Wednesday's Three Word Wednesday

The words over at Three word Wednesday are capture, jinx and qualify.

Vikings
I am captured by Vikings.
They bind my wrists in slimy ropes and toss me into the bow of their stinking Viking ship, where I can make out the outline of the ship’s dragon head. It’s smiling at me.
I shield my head to cry and fall into an anxious sleep, tears glistening my cheeks.
I awake to the sounds of creaking oars in a synchronized symphony of noise. We’ve set sail and the sun is beginning to taint the sky in pinks and pale yellows toward the east.
We’re headed west.
I stand, try to stretch as much as the ropes across my wrists allow. A crew member growls, leaves his post and comes at me.
I head-butt him, breaking his nose. He wails, twists, sends a splay of blood across the other Vikings.
The Viking leader chuckles. He stands nearly 7 feet tall, dirty red beard to his chest. He’s swaddled in wolf pelts, a rough wool kilt. A heavy iron seaxe hangs from his hip.
He points at me, letting his index finger motion me forward. It seems my violence qualifies me to join their clan.
They untie me, give me a filthy kilt, a moldy goat pelt for warmth.
Lastly, they give me a heavy iron sword and leather sheath, which I take out and run through the leader’s heart, killing him instantly.
The other Vikings sit at the oars, stunned.
I bark orders in a thick, foreign tongue. I tell them to make for land as I clean my blade with the goat pelt.
We’ve got lands to pillage. As long as I don’t jinx things.
I’m prone to motion sickness, and I can feel my legs begin to wobble, bereft of the adrenalin rush of the past few hours.

Comments

anthonynorth said…
The tale of most warriors, if they were honest.
Excellent as always.
Anonymous said…
Oh man! I wanna be a Viking too! Grrr!
Wait... is that pirate?
Never mind.
Great story.
You know you can write a found poem from this prose!


fired blue vase
Sherri B. said…
This was so real...you brought it to life completely. And you fit "jinx" in there seamlessly! Awesome read.
Mark said…
Now I want to sail the ocean blue...

Great little story. Really enjoyed it.
absolutely flawless!

loved it!

http://fart-in-a-jar.blogspot.com/2009/08/confused.html
Tumblewords: said…
Ah geez - landlocked by seasickness. How clever this is - love the combination of the fierce 'alpha' followed by a retreat into 'wobble'. Great stuff.
Anya Padyam said…
If you can't beat them, join them:)

Nice writing, when I read through it, lot of it rhymed:) and I love rhymes...
Stan Ski said…
Smiling dragon omen - I like that!
Bobbie said…
Sweet write! This reads more like poetry :) Onward and pillage!!
Dee Martin said…
Yikes, I didn't get poetry from this. I haven't been around long but this seems very different for you. It was interesting to me that you started out crying yourself to sleep in the bow and ended up wiping your bloody blade on your goat pelt whatever LOL. I got a real kick out of this. Maybe a bit poetry, a bit terminator :)
Megha said…
WOW, this one was different and good...
PJD said…
Gotta admit I'm not sure I believe the bit about being allowed to join them. I'd think it more likely that you'd have your chest split open and your ribs broken from your spine so they could pull your lungs out while you watched.

Nasty buggers, those Vikings. Better not to be taken alive.
Ann (bunnygirl) said…
Turnaround is fair play. The Vikings lived on surprising their enemies.
Anonymous said…
very nice Thom, it was well narrated!

Vikings can be dangerous... good that a takeover was done and a new captain took charge! :D

lovely!
Daily Panic said…
the weakness is short lived for this hero, he doesn't accept his fate and pointed it in the direction he wanted it to go.
wish we could all be this ruthless!

I used a head but in my story too. I can write about them, but being 5 ft nothing tall, the most I get to head butt is an elbow while walking through a crowd, and even that is not my doing.

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