The Thane (Cullen Rutherford AU)

Chapter 1

The Frostbacks are brutal, the mountain air chilling my bones. Filarion, my Dalish All-Bred, leads the way. "Easy, Filarion, easy. There's no need to fret. We're almost back to the camp," I whisper, my gloved hand going to soothe the horse. He whinneys and calms at my touch as we continue our trek through the mountains.

The camp shouldn't be too far away, but in this weather, it could take a lot longer than planned. "I just had to find that stupid shard," I mumble, urging Filarion onward. He walks on while the snow piles up around us. I glance down to see good prints in the pure white snow. My allies didn't bring horses with them. With a bite to my lower lip, I decide to follow the prints.

Filarion is hesitant, but I continue to urge him to move forward. I think I can spare a few minutes to investigate, right? A few feet ahead of me are Avvar hunters. Oh shit. Oh really big shit. The men turn to me, drawing their weapons. Filarion rises onto his hind legs, and I hold onto his reins for dear life. I make Filarion turn and we rush back the way we came, with the hunters following us.

Despite my best efforts to escape the Avvar, I take an arrow to the shoulder, and the hunters catch up to me. One jumps off of his horse and knocks me into the snow. My blood stains the white fluff. The Avvar hunter straddles my waist as he draws a knife and holds it to my throat. His allies hop off of their horses with a grace that I cannot even manage.

"Look at this one. Pretty. Nice set of tits on her. Maybe we should take her back to the Thane?" He suggests. One of the other hunters grabs my face and makes me look at him, while simultaneously studying the rest of me.

"A good body. Hips made for childbearing. Wouldn't mind going a few rounds with her," he continues.

"Hold up, this girl is perfect for the Thane. Don't spoil her. She would be a nice change to the afoka. We take her back to Red-Lion Hold and present her to the leader. She'll have to heal first, but when she does, she'll go straight to his bed. But first-" I hear nothing else. They strike me and knock me out.
~
I wake up in a room that is heavily perfumed and so obviously suggests a feminine presence. Then, I hear an array of "who is she? Where is she?" And similar questions to these. Where the hell am I? I look around at the room; there are furs everywhere, even covering the furniture. My short black hair is splayed out on the bedroll I have been placed on, and thankfully I'm still dressed.

The sound of feet hitting the ground distracts me from taking mental notes of this new place. "There she i- she's so dark!" The one woman remarks, her bright green eyes looking over my caramel skin. My coffee colored eyes study her, then go to the rest of the women. "What is your name, lowlander?" The first woman asks.

"Samira," I reply, shifting so that I am sitting up. The shift causes me some discomfort because of my bandaged up shoulder. "Where I am?" I question.

"You mean, you don't know?"

"How could I know? Several of your hunters knocked me out and dragged me here," I answer, crossing my arms.

"You were picked to be part of our Thane's afoka-"

"And what is an afoka, exactly?" I interrupt.

"You really are a lowlander. An afoka is what you lowlanders call a harem. You are part of his harem now, and you must please him in every way possible."