Vikings: Nordic women

Chapter 61 Youngest Brother, Play with the Cotton
Margaret chose a relatively clean piece of grass, sat down slowly, and waited quietly for the arrival of the captured lords.

"I need an interpreter," she instructed little Sigrun.

Soon, a translator was found, who was the female translator from before.

At the same time, a small group of Huscarz soldiers returned, escorting six lords who were walking hurriedly with their hands bound by clothes.

When they came before Margaret, the knights dismounted.

The captives looked around in horror at the knights' followers who were carrying out the task of killing the wounded, and finally, their eyes fell on Margaret.

Margaret raised her head, feeling a little uncomfortable in her neck: "Let them kneel down. I am not used to looking up when talking."

The female translator's eyes flashed with cunning as she conveyed Margaret's order: "Our queen orders you to kneel down. She is not used to talking to people who are above her sight."

Upon hearing this, the captives surrendered one after another, kneeling on the ground, with their buttocks raised, chins resting on the ground, and eyes looking up, like a group of dogs wagging their tails for mercy, looking up at Margaret carefully and obediently.

This scene surprised her, as she had thought these lords would show more backbone.

Margaret continued to ask questions, with a hint of curiosity in her voice: "Why did you send me gold and silver?"

The translator succinctly conveyed the question, but the following response confused Margaret. The translator's voice was slightly threatening: "Do you want to die?"

The captives immediately showed great panic and eagerly argued: "No, no, powerful northern king, we are willing to pay the ransom, just please spare our lives!"

Margaret turned to look at the translator in confusion, wondering: Are the language communication of the Curonians so efficient? Why is the translation so brief?
The female translator conveyed a distorted message in a respectful tone: “My king, they said they wanted to humiliate you with gold, they are very unconvinced, claiming that if you don’t release them now, they will go back and gather the army to destroy us!”

When the Huzcarz soldiers heard this, they were so angry that they could not express it in words. They whipped the prisoners violently with their whips, making them roll on the ground and wail in pain for mercy.

A barely perceptible glimmer of satisfaction flashed across the female translator's eyes.

"Stop the whipping!" Margaret immediately stopped them, which frightened the captives even more. Her heart was filled with doubts.

She asked with a hint of interest, "Are all Kuronians so arrogant?"

The translator replied: "The Queen says: The lords of the Curonians must all die!"

The captives begged, "Dear King, what will it take for you to let us go?"

The translator twisted their meaning again and said to Margaret: "Your Majesty, they say that you are all a bunch of damned robbers, lowly bastards, and you all deserve to die!"

The Huzcarz soldiers' whips fell hard again, and some even pulled out daggers, stabbed them in the thighs, and scratched them cruelly.

The captives screamed in pain and begged: "Please spare us, spare us, we are willing to give everything! Ah~ah~"

Margaret had lost interest in asking further questions. She ordered: "Sacrifice them to Woden, using the Blood Eagle Ritual!"

"Her Majesty the Queen said: You can die now!" The translator looked at them with hatred.

Margaret keenly caught the hatred in the female translator's eyes. She stood up, drew her sword, pointed it at the translator, and said meaningfully: "Wait a minute, she is not honest, find another translator!"

The female translator's face immediately turned horrified, which further confirmed Margaret's guess. She looked at the long sword in front of her with fear.

Soon, a male translator was brought to the scene, who quickly knelt down and crawled in front of Margaret.

"Help me translate and ask them what they were talking about just now?" Margaret looked at the prisoner suspiciously, then at the female translator.

The male translator immediately asked, "Her Majesty, what were you talking about just now?"

The captives hurriedly replied: "We are willing to give everything, just ask you to forgive us!"

The male translator translated their responses accurately.

Margaret continued to ask: "What else did this woman say to you just now?"

At this point, even the captured lords realized that the female translator was interfering, and they stared at her angrily.

The male translator faithfully relayed the captives' words: "She said you said they all deserved to die!" Margaret stared at the female translator with a hint of interest: "How dare you misinterpret my words? You are so brave. What's your name? Do you have a grudge against them?"

The female translator knelt down, her voice filled with hatred: "Your Majesty, my name is Lisa! I beg you to kill them!"

Margaret understood immediately: "Why? So you were deliberately misleading the translator just now?"

The female translator lowered her head and admitted her actions, but did not explain why she hated the captive lords so much.

Margaret asked again: "What were they talking about just now?"

The female translator, Lisa, did not answer.

Margaret scratched her chin and said, "It seems that my translator is not honest. Let me ask again, why did they give me gold before?"

"They~" the female translator was about to speak.

"Shut up!" Margaret glared at the female translator, then looked at the male translator, "You say it!"

Her words were accurately translated by the male translator.

The reply was: "They just want you to leave peacefully, so they gave you the gold. They said they didn't know it would anger you, and begged you to let them go."

“They also said that your strength frightened them and that they were willing to make you the king of this region.

They are willing to pay you an annual tribute if you can protect them from northern pirates!"

Margaret sneered contemptuously: "You want me to leave peacefully with 10,000 soldiers? And you say you are willing to support me?"

The male translator frowned and tried to translate Margaret's words as accurately as possible.

Margaret turned to the Knight of Huscarz and ordered: "Give this woman a dagger, she can deal with these... well..."

The female translator Lisa was overjoyed. She quickly crawled to Margaret and kissed her shoe excitedly: "Your Majesty, thank you!"

However, Margaret's next words made her feel like she was falling into an ice cellar: "And then kill her!"

Lisa raised her head in horror, but after a moment's hesitation, she kissed Margaret's vamp again, with determination in her voice: "Thank you, Your Majesty, thank you for giving me the opportunity for revenge!"

After saying this, she took the dagger handed to her by Huscarz and walked towards the captives who were struggling in fear and trying to escape.

The dagger in her hand was full of hatred and she stabbed it into their chests without hesitation.

After killing six lords in succession, Lisa knelt before Margaret again to express her gratitude.

At this time, Knight Huscarz also raised his sword and stared at Lisa's neck, as if ready to behead her at any time.

"Wait a minute!" Margaret raised her hand to stop the Knight of Huscarz's actions. Her face was a little tangled, and then she announced, "Now I forgive you for deceiving me, and your life belongs to me!"

Margaret's thoughts were churning as she thought of the lessons from history, of those ruthless people who would do anything to assassinate someone.

She thought of Yao Li, the assassin of King Helü of Wu, who was willing to sacrifice his wife and children and even cut off his arm to gain trust in order to assassinate Qingji in the Spring and Autumn Period.

Yaoli's story made her deeply alert and made her realize that the female translator Lisa in front of her might have the same determination and ruthlessness.

She couldn't guarantee that Lisa wouldn't become another Yao Li, so she didn't dare to take the risk of letting her stay with her, even though she thought she was helping the other party get revenge and recruiting a assassin who might be useful in the future.

People's hearts will change. This is not the China with ideological support, but the early Middle Ages where scum is everywhere. She cannot allow any potential threats to stay around her.

As her territory grows larger, many people who hate her will come to assassinate her, and there will be no end to them. She might be in trouble one day.

"Can you tell me now why you hate these people so much? What is the revenge you are talking about?" Margaret couldn't help but express her curiosity.

(End of this chapter)