DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING JUST MY OC! I have changed the course of events a little to make my story seem more real. Enjoy!
Chapter 1:
The sun was shining, and I was picking flowers. I was the age of fifteen, not yet a woman.
My name is Rose. My sisters and I were out and about having some fun.
We had finished our chores for the day and my father asked me to bring the children out to play.
We were not nobles, but my father worked as a servant.
I tended to the home after my mother died. This day, however, we were attached by Vikings.
Men who believed in the gods. I believed in the one true God. I lived in a small town in England.
I ran to protect my siblings and rushed them into the house. I locked the door and hid the children in the farthest corner of the room.
It was only time before the house was raided, and it was the safest bet we had to survive till then.
The doors burst open, and three men walked in. I could understand them as they spoke their language, for my father had secretly taught me.
He told me never to reveal it unless my life depended on it.
There was a man with long hair down his neck, tied into braids, it was blond and he had the most clear blue eyes I had ever seen.
He looked into my deep brown eyes, almost studying me. The other was smaller, and had short brown hair and brown eyes.
The other had red hair and green eyes with hair tied in braids down the back of his head.
I held the children close to me. The men looked around the house and basically raided it.
One came to me and grabbed me by the arm. I screamed, pleaded for my sibling's lives in English.
Suddenly, they stopped. The man with short brown hair spoke English to me.
"This is Bjorn, son of Ragnar. He asks why you ask for the lives of your siblings and not for yourself." He said.
I looked between him and the man who had translated. "You speak English?" I asked and the man nodded.
"Yes, now please answer the question." He pleaded with me. I looked to the man who called himself Bjorn.
I knew I had to speak his language in order to truly save the lives of my sisters.
"I am Rose. I ask that you please spare their lives and take me and do with me as you wish. I beg of you!" I said.
The men looked at me astonished. "You speak our language?" he asked. I nodded in agreement.
"Yes, my father taught me as a child." I said.
The other man came up to me and grabbed me by the chin. "Are you Royal? Are you important? Do not lie to me, for I am Ubbe, also the son of Ragnar." He said.
I shook my head.
"No, I am nothing but a servant." I said.
Ubbe walked away from me. "She is not worth anything, kill her and let us be gone." He said.
The man holding me spoke. "I think we should not. I think she can come of use to us." He said. Bjorn looked at him.
"Athlestan, this is not a good idea, what would we do with her." He said.
"We could have her marry one of the sons of Rangar and then that would show that you have mercy towards those who deserve." He said.
Bjorn thought a moment and then waved his hand.
"I will offer you a deal….Rose." he said remembering my name.
I nodded. "I will let your sisters live, if you marry me and come back to Kattegat with me and be my wife and bear me children." He said.
My eyes grew wide and I shuddered in fear. Bjorn seemed to read me without me saying anything.
"I will not touch you till you become a woman, and till you are ready to accept your fate as my wife." He said.
"You either accept my offer, or I kill you all." He said.
I nodded. "I accept." I said. Bjorn nodded and grabbed me from Athlestan.
"Come with me if you want to live and stay close." He said.
He then proceeded to drag me out of the house. I heard my sisters screaming as I was dragged away.
"You promised to let them live!" I shouted at him.
Bjorn smiled. "They are alive." He said.
"They are just left behind." He finished.
I looked to Athlestan who nodded. I noticed that something sparkled under his wrist and the cloak brushed against a cross.
Was Athlestan a Christian?
I looked him in the eyes and saw the guilt. I knew he was hiding it to stay alive.
Bjorn nearly half carried and half dragged me to the boats, where he threw me into the helm and I watched as we soon set sail back to his home village of Kattegat.
This would be my life, and I had to follow through with what I had promised.
I looked to the shore to see my father running into the water calling my name. Bjorn stopped and looked to me.
"You may call out your goodbye." He said.
I nodded and turned to my father, but was too late, for he sunk into the ocean, dead as an arrow pierced him.
I cried out to him, but it was no use. I tried to dive into the water to him, but it was no use, for Bjorn's arms surrounded me keeping me in the boat.
I watched as my sisters rushed to my father's body and were soon cut down as well. I looked to Bjorn who had a look on his face.
"You said you would let them live!" I shouted at him.
Bjorn looked at me with anger and something else and then spoke.
"I didn't kill them, now did I?" he said as he walked away.
I stopped. He had played me. He had kept his word, but had not killed them, but had not stopped their deaths.
I was now alone, and I realized that is exactly how the Vikings wanted it.
No ties to hold us to our country, I was now a Viking bride to be.