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Part 2: Things change quickly.

Ashildr was marched toward the ship, tripping twice on loose stones. Both times, the hands that marched her along caught her and roughly pushed her up again. The walk felt long. At last she felt freezing water brush her feet and her captor stopped.

"I am going to lift you into this boat. Be careful. If you try to get away, you will fall in, and I'm sure you know how deep and cold it gets. Your hands are tied. Don't try anything."

Ashildr went to nod, then remembered that there was a blade somewhere near her head. "Yes."

"You speak English?" a new voice asked.

"Hold your tongue, Sid," the first voice said. "We'll wait until we're on the ship to question her. For now, you don't say another word."

"Yessir," said the man who Ashildr now knew as Sid.

"Not another word I said!"

"Sorry sir."

"Shut your gob!"

Sid stopped talking.

She was lifted into a small boat and set on the bottom. There was about a centimeter of water inside, and she squeaked in surprise.

A wind had picked up between when she left the beach and when she had been caught. The waves jostled the small craft and the two rowers were not very well in sync with one another. Ashildr resisted the urge to shout the rhythm at them. She may have been a girl, but was born and raised as a Viking, and she knew how to row. These oafs had no idea how it was done.

They almost tipped over, shaking her out of her thoughts.

"No, Sid! You have to stay in rhythm! Stop that!"

They eventually got to a ship and were lifted in on a rope. It evidently a large vessel. The trip was long. The rope had been tied around Ashildr's waist and was chafing at her and making her dress ride up.

"If I take off your blindfold, will you sit nice and talk to us? If you're good, we might send you home. If you're not-"

"Francis. Stop playing the fearsome kidnapper." This was different. A female voice. "Just take the bag off her head."

The sack covering her eyes was whisked away and she blinked at the light. When her eyes had adjusted, she saw a motley crowd.

They were all men, except for the woman who had just spoken. Some had skin darker than any she'd ever seen, and some were as pale as her. There were Gallicans and Norsemen, English and people who didn't look like anyone she'd ever seen before. A few were older looking while most were clearly still eighteen. They were all staring at her.

No one spoke.

"All right," said the man who had caught her. "I'm taking her belowdecks, and if anyone disturbs me, they'll be cooking for a week." She still couldn't see his face as he was behind her.

She was nudged toward a hold on the deck with an open cover, and stairs leading down. Ashildr descended uncertainly. She had never been on a ship with stairs. Her father's ship just had a ladder leading to a cavity in the ship that was filled with hammocks and barely big enough for her to stand up in.

The stranger pushed her through a door and shut it.

"You can turn around now," the voice said, filled with amusement.

She turned slowly. The man was tall, but not as tall as her brother Stein. He wore a dark red tunic with black trousers and brown knee-high leather boots. She looked up at his face. He was older than she had thought, with salt-and-pepper hair. He was obviously in command though.

Ashildr surprised herself by asking "Why did you take me?"

"Why do you think dear?"

It was clearly not to answer her prayers to leave the village, but that had happened anyway.

"To ransom me? Are you pirates? And who the hell are you even?"

"Inquisitive I see. Let's see. Yes, not technically, and I'm Francis."

"How did you learn English? I thought I would have to brush up on my Norse," he added.

Ashildr turned red. "Well. Um. I read?" Her voice got smaller as the short sentence went on.

Francis raised his eyebrows. "You can read? In English too?"

"I taught myself. And we captured some English monks a while ago."

Francis looked at her with respect. "Well. What's this highly literate girl's name?"

"Ashildr."

"Welcome to this ship, Ashildr. You'll be staying for a while."