The group plunges along the corridor filled with sponsored combatant cells. When they arrive in the main hall winding back to the upper levels, they move to split off. Sigvid stops Helga as they reach the outer door.
“Send in the Drengr to open every cell door. Everyone escapes.” He turns to run but yells back. “Oh, and find the Timber Queen warm clothesto wear!”
Helga nods before dragging a bare-skinned Avina out the side door and into the winter air on the coast.
Avina wraps her arms around herself in an attempt to fight against the bitter cold.
“Come on, whore.” Helga spits, tugging her naked body out into the frigid air.
20
AVINA
October 29th, Year 100, 9th Era
Treland Arena
“Iam not a whore.” Avina hisses to Helga’s unsettling laughter.
“You can tell yourself that, but the rumors you bribed guards to tempt Prince Sigvid say otherwise. Look at you, naked in his cell with that innocent act.” Helga halts as the brisk wind from the coast whips up and over the cliff, biting into their exposed skin.
“You think you are special,” Helga sneers. “You think he might care for you because he fucks you. Well, know this,QueenAvina, you are nothing to him. He will use you until he tires of you like all the others. And then he will toss you to the wolves.”
Avina’s fists shake.
Does she think I think myself to be remarkable?
After everything Sigvid subjected her to back there, how can anyone look Avina in the eyes and tell her that he holds any feelings for her beyond lust and anger? There is little doubt he will toss her to the wolves.
The better question is how long she has before he does.
Helga’s bitterness is too much for Avina, who still aches from the axe shaft.
Still, she can not help herself.
The words cross her lips before she can stop them. “And how many times has he rejected you, Helga?”
The shieldmaiden’s eyes narrow, and the subsequent slap across Avina’s cheek feels like her skin is splitting apart.
“I would take an axe for him. You think he is a man of base needs. But he is more than a man. At sixteen winters, he slew the great black boar of Tykk Woods. A beast who killed fifty people before our Lord Commander’s axe cut it down. At twenty, he braved the unforgiving waters of the South Sea to deliver food and medicine to those living on Fordersk Island. The waves capsized three of their ships, yet our Lord Commander navigated the treacherous swell in a dingy, bringing life-saving resources. If you believe the myths, he is the son of the Briny God by looks alone. A man of the gods does not need frivolous things such as love or pussy.”
Avina has heard of his unflinching courage and fierce devotion to his people, yet never heard these stories. After how he responded to her during the last three instances they were alone together, she is fairly sure this young Drengr has an overly inflated opinion of her Commander.
Helga drags Avina away from the monumental shadow of the Arena until they are almost in the surrounding woods. They quickly approach a group of seven Salt warriors perched on horseback. Avina spots two riderless horses awaiting their Commander.
Two horses? Who else does he intend to bring with him? I was an accidental find.
Not a word is spoken as they approach the confusing gazes of the men.
Avina desperately tries to conceal her sensitive areas. She quivers from the late autumn air blowing off the South Sea and wonders why Helga does not clothe her. Or is she hoping Avina will succumb to the elements, leaving Sigvid’s attention all for herself?
“Did he bring us a whore?” A young warrior with his hair pulled in a knot at the nape of his neck and bearing stubble along his jaw questions. He quirks his brow at their approach and cannot be many wintersolder than Avina. He leans over his horse’s neck and eyes her as if she is mud on his boot.
Helga hesitates before answering. “She is the Commander’s claim, Finn.” She shoves Avina forward for the Drengr to scrutinize.
“Is that…cum?” One of the soldiers leans over in his saddle to jab a finger at Sigvid’s seed, still painted across her.
Avina swiftly covers her breasts. She wishes they would avert their gaze.
