A Whipping and Another Question Posed..

I walked to where Seth was standing and stopped not two feet from him, my arms crossed over my breasts listening as Aslak said, "Thanks be to Odin. They'll obey you Seth, aye, the women know you can only be pushed so far." He grinned adding in a wistful voice, "I wish I could have been there to hear you, to watch their sly expressions turn fearful." Seth didn't say anything to that but said instead, "They fed the animals, themselves and the children good food and us, they gave swill." That, I thought to myself was because the women and children didn't bed with entti. Ottar whistled low, "Aye, the women played a deep game. I hope our food isn't filled now with berries that will send our bowels galloping to the mainland. We would be too weak to punish them. Think they will try and poison us in their anger?" Seth shook his head, "I will inform Old Nala that tonight we wish to have bosk steaks." Sculla walked silently behind me before coming around and joining the men. It was then Aslak noticed me just standing behind Seth and nodded to Seth to turn around. Seth turned around very slowly at Aslak's nod then seeing me he took one step toward me then stopped, "Who unchained you? What do you want?" He sounded mildly annoyed as if I were nothing but a slave who had chanced to come upon him at a time that wasn't convenient to him. Nay, he would have been delighted had it been a slave that came to him. Nay, he viewed me as less than a slave. I lifted my chin a notch and said sharply, in a voice filled with arrogance, " Come here Seth. I would speak to you now."

He stiffened as straight as a tree. He was still furious at the women for their duplicity, still smarting from his feeling of outrage that they would dare do such a thing to him and to his men, "You dare? You will show me proper respect. You will, woman, say, "I wish to speak to you, my Jarl" or "If it pleases you, my Jarl, I beg a moment of your time." I just stared at him. It was true. I hadn't sounded at all conciliating, at all willing to compromise with him. "It is my title. Say it. Change it, if you wish to your own words but you will show me respect and obeisance. Now, say my title." I shook my head, "You aren't my Jarl and you are not my Master. You are the enemy, nothing more. Ah, I forget. You are also a vicious monster who threatens the women who nurture you and care for you and feed you." "Feed, ha! I counted my ribs this morning. I was starving last night, you saw it. No more of it, so I have told them and so it will be if they dare to disobey me again. Now, Sindra, say my title. Address me as your Jarl Seth. Be quick about it for I grow weary with the taming of you." I said nothing, merely glared at him, my eyes never leaving his. I knew the moment he shut his mouth he realized he had gotten himself in a situation that wouldn't win him a thing. He had given me an order in front of his men. Had he given it any thought at all he would have known that I would stand stubborn before paying him any homage. Still, he couldn't let it stand. Not in front of his men. By Odin, he had ordered me to say it. I could still hear the damn arrogance in my own voice ordering him to come to me. It obviously galled him to his toes. In addition, I had sided with the women, calling him a vicious monster, when all he had done was bring it to an end. He said slowly, as if to a witless child, "I am your Jarl and your Master and your enemy, all those things. Right now, I am your Jarl. Say it!" I turned on my heel and walked away.

I heard Aslak as he sucked in his breath, "Seth won't let that pass. He can't." Sculla agreeing with him, "Aye, I pray he won't kill her." Seth reached out and grabbed my arm, jerking me to a stop.
I wasn't at all surprised when I felt his hand close over my upper arm. He whirled me around to face him with such force that I would have fallen had he not held me upright. He said low, "Listen to me Sindra. You will obey every order I choose to give you, just as will every other damn woman
on FellHawk Island. I am the Jarl and the Master here. You will temper your voice and the words that come from your mouth. You will treat me as you would a Priest King. You must, there is no choice. My men have excellent hearing and I am their leader. Do you understand me?" I shook my head side to side saying nothing. He took both my arms in his big hands and shook me hard, snapping my head back in my neck before leaning down, his breath warm on my cheek and said low, just for my ears, "Don't force me to whip you in front of them. Don't be unyielding about this. Don't wallow in your damn pride. It will gain you nothing but pain. Don't be stupid. Say it now, loudly, so they will hear you. Say, "My Jarl"." "I can not." I whispered back, "You know I can not...." He cursed before saying, "How like a woman you are, when all is said and done. You have lost because you lack judgement, because you don't understand how to reason properly. You must learn to pick your battles. This one you couldn't win. It is already lost. Now say it!!" As he spoke he turned slightly to see the three men were watching him avidly. He cursed again. He had done it to hmself and now I would suffer for it. He had told me the truth. There was no choice for me or for him. But I had made the decision not to obey him. He waited. I said nothing, merely stood there looking at him. "I will give you one more chance. Say it!!" He shook me again. I looked at him helplessly then shook my head.

"Sh*t!!" He then held my right wrist and took off his belt with his other hand. I stared at his belt. It was wide with supple leather. It would hurt for he was very strong. He grabbed both my wrists and held them high with his right hand, bringing me to my tiptoes. I knew in an instant he wondered briefly at my passivity but only briefly as in the next instant, I spun about, jerking my hands free and sent my tiny fist into his belly, my knee toward his groin. My fist in his belly had hurt just a tad but he was quick enough to have my knee land hard against his thigh, then I was on him, my fingers going for his face. "Damn you!!" He dropped the belt and managed to grab me quickly enough but I still fought him with amazing strength and agility. "After all, you have been eating the past day and a half. You are no longer weak curse you and curse the women for seeing to your needs and not ours. You will only make it harder on yourself. Hold still, damn you!!" He ended up binding my wrists together, then holding them high in his right hand. I struggled but I couldn't break free of him. I began cursing him, "You bosk arse, you are nothing more than the sleen swill you have fed me."

He turned me so that my back was to him, my face to the three men. I knew he wouldn't hurt me badly for he still had no leverage from the wound to his shoulder, though his men wouldn't realize it. He picked up the belt and swung it, wrapping it around my back. I jerked but didnt' make a sound, not even another curse. I didn't struggle anymore though. I looked over my shoulder at him, my eyes were deep and calm, as green as the moss grass in the marsh, "You are nothing but an animal. I will kill you if I have the chance. I should have killed you at Trevelyan Hall when I had you caged. Aye, I just pricked your pretty throat to give you a taste of pain and the sticky feeling of your own blood but I should have sunk my dagger deep then." "You didn't, so it doesn't matter what you spout out now. I am your Jarl. Say it!" I turned my head back around facing the men not saying a word. He gave me several moments, wishing to Odin, to the Priest Kings themselves that my stupid pride would bend. But I remained silent. I tensed for the next blow I knew would be coming but didnt try to escape him again. He swung the belt. I shuddered from the blow, a sharp intake of breath. The blow stung my back harder this time, "Say it!"