Chapter 3
Three
V oices around me brought me out of unconsciousness. Exhaustion pulled at my senses, urging me to go back to sleep, but the last thing I remembered was the growl of that terrifying creature in the forest as it chased me. There were no people. So then where…?
I forced my eyes open, despite how heavy they felt. The room I was in was bright, lit by an open fire in the middle with a hole above it to let the smoke out. It was warm too, and after days of being cold, it felt so good, I whimpered. The sound drew the attention of the people standing nearby; a woman with long skirts and a rounded belly, and two enormous men with hair shaved on the sides and symbols inked on their skin. Barbarians.
Fear and horror flooded my system, and I sat up abruptly. It all came back to me in a rush. The creature that had been stalking me had lunged at me, and a barbarian man with huge muscles and a slightly curved sword jumped in between us, knocking the creature away. After watching the barbarian growl and hiss at the creature like an animal, I wasn’t sure which to be more frightened of. And when he sliced the creature almost in half, it was too much for me to handle after what felt like countless days in constant terror. My consciousness slipped away from me just as he stood, towering so far above me it looked as though he was as tall as the trees.
He must have brought me back with him. I’d heard the stories of the barbarians. They were dangerous, violent, and only a treaty between the towns and their clans kept us all safe. A treaty I may have broken by accidentally stumbling onto their land. Panic swelled in my chest, and I looked around for a way out. Maybe if I ran far away, they’d?—
“Shh… It’s okay,” the woman said, her hands up like she was trying to soothe a wild horse. I shrank away from her, my eyes constantly flicking over her shoulder to the men that stood behind her. One was familiar, the one I’d seen in the forest. The other looked older but no less intimidating. They both watched me with deep frowns. I probably offended them by ending up here. Maybe it would’ve been better to let the warden take me instead. At least a hanging would be quick.
I shifted to get to my feet, the panic making me want to run, but moving my right leg hurt, and I flinched automatically, crying out in pain.
The barbarian appeared at my side in an instant. I never even saw him move. He said something I didn’t understand, nudging me back onto the pallet of blankets they had me on. The woman sighed, exasperated.
“I’m sorry. They’ve got intense protective instincts, and you’re hurt. Please don’t be scared. You’re not in any danger here.”
“W-where am I?”
The older barbarian stepped forward, his words heavily accented but easily understood. “Our clan currently rests against the edge of the forest. We are a great distance from any town. Where did you come from?”
I opened my mouth to answer automatically before thinking better of it. I didn’t want them to send me back there. If the woman was right and they weren’t going to hurt me, I wanted to be sent somewhere that I had a chance at living a normal life. Starting over with no money would be hard, but at least I would live through the week.
“I… I’m sorry for coming into your territory. I didn’t mean to. I’ll leave?—”
The barbarian next to me spoke again, his brows furrowed in confusion. He didn’t understand me. Which was strange, since the few times I’d seen the barbarians come to retrieve their tribute, they always spoke our language.
The woman shook her head at him, but he didn’t like that answer. He said something else, more demanding this time, and her expression flattened in annoyance. She answered back in his language, her voice terse, and when he bared his teeth at her, I shrank back automatically. He noticed the movement and whipped his head around, a pained expression flashing over his face when I flinched. Before I had a chance to blink, I felt his hands underneath me, pulling me off the bed of blankets and into his arms. Pain and panic shot through me, and I shot a terrified look at the woman who’d been speaking to me, my voice warbling as tears filled my eyes.
“Please. I didn’t mean to. Don’t let them hurt me.”
She launched to her feet, yelling at the barbarian who held me cradled against his chest. I didn’t understand anything that they were saying, and the older barbarian didn’t speak my language either when he joined the conversation. All I could focus on was the fact that the barbarian’s arms didn’t even tremble, holding my weight the entire time they argued with each other. Like I wasn’t at all heavy to him.
I knew that wasn’t true. It was one of Richard’s favorite things to torment me about. I’d always been chubby. Even as a kid, I weighed the most. Combined with my short stature, it made me the center of plenty of ridicule. Even when I had a growth spurt and my weight balanced a little, I was still thick. And yet the barbarian didn’t even have to readjust me. Was my weight negligible to him?
The barbarian’s voice grew louder, more determined, and his grip on me tightened as he took a step back. Frightened, I looked at the other two. The woman shot me an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry. He’s not going to hurt you. He says you need a protector and won’t let anyone else take the job. I told him you aren’t a tribute, and it doesn’t work that way for visitors, but he’s refusing to see reason.”
I didn’t know much about tributes, but there weren’t any male ones, that I knew about anyway. Besides, I hadn't volunteered for it, even if there were. I wasn’t supposed to be here. The terrifying creature in the forest had herded me in this direction, and I accidentally ended up here. But now a barbarian was determined to keep me here, despite my protests and the protests of the woman who was trying to help me. And before anyone could get him to listen to reason, he ducked out of the tent and stormed off with me in his arms.
I was trembling when he brought me into another tent. This one was smaller. It looked like it was only meant for one person. It had a messy pallet of blankets, a small wooden chest, and a table with a lantern on it, but that was it. When he set me on the bed, my panic compounded, and I tried to lunge away, tears streaming down my cheeks.
“No, no! Please!”
The townsfolk said plenty about how the barbarians forced themselves on the tributes. If he saw me as one too, he’d treat me the same way.
All of this because I was too stupid to realize Richard was playing me for a fool. I should have ignored his request and gone home. Was I truly so desperate for affection that I lost my mind the minute someone treated me with any form of kindness?
It hurt, trying to get away from him. My leg burned with white-hot pain. But I couldn’t just sit there and take it. I slapped at his hands as he tried to grab me, tears streaming down my face. He was saying something, and it almost sounded like he was trying to soothe me, but I couldn’t understand the words. For all I knew, he was telling me just to not move and take it.
For a split second, he got the upper hand, knocking me back and pinning my wrists against the bedding. He spoke again, shaking his head, but he couldn’t get more than a few words out before his weight disappeared, and he was gone. I sat up with a cry, scrambling to get to my feet so I could run for the exit, but my right knee buckled when I tried to put weight on it, and I collapsed near the flap of the tent.
The flap ripped open and the woman from before hurried in, helping me to turn over. I clutched at my knee, gritting my teeth against the pain. It was so intense, it made me feel nauseous. When the woman tried to touch it, I pushed her hands away, choking on sobs.
“P-please! Just let me go! I’m sorry! Just let me go!”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. You’re too hurt to go anywhere right now. I’m sorry. You’ll have to stay here for now.”
Here? Where a barbarian carried me off to his tent to do god knows what to me while ignoring everyone else? Where I could still hear him shouting and arguing with whoever was outside the tent? I’d rather deal with the pain and take my chances in the forest.
Suddenly, I heard a yelp and the sound of a scuffle before the world outside the tent went quiet. I held my breath, terrified, and for a few moments, it was quiet before footsteps approached the tent again. But the man who poked his head in wasn’t who I was expecting. He was too small to be a barbarian. He barely looked old enough to be considered an adult. He had wide blue eyes and curly hair that was shaved on the sides, and when he stepped fully into the tent, I could tell he was shorter than me. Shorter, more slender, and a little shy, biting his lip as he bounced on his toes.
“Wh-who are you?”
He offered me a small smile. “I’m Finn. The first male tribute.”