I ran all night & day, couldn't get away [Eilidh]

After spending most of the day at the training fields training with anyone who hadn’t gone on the raid, Kol headed home. Most of his friends were on the raid with the Ragnarssons, so he didn’t really have anything to do. He thought he might just go get a drink at the tavern for a while. He could always find out what his brother or sister were up to, but occasionally they didn’t appreciate their big brother poking his nose into their business.

He supposed he’d just check in with his mother quickly, make sure she had everything she needed, and then wander about the village for a while. With most of the warriors gone, he was determined to keep a close eye on things. Kattegat was a major trading center and if anyone had nefarious intentions, now would be a good time to make that known. It had been one of the reasons he’d skipped this raid to begin with; To make sure someone was there in case anything happened.

Also, he’d promised his friend Garth he’d check in on that girl he liked. But, they hadn’t left that long ago, so Kol figured he could push that task back a week or so. He wasn’t exactly familiar with the woman quite yet. He’d just pass by her shop on his way home and make sure things looked normal and that would have to be enough for Garth for right now.

Once he reached his house, Kol saw his mother outside of the house looking for something, and when she spotted him she pointed towards what looked like someone running off in the distance and when she finally told him what the hell was going on, Kol sighed, shook his head, and headed towards the stables. It looked like he needed to borrow a horse. He had a runaway thrall to catch. This was not how he’d wanted to spend his evening.

Just when she thought her life literally couldn’t get any worse, it did. It had started off like every other stupid day since her captivity until it wasn’t. She was doing the mending sitting in chair adjacent to her first owner’s where he was doing what he did best, drinking and telling her the stories of his his glory days. He was an aging former Viking with a creep streak a mile and half wide that liked to talk almost half as much as he liked to drink. Amongst his slurred words about things she was fairly certainly didn’t actually happen and what he’d like for dinner, was a statement about how he was going to have to sell her for drinking money. She wasn’t even mad about it honestly, she wouldn’t miss him or his creepy stare or grabby hands. So, she just looked at him and said, “good riddance asshole,” knowing full well that he was too drunk to remember her disrespect or really care.

It didn’t really occur to her that perhaps a rather weak old man who liked the bottle and trying to inappropriately touch her all the time was preferable to what else was out there until she was nearly face to face with her new owner. She couldn’t breathe for a few seconds with the fear strangling her. He was tall, muscular and blond. If he wanted to hurt her, he could do it easily. It wouldn’t be like it was before where she could fight him off. There would be no fighting this one, if he wanted to hold her down he could and probably with one arm from the look of it. She numbly followed him where he led, not really paying attention to anything, but the little voice in her head that said she was fucked. A part of her wanted to cry at the possibility of the hopelessness of what her life could become. She promised herself after the day she was sold that she would never cry again unless the reason was really good. This wasn’t a reason that warranted the rule being broken. She bit her tongue until it bled to stop the burning in her eyes. It worked thankfully. She could get through this she told herself repeatedly until she believed it. There had been moments were everything felt lost and she persevered.

She kept her head down, said little and did everything she was told the first few days. She wasn’t sure how long she could keep that up. Her sassy mouth usually got her in trouble because she said things most of the time without thinking. And this would be uncharted territory with everyone she met that lived in the house being sober most of the time. However, she quickly found that her new owners were...nice? Well, as nice as people could be that owned another person and made them do shit for them. There had to be a catch to this with the way they all left her alone. They had to be waiting for her to screw up so they could become their awful selves. She wasn’t about to wait around to find out. Nope she was getting out of here and going back to Skagerrak.

Her escape wasn’t well planned or thought out. Eilidh had never been good at thinking ahead so when she saw an opportunity while Asta and Thrya were distracted she dropped the stuff she was using to clean and bolted. Running had never been her favorite thing, but it was the only way she was getting away so she’d take it for right now. Besides with all of the adrenaline pumping through her system she didn’t even feel tired like she normally did. So far this was easier than she thought especially since it seemed like no one was coming after her. Perhaps she’d be on a boat by nightfall away from this hell hole.

He didn’t really know where this girl thought she was running, but luckily, on horseback, he caught up fairly quickly. He rode in a circle around her, coming around in front of her instead of behind her. He didn’t need to scare her or something, and have her trip and fall and get trampled by a spooked horse. Sliding from the mare’s back quickly, Kol held the reins loosely, standing a few feet in front of the young woman. Eilidh. That was her name. It was an odd name, he’d thought but had kept that to himself.

His mother had wanted help around the house, someone was selling a healthy thrall, it had seemed like a great plan at the time. But how often was she going to be pulling this nonsense? He actually had things to do and chasing after her into the woods on a regular basis was not something he had any interest in doing.

“Bit late for an afternoon stroll, isn’t it?” he asked casually, looking up at the sky for a moment. The sun would be setting soon, and she’d have been lost in the woods in the dark. Maybe she wasn’t too bright? He’d barely spoken to her so he really wouldn’t know. “If you wanted some fresh air, all you had to do was ask,” he added with a shrug, keeping an eye on her in case she decided to bolt in either direction. Maybe he’d get lucky and she’d just run back the way she came? Seemed unlikely, but he could hope.

“Do you think we can head back now? I did actually have plans tonight.” Those plans were ‘wander around, maybe have a drink, then get some sleep’. Admittedly, not the most exciting plans, but she didn’t know that. Hopefully she’d realize that with the horse, there was no way she could outrun him, and they could just walk calmly back home and forget this ever happened. And maybe when he didn’t… hit her or whatever people did to runaway thralls, she’d calm down and quit trying. He didn’t think he’d be able to hand her over and get his money back. The old drunk he’d got her from had almost certainly already spent that money in the nearest tavern. So he was stuck with her, just like she was stuck with him.

The feeling of freedom was exhilarating as she ran. This nightmare could be over soon, nevermind the fact that she didn’t really know where she was going. Direction was never her strong suit just like physical activities. She’d only been to the docks in Kattegat that one time when she arrived, dazed, dirty, hungry and dehydrated on the slavers boat from Skagerrak. Perhaps she should have planned this better by actually scoping out her destination prior to leaving, but there wasn’t time for that now. She probably could figure out. It couldn’t be that hard to find.

The sound of hooves against the ground coming up from behind her didn’t make her turn around. She figured it had to be another traveler. She hoped that whoever they were they weren’t about to stop and try to question her about what she was doing just running down the road. She’d never been a good liar either. Her mother always told her she had too honest of face, everything was always written all over it.

The horse and it’s rider past her only to circle back around to face her. It wasn’t until she saw who was on the horse that her heart sank. She slowed her run to a standstill. Apparently the jig was up and she’d been had. The first thing that came over when she stopped apart from dread was fatigue. Her muscles in her legs burned. She heaved for breath and coughed a bit. She put her hands on her knees while she tried to get her breathing back to normal. Her mouth was dry too. “Shit,” she mumbled in Gaelic, not only cursing the man in front of her for catching up to her, but also her own stupidity to not bring water with her in her haste to get away.

She watch while he dismounted the horse still hunched over while he towered over her. She wanted to roll her eyes at him saying it was a bit late for an afternoon stroll, but somehow managed to refrain. “Is it?” She played dumb, finally straightening her spine and standing up having finally slowed her respiratory rate. Perhaps she could play this off like she was just some dumb slave who was just out for a walk/run? She didn’t know much about her new owner yet. She knew his name was Kol and he wasn’t around a ton like his mother and sister during the day. He didn’t really talk to her and she did the same while she tried to feel out her new situation.

Though her plan to play dumb lasted for all of five seconds. She couldn’t stop herself when said if all she wanted was some fresh air all she had to do was ask, but glare at him. Thanks for reminding me that you own me asshole, she thought to herself as she could feel herself getting angry. Things only proceeded to go downhill for her from there. He mentioned something about having plans this evening he wanted to get to.

Eilidh’s mouth was notorious for working faster than her brain would process what she was saying especially when she got angry. “Well why don’t you run along to your plans. No one is stopping you. And I’ll be on my way.” She spat back at him. That was stupid. She knew it, but she was so angry she just didn’t care in the moment.

» Eilidh Nyrsdóttir
» If I stay by your side, we will make it through the night. [Helga]