(Hope this is ok. So many other things going on atm. Nothing bad, just busy. And wanting this to be a good story...)
By week twenty-five Helga had had enough. While she was trapped in the house, Arnold and Delilah would often go off out together. Helga didn't care less about Arnold and Delilah spending time together. All she wanted was out of this house. She'd been trapped in it for five weeks! It didn't help that no one other than Arnold's Grandmother spoke to her. His grandfather and father often ignored all the females in this house, unless they wanted something. She kept her frustration and anger pent up, and she knew it was going to boil over sooner or later. She had been waking up with a sore head and jaw, which she realized was because she was grinding her teeth. She had spent the last four days staring a pot in her room and finally she decided she hated the stupid thing. Growling she walked over, picked it up, and threw it at the door to her room just as it was opening.
"My Gods!" she heard a woman cry out from the other side as the door quickly closed again.
Helga stood glaring at the door, as Arnold's mother tentatively made her way into the room. Helga didn't stop glaring even as the woman closed the door and stood looking back at her.
"I want out!" Helga yelled, moving to pick up another pot.
"Please, no more throwing!" Arnold's mother cried out.
Helga stopped and glared at the woman.
"Your not happy here, are you?" she asked.
"Would you be?" Helga demanded. "But I have nowhere to go because of your son and his friends!"
"Nowhere?"
Helga didn't say anything or even seem as if she acknowledged what the woman had just said.
"Well, there is a way you can get out, but still have somewhere to go," his mother told her, moving forward. "It's called a divorce."
"Divorce?" Helga asked. "But the baby? I won't leave my baby."
"I don't care what you do with it," the woman said, waving her hand in the air. "Take it with you. Arnold can always father another child."
There was a pang in Helga's chest at the woman's cruel words, but then again, she was right.
"What do I have to do to get this divorce?" she asked.
….
Arnold was feeling good. It had been a great day. He and Delilah had gone to the market and shopped around. Separating for a moment he went in search of something for Helga. He had decided she could do with a nice, new necklace. Buying it, he had put it in a pocket and said nothing to Delilah. They had gotten something to eat, then just taken a walk to the fountain. Eventually though, the sun began to fade, and Arnold walked her home. They kissed, then he left, making his way back to his own home, smiling.
The smile was wiped off his face as soon as he walked in the door and saw his mother and Helga sitting in chairs by the pool talking. He frowned. What could they possibly be talking about?
"Hello," he called to them. He then saw his grandmother sitting quietly nearby, looking like she wanted to cry, and glaring his mothers way. There was no emotion on his father's face, and a small frown on his grandfathers. "What's going on?"
Helga stood up. "I need to talk to you."
"What about?" Arnold asked, following her as she led the way to another room. Entering it, she closed the door.
"We can get a divorce," she told him bluntly.
"A what?" Arnold asked, not quite believing what she had just said to him.
"Your mother told me all about it," Helga said, smiling. "We can divorce, we wont be married anymore, and I can leave and find a new house and take the baby with me. And you can marry Delilah and have new babies. You don't even need this one."
Arnold's jaw dropped.
"Oh, Arnold, for the sake of the God's, close your mouth," his mother told him. "This is the best thing, for all parties concerned."
He looked over at his mother, stunned. How long had she been standing there?
"You have no right," he finally said. "You have no right to tell my wife to divorce me. In any case, I refuse to divorce her."
Helga's smile fell from her face, and she looked at his mother, then back at him.
"But you have Delilah," she pointed out. "You love her. You don't love me."
Arnold looked at her again. It hurt to hear her say those words. Not because they weren't true, but because he wasn't sure they were. But he wasn't going to let his mother win this.
"No," he said firmly. "Absolutely not."
"Arnold, be reasonable-"
"No!" he yelled, cutting his father off. What were they doing? Shouldn't this be a private conversation? He looked towards the door. His parents and grandparents were standing ther, staring at him, waiting to see what he would say and do next.
"Let the boy and his wife alone," his Grandfather finally said. "And he's right, you had no right to interfere in his marriage."
"She'll take the baby away," his grandmother finally said, and started to weep.
"Please-"
"No, no, no!" he roared. He moved forward and grabbed Helga by her wrist, pulling her after him past his family, out the door, and then dragging her down the hallway behind him. He could feel her pulling and trying to get away.
"Arnold!" he heard his family calling out to him, but he ignored then all, shoving Helga into a room and slamming the door behind them. He turned to see Helga sitting down, biting her lip as if in pain.
"What's wrong with you?" he demanded.
"I'm sore," she said, placing her hand between her legs.
"Why, what's wrong?" he demanded. She shrugged. "Well how long has this been going on for?"
"Months," she said. "Something you'd know if you would even talk to me."
"I talk to you all the time," he snapped.
"No, you talk at me, but never to me," she snapped, glaring hatefully at him. "I want a divorce. I want to leave, no one wants me here. Not you, not your parents. Let me go!"
He stood there for a long moment, watching the young woman before him glare at him.
"No," he finally said. "No, your not leaving me."
"But why not?" Helga asked. "Why do you want to keep me locked up here?"
"Your not locked up," Arnold said.
"I haven't left this house, not once, since we came here!" she yelled at him. He looked down and noticed that there was broken pottery on the floor.
"What's this?" he asked, bending down and picking up a piece.
"An ugly, ugly pot, it was horrible, so I broke it," she declared, sounding almost proud. "Almost broke your mother's head in the process. But I missed. Fortunately, it turns out."
If he weren't feeling so mixed up inside, he would have laughed.
"Unfortunately, you mean," he said, sighing and walking over to sit down next to her one the bed. "She isn't my birth mother."
He could see the surprise on Helga's face.
"My birth mother died during childbirth," he explained. "Camilla was my mother's sister, but after my mother's death, my father married her so I would have a mother."
"Oh," Helga said, looking away. She was going to ask him why he had a head shaped so much like Camilla's if she weren't his real mother.
"I don't believe any woman can love a child more than a real mother," he said. "Camilla, as wonderful as she was, was never as affectionate towards me as she was towards my cousin."
"Why are you telling me this?" Helga asked. "I don't need to know. And as sad as it is, I don't care."
"Because I don't want my son to not know me," he said. "And what if something went wrong? What if you died during childbirth? What would happen to him?"
"It could be a girl," Helga told him.
"Fine, son, daughter, it doesn't change the fact that you could die while giving birth, and then what?" he demanded.
Helga remained silent, thinking.
"So your cousin is now your brother?" she asked, trying to make sense of everything.
"What is going on in there?" they heard Camilla yell through the door. "Open this door!"
"Arnold, open the door son," he heard his father's voice boom.
Arnold looked at the door where he could hear his father banging on it. It was a fate of all children to be beholden to their father's. he had done as his parents had told him, just as his father had done as he was told. He grabbed Helga's arm and pulled her close.
"Don't listen to my Camilla, Helga," he told her. "She doesn't have your best interests at heart."
"And you do?" she hissed.
"More than anyone else does!"
He took the necklace from his pocket and placed it on the bed beside her before leaving.
…..
Just before dinner a visitor arrived and was shown in. Arnold's heart dropped when he saw it was his half-brother. He didn't like his cousin at all. He took note of the surprise on his cousin's face when he saw him there.
"Brother," he said, recovering quickly. "Your home?"
"Yes, for a while now," Arnold said. "This is my wife, Helga."
Helga looked up at the guy and twisted her mouth. He looked like Arnold, but ugly. She wasn't impressed. She looked away, staring out the window, without a word. 'Camilla must be rubbing off on me,' she thought, with a smirk.
"Wow, your married huh?" he said. "What happened to Delilah?"
"I had word she had died," he said, suddenly suspicious. Arnold was the only legitimate child in this house, his cousin having been born from Camilla's previous marriage. Her husband had gone to war, but not come back. Arnold and his cousin were born only weeks apart. But if he had died or hadn't come back or doesn't have an heir, his cousin would get everything by default.
"Interesting," he said, looking over Helga. She fixed an icy stare on her face and directed it at him. 'Poor Arnold!' he thought, looking away from the woman. She was definitely not of good breed.
"Yes, we are going to the markets tomorrow," he said, smiling at Helga. "It's about time she got a proper tour. Maybe you could join us? I'm sure Delilah will be happy with you accompanying us."
Helga looked down, frowning slightly. What was he doing? Was he going to try to flog her off on him? She shuddered. She'd die before she would let him near her! He had a real creepy vibe to him, and her mother had always told her to trust her instincts.
"That's the Goddess's gift of warning", she'd always said. Helga wondered if the Goddess had warned them all about that night?
Then she shook that thought away. No, he wanted her around, at least til the baby was here. What would happen then though?
"Sound's delightful," he said. "When's dinner?"
…
The next morning Arnold and his cousin "Arnie", were waiting for her. When she was ready they went to meet Delilah and take her with them. She was waiting, but looked disappointed when she saw Arnie and Helga was with them. Helga felt a small victory, especially when Arnold took her hand instead of Delilah's, leaving Delilah to be escorted by his cousin.
"I need to visit the slave markets. I need someone new," Arnie declared. "My last one died. Terrible tragedy."
Arnold gripped Helga's hand harder. It was people like his cousin that made him happy he had gotten hold of Helga first. She would surely have met an early death otherwise.
"I don't like it there," Delilah said. "That's where the sickness came from, and it always smells so bad!"
"Then cover your nose," Arnie snapped. "What do you say, brother?"
Arnold cringed inside. He hated it when his cousin - as he would always be to Arnold, no matter what anyone else said - called him brother. And he was pretty sure he knew it.
"Sure, why not?" he said.
"Oh, Helga, now you'll realize just how lucky you are," Delilah piped up. Helga turned to find the girl with a sardonic smile on her face.
"I already know," she replied, touching her stomach and smiling at her. Delilah gave a little laugh and smirked at Helga. Helga chose to ignore her. She had more important things to think about.
She finally found out what Delilah meant by the smell. It was horrible. Even Helga was trying not to gag. Arnold gave her a small cloth to place over her nose and mouth. To think she almost ended up here! 'No, you would have died like Ronda and Sheena,' a nasty little voice said to her. 'Died, died, died!' she shook the thoughts that surfaced from her head. Poor Ronda, poor Sheena, and how was Gloria? Was she doing okay?
Looking up she gasped. A new line of girls had come out and she recognized one of them! She was from Adalhard's village. Nadine? She had thick, wild blonde hair, and dark skin. When time came to bid for her, Helga's voice rang out without even thinking. She and Nadine got along alright. After seeing what had happened to Ronda, she wasn't going to let it happen to another.
"Helga, what are you doing?" Arnold hissed.
"I know her, six gold!" she shouted.
"Sold!" the seller cried out, pointing to her. She smiled, then saw the confused looks on other peoples faces. Why would she bid so much for that? No one went more than two gold. And there was even more stunned looks when the "slave" and her purchaser hugged each other tightly, both starting to cry, and talk to each other in another language.
"Pay him his money," Helga said, turning to Arnold. "Me and Nadine will wait for you."
Arnold's jaw dropped. Was she serious? Reluctantly he dug six gold coins from his belt. he'd only bought eight with him, and handed them over to the smelly, grinning slave trader.
"Thank you for your business," he said. Arnold stepped back. Did the man not know about oral hygiene? Arnold just gave him a tight smile, then grabbed Helga by the elbow and dragged her away, Nadine getting tugged along.
"Brother, where are you going?" Arnie's voice rang out. Arnold stopped to see that Delilah was trying to catch up to him and the other two.
"Leaving before Helga sends me to the poor house purchasing someone else she knows!" he called back. He heard some chuckles and laughs from the crowd, but chose to ignore it, and get the heck out of there.
…
When they got back to the house, Helga led Nadine into her room.
"What happened?" Helga asked, leading her to the bed. Nadine looked better now that she had bathed, and was dressed nicely.
"They came in the middle of the night," she started to explain. "Some of men had just returned from seeing what was happening with your village. By the time they got there, everyone who was left was dead, and the place burned to the ground. They came back and warned everyone. Anyway, about a week before it started some of our youth went missing. And when a search party went out, some didn't come back.
"Aldahard?" Helga asked, swallowing hard.
Nadine shook her head. "He was so brave. Your name was the last word from his lips."
Helga buried her face in her hands and started to cry. Adalhard was a quiet person a majority of the time. Ever since they were kids, he was always following her around like some pale, blonde shadow.
"He took a sword to the chest," Nadine said. "I went to him, heard him say your name, but was then dragged away."
"And the missing?" Helga asked, sniffling and trying to pull herself together.
"The girls were taken, the older boys killed."
…
Arnold noticed the shift in Helga's mood. It was a dramatic one. Delilah had again stayed for dinner, this time her father was present also. Helga was eating the best he had ever seen her eat. When dinner had finished, he instead followed Helga to her room, rather than join the rest of his family and their guests in the garden.
"Is everything alright?" he asked, coming in.
"No, the man I grew up with and was supposed to marry is dead, the men of his village are gone, though Nadine tells me some actually joined the army. Her family has perished, including her husband, and many of the other girls and children have been sold. I am not happy at all. Your people dare to call us feral?" Helga asked. "I mourn them more than my own family."
Arnold looked at her, she sat down on her bed, then laid down on her side. Sighing, he realised he had to tell her his secret. He sat down, causing her to move over, then laid down next to her.
"I need to tell you something," he said seriously.
"You want the divorce?" she asked.
He shook his head, then jumped a bit as he felt something move against her stomach.
"What was that?" he asked, alarmed. Helga laughed and taking his hand placed it on her stomach, he felt it again.
"That's the baby moving around," she said. "It's kind of weird, but amazing, too."
He watched her smile and place her own hands over her stomach.
"What do you want to tell me then, if it's not about a divorce?" she asked.
Arnold took a deep breath and prayed to the Gods.
"I'm the one who killed your mother and sister."