[To be titled viking story]

FOURTEEN

I started to climb off the ship, I hadn't seen Svarti and I didn't want him to be slaughtered.

He had helped me adjust to living here. I owed it to him to save his life.

My feet splashed in the water as the men went towards the villagers. I grabbed Yori's attention by pulling on his sword arm.

"There's one you can't kill," I said almost out of breath. I hadn't been expecting to move so quickly.

I scanned over the small group of villagers to see him staring right back at me. I smiled and started walking towards him.

It wasn't Yori who stopped me. It was the warrior whose cloak I was wearing. I looked back and up at the man. He was built like a mountain. I came up to his chest. His hand covered most of my forearm. His long black hair covered most of his face, but he was looking at Yori.

I looked at my cousin to see him nod at the warrior.

"Who?" the man asked looking at the crowd.

I pointed at Svarti. The men all looked at the stranger in the crowd.

"You want to save your lover?" Yori asked with a smirk. "He'll just betray us once his clansmen are dead."

I didn't want to believe it, but it was probably true. That's what I was doing. He would was the same revenge that I felt I needed.

"He made living here possible Yori. I owe him the choice of life."

Yori looked over Svarti for a moment. "Tie him up. He'll be a slave like she was then. That's life enough.

Yori's warriors roughly grabbed Svarti and tied him up. I could see that Svarti had fought back. His cheek was bruising, his arm was cut, and he had a limp when he walked.

He was lucky to be alive.

The warrior holding me hadn't let me go. "Anyone else you'd like to save, princess?"

I glared up at the big man. I had a snide retort on my tongue, but when I saw his face, my mind went blank. The big man was fiendishly handsome. His skin was kissed by the sun and his hair was blessed by the night. His dark eyes never left mine, but their intensity changed to teasing when I saw the smirk grow on his lips.

I felt completely stupid. I'd never had a man catch me off guard. It wouldn't happen again.