[⚔] float | blackpearl and hoshi

[rogan]

ｍａｘｗｅｌｌ ｋａｎｇ ！

xxmaxwell nodded his head in agreement. if what eerika was saying was true, then this would be a rather easy task to complete, and there would be little troubles getting them back to norway. his eyes grazed over the area, and the moment that they all came to a slow stop, max tilted his head. the soft muttering began to surround him, and he glanced at the people surrounding him as they released mutters. lifting himself slightly, he rolled his lips in and shook his head. he kept himself silent as the others murmurs silenced down to a few talking at a time, and he could only think along with them. why would they risk taking the girl now? eyebrows furrowed, maxwell glanced over at eerika and placed a hand on her shoulder, "is it risk worth it?" he asked, head dipped down slightly, "if she screams, then she'll alert the guards." though, nonetheless, he did agree. it was much better than killing her. pulling his hand off of the woman's shoulder, maxwell rolled his neck and gently rubbed his hand against the side of his face, his other hand then dropping down to the hilt of his sword as his gaze landed on the girl. poor thing didn't have any idea what it was she was about to get pulled into, let alone what was about to happen, but what kind of viking could pity someone? especially someone who had been the child of the king and queen. the viking only sighed softly as he brushed his hands on his pants once more, and then run his hand through his hair as he waited for the word, or signal, whatever they figured to be more efficient, to go. his eyes, though, remained locked on the girl that was on her knees, her head lowered. she really didn't have any idea that they were there, did she? she was much like a deer being stalked by a big cat of sorts- only to be killed because they weren't expecting it. shaking his head, maxwell looked down at his feet, rolling his lips in between his teeth.

ｌａｎｄｏｎ ｂｅｎｎｅｔｔ ！

xxhis feet carried him down the halls, each step leaving a soft echoing around the halls. pulling the crown off of his head, he shook his hair free of the placement it had been in, and walked further down the palace hallways. with his crown tucked beneath his arm, he dipped his head as he passed a few guards, but did nothing more than that. usually, though, he would greet them with a wide smile. though, such a situation as this one- when his sister had obviously been hurt by their father's oh-so-great plans -he was far from happy, thus keeping a straight face and clenched jaw as he walked down the hallway. they didn't question this, though, assuming there was something that had pissed him off to the point where he wasn't even going to offer a small smile in greeting. landon rolled his neck to the side slightly, squeezing his eyes closed as he walked out of the palace doors, being held open by a pair of knights who had greeted him with a quick hello, sir, but had cut themselves off short when they saw the displeased look that took place on his face. he glanced at them both for a small moment, and offered a small nod of his head as he had done to the few knights he had seen just moments before. lifting his head a little higher, landon ran a hand through his already disheveled mop of brown hair, and shook his head afterwards, flicking the fringe that fell against his forehead. the crown was still underneath his arm as he walked down the slim path, tongue held between his teeth as he lightly chewed on it. he didn't even know how he was supposed to comfort her- was he supposed to tell her he would try to stop it, even though they both knew that there was no way he was able to do so with his level of power? shaking his head again, landon released a sigh through his nose. however he did it, he hoped that it worked.

[`sappho]

ｅｅｒｉｋａ ｆｏｒｓｂｅｒｇ — ⚔

xxxthe viking nodded as a breeze blew her brown braided hair back. "yes, it's worth the risk. she is a royal and i assume that their ruler pay good money to get her back. as long as we can stop her from screaming, we should be set all winter with the money we get from whoever rules over this area," she explained to max. if they were able to capture this girl and trade her back to her keeper, they would going back to norway with a boat load of coin, silver and jewels. what would be even better is if they could take the city and keep the girl. the earl would pay good money for an exotic lady's maid for his wife, especially one of high status. plus, having someone who could speak the language of the englishmen would be valuable. the pack of vikings continued up towards the hill through the overgrown bush, creeping close to the girl. however, they all seemed to know simultaneously that they would be heard or seen if they all went to capture the girl. "i will do it," eerika decided.

xxxthe crowned girl with long auburn hair had her back turned to eerika. she was sat right where the viking wanted her. she took out her small knife that had a buck-horn handle as she walked slowly along the grass. the viking was right behind her, ready to attack. suddenly, eerika grabbed tightly the girl by the waist, pulling her into the bushes and held the sharp iron blade to her neck. "don't.... scream," she whispered, the few words of english she knew, as she put pressure onto her neck with the blade. the girl nodded rapidly and eerika could feel her shaking. she looked back at the other vikings and nodded for them to come forward. now that they had the girl they just needed to get to the city. a man threw her a rope which she tied around the girl's neck and used to bind her wrists together. "it's time."

ｐｒｉｍｒｏｓｅ ｂｅｎｎｅｔｔ — ♚

xxxher golden crucifix necklace dropped to her soft porcelain skin. the breeze blew her long hair back as she wiped the tears from her cheeks and took a deep breath. she needed to calm herself down. eventually she would have to make her way back to the castle and she would have to act as if nothing happened. primrose would have to bow to her father and to bishop avery. she would have to accept that she would be the seventh wife of king irwin of mercia and she would have to travel to mercia to marry the king. she would probably see her brother for the last time at her wedding. she also had to accept that if there was ever a war between mercia and northumbria she would be expected to be on her husband's side and she would watch his troops fight against those of her own family. thankfully, if she did marry king irwin, it was very unlikely for a war to breakout between the two kingdoms as peace between the kingdoms would most likely be in their marriage agreement.

xxxsuddenly, breaking her right from her thoughts, primrose was grabbed from behind and pulled into bushes. she felt the cold, sharp edge of a blade pressed against her neck and the words "don't scream" whispered in her ear. her body shook like a trembling leaf and her mind raced. who was her father enemies with? who would want to kill her? the pressure of the knife forced her to nodded quickly. a rope was thrown around her neck and tightened, her hands were bound together. now she could see who was taking her prisoner. they were tall with rough faces, most of them with blinding blue eyes and long braided hair. they carried swords and axes. there were both men and women; the men had long beards and some of them even had tattoos. "p-pagans," she whispered to herself.

[rogan]

ｍａｘｗｅｌｌ ｋａｎｇ ！

xxnodding his head in return to the woman's words, maxwell turned his head towards the ground. it was risky, especially because they didn't know what the younger lady was capable of, but that's what they were about. the risks. they saw the upsides to it all- and that's what they all aimed for. even maxwell. the amount of jewels, silver, and gold that they could obtain from such a trade was a relatively high amount- and even maxwell had to say that he'd prefer that over simply killing the woman. though, for all they knew, the king wouldn't cave in- nor would his son, or anyone else of that royal status. for all the vikings knew, the king would bargain with them, deceive them into believing they'd get what they asked for, only to be ambushed the moment the trade would be arranged. nonetheless, he hadn't a say in what they did- but he still agreed that this would be a risk he'd be willing to take.

xxthe only thing that max could do was watch as eerika crept up behind the unsuspecting woman, and swiftly pull her into the bushes. it was a surprise to hear nothing more than the rustling of leaves, and it caused him to gaze at the bushes silently. eerika wouldn't accidentally kill her, definitely not. rolling his shoulders, maxwell began to walk forward as eerika had motioned for the rest of them to do so. his eyes fell on the woman. nodding his head slightly in her direction, his hand had fallen on the hilt of his sword once again, and he broke off from the smaller group and knelt down near eerika and looked at the girl with a questioning gaze. "i think the only challenge we'll have getting inside is the knights, unless there's someone from within the palace walls that had come out looking for... her." he motioned in her direction, then looked up at the others, only to let his eyes fall on eerika once more. "it might be best if i don't join in on this. i haven't eaten enough to properly fight with them. besides, they wont listen to someone who will gratefully eat the leaves off this bush," he joked lightheartedly, liking his lips.

ｌａｎｄｏｎ ｂｅｎｎｅｔｔ ！

xxto be or not to be, that was the real question. was he supposed to be worried? was he supposed to feel a rush of adrenaline? who the hell knew- but all landon could do was watch. he couldn't interfere, mainly because he didn't have any form of protection, no sword. no shield. no armor. for the most part, interfering would more than likely lead to his death, thus, all he could do was creep backwards until he was a safe distance away to begin running back towards the palace. though, now that he thought about it. they were all rather screwed over their heads, not just him. but a good, rather large minority of them were all doomed.

xxthe moment he was within the castle walls, huffing out puffs of breath, his crown fell to the ground with a loud clattering noise. landon had then doubled over, huffing out heavy breaths as he held himself up with his hands on his knees. wow, he really needed to get out more if this is what running for such a short distance felt like. his chest felt tight, though he knew that it was for a reason that could have been avoided entirely. oh, hell, if only he got out to run more- maybe then he wouldn't have such a hard time trying to catch his breath and keep from falling to the ground because he was that out of shape. "i thi-" he inhaled, a small, squeak like noise coming from the back of his throat, "i saw-" inhale. "there was-" exhale. "i- i- just, just go!" landon stood up as straight as he could, drawing in a tight breath as he shook his head at one of the maids had come to his aid, crown in hand. "no- no. i'm fine. take that into my room." he turned away, eyes closed as he leaned his head back and rubbed his forehead.


[ i actually didn't know what to do with him so-- he's a bit of a blabbering mess ]

[`sappho]

ｅｅｒｉｋａ ｆｏｒｓｂｅｒｇ — ⚔

xxxeerika nodded to him. "well then, you should watch over the girl. the earl will pay good money for her as a servant for his wife," she said to max. she tossed him the rope end which was not tied to the girl. she turned to look at the large walls of the city ahead of them, the wooden and stone buildings she could see. "this could very well be the last time i see you, so i wish you safe travels back to norway and a plentiful summer harvest," she said with a sight, giving her friend a small smile. "i hope it is not my last fight, but even so, i will fight to the end knowing that i will go to valhalla." with that she turned away and towards her battleground, her long brown braids bouncing on her shoulders. the vikings walked side by side down the dirt path, all holding their shields in their hands and ready to make a shield wall when it was needed. as they neared the city eerika could hear the ringing of bells. "they know we're here," she whispered. within a few seconds, arrows flew at them, clipping a warrior on his shoulder. "shield wall!" one of the earl's trusted friends yelled. she threw up her shield in front of her, it's sides touching the sides of the other's. countless arrows soared into the wood as they marched, banging their weapons into their shields. finally their own archers began firing back. as their arrows glided, they hit two of the saxon men and eerika watched as they fell to the ground, leaving only one of them shooting. now they rushed to the wall, they had to get in before more archers came for back up. finally, the last archer was shot down from his post.

xxxthe warrior pried at the heavy gate and finally it flew open. their shields went down. they let out loud war cries, eerika could feel her throat burning from screaming so loud. they had done it! most of the vikings rushed towards the church of the saxons, that was where they kept their gold and, usually, they kept it out in the open. however, she stayed behind with a few others. they knew that the saxon's own warriors would be coming soon. they did just that, the people in their shining armor rushed towards the northmen from the house of the royals. eerika quickly unsheathed her sword and screamed as she sprinted at the knights. her sword hit in the side of the neck of one, killing him with the one blow. she spun around and sank her blade into the chest of another. before she could do anything else, she was suddenly slammed in her right temple with the handle of a sword. black, that was all she could see. she didn't know if she was still standing or not. she could faintly hear commotion for just a moment through her ringing then, she was completely out.

ｐｒｉｍｒｏｓｅ ｂｅｎｎｅｔｔ — ♚

xxxthe princess didn't know exactly what was happening. all she knew was that she was surrounded by tall, imposing foreigners who were rapidly speaking in an odd language. she wanted to weep like she had before but she couldn't bring herself to that. she could tell that crying would make this whole thing worse. she didn't think that any of them would take pity on her so the only thing she could do was act calm, act like nothing was happening, like their wasn't a coarse rope fixed around her neck and binding her wrists together. primrose watched as most of them started to march off.

xxxshe didn't know how she was keeping herself from breaking down. how was she stronger now than when she had found out what she was going to be sent to mercia to marry an awful king. possibly it was because, even if she was going to be kidnapped by pagans, she was escaping from her bleak future of becoming a dead wife of a king that no one would remember. not matter if she became a sacrifice, a servant, no matter what she would become in wherever these northmen were taking her, at least she wasn't going to die the seventh wife of the king of mercia.

xxxshe hoped that one day she would be able to learn the language of these people or that she might meet one that knew her own language. she wanted to know about these pagans and she wanted to know what they were speaking. most of all the reason she wanted to know their language was that she wanted to know what they were going to do to her brother, he was the only one of any of these people that she actually cared about.

-- yeah, i kinda had the same problem with primrose. maybe we can now timeskip to primrose + the vikings arriving back in norway and eerika having been locked up for a few days by landon?

[rogan]

ｍａｘｗｅｌｌ ｋａｎｇ ！

xxmaxwell had only eaten a small selection of fruits they had managed to find before they all left, after that, hew as back to not eating as he watched over the girl that was still bound at her wrists. he kept his eyes locked down on his sword as he turned it slightly, the light reflecting off of it and towards the ceiling. to say he was pissed was a little bit of an understatement, and each of their members knew about that. and yet, here one of them was anyway.

xx"maxwell, you need to eat." the man received a glare from the corner of his eye, but he had soon returned his attention to the sword. though, this time he lifted it, and lightly spun it in a circle before his eyes fell on the sharpened blade. "look, i know that eerika has-" the male stood up, the tip of his sword in place beneath the older viking's chin, even being blocked by his long hair. "complete that and i will not hesitate to end your life." he growled, lifting the sword up slightly, causing him to stand on his toes and lift his chin upwards, "the next time you say her name it better be to tell me her heart is still beating."

xxmax swung the sword away from the man's chin, and pointed it towards the door, "get out." the moment that the other viking head left, he slipped the sword back into it's sheath and sat down on the wooden crate once more, face in his hands. a low groan was emitted from his throat before he pulled his head up and ran his hand through his hair, eyes falling on the girl that was tied up. he wasn't sure if even she had eaten, though he knew that she probably needed to anyway. rolling his lips in, then turned his head away as he thought. a second later, he looked back up at the girl, tongue between his teeth. "are you... are you... hungry?" his english was shaky, though when the words left his mouth he didn't even try to correct himself.

ｌａｎｄｏｎ ｂｅｎｎｅｔｔ ！

xxhe still genuinely couldn't believe that they had gotten a hold on his sister, and had managed to get out of the country with her. he himself was unprepared, yes, but couldn't those who were supposed to help with this, be prepared for this kind of stuff? landon knew he couldn't fight, he never put in the effort to learn, but now... now he knew that he would have to learn- it was that, or die.

xxand he wasn't going to die. he had already gotten himself cut, badly, and he wasn't looking to get himself killed because he wasn't trained properly. landon tugged at the translator's arm, leading the man further down the staircase before he shoved him near the barred room. "figure out what she goes by." he said, eyes turning towards the woman for just a moment before his arms were folded over his chest, and his left hand was on his right bicep, rubbing it gently. the white bandage was already starting to grow a light brown color, and even started coming loose. oh, well, he'd get it bandaged again later.


// i still didn't know what to do with him so like hmmm yikes

[`sappho]

ｅｅｒｉｋａ ｆｏｒｓｂｅｒｇ — ⚔

xxxugh... where was she? eerika blinked her foggy blue eyes, seeing a stone roof above her head and feeling a stone floor under her. her whole body felt like it was bruised but her head especially. suddenly everything was coming back to her. landing in england, capturing the princess, the raid. it all blanked in the middle of battle though. i must have been captured, she thought. she felt like an utter fool. only fools got captured, the real warriors died in battle and were taken by the valkyries to valhalla. she wondered how long she had been lying on this dirty floor. eerika forced her aching body to sit up but she couldn't stand, her arms were chained too tightly to the ground to move anywhere but where she was sitting. it was extremely dark and she could feel where bugs, rats or some other pest had bitten her arms and legs.

xxxeerika heard the sound of speaking and looked up to where she saw a dim light flickering on the gray walls, which was moving towards her. two men walked into the hallway of the room, both speaking in an odd sounding tongue that she recognized to be english. the stubby man, who reminded her of her big toe, was shoved towards the bars of her cage. "what is your name?" the man asked her. "why should i tell you?" she spat. he looked very nervous. "you should tell me because you dont have much of a choice, woman," he said, starting to grow angrily. "you speak the tongue of the vikings but you have the values of the saxons," she growled.

ｐｒｉｍｒｏｓｅ ｂｅｎｎｅｔｔ — ♚

xxxrowing and rowing. that was most of what primrose had done for the past day, along with the other prisoners. some of the time they were allowed to stop but when the wind slowed their captors forced them to row again. there was no shield from the heat when it was sunny or from the cold when it was windy and cloudy. her muscles burned in a way they never had before. she had never had to do anything like this before and her usually soft, pale hands where covered with dirt and her finger tips were growing callus. she felt dizzy with exhaustion and her stomach was constantly growling. she hadn't seen her reflection since she left england but she could imagine how she looked. her skin was likely covered completely in a layer of dirt, her would be clothing ripped up, and her auburn hair nothing more than a big tangle.

just as primrose felt she was about to pass out, the wind started to pick up. thank you, god, she cried out in her mind. one of the large men yelled at them in his odd language and she and the others pulled in their oars. they had come to understand what that string of babbling must mean. at first she had found it hard to pull up the oar or row with her wrists still bound but she manged, just let the others. she wondered how much farther it would be until they made it to the place where the northmen were going to. as the princess gazed off on the horizon, she heard a commotion and saw one of the men point his sword at the chin of another. that was the man who had kept her after the viking woman had kidnapped her. her eyes instantly shot the ground as he started to walk over. these people had temperaments and she had gained a good deal of bruises from "spying" on them. but when he came over, surprisingly, her spoke to her in her own language and asked her it she was hungry. primrose looked up at him with her blue eyes, her mouth must have been gaping open like a trout. "y-yes," she choked out through her dry throat, wondering if it was some cruel joke.

--- so so so sorry for not replying in so long, school got insane for me, but now im finally off for winter so expect more replies now c:

[rogan]

ｍａｘｗｅｌｌ ｋａｎｇ ！

xxmuch to his surprise, the girl responded. of course, it took him a moment to process exactly what she had said, and understand it completely, even though it was a single response to the broken question that max had asked. he may of learned how to speak their language, but, he hadn't spent enough time to automatically understand what they were saying. it wasn't common to know the language that the englishmen spoke. and it definitely wasn't common to be fluent in it and speak it more than your own language. thus, maxwell never really spoke it around the vikings, but much rather, taught it to himself in his free time and went over it before he actually passed out on the ground. even so, there were some words he was still rather unsure of- even though the pronunciation came to him relatively easy.

xxnodding his head softly, maxwell turned himself around to get her something. he didn't know what she wanted, so genuinely, it was kind of at the point where she was going to eat what she was given or she wasn't going to eat at all. and max didn't particularly have shame in expressing that to her. really, it was all her choice at that point. she was hungry, good. she would be getting food. whether she ate it or not was her choice. finally, after gathering a bit of food for the female, he began to walk back towards her, a sigh brushing through his nose as he approached the lean frame. "this is all we have." he said shakily, approaching her for a few more feet before he stopped in front of her, "eat it or do not." he held it out, waiting for her to take it before he went back to sit on the box that he had been on before.

ｌａｎｄｏｎ ｂｅｎｎｅｔｔ ！

xxwhen the man turned over his shoulder to inform landon that she was refusing to give him her name, he released an irritated sigh. this, was not going to get them anywhere. not if she didn't cooperate and just give them her damn name, it wouldn't. and if he had to, landon would sit there all day waiting for her to finally say her name, even though it was rather obvious that she was going to be a stubborn ox and not say anything that had to do with her being. if it meant the three of them sat down there, then so be it. it's not like he had anything better to do than sit there, anyway. his sister was gone. that was what his main focus was on, and his parents knew that getting his mind off of it wasn't going to get them anywhere.

xx"we aren't going to go anywhere until she tells us her name." he said sternly, folding his arms over his chest as he waited for the man to turn back to the woman behind the bars, and speak in the woman's native tongue once more. a part of him wished he himself had known the language, so he didn't have to burden the man- but at the same time, he knew he wouldn't be able to get the name from the woman. he wouldn't be able to force it out of her, so he had to shoot for an option b. and that option b was getting a man that was fluent in the other language just as much as he was in english.


// i'm so sorry it took so long hng ;-;
also, sorry they got a tad short hng

[`sappho]

ｅｅｒｉｋａ ｆｏｒｓｂｅｒｇ — ⚔

xxxthe frustration on the men's faces was undeniable and currently the closest eerika could come to attacking them. she wished she could just get out of these stupid chains! she swore would eventually, even if it meant she had to chew her hand off of her arm; a drastic measure that she had seen servants and slaves of the chief take in the past. she heard the younger of the two man say something to the other before the toe-looking man spoke. "m'lord, i don't think she will be giving into us anytime soon. the northwomen are disobedient and undisciplined, similar to their male counterparts but lacking any common reasoning or intelligence," the translator said. "talking to her won't get us anywhere now, but let her go without food and water for a few days and tighten her chains by the hour, then you will see her will break down and perhaps she will decide to open her get-for-nothing jaw," he suggested.

xxxwhile the men were talking eerika we coming up with a plan, anything that could give her a chance to run. she needed a rock to chip away the the stone fastening the iron links to the wall. once she had chipped away the stone, the would pretend to be willing to talk, but only in a very soft voice. when the men came to her cage and unlocked so they could actually hear what she was saying, she would jump from her place, kick them against the wall and lock them into her cell. if she could at least get that far, then she would be well on her way back to norway. suddenly, the man's beady eyes turned back to her. "ill give you one more chance, woman, what is your name? answer for your prince or you will suffer the consequences," he growled. "you don't scare me, toe-man, and neither does your boy-master," she spat.

ｐｒｉｍｒｏｓｅ ｂｅｎｎｅｔｔ — ♚

xxxat this point, the english princess didn't care what she was offered, she would eat anything to stop the stabbing pain in her stomach. primrose quickly took the food from his hands and began to stuff it into her mouth desperately. she didn't know what it was, and she didn't care. the sensation of food in her stomach satisfied her much more than the taste. for the first time since she left her home she felt full and now she started to notice little things, like the tiny tickle of water spraying onto her skin and the calling of seagulls. wait, seagulls? she hadn't heard any birds in the past day. that meant they had to be close to land! she snapped her head up and looked off into the distance. there it was, a huge fjord with cavernous walls and tall trees perched on the tops of either side of the towering natural walls. it was beautiful but also frightening. she had never seen something quite like this before. she had seen many cliffs but this was something else entirely. something distinctly of the northmen's land.

xxxshe turned back to the viking that had offered her food and spoken to her in english. "is this the north land?" she asked him curiously. suddenly she realized that she had for a moment forgotten all about england, all about the kings and lords, all about northumbria and then she felt a pang in her heart, had she forgotten her brother too? no, she couldn't forget about him, even when she had been stolen away from him so cruelly. she wanted to wait for the answer of the viking but soon the boat stop at a dock and some of the men began yelling at her and the others who had been captured. they pulled the weak prisoners to their feet one by one and forced them to walk in a single-file line off of the boat. should she join them? "english woman! get in line with the other servants," one viking screamed at her in norse. she didn't even realize that she stumbled up and that seemed to fill him with rage because he began rushing towards her.