Nina heard something through the bushes again, this time much closer than the last time. She turned again only to find nothing again, which only increased her nervousness. She kept walking through the uneven terrain for a few minutes more until she heard the same noise again, this time even louder than before, she turned yet again.

  This can't be happening.

  Suddenly, Nina found herself running again as fast as she could, the poor girl realized to her utter horror that there was now four dark, blurry figures giving her chase in close pursuit, getting dangerously closer by the second, like a pack of predators chasing down their prey. Those damn raiders managed to find her through the woods and were now following her footsteps just some distance behind her. They must have followed me after leaving the village Nina thought. She was breathing and panting so quickly and loudly that she wondered if they could hear her. She bit her lip to try to remain silent, and could only run away as fast as she could, desperately trying to lose her pursuers.

  But she still could not understand what in oblivion was going on. Her mind was still racing, trying to comprehend her current situation. Back in the village, her mentor quickly deduced that those men were looking specifically for either him, or her, but it didn’t make sense at all! Why? What could they possibly want?

  Her mind was racing just as fast as her heart, trying to recollect all the events that have transpired recently and led to this very moment. Just a few hours ago, she was spending the evening in a nearby village, in the company of her mentor, and some of the townspeople, they were gathered around a bonfire, telling stories, and past experiences when all of a sudden, a band of armed men came out of nowhere and attacked the village. The villagers put up a valiant resistance but were eventually all killed. Then they faced off her mentor and friend Verkan, an aging priest, and, as it turns out, a legendary warrior formerly known only as Rudo the Vanquisher; in an attempt to draw their attention away from her. The old man bravely held his ground long enough for her to sneak behind the attackers' backs and escape.

  Nina did the only thing she could have done at the moment: run. Unlike Verkan, she was too weak to fight back against adult men, even if she knew how to. But she could still hear the echoes of screams, and clashing steel not too far behind, a sign of the fight that was still going. Even alone, and hopelessly outnumbered, the old man gave them hell. Until she heard two powerful explosions one after the other, then everything went dead silent. What could possibly have happened? Nina didn’t have a clue, but she somehow knew that her mentor and friend had perished in the battle.

  Now she was all by herself.

  But there was no time to think about it, as the shouts of the men chasing after her filled her heart with the realization that she has been located by at least some of them. She could only keep running for so long, and the Northmen chasing her down were getting dangerously close. Without hesitation, she jumped down a ravine, landing on the bank of a stream several meters down. Luckily for her, a soft spot on a sandbank absorbed most of the force from the fall.

  This has to be the stream Verkan was talking about! Nina remembered. She quickly jumped onto her feet again, and looked up, watching her pursuers over her pausing for a second, trying to find a way to descend after her. She took advantage of their hesitation and followed the stream down as fast as she could run on the knee-deep stream until she could no longer hear them.

  She found an old, giant log that served as a bridge, crossing over the stream at the deepest part of the ravine, and sat down under it. Nina was breathing heavily trying to catch her breath, and regain at last some of her strength, but had to cover her mouth with both hands when she heard her pursuers again. She sat in silence for a couple of minutes, praying for them to leave, and trying to remain as quiet as possible.

  Nina could hear their conversations, even though they were talking in their distinctive tongue that she was unable to understand. She closed her eyes, and clutched her legs tightly in front of her, trying to be as small as possible, hiding between the rocks, and the tangling roots of threes that were under the shadow of the log bridge.

  The small band of Northmen kept looking for her for a few minutes but soon decided to keep looking for her elsewhere. After hearing her pursuers walk over the log bridge, and follow down the path in the forest above, Nina slowly crawled from her hiding position, trying to find a way to escape in the opposite direction they went. The stream’s loud current and the strong winds howling through the woods helped to suppress some of the noise she was making.

  Nina was trying to climb the ravine again, which at this point was not so steep compared to the spot where she had previously jumped when she heard something disturbing the water behind her, followed by a loud splashing sound, and hurried her pace. After successfully climbing back the ravine, she quickly hid behind some bushes. She tried to look through the bushes she was hiding behind, to see what the sound’s source was but again couldn’t see anything. Nina looked at her surroundings and noticed something strange on the ground. Even though her eyes were still getting accustomed to the low light, she gasped loudly in recognition.

  She was sitting over the footprints of something.

  She started to panic quickly, besides the Northmen that were chasing after her, now there was also some kind of wild animal lurking around. She recognized the tracks from the kitchen at the other village this morning. Could it be the dragon? she thought. Great, just great, first the Northmen, now it turns out the dragon has been following me around? she cursed. Nina tried to go back on her tracks slowly, and take the narrow trail in the opposite direction her pursuers went when she began to hear their voices through the woods again.

  But then all of a sudden, Nina tripped on a small yet deep hole, as her face met the ground when her entire leg got stuck in what was most probably the den of some small vermin. The loud crack of the dry leaves and old branches that broke under her body could have been heard all over the forest on the silent night.

  Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Nina cursed in panic and mentally chastised herself upon hearing the startling noises her pursuers were making not too far away from where she fell. Of course! They would be still around! she cursed mentally. She tried to remain as still as possible, holding her breath, looking down the trail, and trying her hardest not to make absolutely any noise, but she could only stare in horror as the blurry silhouettes of the Northmen slowly walked the trail towards her.

  There was nowhere to run.

  Her heart stopped when they spotted her, Nina found herself in the line of sight of her pursuers, and without thinking it twice, she made a run for it. She was now on the verge of tears, cursing her luck, and running again as fast as she could. With the raiders following closely behind, so close that she could smell their nasty breaths, and hear them taunting her with obscene words in her own accursed language.

  She followed the narrow path through the forest, jumping to avoid roots, and branches that were scattered on the ground, prying at the Gods that the men chasing after her would trip on them, or slow down somehow, wishing desperately for a miracle to happen. The night was particularly dark, with the thick foliage blocking what little light could make it through the dense clouds, making running through the woods with such poor vision incredibly difficult.

  But before she could react, however, someone violently tackled her from the side, pinning her to the ground. One of her pursuers stealthy went through another path and intercepted her while she was looking behind. The poor girl cried in pain, desperately trying to set herself free to no avail, soon the other Northmen caught up with her, and dragged her by the hair to a small clearing at the side of the trail. Nina was now at their mercy, crying loudly as her pursuers started to kick her on the ground for all their troubles.

  The poor girl expected to be killed soon, as they showed no mercy to the others back in the village, but she slowly realized, to her utter horror, that the Northmen had other plans in mind. One of them, their leader apparently, as he was the oldest one, commanded the others to hold her tight. He started to hurriedly unbutton her leather tunic, ripping her linen clothes beneath, and groping her teenage body without a bit of shame.

  The sheer realization of what they had planned to do to her filled her heart with immense disgust, anger, and utter despair. Nina tried to resist as hard as she could, even biting one of her captors' hands only to earn a powerful slap in the face in return. She kicked the man groping her in the face while he was trying to force her legs open, but the man was just too strong for her.

  She recalled the small knife hidden on her boots that her mentor had given to her back in the village, she tried her hardest to get hold of it in one last desperate attempt to free herself or end her life before the Northmen had their way with her. But sadly, the two other bastards restraining her by the arms were also too strong.

  One of the Northmen, the youngest of them, tried in vain to stop the others from going all the way only to be threatened with violence and yelled back into submission. It was clear that the young boy was too scared to stand up to his fellow raiders. Nina looked at him, and for a brief moment, the young priestess and the young north boy stared at each other with tears in their eyes. The boy couldn’t stand the horrible scene and looked away, clearly disturbed by what the others were about to do but powerless to do anything to stop it.

  Her chastity belt was now the only piece of clothing left on her that prevented them from taking her maidenhood. Nina could only cry in despair, as it was only a matter of seconds before they could tear the leather strap off. She begged them to stop, denounced them in the most offensive terms, but they only laughed at her in mockery. She then implored the youngest of them, but the scared boy could only look away. Finally, she begged the Gods, to all of them, she put all her dread, her sorrow, her anger, and despair into one last prayer.

“Merciful Father, creator of all, please, open your arms and receive this soul”

  Her fighting spirit had completely left her as only a miracle could save her now. The poor girl surrendered to her fate and braced for the worst, now death would be welcome. Memories from her life flashed before her eyes. Her mother, her mentor, and all the people that she loved, and cared about, that had left the mortal world and were waiting for her in the afterlife. She could see them clearly as if she were right there, Nina begged them for their forgiveness one last time, as she would soon join them.