Bishop rushed up the narrow pathway after Karnwyr, almost slipping on the mud.
This mine atop must have belonged to the Silver-Bloods – a perfect place to lure her into, likely with some fake noble quest and ambush her.
Fuck… just how much information did they have on her to know to do that?!
They definitely knew that she was the Dragonborn, and he had no doubt that Mercer would spread the word on how to prevent her from using her powers. That fucker was nothing if not efficient in his vengeance. Even the fact that he had already managed to alert his associates to the bounty… fuck… that man worked fast.
Bishop rushed up the pathway and he stopped by the entrance to the mine, trying to make out the scene in the utter darkness.
There were two corpses there, both with their heads pierced by arrows.
The ground was still muddy – the rain must have stopped quite a while ago, but the soil was clearly disturbed by a lot of feet.
Aeyrin was definitely fighting there.
But where was she now? Did they drag her into the mine?
Bishop threw a desperate questioning look at Karnwyr. The wolf seemed to be indicating for him to leave the place, to go back down towards the settlement.
Why? Where the fuck was she? Where did they take her?
He bent down, took a hold of the arrow protruding from one of the corpses and yanked it out roughly. Maybe it would give him at least some hint of what to expect. Somebody had obviously helped her out in the fight.
He narrowed his eyes, peering at the arrow in the darkness and trying to discern the material, the fletching technique, anything that could give him a slight hint, an indication of whether she was… safe.
Then the recognition dawned on him.
…
A small tug on her hair woke Aeyrin up.
She could still feel the heavy armored hand around her neck, pressing her throat, choking her. She could only let out an involuntary croak. Her throat was so sore, she was sure that she couldn't speak.
Another tug on her hair forced her to try and think hard about her surroundings.
She was definitely by a warm fire. It crackled beside her pleasantly, warming her skin… her… naked skin.
She definitely did have some clothes on her, she felt a soft fur wrapped around her breasts and something that felt like a rather short skirt, made from the same material. And she still had her undergarments on, thank the Gods! Other than that, she definitely felt naked.
She was lying on her side on more furs with her head propped up by what could only be a make-shift fur pillow. Her hair, now loose from her ponytail, was still being tugged at occasionally.
She tried to open her eyes.
The light from the fire blinded her instantly, making her close them shut.
"You know, I still don't get it…" a derisive scoff of an unfamiliar woman echoed from above her ear. She must have been the one tugging on her hair! Why?
"All we've seen her do was scream in pain, almost get killed by a pillager and then get outsmarted by a Nord and bathed in mud. I don't see what you're so impressed about," the woman scoffed again and the next tug on Aeyrin's hair was a bit more forceful than necessary.
"We've seen her triumph over a dragon's soul. We've seen her send an entire tribe plummeting into the wild rapids to their deaths. We've seen her hold her own against an outnumbering ambush. I am impressed by all of this," a soft chuckle of a man echoed from some distance away.
She knew that she was being watched! All throughout the Reach, she felt eyes on her. Now she knew that she wasn't crazy! Somebody was there.
But who were these people?! Why were they following her and watching her?
She tried to open her eyes again, but the light blinded her once more. She must have been facing the fire directly to have such a reaction. She tried to speak, but only another painful croak escaped her.
"I think she's awake," the woman behind her announced and the light tugging on her hair stopped.
There was a moment of silence. Aeyrin could feel their eyes on her, waiting if she would rile herself up, open her eyes or move or speak in any way. She felt too sore to do any of that. But… she should probably make the effort, at the very least to let them know that she was conscious.
She let out a barely audible weak groan as she tried to turn to her stomach and prop herself up on her arms. Her upper back hurt badly and she remembered why – the man held her down in the mud for so long.
"Easy, little sparrow," the man spoke in a gentle soothing voice, now much closer to her than before and, a second later, she felt his hands on her shoulders, helping her up. The woman behind her gripped her by the upper arms too and helped prop her up into a sitting position.
Aeyrin felt a shadow blocking the bright fire now and she finally dared to open her eyes.
The blurry shapes took form slowly until she could finally see clearly.
The man was squatting by her side with one of his hands still on her shoulder. He was smiling at her gently with curiosity and intrigue glinting in his pale-blue eyes. He was a Breton, young, with platinum blonde hair, almost white at first sight. It looked a bit untamable and it was falling over his eyes constantly. Deep black paint was all around his light eyes, thinning into small lines over each cheek, travelling down his neck. He was dressed all in furs with a necklace of animal teeth hanging around his neck along with several other trinkets decorated with beads and feathers. There was a rather prominent half-collar all around the back of his neck and shoulders that appeared to be made out of some creature's spine. His arms were bare, uncovering the lean toned muscles of an agile warrior, covered with various other war paint and designs.
A Forsworn.
I took Aeyrin a while before she managed to concentrate on anything other than that man. She noticed that the hands of the woman behind her were still on her upper arms firmly, steadying her.
And then she finally looked down on her body.
She was dressed in similar furs as the man, although… much more sparsely. She had dark-brown fur wrapped over her breasts and behind her neck like an absurdly short tunic. The skirt was obviously made out of two different animals – one part looked like a sabre-cat pelt, the other like a bear one. It was similarly ridiculously short, considering the weather. It didn't even reach the lower half of her thighs. She was barefoot and her arms were naked too, but at least these people had left her with her necklaces. But her exposed skin showed the myriad of bruises and scratches and skin-burns from leather, all a reminder of the combat. If one could call her helpless struggle 'a combat'.
Why would these people undress her and put her in their own clothes? And more importantly, why did they help her?
And what happened back there with Thongvor? She didn't understand anything!
"I think she's still a bit in shock," the man tilted his head with a worried frown etched across his face before his hand left her shoulder.
"Obviously," the woman behind her scoffed. "You might be a bit confused too if you almost died and woke up in a stranger's tent." Aeyrin could hear the smirk in her voice.
She almost died? Well… she remembered choking… a lot… and the dirt. She remembered being unable to breathe and possibly passing out because of it. She tried to speak, but the only thing that came out was that pained croak again. Her throat was burning. She could feel a throbbing pain over her neck, as if the armored hand was still gripping her.
"Poor sparrow," the man gently brushed the back of his hand over her sore neck. "Our shaman is not back from a raid yet. We could not heal you properly."
Aeyrin was a bit wary of using magic in front of them, in case they thought that it was an attempt at aggression, but… they wanted to heal her themselves. Maybe it was alright.
She tentatively raised her hand from the ground and slowly lit it with magic while giving the man an uncertain look. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to heal herself completely, her neck felt kind of… damaged, but hopefully she would at least be able to talk afterwards.
The man's eyes went wide in surprise, but he recovered quickly and he nodded his head at her with a gentle smile. She promptly placed her hand on her neck and began massaging it gently. She slowly felt the burning pass and the pressure from the soreness ease, but she still needed to soothe her throat with something. She gestured for water uncertainly and she felt the hands that were still holding her upper arms leave her as the woman behind her got up to her feet and walked towards a barrel in the large tent. There was a suspended fur sac near it and she rummaged inside before she took out a wooden cup and filled it with the water from the barrel.
Aeyrin could finally look at the woman properly. She was dressed in very similar scant fur rags as Aeyrin was now, with tons of tribal accessories made out of bones, teeth, beads and feathers decorating her skin. Her hair was light red and long, braided elaborately, and she had war paint over her face and neck, similar to the man's – there were two lines drawn across her eyes, which were the same pale blue color as the man's, and some thinner lines coming from the corners of her lips down towards the back of her neck.
The woman knelt by her side again and handed her the cup with a subtle annoyed sigh. Aeyrin had already gathered that she wasn't very happy about her presence here.
The cold water spread through her throat pleasantly and the relieved smile on her face must have spurred the man on to try and communicate with her at last.
"What is your name, Dragonborn?" he tilted his head at her again and a few strands of his light hair fell a bit over his shoulder when he did.
"Aeyrin," she tried to speak quietly. Her throat was still sore but at least sound was coming out now.
"Aeyrin," the man gave her a bit of a faraway look, whispering the name, as if he was trying to see what it would sound like from his lips. "I am Cael. Chieftain of the Rudahan tribe. This is my sister Robin," he smiled at her gently, after a while. The intrigued twinkle never left his eyes, not even for a second.
A chieftain of a Forsworn tribe? For some reason, Aeyrin imagined a chieftain to look very different. Not that she even knew that the Forsworn had chieftains before he mentioned that, but still… she would have expected someone older, someone looking a bit more… battle-worn and hardened. Many of the Forsworn she had fought against at Karthwasten looked much more ragged and perhaps even bloodthirsty.
"Don't look so surprised. He left his elk-skull headdress back at the village," Robin smirked with a mocking smile playing on her lips.
Yeah… that might have been helpful. He would definitely look more menacing with that thing on his head. And maybe if he disposed of that gentle smile. This way he looked just… kind and somewhat… mysterious and alluring. It confused her too much! She had to remind herself that things were not black and white, but it made her somewhat uneasy that the people who have honestly been nothing but hostile so far were now helping her and talking to her.
"Sorry… you're just…" she shook her head instead of continuing and blushed a bit in embarrassment.
"Do not worry, sparrow. Many of our people haven't expected me to become chieftain at my age. But… they considered me worthy of the honor in the end," Cael chuckled a bit while he twirled a strand of the hair that was almost reaching his shoulders. His expression was a strange mix of pride and humbleness.
There was a moment of silence. She had so many questions and she wasn't able to decide which one to ask first. She needed to know what had happened at the mine entrance. She needed to know if anything that Thongvor said was true and she also needed to know why she was dressed like one of the Forsworn.
"Umm… why am I…?" she gestured on her rather exposed body. She would have been much more uncomfortable like that, but Robin was showing even more skin, if that were even possible without running around naked, and Cael wasn't exactly overdressed either. It seemed to be a cultural thing. The Forsworn she had fought before were dressed like that too. Weren't they cold?
"Don't worry, I know that you 'civilized' people get touchy about this. There were only five people here for your undressing ceremony. And Cael wasn't among them. He didn't see a thing," Robin placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly and she gave her a gentle smile. When she smiled like that, Aeyrin could see the family resemblance.
Wait…
"What?!" her eyes went wide at the woman. 'Undressing ceremony'? What in the Void was that?!
"Robin, don't tease the sparrow!" Cael chastised her, but there was a hint of an amused chuckle in his voice. "She's confused. It is only natural," he gave Aeyrin another gentle smile and nodded at her in understanding.
"Fine… I changed your clothes, alright? No ceremony involved. You were completely covered in mud. Or did you want to stay that way? Besides, we needed to see if there were some fatal wounds," Robin sighed with a somewhat annoyed tone.
"So, you killed the man that attacked me?" Aeyrin wasn't even sure why she asked. She already knew the answer.
"Aye. We saw you fall into their trap and decided to interfere," Cael nodded at her with a somber expression on his face.
"Why? Why would you help me?" Aeyrin looked at him in confusion. She tried to see any hint of ulterior motive on his face, but she couldn't read that man at all.
"Pfft! Because he's obsessed with you," Robin snorted derisively while shaking her head and rolling her eyes.
"Robin! I am not!" Cael snapped at her, almost pouting. Aeyrin could have sworn that she saw a light blush color his face.
"I… I was curious about you, little sparrow. We… first saw you marching towards Karthwasten. We were scouting the area and when it became clear where you and that man were headed, we followed. Then we saw you Shout and we saw you absorb the dragon's soul. That is intriguing on its own, is it not?" he smiled a little wistfully.
"Why didn't you try to kill us after, like the rest of your people did?" Aeyrin scowled at him in suspicion.
There was a moment of silence as both of the Forsworn gave her an uncertain expression.
"You… think that the tribe attacked?" Robin frowned at her and when Aeyrin looked at her in surprise, she shook her head. "Your friend attacked them."
What? Did she mean Bishop? Well… he wasn't fond of the Forsworn, but she found it hard to believe that he would stir a large battle while she was writhing in pain after the absorption.
"'My friend'? The… Nord in black armor?" she asked skeptically. Maybe they were making this up, maybe it was part of some ploy. She still didn't know what these people wanted from her.
"No, sparrow, the woman. The second the beast was dead, she attacked the tribe. The man in the black armor yelled at her, called her 'insane', but he joined the fray right away," Cael explained. His eyes kept searching her face, curious about her reaction.
Delphine… of course. She should have thought of that. It was much more believable. Gods-damned Delphine! The Forsworn didn't even attack! They weren't hostile! It was likely that even Thongvor's story was completely fabricated.
"So… you didn't join the fight?" she asked them uncertainly. Didn't they want to help their brethren?
"You mean after you drowned half of the tribe with one Shout? No… we decided against it," Robin scoffed at her and folded her arms across her chest.
"You disappeared into the mountain then," Cael continued to explain the events calmly. "But we saw you again on our hunt. You were travelling with that armored man. We followed you to the mine until we saw you get ambushed and almost killed."
"And you helped. But… I killed your people. I still don't understand why you helped me," Aeyrin gave him a searching look, again trying to discern his unclear intentions.
"It is simple, my sparrow. You did not kill my people. You have, in fact, killed the people of a village which has been attacking my people. You killed the dragon that has been circling the area for weeks now, killing our hunters and scouts. And… the man… the Silver-Blood, you are obviously no friend of his, are you? The enemy of my enemy, sparrow. You know how the saying goes," Cael gently placed his hand on hers and squeezed it briefly before he withdrew again.
"But… I wasn't trying to…" Aeyrin stammered a bit, but she stopped herself quickly. She shouldn't blatantly point out that she had no intention of helping his tribe. Although he already likely knew that anyway.
"I know. But you are no threat to our tribe either. At least I ventured that guess," he gave her a little wink before continuing. "I thought it better to keep the Dragonborn alive, provided she didn't decide to harm her rescuers. The dragons, after all, threaten us all."
Ah yes, the dragons. At times, it felt like the existence of the dragons was the only thing keeping her alive. If it weren't for them, people would have no qualms about killing her. Then again, if it weren't for them, she'd never be in this situation in the first place.
Although… if it weren't for Alduin, her head would be decorating an Imperial bucket in Helgen.
Ugh… no more thinking about the dragons!
"I don't attack people on a whim! I was just… Thongvor said that your people… or… that some Forsworn attacked one of his mines. That they killed unarmed miners and their families! I had no reason to suspect him of lying… I… I didn't know that my friend attacked the people at Karthwasten… I thought…" she shook her head, lowering her eyes. Delphine was gonna get a piece of her mind, that was for sure!
"Aye, you thought us barbarians and savages," Cael nodded at her, but there didn't seem to be any accusation in his tone. He merely chuckled lightly.
Aeyrin didn't answer for a while. She pursed her lips, while her eyes still remained lowered and there was palpable guilt etched on her face. "I… I'm sorry. I should have suspected that your people wouldn't attack defenseless families," she sighed after a while, still avoiding eye contact.
"We would and we do," Robin scoffed again with a fiercely determined scowl on her face. "This is our land and it was taken from us. Do you expect us to let the Nords, the Silver-Bloods, profit from it? To thrive here?"
Aeyrin didn't know how to answer that. She understood the reasoning, but attacking unarmed people, innocent men, women and children who were just trying to earn enough to survive, was despicable. She wasn't going to point that out aloud, however. She had no interest in raising hostilities after everything.
They didn't seem to want anything from her… maybe they'd just let her leave with no hassle. If Bishop was back, he must have been worried sick.
And if he wasn't…
Don't think about that! He's definitely back at the inn.
"Robin! What did I tell you about scaring her?!" Cael scowled at his sister, but again, there was that amused glint in his eyes.
"Didn't you fawn over her because she was some legendary warrior? Stop treating her like a child, Cael," Robin scoffed yet again.
"I can't help it! The little sparrow got caught in a net," Cael gave Aeyrin a gentle smile and he brushed the back of his hand over her cheek softly, eliciting another eye roll from Robin.
"'Sparrow'?" Aeyrin finally asked. The question had been gnawing at her for a while. Everybody was so keen on giving her nicknames… was her name hard to remember for some reason?
"I think it suits you, my sparrow," Cael's tender smile seemed to hide a bit of a sly streak. He brushed his hand over hers again briefly, making her flush automatically. "Oh! Did I make the Dragonborn blush? I wonder how many men can claim that feat," he chuckled merrily.
Many! But it seemed rude to point out just how easy a feat it was.
Robin seemed to be fed up with his 'fawning', as she put it, and she got up from the ground and turned on her heel.
"Robin, aren't you going to finish her hair?" Cael called out to his sister.
Aeyrin had almost forgotten about the tugging. Only now she ran her hand over her hair at the back of her head – there was definitely a large number of lean braids back there, twisted into elaborate patterns, decorated with beads.
"No! You do it! I'm going before I get sick," Robin scoffed before she exited the large circular tent promptly, leaving the two of them in there alone.
"Very well," Cael smiled. He got up to his feet suddenly and moved behind Aeyrin's back. He sat back down and his hands entangled in her hair instantly before she could manage to react.
"Ah… uhh… Cael? You really don't need to do this…" she stammered. He was gentle and his fingers brushing through her hair were so pleasant. But she should really get back to the city.
"Nonsense, sparrow. Do you not remember what happened? You cannot wear your hair tied like that. This is much more secure. See?" he tugged firmly on her hair all of the sudden, making her head dip back with a shocked gasp. But there was no sting of pain – the elaborate braids were keeping the roots of her hair unaffected.
That was better, but anyone could still yank at her hair and grab her. And like this, it would get stuck in her armor all the time, since it would be flowing so freely around her. The only way to prevent this would be a helmet, but she hated wearing those. It always felt like all her senses were dulled and like her head was being squeezed.
"I will only be a little while," Cael murmured in her ear while her head was still dipped back. The tickle of his breath on her ear made her blush fiercely again.
He was so… strangely intriguing.
"Cael… thank you… but… I should get back to the city soon," she sighed as she straightened her head back up again while he continued working on the braids.
"What's the rush, sparrow? I was hoping that you would join us for a feast perhaps. Stay until the morning? You could meet my people, see the world that the Nords dismiss as savage and barbaric," he spoke softly.
"It sounds nice… but… I can't. Someone's waiting for me," she turned her head towards him and sighed again. She wasn't eager to make Bishop wait for her while she was getting to know Cael's tribe. She wasn't even sure whether she wanted to get to know them and find out something that might make her more disheartened about their culture. She also really didn't want to see any hagravens.
And she wanted to see for herself that Bishop was fine and that everything went well on his mission.
Cael peered at her with a strangely morose expression on his face. "The Nord in the black armor?"
"Y-yes. He doesn't know that I left with Thongvor. I don't want him to worry," she gave him a wry smile.
"We can let him worry a little," Cael murmured almost silently, but the second she gave him a questioning look, he let out a chuckle instead. "Then at least allow me, my sparrow, to show you around this camp. It is not as beautiful as our village, but it is a good enough scouting base for the region. Your equipment is not cleaned yet in any case. Unless… you wish to go back to the city like this?"
She let out an uncertain sigh, but there wasn't much that she could do anyway. If she even came close to Markarth dressed like this, she'd likely get shot from the ramparts within a second.
"Alright, Cael. Just for a little while."