Line of Time

First Night in the Cold

Gunnar hugged him back, knowing that Tino had always been the one that liked contact with others but this time it was different. He was scared of where his future would lead him and what would happen to him. They stayed that way for a moment or so then Gunnar helped him to his feet. He wobbled a bit but he could stand, his nerves were just a wreak at the moment. 

"Gun-Gunnar... what's--what's going to happen to me?..." Tino asked as Gunnar took up the rope that was still around his neck. Gunnar gave him a grim look. 

"I'm not quite sure what's going to happen to you Tino, if I knew, trust me I would tell you where you'll end up... I only know a little." Gunnar admitted as he started to lead Tino back to town.

"Tell me, an-anything helps... I just want to know..." Tino begged as he fallowed his childhood friend turned raider. 

"I'm going to bring you back to one of our ships, just like others from your village are being taken as we speak... You'll travel across the sea with us and when we reach our homelands again, you'll be sold as slaves to the highest bidders. There's no way of knowing who you'll be sold to but you'll most likely be treated like dirt." Gunnar said as he looked back at his friend and saw tears flowing from his eyes as he walked with his head down. They walked in a sad silence until Tino stopped in his tracks, Gunnar looked back at him and saw where his gaze was fixed. A farmhouse, he could see a man and woman hiding behind the fabrics that draped the windows. Tino's parents were watching as he was being taken from them by an invader. Gunnar couldn't help but feel for the three of them, all their hearts breaking at the thing he was doing because he was told to. It wasn't like he could just let Tino go, if he did, Gunnar was as good as dead like the villagers who tried to fight back against them. 

He pulled Tino along as he stumbled to keep up with Gunnar's new faster pace, not wanting to stay here any longer. They were still a little bit away from the village before they spoke again. 

"W-why are they... why are they taking women?" Tino asked as he saw a few get dragged away from their homes by the strong invaders. Young beautiful women that Tino had known his whole life, they were strong willed and did their best to fight the men that dragged and carried them away. Gunnar looked over and saw that it was his friends. Mathias had a girl over his shoulder as he walked she kicked and screamed bloody murder. She seemed to be just as loud as him, it could be a good match, they both seemed to share the same volume settings. Then he saw Lukas dragging a girl, she spit curses at him as she planted her feet into the ground. They both stood their ground well, this couple could work too. 

"Their bringing their wives to be home." Gunnar said as Tino looked on confused.

"They'll be married once we return, she has no say in the matter. They aren't promised to each other but this is a sort of promise that's being forced because their taking with them to their homes and from theirs." Gunnar explained. 

As they got closer to the docks they passed though the village, the streets ran red with blood and bodies littered the way. Tino walked slowly behind Gunnar, his breaths ragged, tears flowing from his eyes as he recognized each body that lay there. Aunts, uncles, family friends and others he knew from trading with them daily in the market place. A few farmers that were from the neighboring plots of land along with their animals lay in the streets. Death hung over the town and the scent of blood clung to anything and everything that passed by. People, winds and thoughts. It was something that none of the surviving villagers thought they would forget but they were to be taken from here and at one point it was expected that they would forget everything from this place, this life and this event. But they knew that it would always linger with them for as long as they lived.  

Tino was loaded onto a boat along with other men and women that had been caught. They then set sail for a place that was new to all of them, women cried and sobbed, some comforting each other. The men tried not to show their fear but Tino was the youngest on the voyage and he couldn't hide it at all. A few women on the boat saw him and recognized him, they were the women that Lukas and Mathias had taken as their future wives. They knew Tino and went to comfort the younger boy, they had grown up thinking of him as a little brother and them as his big sisters. He sobbed in their arms as the journey went on. His eyes were a blood shot red by the time they returned. He had no more tears to shed, his eyes were puffy and sore. He hadn't ate but it seemed like it didn't bother him but the beatings he received did. He feared everything that moved around him, he didn't trust anyone.