Chapter 15: Guardian
"Nonononono..." Brelyna was muttering to herself as she nervously rummaged through a supply crate in the infirmary tent. "Not now, not now... Come on, come ON!" There wasn't much of use left. "Why is there only rope and rags in here?!"
She found a bandage and a minor healing potion.
She rushed back to the officer's tent where she had already placed some furs under Nephiah's head. She quickly kneeled down, opened Nephiah's lips and began to carefully pour the potion into her mouth. The small bottle emptied quickly, she checked the breathing again. Seemed a little more stable. She bandaged up the head wound.
"All right, all right..." She took a deep breath. "Now what." She looked around.
Spotting the horses on the far end of the camp, she quickly ran over and lead one to the entrance of the tent. Then she stopped moving, looking at Nephiah, lying there. She realized there would be no way for her to lift a person up onto a horse. She was trained in the ways of the mind, spent her days reading books, there wasn't too much heavy lifting required of her.
"Damnit." She took another two fur cloaks from the pile in the corner. While the camp was spent on healing items, there apparently was no shortage of things that keep you warm. She threw one over her shoulder and placed the other one over Nephiah like a blanket.
She kneeled down. "I'm going to get help. Please don't die." She placed a kiss on her cheek and rushed out to climb the horse. Riding lessons were mandatory at a young age in her family, she never thought it would come in handy some day.
She looked around at the chaos in the camp, then at Nephiah one last time. "I'll be only a moment."
She turned the horse and disappeared into the night.
"That was too high."
The arrow had missed the deer by a narrow margin, the noise had chased it away.
Nephiah pushed herself up out of the dry leaves on the ground. She wasn't used to firing from a crouched position and had fallen over. She looked at her father with an angry look on her face.
He giggled as he removed leaves from her hair. Whenever she got frustrated at her level of skill, he found it terribly cute. He had observed it plenty of times practicing with her at home. "Don't worry. We'll find another one."
A wolf began to growl somewhere close by. Both instantly tensed up and looked around to see where it was coming from. Waist high bushes were growing everywhere, they couldn't see it. They could merely narrow down the direction by ear. Then the sound stopped.
They looked at each other, her father pointed at her bow. She grabbed another arrow and readied it to fire. He removed the dagger from his belt, they both observed the area from which the sound was last heard closely. It was dead silent.
The wolf jumped out of the bushes in front of them with a bone chilling growl. Startled, Nephiah let go of the arrow, it hit the ground beside the animal jumping at her. She fell to her back and defensively held her bow up.
Her father threw himself into its path and began to wrestle with it until he ended up on his back, the wolf on top of him. He tried to push its chest up with his left hand and grabbed its neck with his right and pulled. It lunged down time and again, he had trouble avoiding the bite.
Nephiah pushed herself to her feet and looked at the scene, not sure what to do.
"Nephiah! Run!", her father yelled, trying to keep hold of the rabid wolf.
She hastily looked around for which way was home. Then she saw the short blade on the ground, partly hidden by leaves. Her father must have lost it when he wrestled the wolf.
Without thinking she grabbed it and threw herself against the side of the animal, pushing it off her father. They both crashed onto the ground next to him, it instantly stopped moving. The father immediately jumped up and lifted his daughter off the animal, revealing his dagger sticking out of its temple.
He took a few exerted breaths as he looked down on it, realizing that his eight-year-old had just saved his life. He looked at her and slowly put her down. Her eyes were wide open, fixed on the wolf, she didn't move.
After a moment, he removed the dagger from the wolf's skull. He crouched down in front of his daughter and looked up at her.
"A long time ago, before you were born...", he began to say as he removed leaves and twigs from her clothing. "...your mother and I were living in Morrowind on the land of a noble Dunmer house. House Redoran it was called, they were fierce warriors."
She removed her gaze from the wolf and looked him in the eyes.
"One day, one of their fighters came to our door, he was terribly wounded. We took him in and nursed him back to health." He wiped the blood off the dagger on the ground, grabbed the tip of the blade and held it up in front of her. "Out of gratitude he gave us this dagger. He said that every soldier of their house is given one when they swear their oath to protect their land and the people living in it." He took her hand and placed the dagger on her palm. "Now it's yours."
She looked at the dagger with reverence. For as long as she could remember, her father had carried it.
He pointed at the Dunmeri symbols that were engraved into its hilt. "Know what that means?"
She looked back at him and slowly shook her head.
He smiled at her and removed a drop of blood from her cheek with his thumb. "One of these days, little pup, if we find a way to keep you sitting still for five minutes, we ought to teach you to read."
"Who taught you to ride?!" Colette was trying her best to hold on to Brelyna as she pushed the horse to its limits. "Ease off, will you? I'm not used to this kind of transportation!" She struggled to stay on the horse as it rushed through the night, over adverse terrain, jumping over rocks and fallen trees.
"It's not far now!"
Skyrim's horses were big and fat and slow and nothing like what Brelyna knew from back home. But they sure had stamina. She had pushed the horse as hard as she could for hours and it didn't show any inclination towards slowing down. Eventually the light of a campfire appeared in the distance. "There!"
"Gods!" The horse stopped right in front of the officer's tent, Brelyna jumped right off.
Colette looked around in shock. "You did all this?!"
"This way!" Brelyna was standing just inside, gesturing at her to follow.
Colette shook her head and got off the horse. Once inside she crouched down beside Nephiah who was still lying there, undisturbed. She removed the bandage on her head and reviewed the damage. "I think this person is a terrible influence on you.", said Colette.
"Can you help? Please!" Brelyna had never been more afraid in her entire life, not even when the giant held on to her arm. Her love was lying there, on the brink of not being there anymore. She had no way of dealing even with the possibility.
Colette placed her palm on Nephiah's forehead, another one on her bruised forearm. They began to emit a golden glow for a moment, then she let go.
Brelyna was nervously watching her do her work.
Hands were placed on Nephiah's neck and temple. Another restoration spell and Colette was done. She took a deep breath and looked at Brelyna who looked back at her with fearful eyes, awaiting her diagnosis.
She stood up, removed her backpack and handed it over. "I have seen this condition before. Healing her body is only part of it. Whether she ever wakes up, is something she must decide for herself. I have seen people come back after a few days, others didn't come back at all."
Brelyna looked at Nephiah and then back at Colette, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"In there are all the healing potions we had in the alchemy lab. If she doesn't wake in a week, give her one every day. It will keep her body strong and healthy even though she isn't moving."
Brelyna opened the lid of the backpack, there was a good number of potions, big and small. "You can't come back to the college. You have been expelled, the Arch Mage is furious. He placed a bounty on both of you in Winterhold."
Brelyna was breathing heavily at hearing the news. She knew there would be consequences but the finality of it knocked the wind out of her.
"Neloth is also out there looking for you. He was really angry when he awoke. So find a place to hide and make those potions last."
"Thank you...", Brelyna said faintly.
Colette gently touched her cheek and smiled. "There is no spell strong enough to heal the wounds dealt by love."
Brelyna looked her in the eye.
"Oh don't look so surprised, child. I've been in love once too, you know." She left the tent and stopped to look back at them. "I wish you luck. Gods know you'll need it." Then she began to walk down the path leading out of the camp.
"Don't you want the horse?" Brelyna yelled after her.
"Are you crazy?", Colette yelled back without turning around. "I'm not riding that blasted thing! Whiterun isn't far west from here, I'll take a carriage like normal people!" She disappeared in the darkness.
Brelyna stepped outside. Dawn was on the horizon. She realized she better be gone before day break, there was no telling when people would come looking to have dealings with the camp.
She rushed to the torn down tent and dragged out leathers and long pieces of wood that had held them upright. It didn't take her long to fashion a make shift stretcher out of wood, furs and leather strips. She usually wasn't good with her hands but then again, she didn't really think about what she was doing. Her mind was focused on one singular goal. Getting Nephiah out of there.
After rolling her onto the stretcher, she lifted one end of it up and dragged it to the horse. There she strapped it on to the saddle, the horse wouldn't have any trouble pulling the weight. A few final strips of leather ensured Nephiah wouldn't fall off on the way, for the stretcher was leaning on the horse like a ramp.
Finally, she got on and looked back at her precious cargo. "If this turns out to be something that happens every two days with you, we are going to have words!"
The stone door opened, revealing Brelyna who was slowly dragging Nephiah backwards. She was exhausted. The ride home had taken long, but getting Nephiah down the hole and past the traps without setting any of them off had taken even longer.
She eventually reached the bed and placed her onto it. As she had finally reached safety, she sank to the floor and leaned her back to the bed.
After a few exerted breaths she turned her head and looked at Nephiah lying there, looking very peaceful. "You are heavy, has anyone ever told you that?"
After a moment of rest she pushed herself to her feet and looked around. The fire in the center chalice was still flickering, so were a few of the torches on the wall. She sighed. "I guess this is home now."
She put the backpack down beside the bed and walked into the kitchen. Something was brewing in the kettle over the fire place, the stones around which were still giving off heat.
She walked up to it and lifted the lid. She immediately recognized the smell greeting her upon opening the kettle. "Rabbit stew!" She looked to the doorway leading to the living room. Nephiah must have whipped something together for her earlier. She put on a melancholy smile as she put the lid back onto the kettle.
She walked to the storage area. She began rubbing her shoulders as suddenly the pain made its presence known again. The chaos from Nephiah tossing the shelf over was still there.
The small secret room was also still open, Nephiah hadn't the mind to close it when she got the notebook earlier. She took another look into the chest. The robe and the dagger were still lying in there. She lifted up the dagger. It was rusted and had traces of dried blood on it. But she recognized the design, she had been educated in Dunmer politics early on. It was made by House Redoran. She also recognized the symbols that were artfully carved into it. They formed just the one word, 'guardian'. "Hm." She put it back down.
Back in the living area she found herself in front of the pile of books. Browsing the titles she found one called 'The Artfulness of Dual Wielding'. She pulled it out of the pile and opened it.
It had descriptions of various combat techniques with illustrations, it was very detailed. "You would have liked this one."
She carried it over to the bed and sat down at Nephiah's side. She looked at her, sadness sinking in as she gently brushed strands of hair out of her face. "Well, since you can't read, I'll just have to read it to you."
She nodded reaffirmingly and opened the book. "The Artfulness of Dual Wielding by Fenin Marqiditte. Dual Wielding is the single most demanding form of combat on the warrior. No shield provides protection and both hands must be coordinated perfectly for an imprecise block or a missed thrust may be deadly."
Brelyna took a deep breath. She was reading to her love, unsure if she would ever wake up. If she would ever look into her beautiful eyes, have her looking back. If she would ever...
She focused on the text in front of her. "However the skilled warrior can engage multiple enemies simultaneously with an effectiveness unrivaled by other fighting styles." Her voice started to shake, she closed her eyes and slammed the book shut. "Damnit."
She let the book drop to the floor.
She lay down closely at Nephiah's side, took her hand and brought it up to her lips. She placed a gentle kiss on it as she began to give off faint whimpers. "Come back to me? Please?", she faintly said.
She moved her thumb over the back of Nephiah's hand, up and down, up and down, looking at her closed eyes.
She looked more at peace now than ever before. "Is this what you want..."
After a moment of silence she placed another kiss on her hand, pushed herself up and let herself slide to the floor. She began to whisper, tears forming in her eyes. "Azura, mother of roses, goddess of dusk and dawn. Let your wisdom guide your daughter, so she may know the shadows in the light and the light in the darkness. Watch over her spirit, for it has suffered so much. Guide her wherever her path may lead. Even if it is away from me." She put her head on her knees and began to cry.
