Marielle shivered slightly and wrapped a fur cloak around herself as she stepped out onto Windhelm's bridge. The crisp early morning air biting her skin, despite the cold, she was very glad to be back on land. She looked to her companions; Teldryn shuddered from a particularly cold breeze that passed by while Miraak showed no obvious signs of discomfort, though that was likely due to his heritage.
Marielle walked toward Windhelm's stable with her group trailing closely behind, she was adamant about employing Alfarinn and his carriage.
"So, Where to?" Teldryn asked as he walked up beside her.
"We'll be going to Whiterun first, I need to leave a few things at home" Marielle replied as she brought attention to her rather full bags by shaking them.
"And after that?" Teldryn inquired further.
Marielle didn't respond right away as she gave thought to his question, she then remembered that Miraak had tried to use his Thu'um during his recovery process and had failed to use any of his shouts.
"Can you use any shouts at all?" She asked, looking up.
Marielle was slightly smaller than the average Breton female and only came up to the middle of Miraak's chest.
"No" He responded with irritation evident in his voice, he did not like being reminded of his drawbacks, Marielle nodded in acknowledgement.
He needed to relearn how to use shouts. Without them, he would be of little use and more than likely be killed when they finally faced the World-Eater.
"Right. We'll be heading to Riverwood and then to Bleak Falls Barrow" Marielle said, she saw Teldryn give an inquisitive look her way.
"There's a word wall inside the tomb. It was the first one I ever encountered" She explained.
She glanced back to see that Miraak's body language had changed. Before mentioning the word wall his posture was that of indifference, now his back was straight and his head was tilted towards her, his interest piqued.
She repressed a shudder, not sure if she wanted his attention on her. Marielle shook her head before returning her gaze forward.
She gave a smile as Windhelm's carriage came into sight, happy that the driver was available. She waved enthusiastically to the Nord man, Alfarinn waved back in greeting as they neared.
"Need a ride?" The red haired man asked, Marielle nodded as she reached for a coin purse.
"We're headed to Whiterun. Are your fees still the same?" She asked and handed over his payment when he confirmed.
She motioned to the two men and walked to back of the carriage, she placed her bags on first before she helped Meeko up. After helping her dog, Marielle pulled herself into the carriage and made herself comfortable.
"All settled in?" Alfarinn asked as he looked back at the group, Marielle gave a quick nod.
The carriage rocked when the horse began to move forward, Marielle gently stroked Meeko's head as the dog gave a low whine at the sudden movement. The dog moved closer to the Breton, Marielle gave an affectionate smile. She heard Miraak give out a disgusted sound and sent him a disapproving look in return.
After the dog had calmed down, Marielle took out one of her newly acquired books in order to pass the time as it would be a while before they reached Whiterun.
She hoped that the ride to Whiterun would be uneventful.
She felt the carriage slow down significantly before coming to a complete stop. She glanced up from her book to see Alfarinn holding the reigns with a nervous look, something on the road was clearly distressing him.
Marielle set the book down before leaning out of the side to look ahead to see why they had come to a stop. In front of them was a small group of armed men, she sighed in disappointment, knowing all too well where this scenario was likely headed.
A rather large, burly Nord man clad in heavy looking iron armor took a step closer to the carriage, indicating that he was the one in charge.
"This is a toll road. So pay the fee of 500 gold each and there won't be any trouble, got it?" The leader said as his followers grabbed onto their poorly maintained weapons, in an effort to intimidate them. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, the display failed to impress her.
Marielle was sorely tempted to summon an atronach to let loose on the bandits and be done with it. But, she suppressed the urge as she decided that she had to try and convince the group to let them pass without having to resort to bloodshed.
"Watch my back?" Marielle whispered.
Her eyes met Teldryn's, the Dunmer nodded before quietly climbing out of the back as to not bring attention to himself and readied himself to strike should the group outright attack them.
"You. Stay put." She said firmly to Miraak, she did not trust him to mind himself and get them into trouble.
Miraak bristled, he did not like the way she spoke to him as if he were a child. He clenched his fist tightly as he held in his rage and stared into Marielle's face and despite disliking his eyes on her, she firmly held his gaze with her own.
"Fine. Be quick" he said in an almost growling tone.
Marielle stood up, jumped out of the carriage and walked cautiously to the front with Meeko trailing closely behind.
She gave the driver a reassuring smile before turning her attention to the bandits, more specifically their leader. If she could persuade him to accept a smaller payment and have him back off, his lackeys would likely follow his lead and let them leave without hassle.
"We're not really worth the effort, so how about 200?" She asked
At her proposal, the leader stared at her for a moment with a thoughtful look on his face. He then shook his head.
"No, I don't think so. 500 gold or your lives" he said with finality in his voice.
Marielle's shoulders dropped slightly. She really didn't want to fight them, but it didn't look like they would accept her offer. She put her hand on her sword discreetly while she gathered her magicka into her left hand.
"I'm afraid we don't have the gold" She said. The bandit leader looked back to his group before giving a menacing smirk and grabbing onto a battleaxe that was strapped to his back.
"Well, that's too bad. Now, we'll just take your gold from your corpses" He said as he took a large, heavy step towards her and the carriage.
FUS RO DAH!
The shout sent the bandits flying backwards quite a distance, Marielle wanted the group to be out of reach of the carriage.
While they were getting their bearings together, Teldryn quickly took out his sword before charging forward with flames engulfed in his left hand. The nearest bandit to him was still dazed as the Dunmer sent a firebolt into his chest. With a startled cry, the bandit began patting at his attire to put out the flames.
Meeko dashed forward to the distracted man, clamped down on his arm and began to violently shake his head from side to side. The man screamed, then took out an iron dagger from its scabbard and raised it over his head. Before he could bring down the weapon, Teldryn came up to him and ran him through and the bandit fell to the ground, his body becoming motionless.
Marielle summoned a frost atronach, the large creature went forward with loud steps as it raised its arm-like appendage. She quickly ran to the nearby thicket to wait for an opening to strike any of the distracted men.
She saw her chance when one of the men wearing light fur armor looked to be too engaged in combat to notice her. She swiftly came up behind him and slashed at his exposed legs before running back into hiding, he cursed out loud as he went down to his knees. The atronach took advantage of the wounded bandit and struck the downed man on the chest.
Seeing that one of their comrades fall to the ground dead, the other bandits rushed to the atronach and began hacking at it. They jumped out of the way as quickly as they could whenever the creature would lash out. After a few hard strikes, one of the frost atronach's limb came off. It turned its body to use its other limb and with its strength it struck the ground as hard as it could, the men stumbled back but quickly recovered and moved out of the way.
Marielle continued to wait, not wanting to risk injury from her own frost atronach. She frowned when the bandits began to wise up, one of the bandits created a diversion as the others attacked. With their new method, it didn't take long for the atronach to weaken and the leader brought his battleaxe down on the atronach's head.
As the creature dissipated, the bandits turned and ran towards with their weapons ready to hack away.
FEIM ZII GRON!
Her body became phantom like as the weapons passed through her, she gave an amused smile as she saw the incredulous looks on their faces. She sprinted away to put some distance between her and the surviving bandits. They followed her as she ran in the direction of Teldryn and her dog.
Meeko barked and snapped at one of the men as they came closer, the man swung his mace and struck the dog on his side, Meeko gave a sharp yelp and ran away with a limp as fast as he could before the bandit got in another hit.
Teldryn summoned a flame atronach, the creature immediately floated forward and threw a firebolt at the group. With the men temporarily distracted, Teldryn engaged the one who carried the mace in combat as the other bandit went after the atronach. Marielle went back to her corporeal form when she spotted an opening and slashed at the leader, shallowly hitting him in the arm before moving out of his reach.
Suddenly, she saw movement in the corner of her eye; Miraak had joined in and was currently in a fight with the last bandit as he finished off the atronach. He was using the twisted, ugly sword that he had used in Apocrypha. She gave a disturbed look whenever he swung his sword, remembering the tentacle that came out of the blade.
She dodged the leader's battleaxe just in time as it was embedded into the ground where she was previously standing. She gasped as the bandit quickly pulled the battleaxe from the earth and slashed into her side.
She instinctively brought forth her magicka as she used a telekinesis spell to push the leader away from her. The man let out a loud yelp as he hit the ground some distance away from her.
Marielle put her hand on the gash to stop the blood flow and as painful as it was, she was very relieved to feel that the wound wasn't as deep as she feared it might have been.
Using her magicka, she used the Close Wounds spell and let out a sigh as she felt the pain melt away and her flesh knitting back together.
"I'll have your head!" She heard a loud battle-cry and looked up to see the leader charging her.
He was stopped by flames bursting in his face, Teldryn ran to her side as he concentrated another firebolt in his hand and threw it into the man's chest. Teldryn slashed at the others already damaged arm; creating a huge, deep gash before stabbing him in the leg which made the bandit lose his grip on his weapon and fall to the ground.
"I yield! I yield!" the man yelled as he held his bloodied leg in pain.
Teldryn was about to cut him down when Miraak stalked over to the injured man and brought down his sword, the man fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Marielle was relieved that the fight was over, yet saddened that she wasn't able to get the group to back off.
"I told you to be quick" Miraak said in a chiding tone as he cleaned his weapon with a piece of linen he took out of a small pouch he had on his belt.
Marielle scowled before turning around when she heard Meeko give a pitiful, pain filled whine. She gathered together her magicka and cast a healing spell on the dog, Meeko barked happily and licked his owner on the cheek.
The group gathered any valuables from the bandits before cleaning their weapons and attire. Marielle looked down at her attire and decided to change into a different outfit entirely and took out her spare clothing. After she changed she looked over Alfarinn and his horse and was glad to see that they were unharmed, though the man still shaken from being in close proximity of their fight. But, he thankfully managed to calm himself enough to continue to Whiterun.
Author's Note: This is my first time writing an action scene and please, don't be shy to give any constructive criticism for future fight scenes. I may up the rating for future canon violence and I'm currently undecided if there'll be a romance or if they just become close later on.