The winter weather that set upon the village that year was particularly harsh. In addition to the usual illnesses that came with the cold, damp weather and closed quarters that people kept in search of warmth, famine was affecting them all. The miners were starving and it wasn't unusual for the men to accuse each other of hording or to see them eyeing the rats that roamed in shadowed corners as a ready meal rather than a rodent. More than once or twice she swore that she saw rats' tails being thrown out by Olaf with the rest of the rubbish.

As is the case throughout most of human history, when there was disease, famine, and suffering in general, the human mind and spirit was susceptible to corruption. Usually this corruption took one of two forms: debase criminal, immoral behavior or fanatical religious righteousness. Both of them were equally dangerous. Unfortunately for Irina, the latter took hold in her village rather than the former.

A monk had made himself into town and had come into the tavern when it was full. He had not ordered alcohol like the others and instead asked for any scraps that they might have. Olaf was ready to toss the old man out on his ear, but Irina, in a misguided sense of pity, had given him what he asked for and pleaded his case to her employer.

Rather than be grateful for the kind treatment he had received at her hands, the monk scrutinized her more closely than he did the others. Watching as she laughed and flirted with the men as she served them and as she took some up to her room.

This went on for several nights and soon the crowd that gathered around the monk's table began to grow. People were seeking a relief to their misery, and for some reason they believed that this old withered man with his fanatical views held the answers.

She noticed when she began to get less and less customers and that the men, even Aleksei, would not look her in the eye. When she began to feel their looks growing hostile she was almost grateful that she had to take Olaf into her bed in lieu of her usual payment; he kept her safe. Olaf didn't seem to be buying into the monk's views; actually, he was rather put off by the old man since he had convinced several of the tavern's patrons that fasting and sobriety were the answers to some of their problems.

After a while, the tavern, once a happy, lively place became a place of shadows and whispers, and she began to miss the way it had been: the easy conversation and laughs with men she considered her friends. She even missed their company in her room. Even Olaf was growing weary of her. Sure he liked bedding her, but he wasn't so dim witted that he didn't notice that the tides were turning against her and if he continued to keep company with her, he was likely to be dragged down with her.

Every night she heard the whispers. She knew what they were saying. She was a filthy whore. She was evil.

Did they not even see that they were the ones that had put her in the position where she had to become a whore?

Of course they didn't. Men had always blamed women, just as they blamed Eve for the downfall of men. The sad part about it all was that she still cared for them. She still saw them as her friends. She began to hope that with the end of the winter and with a bountiful crop in the next season that they would forget the monk, be happy again, and things would be back to normal.

It was wishful thinking on her part.

One morning while standing in front of her mirror in her shift, combing her fingers through her hair which now was only an inch or two above her shoulders, she heard a commotion downstairs. As she went to the door to peek out she was suddenly thrown back onto the floor as it was shoved open roughly.

Staring up in surprise she whispered in fear, "Aleksei?"

This was not the men that she had bedded here in this very room before. No, this was a completely different man with a demented look in his eyes, his frame so gaunt that he was almost skeletal. The sneer on his face as he reached out and dragged her to her feet by her hair was one she had never seen before.

She tried grabbing at his wrist, but it was almost as if he was possessed as he dragged her out of her room, screaming, "I have the whore!" It was then she realized that he was not alone as she was thrust into a sea of unwashed bodies that tore at her hair and clothes, their dirty, ragged nails digging into her flesh, leaving welts and scratches.

At first she was too shocked to do much then be carried by the tidal wave of anger, but then she started to struggle, knowing that her very life depended on it. She screamed and cried out for help from the faces of the men she had once considered her friends, but there was nothing but angry growls and stares in response.

Someone hit her so hard across her face that she saw stars and would have fallen to the floor were it not for the hands that were holding her up. As they carried her off outside the tavern, the slaps and hits continued till she felt sure that there was not a single inch of her body uncovered by welts, cuts, and bruises.

Before she knew it she was tossed in a cold damp shed that was used to store grain, but now, due to the famine, it was empty.

A familiar voice that she couldn't place said that she should be tied up and she recognized as Aleksei said he would do it and that he would take the first watch. She heard something about a magistrate arriving in the next couple of days to deal with her.

As she lay there, feeling nothing but pain, the ropes were tied around her wrists and she felt Aleksei lie on top of her.

Aleksei had always been the patron that had made her feel special. Now she knew that she would never forget the words he said or the pain he inflicted on her as he took her one last time. He had shown her the pleasure and gentleness that could be experience in being with a man. This time he showed her how painful and disgusting an act it could truly be. No man ever treated her the way he did that night.

As different men took their shifts in the evening "watching" her, she barely noticed as they took turns raping her. Her mind was almost as numb as her body.

How long would this go on?