Here is the second part of this extra-long chapter. As a small reminder, Dragon Rose has a TVtropes page that really needs a lot of love, so if you're willing to add in some tropes you noticed in the story that hasn't been pointed out there, go ahead and feel free to add them in. A second thanks to my buds xTRESTWHOx and NaanContributor for helping put this together nice and quick.
Chapter 82: The Forsworn Trials, Part 2
31st of Evening Star
Ruby and the others all followed Artur as he led them through the Reach's land to where his fallen friend was based. It was an old, crumbled fort up in the higher hills known as Red Eagle's Redoubt. At the peak sat the Sundered Towers, where Duncan would most likely be. Most others kept their distance from the area, even other Reachfolk, for fear of the crazed Briarheart's gaze turning upon them so there was little between where they camped the night before near the Karth and their destination.
After a short ride, Artur brought his horse to a stop, patting the animal on the neck before he dismounted. Ruby wondered why he was climbing off at this distance when she saw the two people approaching them, both wearing hides and wielding bone weapons.
"Shouldn't have come back here, old man," the man called out to him. "The chief let you go before. I doubt he'll give you the chance to do it again."
"I doubt it, too, but I'm not lying down to die," Artur declared. "I'm here to kill him and end this."
The man sneered at that and readied his axe, but the woman to his side held up her sword to stop him.
"Look, old man, we get that you feel like he's lost it, but we've seen the sword," she said, trying to defuse the tense situation. "It's actually working. Besides, you can't think a handful of outsiders are enough to take on everyone here and Chief Duncan."
"I think they're enough," Artur countered. "I hate falling back on others, but this has to be done."
The woman sighed and lowered her blade before holding it forward. "Your funeral, old man."
"Let's put him out of his misery," her companion growled out before charging.
Artur quickly pulled his bow from behind his back and loosed a pair of arrows at the two. One hit the woman in the shoulder, causing her to cry out and fall backward while the other struck the man in the chest. He kept running through the pain at the older Reachman, and the rest of the gang quickly jumped off their horses to try and help. However, as the younger man reached Artur, the older knocked his axe and arm away with his bow, his left hand grabbing a dagger from his belt and bringing it up in a reverse grip, slicing up through the Forsworn's belly and into his ribs. The younger man's breath hitched as he clutched his spilling guts, and Artur stepped away to let him fall onto the ground. The woman looked on with fear and then at her wounded arm. She tried to raise her weapon, but only ended up dropping it.
"Damn it!" she cursed, clutching the place where the arrow pierced her. Artur just walked forward, going right past her as he did. The others went to follow him, but Ruby paused a moment to look at the injured enemy.
"Are you… Do you need help?" she asked, and the woman glared at her incredulously.
"Don't bother with me, outsider" she ground out while stumbling over to a rock. "Go die with the others. If you live, then come worrying about me, but don't expect me to go along with whatever you're planning."
Ruby sighed then pulled a vial of healing potion from her belt before setting it down next to her. The Reachwoman looked at her as though she were crazy before Ruby went to catch up with the others.
Interestingly enough, the entrance to the rest of the hideout beneath the Towers that Artur led them to seemed to be a cave. The exit was high up, letting them know a steep climb was just ahead. Aside from that, there was also a handful of Forsworn coming down to meet them, likely roused by the sounds of a fight from outside. Artur wasted no time, shooting several arrows at the oncoming enemies. Each hit flesh, though not all of them were deadly or debilitating. One man took two in his abdomen but still kept up his charge, only for an ice spike from Serana to knock him down for good.
Weiss blocked a handful of arrows from hitting them, and Ruby charged to meet the group with Lydia at her back. Seeing the narrow areas she would have to be fighting in, Ruby chose to bring out her ebony sword, slicing through one man's attempt at a block and partly through him as well. Lydia rammed into two people, barreling over one and pinning another to the wall before running her through.
Weiss shot a bolt of magic at the feet of an archer, causing the stones beneath him to explode, launching him forward into the air. He screamed as he headed toward the ground far below, but then a black glyph slowed him down before dropping him, turning a lethal fall into a fairly painful one. Two other archers sent arrows at the mage, but Weiss caught them both with telekinesis and threw them back. The archers ducked in fear, even though both projectiles went wide.
"Okay, need to work on that," Weiss contemplated before summoning a Bound Bow and using it to fire back, summoning a new arrow each time she pulled back the string rather than bothering with a quiver.
After a minute, all the Forsworn that had challenged them were beaten, either dead, dying, or too wounded or demoralized to continue fighting. Before they continued on, Weiss used the Sanguine Rose, bringing out a half humanoid spider-like Daedra.
"Tie all the living up, safely staunch any bleeding wounds. Make sure they can be cut free," Weiss instructed the Spider Daedra.
"At once," she happily chittered then clapped her hands together. "Ooh, this will be such fun!"
"I didn't know you could summon something like that," Ruby commented as the Spider Daedra began tying the Forsworn up with tight threads of silk.
"Well, it always brings out the right Daedra for the occasion," Weiss told her. "I suppose the possibilities are literally endless. If I'd known about this earlier, we wouldn't have had to harvest silk from those awful Frostbite spiders. Still…have to be careful, though." She looked over where the Daedra was working and then blushed. "N- Not like that!" she called out.
"Should I make it tighter, mistress?" the Spider Daedra asked as she hefted up a suggestively tied Forsworn for all to see.
"…Know what, continue as you were." Weiss turned away, rubbed her shoulders, and shivered as she followed the rest of the group.
She tried her best to ignore the laughter coming from the Daedra, and even more the moans that came from some of her prey. Between that and the Frostbite spiders, she wasn't sure which was worse. As they went further up the path, rocks rolled down a steep set of stairs, threatening to crush them, but Lydia's Aegis knocked most out of the way as she forced her way up. The woman who had triggered the trap swung down at her with an iron axe, but Lydia bashed her away with her shield, smacking her head against the cavern wall. Not wearing a helmet, she collapsed to the ground and her head wound bled profusely, but other than a quick healing spell to ensure she wouldn't die, she was left where she fell.
Past there, the cave went from mostly natural to mostly constructed, set stone replacing rock and dirt floors before they reached a hallway of stone with a few torches on its walls. They left the cave through an iron door and came out into the open on the ancient redoubt's massive stairway. Ahead of them were large obelisks with eagle-head carvings at their tops, as well as several more Forsworn.
A horn was blown, echoing across the pavilion, and the Reachfolk converged on their location. Weiss shot spectral arrows, but once Artur started loosing his, he quickly caught up and surpassed her. More than a few fell before they reached the intruders, either from arrows or spells, but there were still dozens more. As yet more Forsworn arrived, Ruby stepped up ahead of the rest and took a deep breath, feeling her throat tighten as her Thu'um awoke.
"Fus Ro Dah!" she Shouted at the top of her lungs. The Unrelenting Force flew from her and collided with the Forsworn like a moving wall. Some were sent back flying into their fellows while others were only knocked off their feet, but all were blown down.
As the Forsworn struggled back up, they looked forward to see Ruby unfurl her scythe from her back before twirling it around to brace behind her and leaning forward, ready to attack. Several of the older Reachfolk seemed to be having panic attacks before running away from the battlefield, and the younger fighters fled upon seeing their veterans running scared from the woman who had floored them all with a few words.
With their foes scattered and running down the steep hill to escape them, the five could more easily march forward up the steep stairway built centuries ago, though they were brought to a pause when the smell of rot reached them. Holding their noses, they passed under a series of arches as rain began to lightly fall around them. At the top of the stairs, they saw the source of the stench, and all but Serana gagged and wretched. Even she grimaced in disgust, a scowl forming on her face as she surveyed the area.
"Oh god," Ruby muttered at the sight. Piled up against the side of the redoubt's final level were bodies in varying states of decay, reminding her too much of the cavern of carcasses from months ago. Only here, the bodies were all beheaded, with their hearts carved out of their chests.
"Come on," Artur urged them forward. "We have to end this."
They circled around the last section, staying clear of the corpse pile, and headed up the stairs to see a handful of men ready for them, one of them clearly a Briarheart wearing a headdress of bone and hide with antlers, the shape reminiscent of a deer skull.
"Well, well," the Briarheart growled out. "Dear Artur. Here I thought you'd gone to find some gutter to wait for the Black Fly to claim you, yet here you are, fighting through our kinsmen to get to me with a pack of outsiders."
"It's over, Duncan," Artur said to him. "You've gone and carved a bloody swath through the Reach, all for a damn legend. Well, I'm here to tell you it's over. All the blood you've spilled, and Faolan's no closer to returning. It's time to stop."
"No, now is the time to press forward!" Duncan drew a sword from his side, a black, single-sided blade with a half-circle guard and red, glowing runes down the side. "You always doubted me, Artur, but everything's going exactly according to plan. The power has slowly been coming back, and I've learned to wield it. I now hold the power of the Red Eagle in my hands. Soon, I'll be able to wrest the Reach from the Nords, and finally free our people!"
He leveled the blade at Artur then sneered. "If I have to kill you to prove it, then I will, old friend."
Artur responded by pulling back on his bow and releasing an arrow at the Briarheart, which Duncan merely knocked away and laughed.
"So be it," Duncan said. "Kill the rest, leave him for me!"
The Forsworn charged, but two found themselves dead almost as soon as they moved. Serana had sped past, slicing through one man's throat with blinding speed. Weiss had dashed forward, running Strahlendjuwel through another. Ruby and Lydia let the others come at them, the younger girl smashing two men away while Lydia beat her opponent back with two powerful swings, then bashed him across the face, knocking him to the ground. Despite this, Duncan's attention remained focused on Artur, who drew out his two daggers to fight against his fellow Reachman once he closed the distance. It was clear immediately, however, that Artur was outmatched, and that Duncan was holding back from ending the fight too quickly.
They danced around each other, but Duncan was far faster and his sword had better reach. Every time Artur thought he had an opening, he went in slashing, only for Duncan to either parry his attempts or move out of the way. Artur yelled out as he made an enraged stabbing attempt, only to fall forward and begin coughing violently, blood shooting out of his mouth halfway through the fit.
"So that's it, eh?" Duncan asked as a grimace took over his face. "You know you aren't going to last much longer, brother. Did you just come here so you could die on your feet, or did you really think you had to stop me before you passed on?"
Artur seemed to try and answer, but his coughs took over again.
"A true shame, but that's how it is. I'll give you your warrior's end, but first," Duncan turned towards the others, who all prepared themselves to fight him, "I'm going to show you how pointless bringing all these people really was."
"We aren't pointless," Ruby told him, readying herself.
"No? No, I heard something. One of you know those Shouting arts." He chuckled, as though finding humor in that fact. Artur tried to stab him from behind while he was distracted, but Duncan turned and blocked the attempt with his blade. The Briarheart then kicked him back, saying, "Wait your turn, brother. I have to teach these four young ladies why the Forsworn will reign."
With a shout, he leaped at Ruby and brought his sword to bear on her. She blocked but felt the force of his blow run up her arms with surprising strength. Gritting her teeth, she shoved him aside and swung Crescent Rose as hard and fast as she could, but the man met her swing with his own, stopping them both and emitting a faint shockwave from the clash. He then parried the ebony scythe away and tried to close in with Ruby, only to meet Lydia's shield. He brought his sword down on her shield, causing the woman to slide back from the force of the blow and clench her teeth.
Weiss swooped in, thrusting her blade forward, but the man dodged and slashed at her. Weiss cried out as her Aura took the hit, and Duncan looked at her in interest. Before he could remark on it, Serana was raising her hand up at him and trying to drain his essence with her vampiric magic. He grunted, turning towards her, but then he was forced to block Lydia's orichalcum sword. The woman was putting a lot behind every swing, but the Reachman only seemed moderately pressed by her Aura-enhanced strength.
"You all really think this magic is enough to defeat me?" he asked while laughing. After parrying a strike from Lydia, he rammed his head into her stomach before using the antlers of his headdress to heave and toss her away. "I am Red Eagle Reborn! The slayer of armies! The one who turned the Empire!"
"And I am Dragonborn!" Ruby declared as she dashed to his side, getting herself at an angle that didn't threaten any of her allies.
"Fus! Ro! DAH!" she Shouted, pushing her Thu'um as far as she could muster in one go. The split-second seemed to stretch as the Briarheart's attention turned towards her, his sword coming forth to try and intercept the Unrelenting Force. His sword began to glow red and white as it contacted the wall of bent reality, then cut through it, sending its halves away from him into two paths that crashed into the ancient walls behind him, smashing them apart.
Ruby stared in disbelief at the scene before her. While her Thu'um was not absolute, it had never been so simply brushed off before. And one with that amount of force at this distance should have blown anything short of a fully-grown mammoth away.
"Dragonborn?" he asked, chuckling as he looked down at her. "The Nordic hero? Well then, I'll show you just what kind of power the Reach holds." He raised his sword and it started glowing again, but when he brought it down, the light seemed to extend from it. Ruby dodged to the side and watched as the blade of light sliced several inches into dirt and stone before stopping, leaving a neat, clean slice several meters long, leading up to Duncan himself.
"See now? The power Faolan once held now resides in me! His sword is more than a piece of metal, it's his very soul given form! See how it sings!"
The Briarheart laughed maniacally as he slashed out again, forcing all four of the fighters to duck or jump out of the way. Lydia summoned up her Aegis as she stood back up and charged at the Reachman. Duncan reared his blade back, the glow still around it, and swung it forward to meet her charge. The two forces collided and a flash and thunderclap rang out from where they met, sending both combatants backwards, though Lydia was sent rolling while Duncan landed on his feet.
Ruby brought her scythe to bear on the man, but Duncan stepped into her reach and slashed his sword at her head. Ruby let go with her right hand to block his blade with her gauntlet, then punched out at his face with it, using the enchantment to add the doubled force of his blow to her strike. He grunted as his helmet cracked and stepped back, letting Ruby get back into position to use Crescent Rose. As she swung her weapon in arcs, looking for an opening, Duncan kept up his guard and started sending in probing strikes, some of them forcing Ruby to backstep.
Serana came in at his side, using her draining spell on him while he tried to get at Ruby. He made a feral scream and went at her instead, but the vampire princess kept out of his reach while continuing her spell. She then added a stream of sparks from her other hand and pushed the two spells together, creating a cascade of red lighting that tried to suck the life out of the Briarheart. Shouting as the spell ripped at him, Duncan leaped up and reared his sword overhead, the glow brightening before he brought it down. Serana gasped and cut off her spell before dispersing as a swarm of bats. Duncan's attack hit the ground in her stead and shattered part of the fort they were on, sending wedges of stone and mortar downhill.
A chunk of stone was thrown at him, wreathed in electricity, but the man smashed it away with his sword, breaking it apart further as it was repelled. He saw Serana from where it came from, but then was immediately distracted as a white and blue blur tried to blindside him. Strahlendjuwel slid against his sword as he blocked Weiss' attempt to skewer him, but the heiress had the Pale Blade ready in her other hand and tried to bring the sword to bear on him, only to meet a ward he summoned over his off-hand. Weiss grunted as she tried to force herself against him, but found herself unable to gain any ground. Seeing the physical route wasn't working, she lifted up two fingers from the Pale Blade's hilt, pointing them at Duncan's face before sending a small bolt of lightning at him. He shouted and pushed away, giving Weiss the chance to disengage.
"He's way stronger than he should be!" Weiss called out to her companions.
"Yeah, we noticed," Ruby said. "He's stronger than any other Briarheart I've fought. I don't know if it's just the sword or what."
"Any ideas on how to kill him?" Serana asked.
"We just have to keep trying," Lydia said. "There's no way he can keep this up forever."
"I don't know about that, but Lydia's right that we can't stop now," Ruby affirmed. "Keep looking for a weakness!"
"Fools!" Duncan cried out. "I have no weakness!"
He swung his glowing sword, making another furrow as the group dodged in and tried to encircle him again. Each of them attacked, making sure not to harm one another and watching each other's backs, trying to get an opening on the supernaturally tough man. He seemed to be able to catch every attempt they made, though some surprises did manage to make it through, like a slash down his back that Weiss delivered when Lydia caught him in a deadlock. He had bodily thrown the Nord woman in his rage from it, but at least there was some kind of visible wound on him.
Serana was forced to run when the man went after her, going so far as to climb up one of the obelisks to get away from his crazed chase. Ruby tried to impale him, but he turned and smacked her scythe away before slamming his head into hers. Ruby was sent reeling back from the blow, but Lydia came to her defense before he could strike at her. With a raging shout, he smashed his sword to her shield then caught her wrist, shoving the housecarl back before slamming his sword against her shield again and again, the glow increasing as he did. Lydia's Aura began to shimmer from the strain until it shattered with one powerful strike that split the top of her shield in half and cut into her gauntlet. The Nord woman screamed in pain as the sword cut through flesh, and the Reachman gained a satisfied grin.
"Lydia!" Ruby screamed before ramming into the man, knocking him away from the woman with her into a roll. He kicked Ruby away before rolling onto his feet, and the Dragonborn looked up at him angrily. The other two were already rushing to her side, but she held up her hand.
"Yol Toor Shul!" she Shouted at the man.
He held his sword before him, splitting the stream of flame around himself and pushed forward through it before slashing at where he believed Ruby to be, only to find nothing there as the blinding flames dissipated. Something rammed into his gut, however, and sent him flying back as Ruby ran to keep up with him. He brought himself to a stop and slashed his blade, cutting into the redoubt and sending tons of rock sliding down the suddenly created incline. Ruby seemed to disappear from his sight, but then reappeared from a cloud of rose petals before swinging Crescent Rose from below. He blocked her strike, but she kept pushing it upwards.
"Wuld Nah!" she Shouted, launching them both into the air with a gut-wrenching heave.
Duncan was immediately disoriented, his feet no longer touching the earth. With the ground far below them, Ruby swung her weapon up at him again, knocking him even higher as he barely kept the blade from slicing into him. She followed him in a burst of petals, smashing her scythe against his block again when she caught up. He grunted and shouted as he was flung through the air, but kept his eyes on her for when she next came to attack. She appeared before him again, and he prepared himself to block her once more, but as he moved his arm, something came out of his periphery. For a split second, he could see what it was, watching with frozen clarity as an arrow of Reach make hit and sank into his arm, knocking it back from his intended position. As the girl's scythe hit his side and began slicing through flesh, Duncan looked down at where the arrow came from and saw Artur standing with his bow held up, a grim look upon his face.
Crescent Rose cut through Duncan's body and his left arm, the way his flesh split as easily as any other man's belying the amazing strength and fortitude he had shown throughout their fight. The two beings then fell back to the ground, Ruby landing on her feet while the pieces of Duncan dropped like rocks and rolled down the hill, save for his upper half, which came to rest near the tower door, his sword finally leaving his hand as he stopped. From the rise and fall of his chest, everyone could see that he somehow still lived. Slowly, they approached, Artur being the first to reach him.
Duncan looked up at his fellow, the helm now gone, revealing his face to them all. It was nothing extraordinary. He simply looked like any other man, save for the plantlike briarheart in his chest. Artur looked dismayed, while Duncan beheld an expression of surprise.
"Was that… Is that all?" Duncan asked, as though trying to figure out what had happened. "I was… I was never Red Eagle, was I?"
"No, Dun," Artur said. "He's been long dead."
"But… But I know he can rise once again. It was…foretold." He looked around, then back at Artur. "He can still save us. His blade… Artur, please, take the blade. It is Red Eagle's Fury. Take it…to his tomb. Rebel's Cairn. It…needs to be brought back to him." The Briarheart grunted and he used his remaining limb to push himself up and against the nearest wall, gasping from the effort. "I'm…not long for this world. My heart…is doing everything it can to keep me alive."
"Are you scared, friend?" Artur asked.
"No. I could never be scared of death. Seen it too many times." Both laughed, as though sharing a private joke. "Please Artur, promise me."
"I'll bring it to his tomb," the Reachman promised. "It's the least I could do."
"Thank you." Artur stood up and walked over to the blade, picking it up and looking it over in his hands. "One last thing. Kill me. I don't want to wait until the magic can't hold me together any longer."
Artur looked down at him and nodded. "I understand." He held up the blade and rested its point just above his fellow's artificial heart. "So long, partner."
"So long…brother."
As he pierced the briarheart, and life left the other Reachman, the rain that had been only a light drizzle earlier began to pour down heavily.
Blake and Yang walked through the streets of Markarth up to the Shrine of Talos once the rain let up enough to allow them to make it there less than soaked. When they arrived, they found Eltrys leaned up against the statue, half dozed away. When he saw the two Huntresses arrive, however, he roused himself, letting out a short yawn before focusing his attention on them.
"You both made it back all right," he commented as he stood up, stretching his back out. "You weren't followed?"
"Not as far as we can tell," Blake said. "And we're fairly good at that."
"Good. Have you found anything?"
"Got a note," Yang revealed while taking out the piece of evidence she'd dug up. "At first, I was a little confused by it, but someone had come down to stop me from investigating. Beat some answers out of him, and he said a Nepos the Nose sent him."
"Nepos?" Eltrys asked while he looked the note over. Letting out a hum and rubbing his chin with his free hand, he added, "He's been in Markarth forever, and he's well-respected among the natives of the Reach." The man thought over what he'd been given and then nodded. "Good work, but I have a feeling that Nepos gets his own orders, though. We'll need to look a little further, perhaps even investigate him directly."
"I think I have a good guess," Blake offered. "I figured out what Margret was really doing. She wasn't a tourist; she was investigating the Silver-Bloods, specifically Thonar, regarding Cidhna Mine. She's almost certain that he's the one that tried to have her killed."
"So, the clues point to the Treasury House, then," Eltrys determined while nodding along. "That makes sense. Thonar is involved in every facet of the city. If anyone was responsible, it'd be him."
"Reminds me of someone back home," Yang muttered, then turned towards Blake. "What do you think? Should we pay this Nose guy a visit?" she asked her partner. "I wanna let him know why it's not a good idea to send someone to try and attack me."
"I suppose," Blake replied as she turned her head towards Yang, "but we need to be careful. If he's onto us, then we could be walking into a lion's den."
"These guys don't have anything that could possibly hurt us, so there's nothing to worry about."
"Doesn't mean we should throw caution to the wind, Yang."
"I'm sorry," Eltrys jumped in. "That could possibly hurt you?"
"Right, it's just that we have a special technique," Blake explained to him. "Think of it as an invisible magic armor. It's not invincibility, though," she added while glaring at Yang.
"Hey, we'll be fine. I'm not going to dare them to stab me or anything."
As the two walked up to the home of Nepos the Nose, Blake immediately began looking around for points of entry, but Yang went right up to the front door and used the knocker.
"What are you doing?" Blake quietly demanded.
"Figured we can go the direct route," Yang explained. "If they say no, then they'll be too focused on the front door if you gotta sneak in upstairs."
"That's not how infiltration w-"
The door opened, interrupting Blake and revealing a young woman with yellow tattoos under her eyes that ran down her cheeks to her neck.
"Excuse me, what's your business here?" she asked them, looking more than a little annoyed.
"We were hoping to speak to Nepos," Yang answered. "Is it all right if we come in?"
"We haven't been expecting you, and the old man needs his rest," the woman said while frowning. "Come back some other time."
She prepared to close the door, and both Yang and Blake were willing to leave it at that in favor of their backup plan, but before the door fully closed, they heard an old man's voice call out from within the house.
"Wait, it's okay Uaile dear," the old man declared. "Send her in."
The woman seemed to want to argue with him but simply shook her head.
"Hmph. Yes, Nepos," she grumbled. Uaile then moved aside and waved her arm towards the interior. "You heard him. Go on in."
Yang nodded in acceptance along with Blake. The two then slowly walked in, looking around as they did. There were two stone tables fully set in the main room with a fireplace off in one corner where an elderly man in fine linens and furs was reading. A few other people were going around cleaning or setting the table, leading the girls to believe that they were, in fact, servants. Yang walked to the man's side and looked down to see that he had an abnormally long nose.
"I'm sorry about my housekeeper," Nepos apologized. "She's a little protective of me. Now, what is it you want?"
"Well, to start with, you sent that thug after me," Yang accused him, crossing her arms.
"Ah yes," Nepos replied, sighing and shaking his head before looking up at the two Huntresses. At the same time, both girls sensed that Nepos' servants had dropped their tasks and headed elsewhere in the house, and Blake's ears shifted as she heard Uaile locking the front door.
"You've proven to be a couple of real bloodhounds. Well, you've sniffed me out. I've been playing this game for almost twenty years. Sending the young to their deaths. All in the name of the Forsworn. And I'm tired. So tired."
"Why?" Blake asked, her ears twitching as she picked up more movement around them, like the servants were moving and grabbing items from upstairs with purpose. "Why do all of this?"
"Because my king told me to," he answered, as though it was all that simple. "Madanach. When the uprising fell at the hands of the Nords, they threw him in the mines. I don't know how, but he lives. I get his messages, and I hand out his orders without question."
"Who in the world is Madanach?" Yang demanded. "And what's this about him being in the mines?"
"He is the King in Rags," Nepos explained, seemingly without a care. "A man who once held all the Reach within his grip. He stokes the passions of the downtrodden in this city. Directs them to kill the enemies of the Forsworn in our name. All from inside Cidhna Mine. A Nord prison. The irony is quite thick."
"Wait a second," Blake said, fishing for information while slowly reaching back and checking her weapons. "You mean to tell me that the one giving out these kill orders…is inside the prison owned by the Silver-Bloods?"
"Indeed. I could hardly believe it at first," Nepos admitted, "but I knew my king's pen. It took several tries to confirm it, but I've had men go into the mines and see him as well. He's alive, even if he is trapped in such an unholy manner."
"And that whole thing about an uprising?" Yang prodded. "I don't think I've heard of that."
"The Nords don't want to admit to any of it, but Markarth and the Reach are our lands," Nepos told her, closing his book and leaning back to look directly into the fireplace's flames. "That is why we are the Forsworn. We cannot claim the home that is rightly ours. But then during their war with the elves, we had our moment. We drove the Nords out of the Reach in a great uprising. Then Ulfric and his men came. Those of us who didn't run were executed, except for myself, my king, and a handful of others."
"You…took back the Reach?" Blake asked, surprised at such information. She knew they had been fighting over it, but she hadn't quite realized that the natives might have actually had the upper hand at some point.
"As I said, the Nords don't like to admit it. They don't want to admit that when the Empire wasn't there to back them, we finally managed to throw off the yoke they'd placed on us for so long, and it took a man with draconic magic to put it back on us for them."
"So, you're just telling us all of this because…you're ready to retire or something?" Yang asked. "Why are you spilling this all so easily?"
"My dear, what makes you think either of you are getting out of here alive?"
Calmly, Blake and Yang turned around and saw that the servants that had left during their short conversation had dug up weapons, now returning with them. Neither of them were surprised, and in fact they had expected this reaction, but if Nepos was concerned he didn't show it.
"You were seen coming in," he pointed out. "The girl at the door is a Forsworn agent masquerading as my maid. You two aren't the first ones to have gotten this far. You won't be the last."
"Wow, everything you just said is completely wrong," Yang quipped before turning towards the armed retainers, cracking her knuckles. "Okay, you guys want me to break your arms or your legs?"
One of the men shot an arrow at her, and Yang caught it in midair. As the house fell silent, Yang twirled the projectile in her fingers before lazily looking at the Forsworn agents who had surrounded them.
"Coinflip, then," she declared before dashing at them.
Blake sighed at the sight, drawing Gambol Shroud in case she needed to help, though going by the thrashing her partner was giving two of the men at the same time, help wouldn't be needed. As one went down with one of his arms bent the wrong way, Blake felt a tingling on the back of her neck.
"His blade is poised to strike."
He's aiming for the back.
Blake turned with her blade slashing, expecting to meet steel, except the sword Nepos had ready was held far over his head. Gambol Shroud instead mostly hit only air, save for where the tip slit open the old man's throat. Surprised, Nepos clutched his wound while dropping his sword. Blake felt panic rise from within when she realized what she had done, not sure what she should do now. She looked around for something before giving up on getting a good enough bandage and instead dug out a healing potion from her pack, then leaned down to where Nepos collapsed and held up his head, only to find he was completely unresponsive. A quick test with a finger to his wrist showed her that he had no pulse, the old handler's heart too frail to survive such trauma for even those few seconds. He was gone.
"Phew!" Yang huffed as she walked back from her one-woman massacre. "Guys had some real gump, tryin' to fight after…" She paused when she noticed the old man lying in a pool of his own blood, Blake kneeled down next to him with a potion in hand. "Ah, crap!"
Quickly, Yang took Blake by the hand and rushed the two of them outside, tossing a vial of sleeping potion at the fireplace, where it broke and quickly dispersed across the room in a mist, then slammed the door shut.
"Okay, that was…not how I thought that would go," she admitted, her entertainment from beating Nepos' household now wiped away. Looking at Blake's face and at how her partner seemed to be glaring at her own hands, she took a deep breath and thought about what to do next.
"Okay, we've got to move fast. Blake, I need you to check on Eltrys."
"Eltrys?" the Faunus asked, finally pulling out of her mind's muddled state. "Why now? What's wrong?"
"Nepos knew who we were and that we were coming. He probably knew about Eltrys, too, and I don't know if Eltrys can fight if Nepos sent someone after him. We gotta make sure he's okay."
"Right," Blake agreed with a nod. "But what about you?"
"I'm going to check our last lead. We've gotten pretty much everything else, but this is it. The last thread connecting all the others. If we're right, and Thonar's the one behind all of this, then taking him down will be cutting the head off the Grimm." Yang nodded. "Don't worry. I'll meet back with you as soon as I'm done."
"Be careful, Yang."
"I will. They've got nothing on me." Yang smiled confidently and thumped her fist against her chest. Blake stared at her for a moment, then nodded in acceptance.
The two then split up, Yang heading up the street while Blake slipped back towards the shrine. The Treasury House wasn't too far from Nepos' home, both being part of the more affluent sector of the city. However, comparing them was nowhere near fair. Nepos' home was two-storied and had three servants. The Treasury House looked to go above four stories, and Yang was pretty sure a place like this took at least a dozen people to keep it up day to day, not to mention the employees.
She entered the place of business, seeing a woman sitting behind a stone desk, likely the receptionist or Skyrim equivalent. As she approached, she noticed two things about the Reachwoman that stuck out; she was pregnant, just beginning to show, and she smelled a lot like Eltrys.
'He didn't mention his wife worked here. Would've been good to know,' Yang internally grumbled.
"Hello," she greeted the woman brightly as she walked up. "I was hoping to meet with Thonar Silver-Blood tonight."
"I'm afraid he's asked not to be disturbed," the woman said in response. "He has important business."
"He's actually expecting me," Yang lied, though she was half-certain he might actually be expecting something like this tonight. "A lot of things just came up, and we need to talk them over as soon as possible."
"Oh, I'm…sorry to keep you then." She indicated the walkway to her left. "Head right in."
"Thanks." Yang walked over and started heading up the hall, pausing when a little, old lady in servant's garb walked past her, holding a broom in her hands.
"Ah, hello deary."
"Hey there," she responded. Nearby, a richly dressed woman sitting at a small table glared lightly at her over a plate of food. Yang stared back as she walked by, heading up a short set of stairs and then walking through a door to what looked like a private dining room. There was a large table, but only one man sitting at it with the remains of what Yang assumed had been his supper sitting before him. The man turned his head toward her, a sneer on his face as she approached.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded. "I told them no visitors."
Yang thought about where to start with him, crossing her arms as she leveled her own glare. "To start, why don't we talk about Margret."
"The Imperial agent?" Thonar responded with a scoff. "That's right. I knew. How many dogs is the Empire going to send after me? This is my business. My city. You Empire-lovers should learn to stay out of it. Now get out!"
"I don't think so," Yang growled out. "I came here for answers, not to get talked down to by some fat cat in a suit."
The man shot up out of his seat at that. "Just who do you think you are?"
"Doesn't matter. Now, answer me this: did you send out the order to kill her?"
"You're out of your damned mind! I'm going to-"
A scream echoed from up the hallway, though it became gurgled before its note went down, surprising both the occupants of the dining room.
"What…? By the gods, Betrid!" Thonar shouted before running out of the room, grabbing a sword from off of a plaque as he did. Yang ran after him, catching the scent of fresh blood within seconds. When she spotted the small table the woman had been eating at earlier, she saw that the lady's throat had been slit, along with two stab wounds in her back. The perpetrator was obvious, as the old lady was still holding the bloodied knife in her hands.
"Forsworn forever!" the old lady cried out as she tried to attack Thonar, but the man easily cut the woman down.
Another scream reached them, and Yang dashed past him and practically bounced herself off the wall when she saw another knife-wielding servant man coming at Eltrys' wife. Her fist smashed into his face before he got a step closer, cracking apart the front of his skull and sending him flying backward into a wooden table.
"Oh, by the gods, what happened?!" the receptionist breathed out, hand to her chest as she tried to catch her breath. "What's going on?"
Yang calmly shushed the expecting woman while patting her back and sitting her down, doing her best to soothe her. As she got her settled, she looked over to the Silver-Blood man as he slowly walked over and stared at the corpse of his murdered wife. Yang took in a deep breath to steel herself. She hadn't known these people, and the few seconds she spent talking to Thonar let her know he was a man she'd hate to know, but that certainly didn't mean he deserved this.
Still, it was the investigation that brought this out. He knew something, and it was killing people, including those close to him. She walked toward him, ready to get to the bottom of this.
"My wife," Thonar seethed out through grinding teeth. "They killed her!"
Yang sighed, her eyes closing tight for a moment. This was not how she had expected things to go.
"Damn Madanach!" the Silver-Blood continued to curse. "Damn his Forsworn backside!"
"Madanach?" Yang whispered under her breath, recalling the name Nepos had mentioned. The one he called his king. She looked back at the body of the woman and shook her head before continuing her approach. "I'm sorry. I-"
"No, you're not," he shot back at her as he spun around, anger and grief in his eyes. "You want to know what the Forsworn really are? They're my puppets. I have their 'king' rotting in Cidhna Mine. He was supposed to keep them under control!"
Yang blinked. "You…made a deal with the Forsworn king?"
"When their uprising was crushed, I had Madanach brought to me," he explained gripping his sword so to the point his knuckles were white. "He was a wild animal, but a useful one. I offered him a stay from execution if he used his influence to deal with any annoyances that came up. Competitors, agents," his already intense glare at her hardened further, "idiots. So I've let him run his little Forsworn rebellion from inside Cidhna Mine. Now he's out of control."
Yang scoffed, her minuscule pity for the man already spent. "Yeah, well, what did you expect to happen?" She waved her arm over the hallway stained with blood. "It's only surprising that this didn't happen sooner."
The man bared his teeth at her in fury and clenched his sword. She could tell he wanted to swing it at her, but it was obvious that doing so would be a poor choice.
"I'll see you rot to death in Cidhna Mine for this," he swore. "Now get out of my house!"
Yang kept her scowl level with him as she made to leave, stopping only to look over at the stunned receptionist and take her arm to lead her out of the place. She didn't want to imagine what Thonar might have done to her if she was left there, having now heard his confession. When the chill night air and the slamming of the door snapped her out of her shocked state, the woman looked around in confusion.
"Wha- What's going on?" she asked with worry.
"Sorry, but it's a lot to explain. You know Eltrys, right?"
"My husband?" The woman blinked a few times before clutching her arms and shivering. "Wh-what does he have to do with this?"
"We're working on something together, trying to get to the bottom of everything," Yang explained as she took off her coat and put it around the shivering woman, who took it gratefully. "What's your name?"
"Rh- Rhiada."
"Rhiada, nice to meet you. I'm Yang." She patted her on the back and ushered her forward. "Come on. We need to figure out what to do. I've gotten confirmation of Thonar's part in this. Now we just need proof, which should be as easy as getting people to check his prison."
"How is this even- He said he has Madancah in Cidhna Mines? How could he have kept that from all the Reach this whole time?"
"Money," Yang answered simply. "Some people are too rich for their own good, or anyone else's."
They made their way back across the city, taking the quickest route between alleyways and even jumping down one twenty-foot drop, Yang reassuring Rhiada of their safety and even holding her bridal style during the fall to the lower street.
When they arrived at the Shrine of Talos, Yang noticed that the door had been left wide open and immediately started suspecting that something was wrong. She walked in, making sure to keep Rhiada behind her, and saw exactly what it was when she looked within. Blake was facing off against three Markarth guardsmen, each with a sword out and at the ready. Eltrys was safely behind her and the statue, though he was clutching a wound on one arm. Rhiada gasped loud enough to be heard from below, and one of the guards turned towards them.
"We've got company, men," he warned his fellows. "Looks like the other one showed up at last."
"Damn. I was hoping we could finish this before having to deal with another one."
"Is this good, sir?" the third guard asked. "They outnumber us."
"One of them is a useless milk-drinker and that other woman up there is dressed like a tavern wench," the first guard answered them. "Keep your eyes on the cat, men. I'll handle this."
"Oh, you'll handle me?" Yang asked while walking down the stairs.
"If you hadn't gone and caused all this trouble, we wouldn't have to handle anything," he told her. "But you had to go snooping around. Now we've got to pin all these recent murders on you lot. Silence witnesses. Work, work, work."
"I'm guessing Thonar's paying you."
"What of it? His silver's good as anyone else's, and he's got more than most. Might as well take a bit for ourselves."
"I've got mouths to feed, too, ya know," another guard chimed in.
"Yeah, yeah. 'We're not special.' 'Everyone's doing it.' 'No one likes a cop, might as well be a dirty one.' I'm almost beyond giving a crap right now," Yang told them all. "What's really, really grinding my gears though," fire rose up from her fists and hair as her eyes turned red, making the man who had been approaching her stop in his tracks, "is that you idiots think you actually stand a chance."
She leaped forward, letting the twin fireballs loose under her to add to her forward momentum. Rhiada yelped, but she was well outside of the blast radius as Yang had made sure to keep her in mind with it. Yang's right foot slammed into the first guard, sending him towards Blake, who moved out of the way and allowed him to crash into the Talos statue. She landed then turned around and buried her fist into the guts of the one on her right, slamming the breath out of him and leaving him to collapse on the ground, whimpering as spittle leaked through the mouthguard of his helmet. The last one was shaking in his boots when Yang turned towards him, but he bravely tried to raise his sword and shield as he faced her. A loud conk sounded out as his helmet shifted, and the man fell onto his face with Blake standing behind him.
Yang powered down and smirked at that before turning and beckoning Rhiada to come on down. Eltrys came out of hiding at the same time, the golden glow on one of his hands letting them know he had used a healing spell on his wound.
"Rhiada, what are you doing here?" the Reachman asked his wife as they rushed towards each other. The two spouses wrapped themselves together in a tight embrace, then Rhiada pushed herself off of Eltrys and snarled.
"What am I doing here?! What are you doing here?!" she shot back at him. "You were investigating the Silver-Bloods?!"
"I- Yes. But hear me out! We've gotten so close to figuring this out!" Eltrys insisted. Rhiada looked ready to retort, but Yang leaned in and cut them off while raising her finger.
"Actually, Thonar confessed," Yang told him. "He said he's got Madanach in Cidhna Mine, and he's been forcing him to use the Forsworn for his own gain."
The other two investigators stared at Yang incredulously, their eyes widening as they absorbed the revelation. After a few moments, Blake narrowed her eyes.
"So, Nepos was getting his orders from his king?" Blake asked. When Yang grimly nodded, Blake added, "That's…probably worse than if it was a fake of some sort. This whole time, it's just been a corruption of business disguised as a rebellion."
"Yeah, I think it's actually going back to its roots, though," Yang told her. "Thonar's wife got assassinated by a Forsworn agent when I was questioning him. Also, Eltrys," she said while turning towards the Reachman, "why didn't you warn us that your wife worked at the Treasury House?"
"I honestly thought she'd be home at this hour," he admitted.
"I had to stay late to finish some documents. Wait," Rhiada paused before looking at Yang with suspicion, "how did you know about us just by looking at me once?" she directed to Yang.
"You smell alike," Yang offered. Before they could question that further, they heard a grunt and turned to see that the man who had been knocked against the statue of Talos was still conscious, if battered.
"Damn you," he grunted out. "Our fellows know we came down here for this cleanup job. The rest of the guard are gonna come looking…when we don't report in. You can't fight off all of Markarth."
"We'll see about that. Blake?"
"Sleeping potion?"
"Sleeping potion."
The Faunus reached into her pack and pulled out a vial of clear liquid that she tossed to her partner. Yang uncorked it and splashed some into the man's face. He sputtered a moment, then immediately went quiet as he fell into a deep slumber.
"Much better," the blonde said while handing the potion's remains back. "Okay, assuming he wasn't lying to throw us off, we should probably skip town for a while. Maybe head to the legion outpost."
"Why would the legion believe us?" Eltrys asked. "Until we find proof, it's our word against the whole city guard and the richest, most influential family in the Reach."
"Blake and I got some pull with them," Yang explained. "We worked with the legate on a case involving a cannibal cult just a few days ago, in fact."
"I thought that was a rumor," Rhiada said. "Is that why Lisbet and Hogni disappeared?"
"Yeah, they thought they were getting ready for a meal, got some steel instead."
"Glad we never bought from that man," Eltrys muttered. "Well, if you two think it's safe, I trust you. You haven't led me astray yet."
Rhiada nodded in agreement with her husband, gently placing her hand over her bulging stomach as well. Blake and Yang looked at each other for a moment, then back towards the married couple and smiled warmly while nodding.
"All right, let's go," Yang said, leading the group out of the shrine and the divide it was in, only to pause when they saw a mass of green uniforms not too far away as well as a squad already heading up the stairs.
"Shit!" she muttered while pushing everyone back. "They're almost here already."
"What do we do?" Rhiada fearfully asked.
"I'm thinking…" Yang replied, looking around to find an escape route. While she was certain Blake and her could easily fight their way through the guards without much issue, Eltrys and Rhiada were an entirely different story. Neither of them were combatants, and if they were to get into a confrontation a single strike getting through in the chaos could endanger the soon-to-be parents or even just their unborn child. They had to get them out of there as fast and safely as possible, the only question was how.
"I can distract them," Blake offered. "I'll get them to chase me and then come back around."
"No, I'll do it," Yang argued as she poked her head out from behind a corner, looking at the approaching guards. "You gotta sneak these two out. I'm not built for that."
"Yang, you'll get caught," Blake warned her.
"They might catch up, but they can't hold me down," the blonde insisted. "Come on, you know me. And you two saw what happened back there."
"I still have questions about that in fact," Eltrys mentioned.
"Blake will tell you after you get out of here. I'll lead them towards Understone Keep then hop the wall. Head towards the gate."
"Just be careful, Yang," Blake implored her.
"Hey, don't worry. I'll be back with you soon." With that, she ran out of the crag and lit up two fireballs in her hands, throwing one just above the heads of the men climbing the stairs.
"Here I am!" she announced before throwing the other one. "Come and get me, little piggies!" she quickly summoned two more and used them to leap from the ledge and land on a nearby roof.
"There she is! After her!" one of the guards yelled before going back down the stairs.
"Don't let her get away!"
"What'd she call us pigs for? We're Nords, not Orcs!"
When the area cleared, Blake looked out to double-check and saw that Yang had thrown a few more fireballs further away to keep their attention, each one hitting nonflammable areas like purely stone structures or even the water channels, releasing gouts of obscuring steam. Any civilians in the area scattered as well, both from the guards ushering them away as well as Yang herself. While she was more than happy to bust the heads of corrupt guardsmen, she wasn't about to hurt any innocents.
"All right, let's go," Blake said to her charges before leading them out.
Yang, for her part, was actually somewhat enjoying the chase, resisting the urge to loose a mocking howl, but she soon ran out of roofs to leap across and had to run along the streets. Unfortunately, this meant she could run into people, such as guards who had the misfortune of breaking off at some point. The first one didn't know what hit him. The second saw her coming but couldn't do anything about it. The third ran scared for his fellows. Unfortunately for Yang, she had gotten caught up in the small reversal of the chase and kept after him, not stopping until she realized she had come face to face with a squad of six men.
'Crap,' she thought as she charged at them. 'Well, time to bruise some egos and break some bones.'
Her fist met a wooden shield and shattered it, sending the man stumbling back and clutching his shaken arm. She then turned and punched someone's face just hard enough to coldcock him, sending him to the ground in a spin. The third flew back and landed flat on his back, while the fourth and fifth had their helmeted heads smashed together, helms ringing as they fell. As Yang decided to replicate a wrestling move she recalled from some movie, another squad appeared and paused at the sight of their beaten comrades.
"You guys want some?" she called out while finishing the light piledriver, dropping the man as she stood back up. "I've got enough for all of ya!"
Another squad then showed up from another street, shuffling out and taking position to surround the Huntress.
"All right, feeling a little excessive here, but I can take it!"
Several archers showed up on a street from a level above, all taking aim at the woman below them.
"Now that's just mean!"
Luckily, there hadn't been any guards at the gate, seemingly every guardsman in the city being drawn to the living fracas known as Yang Xiao Long. This let Blake sneak the Reachfolk couple out with no trouble (though she kept a Muffle over them just to be safe), and they ran out to safety. When they were past the last guard tower, they finally allowed themselves to slow their pace. Blake looked back at the city, trying to find any sign of yellow coming their way. When she saw nothing of the sort, her lips tightened with worry.
"Hey," Eltrys got out as he caught his breath. "Where to?"
"Wait here," Blake told him. "If I'm not back in an hour, head south. Past a large bridge going over the river, the legion's camp will be to the east, if it's still there. If not, they'll be closer. Just tell them Shadowkiller sent you."
"Is that what they call you?"
Blake nodded with a sigh. "I didn't pick it. It shouldn't be a problem, anyway. I'll be right back with Yang, so don't worry. Just keep it in mind."
"I will. Be swift."
"Always." With that, Blake sped off, leaning forward and pushing herself as fast as she could go.
"Gods!" Rhiada exclaimed.
"When I said be swift, I wasn't expecting her to take off like an eagle," Eltrys mumbled.
Yang was huffing. It wasn't that beating the guards of Markarth down was tiring, it was just that there were so many of them to beat down that it became almost a chore. What's more, they seemed to realize she was purposefully trying to not kill them, which only emboldened them to try harder, and Yang wasn't willing to switch that up to try for different results. She was more than willing to knock them all out, but even if she was proven to be in the right at the end of the day, she didn't want their blood on her hands. Yes, a lot of them were dirty, if not all of them, but that didn't mean all of them deserved death. And like that one guy out of the first three reminded her, these were men and women who likely had families to go home to.
Still, between her lightly labored breaths and the fact that some of the first ones she had beaten down were starting to painfully get to their feet, she knew that this had run its course. She'd given the others more than enough time to get out of the city by now. The werewolf quickly looked around and spotted the nearest wall. A few well-placed leaps and she could be over it and running back to the east.
"All right, guys, it's been fun, but I've gotta go," she said to them while heading that way. Another squad of a dozen or so had come to help their fellows, but as they came from the opposite of Yang's goal, she just continued to run. "Make sure to demand extra from your bosses for this!"
"Don't let her escape!"
Yang grinned as she approached her exit, but a man leaped out from an alley and brought a mace down on her head.
"Ow, shit!" she yelped as she rubbed her hair. The man backed up and looked at her in horrified surprise.
"What in Oblivion are you?!"
"Right now, I'm pissed off!" She came at him and jabbed his stomach, making him double over, then pulled off his helmet, flipped it around, and smacked him on the back of the head, knocking him to the ground.
"You…bitch," he grunted out.
"You started it," she pointed out before dropping the helm on him.
Turning around, she saw that some of the guards had caught up with her. Yang was weighing her options of just escaping now or beating them all up first when a green orb came flying at her. She raised her arms and braced herself to tank whatever it was, but the spell seemed to splash and then swirl around her before sinking in. Yang blinked, then let her stance relax as the anger and frustration that had been building within and fueling her throughout this whole sordid business simply drained away, along with all of her worries. It just didn't seem worth getting worked up over anymore, she felt...languid. Peaceful.
The guardsmen surrounded her, looking up to where the spell had come from, and she followed their gazes.
"What are you doing here, wizard?" one of them yelled up at the robed Altmer that had joined their battle. "We had this handled!"
"The Jarl's orders," Aicantar answered. "Also, handled? I saw two scores of men and women laid out over there, all wearing the guard uniform."
"Don't talk down on us!" the guard shot back. "We'll handle this without your fancy magics," he continued while approaching Yang with a sword raised.
"Don't hit her, you idiot!" The mage sent out a bolt of lightning, striking the area between Yang and the man, stopping him. Yang just looked at the scorched spot, pondering over how magical lightning worked. "I used a Calm spell on her!"
"Is that why I feel so chill right now?" Yang's thoughts had flowed to the need to defend herself a few times, but it was hard to think about fighting right now. It didn't seem worth the effort, even though it really should.
'Whatever. No one's attacking right now. Maybe I should go?'
"It will only last a minute, so get her restrained and down to the prison before the spell fades and she starts thrashing you all again like a bear slaughtering a family of rabbits. The best restraints you have!"
The guard scoffed, but beckoned one of his fellows to hand him a special looking set of cuffs and went over to Yang with them, snapping the shackles closed around her wrists. Yang frowned a bit at the uncomfortable feeling, but she was then distracted with trying to figure out what the enchantment on them was.
"You're going to rot in prison," he promised her. "No one escapes Cidhna Mine!"
Blake watched from the shadows of a rooftop as the guards pulled Yang away. She wanted so badly to rush in, stop them, and save her, but she had seen the spell Aicantar used. She was experienced in Illusion magic, and recognized the Calm spell right off the bat, but she wasn't sure if she could resist it any better than Yang.
You could easily defeat them all.
Blake shook her head violently, one hand scraping nails against the stones of the wall before gripping Gambol Union's hilt tightly. She ground her teeth together as she continued to watch Yang being hauled off, the blonde seemingly coming back to her senses as she looked around and started pulling against her bonds.
"Stop struggling!" a guardswoman demanded. "Those things are enchanted to block a master wizard's magic and could drain a Giant's strength to a five-year-old's. Now get moving!"
Blake tore her gaze away and let out a ragged sigh. Part of her was screaming at herself for not helping her partner, but she knew that she couldn't risk it, and Yang wouldn't thank her for carving through half the city guard just to reach her. The only thing she could do right now was continue their plan. Once Legate Emmanuel Admand was informed, he could put everything right. While he might not have been the most powerful figure, there was no real way the Silver-Bloods could block his attempts to see their prison. And even if they did, it was only a matter of time before General Tulius would get personally involved. Something with the chance of slowing or even stopping Forsworn raids against them was too much to pass up.
Despite her reasoning, part of her still felt immense guilt at leaving Yang to be imprisoned. It twisted in her, making her feel sick to the point of nearly throwing up.
'I'll get you out of there,' she quietly promised before running back to rejoin Eltrys and Rhiada. 'No matter what.'
31st of Evening Star