Chapter Seven:

P.O.V Tarah:

Despite her many years of combat and countless adventures she had partaken in, Tarah had never been as shaken up after a battle as she had been just then. She had fought countless enemies and beasts. But never had she faced such a direct attack to her mind. She knew that if it wasn't for the plethora of Dragon souls she had devoured over the years and the savage side to her wolf spirit she would have lost so much faster.

She knew that she was going to lose, such certainty to have her mind and power at the whims of another. That's what shook her up so bad, and what made her hands tremble, to be so vulnerable, it had been a long time that she had felt that she could be so easily defeated.

Shaking her head she grabbed Norin by the shoulder "Come on, we have to get out of here." Rushing back inside after picking up her weapons, they didn't have a lot of time before more soldiers came.

She turned to Norin who still looked stunned. "Is there a place we can go?" she asked.

For a moment he stared at her, before finally getting her meaning "Surda." He said, "But it will take us a few days to reach the nearest city of Cithri, and that's to the west."

"Well, I hope you're ready to ride like hell." She said, tossing him the bloody sword, "If you have any gear that you want to take now is the time."

He nodded, rushing through the staircase, going up the steps two at a time.

Rushing into her own room, Tarah ignored the bodies of the soldiers, instead focusing on changing into her armor. Strapping on her chest plate first, then her leg armor along with her boots. As she was adjusting the straps on her arms she heard Norin rush down the stairs, his footsteps slowly fading away as he ran to the other end of the house.

3 minutes later she was fully equipped. Bow and her quiver of arrows strapped on her back and axes on either side. It took her longer than she liked but she was ready. Grabbing her bags she rushed out the door, as she ran down the hallway, she spotted people gathering on the street from the windows. When she reached the living room, she saw that the kitchen door was wide open, as well as the hatch.

Outside Norin was saddling up the horses, wearing leather armor, throwing knives strapped on his back and the sword she had given him sheathed on his side.

"I'll finish this up, you get some food packed." She said as she approached.

Turning around Norin looked stunned to see her in full armor, "Where did you get that?" He asked.

"Made it." She said plainly, moving in to take over the saddling process. "The sooner we leave the better of a chance of getting to Cithri alive."

To his credit Norin swallowed his questions, rushing back into the house.

The horses were not happy to have her tend to them, no doubt smelling the wolf in her, or the dragon she was kin to, if that was a thing anyway, she found it quite annoying, the horses in Skyrim were much better behaved, but it couldn't be helped, besides she always had Arvak to summon in a pinch. "Oh quit it, I'm not going to eat you." She grumbled.

Despite their fidgeting, she managed to get the saddles strapped in and secure, along with their reins. She then proceeded to strap her bags on the grey one who she remembered was Finnic.

As she led them out of their stalls by the reins, She heard Norin rush up behind her. He was carrying a pack, presumably with water and food. He wasted no time in strapping it on Ghost's saddle.

As they got on the horses Tarah noticed the smell of smoke coming from the basement. When she asked Norin he shrugged.

"Can't let the Empire find my notes."

And with that they burst out of the garden and onto the main street, Tarah riding behind Norin, letting him lead the way.

By this point, a large crowd had gathered around the periphery of the house, many with concerned looks. More soldiers were trying to make their way through the crowd, their whispers turned into screams as the two charged out through the gate. The two ran through the crowd that parted before them before the soldiers got close.

As she passed the crowd her eyes met the awed look of the little girl she had rescued Anabel, as well as the frightened looks of her parents.

"Yah." She yelled, encouraging Finic to gallop ever faster.

Soon they found themselves at the other side of the lake that she woke up next to what felt like so many days ago. Riding like hell before enemy reinforcements could arrive.

It wouldn't be until late into the night that Norin and Tarah stopped to make camp in a small patch of forest near the planes. The horses were tied to some trees and were busy grazing on the nearby brush. Their camp had been made on a small clearing near the center of the woodland, something that both relieved Tarah and made her concerned. Yes, they were hidden from view, but they also couldn't see out into the planes for pursuers that were doubtlessly on their way, and if they were smart they would check the area for activity. It was for this reason that they had forgone a campfire, despite the relative chill of the night.

Tarah had little trouble seeing in the dark. She was slumped up next to a tree as she inspected her armor and weapons for any faults or damage that might have arisen from their escape, and taking note of how much magic remained in her weapons. She also took stock of her soul gems, something that she had neglected to do since arriving in this strange land. Much to her dismay, it seemed that only two of the larger soul gems still had power, many of the smaller ones had been emptied since her little adventure fighting the Falmer.

"Oh well, I'll just have to restock next time we get into a fight." she thought. Though the prospect of consuming someone's soul for her own gains never sat well with her, she also knew that having such power on hand could mean the difference between life and death.

Since her supply was limited, she decided to restock the magic on her axes, passing the soul gem over the rune carvings she watched the purple light drain from it, embedding itself into the carvings and giving life to spells she had embedded into them so long ago. Then the charge died, the Ebony axe began to glow with renewed power, but it was only at half power, it would last a couple of skirmishes and that would have to be enough.

"What is that?" She heard Norin ask. He had been sitting near a rock only a few paces next to her, eating some beef jerky that they had gathered for the trip. Apparently having seen the soul gem in the moonlight, or maybe his eyes were better adjusted to the dark than she thought.

"Soul Gem." She said, "It's a mineral substance that helps contain magic for me to use." Tarah wasn't quite sure if she wanted to let on that the magic was acquired by harvesting the soul of living things. Such information often proved unsettling for those that weren't familiar with magic in Skyrim, who knows how he might react to it.

His eyes widened with fascination. "You are a skilled magician then." He said, a note of awe in his voice.

"Something like that." She knew her way around the basics of projectile and summoning magic, and had a partial understanding of how most of the Rune magic worked, she was by no means an expert. The only thing that she excelled at was the Way of The Voice, having dedicated many long months to track down as many words of power she could.

After that, there was a long pause. And after a moment of deliberation, she decided to ask a question of her own.

"Why did those soldiers attack you?"

For a second he hesitated, finding his words "The magician must have sensed you use magic, doubtless they wanted you in their ranks and to swear an oath of loyalty to them. If that had happened you wouldn't be able to disobey the king, though you must have known that."

She wasn't quite that surprised to hear that, the way that magician had attacked her mind gave her a sense that they would probably bind their will to her, like a Vampire Lord to their minions. Their magic was strange and unfamiliar to her, so who knew what they could do, nothing good that was for sure. What's more, the king must have had control of thousands of subjects, how could he possibly maintain that level of control that Norin described.

She could also tell that there was more at play here, Norin was keeping something from her. The fact that he had rather seen his home burned down than getting searched gave a good idea of what that might be. Though she didn't say anything.

"What do you know of the Varden?" He asked.

Tarah shrugged, inspecting the straps on her gauntlet. "Nothing, are they the ones who are in Surda?" She asked.

"No, they are a rebellion that is sworn to overthrow the mad Tyrant king, for some time they had been held up in the mountains, slowly recruiting allies to aid in the fight and waiting for the right time to strike. After their victory in Farah-Dur, they have marched out to finally bring the fight to him. Surda is an independent kingdom that has sworn to help us in our cause." He paused as if realizing he had oversaid something. "I am a spy for them, my job is to gather information and try to send trustworthy recruits their way. Recently however our spy network has been found out and many of our agents seem to have been exposed, myself included apparently." There was tension in his voice.

She wasn't that surprised, she had suspected that she wasn't the only one with secrets.

"That would explain the patrol I encountered before." They had even speculated that she was a rebel, maybe they thought she was running as an emissary between the spies and whoever they answered to. Turning to Norin, she began to recognize a look forming across his face, it was a look for help.

"Let me guess, you want me to help your cause." She said bluntly.

He gave her a serious nod, the light from the moon fading away as clouds passed overhead. "No one will be free till the tyrant is dead Laura." He said seriously, "Even if you went back to the wilderness I doubt it would take them long to find you, the only way we are going to win is if we all work together, man, dwarf, and elves."

"And what makes you think that your rebellion has what it takes to win against this all-powerful king? Why act now?"

A smug look passed over him " We now have something to even the odds, an actual Dragon Rider has joined our ranks. I don't know how he tamed the beast but they played a key role in helping us win at Farah-Dur from what I hear." He said proudly.

"That's right, Dragons exist here." She thought, remembering what he had told her a few days ago, though she was surprised that it had chosen to fight with mere mortals. "Maybe there are other Dragon Born here." The thought made her a bit uneasy, the only other Dragon Born she had met was Miraak, a crazed psycho that wanted to rule the world. She felt out her element here, there was so much she didn't know, where were her companions? Had they traveled here, or had they been left to deal with the Forsworn? She hoped that they were okay.

Was there a way home? If there were dragons here then maybe she was closer to Tamriel than she thought. Though the problem with that theory was that none of the constellations aligned,

But there was another problem, she had no power or connections here. No backup wealth to fall back on, no allies that she could trust or call upon. She was alone here, it was a vulnerability that she hadn't felt in a long time. Now more than ever she wanted to go back to her daughters, to hug them again and tell them how sorry she was.

"Focus!" She told herself, "Focus on getting back to them, and your companions." Maybe she could negotiate her services to the Varden in exchange for helping her get back home if they were truly that desperate that is. Though there was no guarantee that they were on the right side to fight for, or that they could help her.

Leaning back against the tree she continued to think, taking into account all that she had learned so far and her situation. She didn't distrust Norin, but she had been wrong before, if she played her cards right she might be able to turn this situation around, and getting the chance to talk to another Dova could prove useful, as well as this Dragon Rider. If she could avoid getting tied in with their weird magic to one cause she could always get away and look for her companions on her own.

"Alright." She said, "I'll follow you to Surda and see if this cause of yours is worth my services."

Though he tried to hide it she could tell he was relieved, "You made the right choice. Thank You."