Chapter 5: A NEW BEGINNING

The sound of talking and laughter was the first thing that greeted Joda as his consciousness returned. He was being crushed from all sides by soft tissuey things that impeded his vision. Even when he opened his eyes, his vision was still blocked by the things.

He knew he was under a pile of bodies from the dripping liquid all around him ad the smell of blood that hung in the small space. That crazy voice had sent him into another corpse. he could tell. What was it with that voice and dead bodies? Joda wondered.

Well, it was time he got out of here, but not before he had gotten information out of the group speaking. He wasn't about to just rise from a pile of dead bodies and say, 'hey, look. I'm alive!'. If his numerous reincarnations had taught him anything, it was that the people in this land were crazy, and him rising from the dead wasn't going to bode well for him. Not at all. Better he lay under this pile of corpses until he found the right chance to escape.

Joda closed his eyes and tuned into the voices speaking outside. He was surprised to find out he understood the people perfectly, unlike his other reincarnations where he had been totally clueless. Well, if that voice could send him into a dead body, then making him understand a foreign tongue should have been a small feat for it. Joda reasoned with a shrug and listened carefully to the men.

"Did you see that guy's face when he saw our army coming? The poor man left his wife and children behind in fear as he fled." One of the voices laughed.

"A real coward. This is why we have to purge the knights from this world. They are low-life cowards." A second voice answered loudly.

"That wasn't a Knight though. That was just another nobody in knight territory. A real knight won't leave his wife and children behind like that. I should know. I have fought them." Another voice answered calmly.

"Maybe, but it still doesn't excuse the fact that the knight king had abandoned this place when we attacked. Not like I'm complaining. It had made our job easier for us. But we all know that we Vikings would have never abandoned any of our colonies. We would have fought to the last man to keep our territory. The king abandoning this place is almost the same as the man abandoning his family." A fourth voice spoke his mind and Joda, in his hiding place under the pile of bodies agreed. Abandoning one's family in the face of danger was the lowest form of cowardice ever.

"Still, it helped us in the end. If the Knight King would continue abandoning his colonies like this, then we would have all his territory under our rule in no time." The first man spoke again.

"Today has been no fun. It had just been a waste of our time. These people didn't even put up a proper fight. My axe only fed on two people. Two!" The second man complained. " And to think that we brought such a large army for such a small task. Hopefully, I'll get some real fun with the girls we've captured when we get home" The man finished to whistles and cheers from his mates. Joda shook his head as he heard this. 'Animals. You wait until I am out of here, the prince thought angrily.

"Hey!, You four, what are you doing sitting around the bodies like that?!" A deep voice yelled out a question and the four men Joda had been listening to fell silent. "Weren't you asked to do something about those bodies?" The deep voice asked.

"We were sir.."

"Then get on with the task! And tone down with the rum. I want to see this pile of bodies ablaze the next time I come here!" The voice ordered and all the men answered with "yessir's"

Meanwhile, Prince Joda was panicking under the pile. Did he just hear the last man order the others to set this pile of bodies ablaze? No, he wouldn't go down that path again. He had had enough of fire to last him all his life. He refused to go through that pain again. Not today.

"Get me out of here!" Joda screamed and pushed the Bodies on top of him to the sides with all his strength. Gods, this body was really weak. He pushed again and the bodies came tumbling to the ground. Prince Joda rose from under the pile of bodies with a gasp for breath under the afternoon sky. He was really dying under all that stench.

Joda noticed the four men jump back from the pile of bodies as he rose from it. The men all had the same pale skin he also had. They were in some kind of armor and had curiously-shaped helmets on their heads. All of them held round shields in one hand while the other held either a large sword or an axe.

He also noticed that they were in what looked like a town or village square of sorts. Where was everyone?, Had these animals wiped the village out? Joda wondered.

"Thor's hammer. What sorcery is this?, Wasn't this guy dead when we threw him there?" One of the Vikings asked.

"I don't care. He's going back to the dead!" One of the men, who Joda realized from his voice was the second man who had been complaining about the ease of the day's raid jumped at him with his axe raised high over his head.

Joda may have been weak, but he was far from useless. He ducked under the axe that was coming for his head and rolled away from the attacker.

He found himself at another person's feet and lifted his head just in time to see a shield coming straight at his face. The attack was too close for him to dodge so he quickly covered his face with his arms.

'BANG!' Joda flew back from the force of the slam. His forearms were on fire. What stupid strength was that? Joda wondered as he found himself on his back, at least five feet from the attacker. The prince attempted to lift himself up but then a powerful kick to his face which broke his nose and caused him to spit out blood toppled him over again.

'BANG!', another shield met his face and Joda's whole world started going round. The attack did not stop there. The Viking warriors were having too much fun to stop. They beat the poor man until he looked like he was ready to journey into the afterlife any second from then.

"Enough!" The senior Viking with the deep voice who had been watching everything from a few feet ordered his men as he saw one of them pull out his sword to end the now weak and very bloody victim.

"Tie him up and add him to the rest of the young ones we will be taking back. He seems weak, but I am sure he's strong-willed enough to survive the return journey." The man continued. "Let's see if we can't find a use for him as a slave" He revealed.

Prince Joda was only half-conscious now. Barely able to open his swollen eyes or utter a word for his busted lips, still, an involuntary groan escaped him as he heard what the big man with the deep voice had said.

Reincarnated into a corpse, escaped a fiery end, beaten to an inch of his new life and now he was to be enslaved? Why couldn't he just rest like everyone who died?

'curse you voice. Curse you!', Joda thought angrily as he felt the men grab him roughly from the ground and start tying his arms behind his back. His journey into slavery had begun.

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