Wolves Among Danes

by Dolly Nightmare

  ‘Daughter-in-law? So, I really was that man’s....’ I begin to think, but I am not given time to finish my thought, as the woman walks towards me checking my neck and smiling more.

  “My little Frey has finally chosen a mate. You must be special,” she coos at me, lifting a piece of my hair and gliding her fingers through it. “Such a rare hair color too. It’s nearly white.”

  At her close proximity, I can’t help but feel worried and fearful even though she acts nice. I want to back away, something in me telling me she was a beast like the rest of them, but again I’m not given a chance as she grabs my shoulders and makes me walk side by side with her towards the inside of the building.

  I am greeted by smoke from a fire and then a lounge area, with benches and white and brown furs thrown over them.

  The inside was cozy, I do admit, but I wanted nothing more than to be surrounded by stone, and not wooden walls with furs thrown everywhere and shields and swords.

  She then sets me down on one of the benches, and I freeze up, looking at her. She stares at my face and examines me, and the blonde Viking follows us inside the house, looking displeased by something but what I will never know.

  “You’re going to be a beauty when you grow older,” she says. “Perfect for my Frey. You’re like a little English princess.”

  It’s because I am one...is what I would like to say but I keep my mouth shut about it. It’s best off they don’t know of my heritage or that I’m royalty at all. They might use it against my kingdom. But whatever did happen to my family?

  I suddenly become worried about my mother and my brothers. Are they even alive? I don’t dare ask in fear of the truth.

  “Let me get you something to eat,” she says, standing up and growing farther away from me.

  ‘Her English is good,’ I think in my head, wearily watching her as she goes to a pot being held over the fire.

  “You must be starving.” She coos some more. “Being on that boat for so long.”

  She grabs a wooden bowl and starts pouring some sort of stew into it. Though I don’t feel hungry at the moment, my stomach turns, upset from the little food I ate on the boat and the smell emitting from the food makes it worse.

  I feel like vomiting. The fear, anxiety, worry, all affecting my mind and body. Before long I feel bile come up my throat and I make a dash for the open door. Once getting outside, I throw up in the grass....and on someone’s boots.

  After vomiting, I wipe my mouth and wearily stare up at the owner of the boots, only to be greeted by a taller and older and scary looking man with a flashy looking coat. His black hair is long and comes out to his shoulders.

  I can only awkwardly look at him as his brown eyes stare down at me, and they look cold.

  He glares at me, and then he asks me a question but not in English and in a deep and gruff voice, “Who are you?”

  I hear footsteps behind me, and I am once again grabbed by my shoulders and pulled back. The woman from before speaks out to him in their native tongue. “She’s Frey’s little mate that he picked up from England, dear. Don’t get mad at her. She must still be a little sick from the boat.”

  In the background, I can hear laughing, most likely at me and throwing up on this scary man. I can only imagine the culprit being the blonde man from before. The woman turns around, glaring, and the laughing stops slowly.

  “I see,” he states in English, gruffly, and turns back around, most likely to clean himself. I am pulled back in the house.

  “I think he’s mad,” states the blonde Viking, who is again laughing with his back leaned up against the wall by the benches.

  “No, he is not. Now stop it, you’re going to upset her more,” the woman says, her voice sounding mean as she rubs my back and I can only feel more awkward.

  She continues rubbing my back, and I am guided back to the bench. All I can do is think about my family and what life would be like with these devils in the future, especially since I am pretty sure one already hates me.

  Chapter 5

  A Dark Night

  Bildsfell Village, May 12th, 991 AD

  Everything is hot and stifling. I keep my eyes open for as long as I can, in fear they might change their mind about me, and as I sleep I will be dragged out of my bed and hung as one of their sacrifices.

  I heard them talking about sacrifices yesterday when I was out doing the chores they told me to do. They spoke of who was going first and when it would be and how they needed more of something. More of what, I wonder? People?

  My eyes stare at the red fabric strung between beds and my eyelids feel heavy. I want to sleep, but I keep thinking back to yesterday when they swung an ax down on the chicken’s head who no longer could give them eggs. She was considered useless, so they ate her for dinner.

  The scene keeps replaying over and over, and sometimes when I start to doze I dream for a few seconds or maybe longer, that I will be their next “chicken” and they no longer want me for that man’s wife so I would get beheaded by the very ax that killed the beautiful hen.

  This was a problem I faced every night. I was restless, and the man next to me also turns restless, his arm hitting my stomach hard and nearly knocking the wind out of me. I turn on my side now, fully awake from the blonde brute who snores loudly.

  It seems the older woman who was deemed as the two brutes’ mother, didn’t like the man known as Frey near me for too long or completely alone. She didn’t trust him, and I was worried about that. So, in the end, I was made to sleep next to the blonde man who I later learned was Leif.

  It’s been a couple of days, maybe more, since I arrived but everything was a blur since then. The first night, when that man who “marked” me arrived home I couldn’t help but become defensive, and I immediately pushed myself away from him, going to the far corner where my back wasn’t open for any attack.

  They laughed at me. The only one who didn’t laugh was the man who I puked on, and he silently sat eating his stew by the fire. Sometimes he glared at me, and he would hardly speak.

  Then when the man, Frey, drew near to me the woman got involved and made him go sit away from me to eat dinner. She then later informed me it was too dangerous to leave us alone, especially with me so young and that Frey probably knew no bounds and he might do more harm than good.

  So, most days were spent with the woman trying to teach me things like weaving baskets or farm work which I was not used to at all. Most of the time I would become frightened, and I was laughed at, especially when the rooster tried chasing after me when I was cleaning the chicken coop, and all I could do was scream and run.

  At night, most of my time was spent with the blonde man in bed who, like I said, was not someone you could sleep next to in peace. I was used to having my very own bed and room, but here you were not granted any privacy.

  They all slept in the same room, their beds pushed together, and very little space lingered in between, the only privacy the red blankets strung between the beds.

  Leif and I slept at the very far end against the wall, then in the middle was the older man and woman, then at the end, having his very own bed to himself, was the brute of a man named Frey who I wasn’t supposed to go near until I became of age. A rule made up by the older woman.

  The first night I slept next to Leif I felt awkward and weird, but now it was just plain annoying, and he irked me. I was told never to sleep in the same bed as a man who I wasn’t married to, and I was doing just that. I bet if my mother or father were here, they’d smack me for it, but I didn’t really have any choice...

  I grab the blonde’s arm, tossing it off me, and I sit up slightly, pushing the furs off my body. The first night I was too scared to run, the second night not so much, and I tried escaping when everyone slept, nestled into their beds.

  Somehow, Frey knew, and before I could even make it a few steps outside the door he was there, behind me. His blue eyes eerily watch me, and he keeps saying something to me and before I know it, I’m dragged back
inside the home. If I were to guess, he was lecturing me...about something.

  The second night, I was forced to sleep on the wooden bench instead of the bed, and across from me was the man Frey who didn’t take his eyes off me until morning, not even for a second.

  I then slide off the bed, the memory not pleasant in my eyes, and I just know he already hears me as the wooden floorboard creaks. I quickly walk past all the beds, trying not to look into any of them, a pressure in my lower abdomen telling me I have to pee, and I need to go outside in order to pee as much as I hate the dark.

  To my luck, none of them sit up, and I quietly open the door, escaping to the outdoors to properly relieve myself in peace. I still couldn’t believe even them didn’t have chamber pots.... animals I tell you. Digging holes in the ground to pee and do other things... something I don’t want to think about too often.

  I look around after shutting the door, and I instantly travel towards the wooded area for some privacy. I swallow once going a little bit in, and immediately I think how everything looks so different in the night compared to the day. Everything was a lot quieter...and scarier.

  I step a little into the woods, swallowing, and I hear an owl hooting in the distance not too far from here. The farther I go, the darker it gets and the harder it is for me to see.

  Finally, I just want to get it over with and relieve myself, so I go to lift my dress until I hear a twig snapping not far from where I am and in front of me, and I whip my head in the direction towards the sound.

  I then call out, dropping my crumpled-up dress, “Who’s there?!”

  No one answers and my breathing quickens. I go to back away, being careful and not wanting the thing to grab or chase after me too quickly until I get further out of reach. I hear another noise really close to me and I run, knowing what I heard was a devil.

  I then see a large shadow-like figure emerge from the darkness within the forest not too soon after I start running, and I scream at the top of my lungs. Somehow, I find more strength and begin running much faster.

  As I run out of the forest, I notice someone come bashing out from within the large home, and it is none other than the dark-haired man with the moon on his forehead named Frey.

  I see him, but fearing what was behind me in the dark rather than him at the moment I run towards him for the first time and not thinking I latch on to him, throwing my arms around his waist.

  I feel him move slightly back from the force that smashes into him and as I hold on to him shaking, I do not let go. There was something there! I know it. It looked bigger than anything that I would have seen before. And if I was going to get eaten, he was going to get eaten too.

  But wait, wasn’t he a devil? Would they fight with each other?

  “What in Loki’s name got you so damn scared?” He talks to me, but I still don’t understand his words, and he doesn’t touch me or anything to try and comfort me. Better off that way, anyway.

  “There’s something in the woods,” I tell him, pointing towards the forest hoping he would understand me even though I know by now he isn’t fluent in English, or doesn’t even know how to speak it.

  He looks towards the woods seeming to get most of what I said and then he pushes me away from him and looks down at me.

  He crinkles his nose slightly, and he says something to me as he looks down at me. “You pissed yourself.”

  I stare at him in confusion, and as the fear wanes and I seemingly forget about the devil in the woods, I feel something warm trickle down my legs, and my dress suddenly feels damp. I look down, and my cheeks heat after seeing the wet and darkened fabric below my waist.

  I then pull further away from him, feeling uncomfortable in my own skin and I lift my dress slightly away from my legs.

  I squirm and avert my gaze, and I hear another voice this time, the blonde as he pushes past his elder brother and speaks to him. “What scared her so badly for her to piss herself?”

  Frey responds to whatever the blonde has said. “I don’t know. Something in the woods I think.”

  The blonde man chuckles and smirks at me and then the woman pushes past her two sons in a hurry once seeing me and she says to me in English, “Oh, what happened? Did you have an accident? Don’t worry, we can find you another dress and get you cleaned up.”

  If the heat in my cheeks could get any worse, they would have by now. I grab the fabric of my dress tightly not knowing what to do or where to clean myself, and I keep my eyes trained on the grass.

  She makes her way towards me and grabs my shoulders, and then I hear another sound emerge from the forest, and I whip my head towards the direction of the sound again, and I stiffen.

  “The devil is back! I just heard it!” I yell, pointing towards the woods, and the blonde Viking and the woman look up as something begins to reveal itself from the darkness.

  I push more towards the woman, the feeling of my humiliation disappearing, and the fear returns. I hate this place so much...back home if I needed to use the bathroom, I could just use my chamber pot, and this wouldn’t be happening. I would also have my mother for protection...I wish she were here with me.

  Then the devil reveals itself. It turns out it wasn’t a devil at all but yet again the man from before, the man they called chieftain and father.

  He sneers, and the mother sighs. The man says something to the family, his voice sounding annoyed and fed up. “Does the thing always either have to vomit or piss itself when it sees me? What did you even bring home, Frey? It is a disgrace to this family.”

  “Arvid,” the woman growls to the man in their native tongue. She seems to be disputing something with him. “If you don’t keep on scaring her maybe she won’t do those things. What were you even doing out?”

  ‘Were they fighting about me?’ I think, panicking slightly, my breath quickening.

  He scowls, walking towards them, and the man Frey is also scowling but at the man. The man replies, dragging something back as he responds to the woman. “Hunting for tonight’s dinner.”

  He drops a large deer a few feet away from everyone’s feet, and then the blonde starts laughing more, and he sings out looking towards his elder brother, and his voice sounds mocking, “Yeah Frey, what did you even bring home? You know it isn’t too late to get rid of it.”

  Before me or anyone else knows it, the dark-haired man’s eyes look fiercely at the blonde and he raises a fist, punching the blonde as hard as he can.

  The blonde stumbles back, holding his jaw, looking between shock and anger as he now also stares fiercely at his older brother, his eyes seeming to flicker to a lighter and brighter blue.

  The dark-haired man storms back into the house before the blonde can even think about hitting him and the woman also says, her voice a growl “Boys! Don’t even think about fighting!”

  “Mother, but he hit me!” the blonde growls.

  “Then don’t provoke him next time. That’s his mate you’re talking about,” his mother responds, her voice sounding uppity and snotty.

  “But you let him get away with everything,” the blonde whines before he “tsks” and turns and storms off into the woods complaining about something. “You know what, forget it. I’m leaving! I will just go to the mead hall and then sleep in the barn.”

  The mother scowls even more and glares at her husband before she snarls to him meanly, “See what you caused! Now our boys are fighting.”

  “They always fight.” The man responds snottily as well, his scowl worsening.

  She just glares, and she says something as she grabs my shoulder tightly pushing me forward and back to the house. “You know what, Arvid. Stay outside with your deer. Have it keep your bed warm.”

  She then says in English as she focuses her attention towards me, “Now, let’s go get you cleaned up and get you in nice clothing. I have some fresh water inside.”

  I can only nod, and she pushes me in the house, slamming the door shut behind her, leaving her husband outside. But at least with the b
londe gone, I can have his bed to myself and maybe I can forget this embarrassing night or perhaps it will haunt me like everything else.

  Chapter 6

  Training Lessons

  May 13th, 991 AD

  Morning came fast, and I am awakened and still haunted by yesterday’s memories. The only good thing that came out from yesterday was that I got Leif’s bed to myself, that was until the older woman woke me up and told me to come sleep with her on her bed which I did.

  Somehow, I was comforted by her, and when she held me I fell asleep not thinking of the horrors that got me here. I was reminded of my mother’s touch and when sometimes she would slip into my bed back home and put her arm around me. I missed my mother...I wanted to be with her so badly.

  I fight the urge to ask about the queen of Thovalon, my home, but I don’t know if they would begin suspecting me of being her daughter or if they would tell me something I wouldn’t want to hear, and I would lose all hope.

  They still think I am a regular commoner or so I think or perhaps my hair gave it away because only the queen had such a rare color. If they have figured it out, then none of them said anything, and I didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing. Maybe it is the only thing keeping me alive.

  My mother’s and brothers’ lives were still a mystery to me and probably would be until I get a chance to dig around. If my father were still alive, he would definitely have his best men come and save me.

  Unless they were all afraid of the Northmen, and I was stuck here forever but they wouldn’t leave me, royal blood, if they knew I was here, right?

  From what my mother told me, father had already married me off to a neighboring kingdom’s prince for alliance purposes.

  Would that be broken now that I was gone? Or did the Northmen already take my land for their own and none of that mattered anymore? There was so much I was currently left in the dark about, and I’m nearly positive the Northmen will not discuss anything with me.