New Beginnings

Chapter 7

Rollo opened his eyes to a silent room. He sat up from his uncomfortable bed on the floor to see his own bed was empty. Where was Anna?! He scrambled to his feet detangling himself from the blanket and pulling on a shirt he ran from the room.

"Anna!" He whispered loudly in a room that turned out to be empty. He hurried around the house and couldn't find her even though he looked in every room. He was beginning to panic. If she had tried to run away she wouldn't have made it far, perhaps he could find her. He went through all of the rooms of the slaves becoming more and more agitated as he went. He had to find her. She must have left the house. If he was lucky she would still be in town. If he was really lucky, he would find her before someone else did.

"Rollo!" Someone called to him as he burst out the front door. He rushed to find his friend Torin. He grasped Torin's broad shoulders.

"My friend, I don't know where my wife is I cannot find her."

"That's why I came to find you Rollo, I know where she is."

Relief flooded quickly through him as he followed Torin. He was led to the barn then Torin turned and put a long finger against his lips. Then Torin pushed open the door and Rollo could see Anna. She was laying in the hay with little sheep cuddled around her.

"She helped me save them. If it weren't for her, they would probably be dead."

She looked so small and peaceful in her sleep. She also looked vulnerable she reminded Rollo of his sisters which was why he had chosen to protect her. Anna was different from any woman that he had seen in the past. She was kind and unselfish staying up all night to feed sheep was proof of that she had to be exhausted.

He was sorry for forcing her into marriage with him but he wasn't sorry for protecting her from the men. Even though they had a treaty with each other he was sure they would have hurt her the moment he turned his back. Which was why he had done the only thing that he could do. Marry her to save her.

One of the lambs let out a loud bleat and Anna opened her eyes. She froze when she saw the two men watching her. She scrambled to her feet.

"Good morning." Torin said as she stood and brushed off her skirt.

"Anna" Rollo said with a dip of his head. "Torin tells me that you outsmarted him and saved these sheep. Thank you, for your help." Torin let out a loud grumble and glared at Rollo. Rollo reached over and cuffed him on the back of the head.

"You are welcome." She said as she reached down to scratch the ears of a sheep that was nibbling on the hem of her tattered skirt. In return, the sheep sucked on her fingers with determination.

Torin thumped Rollo's shoulder then turned and walked toward the house. Rollo was alone with Anna again.

He walked toward her and she shrugged away from him. She seemed to hunch into herself.

"How old are you Anna?"

"Nin... Nineteen." She stuttered as Rollo walked around her. She looked small and Rollo wondered if she was telling the truth about her age. She couldn't have been more than sixteen or seventeen. She had lied to him.

"Now back to our conversation from last night." He said and she looked down at her feet.

"I know you killed the people in my village."

"I didn't kill anyone." He said. "My father has a treaty with Earl Halstan and he called on the treaty" Rollo walked over to sit on the wood that divided the walls of the stalls. "I didn't know what he was doing when he attacked your village. I think your Earl owed him a debt and he couldn't pay it. Earl Halstan has a temper."

"I saw you, you were covered in blood." She said as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"We had gone to collect a debt and Earl Halstan wanted vengeance. I saw Earl Halstan attacking a child. She was young. No older than ten or eleven like my little sisters. I wasn't fast enough to save her and she fell against me bleeding from her neck where he slit her throat." Rollo kept his eyes on Anna's face. He was searching for something, anything that said that she believed him. She kept scowling at the ground, refusing to look at him. "I can't make you believe me but, I didn't kill anyone."

She glanced up for a moment but when she met his eyes she looked back down at her feet. Eventually she became uncomfortable under his gaze and walked to the door. When she had her hand on the door out of the barn he spoke.

"You are weak."

"...thank you..." Anna said quietly. Earning a booming laugh from Rollo that made her wrap her arms around herself again.

Rollo walked towards her and she didn't cower from him but she didn't look him in the eye. Her eyes rested somewhere on his throat. "You need to get stronger. I will teach you how to fight."

She looked surprised and confused. "Why? I am a nurse I don't need to fight."

"You will learn" Rollo said as he reached forward to pick a piece of straw out of her hair. "Because like these lambs, if you will not fight you will not survive. You need to learn how to protect yourself if I am not here to watch over you." Now she did look him in the eye and she looked angry. Rollo was beginning to recognize the stubborn set of her jaw. "You will learn because I am your husband and I am telling you to learn. I saved your life and now you will grant me this." Rollo didn't like to order people especially the woman that he was trying to win over. He couldn't win her over if she was dead and the weak didn't survive.

Anna remained quiet but Rollo saw her eyes flash in anger at his request. "Please Anna."

She looked up at him with a questioning look on her face then she looked down at her feet in defeat and nodded. Then she pulled open the barn door and slammed it shut behind her. Rollo opened it a crack to see her walking towards the house.