-The Black-Blooded Lioness-
-Chapter-One-

I stared out of the window. My eyes flickered about the dark woods dominating the view. It was scary, you couldn't see further into it than the front line of trees, which stood in a perfect line illuminated by the moonlight.

I had been living in Holers for all my life. And today, I realized, I had been living here for exactly ten years. It was my birthday today!

I had never strayed from the borders of the village, but I dreamed to adventure outside, further into The Rift and maybe even to Riften. I had been told that I should follow in the footsteps of Brandr, my brother, into being a hunter by my Father. But the prospect of being a Hunter had never really excited me.

It would be my first training session with a blade today. I dreamed I could wield a sword like my brother did; he was amazing in the midst of battle. Well, at least when I saw him training with the warrior who lived here. I think his name was Caius; he and my brother went out every day on the main road and trained for hours.

Hardly anyone passed through the streets of our village; apparently the Dunmer once passed through here after the eruption of Red Mountain, yet the only Dark Elf here was the village wizard who lived on the edge of town. Most people in the village didn't like him; all the Nords, anyway. I thought he seemed fine, but the mistrusting nature of most Nords always flared.

As I let my mind drift over recent events, I was distracted by a very distant light far into the woods. What was it? It looked like the orange stars which shimmered in the distant darkness as more appeared. It was quite peaceful at first, but then they were coming closer. They were torches, I realized. But who held them?

There were nearly fifty lights by now, creeping closer and closer through the blackness; they were so close that they were tilting in all directions. The people holding them were running.

"Papa!" I shouted, starting to feel uneasy.

"Yes, Mjoll?" I heard my father reply from the next room.

The orange lights now turned into unmistakable fire, one light held by each man. They looked menacing, and the bearers were clearly looking for trouble. They all wore that cheap animal-skin armour like my brother did. He called it hide armour. But there was one, the one at the very front, who was different. His armour glistened against the flicker of the torch. It looked extremely strong and thick. It also had big shoulder pads and it made a dull clunking sound every time his foot hit the ground.

"Burn 'em!" he cried

"PAPA!" I screamed as he threw the torch at our house, setting it alight.

Father ran into the room, closely followed by my brother. Father saw the shock on my face and he looked out the window.

"Shit, Bandits!" His eyes darted to the fire. "Get out!" His voice boomed around the room, pummeling our ears more than once.

Suddenly we were sprinting down the stairs and out the door.

The bandit leader and his men were attacking the village; already there were dozens of unmoving bodies strewn on the ground with terrible wounds still oozing crimson.

"Kill them all!" The bandit's voice echoed over the screams. He had an inane smile on his face, stretching to his ears. Then he twisted around to face us, smiling even more broadly... if that was even possible. He drew his sword, and then another. He dual-wields! His swords were tinted green and slightly curved, and the ragged edges were sharp, but the metal was dull and didn't shine in the torchlight.

My brother and father appeared in front of me, both drawing weapons of their own, but they looked like they couldn't match the strength of the bandit leader's swords.

Brandr shrugged his shield down off his back and readied it to block any blow.

Jeeringly, the bandit leader laughed at us. His voice was throaty, and it sounded like he had not had a drink in days.

Father only had a sword to protect himself, and he was starting to get too old to fight like he used to.

With one smooth movement the bandit swung both swords downwards with force on both my Brother's and Father's swords, making both stagger clumsily.

He laughed again, even louder; I caught a glimpse of fear in my father's eyes.

With a short lunge and a swipe Brandr feinted for the bandit's gut but it was instantly parried. The bandit jumped to one side, as Father clumsily slammed his sword into the ground, with such force that half of the sword got swallowed up, leaving it jammed.

"Run, Mjoll!" Father screamed, looking at me with wide eyes I knew so well, then back to his sword.

But he was glued to the spot.

The bandit was having no difficulties but he couldn't land an attack that could hit the body. Brandr could only defend himself with his shield as he was repeatedly attacked.

The other bandits seemed to have disappeared into the houses to get as much loot as possible before the village burned down.
The bandit charged, both blades high in the air. They whipped down and slammed on to the shield, making Brandr wince with pain. My brother threw his shield upwards, jerking the bandit's arms up, exposing his chest. Immediately the bandit rolled under Brandr's sword arm, leaving himself completely open for an attack from behind, and he did. Swiftly the bandit swung his sword at Brandr's right thigh, which left a deep gash, making Brandr fall onto one knee.

My senses came back to me. I turned and ran as fast as I could, and for as long as I could. But before I could get away I heard a scream of pain. I turned around to see the bandit's sword through my brother's chest. I saw my Father lying motionlessly on the ground.

My Brother turned his head to me, with terror in both his eyes.

I started to cry. It felt like I myself had been stabbed in the chest.

All I remember is spinning around and running deeper into the woods and hearing my brother call after me:

"Run fast and run far Lioness!" and the bandit laughing just after.

He had called me by my nickname; I was as feisty and as beautiful as a lioness. It made me feel even number by the way he had said it.

I knew it would be the last time I ever saw my family again.