Falling to the Viking (3 page)

Kathyrn found herself was deep in a forest, evident by from the heavy trees overhead. She did seem to have a headache. That was to be expected, but there didn’t seem to be any problem with her neck. She slowly moved her legs, but there were no sharp pains. Using her arms to sit up gave her two good answers. Her back didn’t seem to give her any problems along with her arms. Okay, the most important parts of her body were okay.

She got up, which brought to her attention her real problem, her clothes. She started to take an inventory. Her skirt had no zipper. Although her jacket seemed to be okay, her blouse was only in pieces—no buttons, no threads to hold it together. She took the jacket off and pulled the blouse pieces off, but this was when she was aware she had no bra. She also found out she had lost sight of her nylon thong. This was really weird.

Kathryn sat back down to wait for a moment. She was grateful for the knee-high leather boots. She took a moment to braid her hair into one long plait. She took one of the pieces of her blouse to tie into her hair. She also took time to tear another piece from the rough blouse material to help tie her skirt back in place. The leather belt was gone. Had it been leather, or plastic? Wait, what difference did that make? Well, she would ask whoever found her.

Now she looked around. If the elevator had exploded upward after she passed out, she might have been tossed somewhere away from the museum. If the museum exploded, there would be rescuers around the site. Either way, the best thing to do would be to head back to the channel and the people she left behind. Let’s see, two years in Girl Scouts said it shouldn’t take long to decide which way the sun was moving to let so she could decide where the salt water was.

She took enough time to check out her boots. That allowed her to see the shadows move, so she knew where east and west was were located. She started to work her way through the deep forest in a southerly direction. Kathryn decided that finding the channel would bring her in contact with more people than any other direction, since the city and farming community stretched along its shores and cliffs.

She walked for a couple of hours, then, really started to get worried. First of all, she was thirsty. She had no water with her and she was hesitant to drink from the stream she was standing next to, even though the water looked clear. She heard a splash. Turning, hoping to find a farmer, she saw a young deer with its head down drinking deeply of the fast moving water.

It raised its head to look at her with large dark eyes, but since she didn’t move, it went back to drawing liquid into its muzzle. Suddenly, it looked up over its shoulder and instantly it was gone, one long leap over the narrow waterbed that let made the deer disappear into the shrubs of the forest.

Kathryn sighed. She had really enjoyed seeing a wild animal this close. Maybe being blown away from Aunt Halla wasn’t such a bad thing. Oh, wait, she had forgotten about Aunt Halla. If there had been some type of accident, the old woman may have been hurt, or worse. She had to quit thinking about herself. She had to try to get back as soon as possible to see about her last relative.

Well, she could go a little longer without a drink as she turned and…walked into a living wall. Kathryn realized it was a large man as his arms came around her to prevent her from stepping back.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you.” Kathryn tried a smile as she looked up at the harsh features of a blond suntanned man who was frowning down at her. She tried again to step back, but he wasn’t letting go.

He said something in a foreign language that must have been a question, as he raised his heavy eyebrows over those deep blue eyes.

“Sorry, I don’t speak Danish. Could you please let me go now?” Kathryn pushed against the broad naked chest, this time with some definite effort. Unfortunately, the strength of this large man was enough that her try effort was without any results, other than except for him to say something more in the language she didn’t understand.

He was looking past her, so she twisted her head as much as she could and saw two other large men over to the side, moving along the edge of the stream. Kathryn was beginning to get frightened, because something was wrong with this whole picture.

First of all, this big guy wasn’t letting go of her. Next, these guys were dressed funny, even for Denmark. They wore a lot of furs, but on the other hand they didn’t wear a lot. They didn’t have shirts, but their chests were crossed with leather belts that held the items that were attached to their bodies. One of the items was a sword.

Well, she wasn’t sure what the costumes were about, but these big guys with the long blond hair down over their shoulders were making her uncomfortable. No one was smiling, and there seemed to be a lot of arguing or grumbling going on. Worse, the guy with his hands holding her against him was not leaving her a lot of room to breathe. She was going to give him one more try, but it would be that one trick every self-defense class taught young girls.

“Excuse me.” They ignored her and kept on arguing. Kathryn tried a little louder. “Hey, guys!” Still they ignored her, so she used her temper yell.
“God dammit! Let me go!”

Well, that got some attention. First of all, everyone stopped talking. The guy holding her still gripped her tightly, but he set her back a step to get a better look at her. One of the other men said a couple of words and they all laughed.

Okay, respectable lesson from self-defense class one-oh-one. She had the room she needed. Her feet planted firmly, she knew the drill. She only had one chance—knee into crotch and run like hell.

Kathryn took a deep breath, smiled up at the blue eyes, drew back her right knee, and slammed it into a large set of genitals. It had the wanted desired results, as the face in front of her turned red, slipping downward as he instinctively bent, grabbing himself with both hands.

Released, Kathryn didn’t look. She just ran. She only had one choice. There was the big guy in front, two guys on her right and the water behind. The choice was to jerk left, not worrying about scratches, and go went for the gold. She was through the shrubs, past trees of various sizes, some giants blocking out the sun, then into a flat area that seemed to be someone’s garden.

Thank God she had finally found civilization. She had stumbled into the back of the gardens around Hals, except she staggered to a halt as her eyes took in the garden with a couple of workers seeing and the buildings beyond.

She shook her head, trying to clear her eyes. Starting with the workers, she thought she had fallen through a wormhole. They were barefoot, dressed in long one-piece garments that covered the shoulders, almost reaching their feet. There were slits on both sides. It was obvious the material was loomed or knitted. The shirts were sewn at the shoulders with thick yarn. They had dirt up to their elbows and, the soil also covered their bare feet. They were working the garden by hand. They were both young men, clean-shaven, but with long straggly light brown hair down below their shoulders.

Beyond them was a group of buildings made mostly of combinations of wood, large stones and mud. They were solid looking, with larger buildings off in the distance. She saw large horses with heavy feet covered in long hair. People with long blond hair and lots of fur clothing were moving with a purpose.

The shock of the view and her hesitation was her undoing. Strong arms were around her. Before she could even start to fight, she was thrown over a wide shoulder. The flinging of her chest against the substantial muscle and bone, knocked the air from her body. She hung there, fighting the pain as she tried to bring oxygen back into her lungs. Funny little noises escaped her mouth with each intake until finally, regardless of the shoulder bone punching her stomach, she was breathing.

Trying to raise her head, she found her nemesis holding her tightly. Shit, this guy was probably pretty pissed. She could see his buddies following. No one was smiling, but she did notice that the two workers bowed down. Whatever was going on, the game they were playing was. She had to behave and play real meek until she could get away from here there and back to the city, or somewhere for help.

That thought lasted until they got to an area that drew several onlookers. It was a cleared sandy area with a post set in the middle. The man dumped her down in the sand. Before she got much chance to look around, the big guy began to pull her clothes off, and not in a nice way. No, he tore her clothes from her body. She did what she thought was natural—she fought.

Kathryn grabbed her jacket as he bent down to pull her skirt down. She slammed her fist into his ear. He shook his head, but he rose. With the flat of his hand, he backhanded her, holding onto her shoulder, to keep her from falling. She saw stars and heard a ringing in her ears. By the time her head cleared, he had her clothes off except for her boots.

She was aware that she was naked in front of a lot of people who were talking quietly, looking at her with interest. It was also sure as hell that none of them was going to help her.

She raised her fist to punch him again, but he grabbed her wrist. He raised his large fist in front of her face with a threat. He said something. Of course, she didn’t understand, but she did get the threat. She spit on the ground as she quit fighting.

He turned her swiftly, bringing her hands above her head all with one movement. The next thing she knew her naked body was up against the cold wooden pole with her arms tied above her head to a ring set in the pole. She looked over her shoulder, and checked one more time to see if someone might help her. No, it there seemed to be just a few interested eyes and a couple of men who were smiling. Damn perverts.

She felt him tape fasten her other arm. She turned her head to look up at him. He said something, then held up a thin leather strap. He held up his hand showing all five fingers twice. That meant ten. He said something again. Wait, ten, oh no, he was going to lash her. This barbarian was going to do the barbaric act and actually beat her. This was a nightmare. She would wake up to find herself buried under a pile of rubble at the museum.

The first strike hit her and she almost cried out. She was not into pain. As a child, she cried when they took off the bandages of her healed wounds. The second strike was also across her butt, just a little higher on her cheeks. Oh, she couldn’t take this. What did had he indicated? Ten? That meant ten strikes of the leather against her back. Still, she hadn’t cried out, and if she had to bite clean through her tongue, she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of hearing her cry out loud.

She counted each strike so she knew how many tears came with the seventh and eighth. Somewhere in there, she felt him throw her braid over her shoulder, out of the way, as he brought a welt across her upper shoulders. By the ninth, her knees gave out. She was grateful for the pole to lean against it. She wondered after the tenth if he would really stop or maybe treat her to some more, but then felt his large body push against her as he cut her down. She held onto the pole so she wouldn’t fall to the sand.

Dimly, she was aware that he seemed to be giving what sounded like orders to someone. A woman in one of the plain long garments was suddenly at her side, helping her, pulling Kathryn’s arm over her shoulder to help Kathryn her move.

Kathryn, even with the tears drying on her face, couldn’t help but look at the man who had whipped her. She was surprised not to see anger any longer. Instead, there seemed to be some strange look that was almost an acknowledgement of pride. He said something to her as he reached out to lift her heavy braid, but of course, she had no idea what the words meant. Besides, right now, she hated him. She could only hope it showed on her face.

She struggled not to throw up as she leaned on the woman. Thank goodness the woman was strong. The woman led her carefully across the sand behind a couple of buildings to an area that held a small water hole. The woman sat her on a rock bench. Kathryn was grateful for the cool feel of the rock against her sore ass. Still, she felt the stripes on her back were what hurt the most, as they had cut into muscles.

The woman was speaking as she slowly took off Kathryn’s boots. Finally, Kathryn had gotten control enough to speak. “I am sorry. I don’t speak Danish.”

The woman looked at her in confusion.

“I am Kathryn.” Kathryn pointed at her naked chest. “Kathryn.” She pointed at the woman with a questioning look on her face.

The woman nodded. “Kadlin.” The woman said a few more words, then repeated, “Kadlin,” and added, “Asta.” The woman pointed at her own chest.

Well, I guess Kadlin is as close as I am going to get to Kathryn in your language.

Asta indicated she wanted Kathryn to get into the spring. Kathryn was a little leery at first, but she found stones formed into steps as Asta helped her step down. The water was very warm, but she soon got used to it. The smell indicated there must be some type of natural salts in the water. She felt the whole bath begin to heal her back and relax her muscles.

Asta gave her a rough cloth. She indicated that Kathryn should rub it all over her body. Asta also gave her some leaves tied in a knot. In the warm water, they gave off a mint smell as she rubbed them on her arms and legs.

At one point, as she was relaxing, she saw Asta leave, but the woman returned shortly with one of the rough woven garments like what the one Asta wore.

Asta said something as she pulled on Kathryn’s arm to get her out of the pool. There were no towels, so Kathryn let Asta help her put the long shirt on, grunting as it hit one or more of the stripes on her back. Asta did help her put her boots back on. She felt a little strange, since Asta was still without shoes. At this point, there was no way to understand what was said or make her self understood to anyone else.

She was led into a large building that already had a lot of people in it. It had numerous carved decorations on the outside, including the horns from deer and other animals she could not identify. There were some tattered clothes waving in the breeze at the top of the building, but that was all she had time to see as they entered. It didn’t take a lot to guess its purpose. Mostly men filled the long tables. Males and females carried food or drinks to sit by the men as they came in or when someone required more. The smell was good, but it was unreal, like something out of the
History Channel
. One thing she noticed was that not all the serving people wore the long garments. Some of the women wore long skirts with fur decorations. These women had gold bands on their wrists with fur tops adorned with gold and precious stones.