Chapter Text
Hildr squirmed slightly on her side, trying to think of a way out of the mess that she was in now. It had started a few days ago, with her tagging along behind a group of bandits. She had stayed cautious at first, never daring to get too close to them when they made camp, and making sure that she never started a fire to cook anything, instead choosing to eat from her rations that she had brought with her.
But slowly she let her guard down. At least one of them must have noticed her peeking out from behind a tree when they stopped to take a break while they traveled. They all converged on her seemingly at once, binding her with rough ropes that chafed at her wrists, and legs, and neck.
And here I am now, bound hand and foot. They sling me over one of the pack horses when we ride for the day, and hogtie me for the night. I am only allowed to do my business under the watchful eye of another bandit, and only when tied on a lead. That was where she was currently, laying on her side in the rocky dirt. The bandits had made camp for the night at the start of twilight. Now in the full dark, they all slept around the fire in a circle. She was hogtied and in a sleeping roll to stay warm, but the bandit lying next to her in the circle still had the lead rope attached to her collar. Hildr felt the scratch of the rope tied around her neck as she breathed deeply and rolled her neck trying to get comfortable.
She sighed. It would be fruitless to try and get away from them as they slept, even if she had the energy. She wasn’t certain where they were in Skyrim now, if they even were still in Skyrim. It had been too much of a sickening strain to try and keep her head up to survey the landscape as she was tied and thrown over the saddle, and when she did look up she was certain she would be sick.
“And there is likely nobody to find me missing, and come to my aid.” She whispered to herself, miserable as she was laying with a rock to her ribs. Her vision started to blur, but she blinked quickly and her vision cleared. Just then she heard a rustle in the trees that made up the border of the camp behind her back. She froze solid, listening to the slow tread of footsteps, and began praying under her breath.
Soft booted steps slowly approached. More than one person as if those approaching had been following their movements. Out of the corner of her eye she saw several shapes moving along the border of the firelight.
“Forsworn.” She shivered, and began to struggle in vain against her bonds. The rope cut into her wrists as she tried to get free, and she thought she could feel blood trickling down to her fingertips.
A cold blade at her throat froze her instantly. She turned her head just the barest fraction to try and look up into the eyes of whomever it was who held the knife to her throat. Her eyes were wide open in fear.
A man was looking down at her, almost in pity. He brought his free hand up to his face and laid one finger over his lips. She nodded as much as she could in her current position. With a slight change of his knife’s position, he freed her from the lead rope around her neck.
“Can you walk?”
“I am bound. Hand and foot.”
The man grunted at her. In a moment he had the knife back behind her and was starting to cut open the bedroll.
A hiss sounded out of the night, and the man stopped. Hildr closed her eyes, worried that the rest of the troupe had decided that it was time for all of the bandits sleeping to die. There was an echoing sigh then, the sound of all the bandits letting out their collective last breaths. She wriggled frantically, eyes still closed, trying to fight against an easy kill. If he is going to kill me after cutting the lead rope, I will not make it easy for him.
“Hold still.” His hand was heavy on her shoulder as he spoke to her. “She is a captive. She is bound even now. We should free her and let her go. She is not one of the slavers we hunted.”
Hildr started to fight with the ropes that still bound her wrists, and felt the man grip her upper arm harder.
“Fine Cael, but let it be on your head.”
Her new captor, Cael, smiled down at her again, and gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. He quickly went about cutting open her bedroll to start to free her. He threw the top of the bedroll away and gasped when he saw how she was bound. He cut the rope that tied her wrists to her ankles.
“We need to go. Patrols will be here soon.”
“Sorry for this, Sparrow.” Cael sheathed the knife at his waist before leaning down to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder.
Hildr clamped her eyes shut to fight off the nausea that threatened to overwhelm her. As bad as being strung over a packhorse, it was nothing compared to the running lurch that she was subjected to over Cael’s shoulder.
After a few minutes, Cael put her down, leaning her against a tree so that she could stand while he cut the binding on her ankles first, and then the ones around her wrists. She grimaced at the welts and the blood on her wrists, and almost collapsed as she started to take a few steps.
“Cael! We need to go!” The voice sounded impatient, as if they were looking to hit several other groups still tonight. Cael just held out a hand to silence the voice as he looked down at Hildr as she half supported her weight against the tree.
“Do you have anywhere to go, Sparrow?”
Hildr only shook her head in response.
“Come with us then.” He held his hand out to her. When she took it, he pulled her against his chest, and ran his thumb over her dirty cheek. “I will keep you safe, sweet Sparrow.”