"It's pretty straightforward..." Edna spoke in a strong voice. "Animals pass through caverns like this all the time. That means they know their ways in and out. The watering hole downhill must act as a gathering spot for all sorts. From there, I can look for fresh tracks to help us navigate our way out of here. You just need to make sure that we're not being ambushed by the local beasts while I look around." Edna laid down her plan in a few words, mindful of her audience. Both herself and Asgeir were tired, injured, and reluctant to trust each other. Despite their temporary truce, it was best to keep things uncomplicated.
"As you can see— " Edna motioned towards her injuries with a small wave of her hand. And did so without meeting Asgeir's eyes. "— I'm not exactly in prime fighting condition. I could use someone capable of wielding a weapon keeping watch. And carrying the supplies." Asgeir didn't have anything to say to that, but Edna had expected as much. She'd expected that he would know what she needed from him.
The man needed her for her tracking skills, and Edna needed him for his strength. It would be stupid to pretend this was about anything else. With her injuries, the assassin doubted that she would be able to fend off a mudcrab, let alone fight off a bear. And Asgeir, for all his impressive physique, was poor-equipped to navigate the wildness of Skyrim. There was safety in numbers. As long as they focused on that, they might be able to make it.
With a clearing of her throat, the Dragonborn moved things along. "We should wait out the night, and go as soon as it's safe tomorrow. Maybe gather some more food in the meanwhile."
As far as logistics went, it didn't get much simpler than that.
And as far as plans went, it had potential. Not that having a good plan would guarantee success.
As an assassin, one quickly discovered that even the best-laid plans could fail at the drop of a hat. And the more elaborate the plan, the more chances there were of something going wrong. If you want to make the gods laugh, you need only tell them your plans, after all. Edna remembered that her father had told her that once. She had learned that particular lesson the hard way.
'Though, clearly, not well enough.'
The Dragonborn thought back on the Thalmor party. Her botched stealth mission was another mark on her long list of failures.
It was past time she started doing better.
"Do we leave at first light?" Asgeir asked, and she could tell that he was already itching to go. So far, he had accepted her plan in stride, but Edna had no illusions that the attitude would last.
"We will leave a few hours after dawn." The man's brows furrowed, so she elaborated before he could protest. "The aim is to avoid the wolves and bears. Dawn and dusk are their favourite times of the day to go out. The safest time for us to make our move is in the hours before noon."
Asgeir grunted in acknowledgement, appeased.
Edna shot him an awkward smile, more out of instinct than out of any desire to be friendly. They were not actively trying to kill each other, and that was enough. With both of them accepting of her plan, there were other concerns to move onto.
Rolling the stiffness out of her shoulders and neck, Edna lowered her gaze to her midriff. There were speckles of brown scatted across the too-thin fabric of her clothes. She would, at some point soon, need to finish binding her wounds.
The bleeding had slowed to a stop, but plenty of Edna's blood had soaked through her undershirt. Unless she wanted the fabric to stick painfully to her torn skin, she would need to strip from the waist up and clean it. The blood was starting to dry in places, so the sooner Edna dealt with it, the better. After all, they planned to make their escape in less than a day's time.
Somehow, the idea of taking her top off in front of Asgeir was even less appealing now, after he had already seen her bare skin. She was not looking forward to going through such an embarrassment a second time around.
As if embarrassment carried any weight in matters of survival.
Edna inhaled, letting the damp air fill in her lungs. Gingerly grabbing the edge of her ruined shirt, she steeled herself to ask Asgeir to turn around.
The other Nord had gone quiet, but his gaze remained aimed at her. Thoughtful, probing, and intrusive.
Not too long ago, Edna had been so annoyed at Asgeir's stubbornness to not look upon her. The woman now desperately wished he would go back to it.
The Dragonborn wanted to shake herself for acting like such a maiden. As if she was a simpering fool taking her clothes off in front of a man for the first time. It wasn't even the first time she'd undressed in front of Asgeir by this point. She told herself that she'd taken her dress off in front of him at the Embassy. But she'd not been naked then. Not that she should be so sensitive about it anyway.
A body was a body. And all bodies were the same in death.
Why was she hesitating over this? Her modesty was inconsequential. Her life, somewhat less so.
Letting her annoyance at herself steady her resolve, Edna pushed her chin up, ready to face her demons.
"We should eat. Get our strength up for tomorrow." Asgeir said, once again getting ahead of her, cutting her momentum short. It left Edna suspended awkwardly in place, her lips parted to speak.
"I'll go look for food." He continued, turning away from the young assassin. But not before Edna saw his eyes flicker down to her hand gripping at the hem of her shirt. "You're useless in your current state." Asgeir's tone was harsh, but Edna found herself feeling stupidly thankful anyway.
She watched his back as he retreated across the shelter. He once again ducked his head and disappeared out of sight.
Edna didn't know if Asgeir had left only to flee the repulsive sight of her bare, bruised body. Or if he was being kind. Nor did she allow herself to debate his reasons.
Her shirt was wet with her blood and far too scratchy, and Edna began the painful process of separating it from her raw skin.
…
…
Asgeir returned not long before dusk. The woman heard him approach a few minutes before she saw his silhouette at the entrance. Edna wondered if he'd kept in mind what she had told him about wolves.
His footsteps were noisy. Nothing like the first time he'd returned to the shelter and found her half-naked. Edna suspected that he was being loud on purpose. She was grateful for this maybe-kindness, too. It gave her enough warning to pull her top over her newly wrapped wounds. And to mentally prepare herself to speak to him.
"I couldn't catch anything." Was the first thing the other Nord said when he came into view, his voice plain. Edna had expected as much, considering that he was not a huntsman by any stretch. Still, the woman was pleasantly surprised when she noticed the bundle of berries in Asgeir's arms.
"I wasn't sure if these are eatable,— " He gestured towards his bounty as he placed the berries down, mindful not to crush them. "— but I thought it's better than nothing."
"These are good." Edna chipped in after examining them for a moment, popping a few of them into her mouth with less caution than was due. At the sight of food, Edna was beginning to feel the full effect of her until-then forgotten hunger. The berries were unexpectedly sweet, despite their tart aftertaste. Edna chewed slowly, savouring the taste.
"There might still be some rabbit meat we could salvage." The blonde made a gesture with her hand towards where she'd stashed the meat earlier.
With a hand cradling her injured side, she pushed herself to her feet. She approached the fire-pit and gently unearthed the leftovers. They were charred in places and covered in sand, but still smelled good.
To be fair, the meat itself was almost enough to feed them both, if cleaned with care.
None of them pointed out that this could have been mentioned before Asgeir had left.
"I gathered some wood so we can have a fire." The man pointed towards the entrance, where he'd left the dry timber. Edna nodded. It was more than she'd expected, and she felt more optimistic. She felt some of the tension in her shoulders ease.
Feeling more put together, the woman started preparing the food. Meanwhile, Asgeir went to fetch the firewood so that they would not suffer the cold at night. Hopefully, it would be their last night stuck together in this place.
It was barely dusk, but Edna was already getting excited for the next day.
…
They were woken up early by the sound of wolf howls. As omens went, it was not very encouraging. Still, Edna had confidence that their plan would work.
They spend the first few hours of the morning side by side. Much in the same way that they've spent yesterday's evening. Both chewed on whatever leftovers they had from the day before. They shared the last sips of water in Edna's canteen in wordless understanding. They discussed the details of how to get out of the cavern.
It was eerie how civil they were to each other, but Edna knew that it was temporary. They would go their separate ways, and things would go back to normal soon.
Of course, that's something Edna had told herself many times before. The first time had been following her father's death. Then, after she'd been caught crossing the border into Skyrim. After the Greybeards' call. After Astrid. It had hardly ever proven true.
The Dragonborn didn't want to think about that, though. To think of irreversible change, or about unforeseen consequences. She just wanted to get out of this bloody cave.
They went down to the watering hole once the time was right. Asgeir carried most of their supplies, including Edna's pack. The woman was not pleased knowing that the other Nord was guarding all that was left of her belongings. Not that she was in any position to complain. Her injuries slowed her down enough, without the extra luggage.
"What are we looking for?" Asgeir asked. He had his back to her, looking out for dangers.
Edna was crouching down near the waterside, studying the freshest marks in the wet ground.
Talking wasn't the safest thing to do. Not if they were trying to not attract attention. But Asgeir was feeling fidgety, Edna could tell. It was not something the Dragonborn wanted, with the tenuous alliance between them as it was. So she found herself answering him in a half-whisper. "I'm looking for hooved footprints."
Ideally, she hoped to find some elk tracks. Pray animals knew which trails to follow to avoid predators. Deer and elk were creatures inclined to only use a cavern such as this as a temporary shelter. If there were any around, they were likely in the habit of wandering in and out of the cave during the daytime. Which meant they had established paths to get them there.
It would put Edna and Asgeir on the fastest and safest course out of this mess.
She didn't tell Asgeir all this, but he didn't ask her to elaborate either. And not long after, Edna found what she'd been looking for.
Deep, fresh tracks, the right size and shape. The mirrored teardrops imprints were heading towards the underbrush. There were small signs that this was the start of a popular trail. Some of the nearby trees were marked so that young elks would be able to follow.
"We have our trail home." Edna announced, unable to suppress a hopeful smile.
Asgeir grunted, still wearingly watching their surroundings. "Finally." And he started to move closer. Then, he paused, a small frown marring his already grave expression. "Do you hear that?" He asked, in a lower voice. "What's that sound?"
Edna frowned as well, straining to listen to the forest. She blanched once she heard the buzzing that Asgeir was talking about. She recognised that sound. What it meant. They were vastly unprepared to deal with a Spriggan.
"We need to move." She urged, swallowing down her alarm. "Now!"
Not wasting any more time on explanations, Edna stood up and pulled Asgeir towards her by the wrist.
She saw the anger rise in his eyes again, his mouth open to protest. But this was not the time for being dramatic.
"Have you ever seen a Spriggan? Well, you'll be fighting one soon if we dally here any longer." She said between gritted teeth, and Edna's luck might have been cursed, but it pulled through for one. Asgeir yanked his hand back but listened to her.
And without another word, they started following the new-found path.
…
…
They trekked through the trees and grass for what must have been at least an hour. The further they walked down the trail, the more the menacing sound of bees swarms faded away.
They got lucky, in any case. They managed not to stumble onto any animals other than a couple of elks following the trail just like them. The skittish beasts disappeared as soon as they noticed them. They climbed higher up the terrain than men could follow, keeping out of reach. The most danger they encountered was the steep and wet ground. And soon enough they were near the cavern's outer wall.
There was a crack of light that promised to lead to an exit. To freedom.
They pushed through even as the stone walls narrowed and the light shone too bright, almost blinding them. Kept going as they felt strong winds slashing across the skin of their cheeks.
Once they stepped outside, the two Nords found themselves sharing a tired smile. It only lasted for a moment— the amount of time that it took them to look ahead and recognise themselves on an empty road North of Solitude. Alone, and far from home.
They still had an exhausting journey ahead of them. And the company could have been better.
Hi everyone, I hope you enjoyed this update- and be honest with me, is the pacing a bit too slow? I'm doing my best trying to get to the exciting parts (yes, I actually have this entire fic mapped out, and there is quite a lot of action still to come), but I tend to be the slow-burn type of person when it comes to relationship development (which, I guess, comes with the pairing, and maybe in this case more than others).
Thank you for reading and feel free to drop a review. :)