Chapter Four:
Tarah didn't think Fornost would be so far off, granted she didn't have the slightest reference like a map to really mislead her, but with the distance, the two soldiers had covered on horseback, she thought that she would at least see the place after an hour or so.
Tarah had spent the rest of the evening planning her next move, trying to pack her things so that she would be less suspicious on the road and in general trying to sort through all the information she had gathered. She knew that her armor would cause suspicion while on the road, only added by the fact that she was a woman, apparently here it was largely the men who did the hard labor and the fighting.
Knowing this she had decided to change into regular clothing, dump out any extra food to make way for her armor and ebony weaponry in her bags so that she could hide them. This, unfortunately, made her bags somewhat heavy, especially since she had added the bow and quiver of arrows from the archer she had killed. Deciding to play the role of a refugee fending for herself she had enough experience of trying to lay low. Not a hard role to play considering that she had been a hunter of the woods for most of her life before the dragons returned to Skyrim. Though she was exhausted from the battle, and the wound on her stomach was acting up, having to stop several times to re-apply the medicine liquid the woman had used, she had to keep going, lengthening her stay in the wilderness would only worsen things.
It had turned out that the two guards she had confronted were from the town of Fornost. Having suspected some sort of rebel activity in the woods she had exited for some time they had scouted routinely, with the intention of reporting any activity rather than engaging it. They had apparently heard her cries and thought of her as easy prey, and a way to get some sort of promotion for their capture so that they could better provide for their families.
Not wanting to arrive in the direction where the two had left on their patrol, coming from the East and not the south. She had also made the difficult decision to remove her family paint on her face, the red strip of paint was a symbol of her identity but a detriment to her disguise.
When all was done, she burned any resources she would leave behind and killed the guard she had interrogated. It was too big of a risk to let him live, apparently, he was bound by strange magic so that he couldn't lie about what he saw to a superior, and would have died from his wounds anyways if nobody found him. She disliked the act, he had turned out to have been a man that just wanted to provide for his family, and probably would have been a kind soul, had they not have met under such circumstances. It reminded her too much of the Stormcloaks, most of them were nice people, but were bound by their sense of honor, the cause of Ulfric, even after his death.
Still upset over her ordeal and general situation, she tried to focus on her goal, to find any information as to how to possibly get home, but she couldn't do that without knowing the local terrain, both politically and physically. There was also the added problem of search parties looking for the killer of the two soldiers.
"Once they fail to report back there will likely be too many search parties to slip away without a trace." She had thought, though she couldn't be certain that that was going to be the case.
But Tarah couldn't risk it.
Her eyes were heavy when she finally found a road, her own stubbornness to make as much headway as possible had kept her from stopping to rest. The light of the morning sun was barely over the horizon when she collapsed from exhaustion. Despite her best efforts, the dreams dragged her to sleep.
P.O.V: Norin.
Norin's carriage was running late again, despite his efforts to travel through the night, he was still going to arrive at Fornost behind schedule. And with little to show for it, he had made very little in the way of selling his goods in Uru'baen and had tried to make up for it by selling to some of the outlining farms to the East. A few farmers interested in his tools and a few of his vegetables had bought enough so that the trip wasn't a complete waste, but it wasn't nearly as profitable as he had hoped.
His two horses Frinic and Ghost were about to collapse from the journey, he had traveled with them long enough to know the signs. Finic a grey farm horse had his head dangerously low, while Ghost, a white stallion that was a bit more resilient for the job had let his ears drop.
"Come on guys, just a little bit more," Norin called out encouragingly, soon he knew that he would have to get out and help the horses pull. But he was so close to Fornost, just another few minutes and he would be home.
As the wind changed to the west, Both horses had made noticeable sniffs, and immediately perked their heads up, Ghost jerking away from the left side of the road. Stopping Finic as well who was also jerking his head around.
"Woah, Woah." Norin cried, pulling on the reins to try and regain control of the animals.
They weren't panicking yet, but something had caught their attention to energize them. Standing on his carriage he scanned the horizon, there were a few trees around but nothing large enough to hide any threats. The grasses are too small to hide anything more than a snake really.
Finally, his eyes landed on a body, not too far from the road, jumping off the carriage, he ran over, his horses not moving.
As he got closer he realized that it was a woman, her small frame encompassed by two large bags. She wore men's pants and a brown tunic, a bow, and a quiver of arrows strapped on her back. At first, he thought she was dead until he saw that she was still breathing. She had short red hair, her face surprisingly beautiful, yet fierce as her face was covered with small scars. Almost like she was snarling in a dream.
"She must have passed out, poor thing." He thought. Looking around he couldn't see anyone else nearby. "She must have been traveling alone," he thought, it was a dangerous thing to do, especially in these times.
Knowing that he couldn't just leave her there, Norin decided to load her on his carriage. After removing her surprisingly heavy bags he gently picked her up, immediately he noticed that her frame was more muscular than most women he knew. But despite this, she was relatively light.
When he approached the horses, they began to fidget, even more, knocking their heads away as he got closer. Norin realized that it was the woman they were freaking out about. Seeing this Norim made sure to keep his distance until he approached the back of the carriage, fortunately, there was room to lay her down in, without having to move too many crates of vegetables and tools.
Once he was sure that she was secured and wasn't going to fall off he returned to where her bags were. The first one that he saw was the biggest and the bulkiest looking, leaning down he grabbed the straps.
"Ooof" He said involuntarily as the bag was heavier than he had anticipated.
As he laid the bag on the carriage he decided that he would help pull the carriage, knowing his horses wouldn't be able to last too much longer.
Thankfully the second bag wasn't nearly as heavy as the first, he loaded up the smaller lighter bag at the front, to distribute weight more evenly. Then getting his own rope to the carriage he helped pull the weight and led the horses on the road. Fortunately, a half-hour hadn't even passed when he saw the cluster of buildings that made up the town of Fornost.
Most of the buildings had hay and straw roofs, most doors and walls were made from wood. The road was made from regular dirt, but there were sections that had cobblestone as a part of a construction project from the mayor before funds and manpower were drafted to the army. Most houses were stuck close together, the small settlement housing a rough 300 people, complete with the local market, ironworks, guardhouse, and tanner. There were even a few local taverns that were used for wandering caravans that went from the other cities and occasionally Surda.
The people here were busy but kind folk, though spirits were damp due to a large number of the men being conscripted to the army.
Norin's house was at the center of town, an awkward place to set up a garden but he had enough space to make it work and keep his horses comfortable.
As he approached his house his neighbor Valek, came running up beside him from ahead of the road.
"Need a hand, friend?" The tall blond man asked.
"No I'm doing just fine" Norin responded, his face covered in sweat. Turning the reins of his animals to the side so that they could better maneuver to the side of the house, where he could better unload his cargo.
"Oh come on!" Valek said playfully, "when are you going to let me repay my debt to you?" The man kept pace whistling as he went. "That's a lot of stuff you have back there." He noted, "Do you really think you can get it all in there in time before dark?"
Norin grinned, it was only the morning, he had all day to get everything inside before the afternoon. When he finally reached the stable area of the house his heart dropped as he saw a massive array of dark clouds coming from the north.
Valek smirked "Looks like we are going to have a downpour in a couple of hours." turning to his friend he asked, "You sure that you don't need my help?"
Grudgingly Norin agreed for Valek to help pay his "debt" by helping him unhitch the horses and to move the supplies inside before the rains came. Both horses were visibly relieved to have finished the job and made no issue of the matter of going into the stables, where they promptly fell asleep. Norin tried to get to the back of the carriage while Valek was busy heading the two animals in their pens. But Valek had done his job fast and even as Norin reached the back of the carriage, Valek was already on his way, meaning that if he wouldn't be able to move the woman without Valek seeing.
"I found someone on the road," Norin said as the blond man approached the back of the carriage. Valek gave him a questioning look, before turning to see the woman that laid before him.
"Geese." Valek cried, immediately climbing on to check for a pulse.
"She's alive. I found her like this on the side of the road not too far from here." Moving to the center of the carriage entrance he motioned Valek to push her to him. "Come on, we've got to get her inside." He said, looking at the fast-approaching clouds, the wind already becoming more moist and chilly.
Together both men carried the unconscious woman into the house, they decided to keep her in the guest bedroom on the first floor, so that they could keep check in on her and be able to move the various supplies easier. As they laid her under the covers, Valek turned to Norin "What a strange complexion she has." Motioning to her jawline and brow, more muscular features than they were used to. "Where do you think she's from?".
"I don't know." Norin responded as they exited the room, leaving the door slightly ajar, "I found her on the eastern road." As they navigated through the dining room and kitchen towards the carriage outside he began to speculate as to her origin.
"Maybe she's from the Beor Mountains, that jawline looked awfully dwarvish." Valek speculated.
"Valek you have never even seen a dwarf in your life, and if she were don't you think that she would be shorter?" Norin said. His attention was turned to the bags that belonged to the woman, grabbing the heaviest one, dragging it out, and handing it to his friend.
"Yeah, well it might still be possi-uuffff!" he shifted back, caught by surprise by the weight of the bag.
Laughing he grabbed the smaller bag and helped lead Valek back inside the house. "These bags were on her when I found her." He commented as they approached the guest bedroom.
"You mean to say that she was carrying this thing?" Valek said, commenting on the bag.
"And this." He indicated to the bag he was carrying.
"Dam." was all Valek could say as they dropped the bags in the far corner of the room, right next to the dresser.
"How could she have carried all that?" Valek asked.
Before Norin could respond there came a sharp growl from the bed, jumping both men turned to see the woman tossing in her sleep, her face changing into various fierce expressions. Quietly both friends left the room and continued to unload the rest of Norins things, including some books, a lot of food, and a box with several small notes, that Norin insisted on taking.
He placed the box in the kitchen where the rest of the food was along with the woman's wooden bow and steel-tipped arrows. After finally unloading the last of the cargo both of them pushed the carriage to the backside of the house, where there was an overhang large enough to cover the carriage during the rain. Declaring that his debt was paid in full, Norin urged Valek back to his own home so that he could make some final preparations before the coming storm.
"Talk to Valka if her condition gets any worse," Valek said as he left.
"I will," Norin replied before closing the door. His muscles were tired but he had one final thing to do before he could think about rest. Grabbing the box full of notes and papers, he dragged it to the other side of the kitchen, where a wool rug laid. Removing the rug revealed a hatch that led to the basement, a short set of stairs connecting the two. Grabbing the box again he went down to the basement, just as it started to pour with rain outside.