My name is Freya Cook,
I awoke suddenly, to a seething mist of red surrounding me and my family home.
Well, what is left of it anyway...
I know that this particular colouring was just the dawning sun spreading her first rays of light upon the world, but to me it felt like a blood red reminder of what had happened the night before.
I shuddered as I stood up from where I had been cast aside and left unconscious last night. The only thing I had on my person were the ragged robes I had been sleeping in before the men came...
...It all happened so fast, it's hard to recall what actually occurred...
...I lived in this house with my father, Grenulf all of my life. I was trained in the arts of cooking by my mother while I was still a child. She sadly passed away three years ago from a disease that we never saw coming. I took on her role as cook for the local community, and me and my father lived a modest but content life just outside of Riften. Until last night...
...I had already gotten ready for bed and was lying down on the bedroll in front of the fire, waiting for father to come back from town with supplies, when I heard a commotion outside. I quickly moved to the window to see what was happening and through the darkness, I saw three men bring my father to his knees.
I gasped in shock and quickly stifled my noise with my hand, but it was too late, one of the men had heard me. Why were men beating my father? And what would they do to me when they found me? I soon found out...
The man had entered my home sword first, "Oh it's just a wench, no need to worry." He called to his comrades as I crouched in fear in the corner of the room. His face was covered, so I could not see who my assailant was and he wore armour of a kind I had never seen before. Wild thoughts were flashing through my mind, should I run? Scream for help? Plead with the man?
He sheathed his sword and came towards me, I cringed away from him and I heard him snicker. I have never been so terrified in my life, why was this happening to me? Another man entered from outside and I covered my head with my arms in abject horror of what was about to happen...
...Unspeakable things were done to me that night, things I could never have even dreamed up in my worst nightmares. For some reason, the men spared my life after having their way with me, I almost wished they had cut my throat...
...But here I stand, my home has been ransacked, tainted, all of my possessions are gone. I have only these ragged robes to wear and no idea why my world has been ripped apart in a single night.
I stand looking at my ruined home for an indeterminable length of time and suddenly remember the hidden stash of items that my father kept outside of the house in case of emergencies. The best thing to do now, I surmise, is to do something other than wallow in my humiliation and fear.
I tentatively reach under the decking for the bundle, please be here, don't let them have found it! I think as I am searching. Then my fingers brush the rough fabric of the bundle and I sigh in relief as I retrieve it from the hiding place.
Inside are four Cabbages, a bottle of Blackbriar Mead, one and a half loaves of bread, footwraps, a sheath of Iron Arrows, two Iron Daggers, a Longbow, three raw rabbit legs, a roughspun tunic and 313 Gold. Well, it's more than what I started with and the weapons will definitely come in handy.
The place where I have lived all my life has been tainted and ruined for me, beyond the obvious physical damage, the mental damage also runs deep. My memories are the only thing that keep me from retching as I search the perimeter for any sign of the men who have taken my father.
I find a discarded suit of studded armour which is covered in blood spatters and dirt and while it's hardly a clue, I take it with me just in case it could help me find those men. I suddenly realise that I have already made up my mind about what to do...
...I need to find my father.
But first, I need to cleanse myself, body and mind...
...I slowly make my way to the river. My arms and legs feel bruised and sore, so it takes a while.
But I finally get to the water's edge. I strip off the rags and soak myself in the clear, cool water. This is the place where I have bathed every morning, for all of my life and the water sooths my aching body and refreshes my mind. I scrub the dirt from my skin and try to block out the images from last night, when I realise that my home might not have been the only one attacked!
Well, what is left of it anyway...
I know that this particular colouring was just the dawning sun spreading her first rays of light upon the world, but to me it felt like a blood red reminder of what had happened the night before.
I shuddered as I stood up from where I had been cast aside and left unconscious last night. The only thing I had on my person were the ragged robes I had been sleeping in before the men came...
...It all happened so fast, it's hard to recall what actually occurred...
...I lived in this house with my father, Grenulf all of my life. I was trained in the arts of cooking by my mother while I was still a child. She sadly passed away three years ago from a disease that we never saw coming. I took on her role as cook for the local community, and me and my father lived a modest but content life just outside of Riften. Until last night...
...I had already gotten ready for bed and was lying down on the bedroll in front of the fire, waiting for father to come back from town with supplies, when I heard a commotion outside. I quickly moved to the window to see what was happening and through the darkness, I saw three men bring my father to his knees.
I gasped in shock and quickly stifled my noise with my hand, but it was too late, one of the men had heard me. Why were men beating my father? And what would they do to me when they found me? I soon found out...
The man had entered my home sword first, "Oh it's just a wench, no need to worry." He called to his comrades as I crouched in fear in the corner of the room. His face was covered, so I could not see who my assailant was and he wore armour of a kind I had never seen before. Wild thoughts were flashing through my mind, should I run? Scream for help? Plead with the man?
He sheathed his sword and came towards me, I cringed away from him and I heard him snicker. I have never been so terrified in my life, why was this happening to me? Another man entered from outside and I covered my head with my arms in abject horror of what was about to happen...
...Unspeakable things were done to me that night, things I could never have even dreamed up in my worst nightmares. For some reason, the men spared my life after having their way with me, I almost wished they had cut my throat...
...But here I stand, my home has been ransacked, tainted, all of my possessions are gone. I have only these ragged robes to wear and no idea why my world has been ripped apart in a single night.
I stand looking at my ruined home for an indeterminable length of time and suddenly remember the hidden stash of items that my father kept outside of the house in case of emergencies. The best thing to do now, I surmise, is to do something other than wallow in my humiliation and fear.
I tentatively reach under the decking for the bundle, please be here, don't let them have found it! I think as I am searching. Then my fingers brush the rough fabric of the bundle and I sigh in relief as I retrieve it from the hiding place.
Inside are four Cabbages, a bottle of Blackbriar Mead, one and a half loaves of bread, footwraps, a sheath of Iron Arrows, two Iron Daggers, a Longbow, three raw rabbit legs, a roughspun tunic and 313 Gold. Well, it's more than what I started with and the weapons will definitely come in handy.
The place where I have lived all my life has been tainted and ruined for me, beyond the obvious physical damage, the mental damage also runs deep. My memories are the only thing that keep me from retching as I search the perimeter for any sign of the men who have taken my father.
I find a discarded suit of studded armour which is covered in blood spatters and dirt and while it's hardly a clue, I take it with me just in case it could help me find those men. I suddenly realise that I have already made up my mind about what to do...
...I need to find my father.
But first, I need to cleanse myself, body and mind...
...I slowly make my way to the river. My arms and legs feel bruised and sore, so it takes a while.
But I finally get to the water's edge. I strip off the rags and soak myself in the clear, cool water. This is the place where I have bathed every morning, for all of my life and the water sooths my aching body and refreshes my mind. I scrub the dirt from my skin and try to block out the images from last night, when I realise that my home might not have been the only one attacked!
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