"Do you have your knife?" Goron asked his brother, Joseph.
The brothers were both good looking young men, bronzed by the sun from time spent working in their fertile fields and grown tall and muscular on their land's produce. But they were ambitious also. And eager for wealth, and to show their strength. And on this special day, the two young men had oiled and combed their hair, dressed in their best linen tunics, and were mounted on their donkeys for the short journey that lay ahead. And now that they were leaving the farmyard of their family's home, they could talk freely, being out of earshot of their father and his workers.
"Of course. You think I am a fool? Ha. Though we will not need a knife to deal with young Hilaron," Joseph replied, "It's a good plan that his father, David, has formed."
"Yes. It is. We are going to have a good night, brother—food, wine, blood, and gold," Goron replied, as he laughed aloud. "A very good night. But I won't trust David until the gold is in our hands."
"I don't trust him either. Perhaps we should see the gold before, rather than after, the deed is done. So, do you also have your knife, brother?" Joseph asked.
Goron pulled a long, dangerous blade, which could almost have been called a short sword it was so large, from the belt at his waist and held it up to the sun so it glittered evilly. "See, the sun god knows it shines with eagerness for Hilaron's father's blood if he tries to cheat us," he replied, joining in his brother's laughter.
They rode on a short distance to another stone farmhouse, much like the one they had left, though slightly larger. But not as large as the house where Hilaron and his father, David, and step-brother, Lucus, lived. But like the brother's, Goron and Joseph's, own home, it was still the dwelling of a wealthy farmer and his family.
A servant waited at the gates of the house for the brothers' arrival and took the reigns of their donkeys from them as they dismounted. "Welcome," he said, "Your cousins have been told of your arrival." And as he spoke they saw three young men emerging to welcome them, all dressed in their finest linen robes.
"Yarron, Matthew, and Zanar, we come in peace," Goron cried out in greeting to them, as was the custom.
"And good you do," Zanar joked. "There are three of us, and we can take you two scrawny fools on any day, and win. So I bid you welcome, cousins."
"What? Scrawny!" Goron cried, leaping forward and waving his long knife under his cousin's nose.
"Save it for tonight," Yarron hissed. "Save it for Hilaron and David, and perhaps Lucus, the soft woman that he is."
"Or better still, old Peter. Perhaps we will take his ripe daughter off his hands on our way home," Zanar added, laughing.
"Ah. A poor orphan girl needs protection," Matthew cried out in mock distress, as the five young men joined together in laughter.
"Old Peter's daughter is ripe, true enough, and her father is no real obstacle, dead or alive," Goron added thoughtfully, obviously taken by the idea.
