The Collector

1. The Escape to Hope

The spring sunshine shone down on the colorful meadow with its dazzling yet still slightly chilling power. The small, brightly colored mead maybe wouldn't even be worth mentioning to a lot of people but for someone, who was used to the endless snow fields, sparse vegetation, not to mention the rocky soil of Skyrim, this wild flower-filled, scenic landscape it was like a paradise.

And indeed, there was someone who felt like she's in Heaven. She ran around the colorful flowers, chasing her younger brothers, just like a naughty child.

This girl, who looked at least five years older than her age, despite her young age has already experienced quite a lot.

It is true that even a half an hour she moped in the back of the cart. She blamed herself for leaving Helgen, the village where she was born and where she had been brought up, but she somehow managed to get over the self-accusation and chased her siblings carefree.

Perhaps her pessimism had given somewhat lower, but her old habits remind open… She always heard everything what the people said about her, while walking the streets of Helgen.

So it happened now as well, when she passed near her parents. Although they both tried to talk quietly, their sharp-eared daughter heard every word.

She stopped in the moment the sense of the words reached her brain. She wanted to look at them, but knew them. Now that they saw her happy, they surely deny the seriousness of the situation.

Because it happened so that the rest was not to main reason of their stop, there was a completely different reason.

Thanks to the great storms, what swept the area over the past period, the road sign collapsed from its place, and this was the problem's source, because the road split in two: one went to Bruma, the other to Cheydinhal. Essentially Bruma wouldn't be a bad choice after all. The only problem with it was that it was a town full with Nords, and where are Nords, there is no little from Skyrim, but they weren't missing that region. They cherished their daughter, they never wanted again to see on her any sign of "madness".

So, as I wrote above, their first-born child literally stiffened by the news. She wanted to go in front of her parents to told them, not the worry about her, to be sure that there will be no problems with her in the town of Bruma, but she knew that she'll lie, not only to her parents but also to herself.

Finally, now that the bloodcurdling cries muted, that the gruesome, shadowy figures disappeared, that she no longer have to see any hideous jaws, and finally she isn't feeling uncomfortable near other people.

She started to think about what to do, when she suddenly observed something far, in the waterfront.

She didn't know exactly, what she was seeing, but because remotely resembled a human form, she set off in that direction. She wanted to ask the stranger about the good direction.

She went on the dirt road for a while, but suddenly she went off of it, preferring to cut through the meadow. She walked through the grass almost soundlessly, almost like a cat. If it had been close a Khajiit caravan, they surely would have stood rows, just to learn from the girl. But the truth is that she never intended to sneak like a bandit in the high grass, this just happened that way.

She reached the coast, under these circumstances, where she saw the figure. But it happened that she wasn't even reaching the spot, when she realized that the human like figure in fact is no man, but a black horse. The animal quietly drank from the crystal clear water, and wouldn't even bother itself hearing the sound of approaching footsteps. Lucia somehow felt safer farther away from the horse.

Her initial courage suddenly left her, but then she pulled herself together and decided to stay, after she remembered the conversation what took place between her parents.

She looked around vaguely, and then she cleared her throat: "Hey…" left the words her mouth. "Is anyone here?"

Because the horse wouldn't even looked half like a nag, it was certain that it has a master, so it wasn't really a big miracle when a person clothed with a black robe suddenly came out from the woods. He was a thin and tall person, and his footsteps were noiseless, just like the girl's.

Looking at the figure, Lucia couldn't even determine the individual's gender. However she guessed that it is a man, seeing the person's broad shoulders, and its head was covered by the robe's hood.

The wavy haired girl began to speak in an uncertain voice. „Um... I apologize for the interruption. I just want to ask something".

„Go back to your parent, dear!" responded the stranger, whom masculine voice sounded calm, slightly deep. „Oh, and chose the road to the right. Stay on through until you reach a wider, much busier road. Follow that if you're going to Cheydinhal!"

„H-how did you know that we're going there?"

„Your package certainly doesn't match for Bruma. Now go, before I change my mind!"

She doesn't understand what he meant by the second half of his last sentence, just followed the "command". She didn't care anymore how loudly she was running she waded across the field as if it hadn't had knee-deep grass.

She finally stopped gasping in front of her parents. She told them what she heard from the stranger, although she didn't told them how scary was their meeting.

Now that the family has been able to reverse direction, they quickly picked their scattered children, and continued their travel.

As the cart slowly went on the road suddenly appeared that black cloaked stranger on his horse's back. He came face to face to them, but before he came within sight he simply veered off the road, avoiding them overriding the tall grass.

The smallest brother moved closer to his father and whispered to him.

"I see a kind of bone head on the horse's forehead", said the child cuddling to his father.

"You saw a skull?" corrected him his father. "I haven't seen anything on it, but the truth is that it was too far".

"Don't be silly, I'm sure that you have seen wrong, sweetie!" said his mother, stroking her child's head, while she looked angry at her husband.

Their only daughter said nothing to the conversation. She sat in silence and watched the area. She could believe that the child saw right, after all, she also met the guy, and the cold also ran down her back, when they came face to face with the stranger, and it was a fact that his youngest brother had good eyes.

After they reached the town, they wouldn't even bother themselves with the stranger, but as it turned out, he told the truth, they reached Cheydinhal before sunset.

One of the city guards led them to their new home, after they told him the reason of their arrival.

They began to move in tired, full of experiences. The two little boys couldn't easily be kept indoors. One reason, why they were so energetic it was that they saw an argonian walking in front of the window. They immediately wanted to run after him, as they never saw a creation like him before.

It was hard to keep in one place the little devils, but they exhausted themselves in the evening, that they couldn't even waiting to go into bed, they fell asleep sitting in their seats.

All family members were tired thanks to the big trip, so just the night fell, their windows darkened.