Author's Note: Life suck, Emotions suck, Computer Crashes suck, had to write this from scratch. Writers: Make Google Docs/Drive your bestfriend. Mistakes are mine
Temple of Mara, Riften
Even one floor down and behind a heavy wooden door Lydia could hear the panicked voices of the head priest and his followers. The creaking of the wood was constant as they rushed two and fro with salves and bandages and medical instruments.
The screams she could no longer hear the screams but she didn't have to. Her stomach churned when she sagged onto the cot beneath her and Lydia feared she would lose her breakfast as the memory came forward. Head in her hands, eyes burning with unshed tears, all she could do is think: How did everything go so wrong so fast? M'rasha had said that this was to be an easy quest and now…
Maybe the Divines were punishing her for the questioning M'rasha orders . But then her hatred turned to the Ivarstead guards. Yes. It was because of them that they were in this mess. It was the reason why M'rasha was fighting for her life.
2 days ago
"And where do you think you're going Khajiit?" A guard slammed his hand onto the inn's door preventing a very weary M'rasha from entering. After their fight at the ruins of Nilheim, the two arrived at the small town of Ivarstead in the middle of the night and ready to relax at the inn. But not every person there was happy to see them.
"I wish to enter the inn," M'rasha calmly stated as she motioned to Lydia. "My companion and I were recently attacked by thieves and we wish to stay at here to recover."
The guard looked up and down at the alchemist and scoffed. "Your companion can stay," the guard stated before pointing at the Thane, "But you cannot."
"And why not?"
"Town law. No beasts allowed in the tavern." The smile on his face was oozing with smugness as two other guards approached him. "You can go sleep with that beggar Narfi otherwise get out of town before we haul you to a cell."
Lydia watched as M'rasha curled her hand into a fist and she could have sworn she saw small arcs of lightning dance around her knuckles but they quickly dissipated as the older woman sighed.
"Lydia, you can stay in the inn if you need to," the Betmer stated walking away from the door.
"And where will you rest," Lydia asked. As much as she...disliked her Thane she did not want to leave the woman alone in her weakened state.
"Not in town. This….guard has made certain of that. Hopefully I can find a clearing or a small cave I can rest my head at. Or I just might keep on to Riften. But rest assured if you follow the path to Riften you'll reach me soon enough."
With that M'rasha limped towards the bridge and out of the town. Lydia looked at the inn and then back at her Thane. Groaning she cursed her kind nature as she chased after the Khajiit. It didn't take long as M'rasha was slowly limping across the bridge. Once she caught up Lydia couldn't help but comment, "For an injured old lady you move quite fast."
"Only when I have to be. Plus I'm not as old as you think." M'rasha chuckled. Other than a hold guard, they were the only people walking on the path. The sounds of crickets and small animals around them filled the air. They were relaxed but neither of them were totally relaxed.
"Do you face people like that. Like that guard,"Lydia blurted out loud breaking the silence.
"As you know Khajiit are normally not allowed into the big cities. Reputation as thieves and skooma addicts."
Lydia nodded remember her training as a guard and the constant reminders. "But you were able to get into Whiterun. How?"
"In the case of Whiterun, all I had to say was 'dragons at Helgen.' But for other areas I was either bringing in bounties or delivering letters to someone in power. Though the funny thing is that I've been in that inn already. I guess it was when that guard was off duty," M'rasha commented.
"So we keep walking?"
"Yes, we keep walking. But we will be stopping the night."
They came up to a fork in the road and instead of taking the road leading to Riften, M'rasha continued to the path that lead to Helgen and Falkreath. Lydia stopped at the crossroads and pointed at the other path, "But isn't this the way to Riften?"
"It is but I know of a small shack nearby where we may rest for a bit. Unless you want to continue?"
Lydia shook her head. She wanted to rest her body and even though it wasn't going to be in a nice inn bed, at least it will be indoors. They continued to walk the path to Helgen ever so mindful to watch out for the nature's predators who walked nearby.
"There it is." Lydia looked ahead and saw the cabin. It was hidden in plain sight, covered by the golden leaves that fell from the trees. Though M'rasha was right it definitely a shack. A one room very shabby shack. Behind the dwelling was an alchemist's station and a small garden with plants commonly used for alchemy.
Silently the two women split up. Lydia approached the shack from the front and M'rasha came in from the rear. They entered the room but the shack was like the Betmer said, deserted. Inside held a single bed, an end table and two bookcase with food on it and partially damaged books.
"Still cold." M'rasha looked by the bookcase and grabbed a cooking pot that was partially hidden. She removed the cloth on the floor and placed the pot in it's place. M'rasha then grabbed some of the badly damaged books and tore off the pages, throw them into the pot. She then summoned a fireball the size of a potato and tossed it into the pot. As the fire grew from the makeshift fire pit and the room was illuminated. Lydia pulled the chair from beside the table, placed it in front of the flaming pot and sat down to warm herself.
"Sorry. This is as best as I can do," M'rasha apologized as she jumped on the bed and used the cloth from the ground to cover the window. "Don't want to burn the place down. You keep warm." The Betmer walked out the front and Lydia heard the sounds of spells being cast. Lydia stood up ready to follow the other woman outside but M'rasha returned as Lydia was ready to leave her seat. "Set the down some traps just in case any wolves or unwanted visitors stop by. Take the bed Lydia."
Lydia was confused by the order. "Are you sure? You clearly need it more than I do."
"That may be true but I want to see if I can heal myself through more natural means," M'rasha replied tilting her head towards the alchemy station, "And you are my bodyguard. You need to be well rested to take an arrow or a blade for me."
With that M'rasha went out to the station. Lydia rolled her eyes and took off the Dwarven cuirass, rolling the aches out of her shoulders. She placed her sword on the end table and her shield close by. Just as she rested her head, Lydia heard a soft 'poof 'and saw a light come from outside. Worried the Nord calls M'rasha's name. The Khajiit in question appeared in the doorway holding a glowing red vial.
"Did you need something?"
"If I may ask a question," Lydia sat up on the bed. She waited until M'rasha nodded, "Why don't you use Restoration magic to heal yourself? It seems it would be easier."
M'rasha sighed and drank the glowing contents of the vial. "If it were as easy as that. Restoration isn't one of the schools of magic that I excel in. I can use some basic healing spells but what they recover is so small I would have to expend a lot of magic to heal myself and then we'd be stuck here for another day so that I can recover from the magic strain."
M'rasha placed the glass down on the table and sat in the empty chair. "Why the sudden fascination magic Lydia? Thinking of ditching your sword and shield and joining the College to learn how to properly defend yourself?"
Lydia scoffed. "A true Nord always fights with a weapon in their hands."
"Pretty sure I've fought against Nords that used magic as their primary weapon. Are they not Nords?"
Lydia huffed and laid back down in the bed. "I'm going to sleep."
"You do that. I'll keep watch for a bit. Good night."
What she dreamt was nothing like the dreams she had ever had. She was restrained, chains wrapped around her body, not enough slack so that she could wiggle free. And surrounding her little monsters, creatures that her mother said would steal her into the night if she misbehaved. Gnashing teeth and claws reaching out to touch her, to hurt her, to kill her. And then there was a bright light, a fire, that appeared behind the ring of monsters. Inside the fire was a person, at least that's what Lydia could see and in each hand they held a weapon, an axe in the left and a sword in the right. They held the weapons out towards Lydia and the monsters and fire flew through the air and incinerated every last creature. The fire person apporached Lydia and with every step they grew brighter and brighter-
Lydia woke with a start, hands rubbing at her sweaty head. That was one dream she didn't want to relieve. She towards the front door and found M'rasha sitting in the chair, a book covering her face, her breathing slow.
"Of course she would be sleeping," Lydia muttered, swing her feet onto the floor.
"Not even I would be able to sleep through your snoring and believe Nord, I tried," M'rasha said taking the book off her face. She yawned, got up and stretched moving the chair to the side. "The sun is beginning to rise. Breakfast is on the table and when you're ready we can go."
M'rasha left the woman alone. Lydia hissed but stopped when she saw cooked rabbit and half a loaf of bread. She pondered how the Khajiit was able to get this food but her stomach grumbled. She ate it quickly, not wanting M'rasha to complain, put on her armor and grabbed her weapons. She left the shack and found M'rasha waiting by a small boulder. Her Thane nodded and wordlessly, they were off once more on their way to Riften.
They were on the road for a few hours, but soon Riften was in sight. Just to be sure they had just passed a mill to ask for direction only to be told that their journey was almost over.
"Can't wait for a proper meal," Lydia said happily as she sped up the pace. Suddenly M'rasha slowed down on the dusty road before coming to a complete stop a few pace behind of her companion. Confused the housecarl also stopped walking and turned to the other woman.
"Lydia?"
"Yes?"
"Is that man running towards us?" M'rasha pointed down the road. Lydia squinted her eyes and sure enough, spotted a figure in dark clothing was sprinting straight for the pair.
"I believe so."
"Really hope he's not looking for help," M'rasha stated, "Because he's going to be very disappointed."
As the figure got closer, fear took over Lydia's face and she yanked out her sword. Although they rarely had any dealings with the group the Nord knew who wore that uniform and if one was running at you then you were in for trouble...
She yelled to the Betmer, "M'rasha, that's Dark Brotherhood armor!"
M'rasha looked stunned at the revelation and pulled out her mace as the man drew
near. "The Dark Brotherhood still exists?"
"To the Void with you!" The assassin screeched as he pulled out a war axe and a dagger, completely ignoring the heavily armored Nord and began slashing away at the less armored Khajiit. M'rasha barely managed to dodge the first few haphazard slashes before casting Ironflesh. But a well-placed roundhouse kick to her stomach caused her to stagger back and clutch her side, dropping her weapon in the process.
The assassin sprang forward and attacked once more, this time slicing M'rasha's arm before Lydia bashed him away with her shield. The man rolled backwards onto the dusty path and back to his feet, turned his focus to the housecarl. He darted forward and swung his weapons, trying to push the woman back.
As they went back and forth trading blows, Lydia soon found herself at a disadvantage. Her heavy armor as a great barrier against his attacks but the light-footed assassin was able to dance around, keeping her on the defense. And she had no idea where M'rasha was
After a few failed attacks, it seemed that the assassin shifted tactics. Instead of going for body blows he began to try to knock her off balance with a sweep to her legs and when that failed he started aiming his axe at her head. Lydia was having a hard time evading the swings and kicks. If she survived this encounter she would make sure and ask if her Thane would make her a new lighter set of armor.
That is if she was still alive.
The momentary lapse in concentration gave the opening the assassin needed. After ducking under a horizontal slice, he slipped past her defense and bashed her in the temple with the pommel of his blade. Lydia felt the pain explode on the side of her head as she stumbled to one knee the ground. She got onto her back just in time to see the man approaching, axe overhead, eyes wild and menacing.
But before he could swing, M'rasha, now wearing her helmet, tackled the man to the ground. The two rolled around until they rolled of the hill and landed in the pounding and still seeing stars in her eyes, Lydia rolled onto her knees. She shuffled to the side of the road and looked down at the lake to see M'rasha sitting on top of the assassin. One hand was around the man's neck and the other kept his head below the water.
"Lydia! Are you okay," M'rasha called out still wrestling with the man. His face would surface so often and when it did, the Khajiit would press her claws harder into his skin and push him back under the water. Lydia made her way down the hill and stood behind her Thane.
"Just a knock to the head. I'll be fine."
M'rasha looked over her shoulder while still struggling with the man. "That's good to hear. Hate to have to get another housecarl." She began laughing and then let out a cry that sounded like a sabre cat growl. Her hands turned blue and suddenly frost was covering the man's head. He grabbed at M'rasha's hands but over time his attempts grew weaker and weaker until his hands dropped to his sides. M'rasha held out her hand and her mace flew into it. She held it over her head and smashed it into his face.
M'rasha was breathing heavy now. "Lydia. Help me up from my right side." When Lydia moved to help woman up that was when she noticed the dagger sticking out of M'rasha's left side. Before she could say anything about it the Khajiit yanked the weapon out with a grunt and dropped it on the corpse. She passed Lydia's helmet back to her.
"Was that wise to do?" Lydia asked as she helped M'rasha back onto the road. M'rasha was clutching the wound.
"Lydia. I need you to listen to me." Lydia looked into the pained face of her Thane. "You need to gather...urgh...our supplies and carry me...to Riften. Turns out that that dagger was poisoned. With something that is working very fast. In Riften find the temple of Mara and find..."
Lydia put her hands on M'rasha. "Find who?"
But M'rasha wasn't answering her breathing became very shallow and her eyes glazed and unfocused. She looked up and open her mouth to say something. Instead she began to cough up blood and then fell onto the Nord.