With Our Eyes Shut

Part 1

The board sliding back to unlock the thick door startled the captives sitting on the floor of the dingy barn. Shushes and frightened gasps greeted the fair-haired Thurgilson as he walked in and eyed the huddled bunch. They were to be slaves to the heathen Danes and would soon learn that being cut down, like so many of their loved ones, would have been a blessing.

The siege had been fast, and the death count high with only a small number of women spared by the wicked brothers. They now had control over Beamfleot and planned to stay, establish and plot.

"Can anyone here read and write?" the Northman asked in a stern, thickly accented voice.

When no one responded, irritation flashed across his face, his kohl-lined eyes and long goatee making him look like some ghoul from a children's fable.

"I will ask only once more."

Reaching down, he grabbed the closest woman yanking her to her feet. Squealing like a piglet, she held up her shaking hands as if to signify she was helpless. The truth was, they all were and he knew it. Pointing his dagger at her face, he glared back at the captives, his cool blue eyes scanning them... waiting.

"Who. Here. Can. Read?"

It was clear, his patience was gone. Most averted their eyes but some glanced at one another as if also seeking the answer, desperate for the barbarian to set his sights on anyone but them.

"Shame," he uttered, looking back to the woman, tightening his grip on the neck of her dress, making her cry out again.

Movement in his peripheral pulled his attention to the far corner. Pushing up to stand, a girl, a woman really leaned against the wall. She did not say a word but her terrified brown eyes met his just long enough for him to know that he had his answer.

----

"Sigefrid," Erik stressed his name as if to make his point. "We must keep our eye on the greater plan. To have this knowledge will give us the advantage of surprise."

"So will my blade running through their skulls." The dark-haired Thurgilson grinned, seated on the former Lord's chair, "Surprise!" he laughed loudly, raising the incased knife affixed to his forearm up into the air.

If that was not a simple enough response to his brother's suggestion that they learn the Christian language, he snorted and sucked snot down from the back of his nose, spitting a ball of phlegm onto the wood floor beside him.

Crossing his arms, Erik waited, knowing Sigefrid was not yet through.

"We do not need to read or write to raid and kill, Erik. We will settle here, enjoy what this bountiful land has to offer, and prepare to take out the weak king. We can speak their horse piss language, that is enough."

"True, but would you not care to know what this says?" Erik held up the small scroll in his hand. It had been taken by two of their warriors who intercepted a messenger leaving Winchester. "Would it not be of value to know when and where their armies travel so we can better position? What if the black scratches on this parchment say that Alfred will soon be on the move, perhaps leaving his walled city to visit Mercia. On the road, he would be ripe for an ambush, brother. Just think..."

Always the less methodical out of the two, Sigefrid was passionate and impulsive, rash and at times his anger flared but now, he responded with silence knowing he would eventually agree with his younger brother. But not yet.

Roughly clearing his throat, he snorted again. "I will join the lessons," he spoke slowly as to exaggerate his concession, "Once I have taken a shit. Unless I do it there," his dark brows shot high and he flashed his straight white teeth, "welcome our tutor with the task of wiping that scroll across my dirty ass."