Chapter 7
“Come, come, you
two.” Idun pointed ahead, trudging through the mud. “We are short in working
men, but I assume you are of good use for some house works too. The rest of the
men are gonna get rid of the remaining bodies, but since the two of you are
almost inseparable… well, if Mylady doesn’t choose to sit on Yori’s lap for a
bit and get herself some good old Norwegian hump.” Grinning she raised her eyebrows,
miming a few very obscene gestures. Even though she knew that he didn’t
understand her, she gloated over the look on Samu’s face. When I looked up at
him he almost had his emotions under control again, but the muscles on his neck
were visible when he gritted his teeth. “You know what you’re doing.” He said,
and I could tell that he had a hard time sounding careless. “If it takes a
shag, then that’s the way things are.”
“She loves to tease
you.” I grabbed hold of his hand again. “Don’t give her the pleasure and react
to it.”
He nodded with a
small grin. “From saint to whore in less than an hour.” He observed and put his
arm around me.
Idun was obviously
irritated by the gesture and turned away from us with a short mumble. “You two
go check the houses for anything eatable.” She commanded, handing me a sack
made of linen and a huge basket. “We are short in supply and there is not much
to pick or crop at the moment, so we need everything you find, any stored food
is good. I anticipate that the men will be back within a few days or at least
send a messenger for us to join them at the fortress.” She nodded at the houses
around the small heart of the town. “Valgaror will have an eye on you. Bring
everything over to the hall, the women there shall sort it and pack it all for
our journey.” Idun grabbed one of the younger men by the scruff of his neck.
“Watch them.” She demanded before she stormed of.
“This woman has
serious anger management issues.” Samu lifted the large basket and pointed at
the houses. “Where shall we start?”
The limping and
obviously grumpy soldier that had been left behind to take care of us, simply
sat down on a small bench outside the first house we entered. He was huge-grown
but young, maybe only 18 and I saw the blood on his left leg, where his pants
were torn. It looked severe and I couldn’t refrain from asking: “You want me to
have a look at your leg?”
But he only fobbed me
off with another grunt. “Come again when you have finished this house or maybe
as soon as you are willing to give me a little look between your legs.”
I frowned in disgust,
giving him a wide berth to follow Samu over the still blood-spilled threshold
of the tiny house.
We had finished four
of the former homes and I could by now feel every muscle in my body. Even
though I was well trained, the whole climbing, ducking, handing over and
collecting seemed to be exercises I wasn’t used to.
There had been stored
grain, sacks and boxes of carrots, cabbage and white turnip. We even found
dried meat and bread in some of the storage rooms under the kitchen floors. Samu
didn’t talk much, but it gave me relief to have him with me, because whenever I
was alone for more than a minute I felt just how much this whole situation got
under my skin. Seeing a crib or baby’s clothing somewhere almost broke my
heart. Only thinking about the brutal ways these poor people had been robbed,
raped and murdered made me wanna throw up right there and then.
Being with Samu
somehow soothed me and gave me comfort even in this dark place.
I was standing on a
kitchen cabinet, checking a few shelves on the wall, when I heard his steps
return. “There are some more dried herbs.” I informed him, reaching out for the
small pouches.
Suddenly there was a
hand on my back and I felt the room spinning when I was pulled down from the
cupboard.
“Finally he’s
occupied elsewhere.” Valgaror had taken off his coat and breastplate and
grinned at me. With relish he pushed up my dress, slipping his fingers into the
waistband of my tights while pressing me to the cupboard in my back. “I thought
he’d never leave.”
My outcry was muffled
by his other hand that was pressed to my mouth. I grabbed his arm to remove his
fingers from under my dress but he only chuckled, groaning with pleasure when
he found access.
“You must indeed be
sacred, little Alfur. No mortal woman I ever touched felt thus smooth and soft.”
He whispered and turned me over with one swift movement. Instantaneously his
arm was wrapped around me again and he shut me up by putting a dirty cloth from
the sideboard into my mouth. It made me gag and I felt tears burning in my eyes
when he positioned himself right behind me. This was definitely not the first
time this bastard was raping a woman. Furiously I started kicking and tried to
squirm free of his strong arms. He laughed at my efforts, grabbing my hair with
his free hand.
“The more you fight
the more I will enjoy it.”
I felt his lips on
the back of my neck, his teeth grazing along my skin before he widened my legs
with his knee.
Gritting my teeth and
biting down on the disgusting cloth in my mouth, I put my head against the
wall, trying to brace myself and accept the fact, that this bastard would now
rape me. I had no chance of escape, he was too strong and he held me down so
professionally that it made my guts churn. This was it. I closed my eyes and
tried not to vomit when I felt his arousal on my lower back.
Suddenly there were
hurried steps behind us and Valgaror was pushed against me.
“Let go of her!” I
heard Samu’s voice. It sounded deep and dark and his accent had become quite
strong. “Let go of her right now or I will dash your brains out!”
Again Valgaror was
hit by something and finally he let go of me, pushing me aside with an angry
bellow. Gasping and gaging I fell to the floor and crawled away from the two
men that were now circling each other slowly.
“What do you think
you’re doing?” Valgaror pulled up his pants and grinned breathlessly.
“Leave her alone!” Samu
bawled at him, swinging a broken chair from his left hand to his right. “Elida,
go!” his eyes narrowed and he nodded at me but Valgaror was quick to bent down
and grab my hair to pull me in an upright position.
“I believe he wants
to watch.” He said mockingly, his large hand grasping my neck. “Maybe he wants
to see how it’s done properly.” Grinning he pushed me up against a nearby table
and bent over me. “I’ll have you begging for more in less than a minute, little
Alfur.” His hand grabbed the upper part of my dress and he simply tore it
apart.
When he spread my
legs once more and shoved up my dress, I suddenly saw Samu moving from the
corner of my eye. I couldn’t even say how he was doing it so quickly, but in
the fraction of a second he jumped on the table, raising the broken chair. It
hit Valgaror fair in the face and I heard the abominable noise of breaking
bones. The huge Viking was thrusted aside forcefully. He fell to the floor and
remained on his back motionlessly.
Samu circled the
table and grabbed my arms to pull me along and into the middle of the room. I
was shaking like a leaf. His voice only came through in distorted waves and he
shook me slightly before he simply lifted me up and carried me outside.
In complete shock I
stared up at him, feeling his hand on my face. I sat on the rim of the well in
the middle of the little town square. Suddenly Idun was there as well. She
yelled at me and yelled at Samu, shaking my arm. With an angry scream she
stormed off and yelled at another man nearby. It felt like a mist in front of
my eyes, when I watched them dragging Valgaror’s unmoving body out of the
little house. The sight of him made me physically sick and I turned my head,
throwing up everything I had inside of me.
Samu held me steady,
taking me up on his arm again. As far as I could tell he was talking sweet
nonsense to soothe me while he carried me over to the main hut. Inside the
house he yelled something at the working women and climbed the stairs without
stopping.
Soon I was sat down
by the open fireplace in our upstairs bedroom. Samu wrapped a blanket around my
shivering body and fanned the flame after putting a few logs into the dying
embers.
Then he suddenly kneeled
down right in front of me, putting his hands on my face. “It’s fine, you’re
fine!” I heard him whisper over and over again.
I tried to nod, tried
to move my arms because I wanted to pat his cheek and tell him that I wasn’t
hurt but I was still completely paralyzed with horror.
Almost. This young
man, this boy, had almost succeeded in raping me. Shivering I stared into Samu's
eyes. He had almost succeeded!
Fighting down the
acid that was rising in my throat, I closed my eyes. Suddenly there was a hand
on my back and I squirmed with shock.
Idun had a
scrutinizing look on her face. She even looked conscious-stricken when she rubbed
my arm. “Did he hurt you badly? Are you injured?” she asked carefully, softly
shoving Samu aside to kneel down in front of me. “I can bring you some herbal
ointment, it helps the healing.” Unexpectedly her hands had my dress pushed up
again and she motioned at Samu. “Hold her. Go over there and hold her so I can
have a look.” He gestured a few times and he was quick on the uptake, sitting
down on the small bench with me on his lap.
“Idun!” I managed to
enunciate and tried to close my legs. “I… It’s fine, he… he didn’t…”
Surprised she lifted
her head and gave Samu a look. “So he was fast enough then?”
I nodded, holding on
to Samu’s arms. “He was.” I mumbled and closed my eyes, cuddling closer to Samu’s
warm chest.
Idun got up with a
smile, patting Samu’s shoulder. “Good man.” She said, leaving us as quietly as
she had turned up.
“How bad is it?” he
suddenly whispered after holding me for a few minutes by the warm fire.
I had a hard time opening
my eyes, feeling tired like never before in my life. “It’s fine.” I heard
myself croak. “He didn’t … he didn’t manage to …”
With a sigh of
relief, Samu wrapped his arms around me and pressed his lips to my forehead.
“Thank God.” He whispered and I could feel his heart beating against his ribs.
“When I found you with him I thought… God, I prayed that I wasn’t late
already.” Running his hand through my messy hair, he suddenly grabbed my neck
and kissed my lips very softly. “I will never again let you out of my sight for
more than a second.” He promised earnestly with his lips still rested on mine.
I felt tears welling
up, wrapping my arms around his neck to pull him closer. With our lips locked
and my body engulfed in his embrace, we simply remained sitting.
“I’m sorry.” He
whispered after a while and lifted his head.
“Don’t be.” I put my
hand on his cheek and sat up, to kiss him on my part. “You saved me.”
The last light of the
dull afternoon sun shone though the curtains when a woman entered our room with
a heavy bucket in both hands.
“You asked for water
before?” carefully she put the steaming bucket down.
Samu nodded. “Can you
get a small tub for us?” he rubbed my back. “We might as well heat some more
water over the fire up here, if you help us.”
She nodded
immediately, slowly stepping back without taking her eyes of him. “How come
that you don’t speak their tongue but ours?” she asked cautiously.
Samu exchanged a
quick look with me and I sat up on his lap, rubbing my eyes. “We still don’t
know.” I answered in his stead and gave the servant a small smile. “Thank you
for the water.”
The woman bowed her
head in my direction but I could tell from the look on her face that she wasn’t
satisfied with my answer.
Slowly I got up from Samu’s
lap, reluctantly letting go of his hand as well. How long had we been sitting
like this? One hour, maybe two? With a low sigh, Samu got up, stretching his
back.
I watched him walking
over to the bucket of water, carrying it to the open fireplace.
“You asked for this?”
Idun had returned with a wooden tub up on her arm. Samu took it from her and
put it down on the floor to fill it with the hot water from the huge bucket.
“Thank you.” He
hunkered down by the tub, quickly washing his hands and face. “Come on.” Waving
at me he got up, drying his face on his shirt. “Get cleaned up, refresh a
little. I’ll stay close.” Pointing at the curtain that separated our room from
the one Idun shared with her husband, he touched my arm before turning around
to leave me alone by the fire.
Idun suddenly clicked
her tongue. “He shouldn’t leave you now.” She stated in a very low voice. “You
stay.” She addressed Samu directly, gesturing with her hands.
“She tells you to
stay.” I translated with a throaty voice and he let his eyes travel between the
two of us.
Idun nodded
insistently. “He has to stay and you have to let him into your bed as soon as
possible.” She urged and I let out a shaky laughter.
“Of course! I am
dying to have a good shag now!”
“You should!” she
shot back. “It is the only way to stay sane. When you fall off a horse and
don’t climb right up again, you are gonna lose it forever. Trust me!” she
nodded emphatically. “I have been there and if Aevarr had not been with me
right afterwards, it would have broken my soul. Ask him for it and let him help
you out of this. I will make sure you won’t be disturbed for the rest of the
night. We will hold trial right away, the punishment will be hard.” Patting Samu’s
back, she shoved him in my direction before she left us alone again, closing
the thick curtains between the two rooms.
Samu looked
doubtfully at me without coming any closer. “Are you sure you want me to stay?”
he asked carefully and I nodded with a lump in my throat. I had vanquished the
first wave of complete shock in his arms, maybe Idun was right after all.
“I want you to stay.”
I answered truthfully, needing to hear it in my own voice. It felt right and I even
managed to give him a smile.
“You don’t have to
wash me, but it would be nice to have you near.” I tried to joke and he
chuckled nervously.
“She told you to
sleep with me, didn’t she?” he asked straightforwardly and I merely nodded.
“She said it was the
best way to get over it. Some kind of PTSD-turbo-triumph.”
Again he chuckled
lightly, shoving his hands into his messy hair. Then he looked at me with his
gorgeous eyes and suddenly stepped around the tub to take me in his arms.
“Anything you want.”
He whispered in my hair and fell silent for a few moments. Then he suddenly ran
his fingertips over my naked shoulder. “It is more than fascinating to observe
the changes I underwent since you came into my life.” Looking down at me, he touched
my lips and slowly shook his head. “If I had met you back home, I would have
tried to get to know you, I’d asked you out, tried everything to get your
attention. I would have used my status to impress you, but here …” again he
shook his head and rested his chin on my forehead. “Everything is different in
this place. From the first second I saw you, I didn’t want to get you in my
bed, I wanted to keep you safe, be there for you. Everything else felt profane
all of a sudden. Irrelevant. Everything but you.” Softly he kissed my hair and
I cuddled closer to his warm chest again. “I’d do anything for you, Elida.
Anything to keep you safe. From the first moment I saw your face, I knew that I
would kill for you if necessary.” He paused and drew a deep breath, shivering
all of a sudden. “I guess, I might need you as well as you need me tonight.” He
whispered hoarsely. “It had never crossed my mind that I was actually capable
of killing another man.”
“You didn’t kill
him.” I tried to talk him down a little, but he simply shook his head.
“I have no idea. It
sounded horrifying but I didn’t even care.” He ran his thumb over my lips again.
“You were the only thing on my mind.” Sighing he closed his eyes. “This place
changed me drastically. You did.” Very carefully he let his hand travel down my
back. “I am scared spitless but I think that this woman has a point.” He
watched me thoughtfully and I only nodded, putting my hands on his face.
“Thank you.” I
whispered and got up on my tiptoes to meet his lips in a soft kiss. Without
even thinking about it, I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer.
He was out of breath
when we broke the kiss and scrutinized my face once more. Without breaking eye
contact, he pulled down the remains of my torn up dress and I didn’t hesitate
to step out of it and grab the bottoms of his previously light blue outdoor
shirt to pull it over his head. Running my fingers over the smooth skin of his
chest I tilted my head back and came up to meet his lips again.
Carefully he picked
me up all of a sudden, carrying me over to our rumpled bed. He put me down on
the blankets and furs and bent over me without taking his lips off mine.
Even though I had
only met him, I could relate to every word he had told me just before. Somehow
we were both captives of unsettling circumstances. But we were together. We
belonged together.
And it didn’t feel
awkward or wrong when Samu slipped off his pants and crawled over to me on all
fours. He kissed me once more, deeper this time, and I felt his hips carefully
spreading my legs apart. When he hesitated for a second, I softly wrapped my thighs
around him. With my hand I guided him, silencing him with a kiss. We needed
each other.
Feeling him slowly entering
me, I ran my fingers through his hair and tugged him down playfully to meet his
lips.
I had never in my
life been in more need of a man and I had never felt a connection like the one
that had all of a sudden been there between me and Samu. I wanted him. Needed
him. Without any second thought. I couldn’t stop letting my gaze and my hands
travel over his body, couldn’t look my fill. Having him on top of me, moving
deep inside of me and with his lips on mine, I knew one thing for sure: Even if
it weren’t the Gods that had sent us, we were meant to be together. Maybe we
would have met in our time as well. We would have met, would have fallen for
each other.
And in this
unfamiliar and strange world we even depended on each other, but it didn’t feel
odd.
Looking deep into his
dazzlingly beautiful eyes, I felt his body shiver. Breathlessly he slowed down
his pace, gazing at me questioningly. Without waiting for me to actually
answer, he pulled out of me, slowly kissing his way down between my now
trembling legs. A low moan escaped my lips and I grabbed his hair when I felt
his skilful tongue playing around my most private parts quite expertly. I
didn’t even think about asking him to stop because I hadn’t showered. I didn’t
think about the curtain that separated our room from the others insufficiently.
I didn’t think about all the people that were gathered under the same roof. And
I didn’t waste another thought on the young man that had almost succeeded in
raping me. I didn’t even care anymore whether he was alive or dead. Everything
but Samu and I and the moment we shared became less important.
Pulling him up to lie
on top of me again, I wrapped my arms and legs around Samu. I guided him back
inside of me and moved my hips against his. His grip tightened. Burying his
face to my neck, he moaned lowly, trying to slow down my pace but I couldn’t
wait any longer. I slipped my fingers between our bodies and helped him to push
me over the edge as well with his last few thrusts.
Without letting go of
him, I only cuddled my face to his chest again and fell asleep almost
instantly. He pulled up a blanket and I felt his lips still placing little
kisses all over my face. Then he sighed and his warm body moved closer to me.
I was safe. Safe with
him.
