Aurora spent a week walking the main road, head into the forest and back again in the southern region of Morrowind, but to no avail. These lands were not as densely populated as the woman had imagined, and she had not seen or spoken to a soul since visiting the village. She knew she was close, though. All traces led here, it was just a question of time until she would find him.

As she passed a larger rock, she noticed that there was someone moving around in the bushes. It did not bother her, and she would let him or her be if they did not do anything else than just observe. Aurora was not too far from the swamps covering the southern parts of Morrowind, and the trees were much more familiar than the mushrooms in the north, for what she was thankful.

An arrow landed on the ground next to her horse. Judging the angle, it was not aimed to kill. She sighed and looked around, but could not find the archer. The road she had travelled on lay behind her, disappearing behind the rocks, and had it not been a potentially lethal situation, the woman would have stopped a while to look at the beautiful picture. The sun was setting, and the road had a golden shine to it.

"I don't have time for this," she whispered and got off her horse.

From her right side, a man emerged from the forest. Instinctively, Aurora looked for weapons, but could find none – the man appeared to be unarmed, yet she knew that there was space to hide a dagger inside of a jacket or boots and prepared for the worst-case scenario.

"What have we got here?" he smiled smugly as he approached her.

Aurora bit her cheek and looked directly at the Imperial. The man was very tall – Aurora would give him a fathom and nearly a foot, but he was neither muscular nor thin. What caught her eye was his thick, dark hair that reached half way down his upper arms. The upper part was drawn backwards and secured with a leather strip, exposing his short sideburns that reached to the same level as his ears. She would have found him rather attractive had he not been a bandit.

"Things are that bad in Cyrodiil, huh? That you have to rob lone women who travel the roads," Aurora said coldly and crossed her arms.

"You don't fool me, lady. A lone woman doesn't just happen to carry a sword such as yours. You are Nobility, meaning that someone would pay a lot to have you back," the man spoke as he let his index finger stroke her chin.

"That was farfetched, but I understand your logic. However, I..."

Instantly, she was slapped across the face. Annoyed, she prepared to punch him, but the man raised his arm as if to calm her.

"Don't try anything now, missy. I have ten men aiming arrows at you," he said and pointed out in the forest.

She looked around and did indeed see the men standing there with their bows prepared as their leader gestured. Aurora realised that it was useless to fight. She could have the man next to her killed in a few seconds, but it would be enough time for the archers to fire at least twice. The odds would definitely be against her.

"So... What's your plan?" Aurora asked and turned towards the man again.

"You'll see."

He pushed her slightly towards the horse and gripped her hands with one of his, and then bound them. After that, she could feel his hand going down her left side, reaching for her sword.

"Like it rough, don't you?" she asked with a sarcastic tone.

The man grimaced and rolled his eyes before lifting her up on the horse again. Aurora, not being a good rider, found it difficult to balance with her arms bound on her back as the horse began to move. The man appeared to be smiling at her remark.

The man led her horse through the forest, and the other men walked behind them. Aurora observed the man from above and guessed his age to be between twenty five and thirty, for he had thin lines from his nose down to the sides of his mouth. His head was big due to the size of his body, but his face was thinner than his average proportions. He had a prominent jaw, though, and high cheekbones.

They only walked for ten of fifteen minutes before they reached what appeared to be a camp. There were about a dozen high, white tents placed like houses in a small village – along a pathway in the middle. A fire pit was burning in the middle, with bandits surrounding it. As the caravan approached, they stood up to examine what the others had brought with them – in this case, Aurora.

"Here's the thing," the tall, dark-haired man began and turned towards her. "You tell us which family you're from, and we'll send them a letter, informing your husband or father that you've been kidnapped."

Aurora let her right leg swing around the horse and jumped. The man gracefully caught her mid air and then lifted her across his shoulder before setting off towards the others. The woman lay in a very awkward position as her hands were bound behind her back, and she had never felt more like a peace of meat in her life. This was the way she carried deer or rabbits while returning from a hunt.

"And if they don't reply?"

"Then we'll start cutting your fingers off, one by one, until they do."

The man turned his head slightly to catch her gaze whilst smiling smugly, but soon noticed that the woman did not appear to be frightened. He laughed and shook his head whilst carrying her past the tents into what appeared to be a shallow cave. As he did so, about two dozen other bandits followed, and formed a circle around where the leader placed Aurora.

All the woman could think of was that she really did not have time to be stuck with a group of bandits. Almost all of them were young, Imperial men, well clothed for being outlaws but without any armour. Most of them wore clothes similar to Aurora's – tunics and leather jackets and trousers.

The woman felt how the atmosphere became tenser. The bandits examined her from head to toe and tried to figure out what their leader had brought with him. The dark-haired man sat down opposite Aurora and spread his arms, encouraging her to talk.

"Eh... I'm Aurora. Of the Stormblade family."

"Have never heard of them," the man said and raised his eyebrows.

"You'll have a long ride. It's Skyrim," she said and bit her lip whilst copying the leader's gestures.

"What kind of title do you have?"

"I don't carry a title. Oh... except for me being Thane of Whiterun."

Aurora heard someone whisper lower nobility from her left side, as if it was a surprise. The woman once again raised her eyebrows and gave her inquisitor an annoyed gaze.

"What does a girl like you do in the forests of Morrowind?" he continued.

"I'm looking for a man. Perhaps you've seen him? Vilkas is his name."

She had no hopes of a reaction from the gang, yet she had suspected that Vilkas had joined a criminal, or at least semi-criminal mob. However, the leader seemed a bit shocked. His prominent eye sockets were almost entirely covered by his eyebrows when he wrinkled his forehead in distrust. The man's black eyes glittered.

"Are you fooling us?!" he asked and bit his average sized lips together.

"This is why one shouldn't jump to conclusions," she lectured him. "That sword is mine, and I am the Harbinger of a group called the Companions. I also happen to be Vilkas's master."

The man stared at her for a while, and Aurora then realised that she had finally come to the right place. The leader knew of Vilkas, she was sure of that. Some men had very obvious reactions, and the leader of the bandits was one of them.

"Where is Vilkas?" he asked a man behind him.

"He went to town, said he'd be back next month," a deep voice answered.

Aurora's heart began to jump. She would see him! She would finally see him! Again, dozens of thoughts raced through her mind. What would she say to him? How should she greet him? How would he react? The woman then realised that she could chose a better time to think of that, a moment where she was not observed by half of Morrowind's criminals. No matter what, she should not let them understand her situation and what she felt for him, for they could both face problems if it came out. Instead, she forced herself to direct her attention to the leader, who had taken a few steps away from her and turned to face his comrades.

"We messed up," he said with a low tone.

"So, who are you, guys?" Aurora asked loudly whilst stretching her neck.

"Shut it!" he commanded and once again turned away.

"I don't like being bound, could you please...?"

He did not pay any attention to her. Most people seemed disappointed and walked away, and the leader's conversation with the rest was not too long or interesting judging by the bandits' reactions. Happy not being the centre of attention, Aurora began to look around inside the cave. The walls were decorated with furs all the way in to the opposite wall, about ten yards in, but did not contain much else. It appeared to be some sort of gathering place rather than sleeping quarters. Looking outside, she saw that one of the tents had its entrance curtain drawn to the side, exposing a table and chair as well as some pelts that lay in a yard-high container.

The leader was now left alone with Aurora, and the woman observed him carefully. How on Nirn did Vilkas get here? What possessed him to be with people like those criminals? It was against the Companion code of honour... Perhaps he had been forced to join them, but then again... It appeared as people knew him, meaning that they let him go to town for an entire month or longer. The leader was very arrogant, but he had manners expected of a lord. He moved like someone from a good family and held his back straight in a (to Aurora) peculiar way. A warrior had a good posture, but the leader did not appear to be one. He lacked the muscles required for hunting. No, Aurora thought. He was a strange man.

"Give me back my sword," she demanded as he looked at her.

"No way!" he laughed. "If you truly are the Harbinger, we better keep your arms bound."

"It's not like I'm going to wander off before I see Vilkas," Aurora hissed.

"You can't be trusted," the man stated arrogantly.

"How come?" Aurora asked, acting surprised.

"You are terribly antagonistic for being a woman."

"Hello! My hands are bound and I've just been informed that you'll chop parts of me off!" she complained. "Let me go and I won't hurt you."

The man laughed again and shook his head before going down on one knee in front of Aurora and slapping her gently on her cheek. He removed a section of her hair that had fallen in front of her face and placed it behind her ear. He was very smooth, and the woman guessed that he had done it a lot on himself, judging by the length of his hair, which was slightly longer than Aurora's. He searched for her gaze and found it, teasing her terribly.

"Oh, you will. I can see it in your all but hospitable body language."

"Well..." Aurora smiled. "I might owe you a slap in the face."