Erik sat still, unable to fathom what he had just witnessed. His heart hammered and a torrent of emotions swirled through his veins. Who was the beautiful slave with the mesmerizing eyes? How had she become a slave? There were no answers.
CHAPTER 5
Tara stirred as the first fingers of daylight began to seep through the cracks in the walls. She and several other female slaves were sharing a small room to sleep in overnight. They had been given some rags to sleep on and some water, but Tara found herself hungry and tired after a cold sleep on the hard floor. But that was the least of her worries; today, she would be sold at the slave auction and the thought of what awaited her made her forget her hunger. She trembled with fear as she thought of all the cruel-looking men she had seen on her journey to the slave markets, shuddering as she recalled their mean eyes and scowling faces.
The one exception had been the merchant in the wagon. He’d had a kind face and although their eyes had only met for a fleeting second, she’d felt a connection with him. She could only hope that she would be sold to someone like him rather than to one of the angry-looking men who were so abundant in this land of Norowegr.
“Get up!” shouted the slave-keeper outside the door, rattling it as he unlocked it. He marched inside and aimed a kick at the last woman still lying on the floor. She scrambled to her feet and he proceeded to issue instructions, some of which Tara didn’t understand. She wished that someone spoke her language; several of the other women were also from other countries and none of them understood the slave-keeper.
“Come!” he barked, leading the way out of the room.
That was an instruction that Tara understood and she and the other women lined up behind him. He led them out of the long, low building to a courtyard, where other lines of slaves awaited the next command. He got out the rope again and tied them together in a line; Tara looked for the woman who had caused so much trouble yesterday and was relieved to see her in a different line. The women in Tara’s line stood still, each one wrapped in her own misery, each one afraid of what the future might hold. Tara shivered; the fear and unhappiness were contagious and she found herself wishing that she could fly away like a bird, away from these cruel people and their harsh land, back to her own land, where her loving family would no doubt be grieving her loss, convinced they would never see her again. She wasn’t ready to be honest and admit that she would never return to her homeland. A tiny shred of hope, buried at the bottom of the bag she carried, enabled her to put one foot in front of the other. So far, no one had tried to take the bag and its precious contents away from her and she was hoping that anyone who might have an interest in it would see only a change of clothes. Surely, no one would discern the importance of the cloth and thread.
“Wait!” ordered the slave-keeper, turning to leave.
A young man stood guard over their line but it was hardly necessary. There was nowhere to run inside the fully-enclosed courtyard and there were guards at every door. Resigned to their fate, the line of women stood quietly alongside a line of male slaves on one side and another line of women on the other. Tara could only assume that they were waiting their turn to go into the auction to be sold. She had never felt more terrified in her life.
Erik awoke early after a restless night sleeping in his wagon. He’d been unable to get the young red-haired woman out of his mind. Her delicate beauty, her haunted eyes and her calm dignity arose before his eyes every time he closed them. He tossed and turned, wanting to somehow rescue her from the life that surely awaited her. No owner would turn her out to work in the fields or around the longhouse. She was too beautiful. She would almost certainly become a bed-slave, doomed to a life of bearing children that she would not be able to keep because they belonged to her master, and unable to earn enough to buy her freedom. Erik had seen it happen before but had never thought anything of it until now. Slaves were invisible to most karls, simply a way to keep the machinery of society running smoothly. Everyone took them for granted; they were part of the scenery of daily life just as much as the sun and the wind. No one ever imagined what it would be like if they were all set free. It would be unthinkable.
As morning dawned, Erik finally made up his mind. Feeling noble, he decided that he would buy the young woman himself. He thought about keeping her as a slave but that would solve nothing for her, no matter how well he treated her or how he managed to resist her beauty.
For his gesture to be meaningful, he realized that he would have to set her free and allow her to choose her future for herself. Otherwise, he would just be another slave owner and worthy of that haunted look in her eyes. He wanted to give her a reason to smile with all the passion and vitality that he suspected was hidden inside.
Would he not want her for himself? He couldn’t deny that the thought was in his mind. She was beautiful, after all. But he decided that if
