Piece in Our Time

Eva had been left alone for some time now. Asmund had walked out. He had just walked out, after such an intimate encounter. Eva felt used, she felt disgusting. All the feelings of him filling her, stretching and caressing. The weight of his body atop of hers. All of that had been replaced with a feeling of self loathing and fear. He had said he would not kill her, but that she still needed to be punished. What that meant, Eva could only imagine. The sounds beyond the tent had died down at some point, and for a moment Eva felt embarrassment. They had no doubt heard them. Her please and his calls of pleasure. She pulled the furs tighter around her body and laid back. Her heart was beating a mile a second. Sweat had broken out across her body, and she felt as if she could not breath. A panic attack. She was panicking. She would need to leave again. No way, no way in hell was she going to allow herself to be punished. But, did she deserve it? She had put these people, these people who for the most part had been nothing but kind and welcoming towards her since she had been found, she had put them in danger.

Eva closed her eyes, and with a deep breath sat up slowly. She stood and pulled a thin gown over her body. The winter air had been gusting under the tent opening since Asmund fled. As Eva was reaching for her cloak to done, she was yanked into a thin chest. An arm around her neck, and a hand over her mouth. Eva let out a muffled cry as she was suffocated unconscious.

The cold air blowing against her exposed face was what awoke Eva. Her body was cold. Her hands had been bound and a rag placed between her lips, to gag. Her eyes struggled to focus before her gaze landed on the crowd of people that stood before her. Eva, now bound and gagged stand in a small boat, floating in the middle of a river. The water as clear as the sky, chunks of frozen ice floating by. She groaned and looked up, eyes wide. The throng of people on shore, calling and hooting. She could not hear them, or understand what they were saying. She searched the crowd for a familiar face. Asmund was nowhere to be found. Hera stood, a look of panic on her elderly face. None of Asmunds men were spotted. All who look at her held an expression of satisfaction and fear.

"Eva" A man, an unfamiliar man, called her name and she turned her head to face him. He stood in the boat with her. He was sickly looking, scrawny and his skin was wrinkled. His eyes were grey and blank.

"You have been accused of witch craft, and treason! You place an entire clan in harms way for your own selfish reasons and this can not go unpunished." The man was hollering for all to hear. All Eva could do was cry out against her gag, struggle against her binds and stare into the icy water they floated upon. The winter air around her did nothing to numb her body. Her dark hair whipped painfully at her face. She could feel her skin turning pink, and her fingers becoming frozen. She searched for Hera once more in the crowd. Unable to find her, Eva realized she no longer had an ally. She was alone. She would freeze to death, in this land and time she had been lost in. She closed her eyes and tried her hardest to picture her brother, and her parents, and the warm weather of Pearl Harbor. Everything she could before she had been transferred into this wretched time and place.

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Asmund motioned with his hand for Gamli. A deer could be spotted only feet away, and it was dire that they bring back something to eat for his clan. They had been without great sustenance for some time, and this would prove a great treat. He had hated leaving Eva after sharing such a moment with her. But he could hardly bare the idea of having to punish her. He would not allow another to do it. He had planned on doing it himself, right then and there. But the way she had looked up at him, the way she had felt under him. It was to much. Normally being with a woman and then leaving was his routine and nor he or the woman felt any remorse after. But, leaving this woman, his woman, alone in his tent without any other explanation, it felt wrong.

But the hunt had always calmed him, and this time had been no different. The silence of the trees around them had cooed his nerves to rest, at least for the moment. Spotting such a delicate meat not far off had turned up his adrenaline. He loved a good hunt. Being one with the earth around him. His closest friends with him. Other than laying with Eva, this was the best thing for him.

Just as Gamli was about to make his kill, and they would have had a wonderful meal for the night, a rushing sound came from behind them. The startled animal fled the scene and in a growl of anger Asmund turned. He came face to face with Hera. She was wheezing from running, and her grey hair had become wild.

"Hvað er það?" Asmund had become worried. Had something more happened to his clan in his absence. He would never forgive himself.

"They have put Eva on trial for witch craft." Hera spoke between breaths, she was huddled over, gripping her knees.

"þú þarft að fara" Gamli was holding the woman's shoulders, and staring at Asmund in disbelief. Before anymore could be said, Asmund had mounted his horse and was barreling back towards their camp. Fear spiked in him, he had left her alone. He knew his people had been angry, he should have anticipated some form of retaliation. The only punishment for witch craft was drowning. If Eva survived, she would be considered a witch and placed on a stake to burn. If she drowned she would be considered innocent. He knocked his foot against his horses side, and lent forward to speed up. He needed to hurry. The coldness of the water could surely kill her alone.
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Eva struggled to proclaim her innocence through the rag. She had begun to struggle harder, but as the chill in the air hit her scantly clad form she began to slow. The people ashore only seemed to cheer louder, as the man neared her she screamed. Eva struggled not to fall over board. But, before she knew it Eva had been plunged into the icy depths of the river. As she tried to kick herself to the top, to break the edge and breath, her body sank to the bottom. Her form went numb, and her lungs filled with ice. Eva's eyes had closed as soon as she had hit the water and she was unable to reopen them. She was sure they had frozen shut. Unable to breath she focused on holding her own breath, but as the water settled into her bones, and the cold plugged up her pores her muscles relaxed. Her nose burned and her body felt like a million tiny needles pricked her.

Eva could see before her closed eyes, everyone she had ever loved. Her parents, before their death. Her brother before he bored his train and Eva would never see him again. Eva could see Asmund, proud and tall before her. He had left her alone, just as those before him.

In the calm of the icy water, in the silence of all that surrounded her, Eva would die.

Alone.