This implies the Barony ever pays ransom. It also ignores the fact that a good number of them have escaped already. (Third stone from the left, mate.)
Why would we let the Makarians go without a ransom? You see, what happens is, after about a week, their families get really desperate, and send us furs, seashells, yak cheese, nubile servant girls... We generally let them go out of pity at that point... the Vikings, not the girls.
We like having Viking prisoners around. Their ransom might not be worth much (nobody likes yak cheese around here), but we found that Darkan and Estonite nobles pay their ransoms much faster when they have a Viking for a neighbor in the cells. I bet it's the smell.
