The Secunian begged for mercy as they threw him over the prow and lowered him down to well below the dragon figurehead, so that their prisoner became a grisly second decoration for the front of the boat. Each time the prow dipped down into a wave trough the man’s head went underwater, and surfaced again briefly as it lifted.
Sven turned and loudly addressed the other thralls. “Let that be a lesson to you. Any whiners get the same treatment as our lovely new figurehead.” The Secunian’s screams continued for several hours, gradually growing weaker, until finally they stopped all together. A raider strolled forward and casually chopped at the ropes holding the hapless Secunian. He disappeared without a trace into the ocean.
When night fell and Sven allowed them to stop rowing at last, Arkad
