A Dance With Death- The Shield Maiden

Chapter Two Freya 875AD

We entered the village we had been camped near. We had scouted the area before making camp, the night before. The earlier ambush had caught us by surprise, but we was always ready for a fight. So we soon had the upper hand and beat them back.

The village was boarded up and abandoned, the locals must have been warned and made their escape. We went from house to house and took anything of value. There was hardly anything worth taking and with no people, that meant no slaves to sell.

We had enough slaves as it was. but Knut and Rollo where particularly malicious with the slaves and a lot would not survive the journey back. Those that do, tend not to live long. They struggle with our cold winters and the harsh living conditions they are kept in, so are not worth much coin.

I heard shouting and dropped the plate I was examining. it shattered at my feet, the worthless rubbish was no use to me anyway.

I broke into a steady jog, heading towards the commotion. I picked my speed up at the sound of screams, pulling my axe from my back as I ran.

I rounded the corner and found the source of the noise. Harald had found the villages, he was dragging a brown haired woman by the hair, as she thrashed and screamed. He ripped her clothes from her body and held her up for Knut to examine. " What do you make of this one" He leered down at the woman and licked her cheek. The woman thrashed and screamed.

Knut went to grope the woman, but Harald pulled her out of reach. he wagged his finger at him. "Ah ah ah, I don't like to share" he laughed, the sound bouncing of the buildings. The woman continued to wail and thrash. Harald groped the woman, grabbing her harshly between her legs. The woman whimpered

Knut knew better than to pick a fight with Harald the man was huge and lethal in a fight. Knut was good, but he was no fool and knew he stood no chance. Instead he grabbed himself another woman, that was trying to flee.

All around me, women where being dragged away, or r***d right in the street. Men being killed as they tried to protect their women. Children being ripped from their mothers grip.

I gritted my teeth, I relished a fight, but I hated this part. I looked up at the building the people had been hiding in. It had a huge cross on it. The other villages had similar buildings, all with the same cross on it.

I walked through the chaos and into the building. rows of benches all facing a raised area, similar again to the others I had seen. Places for the people to worship their god. I found my brother in there, helping himself to the riches hidden within. A opening in the floor, showed where the people had been hiding.

I stepped over the dead holy man that lay crumpled on the floor, his head nowhere to be seen. I sat on one of the benches and looked up at a huge painting of a man, attached to a cross and wearing a crown of thorns. He was looking up to the sky, where a light was shining down on him.

How strange that these people seemed to worship a man that was obviously a prisoner, that was being tortured or killed. I sat for a while just looking at this strange man, I couldn't understand why they had such a painting. Was this the god they worshipped? He didn't seem a very good one, being captured and tortured like that.