As luck would have it the next three shrines were located in the north, deep in the heart of Winterhold. The priest paid no mind to the worsening conditions, the freezing wind, snow and ice that peppered his face. If anything that made him move faster, wanting to reach the next shrine as soon as possible so he could be one step closer to completing his Divine's will.
On the other hand, Lydia and M'rasha were not as enthusiastic as the priest. They were moving slower than the Nord, the cold and snow greatly impeding their movement. Before they reached Winterhold, M'rasha had bought them all the finest fur cloaks but even those were doing very little against Skyrim's harsh cold.
"Hurry up you two! I can see the shrine," Heimskr called out a few yards ahead of them. Lydia shook her head . She and turned to her companion and was shocked (or maybe she wasn't) to see M'rasha aiming a giant fireball at Heimskr's back. The Nord hit M'rasha causing the Betmer to throw the fireball into a tree and lighting it up for a few seconds before the wind and snow put it out. She gave M'rasha a stern looked which only got the Thane to grumble as she marched faster in the snow. Lydia could only sigh as she followed the other two through Skyrim's frozen tundra.
The final shrine in the area was out in the open which would had been no problem expert they were at the shore of the Ghost Sea. Visibility fell to an all time low and the cold was now even affecting Heimskr. The only way they could tell where each person was was in how close the were to M'rasha who held out a fireball. Eventually they made it to the Talos shrine above the below seaside cliffs.
Heimskr pulled out the items for the cleansing and began the ritual. M'rasha and Lydia huddled close together, the Betmer holding out a smaller fireball so that they could try to keep from freezing.
"Hurry up old man!" The Khajiit was starting to get tired from using her magic to keep them from becoming ice statues.
"Patience cat!" Heimskr replied. Lydia could vaguely make out the serpent eating the offerings. Its eyes glowed white for a few moments before disappearing.
"Finally. Let's go! I saw a cave on our way here," M'rasha huffed and started heading towards the cliffs. The trio waded in the snow for a few minutes until Lydia spotted the aforementioned cave. They took a couple steps into the cave still on high alert in case they stumbled upon a wild animals dwelling, but the lack of an animal's nest or known animal tracks said otherwise and they deemed it safe. Heimskr decided to walked deeper into the cave while M'rasha and Lydia lingered near the entrance. The Khajiit conjured up a fireball so Lydia could warm her hands.
"Are you sure the boat is waiting for us? The storm is pretty bad," Lydia asked, rubbing warmth back into her hands and looking out into the ice storm. "Bad enough to stop a ship."
"They better be or else I'm going to have to pay a ship captain an unfortunate visit. I have to send a signal so they know we're ready." M'rasha pulled a torch out and lit it. "So while you two thaw, I'll be out there, freezing my tail off. Literally. If I don't return soon, come find me."
M'rasha gave the other woman the torch and was about to step back into the blizzard when Lydia grabbing her arm stopping her departure. "Why don't you just teleport us to the ship," Lydia asked. " It would be much faster."
She looked at Lydia as of the Nord had grown five heads.
"That's the dumbest idea I think you've had this trip, but I'm going to blame the immense cold for it."
Lydia rolled her eyes at the rude comment. "Don't need to be sarcastic. A simple 'No' would have sufficed."
"You want me to teleport one of the most vocal priests in all of Tamriel, a priest of Talos mind you, aboard a ship full of people, any who might be a Thalmor supporter in hiding."
"But that doesn't makes any sense. We're still bringing him onto the boat."
"Yes but by the time he gets on to the boat, he'll be too exhausted to start preaching. Plus we're still going to keep an eye on him."
Lydia put her hands up in defeat. "Okay, when you put it like that…"
M'rasha stood on her toes to give the Nord a small kiss on her cheek. "Trust me. I'll be fine. Now go spend time with the crazy priest."
"You're an ass."
"And yet you still have feelings for me," M'rasha replied, pulling the hood over her head conjuring up another fireball. She winked at the Nord before shuffling back into the snow in the direction of the shore. M'rasha's fireball became fainter and fainter and eventually Lydia lost sight of the Betmer.
"I guess it's just you and me Heimskr until M'rasha gets back." When she got no response, Lydia turned around on to see an empty space where Heimskr stood.
"Damn. Where'd he go?" Using the torch she ventured deeper into the cave, which was much deeper than she previously thought. The craggy rocks and frost soon gave away to a small stream. As Lydia journeyed deeper, she thought she could hear a voice. The voice got louder and louder until she walked into a large cavern. She could see Heimskr standing in the center of the rocky room which was lit up by sunlight from cracks in the rock. When she finally found him, Lydia assumed he was practicing a speech. That was until she saw who he was preaching to.
"Even as man, great Talos cherished us," Heimskr proclaimed, "For he saw in us, in each of us, the future of Skyrim! The future of Tamriel! And there it is, friends! The ugly truth! We are the children of man! Talos is the true god of man! Ascended from flesh, to rule the realm of spirit!"
Silently groaning, Lydia placed a hand on his shoulder. "Heimskr."
He turned and smiled. "Ah, hello Lydia."
"Heimskr. You are preaching. To bears."
The priest stared at his furry congregation of four small bear cubs. He turned back to Lydia, seriousness on his face, "The great Talos wills it! And I must obey him."
Lydia sighed into her hand, rubbing her face in frustration. "They're cubs! They're animals! Wait a second, if they're cubs.."…
Her question was cut off by a loud growl coming from the back of the cave. Both Nords turned their heads towards the back of the cave and came face to face with three snarling brown bears and one massive white bear.
"Heimskr. When I tell you to run, you run." The white bear stood on its hind legs and let out a mighty roar.
"Run!" Lydia hurled the torch at the bears and then sprinted back through the winding paths and turns and out of the cave with Heimskr a few paces ahead. The bears were thundering after them. Lydia threw off her cloak in hope to distract them. One of the bears took the bait attacking it as if it were prey but the other three were still hot on their heels.
At the shore, M'rasha hopped up and down in an attempt to keep warm. She had signaled the ship almost a half hour ago and, thankfully, they had signaled back. now a small boat was slowly making easy through the cracked ice to shore. But the semi-serene scene broken when Suddenly M'rasha heard screams coming from behind her. She looked back only to jump out of the way of a shrieking Heimskr.
"What in Sanguine's tits?"
Then someone was grabbing her arm trying to pull her forward. She instinctively jerked arm away only to see Lydia In front of her without her cloak. Before she could ask what happen Lydia looked beyond the Betmer and great fear appeared in her eyes.
"M'rasha! Bears!" Lydia quickly shouted, letting go of the Khajiit and running after Heimskr.
"Bears? What bears?" M'rasha looked back only to see the massive lumps of brown and white for running straight for her. She followed Lydia's lead ditching her cloak and ran towards the the boat waiting for the them. She easily caught up Lydia and Heimskr, both who were showing signs of exhaustion. If one of them had tripped it would be all over. She linked arms with the two used Whirlwind Sprint. The trio surged forward, putting distance between them and the Bears. they kept running even after the Thu'um had ended.
"Cast off! Cast off!" M'rasha screamed. The men in the boat looked puzzled until they spotted what was chasing them. The sailors jumped out of the boat and began pushing it into deeper waters. Lydia, Heimskr and M'rasha made it onto the small boat just as the sailors jumped back in and began to row. But the bears were undeterred as the made onto shore and began climbing into the water.
"Oh no you don't!" M'rasha stood up and conjured an ice Atronach. It went and smacked the beasts away while the boat made its way to the ship. Finally the bears gave up, too tired to give chase and began swimming to land.
M'rasha fell to her knees as the others were able to finally catch their breath. Heimskr fussed with his robes before proclaiming, "Praise be to Talos. It is because of him we are safe."
Lydia wanted nothing but to gag the priest. Maybe M'rasha was right and she shouldn't have offered him any help, but then M'rasha stood up in the boat jolting the Nord out of her thoughts. There was no anger, no fire in her eyes, she was just..blank. The sailors were yelling at her to sit but she ignored them. The Khajiit crossed the boat, grabbed the priest by his shoulders, and with strength Lydia did not know she still had, threw the man into the icy sea. Lydia was stunned for a moment at her Thane's actions. Then she grabbed M'rasha by the shoulders and started to shake her.
"Have you gone insane? Get him out before he freezes to death."
M'rasha looked at her, coolly. "No."
"If you don't get him out of the water we won't get paid!" When that elicited no emotion or action from the Khajiit, Lydia moved closer and whispered, "And if you do save him…."
The next few sentences were too quiet for the sailors to hear but when Lydia was done, M'rasha looked out to where Heimskr was splashing away, and, using telekinesis, lifted him out of the water. He hovered above the water's surface and remained in the air as the boat slowly made it's way back to the ship. As the boat docked alongside the ship, M'rasha flicked her wrist and Heimskr was sent flying onto the ship where he landed with an undignified squawk. M'rasha and Lydia climbed up the ladder and onto the deck of the ship where a very wet and angry priest was getting to his feet.
"This is an outrage! I should not be treated in this way. A priest of-"
M'rasha punched the man in the gut causing him to double over. She pulled out one of her axes and smashed the pommel into the side of his head, knocking him out. The nearby sailors looked in silent fear. The Khajiit felt eyes on her. She turned and looked at the sailors. "Anyone else got a problem?"
The workers looked away and went back to their tasks. Lydia could only hide her face in her hands. 'Seven more shrines. Seven more shrines. Seven more stupid shrines.'
A/N: 2016 sucked. Good riddance.