The procession through the snow was slow and tiresome; the tribe was making little headway but yet could not stop...the mountain passes were dangerous at the best of times but there had been a marked increase in raids and attacks by the Ice Men so stopping was not an option.
Most of the tribe were on foot as the majority of the members were men and women. No children had survived the winter which was why the Chief had made the decision to migrate to the warmer regions beyond the mountains, away from the hard weather and midnight raids. Only the Chief, his sons and his 2nd wife were on horseback, everyone else was trudging through the knee deep snow in thick deer hide boots that offered some protection from the snow and ice.
Skara glanced up at the Chief's eldest son, Ronan and glared, "Bastard..." she muttered as she gripped her bone handled blade harder. Skara was one of the younger members of the tribe, having just 19 years, she was also the youngest warrior they had...and one of the most skilled. Her father had trained her since she could walk so that fighting with an axe, blade or bare hands seemed as natural as breathing. The young woman was dressed like all the others; thick pair of deer hide boots, several layers of thick wool undergarments which were all covered with a heavy fur coat with rabbit fur lined hood. She also had thick fur gloves that had become supple and pliable from use. Skara had tried to set herself apart from the other women who all wore their hair tied up with strips of coloured cloth; Skara had chosen to have her dirty blonde hair left down, with plats at irregular intervals around her head.
"Who's a bastard?" a musical voice asked.
Skara looked around and smirked when she saw Aurelia walking beside her, clad in her usual furs and carrying a roman sword; Aurelia had been conceived during a raid by roman soldiers when the tribe had been South of the wall. Her mother had given the new-born babe a roman name rather than a more common one; no one had bothered to ask why and Aurelia was seen as a rarity among the tribe...She was beautiful in a very Roman way with silky black hair and dark brown eyes.
"Ronan, he came to my tent again last night," Skara glared once more at the back of Ronan's arrogant head as he rode beside his father, "begging to sleep with me. He said I owed him and I should just shut up and spread my legs, cause either way...he was gonna be fucking me."
Aurelia laughs and looks ahead, "You could do worse. He's handsome enough, if you like fools and he's a good enough fighter when it comes to it. I hear he's fathered two babes on some fisher's wives at the harbour, so you know he'll be of use."
The younger woman rolled her eyes, "He's a selfish brute and he believes all women in the land are for his use-" Skara stopped dead and listened closely; there was no sound but the wailing of the wind...but something was wrong...
"Why did you-" Aurelia dropped to her knees, a hand at her throat as blood soaked the front of her furs. An arrow protruded from her neck, embedded so deep that only the red feathers were visible.
Skara had no time to be shocked as a rain of arrows descended on the tribe; panic ensued as the horses carrying the Chief and his family reared in fear and bolted. The whirling snow made it impossible for any of the warriors to see their enemies or fire their own arrows. Skara threw herself to the ground and kept her head shielding with her arms as arrows continued to rain down; warriors were crying out in shock and pain as they were hit. From her position on the ground, Skara failed to see the figure's emerging from the snow, all clad in white fur clothes so they blended in almost perfectly. She glanced up and gasped before rolling to the side as a man yelled and brought down his axe directly where Skara had been lying.
The young woman leapt to her feet and brought her blade up just in time to defer the man's second blow with his axe. Skara moved with amazing quickness to bury her second, hidden blade into the man's belly. He died with a grunt and fell sideways into the deep snow...Skara looked around and swallowed, there was only a handful of her tribe left standing, the Chief lay dead, as did his son's, as well as countless others. The Ice Men were violently efficient and never carried out a raid without at least 40 members...Few survived their attacks and they occurred so fast that it was almost impossible to escape.
A white fur clad warrior walked over Skara and snatched her weapons before pulling his hood back. He was young, perhaps a year or so older than Skara herself and handsome, the man gripped Skara's chin and turned her head this way and that before smirking, "She's strong, we'll take her. Kill others or have your fun first boys then kill them," he knocks Skara to her knees then turns to his men, "take the weapons and stores, and leave the bodies for the wolves."
Skara was too shocked by what she had just witnessed to fight, and it would have been pointless anyway...the Ice Men were brutal and cared little for life. Even the lives of their own would be forfeit if they failed to show their worth. Children born to the Ice Men tribe were tested from birth; if the new-born babe did not hold a dagger that had been pressed to his or her hand...the baby was deemed weak and left to die.
