Chapter Two

It was dark when she heard them over the sound of her teeth knocking together. She heard them laughing and shouting, heard them speaking in that strange language. And then she saw them, throwing things into the boat, saw limbs and hands reaching and pulling and big boots landing on the wood around her. They were all so tall, all so tall and big. Surely they were not normal men, surely they were not truly human. There was a shuffle and a sway of the boat as they moved and then the sound of something heavy, of people crying out in words that she finally could understand.

"Let us go!"

She turned, seeing the faces of other women from their town, seeing them cry and pull on their ropes. That was when the other men seemed to notice her, when they stared at her with their eyes big and wide and a heavy silence fell between them. Then one of them spoke, reaching with a knife to cut at her rope, but then she heard it, a voice so deep it was almost like a rumble and the man froze. They all turned, looking at that beast of a man who had carried her here sitting, oiling his axe in his lap with a cloth.

The man beside her said something else while they all waited, while they all turned to keep watching that man and his axe, and then he nodded, a quick, curt nod that was more like a twitch. But they all laughed, some of them reaching to pat him on the back, some of them now eyeing her with big, fat grins on their faces.

Oh, God… How many of them was he going to share her with?

She shook her head, pulling her knees together even tighter, tears welling in her eyes and making them sting, and then the boat moved, then they pushed off of the riverbank and down stream.

"Wait…" Enid said. "Let me go."

I have to go home. I have to…

Tonight Cormac is going to propose…

"Let me go!" she shouted.

That was when one of those men snapped at her, when he pulled his hand up as though to slap her with the back of it and she winced. For a moment that was enough, for a moment she was too afraid to do anything else, but then she pulled on her ropes, then she was squirming and fighting to break free.

"You have to take me back! You have to…"

This time that man stood up, this time he loomed over her with his fist raised and his face scrunched up in a terrible scowl. She froze then, her eyes big and wide, a sickening weightlessness gripping her stomach, but that blow never landed, a hand gripped his arm and held him back, a hand that had tied her up to begin with.

The two men spoke, their voices deep and low, their eyes never once leaving the other's face, and then that giant grunted and the man who had wanted to hit her sat back down. That was when she sighed, when her shoulders dropped and that wince left her face, but soon she was tense, soon she was more afraid than she had ever been before.

Now she was looking at them, those terrible, cold, sky-blue eyes. Now they were inches from her own. She wanted so desperately to run, to hide as far away from him as she could, but all she could do was stare, all she could do was press herself harder and harder against that mast and hope that he would leave her alone. And then there was nothing but darkness, nothing but darkness and the stench of dirt as a sack was suddenly put over her head.

How long she stayed there, how long she did nothing but cry, she could not say, but when she was finally let out, when she could finally breathe a big gulp of fresh air, the moon was out and there was nothing around them but open water. He was holding something to her lips, something rough and dry, something hard. It was a moment before she recognized it, until she could see that stale bit of bread in his hand and then she pursed her lips and pulled away.

That was when he bit into it, his teeth tearing and chomping through it, almost like he was showing her what to do. Once more he held it up to her lips, once more she pulled away. This time he finished it off, this time she watched as he followed it with a big gulp of something in a hide flask. Before she knew it, it was under her nose. For a moment she was tempted, for a moment she was so thirsty she found herself inching towards it, but then the smell hit her, something thick and heavy, something somehow sweet but rotten all at the same time.

Her head snapped back, almost banging against the mast she was in such a hurry to get away. This time he did not offer again, this time he took another swig for himself and replaced the cork. Then he was reaching for that sack that had been over her head, that had locked her away from the world.

"No…" she whispered. "No, please don't." He looked at her, those eyes not blinking even once as he studied her. "Please…" she shook her head.

But those cold eyes were the last thing she saw before the darkness took her again. The next time he let her out, there was sun, not bright and warm but the crisp and pale sun of morning. She gasped breathing in that fresh, morning air, feeling it reach all the way down to the bottom of her lungs. This time she bit into that hard, stale bit of bread, this time he waited for her to chew her way through it, but she could not bring herself to drink.

"Water…" her voice was cracked and croaky, but he only stared at her. She coughed. "Water." she said a little louder. Then she watched him put that cork back in, then she watched him reach for the sack again. "No, please no!" she said, shaking her head and trying to back away from him.

For a moment it looked like he would do it anyway, for a moment she had to fight back her tears, and then he held them both up in front of her.

The flask or the sack…?

It took her a second, a second to gather herself, a second to gather her courage, but then she jerked her head towards the flask. So slowly she leaned for it, her eyes closing as she got closer and closer, her forehead furrowing in a slight crease as the smell hit her. She did not think she could do it. She did not know if she should not change her mind and go back for that stinking sack.

But she was so thirsty…

Then she tasted it, something almost sickly sweet and heavy like beer. She almost choked, that taste bringing tears to her eyes, but then she did not care, then she was taking big, deep gulps and coming back for more. That was when he pulled it away, when she gasped so loud and so hard it almost hurt, and then she looked up at him with eyes that were big and wide. She saw him reach for it, lifting that sack in his hand and searching for the opening.

"No," she said. "No, please."

He stared at her, those eyes nothing but cold and uncaring, and then he stood up, then he went to his place near the back of the boat and fiddled with his axe. She watched him for a long while, watched him tighten the straps, watched him run his fingers across the head.

It did not look like he would change his mind and come back for her. He did not even turn to talk with the others, like so many of the other men did around him. For a moment she kept watching him closely, for a moment she was still wary, and then she sighed, then she felt her shoulders drop as she leaned against the mast. The whole day he said nothing, the whole day she could do nothing except stare out at the sky and the endless sea. How far away from land were they now? What would happen if this boat sank?

That was when she closed her eyes, when she felt that ice-cold shiver run down her spine at the thought of all that water around her and she pulled her knees up close. By the evening her shivers were real, they made her teeth bang together and her insides shake. So tightly she tried to curl up to keep warm.

She saw all those giant men pull out big furs, saw them wrap themselves in snug as they chatted and sang together. None of them looked to the women tied around that mast, not one of them offered to help or warm them.

Except him…

Soon he was in front of her, that stale bit of bread and that hide flask in his hands and a knife. Her eyes went wide as she felt the burning bite of panic grip her stomach, but then he cut her loose. She gasped, wringing her fingers in her hands, rubbing the aches in her arms and legs as she winced. She took them then, tearing through that bread and taking big gulps of that sickly sweet flask.

"Can I have some?"

She turned, seeing a young woman behind her, her face gaunt and pale, her eyes half-closed. Enid swallowed, staring at that flask in her hand, feeling the weight of it. She did not want to share, not when she had so little, not when she did not know when she would be getting it again, but then she saw that dim light in her eyes and how much that woman was suffering.

"Here," she said.

Enid held out the flask, bringing it to that woman's lips, but then she felt hard, stern fingers grip her wrist, pulling and yanking her away from the mast towards the back of the boat.

"No!" she shouted "No, wait!"

This was it, the moment she had feared, the moment she had hoped was no longer coming. How many times would he take her…? How many of these men would he share her with after he was done…?