Hi All! I saw the last chapter was kind of a formatting nightmare, and I'm really sorry about that. I've put in an edit request so we'll see how that goes. I'm going to try to make it so that doesn't happen again, but I'm still figuring out how publishing on this site works. I appreciate your patience getting through that last chapter if you're here.
Also, just so you're aware, I use Canadian variations of spelling. ie. Neighbour rather than neighbor
I love criticism, so please shoot away.
xx
Rorik guided his horse into camp, the young woman leaning against his chest and Yasim on the horse behind him. He had tied the horses together, knowing his knots holding the older woman would keep her down if she woke. Rorik had kept the ties on the younger one, knowing if she woke she wouldn't hesitate to cause trouble. Her legs were over his thighs and her back against his arm, her head resting in the crook of his neck. He hadn't anticipated whatever injury that had her on the ground gasping would be bad enough to have her faint. Especially since her resistance had been so fiery.
The men in the camp slowed their work to stare at Rorik, or rather his captives. As he picked his way through the camp, the men looked at him as if he had conquered a God while he was gone. Hell if he didn't feel like it. Though he didn't know if they were Daughters of Ziva, trotting into camp was two more chances they had at survival, and much more just within their grasp.
"Your tent, Voivode," a man named Arthur motioned. He was one of the volunteers from the clan and seemed at a loss on what he was supposed to be doing. Rorik nodded at the man and veered towards his tent. He stopped the two horses and slid off, cradling the young woman to his chest.
The men formed a small circle around him, having abandoned their work altogether. Rorik met each man's eye as he passed them to enter his tent to place the woman on his furs. When he emerged out of the tent Rorik met each pair of eyes again, making sure the implications of his action was clear. He saw flashes of annoyance between the eyes of the curious and the hopeful, but none of them spoke up. He none too casually diverted their attention.
"Men," Rorik projected, "We do not know if they bleed, but we know there is an entire village fleeing us. Boris and Alexander," he motioned to his best rider and second-best tracker, "Take the horses, you will find them within the day. Once you have found them, one of you will come back to report where they are."
The two men jumped into action.
"
Don't
let them see you."
"Yes Voivode," they chorused.
The rest of the men looked antsy, waiting to get their orders. "The rest of us will prepare for our journey back for now. Repair the ship, gather as much food as possible, and boil water. Soon, we return to our people, and hopefully, it's with women made to take our seed."
The men didn't cheer, but the hope in the air was enough to make them giddy. Rorik turned to the horse with Yasim draped over it and threw the woman over his shoulder, hoping to wake her. The men deserved to see a live one. She flopped gracelessly over her shoulder, but in the end stayed unconscious.
He walked across camp to the only other tent that had been set up so far. He drew the flap, seeing Nikolai on one of the three beds, Casmir and Sergei hovering over him. Rorik put the woman down on the other bed, joining Casmir. Sergei had bloodied rags beside him with an equally bloody arrow on top of them.
Sergei spared him a glance as he held a cloth on Nikolai's neck. "He seems to have been lucky. It missed just about everything important. Missed his trachea and esophagus, just went into his chest muscles. He's going to have a hard time lifting that sword for a bit if he lives."
"If he lives?" Rorik asked.
"He's lost a lot of blood," Sergei answered. He threw his head towards Yasim. "Who is that?"
"Yasim," Rorik answered.
"She appeared to be leading our ambush party," Casmir added quickly, knowing what effect the news would have.
Sergei looked up at them in surprise.
"Yeah, I know," Rorik smirked.
Sergei shook his head and turned back to Nikolai. "Bandits?"
"I don't think so," Casmir said, crossing his arms. "It would be incredibly coincidental if six bandits decided to inhabit a village that had just been occupied hours earlier." A smile crossed his face. "Besides, she tried to interrogate us when we arrived. Asked us what our intentions were."
Sergei kept shaking his head. "Brave, but very stupid."
"We need her in good health, no matter how dense she may be," Rorik said. "I hit her once in the side of the head, Sergei. Don't take off her binds."
"Yes, Voivode," Sergei said, bowing his head.
Rorik looked at Casmir. "There are men out there that are unsure of their orders." As Rorik's Second, he was in charge of putting Rorik's orders to fruition. "I told them to prepare to the ship for departure, but some of them may need more guidance."
Casmir nodded, his lips twisting into a deeper grimace. "I apologize, Voivode. I'll sort it out."
Rorik clapped a hand on Casmir's shoulder, knowing the man was worried about his friend. Casmir had been his Second for over 3 years now and had become fast friends with Nikolai, their best tracker. Both of them had been near invaluable on the journey here. Nikolai had, out of boredom, acted as another Second, his tracking skills all but worthless on the water. Rorik knew Nikolai was going to be furious he had been put out of commision on the first day they truly needed him, by a woman no less.
As Rorik turned and pushed the tent flap aside, he spoke over his shoulder. "Sergei, come to my tent when you're done. I have another one I need you to look at."
He made his way through the camp, crossing straight to his tent. The girl was still out when he entered. She was on her side, her hands still tied at her back. He kneeled beside her, evaluating his prize.
Her hair was such a dark brown it hinted at black. It was only when the sunlight had touched it that he had seen lighter shades. Her eyebrows were thick but defined, her lips small but full, and her body sinewy and strong. He had felt her muscles as he had pushed his shin into her thighs. Her small frame had taken much more weight than he had thought she would need.
The amount of discipline he had needed to mite out for her to stay still was surprising, and her reaction to that discipline... Rorik had not planned on sequestering a woman for himself once they had landed but when he had felt her soaked through pants it had become unquestionable. He would find time for her in between preparing the ship and finding the other women.
Rorik had women back home who enjoyed submitting, but it wasn't until now that he recognized it wasn't the submission he wanted. The reality was they had already submitted. Those women grew up knowing they served the men around them and accepted their role, as they had no other choice. Even the few Daughters of Ziva Rorik had taken from the clans he had conquered grew up in places that gave them very few rights, leading them to submit to the Gavali's whims without much struggle. This girl had been fighting for her life, and as he had pinned her down and took all the choice away from her, her body had smouldered beneath him. She had been denying it, but he would be there to force her to accept what he knew she craved.
That would take some time and planning. She hadn't exactly come easy. Hell, she had even struck him. It had been a long while since anyone had hit him, and the first time his cock had grown hard because of it. He stirred just thinking about it. The monster inside him shifted, seeing a real chance to exert itself with her.
He wondered what these women had been up to in the generations since their escape that led to a woman like this. He admitted to himself he hadn't been expecting women freely wielding weapons, but it made sense. Thirteen women disappearing with only a few men to aid them left those women no choice but to learn to defend themselves. This woman in front of him had a lot of freedoms given to her out of necessity, but no more.
With his continued perusal, his eyes landed on her breeches. The use of pants on women was not something he was accustomed to, but the way the dark beige material sat on her shape made him harden further. She was not as shapely as the women he had back home, but obviously, his cock wasn't minding the difference.
The thought of waking her up crossed his mind, but her skin had a pallor that reminded him she was injured.
She had groaned when he had turned her onto her stomach, so he started there. He took her thin grey shirt and rolled it up. He breathed through his nose and clenched his jaw.
Fuck.
He knew what a horse kick looked like, and this was definitely one. No wonder she had been gasping on the ground, and why she had passed out when he had thrown her on the horse. The fact that it was on her midriff annoyed him. Rorik wanted to be deep inside her as soon as possible, but the amount of pain the sex would cause her would not wise, especially with the injury being so close to her womb. If there would be pain, he needed to know she would still be useful afterwards. Frowning, he decided he would have to wait to take her, knowing there were other things he could do to continue his domination of her.
