Two Graves
by LtAdams2247
The Song of Nephiah and Brelyna
Of the Love to heal her Wound
Of Kindness bravely meeting Rage
Of two Souls so well attuned
Of a Warrior
and her Mage.
Chapter 1 Vigilante
The Bard abruptly stopped his song and the sound of chatter and laughter vanished as the door swung open. A cloud of snow and ice was cast into the hall by the raging winter storm outside. The fireplace flickered violently, candles were blown out. The dozen battle hardened faces stared at the door, some carefully preparing to draw their swords, others charging a spell behind their backs.
It took a moment for the icy dust to settle and reveal the shadow standing in the doorway. It was a Dunmer girl, no more than 20 years of age, dressed in a fine mage's robe, her long ponytail wet from the snow. She looked across the room and smiled. As tension made way for relief, the inhabitants of the hall burst into laughter, sheathing their swords, sitting back down onto their tables and corner benches.
One of the Vigilants stood up from his stool by the fireplace and took his flagon to a barrel of mead. "What brings you to the Hall of the Vigilants in the middle of the night, little Elf?", he asked as he refilled his drink and the bard continued his song.
"Me? Nothing." She took a step aside, revealing the snow storm outside.
"By Ysmir's beard, girl! Close the door! Do you not... do you not see the... the storm..."His train of thought was interrupted by what began as a faint knocking but revealed itself to be heavy footsteps drawing close. Song and chatter fell silent once more. A shape in heavy armor and a hood walked through the door. Hands went towards sword grips yet again, as the vigilants realized, the warrior walking in was dragging two vampire corpses, one in each hand.
The wooden floor boards shook loudly as the dead undead hit the ground. The mage shut the door, quieting the sharp whistling of the wind. It was dead silent, not even the fire dared to crackle. It's light cast a faint reflection in the eyes that lay hidden under the dark hood. The warrior scanned the room, finally locking eyes with a man sitting at a table in the center of the hall. Every Vigilant in the room was prepared to draw iron at a moment's notice. The heavy boots turned right, stepped over the corpse and closed in as people made way for the menacing presence.
The man sitting across the warrior's target vacated his seat without being asked. The warrior sat down. The Vigilant looked nervously to his companions, sitting to his left and right. "Did you kill these abominations yourself, friend? G-good man!" He flinched as the warrior reached up to remove the hood.
"Another one?! You're not a man at all! What is it with Greyskins tonight?!" He laughed until he realized that his opposite neither smiled nor broke eye contact with him. "Listen, Elf, you did Stendarr's work by killing those Deadra worshipers. But if you think, there is a bounty for you, you will leave disappointed."
As the rest of the room fell back into lively evening chatter, his words were met by only silence. "What's your name, Elf?"
The mage had stepped up behind her. "My name is Brelyna Maryon of House Telvanni. This is Nephiah."
"Nephiah, huh? From what house are you then, Nephiah?"
No response.
He looked at the mage. "Is your friend deaf?" He looked back at the warrior. "That's a nasty scar on your cheek. Pretty little girls like you shouldn't get themselves into trouble like that." He smiled a condescending smile. No response. His amusement turned into anger. "HEY!" His fist hit the center of the table, flagons shook, ale was spilled. "Does she even understand what I am saying?"
"She understands everything.", Brelyna said."Say, Siegalf.", she continued, "What did you do before you joined the Vigilants?"
He was puzzled. "How do you know my name?"
"Surely you weren't born into the group?"
"How do you know my name?"
"I heard they attract low lifes and criminals because they are desperate with their numbers dwindling fast against the rising vampire threat."
Nephiah began to remove her left glove.
"Are you one of those?", Brelyna continued, "One of those lowlifes?"
Panic overtook Siegalf as he began to suspect who it was, sitting across the table. "HOW?!"
Nephiah removed the final leather strip holding the glove in place and took it off. She then put her hand on the table. A branding iron had left a scar forming the word 'slave' a long time ago. Siegalf's eyes widened.
Before he had time to reach for his sword, Nephiah had reached up and grabbed the back of the heads of the Vigilants sitting to her left and right and slammed them violently into the table so that it broke down in the middle. The two men were instantly unconscious. She jumped up, grabbed the wooden chair she was sitting up and smashed it over Siegalf's head, who also did not move after hitting the floor.
Vigilants with swords and axes rushed towards her. She reached over her shoulders, producing an ebony sword in each hand. Quickly she blocked an incoming axe to her left, a sword to her right. She locked the axe in her sword grip and pulled up, removing it from her attacker's grasp, then blocked another blow to her right which she followed up with an elbow punch. Using the momentum, she swung her right hand sword in a circle over her head and then brought it down to slice the axe wielder's chest open from his upper right shoulder to his left hip. Nephiah's dance like movement did not stop until completing the circle in a thrust forward, impaling the sword wielder sideways. She retracted her sword as quickly as it was thrust forward and arrived in a defensive position.
She scanned the room, sizing up each of the Vigilants that stood in front of her with weapons drawn, ready to attack. An orange glow flared up behind her. She fell to one knee, moving her head down to reveal Brelyna as she discharged columns of fire from her hands towards the group.
The forest was glittering in black and dark blue as the storm settled. It was dead quiet, no more wind, no animals. So the raging fire and agonized screams coming from the Hall of the Vigilants was all the more noticeable against its icy winter backdrop. A window shattered as a severed head flew through.
The door swung open, a Vigilant came out running, screaming, on fire.
A Vigilant mage had sent a ray of ice towards Brelyna which she held against with fire. Her orange column met his bright blue one in the middle between them, creating violent arcane eruptions where the two elements met.
Nephiah was locked in combat against a Vigilant who had the mind to hide behind a shield as the fire hit. He bashed his shield thrice against her, making her lose grip of her left hand sword and sending her back a few steps every time, until she was backed up against the wall.
Brelyna's strength began to fade as the distance between her and the ray of ice shortened more and more. Her face showed the stress she was under increasing as a drop of blood left her nose. "Nephiah!"
Nephiah had no opening for an attack. She was being pounded by a heavy steel mace, just narrowly deflecting the blows with her right hand sword while her left hand tried to gain grip and stability on an end table. It was to no avail as the table quickly broke down under her weight and the heavy hits. As she landed on the floor on the pile of splintered wood that once was the table, she lost hold of her sword. She raised her right arm in defense as the mace kept coming, still looking to make contact with her face. Luckily that arm still donned the steel plated glove.
The pain of each impact sent images flashing through her mind. Time slowed down, the noise of ice against fire, metal against metal faded.
A squeaky door opening, heavy steps closing in. A young girl, no older than ten, dressed in ragged robes, lying in a corner on a hard wooden floor, her left arm raised to protect her face, much like the position Nephiah was in right now. A broom stick coming down hard, she cried. A fresh branding wound on her right hand formed the word 'slave'.
Nephiah opened her eyes. The pain filled expression on her face faded quickly and was replaced by burning anger. The mace came down again. Instead of blocking it, her left hand went up to grab it mid air and not let go as the Vigilant tried to pull it back. With terror he saw the resolve in her eyes. Still holding onto his mace, she pulled herself up to her feet. He tried to bash his shield but her right hand quickly blocked and pushed it back to his torso. Both pulling on the mace on one side and pushing the shield between them, they almost looked like they were dancing.
She hit his nose with her forehead, a cracking noise was audible, blood splattered. As the Vigilant lost secure footing she began to scream in rage and push him back until they hit the opposite wall. The impact cracked window glass to the left and right of them. She slowly forced the shield upwards against his pull, until it's upper edge reached the Vigilant's chin. A quick upwards hit of her knee against the lower edge gruesomely ended the fight. Exhausted breaths left her as she looked down upon her foe with satisfaction, until the gurgling sounds stopped.
"NEPHIAH!" Blood dripped down Brelyna's nose as the ray of ice had almost reached her.
Her cry for help brought Nephiah back into reality in an instant. She threw the mace she was still holding straight up in the air, swung around her own axis and used the force of her movement to grab it as it came down and flung it across the room as if it was made of paper. Icy sparks dissipated into a fine, blue shower as the mage collapsed, the mace firmly embedded into the side of his head. Brelyna fell to her knees.
Nephiah quickly ran over, kneeled down in front of her and took her hands.
"I'm ok...", Brelyna said, breathing heavily. "They don't teach that at the College, huh?" She smiled.
Nephiah took a deep breath in relief.
A groan erupted from the center of the room. Siegalf pushed himself up from the floor and looked around. In shock he gazed upon the chaos around him. His brothers and sisters, slain, decapitated, burnt to a crisp, fire everywhere. He looked ahead. But before he could realize the Dumner were still here, he was grabbed and thrown against a wall. Nephiah had her forearm against his throat, securing him in position.
"Gods help me!", he cried, "What do you want?!"
Brelyna got back to her feet. "Oh, phew, argh..." She was still dizzy. "I think you knew the second you saw that brand mark."
Nephiah pushed a little further against his throat so he looked away from Brelyna back into her eyes.
"I'm guessing you thought the Vigilants could protect you.", Brelyna continued. "I always wondered why you people all wear robes. Surely in your line of work some armor would be warranted, no?"
A steel plated glove grabbed hold of Siegalf's manhood. A short scream followed.
The fire burning down the hall crackled loudly, beams of wood began to crash onto the floor.
"You two are dead! DEAD! The Vigilants will hunt you to the end of the world for this!"
Brelyna looked down to the corpse at her feet. She gave it a kick to make sure the vampire's face was visible to him. "See, Siegalf, we were never here."
"Damnit! Damnit!" Tears filled Siegalf's eyes, he looked to the heavens. "She will kill you today, you know that, don't you."
Brelyna stepped closer to the man who fruitlessly struggled against Nephiah's hold. "Might as well tell us where he is."
A moment of clarity filled him and he looked back down into Nephiah's eyes. "He is untouchable, wench! You little worm will never..." Nephiah's left fist closed and began to pull. His scream was bone chilling, Brelyna looked away. Nephiah's hand moved away from him until a faint snap was heard.
She let go of him, he dropped to the floor like wet cloth. "You... you damned whore... you don't stand a chance against him now...", he whimpered.
Nephiah left the hall without looking back. Brelyna looked around, pondering the chaos the two of them had brought to the once song filled hall this night. Another falling wooden beam quickly enticed her to follow her companion outside.
Nephiah was sitting in the snow, looking up into a majestic, star filled sky. Brelyna came up behind her and sat down as well. She leaned sideward, resting her head on Nephiah's shoulder. As the roof of the hall finally came down, Siegalf's screams were heard for a short time, then nothing but crackling fire behind them. A shooting star rushed across the sky. Brelyna gazed upon the calm and quiet eternity for a moment. She took a deep breath and looked to her friend. "Now what."