Eleven fucking years we've been here. Eleven years on these forsaken docks. I remember clearly how my egg-sibling brought us here, to this shore. It was me, Jaree-Ra, and a couple of others, running away from trouble. Jaree was always cunning and quick on his feet, able to talk his way out of guard hands and prison cells. He would always find a way to get food into our bellies, and a roof over our heads. I remember the promises he made us, of free plunder and gold and food on our tables. It was so tempting for us, little thieves. He had brought us to the leader of a small bandit group, his 'friends' as he called them. We were offered a deal, so promising it was impossible to resist. Us little thieves with our nimble claws would nab a pretty coin from the pockets of guards, and we'd be welcomed home with food on our tables. I couldn't say no to an offer like that, none of us could, so we joined.
Though I quickly learned that bandits don't make honest men. Our nimble claws were too small, and our bodies too weak. Guards always knew where our hiding spots were, our little bodies too little to escape, and our nimble claws too nimble to wield anything but daggers. Every time we came home, bruised and beaten, there would be food on the table from a successful pillage. Yet this food was not on our tables, but theirs. "You have no pretty coin to give," they said. My egg-sibling was cunning and smart however, and saw what we did not. He was nimbler and craftier than us, nimbler and craftier than the bandits who ate food that was ours. Then came one night when their leader was asleep, and Jaree-Ra took his little dagger and slit the bandit's throat. He was too crafty, too eager, and slit too many throats.
Us little thieves were the only left, eating the food of dead men. We were bruised and happy. It was our little group, and we went by Blackblood Marauders. Over time, more and more joined, until we began to fight. Plundered treasure was split unevenly to some, the food was old to others, and the roof above our heads was filled with holes to the rest. We needed someone in charge to bring together our little group. Jaree-Ra was cunning once more, and made me and him the leaders. Us egg-siblings, the leaders of the Blackblood Marauders.
Yet Jaree became too quick and cunning once more. He had no throats to slit, no bandits to blame. He had changed, and while no longer nimble with his body, he was nimble with his hands and mind. It was a particularly dry Frostfall, that one. The small ships that once brought us our treasure were stopped by ice, and we were growing desperate. I and Jaree-Ra always argued about things, yet we never hated each other. Strangers would talk, Jaree would respond, and I would listen. It was clear he had changed though, he was more aggressive, and his cunning would be used against his fellow marauder. He became too cunning and too quick once more, and we started to fear him.
It has been eleven years since me and my egg-sibling arrived here. And I can say it wasn't worth a second of it. My promise of great treasure had never come, and just like I had stood on these docks for the last eleven years, I stood here today.
I kneeled on one of the beams supporting the dock and crossed my arms. It was a relatively dry month again, though I heard my egg-sibling plotting something for multiple days now. He hadn't told me anything yet, which was unsurprising. I am not the greatest at planning. He was more talkative, muscular and meticulous, while I was more sneaky and silent. It was quite a good pair though, we complemented each other nicely.
Another guard passed me, keeping his distance. I saw quite a hefty coin pouch on his hip swinging around as he walked, though I decided against nabbing it. He was a guard and all, and I didn't feel like spending my night in a prison cell. Again. I guess he saw my eyes trailing his coin, because he decided to berate me.
"Hands to yourself, sneaky thief"
I ignored his words, I couldn't be bothered with one of these hairless monkeys calling themselves 'Nords'. He had noticed my complete ignorance towards his presence, and decided I wasn't worth his time. Everyone here was the same. Spineless imperial milk-drinkers or brainless bandits. The only competent people on this entire dock were probably Jaree-Ra, me, and the couple of egg-siblings we had recruited into the Black.
I looked around, hoping that a miracle would happen and a mountain of gold would rise from the murky water. No luck. There was some sort of conversation going on near the stalls. Usually, I couldn't care less about what some pitiful sailors had to say from their trips, as long as they brought back things to plunder, but this time was different. I could hear Jaree's voice, and quite clearly. Guess he found another fool to play with and leave coinless. I scanned the small crowd full of sailors and merchants, until I spotted them. The object of my egg-siblings interest was hidden behind a corner, and they appeared to be in a fierce discussion judging from how Jaree-Ra flailed his arms around.
I stared at them a little longer, slightly curious about this person Jaree was so interested in talking to, though the individual never showed themselves. The conversation was clearly over at this point, because Jaree paced his way over to me with a grin plastered on his scaly face.
"Deeja, you won't believe the loot I just found"
I looked at his very empty hands, and then returned my eyes to his face.
"Spectacular. How are we splitting it? Zero : Zero?" I snorted, to which Jaree quietly grunted.
"There's a large cargo ship that's planned to dock here soon. We had known about it for some time, that's what the planning was about"
I nodded, this had piqued my interest despite how hard I tried to hide it.
"It is a big chance at some coin. The problem was that we had no idea how to make the ship more plunderable without attracting the entirety of Solitude's guards."
I was growing impatient. "Just skip to the important part. I have no time" He spoke too much.
Jaree scoffed, but listened to me regardless. " Some idiot decided to help us and switch off the lighthouse. That's who I was talking to. The ship will have no direction markers and will crash in the fog, and we plunder the remains. Simple"
Finally, after all this time there was something big. Something I could get my hands on, make my life here less miserable. I couldn't wait.
"The vessel should be here tonight, so I'd suggest you get some rest before the big haul"
It was better than standing around on these damned docks. "Sure" I made my way towards our little hideout in the docks.
It was often a hassle to get to, requiring us to bypass the guards to enter the warehouse. They weren't incredibly sharp though, and it rarely took more than walking slowly and quietly to get past them. I opened the warehouse doors with one of our waxed keys quickly peering inside, ensuring that the horizon was clear. There were no guards nearby. Good.
Many supplies of different varieties lay on the racks along the path. We had left them unplundered, as it would lower the guard's suspicion of thieves if unguarded stock didn't disappear. Instead we often took straight from the boats, when a few barrels worth of food or a chest of weapons wouldn't be noticed if it disappeared. I heard voices emanate from up ahead, more specifically from the large ship that docked at the end of the warehouse. Two guards lazily stood on board, both kneeling on the railings of the ship. They were on either side of the vessel, looking around for intruders while chatting. I never understood why they were here, they hadn't caught a single Blackblood for about three years now, and yet they still stood around doing nothing. A waste of money.
I pressed my back against the racks, sticking to the shadows, and swiftly made my way to the ship. As always, they didn't notice anything. I slowly sneaked up to the deck of the ship, which had been connected to the warehouse floor with a wooden ramp on either side, and then quickly sprinted across. My years of sneaking taught me how to move completely silently on most surfaces. Once again they remained oblivious.
I continued with the same quick pace across the rest of the warehouse, sticking to the shadows and dashing between spots where natural light shined through. Eventually I came to the end of the racks where a wall of rock created a dead end. Obviously it wasn't one, as there was a hidden entrance covered by water. Not enough to fully submerge, but enough to reach the knees. I slowly made my way into the cave entrance, trying to avoid disturbing the water too much. The cave was out of earshot from the ship, so I was no longer in danger of being found.
The path to our little hideout was tedious, consisting of multiple bridges and thin, long, muddy paths that went along a river. They weren't particularly difficult to traverse, but every month or so a rookie would fall in. It was always something to commemorate and joke about, as more often than not those who fell were argonian and could easily breathe under water. There was the occasional orc that fell in, though with those cases we did try to pull them out. Sometimes alive. The path was incredibly long to those who were not in the Blackbloods, as only we knew of the several shortcuts present in the caves.
A drawbridge lay ahead, along with a small room embedded into the wall. It had a table, a couple of bookshelves and spilled oil on the floor. Above the pool hung a fire lamp, a trap for anyone foolish enough to come here. Next to the table lay four chairs, two of which were occupied by our mages. They were both novice at most, and knew nothing more than fire spells and slight restoration. One of them, dawned in the traditional black robe with a skull, looked over in my direction and waved his hand.
"Ah Deeja, greetings"
I nodded, not wanting to engage in conversation. They were argonians, both of them, though I strangely no longer felt the affection I used to feel for my own race. They were just another set of incompetent newbies, though they had been here for quite some time now. So just incompetent. They lowered the drawbridge regardless, its movement accompanied by the sound of grating and rattling chains. Once the bridge was down I made my way to the base. It rested in a wide waterlogged cave, high enough to comfortably fit even the blue palace. The structure itself was built against the side of a stone platform, and was supported by three layers of wooden beams. There was the bottom one, which was only accessible by another drawbridge, the middle one which was simply a viewing platform, and the top one. It was this top one that served as an actual base, faintly resembling the housing area of a ship.
The drawbridge to the lower lever came down, allowing me to make my way to the base. The first level was just barely above water level, though was in no danger of flooding as the water here was mostly disconnected from the nearby sea. I turned to my side to look at the sunken vessel in the water. Some reported groans or strange noises coming from the thing when we were all on the third level, though any investigation we made always came up fruitless.
Eventually I made my way over to the sleeping quarters, only to find that I was completely alone. Guess everyone else was outside. We all more or less slept in one big room, with rows of two story high bunk beds. They were nothing but bags full of straw, but they did their job well enough. I climbed to the top of one of the beds, choosing the one closest to the entrance. My mind was hardly tired right now, though spending my day doing nothing but standing caused my legs to ache, so the rest was appreciated. I tried occupying my head with something, anything at all, just to pass the time. How about counting how many cracks there were on the wooden boards in the ceiling? No, I've already done that too many times. How about cleaning my dagger? I cleaned and sharpened it just this morning. How about focusing on the bit of straw poking against your exposed neck because the bag ripped? I hadn't noticed that before but I certainly did now, the itchy feeling was irritating. Fine, just try to fall asleep.
I was woken up by Jaree-Ra violently shaking my body. He had a vice grip on my forearm, his claws digging into my scales. Not quite enough to draw blood, but painful nonetheless. My formerly shut down mind was having trouble understanding my surroundings, though eventually I came to. Right, the ship.
Seeing that I was now awake, Jaree forced a note into my open palm. "The lighthouse should extinguish soon, you and a couple of others will head to the shore and look for where the ship crashes. Once you find it, plunder. The rest is written in the note, you don't have time. Move" He spoke harshly and quickly, though I had no time to focus on his voice as I jumped out of bed and began jogging to the exit. There was a much shorter path only accessible from the base that led straight to the warehouse, and it was that path which I decided to take. The warehouse was completely devoid of people this time, so I quickly made my way across it, and burst the door open into the docks. It looked like I had slept for several hours, considering the sky was now dark. The moon was hidden by clouds, the best conditions for a night of plundering. Perfect.
A couple of argonians grouped up behind me, clearly waiting for my orders. The recent jog made me somewhat exasperated, but I gave the order regardless. "Let's go." We began to move to our positions on the shore. It took us about seventeen minutes, the newer ones were bothered by the darkness so we had to stop and make sure nothing was following us. They were pathetic. The most dangerous things out here were frostbite spiders, somewhat frightening and very weak. We had arrived at our position, a small hill overlooking the shoreline. The waves crashed against the shore, blocking any noise we could make, and the fog coming from the sea left us largely to ourselves. Excellent. I looked up to the lighthouse just in time to see it flicker and then abruptly extinguish. So the stranger wasn't useless, great.
I turned to stare into the fog, waiting for a jibboom or bow to pierce the gray stillness. Now that I looked around, the newbies were somewhat right. The faint glow of the moon was nearly entirely stopped by the layer of clouds, causing everything to be almost pitch black. A sense of unease washed over my body, which I promptly shook away. No, focus on the ship.
It felt like an eternity sitting here, especially with nothing but the sound of crashing waves occupying my mind. Just as I had given up hope on the plan, the front of a large vessel pushed through the fog and crashed into the shore. It had tilted over at some point, and cargo spewed into the shallow water and shore. We quickly rose to our feet and ran towards the crashed ship. It had almost split into two pieces, in fact only the front half was on its side, the back was still mostly straight. We made our way into the shipwreck, only to find most of the sailors dead. I pulled out my note, perhaps Jaree had left any instructions on what to do with them. The note didn't say anything about the sailors, but simply ordered me to kill the stranger when he came to 'claim his reward' from me. Fine, it was more work but the payoff in front of me was huge. There were barrels of food and wine, and chests full of weaponry. Every crevice of the ship was filled with goods, I looked over to see some of the newbies' tails swinging wildly.
"Don't get too excited. We still need to move all of this."
Collectively they managed to move out most of the loot from the ship, leaving inside a few barrels of food and a large chest that was too heavy to move. It had been a good while before the stranger arrived. I was inside the ship at the time, trying to figure out a way to open the large chest when a few voices and shouts came from outside the ship. I thought that maybe they had decided to take on the stranger alone -I had told everyone of the note-, or perhaps they were just greeting him. But no, the voices from outside were laced with worry, panic and dread. I quickly rushed outside, nearly stumbling on my way there, and found the stranger. They were quite tall, taller than Jaree in fact, though their body was sleeker and less wide. It was not their physique that drew my attention though, but rather their apparel. The stranger dawned what looked like a lighter version of ebony armor, along with gauntlets of the same material. Their helmet and grieves were Daedric however, something which everyone had noticed. Even the older members were unnerved by the figure, judging from how they backed up a good distance away from it. I spotted a scaled tail slowly swinging from side to side as the stranger made its way down to the beach. It was probably a trick of the eyes, or simply the moonlight, but I could swear that the armor was glowing, radiating a black shine.
The figure slowly approached me, avoiding my fellow marauders. "I suppose you are Deeja right? Jaree-Ra told me to meet you to collect my reward."
I had barely registered that he spoke to me. The ebony armor looked lighter and longer than the sets I had seen before. It seemed to perfectly sit on his figure, no empty spaces or awkward plates jutting out as was usual with regular armor. His voice however brought me back out of my trance. "Yes. I am Deeja. Come inside." I beckoned with my head, though the signal was not meant for him but rather to the rest of the Blackbloods.
We made our way into the ship and eventually into the treasure room which contained the large chest. I guess he already knew something was wrong, as his head was always pointed slightly to the left, eying the rest of the group. I waited for the Blackbloods to pile into the room, before turning around and bringing my attention to him.
"You have been very useful to the Blackbloods, however, we have moved the loot elsewhere. We do not wish to share it with you, so you must die"
I immediately drew my dagger, as did the rest of us. The stranger was surrounded on all sides, and while we didn't have the greatest gear, we had numbers.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" His head turned directly towards me, the black sockets of the Daedric helmet staring at me.
Before I could answer, one of the newbies let out a war cry and charged at him. The figure quickly removed a long sword from his back, covered in red engravings. Once again, they looked like they were glowing and pulsing. The newbie lifted his blade into the air, though never got to bring it back down. The sound that followed was a guttural crack of cut bone and the stretchy sickening sound of cutting meat. Two wet thuds followed after, one significantly heavier than the other. His head rolled over by the rest of the group's feet, and blood quickly began to stain the wooden floor. The rest of the Blackbloods began to hastily flee back to the shore, perhaps hoping to escape or fight him in the open.
The stranger looked at me, still holding the bloodied sword, before turning and walking towards the exit. I still pointed my dagger to where he was, unable to register what happened. The screams of agony brought me back however, and I rushed outside.
A completely black mist had covered his body, flowing and swirling all over him. The nearby Blackbloods began to cough and retch, their bodies involuntarily trying to expel the contents of their stomachs. The stranger had used this to his advantage, quickly cutting them apart. Gallons of blood flowed into the sand as heads rolled and limbs were separated from their owners and the air was filled with the sweet scent of sickness and blood, as well as the sounds of gargling and screams of agony. My body froze once more, unable to comprehend what I saw before me.
He stabbed the blade through the gullet of the last remaining Blackblood, before turning to face me. His demeanor was calm, his shoulders lowered and his unoccupied arm hung freely. I took in a mouthful of air through my clenched teeth, quickly glancing at the pile of scattered organs and limbs behind him. His tail was swinging slowly and rhythmically, as if this was some trivial chore to him. The black sockets of his helmet stared at me, piercing my soul. For the first time in what felt like forever, true fear overcame my body. I shook my head and refocused on his torso and arms. I was a much better fighter than those lot, though I still stood little chance. The mist around him suddenly dissipated into thin air, and his sword began to glow. The stranger glanced at it, and then back at me. Was he mocking me?
I was going to die regardless tonight, both his equipment and skill vastly outclassed mine, so why hold back? Might as well cut him as deep as I could before he sliced me apart right? Yeah that made sense. If I'm going to die then I'm doing so on my own terms.
I charged at the stranger with my dagger pointing forwards, and threw my body at him. Just before the dagger found its target, he quickly sidestepped and pushed his arm onto my back, sending me into the sand. My face landed right next to a cut off arm, the previously bright scales now a light gray. I felt my stomach churn and my body began to retch, but I quickly focused back into the fight. A heavy foot stepped on my back, driving me deeper into the sand. I squirmed and thrashed, attempting to break free from underneath his leg to no avail.
I turned my head around to at least look at the stranger as he killed me, give him a face to remember. He looked like he was about to thrust when he hesitated. The figure kept his gaze on me for a while, simply staring. It felt like an eternity had passed. Maybe even a couple. The loud sound of waves crashing against the vessel and the shore were deafening, now that there was no other noise to focus on. I looked once more at his armour and was certain that it was in fact glowing, the sharp edges radiating off a shine. After some time he suddenly moved his blade, which caused me to flinch, though instead of thrusting it onto my neck he lifted it up and placed it on his back.
"I will give you a choice, and regardless of what you answer I will not kill you" His words made little sense? Why? As far as I was concerned the only difference between me and those other Blackbloods from an outside perspective was the fact that I was wielding a dagger. What made me so special was that someone wearing Ebony and Daedric armor could want to spare me. I had no idea, but whatever it was, I was thankful to have it.
"You can either flee, or you can join me"
What? Just recently I saw him mercilessly cut down my fellow marauders, marauders that now lay in disorganised piles of each other's organs. I could smell the sickening stench coming from them, and so could he. Yet this fuck though I would just come along with him? Just because he didn't decide to dissect me? Fuck no. "I'll take my chances with the fleeing" I responded with the most disgusted tone I could muster, and plastered a scowl on my face. He simply looked at me in silence, perhaps debating if he still wanted to let me live, before turning away and heading for the small hills that separated the shore from the rest of Skyrim. I followed him with my eyes, before suddenly the black mist enveloped him again and he walked into the shadows. There was no other way to explain what just happened, he just vanished.
I need to get back to Jaree. I need to tell him what happened and ask him to call over more men to carry the loot, there's too much of it for me to move alone. I need to leave. Now. And so I did, breaking into a sprint to get back to the docks as fast as possible. Hundreds of thoughts filled my mind: Who was he? Why did he spare me? How did he kill all of my fellow Blackbloods so quickly? What the fuck even was that? I felt my lungs burning, but kept running. The sooner I get there the better.
I had arrived at the docks soon after, and saw Jaree-Ra and a group of other Blackbloods standing near the stalls. They were chatting amongst themselves, all but Jaree-Ra, who was staring straight ahead at me. I used my last bit of strength to run down the stairs and across the dock towards them.
"Deeja, what happened? Where are the rest of the blackbloods"
I panted, quickly pulling mouthfuls of air into my lungs. A faint metallic taste lingered in my mouth, and the back of my throat stinged with how dry it was. I couldn't speak, so instead I simply kept taking sharp and quick breaths.
"Deeja. What happened? Where is the loot?" He spoke slower and more harshly now, looking down at my kneeling form with disdain. "Deeja." His voice was deep and impatient. He was clearly getting annoyed.
"I-" My body didn't listen to me, I just needed to slow down. That's it.
"You what?" His voice was now full of irritation and aggression, so much so that the Blackbloods behind him shuffled backwards a step or two. His arms were crossed across his chest, and he straightened his back, stretching out his body to be as long as he could.
"It was the stranger. He-" I took another breath, my strength having completely left my body. "He just killed them all. We didn't stand a chance." I looked up at Jaree-Ra to see his face painted with utter hatred. Not for the stranger, but for me.
"So then how come you're here? Egg-sibling." His voice was filled with disgust. "Not a scratch on you. Ran away and abandoned your fellow Blackbloods?" Before I could justify myself and stand up, a fast, hard and scaly foot kicked my face. The kick sent my body flying across the dock, after a second or two in the air I felt a wet and hard surface smash against my nose just before my body was plunged into the cold and dark water. I couldn't tell up from down, and the kick to my head didn't help. It was a pulsing pain across my skull, and the water in front of my eyes quickly began to turn a shade of red. I tried to move my limbs and push my body to the surface, but the exhaustion and disorientation took over. I felt the air leave my lungs as my mouth hung open, and just as my vision began to turn black a scaled hand plunged into the water and grabbed me by the collar.
I was hauled and thrown onto the deck once more, lying on my side. I couldn't feel or see much, aside from the freezing wind blowing against my wet scales. My body began to shiver to generate at least some heat, though it wasn't very effective.
"Fucking. Useless. The one time I trust you with something important you mess up monumentally." He came closer to me. "Abandon you fellow thief huh? You snake."
The same scaly foot now bashed into my stomach causing me to gag and cough out the water in my lungs. Another kick came down onto the side of my ribs. I heard Jaree-Ra again, though I still couldn't process what he was saying. He picked me up by the collar, and I instinctively pulled up my legs and arms to cover my torso. A punch came to my left eye, and soon followed the ringing in my head.
"You're not worth the effort to kill" He pulled in the cold air between his clenched teeth, causing a sucking sound. "You're no longer a blackblood". I felt his hands rummage against my waist, and before long the weight on my hip from my dagger was gone. "Now move, or I won't hesitate to just throw you into the sea." Just as I stood up another blow came to my mouth, knocking me down onto the floor again. Warm liquid now flowed down the front and side of my face, as well as in my mouth.
I slowly stood back up again, now shielding my face. I heard a set of footsteps grow further away from me, and then the stepping of many more.
"You best pray to the Gods that I never see you again. Deeja." He spoke my name with a voice dripping with venom.
I didn't care about what he said, it was just background noise now. All I need right now is to leave and get somewhere where I can sleep. All I need is to sleep. Everything will sort itself out. The blood that flowed out of my wounds froze on my face. Everything was so cold, so numb. My teeth clattered and my body shook, with nothing but my wet hide armour to warm me. The thing quickly froze solid, and was now extremely hard to move in. But I couldn't drop it and be completely defenceless.
I had slowly made my way from the dock, climbing up the stairs and travelling down the paths. The wind was better here, with the forests surrounding me blocking the wind at least somewhat. I thought of going to Whiterun, it was the safest place I knew of, and the most likely to get me a bed and food. The way there did force me to cross a large open space which left me vulnerable to the wind and predators, but it was the quickest way to the safest place I knew. Whiterun it is.
I began to quicken my pace to try and get out of the woods. Despite their protection from the wind, I couldn't help but feel like someone was watching me from the shadows, waiting for me to trip or faint. I hope to the divines that it's just my imagination, because I won't stand a chance against even a wolf right now. Eventually the woods, and the creeping sensation of me not being alone, ended. The large and very empty fields opened up to me, and in the distance I saw a mountain range. Right. The mountain range. How could I forget about it? How am I going to climb a mountain in this state? It was too late to turn back now, so I continued my trek.
It was almost like a wall of ice hit me the second I entered the open field. Cold winds blew snow into my face, the little ice shards painfully stinging against my scales. I tried to keep my eyes open, though with the blood flowing down my head and the snow blowing face made it incredibly hard. There was a small stone cliff ahead of me, which stretched into the horizon. The only way to get up was to climb. I looked around in desperation, perhaps there was a smaller cliff, or perhaps a slope. Nothing. I could no longer feel my fingers, though I rubbed them together nonetheless. I scanned the rockface, looking for any nooks to grab and climb with. Time to climb.
I placed my scaled fingers into the first crevice, while trying to not break my claws, and pulled myself up. Initially the exhaustion stopped me from even lifting my arm, but as the wind whistled louder, and the snow beneath my feet grew colder, my body eventually went into overdrive and I was able to pull myself up. I craned my neck to look for the next hole where I could hook my digits, and eventually found one. Despite being maybe a metre in the air, I felt like if I fell then I wouldn't get up. With each crevice found and grasped, my fingers grew more numb. The scales at the tip of my fingers had eventually cracked, exposing the softer flesh underneath which quickly began to bleed. I couldn't feel any pain, or fingers for the matter, so I continued. Eventually the rockface ended, and my hand grabbed the top of the ledge. It was icy, and the hard layer of snow was easy to grab into. My back was completely frozen now, much like the rest of my limbs, though I still managed to hoist myself onto the ledge. Barely.
Ahead was simply a flat plane all the way to the mountain range, with a few mounds and hills here and there, but none that required climbing. I tucked my bleeding and freezing fingers into my solid hide armour, and continued my travel. Waves of wind and snow flowed over the flat ground in front of me, and as I walked my mind strayed back to the sea. To what happened there. Who was he, that damn argonian that had ruined my life? It went from having a roof over my head and food to eat to walking in the middle of a frozen land with blood staining my face. All because of him. I swear if I ever find that fuck I will shove as many daggers into his chest as possible. If I survived this. If.
The wide plains slowly began to tilt upwards to meet the base of the mountains. I had lost track of how long I had walked, or rather trudged. I couldn't feel my limbs. At all. The shivering had completely stopped at this point and despite the temperatures around me, my body began to heat up. I wanted to drop my clothes so badly, to abandon them in the snow and walk naked, just to cool myself down. Something, perhaps instinct or fate itself, told me this was a horrible idea. I should enjoy the warmth while it lasts, and push my way towards the mountains. Perhaps some random mage somewhere in skyrim messed his spell up so badly that it hit me, perhaps it was some trick of the cold to get me to die faster, or perhaps it was my body just bleeding on the inside. Whatever it was, I was very thankful for no longer being so cold.
Eventually I reached the base of the mountain, the flat plains now behind me. The wind still whistled and stirred, though my hearing was muffled. Probably some blood froze over the side of my head. Doesn't matter, just keep pushing. Whatever that random burst of heat was, it was gone and my body was back to violently shivering. It was almost painful how hard I shook, and there were multiple times I nearly fell over because my feet would simply tremble on the ground beneath me, throwing off my balance. My vision had become blurred by now, and as I ascended the mountain my head became lighter and lighter. Slowly the snow around me began to turn grey, and the already dark trees had now become almost pitch black. My vision was turning dark. I was fainting. Great. My body had begun to slowly shut down from a mix of the cold, exhaustion and loss of blood. I couldn't faint here, that would guarantee my death. I needed to stimulate my body, so I raised one of my bloodied and clawed fingers and cut into my cheek. It wasn't a deep cut, at least I don't think it was, but it was enough to jolt me awake and send another dose of adrenaline into me. The mountain looked shorter and less steep now, though perhaps that was simply a hopeful delusion, regardless I pushed on.
It had felt like an eternity, my head hurt too much to look up, so I simply tried to focus on putting one foot in front of the other, and while I was largely successful, there were a couple of occasions where a strong gust of wind nearly threw off my balance. I had lost track of time, though the surroundings had become brighter. Maybe the night had passed and the sun would rise any second. I managed to look up at the sky, only to notice a thousand shimmering lights in the dark. The clouds that earlier plagued the horizon had now retreated and let the moonlight shine through. It would have been a beautiful sight if I weren't dying. I looked down once more, too tired to keep my head up, and resumed my trudge. Shortly after, the ground beneath me became rockier, until the sight beneath my feet was no longer snow but rather the other side of the mountain. I had made it to the top.
The only thing left now was to get to the bottom. I could already see Whiterun from here, the glowing lights in the distance serving as a sign of hope. Perhaps I would live through this night after all. I put my left foot forward to begin the descent, though my body was much slower than my mind. I had found too late that the foot I was about to place my weight on was not in front of me, but rather still behind me. I couldn't feel it moving, I guess my body finally shut down. A cold and wet layer of snow quickly met my face as I stumbled forward. It's fine, just get up. Except I couldn't, the last of my strength had been taken up by the climb, and my arms weren't responding. I guess this is it. End of the road. There was never a big plunder, a large opportunity, a safe and spacious house. All those promises that I took like a naive little girl, they never came. I was just another grim bastard standing on the docks, waiting for my miserable life to end. Guess I waited long enough.
Nearby howls only strengthened my belief, a pack of lucky wolves had just found their next meal. They approached me cautiously, their pawsteps slowly rising in pace. I couldn't see much, being too tired to move my face, so I only really had my muffled hearing to use. Eventually sixteen sets of short steps in the snow surrounded me. So there were eight of them. Mauled by wolves, what a way to go. Before long, I felt sharp teeth clench down on one of my legs, sending pulses of pain up my body. I let out a muffled scream with what incredibly little energy I had left, which slightly deterred the wolves. Before long however, another bite came, digging into my other leg. They weren't tearing away any flesh though, maybe I was frozen solid and they couldn't bite into me enough. Aside from the pain I couldn't feel anything. My body was completely numb, and my vision began to fade once more. Though this time, it didn't stop.
I assumed I faded into unconsciousness, but that was quickly disproven when I could still hear the wolves. They were snarling at each other, perhaps fighting over who gets the argonian meat, when a single sharp yelp pierced the sky. Soon followed seven more in rapid succession, each bringing a wave of warmth into my skin. I could smell burning flesh, and the snow around me began to melt. A pair of significantly heavier footsteps approached me. I felt a hand lift my head by the chin, bringing my head out of the snow. I couldn't see anything, and I could barely hear. The thing that touched me was a hand, cold and smooth. I felt myself be turned around and propped into a sitting position, before some sort of liquid was forced down my gullet.
"Swallow. Take your time, don't rush."
The voice was that of a male, and somewhat familiar, though my mind couldn't tell me from where. I listened to what they said and began to swallow. The liquid was silky and had no temperature, being neither cold nor hot. My body wasn't prepared for it, and I began to violently cough. Whoever gave me that liquid held me still, and gently patted my back. I still couldn't see at all, though I slowly felt the feeling in my limbs return. Along with the pain from the bites in my legs. Though those also quickly disappeared, leaving only a slightly numb and itchy presence within my calves. With my body having regained sensitivity, the harsh cold hit me like a warhammer, and I once again began to violently shiver. Something warm and fluffy was quickly draped over me, bringing my body temperature up nearly instantly. I felt it wrap around me completely, whoever was holding me had folded it at the base so that my tail and legs weren't exposed. Only my head was still exposed to the wind. I had no idea what divine being had graced my presence, but only the Gods knew how grateful I was.
I felt myself being picked up, the ground beneath me suddenly began to move. I was being carried. A single hard appendage had wrapped around my gut as I hung to either side of it. Whoever was carrying me was moving rather smoothly, though the rough ground caused me to sway heavily. The repeating motion quickly made me lightheaded, and I felt myself about to start throwing up. I tried to warn the carrier, to tell them to stop swaying so damn much, but my tired mind could only release a vague "Eughhhwww" The stranger appeared to understand however, as my head was brought up and rested against a cold and flat surface, while my back, as well as my legs and tail, were held my what I assumed were two arms. Whatever was beneath my head, it emitted a steady and repeating beat.
"Is that better?"
I couldn't do too much aside from weakly nodding. Before long my body switched off one more and I slipped out of the grasp of consciousness. It wasn't permanent however, as I repeatedly came to and switched off once more, never enough to fully wake up but enough to hear what was happening around me. Sometimes there was nothing but the rhythmic crunching of snow beneath the feet of my carrier. Other times it was the howling wind. At one point I had woken up to hear the roar of a frost troll. My carrier had placed me down, and shortly after I heard another roar, though it was pained and gargled. Troll blood was a very unique scent, one that clinged on to my carrier after that point onwards. I had faded in and out of consciousness a few more times after that point, though nothing significant happened.
"Ah, good evening Thane. It is a pleasant night" It was the voice of a guard. Fuck. Maybe I had a bounty on me and just made some adventurer very happy.
"Is that a bandit in your hands? Lord almighty, that's a lot of blood."
"I gave her a potion of healing, that's just remnants of old blood. She used to be a bandit, though I assure you there is no need to detain her. Could you come with me, I may need help getting her into my house"
His house? Were we in Whiterun? Thane? So many questions. All of which I was far too tired to answer right now.
"Yes Thane."
I heard doors opening, and the mumbling of people in the background that I hadn't previously noticed was now gone. A short "Thank you" sounded from above me followed by the closing of heavy doors. I guess it takes losing something to realise it was there in the first place. I felt us go up a flight of stairs, every step causing me to sway slightly. Whatever was wrapped around me up to this point was taken off, and I was placed down onto something very silky and very warm. A bed. It was draped with fur and bed covers, and was incredibly soft. My body melted into it, and in that moment the massive amount of fatigue crashed down on me. I could feel myself being picked up and my armour removed. My mind was too tired to register it at first, though I slowly remembered I was more or less naked underneath it. In place of it, I felt some sort of fabric draped over me. Is that a nightgown? The stranger picked me up once more and placed my head on one of the pillows, before pulling bed sheets over me. They were slightly heavy, though in a very comforting sense. I heard footsteps slowly make their way away from me, which were eventually followed by the closing of a door. I was warm, painless and incredibly tired, and for the first time in a while I peacefully drifted off to sleep.