AN: Alright, this one is going to be more in length like the first two chapters. So be prepared! Thanks again for all the reviews, really brightens my day and motivates me to continue this!
Chapter Four
"What in Oblivion are you doing Yosa'Min?" Vex asked, her voice cold like a winter's frost. Before Yosa'Min could respond she was shoved off the imperial, Vex gracefully shuffling to her feet and exiting the crag. Yosa'Min stumbled after her, throat dry and hoarse as she failed to cover her terrible, terrible blunder.
"I didn't mean to- it was an accident I swear!" She shouted at last finding her voice as Vex began to unhitch Archer. "Vex, wait!" The redguard stumbled over the rocks, painfully meeting the ground with her face as she tripped up. Heavy, tired feet reducing her agility to virtually nothing. "Please..." She pleaded where she lay in the dirt and rock, unwilling to get herself up if it meant Vex would be gone.
Her embarrassing blunder was just enough to give Vex pause if only for a moment. The imperial stood upon the road bathed in moonlight, messy platinum blonde hair framing a furious expression. "One chance." She hissed through gritted teeth, free hand poised as if to slap Yosa'Min if the response displeased her any further then the redguard's actions already had.
Yosa'Min got to her feet, dusting herself off before she even dared try to smooth this mess over. But before she could even get a word out, the poised hand flared out and Yosa'Min found herself spinning backwards, her cheek stinging painfully. "Okay, I deserved that!" She said through gritted teeth as she withheld her suddenly rising temper, one hand moving to rub the burning skin.
"You have one chance Yosa'Min, make it count." Vex stated firmly, her hand poised still for a swift strike.
"I'm sorry." Yosa'Min started with, looking right into the amber eyes of the imperial. "I was asleep, and then lost control of myself. I didn't mean to, I swear to the Divines I didn't. Gods I wish I could take it back." At some point she'd lifted her hands up as if they'd help her explain but at their fruitless turn about, she dropped them sadly to her side. Her silver-tongue and honeyed words wouldn't work on the cunning imperial who'd probably spent a lifetime listening to failed attempts. The imperial watched her with a cold gaze and obviously was debating something until she suddenly extended the hand holding the reins. "I'm so sorry."
"You're lucky we need more recruits." She huffed with gritted teeth. "Let's just pretend this didn't happen."
Yosa'Min instantly brightened, relief and determination flooding over her body and turned on her heels to gather the discarded sleeping items. The moment they were safely stashed into the saddle bags Yosa'Min swiftly mounted Archer, this time sitting behind the already waiting Vex. "I know a faster way to Riften than strictly following the roads." Vex announced as she began to get Archer moving with a click of her tongue and a pull on the reins. The stallion gave a huff of annoyance before he started moving along at a steady trot.
"I practically never follow the road." The redguard said conversationally, "You tend to find more things that way." They were silent for quite a while after that, both of them gazing off away from the other as the stallion broke away from the road to cut down the side of a hill and cross the river on the other side of the throat of the world. Archer's dark body moved with an obvious grace through the fast flowing water and once on the other side, Vex pulled hard on the reins to the right to veer away from a giant's camp a few yards away. Yosa'Min gave a small sigh, wishing the silence would end in some way for the better. But she was afraid to open her mouth and say something and just further upset the imperial.
So instead, Yosa'Min resigned herself to simply sitting back in the saddle and watching the scenery change around them. It was amusing to watch how the thick forest suddenly stopped past a swiftly moving stream and short mosses of yellow hues to the shrubbery's place, clinging onto the up-heaved rocks that dotted the landscape. The exposed earth easily gave her a nice view of the crisscrossing geysers and hot springs, maybe one or two short tree sprouting besides them. A faint smile crossed her face as she spotted a caravan of khajitt traders off in the distance, perfectly visible with the lack of ground cover save for a random, large outcropping of yellow stone.
The redguard was certain they'd passed into the lower half of Eastmarch by now, and gave the slightest of grins at the realization that they should have been around half way there. Glancing up towards the sky, she also realized it was perhaps half way through the day already, and a hunger formed in her stomach to remind her she hadn't eaten since the afternoon before.
"Are you hungry?" Yosa'Min suddenly broke the steady rhythm of Archer's hooves on the stone and moss beneath them and the chirping of birds and the rush of the streams. Admittedly, it was quite the beautiful soundtrack to their journey, but it was time for it to end.
"I suppose, but if we push on we should make it by dinner." Vex replied, finally moving her head from its straight position to glance at the sky, "or a midnight meal." The concession of stopping to eat was clear in her voice.
Yosa'Min gave the slightest of chuckles before she reached up around Vex and stole the reins. Instantly she could see Vex tense, her muscles bunching as if ready to react to the redguard violently if the light brush progressed any further. As it had last night. With a strong tug, Yosa'Min pulled them to a stop and slid off the saddle, giving Vex the warmest look she possibly could without seeming off. "We should stretch our legs anyways, I saw some tracks a bit ago as well. I'll go and get some food if you can prepare a fire and place to eat." She offered.
It took the imperial some time before she responded, leaving the redguard waiting on baited breath for either a reluctant agreement or a scorching rebuke. The face aside of being ravenously hungry, Yosa'Min just wanted to get some fresh air away form Vex. And if she spent any more time sitting behind her with the wind blowing her gorgeous locks in front of her a second more and forced her to take in the light, sweet smell of the platinum hair, she'd lose it for sure. And that was perhaps the last thing she wanted to do with her Guild membership already seemingly teetering on the edge.
"Fine." Vex finally spoke as she slid out of the saddle. "Catch something tasty will you? I refuse to have cold, vegetable soup." The joke was lined with dry humor, a warning for Yosa'Min no doubt to show some use to the imperial. The redguard gave a mock bow, and then turned on her heels to double back after the tracks she'd spotted a few minutes ago. Just before she'd vanished over the hill, the Dragonborn dared to glance back at the fellow thief and was rewarded with a delicious view of Vex bent over to gather firewood together. The redguard smacked herself mentally, wrenched her gaze away, and hurried off into the wilds away from the hopefully unaware imperial.
It didn't take her long to locate the tracks, and it was easy to tell which way they were going. A single set of mammoth footprints marched away further north through the volcanic plains, a stray no doubt. Yosa'Min grinned quickly at the prospect of bringing that back to the imperial, and set off after them with bow in hand. The rush of a hunt instantly crept up her body, making her spine tingle with the excitement that built in a matter of milliseconds. A massive grin grew across her face. The ground didn't take long to begin to grow hard and compact, a icy edge slipping into the sulfuric smelling air that was so thick here.
Just as Yosa'Min rounded the crest of a hill, she heard a low bellow of an injured beast and smiled in triumph. She drew an arrow, having it ready to be knocked with a single fluid motion but not quite there yet, and inched her way up the mossy slope. Quickly however, what she'd expected to see was shattered. The mammoth was injured, and that was all that had been concluded and the same as Yosa'Min imagined it would be when she found the beast. It was a little over a baby in size, and laid in the rushing warm stream slowly dying, blood following the rushing water away from the bloodied scene. The ground was spattered with the red liquid, thick pools having formed like stagnant ponds in the marsh. A much older and larger mammoth, one Yosa'Min assumed as the mother, was guarding the dying youth. Her tusks pointed away from it and Yosa'Min towards the pile of rocks on the other side of the clearing, her entire body tense.
What happened here? Yosa'Min wondered, peering closer at the gruesome scene not ten yards away from her. The infant's legs were slashed, but Yosa'Min couldn't tell what by from her hiding place on the hill. Blood tipped the mother's tusks, most likely from defending her child. Yosa'Min soon decided that some predator or hunter had tracked them down and attacked the stray child and nearly had the kill when the mother arrived and chased them off. But obviously the other hunter was expected to return and finish off the calf. They don't deserve this. Pity rose in the redguard as she continued to gaze on until it was virtually tangible.
Remembering that she herself was here to hunt, she drew her arrow fully, and took as steady an aim as she could before loosing it right at the moaning child. In a blink of an eye it had sailed through the air and torn through the heart of the injured calf, and as its struggling halted it was granted peace. The mother reeled, bellowing in anguish and rage at the huntress who now stood and revealed herself. Stomping in a blind charge, the mammoth made its lumbering way over to where Yosa'Min had already drawn another arrow and fired one after another until five halted its attack. It writhed in pain, arrow after arrow protruding out of it's chest, and then its grieving heart was silenced.
As she descended the hill to the two limp, furry bodies, a small flash in the corner of her eye made the redguard jump. She knocked an arrow, arms tensed as she pulled it back and scanned the whole clearing for anything to stand out. The thief only relaxed when the search proved fruitless. Crossing over to the game, she bent down and drew her dagger and began to clean the child first. Once again there was a flash and she jolted upright with drawn bow, blue eyes scanning the horizon for anything and turning up empty. Far more cautious than before, she finished cleaning the child and turned towards the mother a yard away. Task nearly done, Yosa'Min spotted the flash for a third time and tried to come up with some reason for it. Probably just Vex wondering what is taking so long. She concluded, the logical thought calming her mind while her instincts told her otherwise.
And she hadn't survived Skyrim thus far without instinct.
Whirling around with bow drawn, the image of claws and fangs aimed straight at her was all she was met with. Instantly the Dragonborn sucked in a breath of air to shout the threat away for the moment, but before she could get the first word of power out past her lips, a massive battleaxe smashed into the saber cat's back breaking it with one blow. It slumped down without a sound other than the bones breaking, and Yosa'Min was left there blinking.
"Are you alright?" A warm and accented voice asked through the cloud of dust that had erupted around them. Yosa'Min coughed slightly, waving a hand to clear the air as her eyes began to sting, she was unaware of an armored hand being offered to lift her up. "That saber didn't get you any did it?" The accented voice asked further. When at last Yosa'Min could see, she blinked gratefully at the hand and politely accepted it.
"I believe so, you have some pretty great timing." Yosa'Min responded with a slight cough as she was heaved up to her feet. When the redguard's blue gaze followed up the armored hand to the body attached to it, a thought crossed her mind. Why in Mara's name haven't I gotten out of Whiterun more often? The women out here are stunning!
An obviously nord woman with pale skin and golden brown hair stood just a foot from Yosa'Min. She was tall and broad-shouldered, a walking tank just from one glance. Clad in a suit of heavy iron armor, and wielding a steel battleaxe it was pretty clear she was more the warrior type then the redguard ever would be. The whole left side of her face was green war paint in a thick stripe, a series of scars down along on the cheek with a claw-like shape. But what quickly drew Yosa'Min's attention to the nord's face was not the paint nor the scars, but her highly attentive, shining amber eyes.
"Thanks for that." Yosa'Min smiled warmly, and quickly got one in return from the pretty stranger.
"Not a problem." The nord replied, her accent not like most other nords Yosa'Min had met. She hated to admit it, but she liked the sound of it. "What are you doing out here? It's rather far from the roads don't you think?" The warrior asked with her head titled to the side slightly.
Yosa'Min quickly and promptly gave a reply, hand waving back to the mammoth corpses a yard away. "Hunting." The slightest of approving smirks crossed the nord's face. "My traveling companion and I stopped for lunch, she's back preparing a camp while I was to get the food." Yosa'Min further explained.
The nord titled her head to the side, windswept hair failing after her as she did so. "Where are you headed? If you don't mind my asking." She was polite in curious in her asking, a combination virtually unheard of in a nord, and much less a warrior nord.
Yosa'Min debated for a minute about whether or not telling the stranger would do any harm, but then shrugged when she decided it wouldn't. "Riften, and you?"
"Riften." The stranger smiled widely at some unknown thought to the redguard, though Yosa'Min could have sworn she'd just been checked out. "My name is Mjoll the Lioness." The stranger at last introduced herself with an offered hand.
Taking the iron-gloved hand in her own, Yosa'Min gave a dip of a head with the handshake, "And I am Yosa'Min."
Mjoll's eyes widened with shock as the name no doubt registered, and Yosa'Min suddenly found the brave looking warrior gawking. "You're the Dragonborn!" The woman seemed unsure of how to act before one of Yosa'Min's fame and notability.
Flustered at the reaction, Yosa'Min lifted a hand as if to wave it off. "Please no. Yes, I am the Dragonborn but really I'm just another person." Her cheeks were actually starting to burn.
"You're the Savior of Skyrim, and probably all of Tamriel!" Mjoll replied as if struck dumb in the head to have no heard what Yosa'Min had said. "Truly it is an honor to meet a woman of your stature Dragonborn."
Despite herself and how she'd always reacted before, Yosa'Min found the excitable manner in which the obviously battle-hardened nord was behaving humorous and somewhat embarrassing rather than annoying. Which was certainly a change from the way the redguard usually took it. A fire raged across her cheeks in a blush, and she decided there and now to end the behavior, adorable as it was. "Would you like to sit down and eat with my companion and I? It will have to be a simple meal I'm afraid, not much in the ways of grandeur and it won't be like the gourmet can prepare," Yosa'Min offered, "But it is the least I can do to thank you. You did after all, save me from that saber."
The nord blinked, and then gave an enthusiastic nod while she tried her best to calm down. "It would be an honor to dine with the- a fine and skilled huntress such as yourself."
A grin spread across Yosa'Min's face as she noticed the change of compliment, and simply decided to let it slide, there was no need to push the matter. "I'll just have to finish up here." With that she knelt back down to finish cleaning the mammoth. "You mind getting that saber? It was your kill after all, would be a shame to waste it." Yosa'Min chuckled when she saw Mjoll almost too quickly comply with the suggestion that boarded on an order out the corner of her eye. Once they were finished, the meat wrapped carefully in the skinned pelt of the saber and the tusks being held by the stronger Mjoll, the two began to walk back with Yosa'Min leading the way towards where a plume of smoke rose on the horizon. Obviously Vex had done her part of the deal.
"When did you kill your first dragon?" Mjoll asked Yosa'Min suddenly, catching her off-guard.
The redguard paused for a moment as she thought all the way back to the very first dragon she'd ever faced off against. "Mirmulnir." She said with a light tone, a sudden glaze covering her eyes and taking Mjoll by surprise. "I had just returned to Whiterun from a ruin called Bleak Falls Barrow. Within it was a tablet used to locate the dragon burial mounds, as Alduin was raising the dragons killed back in the war to serve him, and the Dragonstone as it was called was where I thought my role in the Dragon Crisis would end." She gave a dry laugh as she suddenly looked up to the sky, glimpsing the fleeting outline of a hawk far above them. Mjoll watched with slight confusion, not fully following why the Dragonborn seemed sad to speak of her first greatest triumph.
Perhaps, Mjoll wondered, it wasn't as glorified as the bards make it seem?
"But obviously it wasn't. I was asked to accompany a platoon of soldiers out to the western watchtower in Whiterun, not far from the city actually. Apparently a dragon had been sighted, and for some reason, Jarl Balgruuf the Greater decided it was a good idea to send the person obviously out of breath and plain tuckered out. Not like I had anything better to do." Yosa'Min gave an annoyed huff, "But that idiotic choice aside, it turns out I was just the person for the job. I followed the Jarl's housecarl Irileth and the guards out to where we could easily see a burning watchtower. A guard came out and shouted for us to turn back, that the dragon was still around. And of course at that moment it had to come swooping down and grab me in his talons, flying back up into the sky without so much as a roar. Simply picked me up and took off."
"How did you escape?" Mjoll inquired with an obvious desire to learn more of this epic story.
Yosa'Min chuckled flatly, though Mjoll's captivation was entertaining to the redguard. "Well I was able to get one hand to my dagger and drove it right between his scales on his leg. Angered him enough to not bother taking me back some place to eat me and just let go of me. It was scary, I'll admit, but I wasn't just going to die. I held fast to the hilt of my dagger, and drew the other to get a better grip. Mirmulnir just grew angrier, and rolled tightly to a side to shake me off. I could feel the motion jarring my blades free and when I looked at his face I saw the raging hate in his eyes." Yosa'Min scowled and gave a deep hurr with raised hand, as if to imitate the dragon's expression, gaining a slight chuckle from Mjoll. "Well I decided I hated this dragon right back, and twisted the daggers until he finally flew back down to the ground. The guards had all been firing arrows of course, and dodging them and shaking me at the same time was too hard I suppose. I let go of the daggers once my feet safely were on the ground, and pulled an arrow from my quill. Mind you back then I had crappy iron arrows and knew that it wouldn't do shit to his body, so I ran right up to his head and drove it clean into his eye."
"The eye!" Mjoll exclaimed.
"The eye!" Yosa'Min agreed with a laugh, humor for real fluttering in her voice as she warmed up to talking about that bloody day. "And then, he was pissed! Roaring off so many shots I swear he made some new ones!" The Dragonborn cracked a smile as she remembered the way the Whiterun guards nearly soiled themselves as fire and force flew all around as the dragon had reacted so violently. "I jumped onto his head, the massive thing it was, and plunged another into the other eye to blind him completely. Mirmulnir reared up and I nearly fell right off if I hadn't grabbed his horns to keep from going onto his spiked back. I twisted myself around and one of the guards threw me my daggers one at a time. Mirmulnir was simply in a blind rage, literally I might add, and thrashing about wildly. I plunged my daggers time and time again into the soft spot at the back of his skull until he finally fell dead. But not without shouting, 'Dovahkiin! No!' I hadn't heard that word once before in my life."
Mjoll gave an approving smile.
Yosa'Min smiled back.
"And then I climbed off, and this light just... flowed from Mirmulnir and the next thing I knew his flesh was stripped from his body, leaving nothing but bleached bones in their wake. This rushing sound filled my ears, and the light surrounded me, went into me, and I felt like I'd just had ten bottles of skooma! I can't exactly describe it, I swallowed his soul as the guards informed me."
Mjoll gave a look as she tried to follow along, this was certainly something the Dovahkiin herself didn't understand completely. "How?"
"I don't know, they say it is because I have dragon blood in me, don't ask how I don't know how, and that it gives me a power to devour their souls when I am the one to fell them. I don't know, it just happens." Yosa'Min shrugged, "I don't question how the gifts the Divines give me work." Just why.
"Well, it certainly just goes to prove why I believe you are a hero," Mjoll suddenly said, gaining a look of confusion from the redguard. "Even if you don't know why or how you were given a job that calls for so much of yourself, in a land of people that are fighting each other when they should have been fighting the dragons, you rose to it." Her golden eyes glimmered to the redguard, "And saved us, whether or not you fully realize it Yosa'Min, we all owe you a terrible debt. And I'd like to repay it."
Yosa'Min smiled warmly at the nord, something warm swirling in her chest, "I expect one day you shall."
And then they were at the camp at last, Yosa'Min's grand story having carried them there the whole way. When they reemerged across the stream, Yosa'Min was pleased to see a nice little campsite had been prepared. Nestled beside some large volcanic rocks, a fire burned in the center of a ring of smooth, silver stones. Vex sat on a bed mat she'd pulled from Archer's saddlebag beside the fire, looking around impatiently. As the two crossed over, Vex frowned, lips pulling into a tight, thin line.
"Mjoll..."
"Vex." Mjoll curtly replied, just as much dislike for the woman seeping into her voice.
"You two ah, know each other?" A flash of panic ran up Yosa'Min's spine. Are they enemies? Or ex-lovers!? She quickly waved the second half away as simply her imagination but the latter was quickly seeming to be the correction fact in the situation.
Vex was the first to clarify, cold amber eyes stabbing daggers at Mjoll. "We see each other around town."
"That's an interesting way to put it." Mjoll scoffed before she turned to the awkwardly standing Yosa'Min "Perhaps it would be best for me to go Yosa'Min." The nord said apologetically, giving the redguard a half smile.
Quickly, Yosa'Min frowned, "If you wish, but please allow me to repay you properly with a meal in Riften." The Dragonborn offered.
The Lioness dipped her head in approval, "Aye, that would be quite welcome." And then she continued in a hushed tone, whispering into Yosa'Min's ear, "Watch your coin purse when you're near Vex, she's a tricky one."
It took all her might not to smirk knowingly at the warning. Mjoll placed the tusks down beside the tied stallion, and then began to walk away, but not without shooting a glare back at Vex, who just as eagerly returned it. As the nord faded away into the distance, Yosa'Min heard a long sigh come from Vex before it was followed with a sharp quip.
"I told you to catch something tasty."
Yosa'Min winked as she finally stopped staring after the nord and crossed over to Vex. "I did, and I think she'd make quite the meal." She smirked as she saw the lightest of red form at the tips of the imperial's pale ears. "Enough for two even..." the redguad goaded further, "Bet she'll taste all sweet and juicy and-"
"Yosa!" Vex suddenly shouted, her ears nearly bursting into flames despite the imperial's obvious outrage at the fact.
"What?" Yosa'Min asked innocently. "I was talking about the mammoth I brought back." She revealed the trunks still folded in the saber cat pelt to the imperial who blinked and nothing more. "Divines Vex, what did you think I was talking about?" The redguard teased.
The cold but slightly flustered look Vex gave her was enough to make Yosa'Min smile in triumph, and revelation at the reaction she'd just gotten. So, you're into that kind of stuff huh Vex? Yosa'Min reveled at the juicy discovery that also made her heart flutter with hope. As she watched Vex begin to cook the mammoth trunks, she couldn't help but look at her in a new light.
AN: Getting back in the swing of things! So what did you think of my version the Mirmulnir fight? I think this is far cooler then "I stood on the ground, avoided fire, and shot my bow." :| Yeah, this was more fun. And if anyone is curious, Yosa'Min is pronounced Yo-sah Mean. A friend's horrible attempt made me realize this might not be clear as it's actually got accent marks on the 'i' in Min. Ah well. Thanks for reading!