Viking, me.

Chapter 9- i just want to go home.

The night had come calmly, the sun setting over the land and vanishing into the water. I had sat at the door of Sven's home, on the grass. He has shoved a pair of torn trousers at my feet along with a home made bone needle, extremely old fashioned but never the less. I sew his clothes back as he hacked at a tree, gathering wood for a fire and I'm sure as a form of preparation for this upcoming battle. He hadn't spoken a word to me since earlier. I wasn't sure if I should have been happy or sad about that.

Hissing as I pricked my finger for the fifth time I shook the pain away. I shivered from the cold. Sven had been planning on discarding a perfectly good fur lined cloak, only until I stole it from the pile to be thrown into the fire and mended it. I finally had a proper cloak that would keep me warm. The new home I've come to despise only ever so slightly is far colder than Ireland. My fingers were becoming numb and my nose must have turned a red colour. I rose from my perch and walk towards Sven hesitantly.

"Can I take these? To start a fire?" I ask looking at the wood. Sven's axe thumps into the tree and he stops and looks up at me. He barks at me to take them and leave him alone. I do as said and I leave him alone. The entire evening you can hear the hacking at the tree until he comes in and drops a pail of water and some more wood.

There is a knock on the door and in comes a broad shouldered man followed by a beaten and sickly thin monk. I inhale quickly and slap my hand over my mouth to stop the sound.
He looks up and his eye widen. Is brother Rúan. A young monk from my village back home. The man who came in shoved Rúan down to floor beside me. I glance at Sven who is slapping the mans back with a large smile on his face.

"Brother Rúan, is me! Saoirse!" I say hushed. He nods and gives a half hearted smile. Hope floods my heart, someone I know!
"Just call me Rúan" he says quietly. I grab his hand and give it a light squeeze.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" I ask, I hadn't known he was here, his sullen expression and his sunken in cheek bones don't give me the impression that he has been well looked after.

"There is nothing. I've learned a few things about this place, it's customs are quite strange-" he mutters looking up at his rough and tough companion. "Do you know what they call us here?" He asked.
I give a quick nod, I do, the hurt and my heart stings as I remember the quick slap I'd been given and the term 'slave girl' used.
"Slave" I said hushed. Rúan 'humms' in response and we exchange a silence.

"We are left to be the subject of torment by our masters" Rúan says lowly.
"Saoirse!" Calls Sven his voice impatient and frustrated. I tense and look over my shoulder to the lounging men. They had planted them selfs in the mounds of fur pelts that lay at the fire sides.

I cross the room to only be told to stop once I had reached the brewing caldron of some Norse ale.
"Two cups, Saoirse" he says when I realise what he's pointing at. I nod and Rúan's master taps Sven's shoulder and gestures toward me and speaks with an appreciative tone. Was he commenting on my obedience? A rippling snarl lowly passes my lips. I've never been ordered around before this!

I swipe two cups off the chunky wooden table and unhooked the ladel off the rack that stood beside the fire. Scooping two labels of the frothy ale into the cups, I steadily walk to Sven's lounging body. I stand before him, not looking at him, keeping my head up and eyes averted. I can hear him adjust himself and take the two coops from my hands. I swiftly move away and into another room where I can just be alone. I stand in the bedroom where Sven usually sleeps alone. I busy myself, throwing furs and cotton pieces up onto his wooden bed. I trailed my hand up the side of it as I walked to the top edge to straighten the covers. Soft furs that smelled in such a way that reminded me of warmth and looked used and warn. My fingertips skim over something cold and foreign to a bed. I upturn the pillow and fined a small dagger.
A leather thong wrapped around the handle. It has a shiny slanted blade with figures laid into the metal. It's light in my hand and as I hear a sudden loud burst of laughter I drop the knife and it slides through me fingers- cutting the skin.

Hissing quickly at the pain I push the blade back under the pillow I fling the covers up and exit the room briskly.
I press my finger to my lips and suck at the blood. Upon re-entering the living space I see the Rúan is now sitting patiently for his commander- the man I hadn't given a second glance. Sven is lounging and laughing whipping away dripping ale fro m his face. The fire is dimming so I trow another two chopped logs on to it.

I turn back to the clothes I had been mending, the trousers still had a gaping whole in the seat of them. I tread the needle and perch on an unsteady chair by the table. Rúan was suddenly called upon with such force that the voice shuck the table. Startled I glanced up. His master with a scraggly beard and heavy greying streaks running through his long locks of black hair demanded something. Rúan slowly rose to attend to him. Sven glanced at me and had I not of noticed I wouldn't have seen 'that' look in his eyes- he was still mad at me. I cringed and returned to me work.

"Saoirse-" he stopped a second as I looked up. Curling a fallen lock of hair behind my ear he then slowly started again,
"-food, now!" He demanded. I pushed the chair back and slammed the trousers down on the table.
I retorted with his own words as I stormed out the door. A few unbelieving words were spoken by Rúan's master and a grunt supplied by Sven. The sun had completely disappeared and the last few rays touching the sky from behind the waters horizon. A light breeze swished my hair and I wrapped my flapping cotton shawl around me. I stood a bit away from the door and I had made the fatal mistake of keeping my back to the house.

From behind me came the devil him self- Sven.
"Saoirse!" He cursed. His voice as deadly as the sound of a snake.

"You've embarrassed me in front of a high ranking warrior!" He hissed. I didn't turn around to him. I bit my lip. He forcibly grabs my shoulder and swivels me around. I look up at his face, creased eyebrows and a puckered upper lip.

"So what?!" I growl at him. "I'm not your slave, I'm not mean to be here!"
"Your under my beckon call, you do what I tell you!" He snarls.

"Make me!" I taunt. I don't know what I was thinking when I said that - the repercussions were not good.
His rough hand gripped my throat. I couldn't catch a breath. I choke and cough and he tightens the grip around my neck. I grapple at his hand with both of mine.

"Please -chokes- stop" I stutter.
"Beg me!" He demands a smile playing on his lips. The malice dripping from his voice like rain from tree branches after a storm.

"No" I manage to get out. He snarls at me and narrows his eyes.
"You will obey me!" He had both hands around my neck and I think it's just about the end when I can't breath any more. My eyes begin to blacken and my vision is blurry.

I just want to go home.