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| Ragnar had seen the newest Captive when he watched Olor and Ollie seeing no purpose in keeping them separate from one another. What were they going to do? Mutiny? They could try but he would strike them dead where they stood if they did try it because he believed in the severity of their crimes committed against Stavanger Bay. After his fight with Thistle a day ago or so he had no patience for the likes of creatures that were treated worse than his own slave was. He had been tired and though he slept enough to keep him going so that he would not slip and appear what was a weak leader he had still felt heavy with exhaustion. Bone deep. He had gotten one of the wolves to watch them figuring they would trade shifts as he did and took a day to sleep (and accordingly the night before). In the after math of those hours of precious sleep, rousing only to relieve himself, eat, quench his thirst he was left alone and Thistle had been given the order to step up in his position while he slept. He had needed it and now, he felt refreshed knowing that he needed to stop playing He Man and pushing his body way past the boundaries it was used too. He had always pushed his physical boundaries, even as a child, but he knew now that he did need to not go for three days and their according nights without shut eye. It made him more irritable than a bear just rising out of hibernation and gave him a temper to match that of the sea’s.
He didn’t want to sacrifice the time of his members by commanding they take turns watching the captives when it had been his idea in the first place to take captives out of those that had trespassed. Regardless, the sleep he had made up on had made him feel much better and he eagerly dove back into his duties as if he hadn’t missed a beat. After his patrols had finished he had dropped by the den to gift Thistle with some lilacs he had found — still trying to make up for their fight (whether she ends up forgiving him or not) — despite that they were lovers and that was what they did. They loved each other with a fierce passion and sometimes that passion burned a little too hot and resulted in their disagreements, or clashing stubborn personalities. He still loved her endlessly and though he hadn’t the chance to tell her, he was proud of how she had handled their newest Captive (he was proud of Junior too for as he heard it she had been very Shield-Maiden like with her approach). Exactly how he had expected her too.
It was this new prisoner he sought today. Claire. One of Wheeling Gull Isle’s. The first trespasser from the Isle. Despite that several of the Bay’s ranks were made up of Isle deflectors, he still loathed the Isle wolves as a group. It was flawed because he liked the members of his that had came from the Isle. Still, he intended to go, in accordance to this meeting, and speak to their new leader, whomever had taken over Majesty’s spot, because obviously, their meeting had been forgotten about. Just because they no longer resided at Horizon Ridge and Majesty no longer led them didn’t mean it had changed how he felt about them. It was as he followed her wisp of a trail, strong with the scent of the Isle but mixed with earth and the scents of the Bay that he stopped and called for her. She was the Captive, not him. She would come to him; and if he had to find her it wasn’t going to be very picturesque exchange of words. |
But sadly her luck was cut short. A shrillig howl chilled her bones while she laid motionless under the shade. Never had she been so afraid of hearing her own name. With a jolt she jumped to her paws and crawled to meet her potential death. The few moments she had spent trapped with the Vikings had shown her they were savage creatures with a lust for cruelty and no patience to spare.
Her heart felt lighter with every step she took --maybe it her pulse was beginning to die out making things for Ragnar easier. She hoped to drop dead before she reached him but sadly it didn't happen. An icy shiver ran down her spine as he came into view. He was the reaper and she was a broken soul walking to her grave.With a half hearted sigh she approached the beast, praying silently for him to make it quick and painless.
Being so cynical and fatalistic was natural for her. In a pure white canvas she was not able to see the endless possibilities or silverlinings . Her eyes only saw the black speck in the middle that as minuscule as it may be, ruining the canvas as a whole.
A sorrowful whine slipped from her mouth as she dropped onto the ground, her belly and throat exposed at him while her tail was wrapped tightly around her legs. "Yes?" she muttered, as another shiver took ahold of her whole body.
| It was as Ragnar contemplated how he would approach the Wheeling Gull Isle wolves on this intrusion, whether he would take their newest Captive with him and parade her to show that she was still alive but that she was, clearly, his property for however long her captivity had been decided. Or if he would go alone and have a little ‘one on one’ with their new leader who ever presumed to be in charge because it so obviously, to Ragnar, needed to be made clear that just because they were no longer Horizon Ridge didn’t mean Ragnar had changed any. Then came the question why should I warn them again? He had done it once already and blatantly, they had disregarded it. Even though Majesty no longer ruled there he expected some of the original members had to have been conscious of his warning. Ragnar had told them he would only warn them once and he had done it. And now this. This intrusion of one of theirs into his borders had broken whatever precariously balanced contract of begrudging tolerance he had offered them.
No. There was no second chance.
If Ragnar had thought there was anything worth raiding he would have gotten a small team together to steal from their food caches; but he couldn’t lead a team into hostile territory without knowing for sure there was anything worth his time. Given that, he returned to his original idea: he would have a ‘talk’ with their new leader and his actions would be calculated from that point forth.
Ragnar’s attention was pulled from his plans as his eyes fell upon the girl who came into the small clearing the scarred Northman occupied, her body lowered in full submission as a pitiful whine escaped her muzzle. Shivering before him she spoke out a question, an invitation for him to tell her what he wanted from her. Though it satisfied him to see her in utter and total submission of him as she should have been as a captive of the Bay, he took a prolonged moment to appreciate her dainty beauty. Slowly, a coy smirk began to toy at the edges of the Jarl’s lips as he remained silent, still. He had questions for her, questions about Wheeling Gull Isle that he needed answered. It had been Mees upon his acceptance into the Bay whom had informed him that Majesty had abandoned and while that had been helpful time had passed since then. "Who is the new leader of Wheeling Gull Isle? I heard that Majesty has abandoned you," Though Ragnar felt smug about being proven right as to his horrid opinions of the uppity and immature male he kept it well hidden behind his mask of coyness, perfected over the years to hide his irritation and in some cases, anger though it was employed for other situations, as well. "I know he sacrificed you all for a woman so avoiding my questions is only going to hurt you," Ragnar warned with a harsh flick of his tail against his haunches as he stared down at Claire. "Is his hórdómr his…" The Scandinavian struggled for a moment to find the common tongue translation because it wasn’t, he knew, so concrete and clear. "— adultress pregnant?" ‘Adultress’ was the best translation he could come up with for it, and it was close enough to what he had meant despite not being an exact match. Ragnar had many more questions, of course, but he figured he’d start with the easy ones to see if the newest captive would be willing to answer them or if she would need encouragement. She was free knowledge he did not intend to pass up. |
She did not want to die just yet, though she had often fantasized with her end she truthfully didn't want to leave now. A little piece of her heart still clung to the desire of living a long life, refusing to let go like the rest of her had. It was that same piece of her that told her to give this man everything he asked for in order to keep her heart beating.
His first question came as unexpected, she had been part of the Wheeling Gull Isle pack but only for self convenience. They had offered food and shelter for her but she had never felt like part of them, she even recalled that after the second she first stepped onto that island she had wanted to leave.
And the thing was that when she had first arrived she had seen no leader but Ypres, so the use of the term 'new' threw her off for a second, until he metnioned Majesty.
Even if she had not met him, she had heard of him. Worried murmurs that hovered over the Isle wolves like storm clouds. "Ypres is the Isle's leader, a fiery female of short stature" she answered, adding the description in case he didn't know her. "I-I didn't know Majesty but he's long gone" she added shyly not knowing if that information was of help.
What came out of his mouth next was a surprise for her, she didn't know the whole history behind Majesty's disappereance. She opened her mouth to try to tell him she didn't know but stopped herself when she realized it would only earn her a beating. After a silent minute of thinking Claire slowly glued the puzzle together. The only pregnant female she knew in the Isle was Erika, so it must be her who he was referring to.
"Erika?" she barked hoping for a confirmation, "She is the only pregnant female in the Isle I know of" she answered bluntly hoping he'd appreciate her effort and spare her from his teeth.
| The girl Claire had rolled over, exposing her belly to him, the majority of her weak points upon her body exposed to him. A indignant snort left Ragnar’s black, leathery nostrils when Claire informed him that Ypres was their new leader. As far as the scarred Scandinavian concerned it was not a trade up. Simply, one fool had abandoned so another could take up the mantle. The woman had not even been aware of her own borders the one time Ragnar had met her, threatening him and his subordinates on neutral ground that was plenty far away from their borders. They claimed the Isle not Sea Lion Shores and as far as Ragnar cared back then, and was finding that he cared now: Horizon Ridge had been there first, had been using it as hunting grounds long before Majesty had ever set foot inside the Teekon Wilds. "I almost feel bad for the Isle wolves," Ragnar smirked coyly at her and while his words were calm and as soft spoken as ever they had been meant to be cruel and harsh.
It wasn’t as if he was ever going to give Wheeling Gull Isle a second chance no matter who had taken up the mantle after Majesty. The damage had already been done and any leader after him would bear the same threat, the same fate as he had. Although he was not impressed with the leader choice he was, despite that he had no intentions of letting his pretty little captive know that he was grateful for it, nevertheless. So far, she was proving quite useful despite how irate the knowledge that an Isle wolf had trespassed into his lands had initially, and still, made him. Thistle might have originally taken Claire captive as any of his wolves had the permission to do but at the end of the day their judgment laid with Ragnar. Trespassers didn’t get a trail. Only wolves of Stavanger Bay were granted trails to plead their case to the pack and to him to have their fate decided but trespassers? They belonged to Ragnar alone.
The captive barked a name, one that Ragnar was not familiar with but was guessing that this Erika was Majesty’s. The one that Beric had said he had screwed his pack over for. The knowledge that not only had Majesty screwed his pack over but had pulled a ‘Crete’ by impregnating her and leaving her had taken Ragnar’s already low opinion of him further into the depths of an abyss of hatred that there was no hope of redemption. "It is no wonder why his wolves came to me for sanctuary," Their leader had been incompetent and beyond that had risked all of his subordinate’s lives for a woman who he knocked up and then abandoned. While Ragnar held no like for Ypres, still, he deigned to speak with her. To remind her of his warning in whichever way he felt necessary. She was not telling her new recruits it was obvious to Ragnar and he was disappointed that his once only warning had been so blatantly ignored. Despite that he did not believe in giving more warnings when he had promised only the one he did not wish to bring bloodshed to his borders. Not that, given the Bay’s strength he felt they were in any jeopardy of failing. Still, he would have to be clever about it while showing her that he was not messing around. His eyes flickered once more back to the Isle captive wondering if he paraded her in front of Ypres, his teeth at the girl’s neck forcing her into submission beneath him would finally get the message across to them. "Why did you come here? Or did Ypres blatantly chose not to tell you my warning? I distinctly remember telling her that if any of the Isle wolves were found on our hunting grounds they would be chased off, and if any of them trespassed I would take them." What he chose to do with them after they were captives well, he let that grim note up to the imagination. He liked taking captives, but he wasn’t afraid to kill when push came to shove, either. There was always the chance that she would develop something similar to Stockholm Syndrome and decide she wanted to say when her sentence of captivity was up. It was for this reason alone that Ragnar didn’t outright kill them. They proved to be quite loyal when they knew the cost of their crimes if they ever became traitors. |
As the conversation advanced, Claire began to feel more certain that the grudge between the Wheeling Gulf Isle pack and Stavenger Bay went further than just border scuffles. The little glint of satisfaction on Ragnar's eyes as she spilled the beans betrayed his true feelings towards the Isle residents. It was less than a second later that he voiced his thoughts. He felt bad. Obviously not in the compassionate kind of way, more like a disgusted feeling towards them. In his mind --and maybe in reality too-- the Isle wolves were inferior.
Still the girl took no offence in his words, after all she had never felt like a true member of the Isle, what others said about them was the smallest of her concerns. Then he mentioned that more than one of Majesty's wolves now held ranks in Ragnar's own pack. The word seek gave away that not all had joined by forced but by their own will. She knew Beric was one of them, but who else had comes here seeking refuge?
While she was caught in deep thought, the Viking shot a question, this time concerning her and not her former pack. "I wanted to get out of the Isle, take a moment to know the surroundings, I-I had not stepped out of the Isle since I first joined" she mumbled.
How funny, she had gone out that afternoon to get away from the confinement she was stuck in only to stumble into another jail. Was she destined to be locked away her whole life?
"Ypres borough me onto the island because I was close to death, she dragged me there thinking I would have a better life..but I never really wanted to stay.." She admitted, feeling the weight of the world slide off her heart.
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| It was true that Ragnar did not hate all the Isle wolves. He could not combine them in with the sins of their leaders, though, since their leaders were representations of them it was an easy grudge to hold over all of them. As it was, Beric and Mees were both valuable parts of Stavanger Bay and they had both once belonged to the Isle. Ragnar was weary of Beric's good treatment of Claire but he did not interfere unless it became too posh. After all, she was their prisoner and as far as Ragnar cared deserved her punishment. She had committed a serious crime when she had crossed into his borders and she was lucky that she was still breathing. The scarred Scandinavian offered the girl a short, amused snort. She had ventured out of the Isle to get away and had ended up as Ragnar's captive. He would have joked that she had a bad luck streak if he was feeling in a jesting mood, but he wasn't and so he didn't — not to mention it had nothing to do with her luck. She had crossed into his borders, as to which Ragnar knew were potent because he and several others marked them daily. Aside from soaking the ground in urine until it never dried Ragnar was at a loss as to what to do. His borders were clearly marked and he had an extremely hard time accepting the 'I didn't notice' line.
"A better life? With not one but two incompetent leaders? The first who sold out his entire pack for his adultress, planted his seed within her and then abandoned everyone; and the second who can't even control her own wolves, who when I met her didn't know her own borders, who thinks me and my family," Meaning Stavanger Bay as a whole. "Are the villains because they parked right on our doorstep, because I told them if they were found on our long established hunting grounds that they would be chased off. She acts like she has a right to be offended but she has none." The Viking nearly hissed at the girl. He wanted her to know why he held this grudge against the Isle wolves: the whole ugly truth of it. He was sure Ypres had spun wild tales of him, of the heathen that ran the Bay. She hadn't even begun to see the heathen in him.
"I believed that if we moved they would let us alone and that we, In turn, would let them alone. The animosity might have always stayed but it would have been as close to peace as I can come. Obviously, that isn't the case." And Ragnar understood he would have to rectify that as soon as possible. Whether Ypres listened to him, or took him with the severity he should have been taken was a whole other matter and a bridge he would cross when he came to it. |
Confessing had left an overwhelming feeling of lightness in her heart, she felt like the first barrier that stood between her kidnapper and her had been broken. She had placed her life at the mercy of his feet, and had exposed not only her belly but also her heart when telling him about her incomformity with the Isle pack. She was not one of them so she should not receive the hate that was directed at them.
While Ragnar narrated a bit of the story of the isle dwelling wolves each poison-coated word make Claire more certain that she could not return. Not even when she was given freedom --assuming that would ever happen-- she could not go back. The pack, though filled with kind hearts like Ypres was not strong. It seemed that, according to Ragnar's words, it was deemed for destruction since the day it was built.
It was a bomb waiting to detonate. The very core of the pack was fractured, after the infamous Majesty escaped with his tail tucked between his legs he had not only ruptured the tranquility of the pack but had sent its future to ruin. He should've never made a pack in an island in the first place.
Once Ragnar had been done speaking, Claire blinked at him, her eyes held suddenly the same anger towards the Isle. Leaving her to die in the mountain would've been easier. Ypres despite her good intentions had only given the girl more suffering in the long run.
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| Ragnar was surprised in which with the honesty Claire had given him the information he had demanded, yet attributed part of it to the fact that he garnered she did not have any real ties to Wheeling Gull Isle. Still, who was he to complain when she had complied like a good girl and given him the information he had sought. Information he intended to use to his utter and complete advantage. That was, if Silvertip Mountain didn't get to them and demolish them first. Ragnar had known that Majesty had been a deserter of the elusive Mountain but to learn that the adultress he threw his pack's lives away for only to abandon them all like a coward left Ragnar with a level of hatred for the pompous and immature male that had founded the Isle. His opinions on Majesty were strong and harsh and knowing what he did now only made Ragnar want to curse Majesty's life and his afterlife for being what Ragnar could only think of as a cowardly parasite. "It might not seem like it now, girl, but my wife did you a favor," Nevermind that Ragnar had taken custody of her as soon as he had been made aware. Of course captivity probably wasn't much better than the looming threat of death from a woman who sounded as ruthless as Ragnar himself but it was more than she'd had in Wheeling Gull Isle. "I will back with something for you to do later." Part of being a captive was putting them to work whether Beric agreed with him or not. Ragnar didn't need permission and he had no intentions of seeking it. With those cryptic words the scarred Scandinavian turned and promptly departed, disappearing into the trees he had came from. |