Here's a story worth reading in my opinion. It's pretty bad because sometimes what I have in mind is hard to come out onto document-form. It happens to me a lot but I assure you, things will start happening once after a couple of chapters. It's rather slow but there is some things you might learn from them, I've learned a lot from writing this story. Anyway, this is OC (I will not give away her name yet) is an Irish, not a Celt, like my other OC (and due to some realization that Celts were way before the Viking Age, I have postponed all of my other stories until I figure out how to fix everything). Please review, I appreciate feedback it helps me become a better writer. Enjoy it, flame it, burn it, just tell me what you think of it, please. If you don't like this story, then, I will stop wasting your time.
Disclaimer, I do not own anything.
Enjoy!
How to Be a Slave
Ch.1: The Slave
The Isle of Berk, home to one of the fiercest Viking clans, it is very north from Hopeless and just south from Freezing-to-Death, it is located smack dab in the middle of the Meriden of Misery. Their food is tasteless, the people as well.
Though Berk was the home to Vikings and Dragons, a new change in life, they are like any other Viking clan. They follow the same religion, Norse pageantry. They believe in defending their loved ones. They practice slavery. Although Berk does not have plans to pillage, they do buy slaves off of the Thrall*.
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III hated the idea of slavery. He wanted it to vanquish, disappear. But he was one of the very few who had this opinion and if dragons could voice their opinions, Hiccup's best friend, the elusive Night Fury by the name of Toothless, Toothless would be against it as well do to past experience.
It shocked and appalled Hiccup when he found his father and his followers finally docking, carrying ten new slaves. At first, Hiccup was delighted to see his father again. He had raced down the wooden ramp to find his boat. His prosthetic squeaked with each step but it scraped against the wood as he skidded to a complete halt, stunned to find a lonely girl in chains being forced off of the boat.
She wore ragged clothes, her short but shaggy brown hair all messed up from the sea air, he could see her pale skin, and she looked like she was going to be ill soon. Hiccup felt a sick feeling to his gut. His father, Chief Stoick the Vast, walked up to Hiccup.
"Son," Stoick greeted, clasping a meaty hand on his son's scrawny shoulder. He gestured to the girl. "Meet our slave."
Oh, Hiccup was so going to be sick.
"O-our slave?" Hiccup stammered, looking up at his father. The girl didn't look at him.
"Aye," Stoick replied with a firm nod. "Seeing that we are both working, I thought this would be a good way to get everything done."
"But dad, really, a slave? Couldn't we…hire someone to do our chores?" Hiccup asked. Stoick laughed, haughtily.
"Why pay someone when we can get someone off the market to do it for free?" Stoick questioned, humorously. "She is everything we want in a slave."
Hiccup looked at the slave girl. Her ocean blue eyes staring, coldly at the one-legged boy, she looked like she was about to kill something…or someone.
"She is strong, a bit rebellious, but we can fix that." Stoick added. He gave a pat to his son's shoulder. "Go on son, time to get to Gobber's. I'll take care of things from here."
As his father shooed him along, Hiccup slowly hobbled up the wooden ramp, shaking and ready to collapse.
"Hey, Dragon Boy!"
Oh great, just what he needed. His beefed-brained cousin jogged up to him.
"Our dads are back." The boy jeered.
"Y-yeah," Hiccup stuttered, still feeling like throwing up. "I saw…my dad already."
"What's wrong with you?" Snotlout asked. "You like you've seen a ghost."
Hiccup shook his head.
"I'm…fine." Hiccup answered.
"Better not let Astrid see you." Snotlout advised.
Hiccup knew it was risky to show signs of sickness to the well-known axe-wielder. Though he could not tell whether or not they were an 'item', she was still showing a gentler side after the battle with the Green Death. Whenever Hiccup's leg was causing him problems and she was around, she'd help him into the house and try to fix the problem. She'd wash the wound, dress it up with gauze and force him to rest, pushing on his chest gently before tucking him in and giving him a 'get-well-soon' kiss on the forehead.
Hiccup tried to shrug the event off after Snotlout disappeared to flirt with some girls.
Stoick forcefully pushed the weakening slave up the hill. She could barely remain balanced, three weeks being trapped onto a boat, forced on her knees for the entire ride, did a real number on her when she needed to take her first steps in three weeks. She also had to deal with her gash on her arm. She prayed that her people were alright, though, under the circumstances, she should start considering herself lucky. She could not recall those savages showing mercy to her kind.
Even worse, she knew that she had no family left. Her father was killed that day, trying to save her life. Tears threatened to slip but she bit back her lip, trying to pretend that they didn't exist.
The tall, wide man pushed the decorated door open and guided her inside. She slowly walked in. She refused to look over her shoulder to glance at the intimidating man. If she was told right, he was the chief.
"I will make you a spot to sleep." Stoick declared. "This is where you will live. You do not belong upstairs unless ordered to, is that understood?"
She could barely understand the man but she assumed that it meant a limit to space or something like that, so she gave a small nod.
"Good, I will return with some new clothes for you. You'll need them if you want to survive here." Stoick assured. The girl only nodded again. "Hm, I better talk to the Ingermans, they know your kind."
It was not long before Stoick got her to work. She had to clean up the mess on the floor and she had to haul in some newly chopped wood for tonight. She was so busy tidying up that she didn't notice the door opening.
The thing that brought her to attention was the squeak. She looked up and found the same boy she, sort of met, looking at her. She gripped the broom's handle tighter in hatred.
"Uh….hi." The boy greeted with a small wave. She heard a warble and found a black shadow lurking in. In alarm, she threw the broom up in the air and pointed the end of the stick towards the intruder. Hiccup noticed her sudden behavior and placed his hand on Toothless's snout. "He won't hurt you."
The girl glanced between the dragon and the boy with wide eyes. Seeing that the dragon was harmless, she lowered the broom.
"It's okay Toothless, go on and say hi to her." Hiccup prodded. The dragon gave a snort before sauntering up to the slave girl. She nearly bounced back, afraid to touch the scaly beast. Toothless was sniffing her, finding any evidence of danger. The girl stared at the beast with wide eyes but before she could escape, the dragon had licked her face. She groaned in disgust, making Toothless flash his trademark 'gummy' grin. She stared at the dragon that was showing his toothless-ness. She could understand the origin of the name now. "Oh come on, Toothless, do you have to share your dragon saliva with everyone?"
Hiccup scratched his friend behind the neck before looking up at the girl.
"Look, I'm sorry about my father," Hiccup started. He took one step towards the girl. She reared back, pointing the broom's stick end at him again. "I won't hurt you either."
The girl did not move.
"You are not something to be owned. I just want to make the best out of this situation, how about we be friends?"
He tried to extend his hand to shake but he was only met with a smack on the head with the straw part of the boom. He flinched before drawing his hand back.
"Okay." He said, slowly, rubbing his momentarily wounded head. "What was that for?"
The girl didn't answer, she turned her back on him and resumed sweeping.
"Do you even talk?"
No answer.
Hiccup sighed.
To be continued.
History Lesson- (Anything with an * will be explained after each chapter)
*The Thrall- It was basically like a slave trade or a slave market. Kind of like before the American Civil War when slavery was practiced in the southern states. This was a Viking's version of this. Yes, Vikings did own slaves, a few of them had many.
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