The walk to Markarth took much of the day with their packs loaded as they were. They tried to move as quietly as possible so that if something hostile were on the path they would hopefully see it first. As it would turn out, the road that day was sparsely traveled; only a few Imperial patrols and an occasional traveler. The few people they encountered did look at them as if they were unsure what the trio were, given that they were wearing armor that hadn't been seen in the empire since the great war. Loki was thankful as Markarth came into view that they had not run into any Thalmor patrols, that would have certainly been a hostile meeting given the history between the Thalmor and the Blades. He also thanked the nine that his new armor was so lightweight and flexible; he could only imagine doing that march in heavy armor with his pack.
Crossing the bridge over the river in front of Markarth, Loki noted a campsite on the open area off to the right. He wondered to himself if it could be what he hoped it was. Then, as they got close enough to make out the occupants of the camp, he realized it was! Standing before him were completely real, man-sized cats walking upright.
"Holy shit! They're real! Actual Khajiit!"
"Yeah they're real. Sneaky, thieving bastards." Hadvar did not seem to like the feline gypsies much.
"I have got to get a closer look. Are you coming or would you two rather go hire the carriage and have him come down here to get me?"
"You aren't going into Markarth? The day is almost over, we won't be able to leave for Whiterun until the morning." Ralof had a concerned look on his face about Loki's suggestion.
"Ralof, I know this will probably be a bit hard to understand my reasoning, but you have to remember that I am the Dragonborn and there is a destiny in this land that certain events are tied to my arrival and actions. Stepping into that city will set off a chain of events which I do not have the time nor the training yet to deal with. Please trust me on this, I can't go in there yet; it could cost lives if I do."
"I have to admit, it does sound a bit unbelievable to me; but so many unbelievable things have happened since I met you that I'm inclined to take your word for it. That still leaves the question: where are we going to stay tonight?"
"Let me see what I can come up with." Loki cracked a grin as if he were coming up with a crazy plan.
The Nords decided to go hire the carriage so that it was on retainer for the next morning and then come back to meet Loki among the Khajiit camp. There must have been between forty to sixty of them, not counting the cubs he saw frolicking and playing on the edge of the campsite by the water. Watching their mannerisms, it seemed as if they could act as men or animals as easily as the other; one moment running around upright like boys and girls and the next on all fours pouncing and playing like kittens. Various tents were set up as shops with wares on display while others were obviously the living tents. Some Khajiit were selling wares, some were running various games or gambling, while a few offered fortunes and prophecies. It reminded Loki of the European gypsy carnivals he had read about as a child and seen in some old movies, just with cats instead of people.
There was a large tent set up in the center of the camp. In the doorway of the tent was a mat with an older Khajiit with gray and white tabby fur and a long gray mane. He raised his eyes and looked at Loki, then said "Far we have traveled to bring you these fine wares, come and see what we offer. You look as if you have never seen Khajiit before friend."
"You are correct my friend, I am not from Tamriel and this is my first time meeting your kind, though I have heard much about you. I am honored to meet you, I am Loki of Asgard." Loki gave a slight bow to the Khajiit who was obviously one of importance in this caravan.
The elderly Khajiit bowed his head in return and then replied "You have heard much about us and you are still honored to meet us. You must not have heard of us from these Nords of the north, for they think of us as thieves and vermin. It is a pleasure to meet someone who does not treat us with such prejudice and discrimination. I am Ri'saad, the elder of this caravan and of the other caravan elders. Ma'dran and Akhari are the elders of the other caravans, both are sworn to me."
"Ri'saad?! You also trade at Whiterun, do you not?"
"Yes, Whiterun is part of this one's circuit. We leave for Whiterun tomorrow in fact. Like all the walled cities, they do not allow us inside the city, so we must set up camp and let those with open minds and open coin purses come to us. This one cannot truly complain, many do come out to trade with us."
"I am glad to hear that. Might I ask if my friends and I might tag along with your caravan tomorrow on the trip to Whiterun. In Forsworn country it is better to travel in large groups, and we can offer ourselves to help protect the caravan in case of attack."
"Before I answer your request, why are you heading to Whiterun, and why did you just come from that direction only to turn around and go back. I saw you as you were coming over the bridge on the road from Whiterun."
"You are correct, I did just come from that direction. We were at the temple of the Blades on the Karthspire and it was shorter to come here to hire a carriage than to hike it on foot all the way to Whiterun. We are headed to Whiterun to see the Jarl about the dragons returning to Skyrim."
"There is a Forsworn camp at the Karthspire, this one knows nothing of a temple there. You wouldn't be trying to set us up for an ambush would you?"
"That would be pointless since I am not asking you to let me lead the procession nor am I choosing the route. Besides, we had to sneak in and out of the temple past them ourselves. One day I hope to make a truce with them, else I will have to remove them from the path to the temple, but that day has not yet come."
"I have lived for many years young man, and I have known those who wear the armor like your friends. You say it is the temple of the Blades, and your armor matches your words, but the Blades have not been seen since the Great War with the Thalmor. How is it that you come by this armor, and claim to be a Blade? You are not old enough to have even been born when they were eradicated by the Aldmeri Dominion."
"You are correct again, sir. My companions and I went to the temple and are reforming the Blades, not only to fight the dragons that threaten Skyrim; but also to fight for the people of Skyrim against those who would oppress them. Thalmor are very high on that list, my friend. I thought it only fitting to reform their mortal enemies." Loki noticed Ri'saad's ears perk up at this statement, and remembered that Ri'saad despised the Thalmor and anyone who would work with them.
"If you wish to take on the Thalmor, you will need more than three."
"We have only just begun. Recruiting is the next step. Perhaps you can help us get the word out, but be careful of Thalmor spies."
"This one will be glad to help in such a noble undertaking. Please, friend, enjoy our hospitality tonight, and join us tomorrow for the journey to Whiterun. You may camp among us tonight if you wish. And please, do not forget to shop with us. We have goods and wares of all kinds, and fair prices."
"I am most honored my friend. I thank you, and I will definitely continue shopping." Loki smiled and bowed to Ri'saad. "I will not take up anymore of your time this evening, I am sure you have your caravan to tend to."
"We will talk again soon, you intrigue me Loki of Asgard. This one looks forward to our next conversation."
"I do too my friend. I foresee a long and potentially profitable friendship for the two of us. Have a good evening Ri'saad" and with that Loki left Ri'saad's tent and continued browsing the wares of the shop tents.
When Ralof and Hadvar caught up with Loki they told him the carriage was arranged and would be waiting at the stable at dawn. Loki informed them that they had been invited to join the caravan to Whiterun and camp with them for the night.
"How in Oblivion did you pull that off?" Hadvar's jaw almost hit the cobblestones on the ground.
"I had a talk with Ri'saad, explained the situation, and he invited us along."
Hadvar looked at Ralof with an astonished expression on his face. "This guy could talk a daedra into a tea party. I swear!"
Ralof just laughed and they began to set up their tents for the night. After learning that Ri'saad had invited them personally, the Khajiit of the caravan treated the three as if they were family. One named Khayla even taught Loki several tricks to help him with his stealth tactics. Loki taught her the long lost Chameleon spell in return. By the end of the evening, they had made many friends among the Khajiit and were looking forward to the journey with them tomorrow. As Loki lay in his tent that night, he was pleased to have made an important friend and allies with the trading caravans throughout Skyrim. He also still could not believe he had actually met real cat people! He was afraid that the excitement would make for a restless night, but thankfully the soothing sounds of the water running through the river behind the camp put him to sleep quickly and made for a very restful sleep.
The next morning as Loki brewed his morning tea over the small campfire, he was very thankful he had found one of the Khajiit venders with a fresh supply. His own supply had been dwindling and he was becoming rather dependant on it for these early morning wake-ups. He watched in amazement as the campsite was torn down and loaded with such speed and precision of a well practiced group of gypsies. Everything had it's place and was stowed and secured and ready to travel in a matter of two hours.
The carriage came down to the camp and Loki, Hadvar, and Ralof loaded their gear and fell in near the rear of the caravan. They donned their armor in case of an attack by bandits or forsworn, but surely no one would attack a caravan this large…
The caravan headed out in the direction of Whiterun around 8:00 A.M. on the most beautiful Sundas morning they could have hoped for. When they made the turn at the intersection and the road dipped down by the stream below the Karthspire Loki looked up toward the peak to see if he could glimpse his temple, but the peak was shrouded in a fog. That must be part of the spell the seal uses to keep the place secure. Loki thought to himself. As they passed the bridge, something felt wrong, and he wasn't the only one who noticed it. Ralof and Hadvar stood up in the back of the carriage and began scanning the cliffs, and Loki noticed Ma'randru-jo and the other guards get suspicious as well. Then it hit him, there were no nature sounds, no birds, no animals at all. Something was lurking, and it had scared everything else away.
Just as they reached the incline that lead up to the shrine to Dibella and the bridge that crossed to Hroldan (He had discovered the game left out the fact there is a small town around that inn), they heard the war cries.
"FORSWORN!" hollered Ma'randru-jo. "Prepare to defend yourselves."
The Nords drew their weapons. Ralof was a bit anxious, this being the first time he would actually use his new dai-katana in combat. Hadvar had a standard katana and a Blade's shield. Loki had Dragonbane sheathed at his side, but decided to conjure a daedric bow to start off with a ranged defence, nocking an arrow and facing the cries of the attackers.
They came from across the stream for a flank attack and the Khajiit met them fiercely at the edge of the water. Fireballs and arrows were flying almost instantly, many others meeting in melee combat with swords, axes, and claws. Loki let arrows fly and took out several before he just happened to look around and saw another assault coming from the cliffs behind them. Archers began raining arrows on the caravan from the cliffs and the archers from the caravan returned fire. The mages had their hands full throwing spells in offence to their attackers and trying to heal the injured as quickly as possible to avoid losing their people. Loki was right in the midst of it all, scared out of his mind, but trying his best to remain calm and do everything he could to fight and help the Khajiit. Several arrows hit him square on, but were no match for the dragonscales of his armor, barely making a scratch
"Thank you Akatosh for whoever made this wonderful armor." Loki muttered under his breath as one arrow slammed directly into the center of his breastplate and fell to the ground. He picked it up and sent it right back at a Forsworn who was about to axe a Khajiit vender in the back.
Though it had only been minutes into the fighting, Loki felt like it had been hours or days. His magika pool was dwindling so he quickly downed a potion to restore it and continued launching arrows at every enemy he saw. Then what he saw next made time feel like it had come to a complete stop. His blood ran cold as he saw two fireballs coming down from the side of the mountain on the other side of the stream headed straight for a group of cubs who were huddled at the center of the defensive circle the Khajiit had formed. He would never be able to get to them in time to shield the children from the impact. He dropped the bow and it dispelled instantly. As the two balls of fire flew at the terrified cubs Loki desperately called a ward to both hands. He had no idea if what he was doing would work at this distance, but he had no choice but to try. Casting the ward with everything he had in him, it conjured above the now screaming kittens who were crouched to the ground and then it shattered as the fireballs impacted it and exploded.
Loki could barely bring himself to look as the fire dissipated from the air around the cubs, fearing the worst that he had failed to protect them; but to his own amazement, despite a bit of singed fur, they were unharmed. I can't believe that worked...Oh my god, I CAN'T believe that worked!
His relief was short lived though as he looked to the mountainside and saw who it was that had thrown the fireballs at the children. It had to be out of a nightmare, a really sick and twisted nightmare. It had the head of a corpse with a long nose, patches of long hair that led down to a long and twisted neck. It's bony arms covered in skin that looked like there was no meat underneath, just hanging on the bones, but with FEATHERS growing out of it. It's legs and feet looked like that of a dead bird, and it was solely focused on the young Khajiit cubs, making its way through the chaos looking intent on capturing them.
"HAGRAVEN!" Loki cried to warn the others. "She's after the cubs!"
By this point the Forsworn attackers had been cut by over half of the sixty or seventy they had started with, though the caravan had only lost about seven or eight with fifteen to twenty wounded. Ma'randru-jo was electrocuting every Reachman in sight and his guard detail was ravaging the attackers using tactics of combat fighting like a human as well as wild animal clawing and biting. Upon hearing there was a threat to the young, the female Khajiit of the caravan went into a primal mode of mother cats protecting their young and began ripping the reachmen to shreds. It was like a pride of lions against gladiators in the ancient Roman coliseums.
Loki ran to intercept the Hagraven, throwing fireballs and lightning as he closed the distance. He realized Hadvar and Ralof were at his sides covering his flanks and cutting down anyone who came at him to defend the Hag. They had done a lot of damage to the Forsworn who had tried to cross the stream, though their armor looked as though they had taken a hell of a beating, it had protected them and kept them in the fight.
The three got to the cubs just before the Hagraven and three Briarheart warriors attacked. Ralof and Hadvar each engaged one of the warriors, the third was behind the hag defending her from the rear. The Hagraven threw bolts of lightning at Loki, but he warded them and only felt a bit of a tingle from what got through as the ward shattered. Then the Hag lashed out with her claws, bringing them down full force across Loki's chest. The claws were no match for the dragonscales and not only did the claws shatter, but they ripped at the quick of the fingers. The Hag let out a screech that felt like it would burst the eardrums of everyone in the battle. As she pulled her injured hand back stunned and tried to heal it, she gave Loki the opening he needed. Using a technique called Battojutsu he had been practicing all week, Loki drew Dragonbane in one motion from the saya through the Hagraven's neck in a wide arch, giving the apparent leader of this attack a very anticlimactic death. As her body fell to the ground, the electrical currents from Dragonbane's enchantment caused it to twitch and spasm a lot.
Realizing the Hag was down, the Briarheart warrior defending the rear turned and squared off to Loki just as Ralof sliced his opponent in two from left shoulder to right hip with the massive blade of his dai-katana.
"I know your weakness!" Loki taunted as the warrior raised his sword in challenge. Loki raised his hand and, using his telekinesis, ripped the briarheart from the warriors chest. The warrior let out a cry of pain and fell to his knees and then facedown on the stones of the road.
Hadvar was the last to finish his opponent. As he raised his shield over his head to block a high downward swing, he sliced his katana through the warrior's leg, amputating it at the knee. The warrior fell on all four's and Hadvar brought his blade down on the back of his neck, beheading him rather smoothly.
Once the Hagraven and the Briarhearts fell, what was left of the Reachmen retreated back into the hills, though there were barely any left to run. Loki and his companions stood for a moment, assessing the scene. Many were injured, though only a few severely. Thanks to the fast response to healing by the mages and the ample supply of healing potions in the trading caravan, only nine were lost. The cubs were safe, though now Loki was wondering why all of this was done just to get them. He knew there were magical properties in things like elf ears and giant's toes to make potions, but was there something about the cubs the Hagraven wanted to harvest? He didn't have time to ponder that now. He asked Ralof and Hadvar if they were injured, but they responded that they were only worn out from the battle. Then he spied Ri'saad and ran to check on him.
Ri'saad had an arrow in his side and a gash on his shoulder, but it would be an easy fix for the healers. Loki left it to the more experienced mages since he was still not very good at healing without leaving scars. Then he looked around and asked, "Has anyone seen Khayla?"
"I'm right behind you." He heard a feline whisper say.
Loki saw a ripple in the air and then Khayla appeared.
"That chameleon spell you traded me was most helpful. I must have cut dozens of throats and they never knew I was there. It's a pity this spell was lost for so long." Khayla purred with a smile across her face.
After tending the wounded, preparing the dead and loading them into the carts, looting the bodies of the Forsworn, and getting everyone back in order, the caravan continued on. The rest of the journey was fairly uneventful, save only a couple of giant spiders on the side of the road that were killed quickly and harvested for their venom. The Khajiit left nothing behind that might bring them profit.
The battle set travel time back significantly, and the caravan arrived outside of Whiterun well after dark.
"Should we go in and get a room at the inn?" Ralof asked.
"I don't know about you," Hadvar replied, "but I'd feel a lot safer camping with the cats now."
"Damn, I thought you didn't like them much. I agree with you, though.
"Well, that was before I fought for my life alongside them. They definitely earned my respect today.
"I agree as well," Loki cut in. "We enter the city tomorrow morning, then the real fun begins. If you guys don't mind setting up the tent, I need to talk to Ri'saad before he retires for the night. Oh, and before I forget, pack away your Blades armor where it can't be seen. Nobody can know I'm reviving the Dragonguard yet. It might throw a crimp in the prophecy. We will see the Jarl in plain clothes tomorrow."
"No problem, tell him we said 'thank you' for the hospitality."Hadvar said.
"I will"
As Loki approached Ri'saad's tent he was ambushed from behind by six cubs who tackled him to the ground and proceeded to assault him with hugs.
"Thank you so much for saving us today." said one black and white female. She had one blue eye and one green eye Loki noticed as he saw her lean in and kiss him on the cheek.
"That was amazing how you took down that hag with one swipe of your sword!" exclaimed a tabby male as he swished his hand around like he was swinging a sword.
"...And then ripping out that guys heart with magic…" added another who was solid black with blue eyes.
The cubs were so adorable with their excitement Loki hated to part from them to go to see Ri'saad, and as luck would have it, he didn't have to. Hearing all the commotion, Ri'saad came out of the tent and then smiled at the cubs pouncing all over Loki.
"Let our guest up so that we may talk, young ones." he said gently. Ri'saad sat down Indian style in front of the tent and the cubs followed suite in a circle. Loki sat up and closed the circle, facing Ri'saad.
"My companions and I wanted to thank you for all your hospitality. We probably would not have made that journey by ourselves.
"It is this one who should be thanking you for fighting alongside of us, for seeing the threat and their true intent of capturing our cubs, and for putting your own lives between that Hagraven and our children. We are in your debt, Loki of Asgard."
"We merely did what we could. It's what we do, my Blades and I. Do you know why they wanted the cubs?"
"This one does not know, but would assume it wished to experiment on them."
"I am sorry for the losses your caravan suffered."
"The losses would have been much greater if not for you and your friends."
"I don't know. I think the Mamma Cats did a lot more damage than we did once they realized the cubs were the target."
Ri'saad smiled, "Never get between a mother and her cubs."
"I wanted to warn you, keep the caravan close to the city. There will be a dragon attack near the old watchtower soon. I don't want anyone getting too close and getting hurt."
"You know this for certain? A real dragon?"
"Yes, the scrolls have foretold it. That's why we came here, to face it."
"Then may the nine watch over you friend."
"I have a favor to ask."
"If it is within this one's power, you need only say it, friend."
"After I face this dragon, if you would in your travels, get the word out that the Dragonguard is recruiting as we discussed yesterday. I am going to ask the Jarl if he will assist with the garrisoning of recruits here in Whiterun until I can return them to Skyhaven Temple."
"It shall be done, I will inform the other caravans as well to spread the word. At least most of the Forsworn have been cleared from the entrance to your temple."
"You're right." Loki shook his head. "And I have you to thank for that."
Ri'saad just smiled, then all the cubs tackled Loki again with hugs before he returned to his tent.
Sleep came quickly after such a hard day.