The journey to the North Lands took many days, and Emma had no concept of day or night in the hold of the Longship. She had woken some hours after Agnar and Gellir had visited her in this same small room and she could smell the scent of their sex heavy in the air.
When she thought of what had happened, and how she had allowed herself to be used in such a way she doubled over and wept. Fear and shame engulfed her, and she wondered who this woman was who could leave everything behind, lose her home and her kin, yet still respond to her captor like his whore.
Gellir visited her often during the journey, but seemed distant and had not moved near her body as if he was wary of it. He brought her water and food and sometimes sat quietly in one corner, watching her with an intent gaze. Happily Agnar had not visited her again and her gut coiled in revulsion when she thought of his flesh in her mouth.
For some time she became ill with a feverish sickness, and Gellir silently cared for her during dark hours when she retched and called out in her sleep.
Gellir had to work hard to avoid the curiosity of the fellow men, when he was seen to visit the woman, especially when they knew her to be too ill to be put to good use, he had had to bargain hard with Agnar to avoid a repeat of the earlier events, stating that as his chattels he could determine her fate, and he intended to make a present of her to his brother. Again the family name and reputation protected her as; even the warrior Agnar had no desire to make enemies of Gellirs' extensive and powerful kin.
He had wanted her so badly, but seeing her with Agnar and seeing her display herself had left him in torment. He hardened at the thought of her, and the sight of her soft, ripe body maddened him, but he recoiled from images of a woman who could be so free and so open to a mans attention, in a way he had never really seen before.
* * *
Emma became aware of changing temperature and of different scents permeating her small imprisoning room and she could tell from the sounds and shouts above deck that something of importance was happening. When finally the boat was landed she felt alternately afraid and elated – she longed to be released from the hold, but had no idea of where they had landed and what might become of her in this strange land. The Vikings were known to all in her region for their cruelty and barbarism, and the tales told to her made her tremble.
After some hours she was approached by a young boy who pulled her to her feet and ushered her out on to the deck, the air was frigid and it was night time, she saw torches and people everywhere – but no Gellir.
Her destination was a room no bigger than the ship's hold, shared with another girl who didn't speak, or perhaps could not understand her, and as she lay on the pallet bed in this cold new land she wondered why Gellir had stolen her away, only to forsake her now, when she needed the warmth of his body against her more than ever.
* * *
Early the next day Emma was awoken by a stranger in her room, a woman as old as her mother, gesturing and shouting in her foreign tongue, she worked all the day in this house, far larger than even the Shire House near her home. She cleaned and carried until she felt weak with fatigue, struggling to understand orders and cowering from the open handed slaps the woman rained down on her when she made mistakes.
It was late when she entered the great room, with its huge fire and long wooden table, her breath caught in her throat at the sight of Gellir, standing with others drinking and feasting. He saw her, an instant after she had seen him, almost as if he felt the draw of her gaze and the strength of her longing. She ached to run to him, just to see something familiar in this terrifying alien place, as he met her gaze he looked distressed and he glanced almost guiltily behind him to where another woman stood, and once he had seen that she was paying him no heed, he walked towards Emma, taking from her the dish she was carrying. She looked ready to speak to him but his look silenced her and it was apparent that here she was servant and he master and that to converse would be unacceptable. The woman she had seen before spoke and broke their reverie, Gellir moved swiftly back towards her and Emma was ushered from the room.
When her exhausting day had ended and she was returned to her room she felt the full weight of her new situation settle upon her. She was so far from home that she could never imagine making her way back, she was, it seemed, a slave to a wealthy family and she was to watch Gellir with what she now assumed to be his wife. Crushing sadness was matched by a terrible coiling jealousy – whilst she had not imagined a man like Gellir to be hers alone, she found it hard to bear witness to another woman in his life. To watch them together and know she could never again feel his shaft buried within her was tortuous – worse than never to see him was to see him and not have him.
