The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart Read Free Page B

large pile of rocks and his spears, a wizened tree and a small boulder providing cover. Brown grass coated the
     mountainside wherever the scree and rock shelves did not, and on the path halfway down to the next bend Hegel finished his
     work with the shovel and prybar. He had forced up rocks and dug the hard dirt beneath to provide as many horse-breaking holes
     as time afforded, and now scurried to conceal them with the dead grass. The hounds rushing up the trail below him were too
     winded to bark but Hegel sensed their presence all the same.
    Hegel despised dogs more than all other four-legged beasts combined and hefted his shovel. Seeing their prey, the hounds fell
     upon him. The shovel caught the lead animal in the brow and sent it rolling to the side but before he could swing again the
     other two leaped. One snapped past his flailing arms and landed behind him, the last latching on to his ankle. Unbalanced,
     he drove the shovelhead into the neck of the dog on his leg, cracking its spine. The mortal blow did not detach the cur, however,
     its teeth embedded in his flesh.
    Manfried chewed his lip, eyes darting between his brother and the horsemen he saw riding up the switchbacks below. Hegel spun
     as the dog behind him jumped, parrying it with the haft of his tool but losing his balance; he fell. At seeing Hegel stumble
     on the dead dog fastened to his leg Manfried slid down the side of the slope. The beast Hegel had first laid out regained
     its feet as Manfried jumped down to the trail, prybar in hand.
    Manfried heard the riders but the horizontal Hegel heard only the growling of the dog attacking his face. Hegel jerked back
     so it merely tore at his ear and scalp, and as a testament to his utter hatred of the creature, he clamped both arms around
     its torso and bit into the mangy fur of its throat. The confused hound yelped and struggled to get away but he pulled it closer,
     chewing through its coat and into the meat. Gagging on muddy, stinking dog, he opened his mouth wider and got his teeth around
     the veins.
    In his descent Manfried had wrapped a swath of blanket around his lower left arm, and easily coaxed his wounded foe into biting.
     He cooed to the beast until it lunged at his waving appendage, and no sooner did it bite than he brained it with his prybar.
     Tucking the weapon into his belt, he hefted the hound’s shuddering corpse and rushed to the edge of the trail. Recognizing
     Gunter on the trail below, he hurled the dead dog at him and dashed back up the trail to his roost.
    “Move your legs, brother!” Manfried wheezed.
    Hegel had broken the jaw of the murdered cur on his ankle, and the throat-bitten hound rapidly bled out on the ground beside
     it. Hearing hooves, he limped as quickly as he could after his brother. Having chosen their ambush location for its sheer
     walls and steep ascent, Hegel had no hope of reaching the switchback Manfried rounded before the horsemen caught him. He threw
     himself behind a boulder just as Gunter appeared around the bend below.
    Gunter’s favorite bitch had nearly knocked him from his horse, and had his steed been fresh it surely would have bolted in
     fear. His tunic slick with dog blood and his shoulder bruising, he kicked the horse and called to his men, “We’re on them,
     lads!”
    Seeing the next piece of trail empty save for another of his fallen hounds and several boulders, Gunter pushed his mount harder
     up the incline. The sure footed stallion avoided the holes Hegel had excavated and clipped past the crouched Grossbart, reaching
     the next bend. From the edge of his eye Gunter caught sight of Hegel but before he could double back the murderers made their
     move.
    Following his uncle, Kurt noticed Hegel just as the shovel dug into his hip bone and sent him toppling. The startled horse
     reared back, stepped into a hole and, snapping its fetlock, fell onto Kurt before he could blink. The horse pinned him, crushing
     his legs as it frantically