Chapter 3

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I breathed in a breath full of dust. Choking and coughing I could feel my mother patting my back. I was face down in the dirt. Slowly sitting up I looked around. It was quiet and dark. A fire flickered nearby casting our surroundings into shadows. We were in the street at the edge of town the ocean could be heard crashing on the rough rocks below the cliffs. There were women, children and many elderly people around us.

"What will we do with them?" A gruff voice asked.

"Kill them all!" A few men replied with a cheer.

"What about this one?!" A scrawny one with short hair asked.

"She could be of use."

A rough hand grabbed my arm and hauled me to my feet as if I weighed nothing more than a sack of feathers. "We shouldn't let one like this go. We should give her to Rollo." He said leaning down. I could feel his breath against my neck as he looked at me. He reached over to tuck my hair behind my ear with blood stained fingers. I tried to prevent myself from shuddering at his touch.

A chorus of laughter erupted from the group of men. The man's tight grip on my arm didn't loosen and he pulled me away from my mother.

"No!!" I screamed. "No, mamma!" I struggled with all my might trying to get away from the man but it was useless. He paid me no mind just dragged me along behind him. I slapped at him then with one solid swing of his arm he smacked me across the face once and I stumbled. If it weren't for his tight hold on my upper arm I would have fallen on my face. He shook a dirty fist in my face and I held up my hands to shield myself from another attack.

"Do you want to die with them?!" He shouted at me in a roar then he threw me to the ground. My palms smacked the rough earth to catch myself. I scrambled to get back up and a sharp shove to my shoulder pushed me back to the ground where I stayed. I pulled my knees up and started to crawl back to my mother and the other people from my village. The man noticed and he grabbed my foot hauling me backwards across the ground. "Stay put!" He screamed in my face and threw my leg back down to the ground causing it to hit the sharp rocks of the street.

I saw the men raise their bows and take aim at my people. "No!" I screamed with the chorus of yells that erupted from my people and I struggled to get to my feet. But it was useless I saw the release of the arrows and I turned away. I heard the thud of the impact faster than I could get my hands up to cover my ears. The screams ended in a quick instant. They were gone. I couldn't look at them. I didn't need to. I already knew that they were dead. All of them were dead. I didn't need to remember the lifeless glazed look of my mother's eyes. I wanted to remember her happy,  not lifeless in the dust bleeding. I fell to my knees with a silent scream on my lips.

The night was silent except for the waves crashing against the shore. I felt the rough hand take hold of my arm in an attempt to haul me to my feet but I pulled from his grip. I shot to my feet using the motion to muster up my strength and punch him in the face, there was a satisfying crunch. He reacted faster than I expected and his hand smashed into the side of my face again. The slap broke the silence with a loud crack that cut the night. I fell to my knees to see the hand raised again to strike me. It swung in the air towards my face and I squoze my eye shut to prepare for the impact.

"Stop!" A deep voice yelled. The man dropped his hand but I stayed on the ground and rolled to my side with my eyes shut.

"Rollo!" A nearby man shouted. "We have a prize for you!" The man hooked my arm and pulled me to my feet. He then pushed me at my protector. His strong arms caught me before I completely crashed into his chest. I kept my eyes on the ground. He pushed me gently away from him and took a step forward putting himself between me and the unruly men. I felt safe behind my protector. I wrapped one arm around my waist and cradled my face with the other. My skin was hot from being hit. The skin was sore. There would definitely be a bruise.

"Rollo take her, she's yours." They taunted. "She is for you, a prize from this battle."

I trembled as I stared at the man's boots they were blood soaked. He carried an axe in his hands. He was solid with muscle. In one quick glance I took a look at his face. He stood a full head taller than me with a head full of hair and a long beard. I knew from earlier that he was an attractive man. I also knew that he was a dangerous and strong man. He was huge and extremely muscled. I looked back down to the ground.

"If you don't want her..." Began one of the men as he took a step forward but Rollo interrupted him.

"No." He said "I want her." He took my arm and pulled me away with him. I was shocked, my naive sense of security was gone. I wanted to scream and fight. I wanted to run away but judging from the size of this man he would just grab me and drag me back. If the men from earlier were any indication of what would happen to me I knew I wouldn't get far. He would most likely beat me anyways. He was so much bigger than me and he had an axe. I noticed a sword at his belt and the handle of a dagger was poking out of the top of each of his blood soaked boots. Even if he didn't have the weapons, I was completely at his mercy.

He drug me with him as he entered the Earl's home. I had been to the Earl's house many times. Back then, it had been a happy place full of light and the laughter of children. If there was one thing the Earl loved above his battles, it was his children. Everything that he did, he did for his children. Today the Earl's home wasn't the happy place I remembered it to be. There weren't welcoming torches or fires in the pits offering a comfortable light and warmth. Tonight the Earl's home was cold. Shadows sprung up along the walls and in the rooms offering a feeling of horror.

I struggled to keep up with the stride of my captor. He kept a quick difficult pace. I stumbled and he steadied me many times as we walked through the house.

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