The Last Marigold

Oh! Mother Of Mine!

With a fistful of hair, Svalfi dragged Su'a's body the length of the hall. She thrashed violently, clutching at the vice-like grip pulling her hair out from the root. He threw Su'a quivering at Bodil's feet.

"There!" He shouted. "Know your place, Bitch. Never again believe you can better a Princess of the North," He hissed. A stab of anger shot through Su'a when she heard Bodil and Orm taking pleasure in her misfortune.

"It was just as you said, Souad. She is his undoing. They practically gave Uppsala away with a blade at her throat. Giving up the Keep, their only advantage to preserve the life of this whore." Su'a felt the sting of Bodil's boot as it connected with the back of her head, rattling her senses. Her head was pounding and her vision blurred before clearing.

"Wolfgard will cede to our demands. If he wants to see his lover alive again." Orm's said, his voice a touch over-confident.

"Was it wise though to release the other? Methinks we should have killed her. At least we can still kill this one," Svalfi said, clambering up the steps to sit atop Wolfgard's throne.

Souad stoic gaze moved from Su'a to Svalfi. "We ought to keep her alive for the moment. At least until our demands have been met. The other is the trusted wife of Wolfgard's cousin, Alrik. She delivered our message to the Jarl. Keeping her alive at the time was beneficial. We would never have gotten them to withdraw their army and let us walk right through the gate without her," Souad stated. Her dark gaze falling on Su'a as she struggled against the hardwood floor.

Lifting herself up, Su'a looked at the face of the woman she met in the woods. A face so much like her own. She could not fathom the reasons behind the naked antipathy focused on her. "Please, Sister. You and I are from the same tribe. Please help me," Su'a begged.

"I am not your sister and I owe you nothing," Souad answered with a voice of abhorrence. She folded her arms and sat cross-legged at the table, grimacing from across the room. 

One of Svalfi's men entered the hall. He bowed in hurried reverence to his liege lord. "King Svalfi, Lady Ravn's has arrived. She and a contingent of men are on the road."

Bodil's grin blossomed into a smile, "Excellent. Ravn will be keen to see this one. Let us greet her at the gate." 

Su'a pulled against her bonds, panic racing through her veins like white, hot fire. Ravn, the same unhinged woman that tried to kill her on more than one occasion had returned. She would succeed if Su'a didn't find a way out of this. She looked up as Bodil, Orm, and Svalfi walked across the hall toward the exit. Her eyes darted to Souad, who remained behind. 

"Please," She begged, her voice nearly failing her under the weight of a cracking psyche. "Please don't do this. You will be killing a sister and her unborn child."

Souad cocked an eyebrow, pulled a knife from its sheath, and twirled it through her fingers. She chuckled, "Is that what you think?" She said. She stuck the blade under Su'a's chin, forcing Su'a to look her in the eye. 

"Oh, you poor, naive thing. I will not be killing a sister and her child. I will be killing my daughter and grandsire."  Su'a's widened in horror as she recoiled from Souad's grasp. Souad was her mother? She never thought in her wildest imaginings she would ever meet her mother. Once her mind took hold of the fact that Souad was her mother, she then did not understand why she would want to kill her.

"How...how... could you?" Su'a stammered, unable to come to terms with the depths of this woman's depravity. 

"Your father never mentioned me?" Souad stood returning her blade to its rightful place and reclaiming her seat across Su'a.