Northumbria ✓

9

Morbid content ahead - death

She ignored the fluttering in her stomach after he left. Instead, she practiced stabbing with the dagger he had given her. She hid it under her skirt once one of the warriors called her for dinner. Aethelthryth could feel his eyes following her as he led them to the hall. Not in the manner she expected from such barbarians but rather in a protective way. Almost as if he was ready to protect her at any given moment. Elfreda led them to their table near the throne, on which Ronja was sitting. The petite blonde wrinkled her nose at the food put before her. Aethelthryth couldn't help but snicker. Cyneburga just rolled her eyes and pushed her hair over her shoulders. Now that Aethelthryth thought about it, the dress looked familiar.

"Is that my dress?" Cyneburga raised her head from the soup and gave a small nod. Aethelthryth just shrugged before daintily picking up the spoon. She scrunched her nose at the muddy texture. "Did they threw our cooks out?" Cyneburga nodded.

Then she leaned across the table and softly spoke, "I heard that one of them tried to poison Ivar. Ronja was livid. From what I heard, she gauged his eyes out before throwing the rest out." Aethelthryth shuddered before gazing at the pair. She crossed herself. The duo was eating something completely different, probably better food. Ivar was whispering something into the ear of his woman. Such barbarians.

"The man keeps on watching us," Elfreda's whisper carried around them, and her head snapped to her. This time it was Cyneburga who snickered. The brunette followed her friend's sight. Cyneburga's green eyes flickering between Aethelthryth and Ubbe. Cyneburga scoffed before reaching for her hand.

"You should use it," she stated. Elfreda let out a gasp at her words, "What? He clearly finds her attractive." Aethelthryth turned to look at Ubbe. Ubbe's eyes, so powerfully blue, were focused on her. They did not possess an ounce of guilt from being caught. She turned to look into her friend's eyes.

Cyneburga gave her a reassuring pat on her hand, "You could seduce him. Then once he is a puppet in your hands, he could help us escape." Elfreda looked thoughtfully disgusted by that, "Do not say words like that. Aethelthryth, you are the rightful ruler. If Alfred comes to save us, if Wessex comes to save us, and they will find out that you were sullied by him, they will make a martyr out of you!" At her desperate words, she grimaced. Her throat tightened, and she wanted to claw at it to let the words out. She pulled her hand out of Cyneburga's grasp. All she wanted to do was cry.

Feeling the anger well, up she slowly rose from the table, "No one will come and save us! Alfred will marry a Mercian lady, and they will form a strong alliance to overthrow these heathens" —her eyes bore deep into Elfreda's— "and the only thing left of us will be our mangled corpses hanging over the rampart. Men will not save us, for we are simply pawns in their game." She could feel Ronja's eyes on her as she rushed out of the hall.

Aethelthryth didn't take the path to her room, instead, she swiftly walked to the kitchens. Her eyes swept over the room, and when she made sure no one was in sight, she quickly stole an apple. She was hungry, and what they have given to them was food for animals. Meanwhile, they feasted on the food her people had to harvest. She sighed frustratedly when she noticed that she wandered into the deeper parts of the castle. The cells and much deeper from there were the catacombs. It was darker in this part than any other part of the castle, which always made her confused. Her brows furrowed as she heard the dog bark.

More followed after that, and she grew even more confused. Why were her father's dogs in the cells? Where they even her fathers? She stepped into the more stone part and looked through the corridor. There was only small light and that was coming from the small square windows on the opposite of the cells. She gazed to her right at the cells. They were all empty. Another bark echoed from further down the corridor, followed by a whine.

Feeling even more curious now, she slowly advanced further. The prison cells were cold for obvious reasons, and the small amount of light didn't build up her courage. Then the most pungent smell hit her. She gagged at the disgusting smell that seemed to surround her. For a moment she thought of turning back before she heard another whine. She arrived before the last cell covering her mouth and nose with a part of her skirt. The smell was even worse now. There was a heap of something, laying close to the bars. Her eyes squinted as she tried to decipher if it was one of the dogs.

Her eyes widened as she recognized human features underneath the huddled dogs. She gasped as her eyes adjusted, and she noticed how many of them had bloody mouths. The smell made bile rise up her throat, but she gulped. Her head tilted, and eyes zeroed on the noble styca many men of his posts wore. Her mind flashed to the memory of her father kissing her on her forehead, the same gold brooch with the same engraved symbols before her eyes. She stumbled a few steps back, and the bile rose again. This time she did nothing to stop it.

Doubling over, she vomited almost all the food, even from yesterday. She gasped for breath and leaned for support on the wall. The stones were cold and rigid under her delicate fingers. Her mind told her to run, but she turned her head to the scarring image. Her father's body was mangled. Skin was hanging from his throat where one of the dogs tried to bite the meat off. His face was covered with claw marks embedded so deep that she could see bones. Now that she looked at his face she noticed his eyes were wide open staring straight ahead. She couldn't look at the rest of the body as tears sprang into her eyes.

She turned away, leaning onto the wall for support. Another spurt of vomit left her lips, and she sobbed. A small naive part of her hoped that they haven't killed him. That they maybe just captured him and hidden him somewhere. No instead, they threw him to his very own dogs. They must've been starving the dogs for them to do such a thing. A shudder wracked her body as she choked on her sobs. She reached with her hand to cover her lips. Then she bit into her thumb trying to stay quiet as possible. And then she was running. The body even though she saw it only for a moment, was planted into her mind. She could swear that the smell was going to hunt her for the rest of her life.