The Darkness made the beach very hard to see. Even the moon cast little light down on the warriors as they loaded small row boats. All the time watched over by her captor, she leaned tiredly against him; each time all her energy seemed to be failing her, she would fall against his back seeking some comfort and then pull back all most in horror as her eyes closed and the images of her family and her destroyed village flooded into her confused fatigued mind. She felt the horse move slightly under his control as it slowly walked forward. Blinking her tired eyes, she looked beyond where he sat in front of her and stared down at the beach. Her heart suddenly skipped a beat as her eyes saw a huge monster of a man standing on the beach. It was difficult to tell from this distance but he seemed to tower over all those around him and a two handed battle axe hung from a strap across his back. He looked up and signaled a greeting to her captor, which was returned with the raising of one hand. She could not recall this man from the attack on her village, but her mind screamed in fear as she watched him move across the beach. His grace and size belied that of a true predator. Her gaze was broken as her captor lifted his leg over the horse’s head and dismounted his body, momentarily blocking her view of the axe man on the beach. Her eyes were drawn to her captor now as he stood next to the mount. His blue eyes locked with hers and she felt powerless to resist his gaze. His hand reached up and brushed her bruised and bloody wrist taking it in a tight grip which made her wince in pain; he moved it to the horse’s reins and closed her hand around them. Without uttering a single word he turned and walked down onto the beach. Her mind suddenly began to race at what this meant. Her head looked around slowly, there was only a single warrior standing about 20 feet from her position and here she was with reins in hand of this magnificent beast. No- it felt so wrong and her mind screamed at her to do nothing. Her heart began to pound faster now. Looking around again, she could see her captor was now on the beach talking to the huge warrior with the axe. She dug her heels into the sides of the horse; she had ridden horses back at the village with her father. The images of her father suddenly raced into her mind- his broken body lying on the ground as the village burned around him. The hate she felt for this man, the killer of her father, suddenly swelled up inside her; she felt the fears escape from her mind and now could only see the escape this chance could give her. Without another thought, she turned and dug her heels into the flank of the beast and turned the reins to get it to move away from the warrior closest to her. The horse turned and its heavy footfalls rang through her ears. She looked around as she tried to control the beast to see if anyone had seen or heard anything, but all around her the warriors continued to work. The horse now turned to the road she had traveled down with the group with another pressing of her heels the horse shot forward into the dark and along the road. Now she heard the shot of the warrior closest to her as he saw her escape. His shout of alarm filled her ears as the horse began to build up speed along the small road. She dared to look back for a moment to see the warrior becoming a small shape in the distance as she felt the horse galloping further away from her captor. A sense of exhilaration filled her body as the wind whipped into her face. The sickening feelings she had felt before drained from her body as she felt the beast surge across the open ground further and further away from her captor and whatever freedom she could find for herself now. Gone were the thoughts of loss and torment. Now she felt powerful, almost untouchable, aloft this powerful beast. Surely none of the other mounts could catch her on this animal. She allowed herself a slight turn of her head to check to see if there was any pursuit just to reassure her mind. Turning her head to the side she saw there was no one trying to chase her down, no horde of horsemen led by that Blue eyed monster. She almost screamed a shout of triumph as she looked back to see the road ahead and the branch directly in front of her. A flash of white light flashed before her eyes and searing pain passed through her mind as she felt the branch smash into her forehead. Wildly she tried to keep hold of the reins of the horse, but her hands slipped away as the momentum of the animal carried forward and she felt herself falling backwards from the saddle, her legs dragged across the flanks of the beast and she felt her body crash down to the earthen floor below. Her neck snapped back and pain shot through her body as it came to rest on the ground. She could feel a warm sticky sensation forming on her forehead as it throbbed in agony. She tried to lift her body as the fear returned to haunt her thoughts once more. Have to get away, she thought to herself as the strength drained from her limbs and she slumped down onto her back once more. She could now feel the warm sticky sensation on her forehead pouring down her face. She closed her eyes as it rolled down across her eyes, the warm sensation making her eyelids sticky and heavy and then she could taste her own blood as it reached her mouth and as her strength finally gave out she was consumed by darkness. She felt herself falling, the ground seemed to vanish beneath her as she could only perceive the darkness around her. There seemed no shape or substance to anything, just the sense of falling and emptiness her mind madly searching for something to focus on. As her mind strained harder and harder against the oppressive darkness, she could see a shape in the darkness. She strained her eyes and mind trying to focus on the nearing shape but she could only perceive a pair of animal eyes shining through the dark. They glowed with a bright green intensity as they pierced the shroud of black that engulfed her. The glow of the eyes suddenly brightened to reveal the bright white muzzle of a wolf’s face and the light intensified to reveal a massive white wolf. It looked towards her as she felt herself continue to float in the darkness, feeling no ground beneath her. The Animal moved through the darkness towards her, the glow of its eyes bringing light where there was once darkness and then the light washed over her and she felt she should fear this Animal but could not bring herself to do so. Suddenly the light began to hurt her eyes and she willed herself to cover her eyes with her hand, but her body would not respond and suddenly the light stopped and her eyes began to adjust to the darkness once more and her eyes flickered open. All of the pain she had felt wracked her body; she could feel her blood on her face and taste it in her mouth. She groaned and her eyes strained against the sunlight shining down on her as she tried to move from the ground, every muscle in her body screaming in protest. A darkness slowly formed over her eyes and she strained her head to see what had caused it. A pain shot through her head and neck as she turned it to one side to see the huge hulking shape of the warrior she had seen back at the beach. She recognized the axe she saw him wearing on the beach a few…her mind raced, how long ago had that been now. She saw him grin broadly, it was an evil look and she tried to will herself to get up and try to run. His Grin turned to a smile. “Hello Pretty,” he sneered at her and lunged forward grabbing her from the ground and lifting her high off the ground by her shoulders. The pain screamed through her body as he began to shake her. “You were a bad little slave.” Without any effort he slammed her hard into a tree. More pain raged through her body as he slammed her into another tree. “Was told to bring you back,” he growled at her and let her feet fall to the floor, holding her shoulders still to stop her dropping to the ground. He grabbed her tunic and held her in place as he reached back and released his axe, letting it fall to the floor. “Now I will bring you back, but I am going to have some fun first.” He let go of her tunic and she fell back, slamming down to the ground. Tears of pain began to fill her eyes as she was struggling to remain conscious. She could see this giant of a man, stalking around her, laughing maliciously to himself as he stopped and began to unbuckle his belt. Terror filled her mind, this man was going to violate her, take her and she could not stop him. She whispered weakly, “No please.” Either he did not hear her or did not care as he continued to unbuckle his belt and drop his breeches to the ground. With two strides he moved to her and knelt down beside her arm. With a forceful effort he grabbed her tunic and ripped it away from her exposing her to his lust filled eyes. His hands began to grab at her face as he leaned in close and roughly kissed her neck and face. “No, please no,” she whimpered as his rough hands groped down her body and tore away her breeches leaving his hands clamped on her legs. She clamped them closed as tight as she could, but he easily forced them as he rolled on top of her. Her hands beat at his head and body, but she was so weak but could not bring any strength to bear on this brute. She could feel him laying between her legs now; she screamed weakly as she felt the excitement he felt as he pressed his erection against her. She could not allow this to happen; she screamed in rage and dragged her nails across his face drawing blood as they scraped down his skin. He let out an irritated roar of pain as she brought her hand back to scratch him again. Before she could scratch him again he raised his hand and slapped her across the face; the blow knocked the wind from her and all the energy just evaporated from her body as he pressed himself down on her once more. “Going to make you scream hard,” he growled at her and reached down to position himself to penetrate her. She closed her eyes realizing there was nothing she could do to prevent this and could only curse this monster in her mind as she could now hear his breathing growing heavier as he positioned himself to take her. She heard him gasp suddenly and she felt his felt weight shift. She opened her eyes to see him holding his throat and gasping, trying to draw breath and then an arm grabbed him around the shoulder and body and threw him backwards off her and he crashed hard down on the ground. She looked up at her Savior and saw the familiar blue eyes of the man who had destroyed her village and had taken the lives of her family and everything she had ever cared for. Now he stood over her and had struck one of his own to save her. She heard the giant warrior growling as he tried to get back up; she looked at him and saw he was now on one knee and preparing to rise as he stared at her and then her captor. Without any emotion sounding in his voice her captor spoke, “Stand and you make your choice to die,” he said and then stood silently. “Yes my Lord,” the warrior sneered back at him and then stood. “But perhaps it is time we had a change of Leadership, someone who does not just take for himself.” He leaned down and picked up his axe and hefted it in both hands. “If you wish to have your time in the sun, then take it,” her captor spoke calmly to the huge warrior in front of him and placed his hand on his sword hilt, letting one leg sweep back to form a fighting stance as he shrugged off his white fur cloak letting it fall to the floor as silence filled the air between them. She looked between them both, one with a look of calm and the other’s face raging with anger, his knuckles white with the exertion as he gripped his axe. She went to speak, to try and stop this- she did not want more bloodshed, not over her. But before she could speak the giant of a warrior screamed in rage and charged at his opponent, his axe held high, ready to bring it down and deliver death. He ran past her and she turned to hear the sound of metal passing through the air. She stopped and saw her captor had his sword drawn and it was high in the air. The giant stood still; she could see him shake slightly and then his legs collapsed underneath him as he dropped to his knees. She moved closer to see a look of shock in the eyes of the giant and blood pouring from a horizontal wound in his neck. His hand moved to his throat and touched the blood that poured from there and slowly raised his hand to his face to see. A look of realization formed on his face and he toppled forward, his massive frame crashing onto the ground as he rasped out his last breath. The momentary silence was broken by the sound of her captor’s sword returning to its scabbard. She looked to him and saw him staring down at the body of the fallen warrior. As if sensing her he looked up at her and used his foot to lift his cloak from the ground. He flicked it into the air and caught it, then he threw it at her. “Put it on,” he said. She gratefully wrapped the cloak around her shoulders, it felt warm and suddenly she felt less vulnerable standing here naked with the cloak covering her. She stammered out a “Thank you,” as he walked towards her. His hands took her by the shoulders, his grip forceful but not cruel. Their eyes locked as he pushed her back softly. She moved backwards, her mind too tired to even try to contemplate what he was doing. She was so tired and battered that his eyes seem to draw her in. She felt her back touch against one of the trees she had be slammed against before while his gaze remained locked with hers as he stopped in front of her. “Are you ok?” he spoke with a calming tone to his voice, but before she could reply his face filled with a look of anguish and pain. His body spun forward into her and she pushed hard back into the tree. She heard him curse in pain and he turned around. She could see a crossbow bolt protruding from his shoulder; she gasped and looked up to see a group of six men dressed in chain mail armor and carrying crossbows. Each man also had a sword hanging at their hip and the lead man was a tall rugged dark haired man with a look of serious determination on his face. “You are under arrest,” the Tall dark haired man said and raised his crossbow to take better aim as the other men began to fan out around him.
