseback in the middle, and there were many armed guards around him.
Hynek could guess they were at least ten men, armed and wearing steel helmets. Hynek quietly sat where he was so as not to draw any attention towards him.
"Listen to me, make sure this place looks like some Hungarian savages did it. I will ride to Rataje right now and inform Father about Skalice being attacked. Leave no survivor. I leave this place to you two, Zidomir and Radovan. Everyone else, return with me."
A young man's voice came from horseback, he was talking eloquently and ordering around. Hynek was certain he was some noble, and he was leaving two men behind.
Hynek tried to see who that was, but the young man's face was in the darkness and opposite from him, but he still remembered this voice and how he looked from the back.
After a few seconds, the horse left with ten or so guards, leaving only two armored and sword-wielding guards behind.
The guards, after seeing the horse leaving, walked towards the village headman's house. Hynek, seeing this, gripped his axe. His heart was pounding, and he felt an ache in his heart. He was breathing raggedly, and his eyes were getting moist.