Go to the feast with Dain.

The commotion outside made me nervous but it made Dain restless. I pleaded that we wait for Abo but Dain convinced me otherwise. I was still uncomfortable walking around in public with nothing but a ragged loincloth, but Dain appeared unbothered. Rather he seemed more excited about the feast than anything.

"The feast is being held outside the monastery, I'm sure of it." Dain proclaimed as we sneaked out the tent. "We can still make it before they start if we hurry."

"Dain, I'm sure Abo wanted us to stay inside for a reason. What if he comes back and we're not here."

"And? What of it? He's not your master. You're Vorro's thrall. He's already mounted you so you have nothing to fear. You're a free man. In a sense."

"...Right. But why would him... mounting me, make any difference. We're still captives here."

"Well, once a northlander has mounted a virgin slave or captive, they become his. You're as much his property now as... oh I don't know, a pig he owns at home. As long as you took his seed, no other man can touch you without a fight. And from what I've heard from my master, no man can match his sword."

But Vorro hadn't given me his seed. We hadn't shared a night together since that very morning. Was that why Abo wanted to keep me hidden? Was he instructed by Vorro to keep me safe? But what was taking him so long. If Vorro wanted me to be his, why hadn't he done so? Why put me at risk?

I now became wary of the other barbarians, even more so than before. Not wanting the attention of any other barbarian, I tugged at my loincloth to cover my half exposed cock.

"He's the highest ranking man in Lindisfarne since Jarl Rodrick's still at sea. And I doubt even he can match Vorro in a fight."

"Well, what of it? Even if we _are _protected by... their seed, your master still treated you like dirt."

"Peter. At the end of the day we're still bed slaves. Glorified thralls with slightly more say. That's why we- I mean, you should work hard to become his sea-wife."

"Sea-wife?"

Dain shook his head in disbelief as he took my hand in his. We walked past the guards patrolling Vorro's encampment with ease, now that they knew my face. Once we passed them, Dain linked our arms closer.

"You know, it's amazing how little you know about the northlanders. A sea-wife, Peter, is exactly what it sounds like. A man-wife a northlander takes across sea, as women aren't allowed on ships. It's especially forbidden to have them on raids, so even if they do have wives back home, they can take a sea-wife to replace them."

I could understand Dain's words but the idea of becoming another man's wife was still beyond me. Was this what my other captive brothers wanted? To become another man's wife?

"Of course not every northlander makes that sort of commitment. I mean, we can't bear children so we have no special value to them other than sheer pleasure. That's why it's important to carve a future for ourselves as sea-wives. Unless we want to be passed around as every other man's bed-slave you have to convince Vorro."

"And if I can't?"

There was a flash of anger on Dain's face but it was so quickly replaced by a demure smile that I questioned whether I had actually seen it.

"Then we become like your slave friend Abo and work until we die."

The rest of our journey was met in silence as Dain allowed his words to sink in.