Chapter 11: Slave to the System
Brelyna was crossing the courtyard to get to the Hall of Attainment, where the students were housed. They had a table there that the college chef kept full of food and they recently added a little fireplace. Kept warm on top of it was usually a pot of Horker stew. She had developed a liking to Nordic cooking since she arrived and she would be looking forward to those stews whenever they were on the menu. But right now she was thinking about something else.
Nephiah hadn't said much. But she didn't have to, not after what Brelyna had seen. It was all made clear the instant she laid eyes on Nephiah's scarred body. People did this to her. It was why she hunted them with such burning anger, why she didn't speak, why she thought she didn't exist.
How long had she been their captive? How long did it take for the damage done to her body to be done to her mind as well? Brelyna shuddered. She was angry. She was disgusted. That this was allowed to happen to a being so beautiful, with such magical power over her. That this was allowed to happen at all. She reached the Hall of Attainment and entered.
Her racing mind was stopped dead as her eyes fell upon the old Dark Elf standing in the archway of her alcove. "Master Neloth!"
He was dressed in masterfully made mage robes of Dunmer design. "Does the fine lady grace us with her presence.", he said sarcastically.
Like her father, he was a powerful Telvanni mage. She was brought along on visits to his Solstheim estate a few times, he was not a pleasant man.
She carefully stepped closer. "What are you doing here?"
Neloth didn't move, he kept looking at her disapprovingly. "I am not an errand boy, young Maryon. And were it not for your father's almost exclusive accomplishments which ensured that house Telvanni did not fracture and fade into nothingness after the Argonian uprising, I would not be standing here."
"Ok?", she said carefully probing further. "So what does father want?"
"What does he want?!" He took a sudden step closer, Brelyna flinched slightly. "Maybe he wants to know how his daughter's studies are going, like any father would. Has it ever occurred to you that he invested a good deal in your development."
"My development...", she laughed.
"You are a Telvanni, young lady! Just as I am, just as your father is. And with that come certain responsibilities if the name is to mean anything tomorrow." He took another step forward, slowly this time. "On your father's behest I have come all the way from Solstheim to see how you are. And what must I find. You are absent, gone for days. Nobody knows where you are."
Her eyes opened wider and wider with every step he took.
"Against my council, he took a chance, letting you come here. He would have provided the same education in Morrowind, if not better. But he was convinced that you needed to have your space to thrive, as much as it pained him."
He arrived right in front of her looking down, he was tall for a Dunmer. She nervously looked up into his eyes.
"But apparently you use your freedom to disappear without leave, go on some adventure and bring back wounded strays."
He knew about Nephiah.
"Yes, I have spoken to your teachers. I have no idea what your relationship with that... rabble is but you are here to study. Not follow your every youthful whim."
Brelyna couldn't look him in the eye anymore. She turned away and walked to the stairs that led to the upper level. "Excuse me, Master Neloth, but I was about to have a meal." She said, trying her best to sound calm.
"Yes, you do that, young Maryon. I shall speak to your father and see if he thinks your behavior warrants... consequences." He turned and left the hall.
The food table was on the upper level. With shaking hands Brelyna grabbed a wooden bowl and filled it with stew from the kettle. She put it down on the table but absentmindedly placed it on the edge so that it instantly fell, spilling its contents over the floor. "Damnit!" she said with a quivering voice. She took a deep breath and found a chair to sit down in. She placed a hand over her eyes. "Damnit."
Nephiah pushed herself up and turned to sit on the edge of the bed. The healing stab wound made its presence known with every movement. She looked around to find a fresh novice robe that had been placed over the arm rest of a chair. She moved to slide off the bed, the stone floor was cold under her bare feet. She quickly moved to the chair and slipped into the robe. She found her boots at the end of the bed, at least they hadn't cut those up as well. She bent down to pick them up, the sharp pain in her shoulder let her know that it may be too soon for this kind of extreme position. She let them drop beside the bed as she fell back into it, giving off a moan. She moved a hand up to her forehead, noticing that the black linen cloth she liked to wrap around it was missing as well. Exploring further she noticed something else that was strange. As she ran her fingers through her hair she noticed how soft and straight it was, that she could run her fingers through it at all was a novelty. Puzzled, she pinched two fingers full of strands to examine more closely. The edges were clean, cut more precisely than she would with her dagger.
"I hope you don't mind." Brelyna was standing in the archway, two filled bowls of stew in hand. "I was cleaning off all the blood and some had gotten into your hair. And when I was done there I thought I might as well." She smiled nervously, not entirely sure what reaction she'd get. She hadn't entered the archway yet, figuring it best to make sure she wasn't in any danger of getting strangled. "It's almost the same length, just clean!"
Nephiah looked at her, raising an eyebrow. She did not seem to understand the effort.
"You look very pretty."
Nephiah shrugged.
Giving off a sigh of relief, Brelyna entered the alcove. She sat down at her side and handed her one of the bowls. "Careful, hot."
Brelyna took a couple of spoonfuls, Nephiah sniffed the edge of her bowl in an effort to identify the meal. Brelyna giggled. "It's Horker stew."
Nephiah looked at her with scepticism.
"It's really good!"
She took the spoon out of her bowl and tossed it onto the floor. Then she took the bowl into both hands and began to gulp its contents down in one go.
"Waitwaitwait!", she laughed.
Eventually, the empty bowl was set down, Nephiah gave off a sigh of exertion.
Brelyna giggled again. "I guess there's no need for table manners where you live, huh."
"Obviously not, just look at her." They both looked to the entrance with surprise. Neloth had entered.
Nephiah tensed up immediately, forming fists, ready to jump up.
"But you will where you're going."
Adrenalin was surging through Brelyna's veins. "W-where I'm going?"
"I noticed a bit of a flirtatious tone in your voice there. Who is this grunt?." He looked at Nephiah with much distain. "Is this a..." His eyes fell upon her left hand. "... a Dunmer slave?" He looked confused. "And a Telvanni falling for her." He began to laugh loudly. "Does this qualify as irony? I can never tell."
Brelyna checked Nephiah's face to see how close she was to jumping up. She was scanning him carefully, registering his every movement.
"No matter.", he said placing his eyes back on Brelyna. "I talked to your father."
Brelyna stood up and turned her back to him, putting her bowl down on the bed side table. She didn't want him to see her face. "Father is in Morrowind."
"Yes, I suppose two old mages like your father and I don't have to actually be in the same room to have a word. Maybe he will show you how that works once you are back home."
"Back home?!" She turned around.
"I have come to the conclusion, and your father agrees, that you are unable to reach the level of proficiency that is required of you without proper supervision. You will take a ship to Solstheim with me. By the time we arrive, your father will be there to take you back to Morrowind."
Brelyna chose the college to be away from him, to not feel the constant pressure of him looking over her shoulder. But she was afraid this would happen so she had put that pressure upon herself instead, figuring that good progress would earn her continued stay here. "No!" She stormed out, past Neloth into the hall, he turned and followed.
"This is entirely on you, young lady!"
She stopped and turned around. "I was out looking for an ingredient! To practice a spell!"
"Oh, I see. And you did so without telling anyone. And you just happened across this... this oaf over there."
"Yes!" Brelyna was pleading with him. The distress in her voice did not remain unnoticed by Nephiah, who's face turned from alert to angry. She slowly got up and moved towards Neloth who's back was turned to her.
"I don't believe a word of it." Neloth was content with the decision to have her back home. A Telvanni should be taught by a Telvanni, he used to say. "Your teachers tell me, your mastery of conjuration spells are far behind where it should be. Successes in destruction magic are few. AND they say they still catch you talking to yourself."
A tear rolled down Brelyna's cheek. "It's because even here I feel his hand pushing me!"
"I have not come to hear your excuses! I have come to inform you of the reality of your situation." He quickly turned around, noticing Nephiah getting closer. She held a threatening stance, her face speaking volumes about what she was going to do. "Do you have a death wish?", he said unimpressed.
Nephiah charged. Neloth immediately threw his hands forward, giving off flashes of lightning. As they hit her, she was thrown back, hitting the wall behind her and dropping down onto the bed.
"Don't hurt her!" Brelyna was well aware of his power and his disposition to elements that disturbed his calm.
He looked at her. "Well maybe you should remind your friend not to attack her betters." He briefly looked back at his target, Nephiah was lying on the bed, coughing, giving of faint puffs of smoke. He turned back to Brelyna and moved towards her. "You are coming with me, I have a ship waiting in Windhelm." He grabbed her arm and began pulling her towards the door, Brelyna tried to resist, but to no avail.
"Hey!"
He turned around to see where the shout came from.
Nephiah had gotten back to her feet and was standing in the archway of her alcove. In her hand she carried a mounted Saber Cat head that had decorated a wall.
Neloth let go of Brelyna's arm and turned to face her. He tilted his neck lightly as he anticipated her next feeble attempt at combat. She ripped the animal head off the solid wooden plaque it was mounted on and tossed it away. She took aim, turned on her own axis and then hurled the plaque towards Neloth. He was prepared to duck but quickly realized that it would miss him by a good margin. As he looked back at Nephiah condescendingly, the plaque that missed him hit a wall behind him, bounced off and hit him right in the back of the head. The force of the impact sent him forward, hitting the floor face first.
Nephiah instantly rushed towards him, got to one knee and grabbed the back of his robe. She lifted his upper body and smashed him into the ground. And again.
Brelyna watched in horror, she had seen that expression on her face before.
Nephiah lifted him up a third time, a good deal higher this time. One final smash into the ground would solve the problem.
"Please don't kill him!"
The fearful voice echoed through the rage that filled her head and usually drowned out everything else. She froze, still holding him up in the air. She looked at Brelyna, who had extended a hand to her, not knowing what else to do. She looked at her face, her body language. She remembered that this had led to something profoundly unpleasant not long ago.
Brelyna looked at her, already imagining the impact and the thousand consequences of it. She shook her head ever so slightly.
Nephiah looked at Neloth, then back at her. Then instead of smashing him into the ground, she slowly lay him back down, he wasn't moving. She stood up and took a few exerted breaths, trying to fend off the rage. Every fiber of her being was telling her to kill the man at her feet. The undisputed certainty that there would be no safety, unless she made sure right now. She made fists, pressed her lips together and squeezed her eyes shut.
Startled by a hand touching hers she looked to her side.
Brelyna had gotten close and reached for her with both hands. She began to pull softly. "We have to leave..."
Reluctantly, Nephiah began to give in to the force pulling her away. She looked her in the eye, fury still burning at her core. "We have to leave..." Brelyna whispered again. Eventually they began to run and left the hall.
The instant the door closed, it opened again. Brelyna ran to Nephiah's bed and grabbed her boots and the fur cloaks that had been thrown into a corner. As she passed Neloth, he began to moan, regaining consciousness. She looked back as she reached the door.
"This... isn't over...", he said trying to push himself up.
Without pause, Brelyna turned and left.
As fast as they were able, they ran over the narrow stone bridge that led out of the college into the town of Winterhold.
Nephiah's shoulder was hurting fiercely, she wasn't moving at full speed.
Brelyna kept looking behind her.
As they got half way to the other end, she spotted a shape in the distance behind them. Before she could make out who it was, a bolt of lightning was fired and hit Nephiah in the back, she stumbled and fell to one knee. Another bolt was cast, Brelyna instinctively stepped into the line of fire and threw a ward up. The bolt discharged upon impact, doing no damage. But she too was pushed a step back by its force.
The shape was constantly moving towards them until Neloth's bloodied grimace was recognizable.
She could see in his face that unlike before he now had the intention to kill Nephiah and had he not just suffered a severe beating, his first shot would likely have reduced her to a pile of dust.
"Out of the way, Maryon!", he shouted angrily, "I'd prefer you don't get hurt!"
Brelyna looked back at her friend who was still down, trying to shake off the pain of the magical projectile that just hit her. She looked back at Neloth, he was still getting closer. She closed her eyes, moved her right hand back and cast a fireball towards him.
He had no trouble getting out of its path, it hit a wall somewhere behind him. "Well.", he said wiping blood off his lip, "We don't always get what we'd prefer." His bruised ego pained him more than his bruised head. He shot forth a continuous stream of lightning, aimed at Brelyna.
She instantly brought her ward back up, leaning forward into the incoming force so that she wouldn't get knocked off her feet. She shouldn't be able to block his spell but the head injuries he had suffered weakened his power a fair bit. She still struggled to keep the ward up as the lightning kept hitting it in erratic patterns. "I can't keep this up for long!" she yelled, the spell already taking a visible toll on her.
Nephiah pushed herself to her feet and hastily looked around for a way out. The bridge was narrow, built high up over a rocky cliff. They couldn't jump, the only way was back. But with the ward up, they couldn't outrun him. She also realized that if she moved past the ward to do something about Neloth directly, she would be struck down right way. She had no weapons to throw at him and was thusly fresh out of ideas.
"Master Neloth, please!", Brelyna cried, "Just let us go!"
"Not going to happen!", he said stretching his arms out, intensifying his spell further.
The blue light of the ward became unsteady, it dimmed and flickered. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. Then one on her chin. As her head was turned to the side she saw her. All close and beautiful, with that stern look on her face. Nephiah moved her head forward and pressed their lips together. Brelyna's brows rose in surprise, her eyes closed, the violent crackles of the magical discharges faded away.
The ward flared up into a bright blue color, it's intensity rising to the point where they must have seen it in Winterhold. Then, while usually just covering a section in front of the caster like a shield, it began to expand, eventually forming a sphere that engulfed them both.
Neloth stopped and looked at the spell, not entirely sure what it was. His confused look turned into reinvigorated anger as he threw all his strength into the next charge. He was still not getting through.
Brelyna turned into the kiss, letting her hands leave the casting stance and placing them on Nephiah's shoulders. The overcharged ward still didn't dissipate, in fact it gained more strength as their kiss intensified. It began to give off a pulse, the sphere expanding and retracting a few meters.
Neloth stopped both his spell and his movement towards them. The pulse shot out quickly, once every two seconds. Its diameter had almost reached him, he took a step back. He was a very powerful mage who had mastered every spell he had come across in his exceptionally long lifetime. And he was genuinely uncertain of what would happen if he made contact with it.
As their lips detached, they looked each other in the eyes deeply, surrounded by the bright blue sphere and the incredible warmth that filled it. Nephiah looked around, marveling at its beauty, then looked back at Brelyna who smiled at her, eyes wide open. She lifted one side of her mouth, forming a half smile. "Huh." Brelyna gasped. "Did I just make you smile?!"
Nephiah shook her head slightly. "Smirk." she said before leaning back into another kiss.
As their lips met again, the sphere expanded violently, forming a shockwave that extended into all directions. It unsettled rocks on the cliff below, forming avalanches, even pushing back snowflakes above that were falling onto it.
As it hit Neloth, he was lifted off his feet and thrown back all the way into the college courtyard, where he eventually came to a stop, hitting his head on the fountain in its center. He fell to the ground and stopped moving.
As the shockwave dissipated they looked to the college. "What. Was. That.", Brelyna said in disbelief.
They looked back at each other. Nephiah shrugged. "It's what you do."
The door to the main hall of the college opened and the teachers came running out. Nephiah's spectacular entrance had caused them to hold a meeting to discuss a course of action. The sounds of the spells had notified them of combat going on outside. They ran to Neloth. Drevis and Colette kneeled down to see if he was still breathing, Faralda took a few steps towards the gate. She tried to identify the two shapes that were moving away in the distance. "Maryon?"
