Chapter 13: Forever Yours
The heavy door swung open. Nephiah instantly got to her feet, crossed her hands behind her back and looked at the floor.
Frokwulf slowly stepped in, stopping halfway between her and the door. "Do you know what day it is.", he asked in his disturbing, calm voice. He didn't get a reaction, he didn't expect one. "Today is Heart's Day. The day that people all across Tamriel celebrate love in all its many forms." He gave of a short sarcastic laugh. "And as it so happens, it is our anniversary."
Nephiah looked up at him.
"Yes, five years ago to the day, you arrived here and began your new life."
Memories flashed through her mind, immense sadness settled in. She had pushed those memories out of her mind, hadn't thought of them for a very long time.
"And I thought we should celebrate with a gift."
He gestured behind him, signaling someone else to enter. Hjornskar stepped through, pushing a young Bosmer boy in front of him. He was still wearing regular clothing, he must have been captured very recently.
"Listen.", he said, "I don't think the boss is going to like you removing items from our inventory like this." Frokwulf turned around and looked up. Hjornskar was a full head taller than him, taller than anybody, really.
"Our fearless leader doesn't have to know. You know how these raids go, chaos ensues, people die. It's not like your silence in the matter goes unrewarded."
Hjornskar looked past him at Nephiah and grinned. Then he looked back at Frokwulf. "Make sure she's cleaned up this time. What do you think I am, some kind of savage?" He laughed and ungently pushed the boy forward, making him stumble and fall to the ground. Then he turned and left, closing the door behind him.
Frokwulf turned his attention back to Nephiah. "Wood Elves are such tiny, fragile creatures. Remember him?"
Nephiah looked at the child cowering on the floor, crying softly.
"Remember that act of defiance and the result it yielded?" He took a rolled up whip from his belt, moved close to her and presented it.
Nephiah silently looked up at him, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"Do you remember how to count?"
She nodded, looking at the whip in his stretched out hand.
"You will strike him..." He paused, she looked him in the eyes. "Well? How many times. Answer."
"Ten times.", she said faintly after a moment, one could hear she didn't use her voice much.
"Take it." She took the whip and slowly stepped up to the boy. He was still cowering on the ground. While holding on to its handle, she let the end of the whip go, it dropped to the ground.
Frokwulf took a step back and watched with fascination.
Sadness was now clearly visible on Nephiah's face, even though she had trained herself to not show anything to the outside world, no matter how it hurt. She raised her arm, Frokwulf smiled in anticipation. The whip cracked down on the boy.
He instantly began to cry out in pain, another tear dropped from Nephiah's chin. She hesitated.
"Go on, nine more times.", Frokwulf said calmly.
The whip cracked down again.
"Please!", the boy cried.
A whimper almost escaped her as she raised her arm again. Another crack. The boy's cries of agony were unbearable, her arm remained at her side.
"SLAVE!", Frokwulf yelled menacingly.
Nephiah flinched and instantly raised her arm to bring the whip down yet another time. And another. It seemed to take forever to reach ten.
The boy was crying uncontrollably as tears and blood wet the floor boards beneath him.
Frokwulf stepped up behind her.
She turned and looked up, her cheeks glistening.
He took the whip off her, rolled it up and reattached it to his belt, all the while looking into her eyes. Then he reached behind his back and crouched down, now looking up at her. He produced an iron dagger with Dunmeri symbols carved into its hilt. "Remember this?" He held it up in front of her face. "You should, you had it on you when we found you."
She silently stared at it. "Now for the final test. Pass it, and you will have shown you understand the world that surrounds you. Take the dagger."
She looked at him not sure if that was the test.
"Go on.", he said reassuringly.
She hesitantly took the small blade that was resting on his open palm.
He instantly grabbed the boy and pulled him up in front of him. The sudden movement and loud cry of the boy made her flinch yet again. His right hand pressed the tiny torso against his chest, his left pulled his head back by the hair, exposing the throat. "Left to right, you've seen me do it."
Nephiah was breathing heavily, her eyes started to beg him.
"Not a sound out of you.", he said more firmly. Then he whispered "Left... to right."
Brelyna closed the book. She sniffed and wiped a tear away with her sleeve. She looked to her side, Nephiah was still staring at the ground, tears had formed in her eyes as the events that Brelyna was reading about shot through her mind.
"In his last entry...", Brelyna spoke softly, "...he wrote he was planning on having you kill a boy to see if your training was complete." She took a moment. "Did you do it?"
Nephiah looked at her, but said nothing. She didn't have to.
"Azura...", Brelyna said, slightly shaking her head. "So if you are hunting them, why not him?"
Nephiah closed her eyes, making tears spill down both sides of her face. Her expressionless face began to show the pain she felt. She turned her head back front.
"But..." Brelyna took a deep breath. "But that's not your fault! He made you do it!"
Nephiah made fists and rested her forehead on top of them.
"Nephiah, listen to me, it's not your fault!"
She squeezed her eyes shut.
Brelyna tossed the book aside and moved in front of her. She took Nephiah's face gently into both hands and raised it up so she would look at her. "It's not your fault.", Brelyna said very softly.
Nephiah opened her eyes and whispered. "But it is."
Nephiah quickly got to her feet, removing herself from Brelyna's touch. She began to pace up and down the room, breathing heavily, like an animal, trapped in a cage. "I don't exist. I don't EXIST!", she said like a mantra.
Brelyna got up and looked at her, not sure what to do.
"Nephiah, look at me, please!"
She wouldn't look at her. "I don't exist."
Instead she moved to the chalice in the middle of the room and slammed her right fist into the fire. As the flames did their work, the agony of it showed on her face, she opened her mouth wide as if to scream, yet no sound was to be heard.
Brelyna rushed towards her and pulled her away, holding her by the shoulders. "What are you doing?!" She checked her fist for damage, her Dunmer skin had protected her in the brief time it was exposed to the flames.
She looked back up. Nephiah's face was wet from sweat and tears, her heart was racing, her breathing fast and erratic. "The pain... drowns out the other."
She moved back towards the chalice, Brelyna instantly moved in front of her, trying to stop her movement. "All right, all RIGHT!", she yelled, despair in her voice, her hands pressing against Nephiah's shoulders. "You need something to drown it out then!"
Nephiah tried to move to the fire again.
Brelyna put her whole body weight into stopping her. "May I just make one suggestion?! Damnit!"
Nephiah stopped and looked at her impatiently, the fire within her burning ten times more painfully than the one in the chalice ever could. Brelyna didn't wait, she ceased the short break and grabbed Nephiah's face with both hands and pressed their lips together. She tasted of salty tears.
Nephiah remained restless, continuously shifting her weight from one foot to the other.
As Brelyna moved her head back and looked at her, agony was still written on her face.
Nephiah grabbed her shoulder to move her out of the way.
Brelyna looked into her eyes and read her intent, she was unsure how to stop her. Tapping into this energy had made her explode in a shockwave of blue light, why wouldn't it work now. It wasn't strong enough. "All right, Nephiah? Listen.", she hastily said, feeling the grip on her shoulder getting stronger. "So there is this series of books called 'The Lusty Argonian Maid'."
Nephiah looked at her, anger swelling up inside her. She needed the pain to stop, what in Oblivion was she going on about. She started to move her to the side.
Brelyna pushed against it but her small frame was no match for her. "Please! Just wait a minute!"
"What?!" She stopped pushing, but kept up the strong grip.
"What I'm trying to say is, I only know this from books, I have never done it myself."
With that Brelyna stuck her tongue out and licked Nephiah's face from the chin up to the nose tip. Startled and profoundly confused, Nephiah looked at her, raising an eyebrow.
"That's how the Argonians do it, I swear!"
Silence.
"Well maybe I misread! Let's try this differently. " She moved back in until their lips met and stuck her tongue out. She was expecting to have to pry her lips open but instead was met with little resistance. As their tongues began to circle each other, Nephiah instantly loosened the grip on Brelyna's shoulders, her arms going limp and falling to her side. That was new.
Instead of pushing her away she now began to lean in, her arms moving back up in a passionate embrace that led her left hand to Brelyna's hip and her right to her neck.
Brelyna's hands moved from the front of Nephiah's shoulders under her arms to grab them from the back, pulling her close.
As the feeling of pleasure increased, Brelyna began to give off faint moans.
Nephiah remained silent. The raging fire inside her dimmed with every passing second, being replaced by something else. They detached, their arms relaxing their respective firm grips.
Brelyna exhaled slowly through pursed lips, her eyes still closed. She was a little bit dizzy. She eventually opened her eyes.
Nephiah's cheeks were red, blood rushed to her head, the intense feeling was new for the both of them.
"Is... is this doing anything for you?"
Without hesitation, Nephiah pulled her close again.
They began to move towards the bed, their tongues entangled, their heads tilting passionately left to right and right to left again. Without looking they hit the table instead. Nephiah's hand moved down and tossed it out of the way like it had no weight at all, knocking over the chair in the process.
Arriving at the bed, they sat down and let themselves fall to their sides, still intertwined.
Then suddenly, Nephiah stopped.
It took a moment to register for Brelyna. She moved her head back and saw Nephiah resting on the furs, not moving anymore, her breathing calm and steady. "Really?", she said realizing what just happened. She let herself fall to her back and gave off a few short laughs. She stared at the ceiling for a moment as her breathing calmed down.
She eventually pushed herself up and got to her feet. She found the table and placed it back where it belonged, turned the chair upright and sat down. She took a few deep breaths as a cocktail of endorphins and adrenalin was still rushing through her system. Eventually she put her elbows on the table and rested her forehead in her palms. "What am I going to do with you."
"Take the dagger."
Nephiah looked at Frokwulf, not sure if that was the test.
"Go on.", he said reassuringly. She hesitantly took the small blade that was resting on his open palm.
He instantly grabbed the boy and pulled him up in front of him. The sudden movement and loud cry of the boy made her flinch yet again. His right hand pressed the tiny torso against his chest, his left pulled his head back by the hair, exposing the throat. "Left to right, you've seen me do it."
Nephiah was breathing heavily, her eyes started to beg him.
"Not a sound out of you.", he said more firmly.
Then he whispered "Left... to right."
Then he closed his eyes and moved his head to the right as far as he could, exposing his own throat.
Nephiah looked at him in shock. "Go on.", he whispered, "Kill him."
Nephiah looked at the blade in her hand, at the crying child held by her captor, then him who continued to present his most vulnerable spot to her.
Without moving, he yelled. "SLAVE!"
She instantly moved forward, pressed the blade against the boy's throat and moved it, left to right.
Blood began gushing out instantly, running over her hand, leaving spots on her face and robe. His cries turned to a violent gurgle, which faded very quickly. Eventually the boy stopped moving.
Frokwulf opened his eyes and turned back to her. He let the lifeless body drop to the floor and removed the dagger from her hand, as she stood there, frozen, eyes wide open, staring at the boy.
"See, you could have killed me instead."
She fell to her knees and slowly turned her gaze upon him.
"And now, no matter what else happens, you are mine."
The heavy door swung open. Two guards with Windhelm insignia on their armor rushed in, one of them had his bow already primed. Frokwulf turned in surprise. The guard spotted the man in bandit leathers with the dagger in hand and immediately released his arrow.
It impaled Frokwulf's head through the left eye, he instantly dropped to the floor, dead.
The open door revealed chaotic sounds of battle in the halls, both close by and far away. Bandits could be seen getting struck down by blades of guards in the distance. The two guards scanned the room for more hostiles but spotted only Nephiah, kneeling in the center of the room, covered in blood.
"There's another one.", one of them said.
Nephiah slowly reached out for them. "Help me..." She could barely speak in any kind of volume.
The guards relaxed their stance. "Get out of here.", one said. With that they turned and left.
The heavy door remained open.
Nephiah let her hands drop to her knees. She looked at Frokwulf's dead body, he was still twitching occasionally. Then she looked at the boy, lying in a giant pool of blood. Her breathing began to increase in speed, it got faster and faster until eventually she inhaled deeply, formed fists and let off an extremely loud, bone chilling cry of agony. It echoed far through the corridors.
It was still echoing in her head as she jumped up from the bed. She quickly looked around, breathing heavily from the nightmare.
Brelyna was sitting at the table, her head resting on her forearms, sleeping.
She took a few deep breaths, puffing her cheeks. Then she quickly moved to the storage room in the back. She grabbed a sword off the wall and rotated her wrist a few times, making the blade audibly cut through the air. Anger settled in on her face as she felt its weight, imagining what she was about to do with it. She sheathed it, grabbed a hand full of arrows off a shelf and left in a hurry.
Arriving back in the living room, she shoved the arrows into the quiver that leaned on the wall next to her hunting bow and the door switch. She moved the lever, the door began to open. She threw the quiver over her shoulder and grabbed the bow.
As she reached the table, she stopped. She looked down to Brelyna who was still sleeping. She was beautiful sitting there, so peaceful, so innocent. She bowed down and placed a kiss on her forehead. She then stepped outside and flipped the switch, the door closed shut.
