Chapter 1: Dragons and Ship Wrecks
Winter was refusing to let go its grasp of the land; soft snow flew through the air muffling the footsteps of two solitary pilgrims, their shoulders covered in a thick layer of white. Their footsteps were gentle and carefully placed due to the rain that froze the night before. The taller of the two, a woman, slipped, losing her balance. Her companion caught her, helping her to her feet. The only thanks given was a cold glove placed on his cheek. When she regained her footing they were off again.
It was several hours before they saw the shore of the ocean. Its very presence sent chills down the pilgrims' spines. The crashing of the waves sounded like the moans of the dead sailors it had claimed. It was here they decided to set up camp. Being near this place would keep any bandits away from their camp for fear of the dead cursing them.
The fire was starting to roar when it happened. A flash of honey-colored scales passed overhead. The wake of the beast's mighty wings blew the hood off the black haired woman's head. Her ears caught the sound of a human scream coming from the jaws of a large dragon. Looking up she saw the creature fly off into the Sea of Ghosts. There the screaming man was released, sent plummeting towards the rock hard ice. Not ten yards away from where the man greeted the land of the dead, a ship could be seen sinking slowly into the ocean. Its great cherry colored hull cracked in two from the dragon's mighty blows. Fire was bellowing from its windows and licking its sides with greed.
The woman's ears barely caught the sounds of the crew screaming in both terror and pain. In a panic she began to remove the furs that protected her from the spring chill.
Her companion gaped at her, "My lady! What are you doing?!"
In response to his shout, she simply pointed towards the sinking ship. The fur armor she wore blew in the harsh breeze. Closing her eyes she touched her crescent moon pendant as if to calm herself. From what she could see most of the people who were on that ship were most likely dead and couldn't be saved, however one life saved could save many in the future.
"I am off to save the day. What else would I be doing my dearest priest?"
The man just stared at the boat slowly sinking into the ocean; fire erupting from its many windows. His eyes narrowed as he heard faint screams and flashes of light.
"Valgus!"
The man turned towards his companion, snapping to attention from the years of military training.
"Yes, ma'am."
A grim look passed the woman's face as she stared back towards ship.
"Prepare to entertain some guests, I have a feeling we are going to have a few. At least I hope so."
Valgus nodded. He knew what that meant. Prepare for survivors, prepare for the worst. He got to work immediately, with their bags on the ground, he began to pull out fur after fur, placing them on the frozen dirt surrounding the fire so that if anyone survived the disaster they could warm quickly. The potions came next, their red color reflected on the ground; to him the bottles were bleeding. Not a good sign.
Valgus barely noticed his companion take one of their small potion satchels with her. He did however notice a glint of silver coming from the snow near where he stood. With frozen fingers he picked up the necklace that was always wrapped around his companion's neck. Knowing that she would panic if she couldn't find the pendant, Valgus put it around his neck for protection. Now all that was left was to wait.
Magic crackled in her hands as she moved closer toward the shoreline. Her already cold fingers felt like ice blocks as a stream of frozen air rushed out of her palms. The instant the magic touched the roaring ocean waters it froze creating a small yet walkable path. The elf's breath came out in short puffs as she ran towards the ship. Her mana and stamina began to slowly drain and a feeling of panic began to fill the young woman's heart. In her desperation her spell began to waver then strengthen once more after she chided herself. Thoughts slowly became a thing of the past as the ship came into view. Her thoughts of what might come played in her head.
What would she find there?
Would she be able to save anyone?
Would there be any survivors?
These thoughts were trivial though, at least until she got to the ship and discovered the answers to her questions. As she approached the ship she could tell the boat was a war ship by design. Though it was clearly made to be used for maneuverability and speed on the water, it was also clearly not made for the oceans of this land. This only made her fears worsen since the ship looked more flimsy than the ones she was used to seeing.
As she approached, the woman could hear moans and commanding shouts coming from the wreckage. Not wanting to scare anyone she made her way to the end of the ship and, after anchoring the ice bridge to the boat, she climbed the anchor chain hoisting herself up onto the boat.
The instant her feet touched the deck she was met with chaos. Bodies lay on the ground, dead and cold, their blood frozen on the splintered planks. The elf gulped as she stared at the wreckage and it took all her strength not to see red. After calming down she began to notice how sore she was, the adrenalin had made her forget her screaming legs and her numb fingers. Removing her fur gloves she cringed at the sight of blackened fingertips. Her breath caught as she stared down at her fingers.
"Damn it." Using her healthy hand she gently prodded her blackened skin, hissing when a shock wave of pain exploded from it. Not wanting permanent damage she quickly forced her injured hand into a fist and placed the other one on it. Warm healing magic began to flow from her fingers as she fixed her hand.
As she crept along a wooden crate came flying toward her head. A yelp of surprise escaped from her lips and in a panic she threw up an energy barrier. The crate splintered and its contents spilled on the ground at her feet. A few articles of clothing and some sort of body paint lay on the deck.
One of the crates contained a dress thing. The elf stared at it and marveled at its light material wondering if perhaps this ship was from Summerset. Thinking the material could be used as extra bandages she picked it up and stashed it in her satchel. A scream of pain brought her back from the daydream and solidified the need to continue with her mission. Bred for battle her mind was always prepared for the worst but nothing prepared her for what greeted her eyes.
These fools are actually fighting among each other. They were just attacked by a dragon and here they are trying to slit each other's throats.
From the place she stood the woman could see that most of the sailors had died and the ones who were still fighting were mercenaries. They were wearing exotic looking armor everything from cloth imbued with some type of enchantment to a full set of iron mail. They all looked tired and were fighting on reserve energy, of course that didn't make the strikes they took any less deadly.
After looking around she noticed a man lying on the ground, blood oozing from his midsection. With slow and experienced movements, the raven haired woman knelt next to the unconscious bleeding man. He turned out to be an elf like her. She scanned his body, marveling at the tone of his body and the beautiful tattoos that graced his skin. The only thing that ruined the picture were the ghastly puncture marks in his stomach. They were the marks of a dragon, the fact that he survived a full bite from the creature showed this man's desire to live.
Her hands shook as she touched the elf's wound. Her eyes dilated for a brief second then hardened as she got to work trying to heal him. After several moments it was obvious that she wouldn't be able to heal him on her own, all that was in her power at that moment was to stop the bleeding. Like all High Elves the magic came easily to her and the warm light flowed out of her hands and onto the paling man's chest; first, protect the heart, heal all arteries and veins. Then close the torn muscles, make sure the stomach was not punctured.
An arrow whizzed past the woman's head. Freezing she turned to look towards the scuffle behind her. Nobody saw her, the man who fired the arrow was nocking another and pointing it at a short stocky gentleman. He fired but if the man was aiming at the other's heart he missed. The woman gave a small prayer of thanks for that small mercy.
A low grown escaped the lips of the injured elf, his eyes flickered open for a brief second. They were silver and patterned like the moons. He stared up at his savior for a few moments before letting out a painful sigh and going unconscious once more. The fighting began to get out of hand, the shouts of the warriors' echoed over the deck of the ship. The raven haired elf looked at the chaos once more, her mind running through the options she had; her magic was running low, so any major spell was out of question. She could knock everyone out and drag them all to the small boats tied to the ship's hull. But, the man, whose life was dancing on the edge, wouldn't last long with this option. A wicked smile came across her lips. Sinking the ship would definitely catch their attention, but once again it wouldn't help her situation. The best option would be to get their attention and gain their cooperation even if only temporarily. The woman looked down at the bag of potions by her side. There were several mana potions in there; however, she reminded herself of those who were injured. She would really need those potions soon enough.
A flash of movement caught her eye. The ship's only sail flapped precariously in the wind and an idea hit her. A rush of energy filled her as she touched the stars with her will, drawing energy from them as she had been taught. Magika filled her soul and with a quick flick of her wrist and a few quiet words the sail broke free of its restraints and landed on the group that was fighting. A satisfied smile crossed her lips, her plan had worked and with any luck, this would catch their attention.
And catch their attention it did. From underneath the sail there came several shouts of surprise and others of rage as they tried to break free. It was quite some time before the mercenaries escaped and when they did their fighting stopped and they looked around. Five pairs of half awake, wild eyes turned their gaze to the woman.
The man with the bow was the first one to make a move, nocking an arrow and pointing it towards her.
His lips curled into a sneer "Who are you? No sudden moves."
With raised hands she stepped away from the silver haired elf toward the man who had an arrow sticking out of his shoulder. The closer she got, however, the further the man with the bow tensed his string.
A woman, whose eyes were the color of emeralds, stepped forward and tried to calm him down.
"Sebastian."
The man's eyes narrowed, not from anger or hate, but pain, as if her speaking was harming him. "I no longer take orders from you Hawke."
Taking this chance the raven haired woman stepped closer, she was now next to the man with the arrow in him. His eyes were closed and a look of pain was on his face. He was awake and in great need of care.
"I saw your ship being attacked. I came to help, I am a healer."
The archer sniffed as he pulled out of the green eyed woman's grasp. "Normal people don't help out of the goodness of their hearts."
Ignoring the archer, she sat down next to the stocky man. Her eyes scanned his body for any other injuries. Her fingers ghosted over his chest, he winced when she pressed down. That could mean many different things but it was most likely a broken rib and a punctured organ, perhaps the diaphragm? It was then that he opened his eyes; his honey-colored eyes looked into her lavender eyes. A pained smile crossed his face.
"Not that I don't appreciate …" he gasped and licked his chapped lips "being touched by a beautiful woman, but, I must ask you to stop."
A smile played across her lips. "I'm sorry my good sir, but I couldn't help myself."
Laughing the stocky man began to cough uncontrollably and started to pant hard. "It's the chest hair isn't it?"
"It was," she cooed, brushing a few strands of hair away from his broad face, "though I must ask you not to move."
"Won't get any complaints from me."
It was then that the man with the bow lost his patience. As if to prove this point he un-nocked his arrow and tossed his bow aside. With the weapon out of the way, the archer strode over and grabbed the woman by collar of her armor.
Her eyes widened in shock and it took a few moments for her to register what he was practically screaming at her.
"Now you will listen, and you will answer my questions. Who are you and what are you doing on my ship?"
Gasping, the woman tried to loosen the man's grip from her collar. "My name is Hira Dragon-Scale. I… ow… I saw that your ship was attacked by the dragon and wanted to help."
The man's ice blue eyes looked her up and down and scoffed. "You already said that. More like you were hoping that we were all dead so you could loot our corpses."
It was then that a man in enchanted robes stepped forward and untangled the archer's death grip. With a yelp of success she took several steps away from him.
"Sebastian, please stop does she really look like a corpse robber?"
With a flick of his wrist and a good tug of his arm the man called Sebastian broke free of the robed man's grip.
"You are one to talk. I didn't think you had it in you to slaughter hundreds of innocents."
Things started to flare up again as the argument changed to insults, then from insults to a full out brawl between the two men. Gripping the bridge of her nose Hira let out a large sigh. Her eyes scanned the others standing around. They all looked like she felt, tired and wanting to sit near a warm fire. They also had the same frustrated and annoyed look plastered on their faces. It appeared to her that this whole fight broke out because of these two and the others were just trying to stop them.
The robed man pulled his fist back and struck the archer square in the jaw with a left hook. A large crack could be heard. Hira winced, the man had most likely dislocated the other's jaw or fractured it, and either of those injuries would be a bitch to fix.
Hira's first thought as she strode over was; this is getting out of hand. Dodging a swing from Sebastian, she got between the two men and shoved them away from each other, hard.
Eyes blazing she looked at the whole group: "You all should be ashamed of yourselves."
They looked around in silence, expressions of shame appeared on their faces.
Hira's eyes then flashed towards Sebastian. "These are your crew mates. Take responsibility and help."
He opened his mouth to protest but Hira held up her hand, then pointed towards one of the dead sailors. "Don't tell me any excuses, tell it to them."
Her eyes then turned towards the robed man; he had a small grin on his face. This only enraged her even more. "The loss of a life is nothing to smile over."
His smile faded instantly.
"I don't care what garbage you carried from your home-land. And I don't care if you don't trust me. There are injured people here and I plan on healing them."
With those final words she stalked back towards the two unconscious men. Hira knew that it would be hard to move them since they both had internal injuries. She also knew that Valgus, even at his best, would only be able to stop the bleeding. They needed more healers, the sooner the better. Her movements became mechanical as she started to collect items to make a stretcher. Once it was made she placed it by the elf first since his injuries were the greatest.
A woman with copper hair walked over and knelt next to Hira, her head tilted questioningly. "How can I help?"
Relief washed over her body instantly. She pointed at the silver haired elf then to the stocky man. "My companion has set up a place to help those injured. We have to get to shore, and as quickly as possible, they won't make it if we waste time here."
She nodded and with no more questions the woman picked up the silver haired mer and placed him on the stretcher. It didn't take long for the two women to get the elf and the other man onto one of the life boats. Once that was done Hira turned towards the copper haired woman, and handed her two healing draughts.
"Have the two men drink this when they wake. I don't want to force feed them, and, thank you."
The copper-haired woman blinked, and then nodded. "They are my friends. Where is your companion?"
Hira turned toward shore, and pointed to the flickering light in the distance.
Getting into the boat the woman checked the direction again and set off toward the shore.
Hira let out a sigh of relief, if she played her cards right those men would be saved and they would live to see another day. She then bent her head and prayed to Arkay wishing those who died here a safe journey to Sovngarde and another chance in the next life. After her prayer she looked at the rest of the group, trying to see if any of them had any noticeable injuries. Her eyes settled on a small Bosmer, who was sitting on the ground clutching her hip and leg.
Hira moved next to the fragile creature, her face hardened at the sight of her cut wrists and she instantly grabbed them. Her magic sputtered and it took all her effort to focus on the cuts and not the blood. When the incisions closed she inspected the rest of the Bosmer's body. She wasn't surprised to discover the woman's hip was dislocated. Wincing, she looked into the woman's tear soaked eyes and gently pressed down on her shoulder. "I need you to lie down so I can relocate you hip, alright?"
Nodding, the woman laid down on the deck. Hira positioned herself next to the elf's hip. Lifting it up she placed her own leg under the other's knee as a pivot point and with one swift movement she pressed down on the girl's ankle and pulled her knee. A small whimper came from the young woman's lips and a popping sound from her hip.
"Better?"
The woman nodded and stood up. She favored her hip but moved with relevant ease. Helping this mer seemed to waken the rest of the crew, they all moved towards the Bosmer, hugging her and whispering words of comfort. Hira could still feel the tension hanging in the air around them. They were still wary of her and she wasn't surprised, considering she just popped out of nowhere to offer a helping hand.
The green eyed woman from earlier looked at her companions while patting Hira's shoulder in a sign of gratitude. Her red hair was knotted and there were bags under her eyes.
"I don't know about you, but I… personally, I want to get off this boat."
The group nodded silently and with that final statement they made their way off the ship.
The person who helped Hira move the two men was crouched next to Valgus. From what she could see the woman was lifting the shorter man so he could be wrapped with bandages. Turning to those in the boat she smiled warmly at them in a gesture of good faith.
"Your friend has a good skill set. She would make a fine field medic."
One of the women in the boat scoffed, making the curvature of her caramel colored breasts wiggle provocatively. "You mean Lady Man-Hands? She's alright… for a mannish, awkward, ball-crushing do-gooder."
Hira's eyes widened, this woman looked like a reincarnation of Dibella but she talked like a common tavern wrench.
The red haired woman gently prodded the false beauty. "That isn't a very nice thing to say Isabela, especially since Aveline isn't here to defend herself."
Isabela just sniffed in response.
Seeing the conversation was going nowhere Hira turned her gaze back towards the shore. As they got closer she could almost see the look of concentration on Valgus's face. Every expression he made as he healed someone, every twitch of his brow or squint as he took on a new challenge calmed her and helped her begin to relax, but the fact that this Aveline woman was by his side and not her made her stomach twist strangely.
That was all over though the instant the boat touched the shore, and Valgus looked up with a smile; the twisting stopped and a smile crept onto Hira's face as well. It took all her might not to run up and hug the man, but the wood elf was still hurt and she needed to stay with those on the ship.
Aveline also looked up as the boats approached. She didn't resist the desire to be with her companions and helped them onto shore. Merrill, the Bosmer woman, limped towards the pile of furs by the fire, her arm gingerly wrapped around Isabela's shoulder. The two women began to chat quietly about the cold and the fate of the other sailors. The two men who were fighting earlier helped carry the few salvageable items from the ship and placed them near the grounded canoe.
Hira watched as the few grim-faced survivors walked carefully over to the warm fire. She moved over to Valgus and placed a hand on his shoulder. His face was haggard from the hours of tireless healing, and his skin was turning a rosey color from the cold.
"How are they?"
Valgus looked at her then towards the men once more. "They will fare better after some rest, but I won't be able to heal them here; we need to send word to Collette and Savos."
"Agreed.