Sallina was eighteen years old. Every morning, when the sun came up, she washed her face in cold water, put her clothes on, and went downstairs to eat her breakfast. She didn't cook the breakfast. Cooking the breakfast was the job of her younger brother.
After breakfast, she worked until lunch-time. First, she milked the cows. You may not know what milking a cow means, and I'm not sure I do either, but that's what she did, and it was tiring because there were ten cows, and she had to carry the buckets of milk from the barn to the kitchen. After she milked the cows, she fed the chickens and cleaned out their cage. Sometimes she chased the chickens around the cage for a while, just for fun. But after that, it was back to work, gathering up old vegetables and kitchen scraps for the pigs. Sometimes she threw a rotten vegetable at her brother, and he threw a rotten vegetable at her, but after that it was more hard work.
On some days, Sallina went out into the fields and helped her father with the plough. She was a strong young woman, strong enough to lift the metal plough right up off the ground. Her father was proud of her for being so strong, and he was always glad to have Sallina with him. She made him laugh.
On other days, Sallina walked into town with a list of things to buy from the market, and some money to buy them with. When it was raining, she walked under the thick forest by the river, where the big leaves of the old trees kept the rain from falling on her head. When it was bright and warm, she walked across the fields, where the flowers and butterflies flashed in the sunlight. When it was sunny and hot, she walked through the forest on the hill, where the shade kept the sun from burning her skin.
The forest on the hill belonged to the Duke. He ruled all the land within three day's walk of the town. His job was to make the laws that everyone had to obey. One of his laws was, "Anyone who lives in my Dukedom may walk through my forests. But everything in the forests belongs to me."
One hot, sunny afternoon, Sallina was walking through the Duke's forest with a basket on her arm when she saw, through the trees in front of her, two men and two horses. The two men were the woodcutter and his son. Sallina liked the woodcutter's son. He was the same age as her, and his name was Garibaldi.
Garibaldi and his father had been cutting down trees for the Duke all day. Their horses had been pulling out the stumps. But now the last stump of the day lay upon the forest floor beside a large hole in the ground. The horses' harnesses lay nearby.
Garibaldi's father mounted his horse. "Enjoy your swim," he said.
Garibaldi put his woodcutter's axe through a loop in his horse's saddle and looked up at his father. "Enjoy your tea. Tell Mother I'll be home by sundown."
His father nodded. "See you then." He turned his horse and rode down the hill.
Garibaldi patted his horse on the neck. "Good girl, Eliza."
Sallina, the farmer's daughter, was walking through the trees towards him. She had a shopping basket on one arm. She was smiling.
Garibaldi folded his arms and nodded at her.
You might think it would be more polite for Garibaldi to say "Hello". But Garibaldi was not sure he wanted to speak to Sallina. Sallina always said clever things that made him feel foolish. Garibaldi did not like to feel foolish. He certainly did not like to feel foolish in front of Sallina.
Sallina stopped next to the tree stump and smiled at him. "Hello, Garibaldi, did you chop off your tongue with your axe today?"
There, you see? She was making fun of the fact that he had not said Hello.
Garibaldi shook his head.
"Are you sure? I'm worried about you. Why don't you show me that you still have it, so I can relax."
Garibaldi raised one eyebrow. He was proud of the fact that he could raise one eyebrow. When he raised one eyebrow he meant, "What are you talking about?"
Sallina pointed at his eyebrow. "There's that tick of yours again."
Garibaldi frowned.
"You know, the eyebrow thing."
What could a young man say to such a woman?
Sallina smiled. He didn't talk much, this woodcutter's son, and that was, she thought, a good thing in a young man, because most young men never stopped talking. They would tell her all about the clever things they did at school, or how rich they were, or how good they were at swimming. Garibaldi hardly said anything. But everyone liked to watch him cutting down a tree, especially when it was hot and he took his shirt off. The last time Sallina was in town, Garibaldi had been cutting down a tree with his shirt off outside the town hall. A crowd of young women stood and watched him. Sallina watched him too. She even pushed another girl out of the way so she could see better. Every cut Garibaldi made with his long, woodcutter's axe bit deep into the tree and, much sooner than they would have liked, he cried "Timber!" and tree came falling down.
"I haven't chopped off my tongue," Garibaldi said.
"Oh good!" Sallina said. She smiled at him. He said nothing. She looked at the tree stump. "What a big tree you cut down, and what a big stump you pulled out of the ground."
"The horses pulled the stump out of the ground," Garibaldi said.
He frowned and looked down at his boots. That was a silly thing to say, he thought. Of course the horses pulled the stump out of the ground.
Sallina was thinking how honest Garibaldi was. When he kept frowning at his boots, she looked at the hole where the tree's roots had been. The earth was dark and damp down in the hole. There were little bugs crawling around in the dirt, all confused by the great movement of the tree stump, and trying to find new places to hide from the birds.
There, in the dirt, she saw something shining. It was a small coin. A gold coin.
"What's that?" she said, even though she knew what it was. She put her shopping basket down, stepped into the hole, and picked up the coin. As she did so, she saw several others.
"There are gold coins in here!"
Garibaldi stepped closer to the hole. Sallina handed the coin up to him. He looked at it. He put it between his teeth and bit it. The metal was soft.
"It's gold."
"Were you looking for gold?" Sallina said.
"No."
Garibaldi stepped down into the hole next to Sallina. They turned over the dirt and picked out more gold coins and collected them in their hands until Garibaldi uncovered a glistening pile of coins in a small chest.
"Gosh," Sallina said.
They crouched in the dirt and looked at the shiny coins. The chest was small, but it held hundreds of coins, maybe thousands. A thousand gold pieces was enough to buy a farm, or a fine house in the town.
There was a wooden lid in the dirt nearby. Sallina picked it up and shook the dirt off. Some little metal pieces on the side of the lid had turned to brown powder from being buried in the wet earth. The wood was cracked in places, and stained black, but it was still strong.
Sallina put the lid on the chest, just to see if it would still fit. It did. She took it off again. She reached into the chest and picked up a handful of coins. They were heavy, which she expected, but they were also warm, which she did not expect. She thought they would be cold. The coins sat in the palm of her hand, warm, and heavy, and comforting. She wanted very much to put them in her pocket and keep them for herself.
"What shall we do with them?" she said.
"What do you mean, what shall we do with them? It's in my hole. What shall I do with them?"
"This is the Duke's forest, so the gold, according to the law of the land, belongs to him, just like the trees, and the mushrooms, and the deer, and everything else in the forest."
Garibaldi had to admit to himself that Sallina was right. The gold belonged to the Duke. He looked around to see if anyone was watching them. He could not see anyone, but it would be easy for someone to hide in the shadows beneath the trees. He looked at the gold. There was so much of it. He and Sallina would be rich if they kept it. But if the Duke found out, they would both go to jail. Could he trust Sallina to keep the gold a secret, or would she tell her friends? If she told her friends, would they keep the secret? No, they would try to get some of the gold for themselves by saying, "Give me some of the gold, Sallina, or I'll tell the Duke that you stole it." On the other hand, Sallina was no fool. Perhaps he could make her promise to tell no one at all, not even her own mother, and she would keep her promise.
When Garibaldi looked around to see if anyone was watching, Sallina did the same. She saw no one. Was this a trap? Did the Duke bury the gold under the tree to find out what they would do? No, someone had buried the gold here a long time ago. The lock and the hinges on the chest had rusted away to nothing. The chest must have been buried for a hundred years. Whoever buried it had died long ago. Only she and Garibaldi knew the gold was here, and they could share it between themselves. She knew she could keep a secret, but could Garibaldi? Even if he could keep a secret, he might use his gold to buy himself a thick fur coat, or a fine silk shirt. The Duke would see Garibaldi wearing his new clothes and ask where he found the money to buy them. The Duke could be frightening when he was with his soldiers. If Garibaldi was frightened enough, he might tell the Duke about the chest, and about how he found it with Sallina in the Duke's forest. The Duke would take away the gold and throw them both in jail.
Sallina remembered something her mother always told her, "Money is the root of all evil," which meant that people often wanted money so badly that they would do terrible and stupid things to get it. Would Garibaldi try to kill her so she could never tell the Duke about the gold and he could keep it all for himself? She looked at him. He looked at her. No, Garibaldi would not hurt her. He was a good man, not a murderer. She was being foolish. Trying to keep the gold was foolish, too. It belonged to the Duke.
"We should take it to the Duke," Sallina said.
"I suppose we should," Garibaldi said. He gathered up the loose coins and put them in the chest. Sallina put the lid on. Garibaldi picked up the chest. The gold was heavy, but he could lift it easily with his strong, woodcutter's arms. "Let's go to the Duke right away, and perhaps he will give us some of the gold as a reward."
Sallina nodded. That was probably the best thing they could do.
They put the chest of gold in one of Eliza's saddle bag and started off down the hill, through the trees, towards the town. Garibaldi lead Eliza by the reins and Sallina walked beside him.
When they had gone fifty paces, Sallina said, "Perhaps we should not go through the town. We will see a lot of people there, and they will ask us what we are doing. Somebody might try to take the gold from us before we can bring it to the Duke and get the reward. They might try to get the reward for themselves."
Garibaldi stopped walking. Sallina and Eliza stopped too. He nodded. "Good point. Let's go along the top of the hill and come down on the far side of his estate. That way nobody will see us."
They turned Eliza around and walked up the hill. A breeze rustled the leaves above them and the sun shone down in little spots upon the forest floor. They walked side by side but they said nothing to one another.
When they reached the top, Garibaldi heard a twig snap on the ground behind them. He stopped and turned around. Sallina did the same.
"What is it?" she said.
Three young men stepped out from among the trees. They wore hunting clothes made of fine wool and leather. They walked towards Sallina and Garibaldi. They were smiling, but Sallina did not like the smiles on their faces. She knew these three young men. Everyone knew them. They were always getting into mischief, but never seemed to get into trouble for it. Somehow, it was always the people around them who got into trouble.
"What have we here?" one of them said. His name was Lawrence Matthews. He was the son of the richest man in town.
"Two love birds walking alone through the Duke's forest?" another one said. He was the eldest son of the judge.
By this time, the three young men were only a few paces away. The third young man, who was the judge's younger son, jumped forward and slapped Eliza hard on the bottom.
Eliza did not like being slapped on the bottom. She reared up on her hind legs, pulled on her reins, and whinnied loudly. Her saddle bags flew up on either side of her. The chest of gold slid out of one of the bags and fell through the air. When it landed, its lid came off and the gold coins spilled out across the ground.
The three young men stared at the gold.
"What's this?" Lawrence said, "Stealing gold from the Duke's house while he is away?"
Sallina frowned. "He's not away, is he?"
"As if you didn't know," Lawrence said, "I think we should take that gold back for him, don't you, boys?"
"Indeed we should," they said. They moved forwards.
Sallina stood over the gold and raised her fists. "No you won't!"
Garibaldi had been so surprised by the three young men coming out of the trees, and by one of them slapping Eliza on the bottom, and by the gold spilling across the ground, that he had been standing still, not knowing what to say or do. But when the young men walked towards the glittering pile of coins, and Sallina raised her fists to fight, he let go of Eliza's reins and stepped forward.
Lawrence did not see Garibaldi coming up beside him. Garibaldi struck him hard on the side of the head with the palm of his hand.
"Oh!" Sallina said.
The judge's sons stopped moving towards the pile of coins and turned to see what had happened. Lawrence swayed upon his feet with his mouth open and fell to the ground. The judge's sons looked at Garibaldi and at Lawrence. Garibaldi took a step towards them.
"Let's get out of here," the older one said.
They turned and ran. They ran off down the hill through the trees. Garibaldi watched them disappear into the forest. He raised one eyebrow. When they were gone, he looked down at Lawrence.
Lawrence opened his eyes and blinked. He rolled onto his knees and stood up. His face was red and his mouth was twisted into an ugly scowl.
"Sneak," he said.
Garibaldi put his arms on his hips. Sallina stood over the pile of coins and held her breath.
Lawrence jumped forward and swung his fist at Garibaldi's face. Garibaldi moved his head back a little and Lawrence's fist flew through the air without touching him. Garibaldi took a step forwards and punched Lawrence in the stomach.
"Ugh!" Lawrence said. He bent over and held his tummy.
"Get lost!" Garibaldi said.
Lawrence moved backwards. When he was ten paces away, he turned and started jogging down the hill. He could not go very fast because he could hardly breath.
Sallina laughed.
Lawrence stopped and turned. "You'll be sorry for this! The Duke will hear all about it from me, and then the both of you will be eating bread and water in jail for years!"
He took a few more steps and turned again. He raised his fist and shook it. "For years, I tell you!"
Sallina did not laugh.
Lawrence jogged down the hill and disappeared into the trees.
Sallina left the pile of coins and took hold of Eliza's reins. Garibaldi knelt beside the coins and began picking them up and putting them in the chest.
"Well," Sallina said, "You're a good man to have around in a fight."
When Garibaldi could find no more coins among the leaves and dirt where the chest had landed, he lifted the chest and carried it to Eliza. He put it in the saddle bag and strapped the bag shut. He had forgotten to strap the bag shut the first time.
"What do we do now?" Sallina said.
Garibaldi rubbed his hand. It hurt from hitting Lawrence on the side of the head. He was glad he had not hit Lawrence with his fist. He might have broken his fingers.
"I don't know. Those guys will say we were not going to the Duke's house, and you know how everyone believes them."
"But we were going to the Duke's house!"
"Yes, I know that, and you know that, but the truth is that we were going away from his house, and planning to go towards it later. You know the Duke. He is nice enough most of the time, but when it looks like someone's trying to steal from him, he gets pretty angry. And he'll probably believe those idiots when they tell him that we were trying to run away with the gold. They're rich, and we're not. It doesn't matter what I say, I'm just the woodcutter's son."
Sallina nodded. "And I'm just a farmer's daughter." She had never heard Garibaldi say so many words at one time. And what he said made sense, too. But she did not want to believe it, because if he was right, then she and Garibaldi were in a lot of trouble. They might spend a year in jail, even if they took the gold right away to the Duke's house. Certainly, if the Duke was away, they would be thrown in jail until he came back, and sometimes he was away for weeks.
"We don't have much time," Sallina said, "It will take them ten minutes to reach the town, and another twenty for the police to get here and start following us. We must go now to the Duke's house and be ready to spend several weeks in jail, or we must run."
"It's a lot of money," Garibaldi said, "If we run, we can keep if for ourselves."
"Can we? Or will you keep it for yourself and leave me alone somewhere in the forest?"
"You could do the same to me."
"But I wouldn't."
"Nor would I," Garibaldi said.
They looked at one another.
"We don't have much time," Sallina said.
"What do you want to do?" Garibaldi said, "Tell me, and I promise I will not tell the Duke."
Sallina looked at the saddle bag. She could see the shape of the chest inside. There was a lot of gold in there. If they ran with it, she might never see her family again. But if they did not run with it, she might spend a year in jail. If they ran with the gold, they might be able to find a safe country to live in, and she could buy a farm with her share of the money, and her family could move there and live with her. Was Garibaldi really willing to go on such an adventure? It hardly seemed possible. Her heart was beating so hard she could hear it thumping in her chest. Her hands and her forehead were sweaty and cold at the same time.
"I'm scared," she said.
"Me too," Garibaldi said, "But my father has often told me that chances," he rubbed his chin, "opportunities, they come at the strangest times, and we should never say no to them just because we are scared. I don't want to go to jail. Here we have enough money to make our fortune in another country. So let's try it. I may not see my father again for a long time, but he will understand, and I think he will be proud of me for trying."
"Aren't we just being greedy and stupid?" Sallina said.
"We were not greedy and stupid when we found the gold, only when we met three greedy, stupid people who are going to go and tell the judge that we were trying to steal from the Duke, and the judge is going to believe them. He always does. They're his sons."
Sallina looked at Garibaldi. How exciting it would be to go on an adventure with him. She laughed. "Okay, Garibaldi the woodcutter, I'll come with you. Together, we might be able to do it."
Garibaldi smiled. Sallina was a clever woman, and if he was going to escape the Duke, he would need someone clever to help him.
"Okay," he said.
They shook hands.
"Can we say goodbye to our families?" Sallina said.
"I don't think so."
Sallina nodded. "No, I don't think so either. Which way, then?"
Garibaldi pointed along the top of the hill. "This way. If we run, we will reach the Deserted Forest by evening, and then we can continue towards the Sea."
And so it was that Sallina and Garibaldi began their great adventure.