Prince leaned down and kissed his daughter's forehead as Thomas mimicked the action for his husband. They said there parting words and set off along the path.

"Do you think Blossom will be alright with a stranger?" Thomas said looking back as his home disappeared from sight.

"Oh yes, she used to be so shy but she perked up a lot after meeting Broggah" Prince reassured him.

"Who's Broggah?" Thomas asked hitching up his pack

"Oh one of the girls I rescued from father. Father planned to take her as his bride when she was four, her mother begged me to take her away. It was really risky because she never left his side, but I felt I had too"

"I don't blame you," Thomas said darkly "would father really do that? Take an infant as his wife?"

Prince laughed bitterly.

"Oh father's honour knows no bounds" He spat

They were silent until noon when they stopped to rest before continuing on to Whiterun where they caught a carriage to where Skyrim kissed the edge of Highrock. Thomas looked over the land he had never thought he'd return too.

"Once you took me out of here, now you're taking me back in" Thomas laughed and started off across the border.

Prince scoffed and followed him towards the mountains.

.

Vorstag watched the small orc out of the sun room's long windows as she sat in a patch of grass making flower crowns. He'd started to feel so tired since Thomas left and put it down to just worrying about him all day long. He cast his eyes down to the pus soaked bandages on his chest and hissed as he peeled them from his infected skin to assess the wound. He was glad Thomas wasn't here to see how bad it had gotten so quickly. He got up slowly and went to the kitchen to wash and re-dress the wound. He returned to the sun room still applying the fresh bandages and looked up to see the small orc with a wreath of wild flowers adoring her head standing beside a tree. He froze when he saw the falcon looking back at her and reached for his sword he had left leaning against the back of the chair he picked himself back up to head for the door when his guard fell as his view confirmed she was stroking the huge bird's neck and sharing tongues with it. He tilted his head and a disbelieving look scrunched up his features. He replaced his sword and slowly walked over to the sheet of glass to get a better look. The child stood back and the falcon launched itself into the sky. He watched it fly out of view over his house then looked back to the child who was now looking directly at him. Pin pricks slid the length of his spin as she smirked with a satisfied look in her eyes. She turned back towards the house and Vorstag's line of sight followed her as she went through the main hall.

"Were you talking to that bird?" He asked in an uneasy tone

"She's not a bird, her name's Broggah and she's my friend"

"Of course…" Vorstag said as he heard he go upstairs

He looked back to when the falcon had been sitting and wondered how long until Thomas returned.

.

The journey was harder and much longer than Thomas remembered and at times the strange land disorientated him. Prince assured him he had walked the paths many times from all directions and as they reached the northern mountains Thomas's memory allowed him glimpses of recognition of landmarks and locations. The smell of the foreign trees scratched at old wounds as his memory of the place they neared returned to him. They passed other orc strongholds frequently now as they entered their homeland. The strongholds offered them hospitality where they could rest and trade. They were as friendly as orcs can be to their own kin but Thomas could tell they knew what tribe they descended from even though Prince made a rule not to mention it at all. He figured that was the reason they kept their distance. As they got closer the strongholds thinned out again as the land became more unwelcoming and Thomas found his heart racing as he realised what he was doing.

"How much further is there to go?" He asked with a dry throat

Prince walked over the dehydrated highlands ahead of him with his head down.

"We should be there in about an hour" Prince said without raising his head.

"What's going to happen when we get there?"

"I'll signal them like I normally do and tell them about the situation and we'll decide what to do then"

Thomas was satisfied with the answer and followed his brother with aching feet. After avoiding dead bushes and clambering over small, sun bleached boulders until the shadows became longer Thomas suddenly stopped and sniffed the air.

"Do you smell smoke?" He asked

Prince's head snapped up and he looked towards the horizon that housed their destination and the thick finger of black smoke pin pointing it. He burst into a full sprint with Thomas clumsily in pursuit. Thomas called out to his brother when he started to fall behind but Prince only urged him on. Finally Prince let him rest.

"Do you see that tower of smoke?" He asked his younger brother who had collapsed on a rock.

Thomas turned his head and nodded, breathing too heavily for words.

"That's where we're headed. I think something really bad has happened"

Thomas's mouth snapped shut and he sat upright.

"How far is it?" He breathed

"Just over that rise" Prince said

Thomas stood quickly and the two jogged together towards the blackened sky.

.

They stood at the top of the hill and looked down on what remained of the stronghold. It was nothing more than smouldering ruins by the time they arrived. The scent of burnt wood and flesh mingled together. Thomas was the first to make his way down even though his feet felt like stones and his legs were ready to fall out from under him. He trudged down the loose rock bank and onto the flat grey earth. He heard Prince collapse at the top of the hill and looked back to see his brother sitting limply in the dirt with a look of utter hopelessness. Thomas turned back and went over to the blackened mass of his former home. He tentatively trod on the smoking coals before going forward through the collapsed barricade. He cautiously made his way to the centre of the stronghold and closed his eyes. He pulled up memories he had long ago hidden away and reconstructed how it used to look before opening his eyes and seeing the same image in ashes before him. He thought he would have been happy to see it destroyed but it only made him numb. He went over to the outskirts to where his hut had been. It stood upright and black. He stood at the door and peered in to the small, circular dirt floor where he had spent his childhood and steadied himself on the doorframe. It creaked when he rested his full weight on it making him jump back in time to see it shudder and collapse. He let out a long sigh and turned away towards the chief's longhouse which was the least destroyed. He carefully climbed onto the rubble he assumed was what was left of the storehouse to get to it. He made his way on all fours to keep his balance watching where he was placing his hands and froze when he pulled himself level with the charred corpse of a female orc. He cringed and jerked himself to stand upright where he could see the downhill side of the climb and the burnt bodies strewn through it. He choked back his disgust and put a forearm over his mouth backing away.

"Marshkal?" A weak voice called from somewhere within the rubble

Thomas froze as the voice pierced him straight through the chest.

"Ma?," He asked with his heart beating wildly "where are you?"

"Over here" The voice made Thomas's head snap to the direction.

He jumped off the collapsed building and ran around the side. The building had fallen backwards when it became too weak to stand. The pillars that held it up had fallen on to the rubble or remained standing but were destroyed beyond salvage. He surveyed the front of the building unable to determine body from warped wood in his quick sweeps.

"Here" The voice repeated to his left

He hadn't initially seen her as the pillar was big enough to hide her from view if you came around from the left as he had and because she was crushed beneath it.

"Prince," Thomas yelled for his brother "Prince come down here!"

Thomas knelt down beside the old matron and hesitated before stroking her hair.

"Ma, are you alright?"Thomas asked desperately

She ignored his question and raised her free arm to place a thin, bony hand against his face.

"Look at you, my little boy, I always knew you'd grow to be big" she rasped as her hand fell away

Thomas looked around and lunged at the dirt surrounding her and started to frantically dig her out. Prince rounded the corner and came to a sudden halt when he found his brother.

"What is-Ma?" Prince said in astonishment "Gods is she alright?"

"Help me" Thomas snapped

Prince evaluated the situation quickly.

"Thomas, how strong are you?" He asked

"What?" Thomas looked up

"Help me move this log" Prince said bracing himself against the huge log on top of their mother's legs.

Thomas hesitated for a moment before launching himself up and throwing his full weight into the side causing it to jerk upwards. Their mother lay unconscious beneath it and Thomas groaned with the effort of holding up such weight.

"Drag her out" He growled through his teeth

"Are you sure you can hold it alone?" Prince asked

"Do it!" Thomas grunted sharply

Thomas cried out when Prince let go and the log's full weight fell on his shoulders. Prince scrabbled through the ash covered dirt and linked his arms under his mother's shoulders and pulled.

"She won't come free her legs are stuck!" Prince cried

"Cut them off!" Thomas barely managed to say

"What?!"

Thomas began to slide down as the log began to crush him.

"Prince!" He screeched

His brother began to hyperventilate as he pulled out his dagger and hesitated for only a second before sawing below her knee. He met no resistance from shattered bones and was soon cutting frantically at the next. A deep growl rumbled in Thomas's throat as he forced his tired muscles to push the beam higher. Prince threw his dagger to the side and grasped their mother, pulling her out of the way. Thomas let out a quick breath and pushed the log back before leaping forward as it crashed and tumbled towards him. He scrabbled forward as the blackened pole toppled just behind him stopping just short of his curled up form.

.

The fever had turned out to be as aggressive as the infection that was now spreading. Vorstag looked down at the festering wound and cursed it. He was too weak to travel to see a healer in town, even by horse. He lay on his bed with sweat covering his skin. The child he had been left in charge of now came and went as she pleased. She'd run up and down the stairs singing songs in languages he'd never heard before, leave dead mice and small birds laying around the house, draw on the walls in charcoal and every day without fail she'd talk to the falcon. He loathed her. She had a look about her of someone well past her years. Vorstag ignored her now. He managed to hobble out every day or two to take basic care of himself but no more. He felt eyes on him and turned his head to the doorway where Blossom stood. Normally she made him feel nervous but now his eyes looked on coldly at her small smile.

"You did this, didn't you?" He said quietly

A dark smile spread across her face and she giggled innocently.

"Who are you?" He hissed

.

The ash began to settle as two brothers sat covered in soot, breathing hard. Thomas reached out a leg and braced it on the charred pole letting his head fall back. Prince hurriedly fixed tourniquets around the stumps of flesh. He knelled in the dirt when he was done and rested his balled hands on his thighs. Thomas picked himself up with a grunt and stumbled over to collapse at his brother's side. They sat silently together until Thomas cleared his throat.

"I didn't know we were actual brothers" He said

"I didn't even know we had the same mother, she never said" Prince admitted

Another silence passed.

"Will she be alright?" Thomas asked quietly

"I don't know," Prince confessed "We should camp here, I know moving her in this condition is a very bad idea"

"What do you think happened here?" Thomas asked looking around

"Father no doubt" Prince sneered

"Well, yes…but why?" Thomas said

"Father needs no reason to be cruel"

"But this…why kill them all, this isn't what he was working towards" Thomas said standing

"Maybe his perfect tribe wasn't working out, maybe he decided to start from scratch, I don't know" Prince said irritated more at the situation than his brother's questions.

Thomas looked down at their mother and then at the place where her legs had been.

"Did I make the right choice?" He asked softly

Prince followed his line of sight and sighed.

"Yes, you did" Prince confirmed placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.

Thomas felt tears backing up and he cursed himself for being so weak in front of his brother. At least Vorstag was used to him being overly emotional, he didn't want his brother to think of him that way. But Prince simply pulled him to his side and sat with him when he did inevitably begin to sob.

"You did the best thing and if you hadn't of been here she'd most likely be dead," Prince reassured him "and honestly she would have had to lose her legs anyway with how badly they were crushed"

Thomas wiped his eyes angrily and cursed the fresh tears blurring his vision.

"She's going to hate me" He managed to say

Prince laughed and stood up.

"You're her youngest child and the chief's chosen she could never hate you" Prince said offering Thomas his hand.

Thomas wiped his nose and let Prince help him up.

"We'll take a look in the longhouse, it doesn't seem badly burnt and we might be able to take shelter there" Prince suggested

"What about Ma?" Thomas asked

"I don't want to have to move her unless we have too," Prince said with a conflicted look "come on"