Chapter 14: The Pup and the Giant
"Hey there, little pup." The girl opened her eyes. Rays of morning light were shining through the window, a man kneeled at her bed, softly running his fingers through her hair.
She rubbed her eyes and recognized the kind face smiling down at her. "Hey there, papa wolf." She smiled, still in the process of waking up.
"Do you know what day it is?"
She sat up and turned to let her feet dangle off the bed. "M-hm!", she nodded energetically, looking at her mother who was leaning in the doorway.
He got up and sat down on the bed beside her. "Well? What day is it then?"
She looked up at her father, who was sitting to her left. "Heart's Day!" She grinned in anticipation, they always did something special on this day.
"That's right. The day that we make sure those we love know it. And you know what else is special about today?"
She shook her head still smiling up at him. She knew exactly what he was going to say but she loved to hear him say it.
"Eight years ago to the day, the love of my life was brought into the world." He touched her nose tip with his finger, she giggled, the mother smiled at the tender scene. "Now I hear you've been busy."
She stopped smiling and looked at him with big eyes.
"I hear you chased a rabid stray off the Sarethi Farm yesterday. Did you?"
She slowly nodded.
"Despite our warnings and what we told you about wild animals? How dangerous they can be?"
She nodded again.
"I heard you stopped it from attacking her sister. You kicked it in the nose as it jumped at her?"
She stopped nodding, just looked up at him. "Well." He looked at his wife. "Since we can't do anything to stop you from your heroics..." He looked back at her. "I might as well show you how it's done. Today, you're going hunting with me."
The girl gasped, then screamed in ecstasy, throwing her arms up and falling around his neck. He laughed and picked her up as she squeezed him tightly.
The door of the little farm house opened and he stepped outside. Morning fog was hanging between the trees, the rooster gave off his cry. He put her down. "Go on, little pup, get your practice bow."
Without hesitation she ran to the shed beside the garden.
The mother stepped up behind him. "Please don't go too far.", she said to him with a worried look.
"She wants to go. Has been practicing with her bow for weeks."
"Many rabid animals have been spotted lately. Just be careful."
He kissed the back of her hand. "We will."
The girl came running back, little black pigtails bouncing up and down. She held a child sized bow and a few wooden arrows with rounded tips.
"You can leave your practice arrows.", the father said.
The girl handed them over, he went back into the house and returned with a hunting bow and a quiver full of iron arrows. "Want to go hunt some game, little pup?"
"Yes!" She turned and ran into the woods.
"Nephiah! Wait up!" He looked at his wife and laughed. "I guess there's no stopping this one." He ran after her.
They were walking slowly through the forest, pockets of fog still lingering in the trees and between the bushes. "So a rabid dog, you say.", he said looking down to his side.
"Mhm!"
"And you chased it off by kicking it."
"In the nose!"
"Weren't you scared?"
"It was just a dog, papa.", she said focusing on the woods, trying to spot animals. "Nose works for everything.", she added.
He looked at her, he was just a little bit proud. "Huh.", he said and looked back in front of him.
Cracking of wood was heard somewhere close by. They instantly stopped and looked around carefully. A deer was grazing a few meters away, it's back turned to them. He slowly crouched down, she looked at him and mimicked his movements. Her heart started beating faster.
He took an arrow from his quiver and handed it to her, she looked at him with excited eyes. He whispered. "The head or the neck." The arrow had a sharp iron tip. She primed her bow and began to aim. "Just as we practiced. Hold it steady, aim just above your target, hold your breath, release."
She aimed carefully, watching the deer's every movement. The world around her seemed to have fallen silent, it was only her, the bow in her hands and the target in front of her. She squeezed an eye shut, held her breath and fired.
The arrow shot through the air, its trajectory forming a slight curve until it was expertly implanted in the neck of the Stormcloak soldier. He gurgled briefly and fell to the ground. Nephiah silently rushed towards him, in a crouched position. They had many sentries posted around the camp, she would have to deal with all of them first.
Another one, twenty meters away. She primed another arrow, aimed quickly and released it. The soldier dropped into the knee-high bushes, again not making much of a sound.
She moved between the trees for a while, picking them off one by one, remaining concealed by the dark of night.
The camp itself was made of several tents, a campfire burned in its center, providing the only source of light. One of the tents was larger than the others, it had a Stormcloak banner hanging over its entrance. It let her know that her target was likely inside, the innkeeper had said that Hjornskar was in charge of the camp.
She crouched down behind a large rock, half way between the camp and the tree line and observed. Three more guards were sitting around the camp fire, no way of telling how many remained sleeping in the tents. And there he was.
Hjornskar stood at the entrance to the camp, a dirt road lead away from it. He was talking to a man on a horse, he had his back turned to her. Hjornskar was tall enough to not have to look up to the man on the horse.
Nephiah reached up to grab another arrow from the quiver on her back. Empty. She must have spent all of her ammunition on the sentries. She pressed her lips together and looked back at him, slowly reaching for her blade.
"You could always join us. You don't like the pointy eared rabble any more than I do.", Hjornskar said to the man on the horse.
"The military and I don't mix, old friend."
Nephiah's stern eyes opened in surprise, she knew the other voice as well. "Siegalf...", she whispered. She unsheathed the sword and began to move out of cover.
"Hey!", a whispered shout sounded from behind her. Startled she turned around, fell to her back and shoved herself back behind the rock.
Brelyna was crouching at the edge of the woods. "What are you doing?!", she whispered again.
"Shh!" Nephiah didn't want her here, considering what was about to happen. But since she was, she made a quick gesture for her to get over to her and stay low.
As she arrived she sat down and leaned her back against the rock. "You could have woken me up!", she said nudging Nephiah's arm with her fist.
Nephiah put a finger over her lips. "Shh!" She turned around and looked at the camp again.
"There's a group called the Vigilants, some place up north. They are hunting Deadra worshippers or something. Word is they recruit. Apparently, and you'll like this, they are up against Vampires and need more manpower."
"Vampires.", Hjornskar looked at him with surprise and then smiled, "Small world."
Siegalf laughed. "Right. Well, I don't really care, they have a lot less waiting and a lot more ale up there."
"Well, you know where to find me if things don't work out."
"Have fun killing Imperials." With that he turned the horse and galloped away.
Hjornskar calmly stepped to the fire and held his hands to it.
Brelyna looked at him with big eyes. "You were going to fight HIM?!"
She looked back at Nephiah, she nodded.
"Alone?!"
She nodded again. Brelyna turned back to the camp and stared at the man, towering over his peers. "Is he part giant? Look at him, he's enormous!"
Nephiah gave him another short look over her shoulder. She remembered he seemed infinitely bigger up close. She looked back at Brelyna trying the process the new situation. She really didn't want her here.
"Well aren't you glad I figured out where you were going to go?", Brelyna said watching Hjornskar take off his officer's cloak and enter his tent. "You will find it very useful to have a mage watching your back."
With that Nephiah grabbed her from behind and pulled her close to her chest. Her right arm had a firm grip over her upper body, pressing her arms to her side, her left covered her mouth. Brelyna tried to turn her head to look at her, shock in her eyes. But she was firmly held in place.
Nephiah moved her mouth to Brelyna's ear and whispered. "These aren't Falmer. Nor are they undead."
She let go of her mouth,
Brelyna turned her head and looked her deeply in the eyes, the flickering camp fire reflecting in them.
She was dead serious. "He is here. I will not stop."
Brelyna noticed the rising fury in her voice, her eyes. She scared her a little. "And those who protect him, whoever comes, I'll kill them all."
That particular look on Nephiah's face had always scared her. But now she knew the ground that nurtured it.
"Are you sure you want to help?"
Brelyna nodded slowly.
Nephiah looked at her for a moment.
Then she moved her left forearm under Brelyna's chin and began to press upwards. "What are you doing...", Brelyna said gasping for air, struggling. Nephiah kept the pressure up, she closed her eyes, turned her head away and waited. Eventually Brelyna lost consciousness, her body fell limp.
Nephiah looked back at the camp, still holding her tight. None of the guards sitting at the fire had heard the struggle. She moved her hand under Brelyna's nose, there was steady breathing. She grabbed her under her arms and dragged her back to the tree line.
She hastily looked around. She should take her back home but she had already killed the sentries. By the time she got back here, it would be morning and they would have noticed.
She dragged her under a bush and covered her up with a few handfuls of brown tree leaves. The last handful was to cover her face, Nephiah paused. This wasn't her fight, not her world. Nor should it be. So kind, so little weight on her shoulders. She tossed the final handful of leaves in place and turned towards the camp, the look on her face changing from dark to darker. She couldn't deny her argument. A mage would have been good to have at her side. But Brelyna had been the only influence she had ever known to stop her rage. She needed her rage now. More than Brelyna. She wouldn't let her interfere.
The soldier's eyes opened wide as he was awoken by a blade crossing his throat and a hand pressing down on his mouth. He didn't struggle long.
Nephiah looked up and snuck to the tent entrance.
The soldiers were still sitting around the campfire. "I find him scary.", one said. "Good thing he is on our side."
"Have you seen him fight? I've seen him implant that warhammer of his into a man's chest so deep, it got stuck."
"Yes... and he likes to go for the head too. Trips you and then caves it in with one blow." He shuddered. "I guess that's how he got his name."
"Good thing he's on our side."
Nephiah blew the hair out of her face. She hadn't noticed before now but since it was now clean, it was more likely to move and obstruct her vision during a fight. She moved back and tore a piece of fabric off the corpses armor. She bound her hair behind her head and left the tent through the hole she had cut into its back side.
Silently she moved to the next tent and cut another hole. Nobody in there.
"Well, I'll find a tree for some private business.", she heard a voice coming from the camp fire. She immediately moved into the bushes and observed. The soldier moved past the tent, opening a slot in the crotch region of his armor as he went. He found an old tree stump and began to relieve himself. The sound of water dripping onto the ground stopped as Nephiah grabbed him from behind to hold his chest with her left arm and his mouth with her right. A quick and strong movement made his neck snap. She carefully put him down, it was almost noiseless.
She drew her sword and moved towards the fire.
Staying low and silent, she approached the remaining guards, their back turned to her, ready to strike them both down as fast as possible.
"How long do you need to take a piss?", one of the guards yelled over his shoulder.
Then he looked back and spotted her, only a few meters away. He gasped as he realized what he saw and hit his comrade on the arm, notifying him of the danger. In a reflex action, Nephiah lifted her sword and threw it at him. It made swishing noises as it flew towards him, rotating on its axis, until it impaled him squarely through the chest, making him topple over.
The other guard had time to stand up and reach for his sword but Nephiah had begun to charge him immediately after letting go of the blade. The second his sword was drawn he felt her shoulder ramming into his guts. She lifted him up and let him drop to his back behind her.
As he struggled to get back to his feet, she put a foot to the dead soldier, grabbed her sword and pulled it out. She lifted it up and used the momentum of turning around to slash his torso diagonally from left to right. He gave off a scream of pain and sank to the ground.
Another tent opened, two guards stepped outside, their weapons already drawn.
She grabbed the steel sword at her feet with her left hand as they ran over to her and immediately got back up to block their blows, one with the sword in her left hand, one with the sword in her right. She pushed them both back, they raised their wooden shields and assumed a defensive position. She rotated both her wrists, making the swords swish through the air as she looked at them like a wolf looks at its prey.
They charged again. She blocked the one to her left. But as the sword to her right came down, she intercepted its trajectory from below, the force making him lose hold of it. She instantly turned once around, again using the speed of the movement to implant the sword deeply into his shoulder. She let go of it as he sank to his knees and fell to his side.
The sword in her left was tossed to her right and instantly brought up to block another high blow from the remaining guard. She took a swing but he blocked with his shield and instantly thrust his sword forward at chest height. She evaded and caught his sword arm under her left, pulling him close. His joints cracked as she tightened her grip and move him upwards, dislocating his shoulder. He screamed in pain for a second before her sword pierced his stomach and was moved upwards, its tip exiting between his shoulder blades. His chin rested on her shoulder as he gave off his final blood-filled gasps. She let him drop down.
"You Dunmer bitch!", the deep voice yelled over the camp yard.
She looked up, breathing heavily.
Hjornskar was standing outside his tent and looked at her with anger and surprise in his eyes. "What have you done to my men?"
She grabbed another dead man's sword.
He reached inside the tent and brought forth his warhammer. It was huge and heavy, yet he held it with one hand. Its head had a flat side and one with a massive curved edge. He began to menacingly walk towards her. His footsteps were so heavy, she could hear them disturbing the ground. He came to a halt at the campfire.
Nephiah was standing on the other side of it.
Thunder rumbled above. Rain began to fall, first a few drops, then lighting illuminated the dark clouds for a split second and the sky opened up. They began to circle the flickering campfire, keeping it between them.
"Wait a minute.", he said with a smirk. "Don't i know you?"
She threw the iron sword into the ground and grabbed the other one tightly with both hands. His words were fuel for the fire raging inside of her.
He began to laugh loudly. "It's Frokwulf's pet!"
She stopped moving.
"Look at you all grown up." He grabbed the end of the hammer with his other hand and held it defensively in front of him as he smiled at her. "So? You're just going to stand there?"
She charged.
She used the fire's edge as a stepping stone, jumping across with the sword raised high above her head. She brought it down with a furious cry, the metal clashing loudly as it hit the hilt of his hammer. He had his arms stretched out as it hit but the force of the impact pushed it close to his chest so he had to move his head back to avoid the blade cutting his face.
He had now gauged her strength.
He pushed back, shoving Nephiah backwards a fair bit, making her stumble over the fire. She quickly got back to her feet on the other side.
"Is that all you got?", he said, his amusement showing on this face. The rain came down hard, another flash shot across the sky, another sounding of thunder shook the leaves in the trees.
She charged again.
She swung the blade sideways, aiming to slash his waist on his left side. His right hand quickly let go of the hammer, his left hand twisted down, making the hammer fall like a pendulum, redirecting the sword outwards.
She got thrown off balance and left vulnerable to his right hand which moved in, grabbed her neck and lifted her off the ground with ease. She lost the sword and moved both hands up to try to pry open his grip. She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her teeth as he began to tighten his hold.
"Look at that passion!" He seemed to be well entertained as she dangled on his stretched-out arm in front of him. "Have you missed me that much?"
The sensation of his hand choking her wasn't new. Images shot into her mind of her on the ground, him above her, his hand around her neck. She opened her eyes, the fury took over.
She began to swing her legs back and forth till she reached him. Putting one foot above the other she reached his shoulders, lifted a foot and rammed her heel squarely onto his nose.
It cracked, blood spilled out instantaneously. He let go and held his face, turning away from her, screaming in pain.
After landing on the ground, Nephiah fell to her hands and knees as she needed a moment to get her breath back, coughing, holding her neck with one hand.
Lightning. Thunder.
Hjornskar turned around. No trace of amusement on his face any more, just the lust to kill. He grabbed his hammer and began to swing.
Nephiah pushed herself off the ground and stumbled backwards and the massive hammer hit the ground just in front of her. It shook the earth, splattered muddy rain water in a large radius, she fell onto her back. She shoved herself backwards through the mud as best she could as he brought the hammer down again, growling with every movement. This time she had to spread her legs for them to not get crushed, his long leg span allowed him to close in faster than she could get away.
He brought the hammer up over his head a third time. She had reached a dead soldier, grabbed his shield and raised it into the hammer's path which led right to her chest.
The shield shattered on impact, concussing her arm, she let off a short scream.
He looked down at her. "I'm sure there is a story how you got from there to here." He sniffed and wiped blood off his mouth. More deep thunder sounded through the night. "But that story ends here."
She turned her head away and closed her eyes.
He raised the hammer and brought it down.
An ice spike was fired from the tree line at tremendous speed. It shattered on the hammer's head as it came down on Nephiah. It's force moved the hammer to the side, making it miss the target.
Hjornskar turned around and spotted Brelyna leaving the shadows. "You're not one of ours, you don't look that broken! Yet!"
Brelyna's heart pounded in her chest as the huge Nord screamed at her. She fired another spike.
It shattered on his chest without effect. He looked down and back at her with a superior grin. "I'm a Nord, numb nuts! We are MADE of ice!"
He grabbed a dead soldier by the ankle with one hand and hurled it at her in an arc. Startled by the unlikeliness of the maneuver she stumbled backwards, the corpse landed on her and knocked her over. She had trouble moving the armored soldier off of her.
Nephiah turned, her eyes on fire. As he placed his attention back on her, she lifted both her feet and rammed her heels into both his knee caps. He screamed and fell to his knees, screaming again from the repeated impact.
He was holding his hammer in front of him with both hands, she grabbed hold of it in the middle and pulled herself towards him, letting her forehead collide with his already bleeding nose. He screamed again and violently moved the hammer to the left and then the right, hurling Nephiah away. She landed in the mud a few meters away.
He stood up and walked over to her. "Like it rough, huh?! I like it rough too!" He grabbed her by the neck yet again, lifted her up and crashed his forehead into hers. And again. And again.
After a fourth violent hit he tossed her away.
She landed at the edge of the fire. She was dizzy, her ears were ringing, her vision blurred, blood ran down her face. She began to crawl away from him on hands and knees, trying to get a hold of her surroundings.
"Well well well!", he said, slowly stepping closer, the hammer resting on his shoulder. "Now I really remember you!" He put a foot to her rear and pushed, making her fall into the mud face first.
She was breathing heavily, blowing away blood and dirty rain water that ran down her face.
"How I would love to reminisce, but I have a war to win." He brought the hammer up again.
Brelyna rushed in and cowered over Nephiah, instinctively raising an arm up to block the blow.
He stopped. "Isn't that cute. Well I bet I can get the two of you in one hit." He rotated the hammer so that the curved edge pointed down and struck.
Brelyna's ward was invisible. The blue half sphere only showed when the hammer contacted it.
Lightning sparked at the contact point, he was thrown back forcefully, crashing into a tent behind him.
Surprised, Brelyna looked at him for a second, then her raised arm. She hadn't brought the ward up. And even if she did, a ward blocks magic, not weapons.
She turned Nephiah to her back and shook her shoulders. "Wake up, damnit!" She heard the rumbling of Hjornskar fighting his way out of the tent behind her. "Nephiah!"
"You bitch! I'm going to have a field day with you!" He stood in the debris, removing the last bit of tent leather from his shoulder.
Brelyna charged a fire ball and released it.
He evaded it with one giant step. "See? You are learning!" He ran over to her with heavy steps and before the next fire ball was ready he reached her, grabbed the arm she was casting with. He twisted it until the cracking noise let him know it had popped out of the shoulder socket. Brelyna screamed as the arm fell limp to her side, she couldn't move it.
"Let's see you perform any tricks now."
He grabbed her other arm, she screamed in fear. "No! Please!" Her pleading cry echoed through Nephiah's head, she opened her eyes. As her vision came into focus she saw him towering over Brelyna, twisting her left arm slowly, cries of pain sounding through the thunder storm.
She reached into the campfire beside her.
Another crack, Brelyna's left arm fell down her side. She cried in pain as Hjornskar looked down at her, smiling sadistically. She fell to her side and revealed Nephiah, holding a burning log from the fire. It hurt, but this pain she was used to.
His smile turned to surprise as he identified the scene in front of him.
Nephiah swung the log upwards with all her strength until it was stopped by his crotch. There she held it, pressing upwards as he began to scream in agony. He fell to his knees and grabbed the log which was glowing in bright orange from the fire. She kept up the tight grip and reinforced the upwards movement once more, putting her upper body behind it. His screaming continued, partly from the burning log in his crotch, partly because his hands burned as well.
He struck Nephiah across the face with the back of his hand, making her topple over and flung the burning log through the air. His hands moved between his legs towards the injured area, he fell to the ground, moaning.
Nephiah got to her feet and found one of the soldier's swords. She slowly walked up behind him as he was still curled up on the ground. "Now that I see you on your hands and knees...", she said menacingly, her fire fueled by memory.
He looked up at her, agony in his eyes.
She clenched her teeth as various images flashed through her mind, him standing over her, removing his armor, moving on top of her, grabbing her throat. She screamed in rage and rammed the sword into his tail end until the hilt stopped the movement.
The immense pain of the blade running upwards through his guts silenced him.
She let go of the blade, leaving it in place. His eyes opened wide as blood shot from both ends of his body.
Nephiah's breaths were loud, a mixture of exertion and rage as she paced up and down, watching him die. Eventually he fell to his side and stopped moving.
The faint crying of Brelyna brought her back to reality. She quickly turned her onto her back, grabbed the collar of her robe and dragged her backwards into the officer's tent. Brelyna gave off a scream as the motion began, she was in a lot of pain.
Once inside, Nephiah leaned her on the wall of the tent and checked her shoulders. They were both dislocated. "You weren't supposed to be here.", Nephiah said grabbing an upper arm with her left and the lower arm with her right.
Brelyna didn't answer, she wasn't used to this kind of punishment.
Nephiah looked her in the eye. "This is going to hurt."
Brelyna nodded briefly, the pain clearly visible on her face.
Nephiah tightened her grip and made a quick upwards movement. The shoulder cracked as it was set into place. Brelyna gave off a scream, followed by a few whimpers.
Nephiah grabbed the other arm in a similar manner. "One more time." Brelyna closed her eyes and nodded again. Another crack, another short scream and it was over.
Nephiah stood up, turned around and walked a few steps, the rain was falling loudly onto the tent's roof. She was exhausted, dizzy, hurting all over.
Brelyna noticed she could move her arms again, even though her shoulders were still very sore. She moaned as she pushed herself into an upright sitting position. A moment passed as they both were still catching their breath, thunder rolling through the night sky.
Nephiah had a screaming headache, she didn't even notice the bruises on her neck, her arm or the burn marks on her palm. A pair of fur bracers was lying on the table, she took one and pressed it against the bleeding wound on her forehead.
"Why...", Brelyna said after a while.
Nephiah turned around. "You weren't supposed to be here."
"Excuse me? You would have died out there if it weren't for me!"
Nephiah pointed at her shoulders, she got angry. "This is what I didn't want!"
Brelyna got to her feet and moved her hands up to rub her aching shoulders. She took a step closer. "Do you want to die?!"
Nephiah stopped cold.
Brelyna looked at her, shocked at the realization that she had asked the right question.
Nephiah made fists and closed her eyes. "This is not your fight."
Brelyna took another step towards her. "I'm pretty sure I can decide for myself which battles to fight."
Nephiah turned away from her. "You should leave."
"You want to die, don't you!" Brelyna stepped up to her, grabbed her shoulder and turned her around so she would look at her. "You're going to fight them one by one until you find one that kills you! Is that the plan?!" Her voice quivered as she spoke.
Nephiah opened her eyes. "Leave." She moved passed her to the exit.
Brelyna turned and yelled. "I love you!"
Nephiah stopped moving. Brelyna herself was surprised that she articulated it that clearly.
Nephiah turned around. The anger on her face was gone, replaced by sadness. "I won't stop. I can't."
Brelyna nodded slightly and whispered "I know..."
Nephiah took a step towards her. "You don't know... It's who I am..." Her head hung low, she couldn't look her in the eye.
"I know!" Brelyna rushed towards her and took her face in both her hands. "But you are also good at heart! How can you make me feel this way if you aren't? You were someone else before they took you and that you are as well!"
Nephiah looked up into her eyes, her voice was full of fear, pleading so sincerely. "And... and... and I love you!"
Brelyna was struggling to find the breath to speak as she was fighting against tears filling her eyes.
Nephiah closed her eyes again and slowly shook her head.
"And I'm scared! I'm scared of what will happen if I leave and I'm scared of what will happen if I stay! And I love you and I don't want you to die!" She let off a few whimpers, unable to contain them any longer. "Because you exist, you hear me!", she cried, "You do exist! Because I love you, damnit!"
Nephiah opened her eyes, tears forming in them.
"So I'm going to help you, all right? I'll help you not to die. If you'll let me."
And then, finally, Nephiah believed her.
She moved forward and kissed Brelyna passionately. She reached to her bottom and lifted her off the ground, their lips never losing contact.
Brelyna moaned as the magic of her kiss began to counteract the various types of pain she was in.
Nephiah carried her back to the table and put her down on top of the giant map of Skyrim that was laid out on it.
Brelyna fell to her back and smiled up at her. "Don't fall asleep on me now."
That was the last thing Nephiah heard and saw as a sharp pain shot through her head. Her vision blurred, sounds faded away, she lost balance.
"Nephiah?"
She collapsed to the ground.
"Nephiah!" Brelyna jumped off the table and kneeled down beside her. She shook her shoulders. "Wake up!" She held her ear to her face, the breathing was faint. She pressed their lips together, there was nothing. No magic, no warmth, no safety. Just the sound of heavy rain falling. "Wake up, damnit!", she cried, shaking her shoulders again. "I have just found you!" Her cry echoed through the storm. "Wake up!"
