Doomed

Subject: Doomed Sat Feb 10, 2018 3:01 pm

come shove me
over the edge.

Don’t panic.

A man was guarding the door of the room where he was being kept. His hands were tied together with a rope. The roughness was keeping him from moving too much, as his skin was already bleeding lightly around his wrists from trying to remove the restraints. It was to no avail. He would have to undergo his faith. It just wasn’t fair. He had known all his life that there was no justice in this world, but today he had experienced it once more. A viking warrior, clearly drunk, had broken into the harbourmaster’s office. There, he had tried to steal something, but because he had been drunk he probably forgot what he had came for. Not that it mattered much. When Maurr had entered the room, he had been in shock at first. He had asked the man what in Odin’s name he was doing, but it hadn’t sounded very convincing.

Then, the real trouble had begun. The harbourmaster’s assistant, walking in for his morning shift, had caught the two men in the office. Of course he had demanded an explanation, but before Maurr could even speak, the other man had accused him for breaking in. He had painted himself the hero that had caught the thief and prevented him from stealing anything. But it was the other way around! No one wanted to listen to him though. It wouldn’t even matter as well. He was just a thrall, and it was his word against that of a viking. So the assistant had called the guards and they had locked him up in this room. He had no idea what was going to happen, but he knew a punishment was coming. He only wondered why they were taking so long. Normally they would get it over with soon enough for him to get to work again.

Something was wrong.

And he could feel it, in his stomach. A deep rooted fear for whatever was going to happen. Usually he wouldn’t panic like this. But it felt like something bad was going to happen to him. After about twenty minutes later, the harbourmaster finally entered the room. Behind him, there was another man. And he was carrying a whip. Maurr’s heart skipped a beat. ”No”, He whispered, in disbelief. ”You should have known better. I cannot tolerate this. You will be an example to others not to mess with me”, The man said to him, calmly. As if nothing was going on. ”But I-“ He tried. ”Silence”, He snarled. ”Accept your faith”, He continued. Then he stepped out the room. Two other men walked in and pulled him on his feet, after which they forced him to go outside as well.

They crossed the harbour, where a crowd had started gathering. Everyone was looking at him, and now he understood why it had taken them so long. A pole was set up in the distance. They had probably spread the word quickly, a public whipping at the harbour. And of course people wanted to see that. It was entertainment. Maurr didn’t struggle when they roped him up to the pole after they had ripped his shirt off his upper body. He tried not to look at the crowd, which was hard because there were so many people. He focussed his eyes on the wooden planks of the platform he was standing on. The harbourmaster spoke to the people first, announcing his crime and the punishment. 20 lashes. That was a lot.

That was too much.

There was no way he could sit through that without screaming. The executioner came closer and lifted the whip. For a short moment it made a whizzing sound through the air, and then it ripped open his back. The first time he could keep himself from making any sound, but the second time was different. It started with a soft grunting, but that soon changed. A mixture of screaming, shouting and crying was drawn from him with each lash. Somewhere halfway he bit his tongue so hard it started bleeding, which was a short but welcome distraction from the burning feeling on his back. It didn’t last long though. The whipping itself did, unfortunately. It felt like hours before they finally cut the ropes around his hands and he fell to the ground. Tears were streaming down his cheeks while he tried hard to deal with the pain and the embarrassment.

&Open

Subject: Re: Doomed Sat Feb 10, 2018 4:37 pm

The day really had been going like any other day for her. Sofie had gotten up early and went about her normal routine. Eating, training, hunting,exploring, and then make her way to go see how Aleinn was doing, and if he was done for the day. Since she was trying to do better, and not get into trouble again, she hardly did any pranks anymore. So many days were now filled with random things to keep her busy. Such as how she was hunting more, something she hardly had done before. So that she could earn more money selling the furs. Visna and herself were doing their very best to gather more money for something very important, freeing a friend. They both knew it was going to take some time, but they were determined. Besides, it was something she had decide to do a while ago, back when she went to invite him to her mothers birthday party, and once Sofie decided something it was rather hard to change her mind. Stubbornness ran very deep in the people of her family, so she was sure Vinsa and herself were not going to give up until they had reached that goal. After dropping off the few animals that she had caught at her home, Sofie slowly made her way toward the docks to see her wonderful man. Excited to see what he and her sister and been working on today, for she liked to hear about what he learned or how he was doing as her apprentice.

However while she was on the way to the docks, Sofie saw a crowd gathering together. Confused as to what in the world was going on, she decided that she would stop over to go and see what they were doing. It wasn't like Aleinn couldn't wait, and she had always been rather nosy when it came to things like this. Just as she walked over and pushed her way toward the middle she saw something that made her stomach drop. It was a pole set up in the middle of the crowd. Taking a deep breath she grabbed at a man and spoke. "What is going on here?" she asked him before he yanked himself back and gave her a dirty look. "Some thrall is getting whipped." he said to her and Sofie felt sicker. Giving him a dirty look she moved away from him and started to look around at the crowd. So many people were here to watch someone get hurt? Sofie had never in her life wanted to hurt so many people before. To bash their heads together and make them open their minds to the fact that this was wrong. Looking around more, Sofie was sure she looked about ready to puke when her eyes landed on who it was being dragged forward and tied to the pole.

Her heart felt like it was beating a mile a minute as she moved her head around so quickly. This was Maurr, this was her friend. Someone she was working so hard to free, and everyone was just standing there. They weren't trying to help him at all. Her view of village had changed when everything that had happened to her with halfdan had happened, but now she had no idea who these people were. To come here like this to watch someone be hurt. As she looked around her eyes finally landed on someone she knew, her sweet Aleinn. At first she wanted to ask what the hell was he was doing here, but that was for later. Sofie pushed people roughly out of her way as she made her way over to him. Just about to speak when the man that had planed all this whole thing started to speak. That Maurr had stolen something, something she already knew was a lie. Maurr would never steal form anyone, and then they said 20 lashes and she looked around in fear. 20 was a lot, 20 was far to much.

Her whole world slowed down as she turned back toward the seen before her. Watching someone she knew and cared about get hurt as people around her had mixed feelings was something very hard to see. Some people were smiling, some were covering there faces, and some were frowning. However they were all watching this, they were all here, and so was she. Sofie was here too,watching this happen. She wanted to to scream at them all, to make them stop it, but her voice was stuck in her throat. Nothing could come out even if she wanted it too. Time sped up and suddenly it was all over. Sofie's whole body was shaking and she had tears running down her face as she turned back toward Aleinn "I'm going to kill them," she whispers at him in anger. "I am going to make them pay, someone needs to make them pay." she says to him next as she lifts a shaky hand toward her sword as she looked at him with wide eyes, tears still falling down her face. She hadn't felt this way ever in her life. Aleinn could easily stop her, because she felt so weak and upset in this moment. However in the back of her mind she had come to a conclusion, Maurr was learning to fight and protect himself if he liked it or not. She would not take no for an answer.

Subject: Re: Doomed Sat Feb 10, 2018 9:41 pm

After discovering that her sister and her apprentice were now in a relationship, and that Aleinn hadn’t thought to mention it even once in the whole time Sofie had been in Kattegat, Freyja had been a bit squinty at him over the last few days. She didn’t exactly blame him, and it wasn’t really any of her business, but she was feeling put out regardless.

But her attention was diverted as a crowd of people started to gather near the harbour. Freyja didn’t pay much attention to that sort of thing normally. Crowds of people were not her favorite thing and in her experience, they usually heralded bad news. However, when she heard people whispering and talking about a thrall being punished, her stomach sank. This wasn’t going to be good. Especially because Sofie had let slip only a couple days ago that Visna had feelings for Maurr, who Freyja was watching be dragged towards the pole set up in the middle of the crowd.

She felt sick to her stomach, and had every intention of turning away and not watching the disgusting display until she saw Sofie walking towards Aleinn, and realized Visna could be in the crowd as well. Now that she knew about her sister’s feelings, if Visna was there somewhere, Freyja needed to find her.

“Stay with her? Don’t let her do anything…” she asked Aleinn, trailing off but assuming he’d know what she was trying to say. He knew Sofie was more than a little reckless at times. But she couldn’t go make sure Visna wasn’t watching this if she was too busy worrying about Sofie getting herself into more trouble.

Pushing towards the front of the crowd, Freyja scanned the faces nearby for her sister and it didn’t take long for her to spot the familiar face. She made a beeline towards Visna, not caring at all about the people she was shoving out of her way in her haste to reach her. It was clearly too late to keep her from finding out what was going on, but she could still try to get her away from there.

“Visna, you shouldn’t be here,” she started once she was standing beside the teenager. “You don’t need to see this.” Unfortunately, Freyja was extremely aware that there was quite a stubborn streak that ran through their family, and getting the brunette to agree to turn away right now would not be easy. She didn’t blame her, of course. Whatever the reason for this, Freyja knew Maurr didn’t deserve it, because no one did. But that didn’t change the fact that he was a thrall, and things would not go the way they wanted it to if anyone tried getting involved right now. “He wouldn’t want you to be here,” she added, hoping that might be enough to get Visna to leave with her. Though she wasn’t very optimistic.

Subject: Re: Doomed Sun Feb 11, 2018 4:17 pm

Days and nights went by with Visna only focusing on working hard. The work she had to do doubled once she started helping Sofie with their plan to gather money and free Maurr. She felt like she wasn’t spending enough time with him either, but she knew that a little sacrifice now was worth it. A bright future was right ahead their paths and it was a future were the two of them were together, in love and with no obstacles there to stop them. The girl also knew that this whole situation wasn’t going to be solved anytime soon, nor in an easy way, but she was ready to fight for him and hoped he was ready to fight for himself as well. They needed to do this together and even if they didn’t talk much since Kara’s birthday, she knew and felt deep in her heart that they were working together even if they weren’t next to each other physically. Their hearts were somehow connected, it was almost like she could feel whatever he was feeling, because if she had a certainty in her life, that was the feelings they shared.

That morning Visna woke up with her face lying flat on a piece of fabric she was embroidering. She probably had passed out there the night before, while working on her latest dress. Her head felt heavy and an uneasy feeling started building up in her heart right after she opened her eyes. She couldn’t explain why, but her thoughts went straight to Maurr. She simply shook her head, shaking away any bad thought that was starting to form up in her mind. After washing her face with cold water to wake up fully, the girl sat at the table and grabbed the fabric she was sleeping on to resume her work, but that uneasiness didn’t seem to fade away. It was after few minutes into her work that Visna sighed deeply and throw the fabric on her table, a little frustrated because she couldn’t focus. What was she even doing? Wasn’t she doing this for him? Why couldn’t she focus a little more? The girl felt like the only way to push away those unpleasant thoughts was to prove them wrong.

After dressing up, the girl headed straight to the docks, where she knew Maurr was working. When she was halfway there though, she couldn’t help but feel a little stupid for wasting all that precious time. He was surely fine. ”They’re punishing someone!” A small child was stumbling, trying to run right behind what it seemed to be his mother, that was talking to a friend of hers, explaining the reason why she was running so eagerly towards the harbour. Visna furrowed her eyebrows at that brief sentence and shook her head at their behaviour, not understanding how could someone be so eager to see someone else getting hurt. Like a lightining, a bad feeling suddenly pierced her heart and the girl found herself running towards the same direction the woman was running to. ”It’s not him.” She kept on repeating in her mind. There was such a low chance he was the one that was getting punished. It was true he hated his status, but it wasn’t like he was someone ready to do something bad to change it. He was about to refuse Visna and Sofie’s help at first, because he didn’t want them to get into troubles. No, it wasn’t him.

The crowd was getting bigger and bigger around her, but it looked like the main show everyone was waiting for wasn’t there yet. A single pole was standing in front of them and honestly Visna didn’t want to see who they were about to hurt, so she turned around. ”They’re here!” “Oh, he is cute, what a pity.” “I know he is a thrall.” A group of girls started whispering different sentences right next to her. Their words fueled Visna’s worries and she couldn’t help but turn around again to look at the people that were dragging a guy towards that pole. No. It couldn’t be. That wasn’t real. That was a nightmare. She was still sleeping with her face on the fabric. This couldn't be true. She was frozen. Her legs and her whole body felt like they turned into stone. Her feet were heavy like rocks and her mind was completely blank. Her eyes were wide open, but she felt like she couldn’t focus on what was happening in front of her. A familiar voice was warning her, telling her she shouldn’t have been there, but she couldn’t even give this voice a name. As if it was smoke, the crowd disappeared and the only thing she could see and hear was the person she loved screaming in pain. Every lash that hit his back, was a lash hitting her heart. Suddenly, her legs couldn’t bear her heart’s weight anymore and she fell on her knees. ”Stop this.” She said in a whisper, her voice stuck in her throat. ”Please.” Another lash hit Maurr’s back. ”Please stop!” With the last energies she had, she was able to find her voice back, she was able to scream, but her voice broke once again. She was shaking, unable to stand up, unable to move a finger, unable to stop that torture, unable to look away.

Then they released him, he fell on the ground, his back ripped open, blood streaming from the wounds. With a rush of adrenaline, anger, sadness and frustration Visna stood up and ran towards Maurr. She didn’t care if someone was watching. She couldn’t care less if the few people around her were laughing at her. She needed to be with him. She dropped on her knees once again and careful not to touch his back, she gently got closer to him and started wiping away the tears from the boy’s face. ”Shh, don’t cry.” She tried to sound comforting, but her voice broke once again. Tears couldn’t stop rolling down her cheeks. ”Everything is okay. I’m here. I’m with you. I love you.” Her words kept on running from her mouth without her having any control over them. Her voice was a whisper, her hands were still shaking. She couldn’t think clearly, but she knew they were going to get through this together. They were strong, weren’t they?

Subject: Re: Doomed Sun Feb 11, 2018 9:48 pm

Freyja had been acting strangely towards him lately ever since Sofie had gotten back from Kattegat. She’d been quieter, shorter and certainly less patient with him than she’d normally been any other time up until now. He felt sad thinking of how she’d been. If she was unhappy with him he wished she would just say it like she usually did. This strangeness was upsetting in that he wondered some days that he could be out of a job. He had an idea that it was likely about him and Sofie and maybe she didn’t approve of him being with her sister. He didn’t think he was a bad guy and he treated her well so he didn’t quite understand what the problem was. Sure, Sofie could be a lot to deal with in regards to her reckless behavior among other things, but he knew what he was getting himself into and he felt like he could handle anything she threw at him just fine despite the fact that it seemed like Freyja didn’t think the same. He almost wanted to ask her about it, almost, however, his brooding thoughts were interrupted with talk of a thrall being punished which was the very same thrall that Sofie and her sisters’ were friends with.

His heart sank when he saw Sofie there pushing through the gathering crowd to get to where he was standing with Freyja. He didn’t feel like she should be here to see this. It would only upset her, but if he knew her like he did there would be no way to get her to leave. He heard Freyja tell him to stay with Sofie, he nodded at her as she walked away.

There was a reason he was no longer was training anymore. He didn’t have the heart for these kinds of things. He’d never been able to feel okay with hurting anyone or anything even if he felt they deserved it. It seemed to him that 20 lashes for possibly stealing was harsh even for a thrall, but there was a reason he wasn’t running things in the village. He’d probably pardon everyone of all of their crimes more so because he could understand why they would commit them. He knew what it felt like to lose everything and not too certain where your next meal was going to come from. He made him wonder sometimes where he’d be without Henrik.

He looked elsewhere more so because he couldn’t stomach what was happening until he heard Sofie talking to him about wanting to kill everyone that made him look down at her to see that she was crying. His heart broke for her, he didn’t her to be sad. He immediately pulled her into his arms. “No, you’re not going to do that, especially not now. That wouldn’t help anything.” He said softly, rubbing soothing circles along her spine. "It's going to be okay. I've got you."

Subject: Re: Doomed Tue Feb 13, 2018 12:27 am

Alvina wasn't doing the best right now if she was being completely honest with herself. Her feet hurt, her back hurt, pretty much everything hurt. Plus on top of all of that she looked like her stomach was going to explode at any moment from how close she was to having her baby. The healer she had spoken to had said it should be any day now, and so she was out walking and trying to get the baby to come sooner. Walking seemed to just make everything hurt worse, but the Healer had suggested it, so she was listening to her. It wasn't like she knew any of this stuff anyways. All she knew was what the other thralls thought her growing up, and some of the things she had learned since moving her. All she knew was, she hoped the baby would come soon. So she could hold them in her arms and she could no longer be in as much pain as she was in at this moment.Plus she would stop being as fat as she was right now too. Something that was silly to worry about, but a worry of hers all the same. Alvina was sure that everyone would worry about something like that, or at least most women would.

While she was out walking however, Alvina saw a large group of people starting to gather near the docs of the village. Now normally she did her best to avoid big crowds, as maybe someone who knew her would be there and she would have problems, but for some reason she felt the need to go over and see what was going on. Most of the people looked excited so she figured it would be something rather interesting. It took her slightly longer to walk over toward the crowd, and surprisingly once she did get over there, a man helped move her to the front. Something she wished never happened when she saw just was what in the middle of the crowd of people. There was a large pole set up, and people had just finished tying a man up to it and were walking away. Alvina may not be educated as well as everyone else here, but she knew what this meant, and she wanted nothing more then to leave. However when she turned around to try and go, she saw no way out. She was trapped here, and the thought of just being trapped alone started to make her breath a little harder.

Looking back toward the man tied to the pole she could see he was scared, and she was scared for him. A man was shouting that this man had stolen from him and now he was going to be hit 20 times with a whip. Just the thought of it mad her want to puke all over the ground. Theses people, people she thought were so much better then the ones in Uddevalla were here to watch someone be whipped for their own enjoyment. She went to turn back toward the people, to force them to let her out of this horrible place, but it was to late. She saw the whip hit his back and covered her mouth. There were people laughing and Alvina was sure if she could, if she was strong enough, she would hit them. How could someone be so cruel to other people, she just didn't understand. The whip came down again, and again. It wasn't until she heard him cry out in pain that she lost her composer. She was crying as she watched all this happen before her, watching and so unable to do anything. For if they found out she too was a thrall, a run away one at that. Far worse things then this would happen to her next.

The worst part out it ,was the more she heard him scream and cry, the more she remembered what happened to her before she got way. Memories she fought to keep hidden and out of mind were fighting to come to the surface. All the horrible things, all the pain she had felt. However before she knew it, it was over. She was able to push back her own problems and hide them away again. The man was being cut down and then a girl, a young one who was probably close to her age was rushing to his side. It truly was a sad sight, and while now that people moved out of her way so she could escape and go find Vern, she felt like she couldn't just leave. She understood, she knew his pain, his suffering, and she wanted to help him in some way even if it was something small. Taking a deep breath Alvina makes her way closer to the man and the women on the ground and takes off her cloak. "What happened here was wrong, I am so sorry they did this...that people do this"she says, and when she speaks she realizes just how hard she is crying and how deeply this has effected her, and she wasn't even the one who was touched. She didn't even know this person at all, and she felt like some kind of justice needed to happen.

"Please take this, to cover him up until you get him to a healer." she says next as she reaches the cloak out with a shaky hand. As soon as the other women takes the cloak, Alvina turns and moves as fast as her sore feet will take her. She needs to get to somewhere safe, to someone safe. Her mind said Vern was safe, but she still wasn't sure about that. All she knew was she needed to get away before the flashes of the past tried to take over her mind once more. Something told her she wasn't going to leave it at this. She was going to want to check on this poor man again, to make sure his back was healed. For she knew what it was like to be punished and then refused a healer as well. Alvina just hoped the girl on the ground got him to one.

Subject: Re: Doomed Wed Feb 14, 2018 9:22 pm

Cecilie had been on her way home from her parents’ farm, as Dómi had gone out fishing for the day, when she noticed a large crowd of people in the distance. Living near the edge of the village meant not too much happened nearby usually, but they could see the docks from the cottage and her curiosity got the better of her. Leaving the basket full of food her mother had thrust at her when she left on a small empty table right inside the door, Cecilie had made sure Brokk & Bryn were securely inside before shutting the door behind her and making her way towards the large crowd.

She’d entirely missed the beginning of the whatever this display was, and had had to push her way slowly through the crowd in order to see exactly what was going on. And the sight she was greeted with made her gasp in horror. What sort of person could do this to someone else, she wondered immediately. A young man she didn’t recognize was tied to a pole, and had been whipped several times.

Scanning the crowd, Cecilie only saw a couple familiar faces. Not too far from where she was, she spotted Dómi’s friend Freyja speaking quietly to a young woman, and assumed it was one of her sisters. She had quite a few of them. The younger woman ran to the injured man at the center of the crowd and Cecilie felt awful for her. She’d been raised to believe that people in charge knew what they were doing, and that they could be trusted, and that people were generally treated fairly. But this whole scene was making her sick to her stomach.

Someone had hurried forward to offer their cloak, and when no one else came forward to offer the young couple any assistance, Cecilie groaned in irritation and forced her way through to the front of the crowd and made her way towards them quickly. What was wrong with all of these people?

“Do you think you can walk?” she asked immediately, skipping the pleasantries all together. “I don’t live very far, right at the edge of the village. I'd like to help, if you’ll let me?” She really wished Dómi was there though. He could help get the young man to the house, and he was used to her bossing him around when she needed an extra pair of hands while she was helping people. “What’s your name? I’m Cecilie. I’m a healer.” That was probably an important piece of information to offer.

Subject: Re: Doomed