So, if you haven't noticed, I made another 'story' with some very special content that I mentioned back in the omake piece. Check it out on my story list. You'll be delighted, I swear
In other news, we now have chapter 21!
Nicaea Vesta blocked Agronak's sword swing, but could barely feel any effort put behind the blow. She ducked under a sluggish slash and backed away a few steps, holding her shield and spear limply, looking at the half-orc sadly.
"Please, just end it," he begged her. "I am nothing but the vile spawn of evil!" He continued his pitiful swings as the roaring crowd slowly quieted, many having noticed something was wrong with the two fighters. "I can't take-"
Nicaea dropped her shield after his sword bumped off of it. The Grand Champion looked towards her discarded buffer and seemed to be about to demand she pick it up, or to further beg his death by her hand, when her now free hand swung out and smacked against the side of his face. No stranger to pain, it was not the sting that stunned Agronak, but the action in and of itself. He looked up, and saw the champion's face covered with tears.
"Don't…" she croaked out. "Don't you dare say another word like that!" She sniffed and wiped her hand across her face. "I've fought…in this place, worked all the way from the bottom to here, without taking a single life. And I refuse for the first one to be that of someone I call a friend."
She suddenly shot forward, and to everyone's confusion, wrapped her arms around Agronak. Some spectators expected a sudden takedown, others thought she was going for a disarm. Instead, the two stood still, the half-orc embraced by the young woman.
"You. Are more. Than your father's son," she enunciated. "You aren't the Gray Prince because of some centuries old man in a castle. You are the reason you are noble. You've earned this title by your own hands. Your own sweat and blood. He didn't make you who you are." Slowly Nicaea separated from the embrace and took a few steps back, leaving a stunned Agronak gro-Malog to ruminate on his stance a while longer. He looked to the sword and shield in his hands and then at the crowd encircled about the Arena. His grips tightened and then he looked back to his student and opponent.
"You… You're right," he swallowed. "I… I've just wanted to know who I came from for so long, I had forgotten…who I really was." He raised his weapon and gave out a battlecry, causing the people in the stands to begin a raucous cheer. "Forget Lovidicus! Forget the past! Come on and pick up your shield, whelp! You want to become Grand Champion? You'll have to get through me!"
Nicaea smiled and hopped over to scoop up her shield, then held herself in a ready position. "I'd have it no other way."
The boat rocked, and Blake looked up to see they'd pulled up to the Goldenglow Estate's docks. Inigo, in his brand new Thieves' Guild Armor, tied the mooring with a bit of skill, while M'rissi tentatively stepped out of the rocking boat and onto the more stable dock. Blake put away her book and stepped off as well while wondering if it really was possible for vampires to have children and whether or not Weiss' research had revealed such. As they docked, several rough-looking guardsmen eyed them suspiciously, more than a few holding the hilts of their weapons. Undeterred, Blake walked towards one, making sure her hands could be clearly seen to her sides.
"I need to speak to Aringoth. It's a matter of business."
"Yeah? Well he ain't said anything about expecting visitors," the one that looked in charge of the rabble growled. Blake sighed.
"He's not. It's a sort of sudden, limited time offer. Look, you guys are just supposed to defend him, right? I'll leave all my weapons here, just take me up to speak with him. If you don't, he'll miss an opportunity, and I'll be sure to add your descriptions to the reasons in my next letter to him."
The mercs looked a little uncomfortable with that. Some shifted in place while others looked hesitantly at one another. Finally, the main man caved and huffed at her.
"All right, but leave everything here. Medd will pat you down to be double sure."
Luckily, Medd turned out to be a woman. A large, mountain of a woman who could break half the present men's necks, but female all the same, so it was slightly less awkward for Blake to get checked by her before being escorted to the premises. As Blake passed through the richly decorated halls where a hunting trophy hung on every other wall, she thought back to her short meeting with Mercer Frey, the Guildmaster. He was gruff and to the point, but something about him made Blake wonder. She didn't know why, but he just felt different than everyone else. Her train of thought was halted, though, when she came into a room that could have supported a small family, all dedicated to one person. The person sitting at the desk turned out to be a Bosmer, with a more golden-brown look to him, who then looked at her with disdain.
"Is there a reason you lot dragged this cat up here?" he asked the guards, who then shifted about nervously.
"Look, Aringoth, I was sent by the Guild and I-"
"Yes, I'm sure you were. We've already chased off one of those thieves. You have a lot of gall to come up here like this though, so I suppose I'll hear you out. Maybe you'll say something interesting?"
Blake sighed. "Okay, look, I don't like Maven, at all, and I really could not care less about her business ventures, but part of my deal with the Thieves' Guild is that I do things for them. Now, rather than breaking and entering, I decided I would talk this out with you and-"
"And what? That I would just give you everything you wanted? Look, little kitty, my business with Maven is over, as well as anything to do with any of her pets. Now run along, and go chase mice in the Ratways. See her out."
Before she could even protest, the guards grabbed her by her arms and proceeded to practically drag her out of the house. They threw her from the front door, but she still managed to catch herself and walk away despite their manhandling. Silently enraged, Blake went over to where her weapons lay on a barrel and began buckling and clicking them back on.
"I am assuming that the meeting with the big beekeeper did not go as planned?" Inigo asked her.
"No," Blake spat out before getting a look in her eye. "Well, I tried to be reasonable, but you know what, I failed. And now it's time to try something else." She turned and walked back to the guards, who went rigid or got into a defensive stance. "Look guys, I know you're just doing your jobs," she called out as she continued approaching, cracking her knuckles and limbering up her shoulders, "and that's why I'm not going to kill any of you."
The leader took out his sword while two archers fired, but Blake disappeared where they were going and dashed forward, shoulder checking one man in the gut before ducking under a mace from another and then elbowing up into his face. Her foot whipped around and clocked one's face, sending him spinning to the ground, and then she flipped back and caught Medd's head between her knees. She pulled up, spun around, and then leaned hard towards Medd's back, pulling the massive woman with her and then throwing her over as Blake came back to her feet, tossing the woman away.
"Watch the boat. I'll be back in a minute," she told M'rissi and Inigo, who stared wide-eyed at her display. Every guard she came against she took down in a similar way to the first few, going for knockouts each time, all the way back Aringoth's room, where she dragged his door guards in before dropping both before the shaking wood elf, both moaning in pain. He tried to put on a brave face and hold a sword at the ready, but Blake could immediately tell he wasn't experienced or confident.
"I could have snuck through your house and just stole what I needed, but I came to you instead. I could have slaughtered every single one of these guys in my way with no trouble, but they're all alive, if bruised. Now, I'm getting a little tired of holding myself back for your sake, so let's not test my patience any further."
The mer gulped and slowly lowered his sword. "It's all true then? You're Shadowkiller? That armor isn't some knock off?"
"It was originally the Dark Brotherhood's. I removed the symbols," Blake answered, continuing to glare at the shivering Bosmer.
"Y'ffre save me," he muttered. "You… Look, I'll give you the key and tell my men to let you through, but… Look, you can't get angry at me!"
"Get angry about what?"
A few minutes later, Blake exited the building. Some of the guards were slowly recovering, and Inigo and M'rissi both looked nervous, holding their bows and looking in the direction of the apiary.
"Well, good news and bad news," Blake started before noticing their looks. "Okay, what's going on?"
"First, you should know it's your fault," M'rissi began. "She did not know it does that."
"What does that?"
"That the bow you got her set things on fire." Blake's ears went straight up and she looked over to where the bee hives were, one of them currently halfway on fire, sending up smoke into the air. "So, it is your fault for not telling her. M'rissi and Inigo were only harmlessly practicing their aim."
Blake put her face to her hands and screamed, the sound only mostly muffled.
Weiss looked at the Soul Trap enchanted dagger with no small amount of fear. It was weak, but it still managed to get through her Aura almost like it wasn't there. Another one with a much stronger enchantment had cut far worse, but even this one she made with nothing but a Petty sized gem got through.
"Well, I can tell you the Soul Trap isn't taking effect," Farengar explained.
"No effect?!" Yang screamed. "It's cutting through her Aura! Our most important defense!"
"Yes, but you're not being Soul Trapped. It seems your Aura ability absorbs it completely. On the one hand, your invisible armor isn't blocking the weapon, but on the other, you won't have your soul taken. Assuming they don't fully break it first. How does it work again? A certain amount of time and/or damage?"
"If you take enough damage, your Aura breaks, and it takes time for it to come back," Yang answered through gritted teeth.
"Ah, thank you for the clarification. Regardless, the fact that this 'Aura' is soul-based means that Soul Trap's effectiveness makes logical sense."
"The strength seems to matter as well," Weiss explained as she slowly healed the cut on her arm. "The Grand Soul Gem made one cut far deeper. I think that they can only cut through so much Aura at a time."
"Ah, that makes sense," Farengar concluded as he wiped the dagger clean. "'The stronger the soul, the more effective the enchantment' has been an unalienable rule of Enchanting since time immemorial. I imagine different materials would also have varying amounts of effectiveness as well. Daedric blades would probably be the best, due to their interaction with soul related abilities."
"Wait, are you telling us how to make a weapon better at killing us?" Yang asked in shock.
"Or people like you, only…differently aligned, shall we say. Surely not everyone with your powers are all upstanding citizens."
"No, there are bad ones too," Weiss admitted. "Gods, if we brought this back to Remnant, people on people violence would change forever. Just a single gun enchanted with Soul Trap…"
Yang shook her head at the thought of such an easy slaughter. "If there's one magic we never share, it's going to be that," Yang declared before sitting down. "At least now we know Aura wouldn't go totally unchallenged if the use somehow spread."
"We're not doing that," Weiss reiterated. "We don't even know if we can."
"Actually, I've taken a look into your Aura powers," Farengar started, taking out a book. "It seems to be a strange reflection of how daedra work. They are spirits, but they have a form within them, which then is created as the body around them. You can beat down the body, but the spirit can retreat and reform its body elsewhere, though they often use special items to speed up the process. Soul Trap is actually the one of the few ways to stop a single daedra long-term, but they always manage to get free. Another is the use of their protonymic and neonymic, but that's another category altogether."
"Gods, we had a test on the correct usage of those before we left the college. I swear, sometimes they act like the Dragon Barrier is going to break at any moment and we need to know how every daedra ever seen needs to be handled." Weiss grumbled as the memories came flooding back in.
"Weiss, focus," Yang reminded her.
"Sorry. Well, I can't say I know what we can do about this, besides wearing armor for added protection, or in my case using the armor spells far more often than what I do. Steelflesh is a tad too draining, so I guess I'll stick with Ironflesh for now. Didn't you have a set of armor from joining the Companions?"
"Eorlund fitted it for me earlier. I've already tried it on, but it's going to take some getting used to," Yang admitted before smiling. "Well, maybe you can get a set later?"
"Oh, yes, they're going to handle your vampirism for you?" Farengar asked, picking up on Yang's meaning. "Hm, not very usual. They don't exactly hand out their 'gift' to just anyone, but I guess your closeness to one of their Circle has given you an in."
"Wait, you know about them?" Weiss raised her eyebrow as she looked at the court mage.
"A few people in the higher circles do. Obviously the Jarl knows, as does the guard captain. It's something of a 'well-known secret' to us. Most of the populous is, of course, ignorant to the fact, or those that know are tolerant enough to accept them as they are." Farengar began to wave his hand around in emphasis. "I theorize that in another two centuries, it will become so common a fact that werewolves at large won't be hated, so much as put under the management of the government through the Companions for safety reasons, similar to how orcs were treated a long time ago, before finally being accepted by the Empire as people, or how goblins and ogres were before the Oblivion Crisis, not to mention the Minotaurs."
"Aren't goblins supposed to be the best miners and builders, though?" Yang asked, generally curious.
"Yes, but before the Lightning Guardian uplifted them, they were viewed as vermin, while ogres were thought of like trolls with clubs. Minotaurs were only seen as beasts. We've come a long way since then. Well, the Empire has. Not many goblin-ken north of Bruma after the Second Era. Unless you count the Rieklings of Solstheim. Heard the renewed Pigmole University was looking into communicating with them, but they haven't the funding."
"Pigmole?" Weiss scoffed at the horrendous name, while Yang briefly thought the name sounded familiar before throwing the thought away.
"It's the center of goblin-ken civilized society," Farengar began to explain. "After the Guardian uplifted the Minotaurs, they started trying to bring over the goblins and ogres. It was hard, and the process took months, but ultimately she was able to bring them around. The University was established afterwards, and eventually, the town of Pigmole formed up around it."
"Sounds like what happened with Atlas," Weiss mused before looking at a map of Tamriel. "Where exactly is Pigmole, by any chance?"
"It's right here," he pointed to a location a little ways south of Chorrol. "Was actually built in the ruins of Hackdirt, a cult settlement that got destroyed by the Guardian when she was rescuing a merchant's daughter."
"She destroyed an entire settlement?" Yang raised her eyebrow.
"Don't mind this one. The people of Hackdirt were terrible people. Human sacrifice and everything," Farengar shrugged them off. "Besides, once the goblins and ogres moved into the ruins above and tunnels below, the area actually began to thrive. Until the Thalmor arrived, it was one of the safest areas in Cyrodiil. Even then, that was only a temporary setback."
"What did the Thalmor do?"
"Burned the place to the ground in an attempt to wipe out the accomplishments of the Five Heroes. Their existence ran counter to their whole 'It was us who stopped the Oblivion Crisis' propaganda, so during the war they attempted to burn and destroy as much evidence of them as possible. They attacked Pigmole, thinking that the goblins and ogres would be like animals and thus easy to slaughter. Unfortunately for them, they were not so easy to kill. The loss of so many Aldmeri forces during that battle eventually helped lead to their expulsion from the Imperial City. But, they did manage to burn the university down, but no knowledge was actually lost and it was back up in a year. They even put up a new statue of the Guardian in its courtyard out of spite." Farengar chuckled.
"…Huh, neat." Yang checked her scroll and then pocketed it. "Okay, it's about time. Thanks for helping us figure out this stuff, Farengar."
"No trouble. Oh, next time your sister comes around, let her know I've found a few texts in dragonscript, and I would love if she were to translate them for me."
"I'll be sure to," Yang answered as she and Weiss exited the laboratory and then Dragonsreach. Almost as soon as they were outside in the night air, Yang pulled Weiss close, practically squeezing her.
"Erk, Yang! Stop with this hugging nonsense!" Weiss commanded as she pushed herself out of her grip.
"Hehe, sorry. It's just…I think of you as family, and so that part of me thinks 'family', but really excited like, and I can't help it." She rubbed Weiss' head, but the heiress smacked her hand away, only to receive a laugh. "Sorry, but you're like another little sister to me at this point. And we're about to really share blood soon so…" She shrugged. "It'll be great, you'll see."
"Yes, I suppose so. How exactly does this work, anyways?"
"Well, in a minute, Aela will walk you through the steps. Just go let her know you're ready. I'll be waiting." Yang spilt from Weiss and headed around Jorrvaskr while Weiss entered from the front. J'zargo was playing a match of Legends against Onmund, and from the looks on their meters, Onmund was getting smashed. He had only one card left in one lane while J'zargo had a guard set against it as well as an imp type in the other. One move later, and the imp attacked him directly while throwing a fireball, knocking the last of his hit points away and ending the game. The illusion then proceeded to show him 'dying' on the board, and it was over.
"Wizard games," someone complained, despite looking like she'd been watching intently.
"All right, you're ready to go?" Aela asked from the other side of the table, getting up to her feet. The other three students got up as well, ready to follow them.
"Yes, let's do this," Weiss answered, ready to finally be rid of her curse, even if she was only trading it out for another, less horrible one.
"Then follow me." Aela led them out the back door and towards the Skyforge's platform, she looked to the group and cleared her throat. "The rest of you stay out here. If a large, white werewolf should pop out the front, don't try to confront her. She might still be confused and not recognize friend from foe. I'd suggest heading back inside."
"This one would rather be close, in the case that something goes wrong," J'zargo explained.
"Your choice, but I'd have you all look away while we entered." The mages nodded and turned their backs, Onmund even covering his eyes. Aela nodded at Weiss then pushed against a spot on the platform, which sunk in from a seamless face then rose up. Weiss went through, with Aela just behind her. Deep inside the Underforge, Weiss came upon a creature that looked like a young Beowolf, no spikes or bone plates upon it anywhere, and familiar golden fur rather than a consuming black void. Its eyes were human-like, and a striking violet.
"So that's really you, Yang?"
"Yep," the werewolf said, startling the vampire. Yang laughed. "I can…still talk…ya know."
"Barely."
"Better when…you're one too."
"It's been tradition that only those we deem deserving of the Gift should receive it," Aela began, "but here, while most of us do not know you, our Shield-Sister Yang vouches for your character, and we can see your need. While you may not be a Companion, know that the door will always be open for you after tonight. Yang has chosen to be your forebear in this." Yang then handed over a claw to Aela, who took it and held it over a bowl on a stone pedestal before cutting her palm open and letting the blood flow freely into it. When the wound healed, Aela let her go and stepped back from the bowl. Yang smelled the blood on the air, but the pungent scent was far different than all the times before. There seemed to be no real…attraction to it.
'Likely because it came from a werewolf,' she reasoned as she stepped forward, knowing what was to be expected of her. Glad that she was wearing some old clothes, she scooped up a handful of the blood and drank it down. The taste was gamey, for lack of a better term, but also seemed unsatisfying for some reason.
She suddenly felt something lurch through her from her stomach. Her body convulsed and she felt the blood within her flowing back. She tried to stop herself, but the force of it was too great and overpowering as her lips parted and the blood she'd drunk spewed out. Her body shook again and she vomited out more blood, far more than the handful she'd taken. She shivered and reached out towards the blood, but it was tainted. She was so dry and needed to quench her thirst.
"Weiss!" a voice called out.
Useless! She could not feed from these creatures. She needed something else. Mortal and untainted and fresh! She smelled a mortal nearby, then recalled that there were three just outside. She rushed to the entrance, scrabbling to pry the door open.
"Weiss, what's going- Weiss?"
Human. Young. Perfect! She leaped for the mortal full of blood, hands ready to hold him down and fangs bared to sink in, but before she could reach him, something grabbed the back of her shirt and tossed her down. She went to scrabble up to her feet, but something large and heavy slammed down on her and held her to the dirt. The undrinkable creature had her pinned to the ground with one of its massive claws. She clawed and scratched, trying to get herself free so that she could reach the beings full of blood. She needed it! She had to have it! She was so empty and it hurt!
"Weiss!" another called out.
"It failed!" an older one explained as something metal slid out. "Her body rejected the Beastblood!"
"What in Oblivion are you doing!?"
"I'm sorry. I don't know what she is, but I didn't think it would be that powerful or embedded into her. Her vampirism is far more rooted than I could've possibly imagined, and now she's gone blood crazed. She's a danger to every person here."
"Wait! Put that thing away right now!"
"Aela! Put…away!" the beast shouted. "She's thirsty! Needs…blood!"
Blood? Yes, blood!
"This one will do it," an accented voice said as one of the mortals came close, a glowing dagger appearing in his hand from nowhere. She pushed herself as high as she could, trying to get closer to the body full of blood so near to her. The ghostly dagger slid against skin, and then blood began to drip and pour from the wound and into her mouth. She eagerly lapped it up, messy at first, then careful to get as much of it down her throat as possible. The euphoria that flowed through her being as the blood revitalized her sent her to shaking a bit, until the blood stopped coming and she fell back, feeling sated with her eyes rolled back into her head.
Weiss slowly pieced herself together, her ecstasy slowly being replaced by horror and shame. Yang looked down at her and whimpered as she saw the sadness taking over her eyes. Her claw lifted up and Weiss covered her mouth as she began to sob, unable to stop herself once again.
"So," Ruby started as they neared the Blue Palace, "what do we tell the court?"
"We tell them the truth. No holding back anything," Lydia immediately responded. It had taken them half a day of riding to get back to Solitude, but they luckily managed to get back before sundown. The two pushed their horses to the brink in their rush to get back and inform the court, an action that they normally wouldn't consider. The horses were exhausted, and a little irritated, but after a few apples all was forgiven. Such simple, noble creatures, Ruby ruminated to herself, but as she opened the palace doors those thoughts went away.
"I've returned," she lightly announced as she walked in, giving a slight bow. The people of the court looked to her, many smiling at her appearance.
"So you have," Falk started. "I trust you were able to find out what was going on in that cave for us."
"I did, but…we should probably have everyone who's, um, not courtly important or…something… It's kinda a big deal."
The Jarl looked around and then waved a hand over to one of the guards, who nodded.
"All right, everyone not a part of the Court, let's get downstairs immediately. Private matters are being discussed." A minute later, and the few common folk in the area were escorted out of the room, with the Jarl, her steward, Court Mage, and Thanes all looking to Ruby expectantly, who suddenly felt like she was in the spotlight.
"So, what did you find that was so…important?" Elisif asked her.
"Well," Ruby gulped, a few beads of sweat appearing, "we went to Wolfskull, and quickly discovered that the villager was right to worry. A group of necromancers had taken over the cave and a fort located inside. They had raised a small army of draugr to serve as guards while they tried to bring Queen Podma back to life."
"Potema," Lydia corrected, making sure to keep her tone serious. "The necromancers had nearly brought back Potema the Wolf Queen."
Many of the Court gasped, and Elisif's arms went slack. Falk stared at this, trying to maintain a sense of calm but his eyes betrayed his panic.
"Potema herself?! Please, tell me you stopped them!" he pleaded
"We interrupted the ritual, and then all of the bright, magic…stuff stopped," Ruby explained. "Whatever they were doing, it's stopped."
"By the Gods, you've done a larger service to the realm than you could possibly know," Elisif commented. "If Potema returned…"
"I shudder at the thought," Falk finished.
"We'll see to it that you're properly rewarded for this. Sybile, you'll need to work on your scrying if this slipped past you."
"I…" the mage thought to defend herself as she waved a hand over a glass orb. "…No, wait, I see it now. There was a spell blocking me from looking within before. How could I have missed… Bodies. Yes, that was definitely a necromancer's hideout, at the very least, and… Julianos' beard! This symbol!" The mage looked back up to the others. "I don't know who they were trying to bring back, but if what I saw was any indication, they could've brought back nearly anyone with that ritual so long as they had a piece of the deceased."
"Then it's true," one of the Thanes said. "She stopped them from summoning Potema."
"Erikur, have your housecarl go and retrieve twelve hundred septims," the Jarl commanded. "As for all of us, let's be sure to keep this news to ourselves. We don't want to cause a panic among the populace. The dragons are enough as it is." With one final wave of her hand, the court disbanded as everyone went to fulfill their assigned duties. Sybile returned to her quarters to continue her scrying in peace, Erikur's housecarl went to gather Ruby's reward, with Falk marching out to the guard captain. It wasn't hard to guess what those orders were. Ruby and Lydia bowed to Elisif and turned to leave, only to stop as Elisif's voice softly called out. "Ruby Dragonslayer, please. If I might have your ears a moment."
"Uh, sure, ma'am, my lady," Ruby corrected herself as she walked over to the Jarl's side. Elisif stood from her throne and nervously wringed her hands, avoiding eye contact with the rest of the court, who were now beginning to talk amongst themselves about the disaster that had just been narrowly avoided.
"Thank you for speaking with me, and thank you once again for stopping those madmen. Gods know what would have happened if Potema returned."
"Yeah, I never knew about her before, but she sounds like the worst. Did you want to ask me about something?"
"Yes, there's something…personal…I was hoping you could do for me. Will you be going near Whiterun in the near future?"
"Actually, I think that might be my next stop heading down."
"Then this won't be too…out of the way." Elisif nodded before walking towards her quarters, beckoning Ruby and Lydia to follow. Closing the door behind them, Elisif released a sigh. "I'm only doing this because I trust you. As you may know, Talos worship was outlawed in the Empire. When we buried my husband, we made offerings to all the gods, except Talos. I would like you to take an item of his, a war horn handed down from his father, and place it at a shrine of Talos."
"Oh, uh, I'd be honored to help, of course," Ruby answered.
"Thank you. It would mean a lot to me." The Jarl went over to a shelf and took a war horn from it before turning and handing it over to Ruby, who looked over the old horn before looking back at Elisif. "There should be a shrine in the foothills west of Whiterun. I've heard rumors about it, and it should be safer in a hidden place than out in the open."
"Of course, ma'am. Don't worry. I'll get it there."
"Thank you, Ruby. May your venturesbe safe."
Blake groaned as she climbed down the ladder to the cistern. Goldenglow had not gone as planned. At all. Stewing in her frustration, she entered the cistern and quickly noticed a smiling Brynjolf waiting for her.
"Ah, saw the smoke all the way from here! Good work, lass!" he earnestly congratulated her. The others gave her a few nods, but most still looked at her in suspicion. Vex in particular seemed peeved, likely due to jealousy.
"M'rissi was the one to set the bees on fire!" the young Khajiit immediately claimed as she climbed down after Blake. "She also stole a neat statue!" she proudly added as she showed off a statuette of a bee on a honeycomb.
"Oh, now you claim responsibility," the faunus growled up at her before shaking her head. "Yeah, but there's some bad news as well."
"Bad news?" He asked as Blake hand over the bill of sale to him, his eyes widening upon reading it. "He sold Goldenglow?! What's that idiot thinking?! And not even a name? Just a symbol. Don't suppose you know what it means?"
"Not a clue."
"Blast," Brynjolf spat to the side. "Well, I'll check my sources and speak to Mercer. For now, you're off to speak to Maven Black-Briar. She asked for you by name."
Blake's ears popped up, catching Brynjolf's attention. "Wait, me? By name?"
"If anyone's heard of you, it's her," Brynjolf replied.
"Any reason why?"
"If I was a betting man, which I am, I would wager it's a power play. You killing the Brotherhood hurt her, and has made you the talk of the town. You peacefully convincing everyone to pay up is proof of that. She likely wants to 'educate you' on who's in charge here. Now, I get you might not like her, but play nice. She's half the reason there's even a Guild left."
"Any idea what she'd want?" Blake scoffed. She didn't care who Maven was. If she asked her to do something she didn't want to do, she can shove it.
"That's between you and Maven, and I prefer to keep it that way." He shook his head and put his fists to his waist. "Don't worry about it. Maven's business dealings usually end up getting her people a lot of gold, and, as far as we're concerned, you're one of those people."
"Oh, well that's just great," she remarked.
"Well, it could be worse," Inigo added. "She could send a… No, wait, you already killed all of those. Hm, maybe she is a bit angry."
"Whatever it is, let's just meet up with her and get it over with. First though, my pay…"
Blake approached the older woman pretending to look through several wares she likely wasn't planning to buy at all. She saw Maul out the corner of her eye, and noted his disdainful grimace when he spotted her. A quick glare back and he flinched, causing Blake to smirk in satisfaction before steeling herself.
"Maven Black-Briar?"
"Yes, who…" The woman took in her appearance and hummed to herself. "So, you're the one. You've caused me a bit of trouble, severing a whole organization like you did."
"Sorry if I inconvenienced you. I was just making sure to kill off a threat to me and my friends. Happens all the time," Blake replied, never breaking eye contact. Maven merely scoffed, not as easily intimidated.
"I'm sure. Well, hopefully you can be of use to me this time." Maven waved her hand. "Head to the Bannered Mare in Whiterun and speak to Mallus Maccius. He'll fill you in on all the details."
"Well, if I'm going to be heading out of the Hold, could I at least get a few here for now?"
"That I really want this job done should be more than enough."
Blake resisted the urge to roll her eyes and metaphorically bit her tongue. "Yeah, all right. Been wanting to go see some friends anyways. I'll be back whenever then."
"Yes, I'm sure you will. Try not to disappoint me with this. I'm getting tired of…disappointments." Maven's perpetual frown seemed to actually deepen before she turned and left, Maul quickly following after her. Blake glared at her back before turning away as well. As she walked away, M'rissi and Inigo came out from a nearby alley to walk alongside her.
"I never thought I'd see a soulless creature before, but it seems the world has many wonders left to surprise me with," the blue Khajiit commented.
"Blake, why do you let the mean, old lady talk to you like that?" M'rissi asked.
"Because, she's wealthy, influential, and I've already killed one old lady in this town. No need to increase that number to two."
"Meh, you could always make it look like an accident."
"I already did." At that, Inigo laughed. "Anyways, it's as good an excuse as any to head out of here for a few days, and I'd rather forward my information from Whiterun than here."
"Ah, yes, what did they give you this time?"
"A list of names," Blake explained as they walked out of the gates, waiting until they were out of earshot from the guards before continuing. "Names of guardsmen who actually worked alongside the Dark Brotherhood. Most weren't assassins, or retired from the assassin work. Delvin used to be a contact for them, and eventually he got the name of every last guard who worked with the Brotherhood. They'd keep an eye out for people performing the Black Sacrament, or for people who had become targets. Once Commander Maro gets this information, there's going to be a lot of job openings all across Skyrim."
"Here you go," Shadr said as he handed over the reins to Patches. Blake looked over at Inigo and realized he didn't have a mount of his own.
"Um, I guess we…"
"Oh, can Patches not ride three Khajiit?" M'rissi asked. "We walked before…"
"Yeah, looks like we're mostly just gonna walk. If you get tired though, feel free to hop on. In the meantime though, let's just let him walk after us. Maybe if we're lucky and come across a big treasure trove, he can carry it for us."
"Oaky!"
"Hello Patches," Inigo greeted the horse as the three began to hit the road. "It is nice to meet you. I am sure that once we have another horse or two, you can give rides to Blake again." He went silent for a moment, and then laughed. "Oh, I am sure she was thinking about you getting to rest your hooves. She does not make it obvious, but she is usually a very sweet girl. Mr. Dragonfly thinks she is all right, but Miss Bee thinks she is like a poisonous flower. I think Miss Bee is confusing looks with names though, as Blake does not look flowery at all. More like if a Nord had Khajiit ears. Miss Bee does like how M'rissi smells though, which I find odd."
"Blake, he is talking to the animals again," the girl whispered over to her friend.
"Yeah, I know. Just let it happen."
Brelyna nursed a cup of mead in her hands while everyone sat silently. Weiss was the most shaken up by the events of the previous night, even more than Onmund, but they had all had a long moment of fright when it happened. As J'zargo feared, whatever strain Weiss had was too strong for the Companions' lycanthropy to override, and the cost to find that out nearly took Onmund's life. After finally getting everything settled down and taking Weiss back up to Breezehome, the mages were able to get some rest while taking turns looking in on their friend.
Morning came, and then the front door was thrown open by a blond haired beauty who then marched over to their washroom without a word. Onmund was surprised to see her go by without so much as noticing them, and the sound of her stomping through woke up Brelyna and J'zargo, pulling them from their lethargic state.
"It failed," he got out, moving the wood around with a poker. "So, how's Weiss?"
"Last he saw of her, she was sleeping soundly," J'zargo answered. "She… It is not just J'zargo that was scared for her?"
"We were all scared," Brelyna said, trying to comfort them all before taking a sip of her drink. "I thought we had lost her. I don't know much about vampires, but when we saw her come out like that, I thought she had… That she was lost. I thought she was gone forever and there was only a husk left that we'd be forced to put down. If Yang hadn't stopped her and held her down…there was almost nothing we could do."
A long stretch of silence settled between them, only interrupted by the throwing open of another door, this time the one from the washroom. As steam poured out, Yang walked out of the room with only a towel wrapped around her body. Onmund turned beet red as his breathing stopped. Brelyna blushed deeply, and J'zargo smacked his hand over his eyes and cleared his throat. Yang looked over, and then her eyes went wide with fear.
"Oh my god!" she screamed while wrapping her arms around herself protectively and then rushing upstairs. "I'm so sorry!"
"Did she… Did she not notice we were here?" Brelyna asked no one in particular.
"I...don't think she did," J'zargo slowly replied.
"Is it... Is it bad that I didn't really mind that time...?" Onmund meekly asked, still beet red. The blank looks he received from his friends was answer enough.
Yang groaned as she rubbed her face, now fully dressed, thankfully. She wasn't sure how she'd completely overlooked their guests, but blamed it on her night long hunting session to try and calm down her beastly side. Once she was sure Weiss would be okay, part of her wanted to snuggle up to the poor girl, but another part wanted to rip something apart for what had happened, so she headed out through the Underforge with the intent of killing a few animals and coming back. Instead she seemed to hunt down every creature for miles, and even ran down some unlucky highwayman who smelled like he'd killed at least five people recently. When she finally got the beast under control, she felt her form change back and headed back to Whiterun, taking the worst looking shirt from some farmer's laundry line and leaving a septim nicked from the dead thief.
She came in and went straight for a bath, not thinking about anything else until she was already out of the washroom. She was just glad that life at Beacon had already beaten a habit of tying a towel around afterwards, otherwise that poor guy downstairs would have seen far more than he already had.
Yang looked over from her chest-of-drawers to where Weiss was currently sleeping fitfully. Sighing, Yang went over and shook the girl awake. As Weiss looked up at her with bleary, yellow eyes, Yang scooped her up and held her closely in a tight hug.
"Yang?" she sleepily questioned. Her hands came up slowly and held her teammate to her, burying her face into her shoulders. "Yang, it didn't work."
"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I really thought we had it." They pulled away from each other and Weiss shook her head.
"You couldn't have known what would have happened. The research pointed to it all towards one result. Even Farengar and Kodlak said it should've worked. We're just…unlucky. I'll just have to find another cure somewhere else."
"Yeah. But I am kinda sad that I won't get to go hunting with a snowy white werewolf." Yang rubbed her head, causing the heiress to huff. "We'd have been the talk of the country."
"Yes. It's too bad I won't be eating deer carcasses whole throughout the night with you," Weiss sarcastically agreed, but still managed to put on a light smile. "Well, I'll just have to soldier on, I suppose. Everything's no different from before, we've just narrowed down the list. How're the others taking it?"
"Okay, I think. I kinda…didn't realize they were there, so when I came out of the bath…"
"Oh gods! Yang!"
"Eh, they didn't see too much, but we should probably check on your Nord buddy and make sure he didn't magically turn into a tomato."
Closer to noon, the College students checked for their traveling preparations in the den of Breezehome, when suddenly Yang came in, fully packed and decked in a suit of steel armor with a wolf motif decorating the collar and waist of it, wolf furs lining the inside and a leather armored skirt draped around her thighs. Rather than gauntlets, she continued to sport her Ember Cilica, alongside a long sleeved shirt that really covered her arms.
"Ready when you guys are," she said as she set her packs down and softly sat in one of the chairs.
"Ready?" Weiss asked.
"You're going down to Lake Ilinalta to stop some evil wizard from using a Daedric Artifact to make himself immortal and then return it, right?" As Weiss looked at her questioningly, Yang pointed a thumb towards her classmates. "Bree and Mundy told me."
"She was…very convincing," Brelyna defended.
"Mundy?" Onmund asked under his breath.
"Yang, I'm touched that you want to help-"
"Aht! Stop right there! Last time I let one of us go down there, Blake and her little buddy nearly got eaten by a werelion, and Thalmor were searching up and down Falkreath for any sign of her. There's no telling what kind of crazy is going on down there with a bunch of evil magic stuff. I'm headed down there with you, and there's nothing you can do to stop me. And if you try to shake me, I'll sniff you down, so don't even bother."
Weiss sighed at that. "Right. Well, what about Ruby?"
"Meh, it'll be fine. We'll only be gone for a day or two at most, and I'll have a note left for her to find if she happens to come in at that time."
"Well, all right. I won't argue. Just do keep in mind, the man we're going to face is a former teacher from the College of Winterhold. He's likely a master mage, likely in Conjuration given what his research led to. His followers may include necromancers at this point as well."
"Hey, I eat necromancers for breakfast," Yang joked, but then her smile faded. "Wait, no, that was more of a midnight snack."
"This one feels like he should be more unnerved, but finds himself only curious: does necromancer taste rotten?"
"Oh gods, J'zargo!"
Looking at her map, Blake led the two Khajiits and their horse to the place Creep had pointed out to them before his demise. She saw a shack just within eyeshot and stowed the map away before heading straight for it.
'I'm just glad the whole "We don't kill" rule got M'rissi a pass when we explained the whole thing. Apparently that wasn't the first time two people in the Guild had a confrontation due to friends or family being hurt or killed by other members.' As they closed in, Blake could see that the shack was in disarray, but not the sort where someone hasn't been there so much as the kind where no one cleaned it up after causing a mess. A few books lie in the floor from the bookshelf they were meant to be on, and there were a few dried up flowers and other plants next to a set of dusty alembics and vials. Most striking though was the long decayed corpse, now little more than bleached bones covered in scraps of cloth. From the skull it could easily be seen that it had belonged to a Khajiit.
Suddenly, before their very eyes, blue and indigo energies seemed to gather like mist in the waning sunlight. The energies connected and took form as the three readied themselves, only for them to see the ghost of a Cathay Khajiit appear before them.
"Thank the gods!" he sighed when he saw them. "This one is bored to death. Being a ghost leaves much to be desired. In fact, this one was talking to butterflies not long ago."
Blake then noticed a yellow butterfly in a jar similar to the other two insect pets Inigo kept, a fresh flower planted within giving it a place to rest on and feed from.
"Okay, so it's not just him. Great," she muttered.
"Speaking of, there's a beautiful specimen here, one very fond of ectoplasm. But this one hasn't seen it for some time and he starts to worry." He grimaced. "It seems more and more alchemists are robbing butterflies of their wings for their potions. Are you an alchemist?"
"No. Never really got into Alchemy."
"That is good. The butterfly has every right to live as you and… You, anyways, yes? But look at you all, so full of life, unfulfilled wishes and dreams. What can this old Khajiit help you with?"
"Well, my friend here-"
"This one recognizes her aura," he interrupted as he looked towards M'rissi with interest. "Come here, kitten." Nervously, M'rissi looked at Blake before taking a few steps towards the ghost, who then looked to her hand, where the clan ring rested on one of her fingers. "This ring! Where did you get it?"
"Something of a long story," Blake bemoaned with a sigh. "She doesn't have any memory of her past, but it was with her belongings. We found some information, but not much. It led us here."
"This is the ring of Ri'Virr! It was lost during the clan uprisings!"
"Yes, the jeweler creep and the Creep creep gave us that much knowledge," Inigo stated. "About the war with Thalmor, and Mirrsha's fight for their right. It was very interesting, actually. I'd like to know more someday, you see."
"What was that about her 'aura', though?" Blake asked, curious if he meant it like how she suspected or not.
"This one used to be her clan's memory keeper, one who passes knowledge from one generation to the next. But the chain was broken when this one died."
"And how is she connected to the ring? Why did it go missing and turn up with her?"
"Yes, the ring is here now! There is still yet hope! As for why she has it, her aura is that of M'rissi, the daughter of Ra'sadir!"
"Wait, Ra'sadir the traitor?"
"He was no traitor! He loved his brother very much, and gave much to ensure the clan's survival. It seems that no one has paid enough attention to the story. Did you know that the group he helped to escape was women and children?"
Blake thought back to what she had read, and even thought to reach for the notes again before deciding against it. The pieces just seemed to fall together before her very eyes.
"He… He knew there was no way they could hold out against the Thalmor in its entirety."
"Yes. The Thalmor forces were overwhelming. He did what was necessary to ensure that the clan survived." The ghost seemed to look down in sadness. "When he surrendered the rest, a handful were killed, and the Thalmor had him kill his own brother as a show of good faith. They searched for the ring, but to no avail. It was thought to have been lost for good, but now it has come again!"
"Then, how did you end up in Skyrim of all places, elder one?" Inigo questioned curiously.
"This one came with the women and children, but he got separated. He exiled himself to this tiny shack in shame, and lived out his miserable life."
"So you have no idea where the women and children are?" Blake asked in despair.
"This one does not know. But he is curious, how did you come of Ra'sadir's daughter?"
"I saw a group of Thalmor leading an elder lady Khajiit away as a prisoner. I tried to question them, and when they attacked, I fought back, and then she told me where to find her. I haven't seen the woman since then, though. When I got down there, more Thalmor were looking for her, as well as mercenaries searching for her bounty by them. I heard that it's being coordinated by someone called Isael.
"If Isael had her, then I fear the others are dead," the lore keeper mourned. "That woman is a daedra wearing elven skin. Even the most hardened warriors tremble at her name."
"Do you mean that literally?" Inigo wondered.
"She was the one responsible for the clan's demise," he continued. "This one cannot do much now, but he can seek them out, if they have perished. If you truly wish to restore her memory, perhaps the mages in the town of Winterhold can be of some use."
With that, the ghost of the lorekeeper vanished, either because he meant to leave or because he couldn't hold his form any longer, Blake wasn't sure of. She walked over to where the skeleton was and kneeled down next to it, looking over the bones for a moment before nodding.
"Well, we're getting somewhere, at least. And I do have an in with the College through my friend."
"And now she knows more. Her father…was used by the Thalmor." M'rissi frowned and tightened her fists. "She hates them. The Thalmor have done nothing good, and only make her life and everyone else's worse. And this Isael has hurt many of her kin. M'rissi will make her pay for it all!"
"And I will be there to help," Inigo interjected. "Never had a reason to like them in the first place, and now we have all the reasons to hate their guts, as well as all of the bits connected to those. I am more than happy to help you get your revenge of them and this lady daedra."
"And I'll help," Blake swore. "I said I'd help you before, and I'm not going back on that promise now. These people want you, they're going to have to go through me. And you can bet my friends are going to be more than willing to help." Blake looked over to theback yard of the shack and grabbed a shovel. "But first, let's give this guy a proper burial."
As Inigo took his turn at digging the hole, Blake's ears swiveled as she heard something flying through the air. Her eyes widened in recognition of the sound and she quickly put up her Aura, less than a second before an arrow bounced off of her now protected head. With only a small scratch on her head, she stumbled a moment and took Gambol Shroud out. "We're being attacked!"
A moment later, two men came running down the hill at them, a mage woman and a Bosmer with a bow right behind them. Blake met the one with a heavy battleaxe while Inigo pulled out his sword and slashed at the mace wielding Nord facing him. M'rissi took a second more to prepare, but the moment she did she loosed an arrow that hit the mage right in her abdomen. The area around the penetration point burned a moment, but the woman put out the flames while nursing her wound.
Blake's foe was strong, but very slow, especially to her. She dodged around three of his attempted strikes before she lashed out, cutting across his throat and stomach at the same time. He dropped his weapon and clutched at both mortal wounds as he fell over, dying almost as soon as he hit the ground. Inigo had successfully chopped his enemy' mace in half, then followed it up with a full spin backswing that lopped the man's head off. M'rissi fired another arrow at the Bosmer, who dodged aside and laughed, only for a black arrow to then strike him dead center, going all the way through his chest, courtesy of Inigo. Seeing her companions all dead, the mage turned tail and ran while still nursing her burned arrow wound. Inigo was about to take another shot, but Blake held her hand up, signaling him to stop.
"Don't worry about her. I want to know why these guys attacked us out of nowhere like that." She bent next to the corpse of her opponent and searched him, coming up with a few septims, and then a note. She unfolded the piece of paper and read it aloud.
"WANTED: strange-looking female Khajiit. Face closely resembles a human's. Black hair, blond-brown fur. Travels with a dangerous stranger.
"1000 septims for the Wanted if brought alive. No interest in the stranger." Blake sighed as she stood up. "Well, they know at least a little about me, but something's telling me that don't know exactly who I am. And now they're offering double for you."
"I did not know you were still on the run. Traveling with the two of you is going to be far more exciting than I originally imagined. And I was thinking there would be lots of dragon slaying and a full-on war with some ancient powers along the way, so that is saying much."
"If they want her so badly, then they can come and be shot and stabbed. And while she is at the College, she will learn some magic so they will be shot and stabbed and burned."
"I just hope we can figure this out on the way. I'll try to see if I can get something from Maro when I forward my list to him. He might have some suggestions, or maybe he can offer you some kind of protection. I don't know how much sway this group has with theThlamor as a whole, or how much the Thalmor can get away with, but we'll work this out." Blake stuffed the note into her pocket. "Like I said, if they want you, they'll have to go through me."
"Lydia, we all set?" Ruby called out to the housecarl, exiting Bits and Pieces.
"All set, my Thane," Lydia replied. "We should have enough supplies to get to Whiterun."
"That's good," she nodded. "Guess then we'll..." Ruby trailed off as a Imperial soldier, a Nord woman by the looks of it, marched up to her. Seeing this, Lydia calmly walked over to her Thane, her hand resting on her sword. When the solider approached, she respectfully saluted the two, causing them to be more at ease.
"Ruby Dragonslayer," the soldier declared, "General Tulius has requested your presence in Castle Dour. I am to be your escort."
"Oh, uh," Ruby looked at Lydia for guidance, who shrugged. "Sure, we'd be honored to." At this, the soldier saluted once again before marching back up to the castle. After a moment, Ruby and Lydia followed. As the three walked through the castle courtyard, Ruby marveled at the wide array of soldiers training. It was a cornucopia of different races. Most were Nords, which wasn't too surprising, but there were a fair number of Redguards, Orsimer, Bosmer, Dunmer, Bretons, even a few Altmer. The occasional Khajiit or Argonian also made their appearance, but there weren't that many. Several sported fancier armor, likely denoting their higher rank. Again, mostly Nords and Imperials, but the other races made up a significant chunk. The sight calmed Ruby's nerves somewhat, but even then, as they passed through a door guarded by two soldiers, she couldn't help but gulp.
Inside they walked into a war room, where a map with different colored pins dotting it rested on a table. A quick glance told Ruby it showed the Nine Holds of Skyrim and who controlled each area. Red were likely under Imperial control, while Blue was likely Stormcloak territory. A webseries from back home briefly came to mind, but she quickly stashed those thoughts as she approached the table. Two people were currently looking over it, an older, Cyrodiilic man and a Nord woman maybe a decade or two Lydia's senior. The two looked over as Ruby and Lydia entered and held themselves up in a way Ruby knew soldiers often did.
"Could barely believe it when I first heard it," the man started. "Welcome, Miss Ruby Rose. Or do you prefer Dragonborn?"
"Ah, well, Ruby, er," Ruby stammered, her and Lydia's eyes wide in shock. "You can just call me Ruby, General Tulius…sir. Um, how did you…?"
"Scouts, spies, agents of all kinds. Everything was just put together. Some people saw you headed up to High Hrothgar right after those Greybeards used that magical Shouting, but none of the other "Four Dragonslayers" went with you." He crossed his arms and nodded. "Word is you've also taken care of that sneaky bastard of a dragon that's been going around torching farms and small villages in Haafingar. And you recently did a great favor for Jarl Elisif. I imagine putting Potema down must have been quite a struggle. I thank you for your service to Skyrim and the Empire, and hope for continued cooperation from here out."
"Uh, yeah. Sure." Ruby blinked her eyes, surprised at just how much he knew. Then again, it made sense. Shaking her head, Ruby crossed her arms behind her back and stood at attention, trying to be respectful. "Protecting people is what I'm all about. I have to ask though, why'd you ask for me? Is there another dragon being a problem?"
"There's dragons making plenty of problems, but they're all normally random, isolated events. We've tried figuring out a pattern, but there doesn't seem to be one." The general frowned. "The one you killed was one of the few we had what could be considered extensive information pertaining to, and it's more due to his hit-and-run tactic he employed, compared to others that seem to finish whatever they were after in one swoop. If there are any we can narrow down, we'll be sure to inform you. However, right now, we have something different to talk to you about. Legate Rikke?"
"Thank you, sir. Ruby Rose, on behalf of the Empire and the Legion, I would like to invite you to join our ranks and serve the Empire in her army," Rikke announced, an expectant look on her face.
"Oh," Ruby slowly went as the reason sank in. "Sorry, no. With all due respect, I must decline."
Rikke seemed to be struck by that. "No?"
"Well, first off, me and my friends aren't from the Empire. We got lost at sea and landed in Solitude, somehow. We're from the Kingdom of Vale, which is on the eastern part of the continent Sanus. We never even heard of Tamriel before we got here," Ruby began to explain, thankful for Weiss' help in figuring out how to best explain their origin while not disclosing too much. "Not only that, but we're Huntresses. We're not supposed to serve in a military role. We're meant to keep the peace by protecting people from criminals that local authorities can't handle and monsters. I'm not even sure if us fighting the monsters or doing bounty work here is legal by Vale's standards. Also, I'm not even an adult yet." Ruby grumbled at that last part.
"That's certainly a lot to take in," Rikke reflected. "But, perhaps…"
"Look, it's nothing against you guys, but we can't just pick a side in this war. At the very least, I can't pick a side without talking it over with my team beforehand. I really do think the Empire should stay in one piece, but I can't ignore all the problems either. The biggest thing is, though, that I need to focus on the main problem; dragons. You know that since I'm the Dragonborn I'm kinda in a spot with them."
"Yes, every Nord worth his salt knows the old tale one way or another," Rikke agreed. "At the very least, I can understand you have another duty to attend to. A higher calling some would say."
"Well, I can't say I'm not disappointed," the general bemoaned. "It would've been good to have you fight with us. Maybe put a quicker end to this war. Still, it's your decision. Not like I could make you fight for us even if I wanted to."
"Again, I'm sorry there's nothing more I can do. I promise though I'll do my absolute best to put an end to the dragon problem. I'm starting to think it all leads back up to Alduin in the end."
"Gods be with you, then. Give them hell, Ruby."
"I will, sir." Ruby saluted from her forehead before remembering that people Tamriel did it differently. She put an arm across her chest and nodded before leaving.
"Damn," Tulius muttered. "Thought that would go differently. They weren't from Yneslea or Cathnoquey like some people thought they might have been. I never even heard of a continent called Sanus."
"Nor have I," the legate divulged. "We've missed a major opportunity too. Her power would have been more than a counter to Ulfric's Voice."
"Maybe, but seeing her I was scared that's all she could be, a weapon instead of a soldier. Nothing more than a slip of a girl, and those swords on her waist looked more like decoration than the lute on her back. How in the hell is a girl like that slaying dragons? And what's with those rumors about her wielding a scythe?"
"She may have left it behind. Still, I understand what you mean. I think she could have been trained with time, but right now, that's a little girl with a heroic, godly power."
"Let's just hope that little girl is enough. I don't want to save this land from itself just for dragons to come and burn it all down. Last thing we need is a Dragonborn mad with power," Tulius declared before looking at the map once again. "Any word from our scouts in Solstheim?"
"Not much. Something has been affecting the residents, with many being put into a trance-like state, constructing some sort of 'pillars' for days on end. Some kind of cult is ordering them around. Frankly, sir, we don't know what is going on. Should we send in a legion?"
"Until we know for certain, we can't do a thing. Solstheim is under House Redoran control, and they and the other Houses wouldn't appreciate our presence. Morrowind isn't part of the Empire anymore. Besides, any forces we send over there makes our position here that much weaker, and if I know Ulfric, he wouldn't hesitate to exploit that." Tulius sighed. "For now, tell our spies to continue their surveillance. Any change, and I want to know about it."