With a frightened scream, Heleth ran as fast as she could across the freshly plowed field. Around her, the other girls of the village fled as well, running as if the devils of the abyss were on their heels. And so they were, though these devils took the forms of a warband of barbarian raiders.

That morning, Heleth and the other girls, like most everyone in the village, had been out in the fields that surrounded their village, plowing the earth, still moist from spring rains, and planting seeds. By ill luck, the teen and her group of friends had been in the field furthest from the village, where the old forest had grown almost up to the edge of the fields since the last time it had been cut back. Had the barbarians been lying in wait, as the menfolk had plowed and tilled the soil and moved on to the next field while she and her friends came by? Or was it simply ill fate? Either way, they had barely begun when the raiders burst from the woods with their fierce war cries.

Behind Heleth, she heard a wail of despair from one of her friends as she stumbled and fell. Heleth went pale, knowing to fall was certain doom. The barbarians would be on her before she could get up and start running again. But Heleth could do nothing for her friend, she was too preoccupied with her own flight.

Up ahead, she could see the village. The rest of the peasants were hurrying for the gate, warned by the shouts and cries of the girls. The rickety palisade that ringed the cluster of huts wasn’t much, but with a score of determined men with pitchforks and scythes behind it, it would be enough to deter a small band of raiders like this. But that did little good for Heleth and the rest, still a furlong and a half away. She dared not risk looking back, but from the war cries growing steadily louder, the barbarians were gaining steadily on her and the rest. Could she stay ahead of them long enough to reach the safety of the village?

Heleth wasn’t going to find out. Before she’s crossed a quarter of the distance, something struck her in the back. She screamed, certain she was about to be impaled on the end of a spear, but the object, whatever it was, was blunt and only bruised her. Unfortunately, it was enough to knock her off her stride. She stumbled forward another couple of steps, arms pinwheeling as she tried to keep her balance but in the end she fell forward, collapsing on the ground in a heap on the freshly tilled dirt.

Heleth had just enough time to give a low cry of terror and scrabble on the ground, getting to her knees. Before she could rise further, much less keep running, she was again hit with something heavy from behind, this time a full person, who knocked her back to the ground. Heleth screamed, bucking and kicking but her struggles had no effect on the raider atop her. She felt strong hands grab her arms by the wrists, wrenching them behind her back. A rough leather thong was quickly wound around her wrists, then the same long cord was wrapped around her feet, reducing her to a feeble, squirming package.

Without a word, the raider sprang to their feet with alarming swiftness and was off, chasing after the next fleeing girl. The other raiders pounded past Heleth as well, ignoring her, save for one who ran straight towards her and only jumped over the bound girl at the last second to avoid trampling her. When they were gone, Heleth took stock of her situation. All of the raiders had gone, leaving her in the field, bound and and foot, but they would return soon enough.

Fear giving speed to her frantic struggles, Heleth struggled against the leather thong binding her. Raising her head, she could see behind her along the route the raiders had come, four or five other girls spaced out in the field here and there, where they had stumbled and fallen and been hogtied by the raiders like cattle to be branded. The analogy frightened Heleth and she doubled her efforts.

It proved useless, though. The leather cord was tough and strong and it had been tied expertly by the raider, digging mercilessly into Heleth’s wrists and ankles painfully, more painfully the more she struggled. Not far away, anguished cries told her few of the girls would make it back to the village. The raiders would stop short, a stone’s throw from the village palisade and would double back, to collect the prizes they had won, including her.

Heleth heard the heavy foot pads of an approaching barbarian and steeled herself to meet her fate, whatever it was. A foot clad in a fur boot met Heleth’s side and tipped the teen so she rolled over, looking up at her captor. Heleth was shocked to find the barbarian who had captured her was a girl as well, about her own age, but so different looking in her furs, her pale face and bare arms painted with blue swirls, her long red hair tied back in a long braid. The other girl smiled looking down at Heleth, evidently pleased with her prize.

From a leather belt at her waist, the barbarian girl took a long coil of rope and unraveled it. She also took out a bronze knife. Kneeling down, she cut the leather thong binding Heleth’s hands and feet. The frightened captive began to struggle, but her captor showed her the knife, grunting a few words Heleth could not understand but was obviously a threat. With a whimper, she accepted her fate, lying still on the ground as her hands were once more tied with one end of the long rope. It was run up to her neck and tied around it, leaving a few feet dangling from the knot at the front. Heleth wondered what it was for.

Meanwhile, the barbarian grabbed her captive and lifted her up with surprising strength. Heleth was set down on shaky legs. As she struggled not to fall over again, the barbarian again took her knife and cut the laces on the front of Heleth’s tunic and tore open the front so the young woman’s chest was bared for her inspection. When Heleth tried to shrink back from the other girl’s hands, her captor took hold of her rope leash at the front and dragged her back, keeping the startled captive in place while she was felt up.

“Please!” Heleth begged. “Let me go! Please don’t!” Her pleas fell on unmoving, if not deaf ears. After a minute of this, the other girl was annoyed enough to take something from her belt. It was a short wooden rod, a couple inches long. Hole had been drilled crosswise at either end and two leather thongs threaded through and knotted. The rod was trust between Heleth’s teeth, like the bit of a horse and tied in place with the leather thongs. Her protests continued, but were now garbled to insensibility.

At last, the barbarian girl finished her inspection. She grinned, evidently pleased with her prize and spoke more words in her strange tongue which seemed to have a soothing tone, not that Heleth was likely to be soothed by anything. It had now sunk in she was a captive of these barbarians, to be taken back to their lands as a slave, no doubt. She cast a look back at her village, wondering if she would ever see it again…

Her longing look was interrupted by a sharp tug from the rope lead. The barbarian spoke some more words, evidently ordering her to move. It was punctuated with another tug of the leash. Fighting back tears, Heleth turned and shuffled after her captor. The two headed to the edge of the woods where the rest of the raiders were congregating with their own catches. Heleth whimpered.

From the looks of it, not more then one or two girls had escaped the raiders. The rest huddled close together, their hands bound, ropes around their necks. Many had bits between their teeth like Heleths and more then a few had their clothes in disarray where they had been inspected by their captors, some to an even greater, and lewder degree then her. The barbarians grinned and boasted with one another in their tongue. At some point, their leader gave the order and the fell into line, hauling on the leashes. Their frightened captives had no choice but to follow as they were led off into slavery...