As you walked through the great golden gates and into the grounds of the great golden palace, you stared at it. You had never seen anything so big, and it was more than a tad intimidating. You found yourself wondering how many people resided within it, and how many staff, what would be your position, and would you ever see the Aesir royal family. In a building that size, you knew there was a high chance you may never even see any of them. You had heard of them even in another realm. The warrior king, the Allfather, and protector of the realms, Odin, and his beautiful and fair wife, the Queen, and Allmother, Frigga, and their sons, the strong and terrifying Thor, and finally the conniving and intelligent Loki.
Thinking back over the past few days, you prayed to all the Norn's that everything was going to be okay. It had all started when you were dragged from your bed in the middle of the night by three brutish men and informed your father, who had recently passed away, owed a ridiculous amount of money to beings it would not be considered wise to owe money too. They informed you that your home was theirs, and it was still not enough to pay off his gambling debts, thus you were the rest of their payment. Your own father had signed you down as leverage. You prayed he would never get through to the great halls of Valhalla for his sins.
Thus you were sold for work, forced to stay in a hovel with about fifty other girls from different situations who were also sold off. In your time there you rarely slept. The first night you cried, as did many of the others, but after that, you realised that there was precious little you could do about it and tried to just accept it. There were rumours of what you all would be sold for, to brothels, workhouses, even to Lords and other dignitaries from different realms to work in their homes. Some feared the brutality that you all could be forced to face, others optimistic, though it was clear to see, those girls came from horrific conditions beforehand, where anything else could be seen as better.
It was odd, in a room of so many; there was seldom a noise that exceeded a murmur. In only a faint light, everyone seemed to remain hushed, and not wanting to test why, you simply remained silent, only speaking on the exceptionally rare occasion you were spoken to.
It seemed all those in the room were there for different reasons. Some as punishment for crimes, some out of desperation, and those who were sold to pay debts, as you had been.
There was an immense sense of terror when voices could be heard coming down the hallway, towards where you were all being held. The voices were in a language you did not understand; therefore they scared you all the more. When the door opened and the room was suddenly filled with light, you could see the man that had bought you from your father's creditors, and woman, portly and stern looking beside him.
"Stand tall." You were ordered, along with the other girls as the seemingly middle-aged woman inspected you all, immediately you all ran to the closest walls, silent and straight. "You know what I require Frederick, I need strong, hard working, obedient girls, and under no circumstances can a single one of them have come from a sordid background." She instructed the man. "What of this one?" She looked at a blonde girl, beautiful and tall.
"Not for your employment Ma'am, she is a convicted pickpocket." The man informed her.
"Definitely not; and this one." The woman indicated to another girl, again blonde.
"Underage tavern wench."
"Have you any girls I can use?" The woman demanded in exasperation.
"Well, I have three who are not here because of the aforementioned reasons." The man walked her to a red haired girl. "This one sold because her family had no means to keep her." He explained.
"Perfect, her hair is somewhat unruly, but that is nothing, the other maids will be more than happy to help her neaten it. Next."
The man brought her to another girl, hair of ebony black and olive skin. "This girl came to us herself, her parents passed, leaving her with no living or means to do so."
"Well, so long as she is a hard worker, she will do just that." The woman stated, giving the girl a bit of a nod and the girl smiled slightly in return, seemingly grateful for the chance to go with the woman, whoever she was. "And finally…?"
"This one." The man pointed to you and you felt your heart pound hard in your chest as a terrified hot feeling immediately poured through your body as they came over and stopped right in front of you. "Her father owed some powerful men a substantial sum of money, and let us just say, he made her part of the payment."
The woman studied you for a moment. "How am I to know she does not possess such traits?"
"If I say his name in her presence, she will all but baulk in disgust." The man explained.
The woman took your hands in hers and inspected them, noting the small scars of burns from years of cooking and cleaning after your pathetic excuse of a father. "She knows the meaning of a day's work, which stands in her favour." She looked you in the eye and you nervously looked back. "Very well." She then spoke in your tongue again. "Come then." Was the order, which you and the other two girls obeyed immediately.
And so you were forced to watch as she bestowed a substantial sum of gold into the man's pocket and left with the three of you in tow. You watched as she placed a golden torc around your neck and it glowed slightly for a moment and then you were forced to walk behind her silently as she made her way from the establishment you were being held in. for a moment, you had the slightest fleeting idea to try and run, but the piece of metal around your neck scared you, and you knew little good could come from it.
You walked for a period, leaving the town you were being kept in and towards the countryside. After a few hours, you came to a small tavern and there the woman entered. Cautiously, you all followed as your mind went through every possible scenario as to what could be happening, your fear being you were sold to service the male clientele of the tavern, but instead were relieved when you were brought to a comfortable looking room with a large bed in it.
"You are to remain here tonight." The woman informed you all. "Tomorrow we are to travel further. I will ensure you are all fed within the hour, and you are to share this room. If any of the three of you attempt to escape, all three of you will be punished. I will know if you attempt such also, as those pretty trinkets around your necks," She indicated to the three torcs. "Will inform me immediately. Any questions?" You shook your head silently, fearful of what you had just been told. "You are to say 'No ma'am' when I ask such a question, is that understood?"
"Yes, Ma'am." You all replied, though not in sync. She nodded, satisfied with all of your attempts to please her. "You girls are three of the lucky ones, I only take those who are not criminals or miscreants. The lives those other women face do not bear thinking of. Do not mistreat my decision in saving you from similar fates." You gave as grateful a look as you could, and seeing that none of you were going to contest her, she left the room, locking it after she closed the door.
"Thank the Norn's." sighed the dark haired girl when she left.
"You know who she is." The red-haired girl looked at the other one. "When she walked over to you, you were relieved you were going with her, you knew who she was, who is she?"
"You shall see soon enough, but let me say, she is right, we could have done a lot worse. The worst we come across here will be better than the best most anywhere else." She explained.
"How bad is their worst though?"
"We can only go on what I have heard, it is bad, but not terrible."
"How do you know all this?" The red haired girl asked.
"Because I did not just choose this life without looking at all my options." The girl explained.
"You chose this?" You looked at her in disbelief, the girl nodded. "But why?"
"It was the best of a bad lot." She shrugged. "I am Anna by the way." She introduced herself. "We may as well know each other's names, we are going to be trained together. My parents died, and my choices were this, prostitution or starvation."
"Mya." The red head stated next. "My parents could not keep us all, two of my sisters and I were sold, I volunteered in place of the younger ones."
"That was good of you." Anna commended.
"I am stronger than them, I was fearful as to what they would face without me. Now my parents can afford what children are left." Mya explained.
You were about to speak when the Anna gave you a sympathetic look. "I know who you are, and what your father did, I'm sorry." You frowned. "The girl I was talking to, back there. She was present when the men dragged you from your home, she heard your story."
You gave a sad smile. "I cannot change what he has done." There was bitterness in your tone.
"Still, it is not fair." Mya concurred.
"I could have been forced to service men, the way you speak Anna, we have a chance to live as opposed to merely exist here, wherever here is."
"It will be fine, so long as we do what we are told," Anna stated.
"And at least we are warm, sleeping in an actual bed and will be fed." Mya looked around. "This is more than I had growing up."
"Even sharing a bed with two other girls?" Anna raised a brow.
"Well so long as you don't make me sleep with your feet in my face." She smiled back. "That used to drive me mad growing up."
"No promises." You returned the gesture, earning small laughs from the others.
"Come on, we might as well get sorted before the food comes," Anna suggested.
Exhausted, you agreed instantly, and the three of you cleaned yourselves up as best you could. When the food arrived, you ate quietly, tired from the day, before making your way to the bed. It was not overly comfortable, but it was better than what you had slept in the few days previous. And the two other girls being there ensured it was warm, meaning, even terrified and somewhat not used to having someone so close to you as you slept, you drifted off to sleep soon enough.
The next morning, a plain but filling breakfast was brought to you all, and not long after, the woman returned to you all. "Fed and rested?" she asked, looking around at you all.
"Yes, Ma'am." You all responded, as though in sync.
"Good, we will be going to the Bifrost site in a half hour, but first, I will explain a few things to you all." Your eyes widened. The Bifrost. You had often heard of the great portal between the realms, controlled by Asgard. "When we arrive, you will be brought straight to the palace and placed in servant's rooms together, so any animosity between you all, get over it now, for the next few weeks, you are all in the same boat. Every day you will be trained in the tasked required of you in all aspects of the running of the building. It will be decided then what aspect suits your abilities best, and from there you will be placed in the same quarters as the other maids that are employed in that area of expertise, any questions?" Silence was all that answered her. "Very well, then we had best ready ourselves for travel."
The Aesir royal palace; it was any wonder that Anna was so eager to go with the woman. Royal servants and maids were expected to be well presented and clean, meaning they were well fed, well clothed and generally well kept. Compared to the rest of those whom they had been kept with, they were after getting one of the only truly decent employments.
The group travelled until the woman told them to stop, then she looked to the sky. By the time you had looked up, a powerful beam poured down on you all, and you were pulled between realms. Too suddenly, and yet not quick enough, you were thrown from the bright light and landed somewhat haphazardly in a large golden room shaped as an orb. Your eyes immediately made their way to the tall golden armoured being standing stoically in the centre of the room, wielding a huge sword that seemed to be even taller than you. His eyes were golden and seemed to gaze into the universe.
"Thank you, Guardian." The woman called before heading for the door. "Well come along girls." She ordered as she went outside.
All too eager to get away from the slightly terrifying man, who seemed to stand statuesquely still, you got to your feet, brushed off the non-existent dirt off your dress, and followed her outside. Ahead stood a dauntingly long bridge, and at the far end a large city surrounding a huge golden building, Asgard, the unknown.