My viKING

chapter 5

She did not expect the barbarians to be orderly and synchronized, they expect them to be primitive and uncivilized, something unworthy to be called "beings". But at that moment, she stood corrected .. to the extent that she believed they have been more advance than them.

The land is very buisy with trades and transport as the merchants flocked the area with their trades. The harbor is aligned with sailboats in different carvings, as stalls with different commodities and wares filled the most buisy portion of the place. The sun is high and clear on the sky, as sweaty merchants and wealthy buyers bargain .. the class standing of the buyers is vissible through their ornaments and clothes in which women wore beads and loud looking colors. But what caught her eyes is a stage where a rugged looking merchant with a graying beard introduced the tied slaves to the buyers who flocked most portion of the place.

"Hurry lass!" A voice from her back awakened her senses as she was pushed down the gangplank along with the other slaves tortured by an il fitted rope tied around their wrists. She hastened her pace without having a last glimpse of the stage as they were dragged like a tied horse.

"Welcome aboard!" A deep baritone voice caught her attention as she turned her back and saw where the voice came from, it is a blond aged man whom is familiar to her. The crew started giving gestures of respect as the man began giving instructions, she was then again shoved but not before sharing an eye contact. She noticed that they were increasing in number, at that observation she began to realize that there were other rooms for more slaves at the boat .. some of the captured slaves gave unending glances at her, which she pressumed acknowledged her identity and some may have never known for they should have cultivated a land far from the castle area.

They were dragged to a medium sized tent in which is enough for them to occupy but astringed them truly. She cannot stomach the smell of sweat and bodily fluids that have been compressed in a medium and the worst part is she have no choice but to keep kiefe by her side and stay put.

After a while, the familiar blond man parted the leather covering accordingly to give an extra air considering the collections of different pungent smells. He eyed them accordingly, he gave orders to his men and by that began separating the men, women and children. Iona could not eventually bear being separated from kiefe, for he is his only hope. The captors began pulling kiefe from her and there's no way she's going to give in, they caught the attention of the crowd including the familiar blond man.
One of the captors began threatening her and spat her on the face, in which she did not yet truly give in. They eventually pulled her hair as she snarled and spit on the man's face, for the second time the man crudely spat her and she has nothing to do but to let out tears of agony and entangle kiefe between her tied arms.

"Lass! If you insist .. you will regret this!" The man threatened accordingly as she was lost for words and she can feel the pain on her chaffed lips.

"Fauck of!" After insisting and swearing, a force suddenly blew her senses of as her consciousness began to blithe. The last image she had ever seen before that is the stummering and afraid eyes of kiefe staring at her.

♢♢♢
She woke up feeling the Stimulation of pain in his head, due to the fact that his injury has not healed yet and the constant blowing a while ago. The first thing that came into her concern is kiefe, she scanned her surroundings and noticed that she is in a wide caged area using bundle of straws as bedding, a mini lamp is placed outside the cell which temporarily enlightened the gloomy environment., for the fact that she was alone; she does not know what to do and what will happen to her life., she always dreamt of a life where she can just go to the pastures and have a living there and if fates bless her so, she will bear little bundles of joy to a man whom she will love the most. She guessed her life was not intended for that matter, that her life will be as a slave will give her a living, that her life can be of the women in the brothels. A tear escaped her eye as she contemplated her misfortune, she missed her kind big brother and even her moody father.. she even began to miss Madge's aloofness and the environment she used to live in, even the sense of waking up every morning with nothing to worry about.

A Crackling sound suddenly filled her anguished senses as footsteps filled the silence. She adjusted her stinging eyes and as an intense light filled the atmosphere, a familiar figure aproached and she began to recognize who it is.

"Lass.." familiar brown eyes looked directly at her, "What's your name?"..

"U.. um, a.. Iona" she answered in a stuttering manner, unsure of whether she should reveal her name.

"Hmm, haven't i heard that before? .. well, maybe it's a coincidence that you have the same birth name as your princess.. do you know where she is.. i began to suspect it is you but obviously princesses don't wear a commoner's dress.. hmm" he stated in a familiar manner.

"Aye, i suppose yer right" she answered in a calming tone, what should i do?? What should i do??

"You're bony, but a spit fire.. how can i sell you for a hefty sum?"
That brought her to the sense of realization..

"Where's kiefe??!" She exclaimed upon the realization.. i need kiefe!

"Oh that little boy? He's bought.. mayhaps the best goods did . and you lass will give me an outstanding sum by daylight"

She did not say anything at all, the only thing she can do to extract her anger is to insult the man with silence and show she couldn't mind.. but deep inside, it's very painful.. it's very painful how everything can be taken from her and what's more painful is that she can't do anything to change it.