By several orders most of the inhabitants of the village had been killed, the houses ransacked, and then lit on fire with the torches that several of the warriors carried in the blood soaked hands. How could such an established village be decimated in such a short amount of time?
Despite what the men might say about it, as they'd make fun of her no matter what she did, several slow tears slipped down her cheeks without any interference from her. She'd just lost the only family she really knew, her home and the neighbors and friends she'd known for most of her life; her whole world. As if the cruel soldiers milling around her, the screams and cries of those left alive, the desperate calls of livestock and the acrid smell of smoke assaulting her nose wasn't enough of a reminder the cruel piece of leather encircling her neck, cutting into the sensitive skin at every tug from the man was there. The powerful man that stood just to the side of her barking orders clearly wanting her to know who was in charge it bout sparing her any pain.
Stealing a hesitant glance up at his imposing frame, her eyes taking a couple seconds to reach his face, Elizabeth slowly started to study him. Despite the soot, blood, dirt and general grime that was smeared a couple places on his cheeks along with heavily coating his arms and the front of his armor one could see that it would be easy to find him handsome. The well defined edges of his cheeks contrasted perfectly with the long tangled blonde locks that stuck to the back of his neck, probably way too long for his liking as between orders he would run his hands through the tangled mess, brushing the strands behind his ears as if from annoyance. It was on one of these motions when he paused momentarily before turning her gaze down to her. As he watched her a mocking half-smirk of a smile slowly started to slide across his face.
"What, slave, do you find me attractive?" he taunted her, giving no warning or chance for her to explain herself before he gave a sharp tug on his end of the leash, sending her into a choking fit as the harsh cord dug into her skin, sending a small trail of blood down the sides of her neck. From the smirk that maintained on his face his action must of resulted in the exact outcome he'd wanted. "Just because I haven't killed you doesn't mean you're allowed any special privileges," he added, his voice leaving no room for an argument.
If Elizabeth had perhaps been able to examine the collar she'd have noticed that it really wasn't that harsh, or wasn't built to cause the wearer too much pain, but with the impressive, tightly corded muscles that were just visible to her it was easy to imagine the kind of strength he possessed.
"You're making a mistake. I'll never be the perfect little obedient slave you want," Elizabeth protested as she tried to get enough air to fill her lungs. Maybe if she wasn't exactly what he wanted he'd let her go, or at least kill her. Why had she even been crazy enough to think it? He'd never let her go, he hadn't let anyone else in the village go and they hadn't insulted him like she had.m
"Who said I wanted an obedient one? Oh no, darling. you're much too pretty for a simple work slave. No, you'll be my personal...entertainment until I tired of you," Bard informed the paling Elizabeth, a mocking look slipping into his eyes as he watched her reaction. Maybe the little witch wasn't as strong as she put on.
Once the soldiers had returned from the various tasks of destruction they'd been given it was a decently short walk back to the boats, Bard taking her onto the biggest with himself.
By now Nala was starting to feel a bit lightheaded and generally overall weak. The more steps she took the more her feet started to drag on the dirt ground before boarding the ship. This was the last time she'd see her home, walk along the beach, sit in the sand and let the waves gently crash against her legs. All of the things she'd taken for granted would be the things she'd miss. The hikes she used to take with her uncle up to the cliff overlooking the harbor.
Taking one last glance at all of the familiar sights she slowly turned her gaze to the ship she was now boarding, a heavy feeling settling in the pit of her stomach as sadness washed over her.
As soon as the viking's had boarded the ships they started preparing to take off, hoping to catch the wind that would almost certainly roll in the the dark clouds off in the distance. The soft hum of their work set a quiet background as Bard turned to face her, a slightly thoughtful look crossing his face as he watched her.
"For the trip home you can have two choices, submit to me and sleep in luxury in my tent," he started, indicating that she should drop to her knees in front of him with her head bowed, a completely submissive position even for a slave, "Or you can spend the time with the others," he added, possibly not even serious about the second, although if you didn't know him the concrete emotions on his face were unreadable.
Looking up at the towering frame of Bard Elizabeth quietly listened to his two options, her whole body under too much shock to yell or even insult him. It would certainly kick in later, though, and get her in trouble then. When the latter option came she slowly followed his gesture to a cage set up on the other side of the boat. Crates were stacked up against two sides of it with an oiled fur covering that half of the top. One of the uncovered sides was the door while the other small end was completely open to the elements. The few people from her village that had survived were already loaded onto another ship, the inhabitants of this cage must have originated from another raid. The feeling of being stuck in the small space with unfamiliar people didn't exactly appeal to her, but the other option of basically bowing to him made her stomach twist into uneasy knots.
"I would rather not stay with the swine of the ship," she answered, her voice hard as she took one small step back, the only space the collar allowed.
A hard look came onto the viking's face at the girl's insults. Anger bubbling in his eyes as he grabbed her by the hair, his grip on the collar abandoned."Let me know when you've had enough!" he spat, dragging the now whimpering girl across the deck and to the cage. In a couple swift motions the door was unlocked and she was thrown in. Closing the door with a small bang he stormed away, leaving her to face the others for as long as she chose.
