Starstruck || Sihtric Kjartansson

Chapter one

Freydis sat tired. She was mentally and physically exhausted, and did not want to acknowledge any of the events that had occurred last night. They were unspeakable. For the first time in her life, she felt she had no desire to speak; her mouth remained bolted and locked shut as she languished lazily on the cart, letting her feet slightly dangle freely off the end of the cart.

She looked up into the peaceful and calm sky, which was partially covered by earthy and tall trees and many families of birds. She watched them curiously as they flew from tree to tree in big, but tight, groups. She suddenly longed to fly. But she was only human; she looked forward and saw nothing, apart from one of the Kjartan's men at the back of the line on watch. She paid him no mind as she focused on the remnants of footprints of horses and wheels left on the brown, muddy path, which was lined with vegetation and forests.

No matter how hard she tried to disassociate herself from her current predicament, she was reminded of the tight and borderline restrictive feeling of the ropes that bound her hands together. She could even notice a faint growing line of despotic red, purple, and green blotches surrounding the skin on her wrist. It was artistic, almost. She would have to ask her sister what this strange mark was.

She was lulled into comfort as she spread out on the cart, not caring what anyone had to say. The wheels on the old and slightly unsteady cart, which housed her along with all the other goods, often rustled and shook, making her body lightly jump. This annoyed her at first, but eventually she learned to pretend she was a Viking at sea enduring a furious storm.

All the noise and chaos that came from Kjartan's men overwhelmed her. She tried not to think of the fact that her sister was in the middle of said chaos as she rode with Sven (against her will), who had his arms possessively around her. She was caged. And Freydis hated that she couldn't do anything about it.

Freydis did not dare look forward at the men in fear of what Sven was putting her sister through and wished not to see the fear-filled expression that she caught at the beginning of their journey to Dunholm, which she had gathered as she listened to one of the men's conversations.

But as Freydis looked back towards the sky, the trees and birds had disappeared. A pang of anxiety hit her heart as she knew she was almost at their destination, or rather, their new hell, Dunholm. The girl couldn't help but tense her body as she left behind her old life to start a new, unstable one. She was scared.

She looked towards the front for the first time since the start of their journeys, slight tremoring, then she saw it. The fortress of Dunholm. It created an atmosphere of massiveness and authority, which struck fear into anyone's heart without trying. Including her. Her heart beat faster and faster as the hoard drew closer to its nest. Not even the vast and scenic fields could calm her now.

As they drew closer to the gate, Kjartan's men became even more restless and jarring which only served to heighten her anxiety more.

Suddenly in the blink of an eye, the whole congregation was suddenly securely sealed within the fortress, and men started to climb off their horses as Freydis desperately scanned the newly amassed crowd for her sister. As she was looking, she locked eyes with another child. He seemed roughly about her age, if not a couple of years older, and had sightly tanned skin with a wild mane of chocolate-like dark brown shaggy locks with matching maroon eyes that looked almost like bronze in a certain light, with a hint of captivating fire. She was surprised to see another child here, as she thought she'd be the only one. He intrigued her.

But then she turned around and was swiftly enveloped in a tight, loving hug from her sister, Thyra. And the boy escaped her thoughts. "Are you ok?" She whispered emotion laced her voice while keeping Freydis rapt firmly in her warm embrace. "Yes. I missed you." Freydis said, and in response, her sister grabbed her face by her chin and gazed at her lovingly. But when Thyra found a blotch of dirt on Freydis's face, and she quickly mined to try to wipe it off, which caused Freydis to back away from her grasp and made Thyra laugh as it reminded her of what their mother used to do to them both. She professed answering the girls earlier statement, "Not as much as I missed you." The smile building on her face almost felt foreign to her.