[To be titled viking story]

TWELVE

Kadlin

I squirmed against him. I could have drowned me!

"You dunk me under the water and keep me from breathing to prove a point! And they you expect me to hug you?!" I shouted at him.

He smiled and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "There's the Kadlin I remember. You were always spirited."

He kissed my cheek and headed for one of the men.

Yori took the furred cloak from one of the men who had offered it and gave it to me.

"You're going to be cold. Warm up." Yori smiled and wrapped the cloak around my shoulders with tenderness that I severely missed.

He handed me the dagger. "Hold onto this for protection until we leave this place."

I looked down at the dagger and felt Yori kiss my forehead with tenderness that's unexpected from a raider.

I felt some of my pride return now that I felt like a free woman again.

Never would I serve another man.

Never would I submit to the needs of men.

I inspected the dagger and knew that I could improve on the appearance with some practice. I knew how to do the filigree work.

I looked up from the dagger to lock eyes with my now former master. I wondered why he was even alive anymore.

"You are going to let the men live?" Anger laced my question as I never took my eyes off of the man who had tormented me so.

"Someone needs to tell the tale," one of my new clansmen joked. "He's nothing more than a fat old farmer. He's no threat to us."

I expelled the air I had been holding in my lungs and walked towards the man. No one was going to stop me from avenging my daughter's death. It wasn't the babe's fault that she had been born a female.

One of the warriors tried to stop me, but he wasn't fast enough. I plunged the dagger deep into his bloated belly.

I retracted the blade slowly and stabbed him again when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I twisted the blade and never took my eyes from his. I wanted to see his pain as he had seen all of mine. I wanted to see him die as a part of me had died with my daughter.

The ones who would be slaves now all gasped and screamed in horror. Taf's wife screamed and tried to get to her husband.

Taf knew why he was dying. If he had just kept his fat hands off of me, this never would have happened.

I retracted the blade feeling satisfied. The man's eyes glazed over before he hit the ground, dead.