I see the new monastery.

The bonfire was massive. The towering pyre casted great shadows from the new buildings surrounding the once simple monastery. Attachments resembling towers reached astounding heights while walls protected all sides of the new encampment. No, it resembled a castle more so than a simple encampment. It was as Abo said. The northlanders didn't come here to raid Lindisfarne, they had come to settle.

"Amazing, isn't it? They had only erected the two walls when I was here last. Now it's almost done."

"So it's true then... They mean to live here?" I whispered softly to myself. But Dain heard me and chuckled in response.

"Oh, Peter. Must you ask? Now come, I smell something good this way."

Dain tugged me around the bonfire to where the kitchen was, near our former dorms. Small campfires with roasting boars, bubbling cauldrons filled to the brim with stew and a wide array of herbs were left to dry just outside the steaming kitchen. Spices I had never smelled before wafted from each fire, demanding my attention at every which way. But Dain's mind was elsewhere as he casually grabbed hold of the nearest working man to ask him where Vorro was. The thrall simply pointed towards the main cathedral before going on about his task.

"We're going now? We're going to see him now?"

Dain rolled his eyes as he led me to what was once the garden square.

"Once the feast starts this place will be another battlefield. You've seen what these men do once they've got a casket of ale and a good meal in their bellies."

I could scarcely hear Dain over all the commotion so I meekly followed wherever he led me. But as clear as rain I heard my name being shouted from a far off distance. As I turned my head towards the source, I saw Abo frantically chasing after Dain and me.

"Abo!" I yelled back in familiar relief. But Dain's excitement quickly turned to an outright scowl as he loosened his link around my arm. As Abo stumbled the rest of the way towards us, he muttered something under heated breath.

"Abo, what's wrong? I'm sorry I shouldn't have left the tent but-"

"That doesn't matter!" Abo gasped for air before he continued. It was strange seeing him so panicked as he usually maintained an air of calm or indifference. He most likely ran all the way from Vorro's encampment once he found out that we had left. I immediately felt guilty about forgoing his instruction.

"Peter... Peter, you can't be here." Abo finally stretched himself upright as he spoke.

"Of course he can." Dain rebuked as he elbowed himself forward. "He's Vorro's bed slave, which gives him every right to be here. And although I appreciate you for fetching Peter back at the farmhouse, that still doesn't give you the right to order him or me around."

"You know nothing! You stupid, ungrateful sod! I should have left you in that farmhouse to be mounted by every man in this-"

"Enough!" I couldn't stand the two fighting. By now we had attracted the attention of not only thralls, but a few of the barbarians stationed near. Leading Abo and Dain towards one of the back dormitories I carefully closed the door behind us so that we were safe from any prying ears and eyes. And before they could start arguing again I made sure I was the first to speak.

"Dain, I have to confess something. I should have told you before but I didn't and I was nervous and-and you were in that awful farmhouse with those men and well, I'm just gonna say it: Vorro hasn't mounted me."

"What?"

"Vorro hasn't mounted me."

"...I don't understand, what-"

"Vorro hasn't fucked me, OK? He hasn't given me his seed, he hasn't mounted my rear or whatever it is that makes me his. "

"How is that possible you've been with him for weeks."

"It's because Vorro plans to make him his wife."

Dain and I looked towards Abo who was still peeping outside the door frame to make sure we weren't followed. Once he felt sure we were safe, he sat down to catch his breath once more.

"He plans to make you his wife but he must first wait for a shaman to anoint it. The shaman he traveled with died during the voyage here so he's waiting for the one arriving with Jarl Rorick."

I was still lost for words but Dain recovered quickly. He began pacing the room before he asked the next flurry of questions.

"But couldn't he have made him his bed-slave, properly I mean, and then made him his sea-wife?"

"Not a sea-wife but a proper wife."

"But Peter is a man, He can't bear children, how can he be a barbarian's-"

Before Dain could finish there was a loud call for help outside the dorm. A man was screaming for mercy as a couple barbarians dragged him towards the dorm we were hiding in. I couldn't recognize the man from said distance but he was badly beaten and thoroughly bruised. The group was closing distance fast as they laughed and made vulgar jabs at their newly claimed victim. Three large barbarians against the three of us. There was no way we would escape if they found us, even if we caught them by surprise.

"Shit." Dain began chewing on his fingers as Abo pushed me behind him.

"There's no other choice." declared Dain and Abo silently nodded in agreement. In unison they pushed me inside a standing closet and closed the door in front of me. And just in sync, the front door to the dormitory swung open as three barbarians and their unfortunate company marched through.