Chapter 24: Honesty is Key

Mahrig

The desire to burn this man to a crisp soon embellished the palms of my hands as a small, yet heated flame ignited from the depths and manifested onto the now screaming man's face.

"You wench!" He screamed as he stumbled backwards. The other two men started forward, their gazes now set in anger instead of a mocking manner.

"Wrong move whore…" The tallest sneered as he unsheathed his sword and cast a lesser ward to deflect my flames. I cursed under my breath and narrowly dodged a swing from the man who charged me from the other side. The brute that had forced a kiss on me was now dancing around with the fresh new burns that would scar his already rugged features. The sensitive skin would prove to keep him distracted for a bit longer. In the meantime I had needed to devise a plan, and quickly to ensure that I wouldn't become a corpse that some random rider would discover on the side of the road.

Arlow had spooked further away as the flames had erupted from my palms. Arlow had never been one to like fire, not many animals did and the sudden burst of flame out of nowhere had caused him to spook. I didn't have my bag's so the scrolls and potions it contained would be no help either way. My mind had become a bit hectic in the rush to assemble a plan, and a new taste entered my mouth as something made contact with my face. The blunt force was flesh on flesh. I had dodged the swinging sword, but kept myself open to the back swing the charging man had prepared with his fist. His imperial armor became a haze in my disoriented vision. The torches that had been carried by the men now lay on the ground as their full focus was on me.

I felt a rough hand grab my shoulder and turn me to face the owner as another hit made contact with my face. The Stinging pain in my nose momentarily blinded me but instead of panic, all I could feel was rage surfacing. I needed to stay calm, it didn't matter how helpless the situation seemed. A clear head would prove more useful than fear or rage. Another blow sent me to the ground with a crack I was sure would prove painful in just a few moments. My mind raced as an onslaught of kicks met with my ribs through a thin leather cuirass.

The hoof beats charged forward like the rushing blood I could now hear in my ears. I saw Arlow's light hide out of the corner of my eye buck into the brawl sending the spell sword into the air and catching the attention of the man who kept using me as a practice dummy. More hoof beats became apparent. The men's horses were now joining in on the brawl. I knew I was slightly delirious, but now I was convinced I had lost grip of reality. I had never seen animals act so rashly, especially the horses that belonged to these men. I might have expected it from Arlow, but the other horses completely astonished my conscious mind that seemed to want nothing more than to slip into the fog that was now enveloping the area.

A hand grabbed me from the fog. At first I was startled, but a familiar voice chimed low through the ruckus that unfolded around us.

"I can't let you out of my sight for more than five minutes can I?" Theo said with a more serious tone rather than a joking one. Before I realized it I was in his arms and we were making our escape. I could hear the wild noises behind us growing more distant.

"I thought-"

"Shhh!" Theo abruptly cut me off and continued snaking through the forest. His stamina was surprising, and the endurance it must have taken him to carry me was more than likely built from the numerous dragon fights we had been through together. That wasn't saying that he hadn't been in good shape before, it was just that he was noticeably stronger than when we had first met. It must have been the girl in my slipping conscience or maybe the fatigue, or it might have even been the bruising that was no doubt forming on my face, but the heat that rose to my cheeks felt like a blush, which made me retreat further into my oncoming slumber.

Gareth

I sat on my bedroll waiting anxiously. Krahmer was still asleep and I could hear the low almost muffled snores concealed only by the fur blanket that he was now wrapped in. The sounds of the Falkreath forest at night were almost serene, but it did nothing the quell the fears that rose with each passing moment as I watched the two moons slip closer and closer to the cover of the trees, and watched as the eastern part of the sky began to lighten. Theo and Mahrig had been gone for nearly the whole night. It was possible they had decided to stay in Falkreath because of the dangerous bandit ridden roads, but the thought of bandits only made my stomach clench more.

I had kept the campfire going all night. I had even fought against the pain in my back to bust more wood for the fire. I had stayed up stoking the fire and making sure that Mahrig and Theo would see it on their return, but they had never returned. It was only after the first few rays of sun broke through that trees that Arlow arrived. His saddle was skewed and a few of the bags looked as if they had been ripped, and his front haunches had a few cuts, cuts clearly made from a sword that had narrowly grazed him.

Panic flushed my already aching body, causing me to wince as I jumped to my feet.

"Krahmer, get up!" I yelled as I made my way to Arlow to search him for clues. Arlow's demeanor seemed unnaturally calm, and his eyes did not hold the fear that I expected to see. He didn't look like a horse that had just escaped a scuffle unscathed, rather he looked like he was under some sort of spell, or had been.

Krahmer walked up beside me and looked over Arlow.

"I take it by the sheer look of panic and the state of your horse that Theo and Mahrig didn't return with him." He looked around as to end his statement with confirmation.

"No they didn't, and it looks like Arlow's been through some kind of struggle." I wiped my brow, and searched through the sacks, hoping to find some sort of clue. Everything seemed to be in place, and even a few extra things lined the fur and leather bags that Mahrig had packed. Krahmer inhaled and spoke.

"It's possible it could have been bandits looking for an easy hit, maybe that's why the horse is all sliced up. They might have been trying to loot him. It doesn't explain though this Aura around him." I looked at him questioningly.

"What do you mean Aura?" I closed my vision off to the world around Arlow, only allowing me to take in the horse. At first I didn't recognize anything out of the ordinary, but a small bit of something began fogging my vision. It was fog. A foggy Aura surrounded Arlow as my eyes adjusted to his energy. It was rather calming to even look at.

I snapped out of the daze the fog seemed to want to drag me into and turned toward Krahmer.

"Any idea who or what could have done this" Krahmer's serious look softened as he spoke.

"Your druid friend could have for one." Krahmer pointed out. I lightly shook my head.

"Theo isn't very good with animals, he said so himself that his strength is greatest with the nature around us, not the life that nature sustains." Krahmer nodded.

"Alright, but that doesn't mean that a dire situation didn't arise that could have caused him to have no other choice." I shrugged accepting Krahmer's explanation. I turned around and started packing everything hastefully.

"We need to-"

"No need, here we are." I heard Mahrig's voice slice through the underlying panic that had set in. I spun around almost knocking myself off balance as I caught sight of Mahrig's bloodied collar, and the slight bruising on her face that had already began to heal.

I rushed over and grabbed her by the shoulders causing her to wince at something I had accidently touched.

"What happened?!" I asked as I looked her over. There was dirt in her ashen hair, and smudges of mud on her forehead and attire. The bruises that colored her face were darkest around her right eye, and only darkened the shadows that played around her nose. Theo was a few feet back with his gaze fixed on the ground. When he looked up, I caught a glimpse of something, and then there was only a saddened look that he tried to hide by clearing his throat and speaking.

"Brought her back safe and sound Pally." Theo started to make a step but I stopped him.

"Safe? You call this safe? What happened out there?!" I was relieved, but at the same time angry, because Mahrig would never come to this sort of harm under my own protection.

Mahrig's hand found my chest as she smiled up at me.

"I'm fine Gareth. If Theo hadn't shown up it could have been worse." Her words caught me off guard.

"What do you mean 'shown up', He wasn't with you the whole time?" I asked. Mahrig shifted her gaze to her hand that she slowly moved up to my shoulder and began to make a patting motion.

"It's fine really. Don't get worked up over nothing." She smiled up at me, beaming her best grin. A grin that was clearly begging me not to tear into Theo like I wanted to in that moment.

"At Least tell me what happened." I sighed relaxing my shoulders.

"You look as if you tumbled off the mountain at High Hrothgar, and Arlow looks like he charged through an army barricade." I glanced toward Theo who seemed as if he had been untouched. My brow furrowed. Theo had clearly not been in the scuffle Mahrig and Arlow had witnessed. Mahrig frantically shook her head and walked over to arlow grabbing her bags. She untied two of them, and tossed one to Theo, who began taking items out.

"The bags seem fine, no one looted them." Mahrig stated.

"So it was bandits that attacked you?" Krahmer piped in finally after only observing. Mahrig shrugged and plopped down onto my messy excuse for a bedroll. She rubbed her temples and looked back toward Krahmer.

"Honestly I don't think so. They were dressed like Imperial soldiers. They could have been looters, that's possible." She sighed and glanced over to Theo, who was now mashing something in his mortar.

Mahrig immediately launched herself into the events of the previous night. Theo chimed in a few times about cut throat prices at the local alchemist shop, and even snorted as Mahrig blushed through her retelling of Theo's flirtations with a barmaid that lead to her one party trip back to camp. I had immediately placed the man she described in my memory as the man that had attempted to convince me to sell the helpless Mahrig I had first brought to Riverwood. He hadn't seemed like a brigand at the time. Definitely a shady character, but I had remembered seeing a few Imperials in the inn that night. It was possible that him and his party could have been in their civilian clothes. It wasn't unheard of for soldiers to boast their positions and misuse their powers, especially on unsuspecting women who traveled the roads alone at night. My brow only furrowed as Mahrig continued weaving her recollection of events.

"You must have left Falkreath extremely late, why not just stay the night there?" Krahmer asked.

"Actually…" Mahrig started.

"I did leave early, but after the scuffle happened and Theo showed up, I kinda lost track of time." A bright blush crossed Mahrig's face as she glanced at Theo, Who was now bottling a concoction he had made with Mahrig's Alembic.

Krahmer's eyebrows slightly raised as mine only furrowed more.

"Why didn't you bring her back here immediately?" I barked, catching Theo's attention. Theo only raised his hooded eyes to me momentarily before returning his attention back on the bottle and put a cork in.

"She needed immediate medical attention, and an hour hike didn't seem all that enticing while carrying her." His eyes darted up toward Mahrig and he momentarily blushed.

"Not that you are heavy or anything, because you aren't. It's just that I needed to rouse her enough so that she could help me with a little of her restoration." Theo chunked the bottle my direction. I caught it, not even wincing at the pain that flitted through my back.

"I made a makeshift camp, and let her rest for a few hours, I even went back and found your horse for you. So lighten up." Theo exclaimed.

"You shouldn't have let her travel alone in the first place. If you would think a little more with your head and a little less with your manhood she wouldn't have been put into that situation in the first place." I felt the heat in my face, and watched as a frown slightly carved Theo's lips. His features darkened as he snorted.

"I'd say the situation you put Mahrig in with your manhood was a little more extreme. At Least I saved her before anything too traumatizing could happen." Theo barked back in reply.

I froze in utter shock. Had he meant the night Mahrig had been abducted? I glanced toward Mahrig quickly who was now as red as the apple Krahmer had halted and let hover by his lips as he listened.

"That was…." I trailed off, not knowing what to say. How much of that night did Theo know about, how did he know about it? Mahrig's uncomfortable demeanor only increased as she started to fidget with my disheveled covers and her stare fixated on the fire.

"Please don't fight." She whispered.

"Everything is alright. Anything that was hurt was put right again. I can't help pride though…" She glanced toward me and then to Theo.

"Can we please not fight?" She begged. I could see the tears begin welling at the corners of her eyes. My heated argument I was preparing in the back of my mind ceased at the sight of her. Whatever Theo had said had bothered her. Something about me, bothered her.

Mahrig

It had been a very long night. The healing, the conversation I had held with Theo, the things that had happened between us. It was all too much for my mind to bare at the moment, but I couldn't just push these things to the back. After everything had quieted, and Gareth had fallen asleep I sat back against a log I had propped against after letting Gareth have his bedroll. Theo decided to hunt, and Krahmer offered to go do some fishing. Something I had learned that he enjoyed to do in his passing of time. Gareth had taken the potion that Theo had made him, and was for the moment, pain free. Enough for him to attempt to get his strength back. Thankfully the sun had moved far enough through the trees to give us a break from the direct sun. My mind wandered back to the previous night, trying to sort through all of the details.

"Why did you leave Falkreath? I mean I'm glad you did, but how did you know I would be in danger?" I asked Theo as he carefully examined my ribs, trying not to cause me any discomfort. Theo chuckled and replied.

"Well, after you left I noticed the change in the air. All of a sudden there weren't as many drunkards as there had been before, and I watched as the men left, chiding about the beautiful little piece that walked out the door." He motioned toward me. I blushed at his insinuation, probably embarrassed by my recent assessment of the changes in Theo, and his current words, although not his own they still came from him. I was used to Theo complimenting me, but I had never seen Theo as a potential suitor, was I now? I blushed even more. The thought was ludicrous, I must have hit my head pretty hard on the ground, or someone had beat my head so harshly that I could not think clearly.

"I ruined your plans for the evening with the bar girl. I'm sorry." Theo shrugged.

"You could always make up for it by taking your cuirass and robe off." He winked. I stared at him wide eyed and shocked, he had never been so forthright with me, even jokingly.

"I'm not that type-" Theo cut me off with a wave.

"Don't get your undergarments in a bunch, I'm only teasing. I do need to check your ribs though, and it's gonna be kinda hard with all this in the way." He motioned to my torso which was still fully clothed and held the leather cuirass.

"Oh, right." I blushed. I grabbed the strings at the bottom and began loosening them. Theo chuckled and moved my hands.

"At this rate, that Paladin of yours will have organized a search party. I'm quicker." He hastily untied the cuirass, dropping it to my side once he was done. I halted his hand as he reached for my robe.

" I'll do this." I said with a sideways glance gaining me a smirk back in reply. I pulled the robe back, realizing I had neglected to put any clothes on underneath because my retrieval from that hellish sanctuary had just occurred recently and I hadn't had time to go through my things. I blushed, pulling the robe back to.

"I only have a lower undergarment on." I looked shyly away from Theo. The blood pumping through my veins at the sheer embarrassment caused a small thrum of pain in my ribs.

"I won't look at anything that isn't hurting." He gave me a soft smile.

"I promise." he put his hand over his heart and bowed his head, mimicking the action he had seen Gareth exchange with me on multiple occasions. I snorted and playfully pushed him away, causing myself to wince.

"Just don't be a perv, I'm not used to people seeing me like this." I peeled back the robe away from my right side, covering my breast with my hand.

"Ah, it will be my honor to be the first to gaze upon you, and do it without being a pervert." He chuckled again. He began prodding my ribs slightly, pressing in places that made me want to scream, but did it so lightly that I could handle it.

"Uh, yea sure." I replied, trying not to give away that my mind had raced back to the way that Gareth had gazed down at my body, not with lust, not as a pervert, but with love. The thought alone hurt me more than the constant prodding that Theo continued. I blushed even further. The situation flustered me. Remembering how one moment Gareth had been ready to give me what I yearned for, and the next he had turned as cold as an Ice Wraith's bite.

"Hurts that bad huh?" Theo looked into my teary eyes.

"Uh, yea I guess it does." I replied, wiping the tear that tried to escape my left eye.

"That Paladin is a damn lucky man Mahrig, and so are you. The rib is only cracked, it's not out of place or puncturing a lung." Theo sighed and searched in his small pouch. He pulled out a small vial of a bright red liquid.

"I was saving this for one of our notorious dragon hunts, but it looks like you will be needing it." He tilted my head back and put the vial to my mouth. The strong bitter taste of wheat mixed with some other flavors introduced itself to my taste buds and warmed a path down my throat. I felt the effects immediately in my rib.

" A small bit of a grand healing potion I bought the last time we passed by a temple. I've learned to keep them around since fighting dragons introduced itself into my routine."

"You aren't usually the type to visit temples…" I trailed off.

"Yea, well looking for you called for drastic measures, and Krahmer seems to be a regular in those places. Even more so than Gareth." He replied. My mind lingered back toward Gareth and Theo's earlier comment.

"A lucky Paladin you said?" I asked teasingly. Theo snickered and wiped his hands on a damp cloth, and then wiped the vial placing it back into his pouch.

"Yea, he's a lucky man to have your attention Mahrig." I smiled slightly at his words, but a little part of me hurt with them as well.

"I'm not so sure he wants me honestly." Theo quirked an eyebrow as if he didn't believe or was surprised by what I said.

"I seriously doubt that Mahrig, the way he looks at you speaks volumes. He also spent months trying to find you, lets not forget that." Theo became more serious.

"And if we are being honest you feel the same way about him." Theo shrugged as I looked at him eyes wide.

"It's alright. I've come to accept it. Haven't you noticed my attempt to woo everyone but you?" My mind went back to the barmaid, and the sad look Theo had given me before I exited the tavern.

"Yes, but… Gareth doesn't want me, or can't have me the way he might want. I know this now." My shoulders slumped as the warm feeling the potion had recently given me disappeared as the potion reached its limits.

"Why, because he's a Paladin?" Theo asked.

"No, because ultimately, I was rejected." It was Theo's turn to become wide eyed.

"So, that's why your scent was all over the Paladin. Not just your usual scent, but your musk." I felt the heat return to my face.

"What does that even mean Theo?" Theo shook the surprise and answered.

"Was it the night you were abducted?" I nodded my head at his question.

"Things became a little heated, but before they could unfold he just pulled away from me, after I…" My words trailed off.

"I told him something without meaning to say it. It was out of context and not how I wanted him to find out." Theo nodded slowly as I spoke.

"You told him you loved him didn't you?" I nodded toward him and let my shoulders slump even more.

"He took off into the storm. I tried to go after him, but you know the rest." Theo nodded and sighed.

"So, the Paladin ran away from the chance of a lifetime." Theo said almost sadly.

"I thought for sure if the opportunity arose for him that he would take it without a second thought." Theo continued.

"It's clear the man loves you too, but maybe it's his lifestyle that has him in doubt, or maybe he's afraid the God's will spurn him for giving into his desires." Theo scooted closer and took my hand.

"May I try something?" Theo asked, looking at me with complete seriousness.

" I suppose you can, as long as it doesn't involve getting naked." I teased through my defeated mood.

Without hesitation Theo leaned in a placed a soft kiss that lingered for a few moments on my lips. The heat rose in my face once more. I pulled back slightly after the initial shock and looked into his hidden expression.

"Theo…" I couldn't find words for what just happened. Sure, I liked Theo, and he was nice looking. No, he himself was good looking, he was rugged, but in a well groomed woodsman sort of way. It wasn't that I wasn't attracted to him, because I was at some point in time, and even now I noticed the way the heat swam through my cheeks to light my features up. However, he wasn't Gareth.

"You don't have to say anything at all. I know you love Gareth, and I hate having to be the one to tell you he loves you, because he should be the one to tell you those things. I know you will choose him every time, and I don't intend to try and sway your decisions, but I'll never forgive myself if I don't say this." He wiped at something invisible on his brow and softly whispered words that hurt me in more than one way.

"I love you as well Mahrig."