He ran as fast as his legs allowed, always following the trail of heavy footprints marked on the ground and always paying attention to possible signs of the girl having escaped another way, though the scream that still resounded on his ears had cut his hopes down a whole lot.
The dizziness caused by the blow on her head caused her systems to shut down as her body fell down to the ground with a loud thud, she had fainted.
The seemingly germanic males talked among each other as their leader picked the girl up and they started to walk back to their ship.
Matthias never stopped running until he reached the top of a hill he knew all too well; at the bottom of this hill, right by the river, was where he and (f/n) always escaped to so they could have some time together, away from everything and everyone, only the 2 of them. Noticing the large amount of broken branches at the top of the hill, he was quick to slide down until he reached the step of the hill; the trail stopped here before heading back with the river, there wasn't any blood in the ground, for that he was thankful, but, what really caught his eyes... was a ribbon, a light (f/c) ribbon, the ribbon was ripped as if it had been struggled with...
But why would a mere ribbon catch a viking's attention like this? The fact is that, this wasn't just any ribbon, this was the ribbon that he had offered (f/n) when he had started courting her.
Anger rised inside the blond, his fist tightened around the (f/c) cloth, his jaws clenched tightly and his expression turned hard with anger, fury directed to the unknown kidnappers of the Oxenstierna female. A mix of something between a growl of anger and a cry of despair and regret erupted from the male's throat as he fell down to his knees, his right hand letting the large axe fall, his head hanging down as if to hide the few tears that managed to escape his control, his left hand took the ragged cloth to his chest, never letting go of the ribbon.
Berwald and the others arrived to theplace right when the danish viking fell down to his knees with an agonizing yell.
Approaching the axe-user, Lukas placed a hand on his shoulder, tightening his grip on his friend's shoulder ever so lightly. Acknowledging the new presences, the danish raised his gaze to face his fellow vikings, in his expression they could distinguish various emotions, anger, guilt, sadness, pain, all mixed in a menacing, terrifying look.
"They took her!" he growled, his left knuckle turning white from the strength of his hold on the small ribbon.
Before anyone could say something else, a little boy came rushing through the woods and tumbled carelessly down the hill.
"Lukas, Lukas!" called the small boy, now identified as Lukas' younger brother, Emil; everyone looked up to the violet eyed child.
"What is it, Emil?" wondered the norwegian, turning away from his good friend Matthias.
"Mother told me to warn you. A germanic ship just departed from our coast, not far from the village, and Ingrid said that she heard (f/n)'s shouts!" Emil blurted.
"Germanic, you say?" asked Olaf, one of the older members of the crew, obtaining a stiff nod from the younger male.
In less than 1 hour, they were all back to the village, the ship almost ready to depart once again as farewells were bid to both family and friends along with wishes of good luck for the mission. In the middle of all the commotion, the Oxenstierna clan and Matthias were the most melancholic ones.
The head of the Kohler family approached Berwald, the swedish's mother, grandmothers and grandfather; the danish's eyes held a fiery look, a (f/c) worn-looking ribbon still gripped tightly by his hand. The Oxenstiernas looked at him, acknowledging his unnerved state.
"I-I have something to say..." he uttered, his voice dangerously calm.
"What is it, my dear?" inquired (mother/name), his future mother-in-law.
"I will bring her back. Even if the others have to come back, I won't rest until I find her and bring her back!" he stated, his blue eyes almost seemed to burn. "This is a promise for her, for all of you... Let Thor be my witness, I will not return without her and I will not rest until her captors have paid for what they did; those germanics will not get out of this unscathed!" Matthias swore, both his expression and posture exaled determination.
"We know, my dear... we know..." (mother/name) lulled, a light smile of hope adorning her features; she leaned up to place a kiss of good luck on the danish's forehead, repeating the process with her son, Berwald.
"Good luck, my sons!" (grandad/name) stated.
"And be back safe!" (mother/name) added, tears threatening to fall from her (e/c) orbs.
"And with (f/n)!" Matthias assured as he got on board of the ship.
And so, the vikings parted once again from the place they called home, right in the same day they had arrived...
She felt herself flinch everytime the sound of footsteps or voices approached the small cage she had been thrown into.
Normally, the germanics didn't lock up the female prisoners; but this particular nordic girl was giving them more than a few troubles; they had left the Scandinavia a day ago and she had already tried to run from the ship before they sailed away, tried to (more than once) throw herself to the sea so she could swim back home, etc., before the germanic leader decided to jail her. They had been rather violent while putting her into the cage, causing her to be now afraid of the large males; everytime one got closer, she would curl up against the corner of the small compartment like a scared puppy...
And, when night came, she cried, heavy tears left her eyes as she silently pleaded for the help of Berwald and Matthias... She hoped they would reach them before the germanic ship reached the coast, which would take quite a few days...
The northern sea wasn't violent, but it wasn't calm either, the sky was heavily clouded and occasional raindrops fell; everything around seemed to reflect the mood of the nordic crew. Both Berwald and Matthias held a twisted expression, Lukas didn't show any kind of emotion as he delivered orders around the other vikings.
The journey would take about a week on the sea, unless they were lucky enough to find (f/n) and the germanics before land was reached...
A week passed, and what a long week it was!
Upon the viking vessel reigned a dense atmosphere; no one talked, no one did anything aside from their tasks; having to leave their homes like this and for this reason was a heavy blow, and this fact was showing.
On the germanic ship, the atmosphere was one of happiness, enjoyment and festivity; the germanics sang and drank as they sailed their route back home with their quest completed. But on a hidden corner of this ship, melancholy had been installed on a certain prisoner; (f/n) silently hummed songs from her land, songs of love, sadness and longing.
The echo of footsteps reached her ears, causing the nordic female to stop her low humming.
She looked up at the man from her curled up position as he approached her cage.
"Hello, wench!" he uttered, obtaining a harsh glare from the girl.
"You're about to join the Roman emperor's personal... Harem!" he informed, a smirk growing on his face. At this, the (h/c) head shot up and throwed herself violently against the bars with a feline-like hiss.
"You will not get away with this!" she growled.
"News of the day, we already did!" he said.
"You're wrong, they'll come for me!"
"Really?" he barked, his face hovering dangerously close to hers. "Then where were they when we caught you?"
Before the large male could react, she shot her hand up and scratched his face. The germanic took his hand to his cheek only to find it covered in blood.
"You'll regret this, girl!" he spat, looking over the proud stance of the female, a characteristical stance of the viking people.(F/n) relaxed her posture once the blond vanished from her sight and let herself fall to the ground with a sigh of relief. Hearing the festive sounds from above, she leaned against the wall, closed her eyes and let the tears fall freely from her eyes; the (e/c) eyed woman soon dived into a restless sleep among prays to the nordic gods and thoughts of her friends, family and love...The next morning was born, this was the dreaded day, the day they would come to coast.
As much strength as she used to try and escape their grasp in order to stay on board of the germanic vessel, they were way stronger than she was and easily dragged her to land.
In a moment of struggling, the (h/c) head caught sight, in the horizon, of the oh-so-familiar white and red sails; in that same moment, the alarm sounded through the germanic city, shouts were heard warning the arrival of the sanguinary viking people. Around her, (f/n) could see women and children running to the safer places they could find, while men grabbed every weapon they could and got ready to fight the invaders off; (f/n) was thrown into a house to join other females and children.
The nordic boat was getting closer by the second, never slowing down the pace...
