Chapter 20: Scorched Earth

Heavy clouds were hanging low across the dark night's sky, promising a furious snowstorm to erupt soon. The Dunmer were treading slowly through the knee high snow, the horse at their side carried the dead vampires.

"This forest looked a whole lot different in daylight.", Brelyna began to speak. "It has to be around here somewhere." A faint orange glow appeared over a hill in the distance. "Look!" She pointed at it. Then she quickly stuck her hands back under her armpits. "Damnit, it's cold."

As the light drew closer, faint music could be heard. Brelyna began to wonder. "This man they called the Unliving... What is he all about?"

"Necromancer." was the short reply.

"All right? Got anything else?"

A moment passed "He was always there... his plan, his men."

"He was their leader? The man Frokwulf was writing the journal for?"

Nephiah nodded, her face showing the discomfort of bringing the images to memory.

"All right, so I asked around. Siegalf has been a hired sword for as long as people remembered him. There were some grim tales of him doing despicable things. Apparently anything was acceptable for the right amount of gold."

Nephiah didn't hear anything that was new to her.

"So I've been thinking. Maybe you don't kill him right away. Maybe we could ask him about his former employer first? See if he knows how to find him?"

Nephiah looked to her side and nodded. Talking to the man had never occurred to her, she was pleasantly surprised by the idea.

Snow began to fall, a few flakes at first, the promised storm followed soon after. The roof of the hall appeared over the horizon, Brelyna stopped the horse.

Nephiah pulled the corpses down and grabbed them by the collars, one in each hand. She looked at her mage, her face asking for instructions.

"Let's sneak up and have a look through the window first. See what we're up against."

The corpses were dropped, they carefully moved up the hill until they reached a window.

Nephiah's breathing had begun to intensify as soon as the entire hall was revealed and the sound of song and laughter from inside had gotten louder. She took a quick look through the iced up glass. The hall was packed with Vigilants, a few of them mages, many of them armed with steel swords and maces. She sunk to the ground, pressed her back against the wall and squeezed her eyes shut as her breathing got deeper, her heartbeat faster.

"Nephiah!", she noticed a whispered shout. She quickly opened her eyes and looked into the direction of its origin. Big, worried eyes looked at her.

"Remember what we are here to do!" Her face was gently taken hold of by two soft hands. "You are in control now!"

She shut her eyes and nodded quickly, trying to calm down. After a moment of conscious deep breathing, her heartbeat slowed down a little, she took another look inside.

"Do you see Siegalf anywhere?"

She did. He was sitting at a table in the middle, a Vigilant sitting to both his left and right. If they were to defend him, it would be a tough fight. She already pondered ways to quell their numbers before any actual fighting could begin. Him. And the two at his table. She could knock them out before anyone would have a chance to react. Then it would only be ten of them. The fight was playing in front of her eyes, movements planned, reactions anticipated.

"Nephiah!"

She was drawn back to reality.

"Remember. Don't kill him until we have our answers."

Nephiah looked at her, the expression on her face showing her need for action.

"Just... just let me do the talking."

Nephiah's face now informed her of the redundancy of that last remark.

Brelyna gave off a short laugh. "All right. Go get the decoy, I'll be inside. It's freezing out here."

Brelyna stepped up to the door as her warrior disappeared down the hill. She took a few deep breaths, she was nervous. She had seen Nephiah do what she does often enough to know that she was about to enter an unpredictable battlefield. This hall of song and chatter would soon be a room of chaos and violence in which luck would dictate who walks out and who doesn't. Never mind that they were outnumbered six to one. She ran through her spells once more, remembering the many weeks she practiced. "Don't screw this up, Brelyna.", she said to herself. She took another deep breath and pushed the door open.

The bard abruptly stopped his song and the sound of chatter and laughter vanished. A cloud of snow and ice followed her as she stepped inside. The fireplace flickered violently, candles were blown out. The dozen battle hardened faces stared at the door, some carefully preparing to draw their swords, others charging a spell behind their backs. For a moment, all she could focus on was the warmth of the fire that greeted her, replacing the icy air outside.

She looked across the room and smiled. As tension made way for relief, the inhabitants of the hall burst into laughter, sheathing their swords, sitting back down to their tables and corner benches.

One of the Vigilants stood up from his stool by the fireplace and took his flagon to a barrel of mead. "What brings you to the Hall of the Vigilants in the middle of the night, little Elf?", he asked as he refilled his drink and the bard continued his song.

"Me? Nothing." She took a step aside, revealing the snow storm outside.

"By Ysmir's beard, girl! Close the door! Do you not... do you not see the... the storm..." His train of thought was interrupted by what began as a faint knocking but revealed itself to be heavy footsteps drawing close.

Song and chatter fell silent once more. A shape in heavy armor and a hood walked through the door. Hands went towards sword grips yet again, as the vigilants realized, the warrior walking in was dragging two vampire corpses, one in each hand.

The wooden floor boards shook loudly as the dead undead hit the ground. Brelyna shut the door, quieting the sharp whistling of the wind as Nephiah scanned the room, finally locking eyes with Siegalf. She wanted to charge him right now. She made fists as she stared at him, the fire inside her flaring up, compelling her to act. Her stance shifted slightly, not openly hostile but in a way that would instill dread in anyone she looked upon.

Every Vigilant in the room was prepared to draw iron at a moment's notice.

She turned right, stepped over the corpse and closed in as people evaded her.

The man sitting across from Siegalf vacated his seat without being asked, she sat down. He looked nervously at his companions, sitting to his left and right. "Did you kill these abominations yourself, friend? G-good man!" He flinched as she reached up to remove the hood. "Another one?! You're not a man at all! What is it with Greyskins tonight?!" He laughed until he realized that his opposite neither smiled nor broke eye contact with him.

"Listen, Elf, you did Stendarr's work by killing those Deadra worshipers." He didn't believe in Stendarr or the Vigilant's cause. He had however learned that using certain words improved his standing with them, made work easier. They paid well, so he didn't care. "But if you think, there is a bounty for you, you will leave disappointed."

As the rest of the room fell back into lively evening chatter, his words were met by only silence.

Nephiah looked at him, remembered him, imagined the things she was about to do.

"What's your name, Elf?"

Her mage had stepped up behind her. "My name is Brelyna Maryon of House Telvanni. This is Nephiah."

"Damnit! Damnit!" Tears filled Siegalf's eyes, he looked to the heavens. "She will kill you today, you know that, don't you."

Brelyna stepped closer to the man who fruitlessly struggled against Nephiah's hold. The expression on her face darkened as she not only understood the fire he helped light in her warrior but she also began to feel it's heat. "Might as well tell us where he is."

A moment of clarity filled him and he looked back down into Nephiah's eyes. "He is untouchable, wench! You little worm will never..."

Nephiah's left fist closed and began to pull.

His scream was bone chilling,

Brelyna looked away.

Nephiah's hand moved away from him until a faint snap was heard. She let go of him, he dropped to the floor like wet cloth.

"You... you damned whore... you don't stand a chance against him now...", he whimpered.

Nephiah left the hall without looking back.

Brelyna looked around, pondering how the fire inside Nephiah had a way of manifesting itself in the real world every time it flared up. Another falling wooden beam quickly enticed her to follow outside.

She was sitting in the snow, looking up into a majestic, star filled sky. Brelyna came up behind her and sat down as well. She leaned sideward, resting her head on Nephiah's shoulder. As the roof of the hall finally came down, Siegalf's screams were heard for a short time, then nothing but crackling fire behind them. A shooting star rushed across the sky.

Brelyna gazed upon the calm and quiet eternity for a moment. It was beautiful in its own right, but the stark contrast to what she had just been part of took her a moment to process. That they were both sitting here, in one piece, filled her with immense relief, but it also made her just a little bit proud. Nobody trusted her to be a capable mage, she herself least of all. But that opinion was changing every time she followed her warrior into battle. She took a deep breath and looked to her love, realizing that they had just hit a dead end. "Now what."

Nephiah stared at the ground in front of her.

Brelyna sensed her sadness but the adrenalin rush put her in a strangely good mood. She gave off a short laugh. "Siegalf did and said pretty much anything for the right amount of gold. And he calls YOU a whore." She giggled and poked Nephiah in the side with her elbow. She got no reaction. She looked back to the blue glittering of the icy forest. "So hard to make you smile."

A moment of silence passed, their breath casting soft white clouds in the air. "You know, I bet we could have gotten it out of him if we had kept him alive a little longer."

Nephiah looked to her side.

"I'm serious! You are very intimidating." She smiled and nudged her again.

Nephiah looked back at the ground in front of her.

"You have to control yourself a little better. How about you just defer to me next time."

Nephiah took a deep breath. "Next time..."

"We will figure something out." She nodded reaffirmingly. After a moment Nephiah reached over and took her hand, their fingers intertwined.

She lost hold of her hand shortly after for the steel mace that was thrown at her back hit her with considerable force, making her topple over into the snow.

Shocked, Brelyna looked back to see where the object came from, only to see a woman already running towards her. It was another Vigilant by the looks of it.

She pushed herself to her feet as fast as she could but by the time she was in any position to cast a spell, the Vigilant had already reached her and put a powerful right hook across her chin. She was thrown off her feet and rolled down hill for a few meters before coming to a halt close to losing consciousness.

The Vigilant instantly grabbed Nephiah by the shoulder plating and turned her over so she would lie on her back.

She was still coughing from the violent impact on her back plate.

The Vigilant grabbed her armor and lifted her torso up. "What have you done?!" She crashed her down into the ground and lifted her back up.

"Who are you?!" She crashed her down into the ground and lifted her back up.

"What!" She punched her across the face with her right, still holding her up with her left.

"Have!" Another hit.

"You!" Another hit.

"DONE?!" She crashed her into the ground a third time.

Nephiah was dizzy, the Vigilant's rage was quite powerful. She stood up and found her mace in the snow a couple of steps away. She picked it up and walked back to Nephiah, breathing deeply. "We are fighting a war! Against a very dangerous enemy! And you may have just handed them victory!" She looked down upon the warrior who just killed her brothers and sisters, burnt down her home, destroyed any hope she had of completing her mission. She tightened the grip on her mace and raised it into the air. There was nothing left to do for her here, she brought the mace down.

As Nephiah's instincts kicked in, she stopped coughing, the expression of pain vanished from her face in an instant. She moved her hands across her face and took hold of the incoming weapon, stopping its impact but a hair away from her forehead.

They began to struggle, the Vigilant trying to pull the mace away, Nephiah holding it in place.

She forcefully rolled over, pulling the mace and Vigilant with her until she fell. They rolled over each other a few times, trying to gain the upper hand, until Nephiah ended up on top of her, pushing the arm holding the mace down into the snow.

The Vigilants free hand immediately shot up and grabbed her foe's neck.

Nephiah paid it no mind, she brought her steel plated right hand down on the Vigilant's right forearm which was still pushed to the ground, holding the mace. The Vigilant was wearing customary robes so the cracking noise and subsequent scream were unavoidable. The mace was let go as the arm broke. It wasn't hard for Nephiah to remove the hand from her neck after that. She grabbed the Vigilant's neck in return and stood up, pulling her along. Once standing she lifted her up in the air and slammed her back down into the ground, keeping her hand in place. There was little resistance after that. Nephiah still felt the shock of impact in her bones, the fist on her cheek, she began to squeeze.

"Stop!" Brelyna's voice echoed through her mind.

She stopped and looked up.

Brelyna stepped closer, wiping blood from her nose. "Ask her!", she yelled.

Nephiah looked back down. "I squeeze, you die.", she said calmly. " The Unliving. Where."

The Vigilant's face was distorted from pain and confusion. "W-what..."

"The Unliving.", Nephiah said again.

"We fight vampires too... why do this..."

"You misunderstand." Brelyna had crouched down beside them. She looked into the Vigilant's pain filled eyes. The high she had felt a moment ago, prevailing against a hall filled with them had vanished. What was left was a deep nausea, a sense of wrongness that she didn't know if she could stop. Or if she should.

"There is a man known as The Unliving. A necromancer. One of your brothers knew where he is, now we are asking you."

"W-wha..." The Vigilant's breathing was uneven from various types of pain. "That's what this is about?"

"Apparently." Brelyna answered. "Point us the right way, we'll let you live." Brelyna had no desire to kill her. Guilt over the entirety of this evening was settling in as this one gave all of them a face. She was all too willing to give up her alibi for this chance at redemption.

Nephiah looked up at her, the obvious question in her eyes.

"We'll manage..."

Nephiah noticed the sincerity on her face, in her voice. She looked back down and loosened the grip.

"Well, that went to pieces quickly..." Brelyna uttered to herself.

"W-w..." The Vigilant's confusion was ever growing.

"Never mind.", she sighed. "Just tell us. Please. We'll let you go."

The Vigilant took a moment to collect her thoughts. "I.. I only know of one man by that name... Wuunferth..." The Dunmer looked at each other, then back at the Vigilant.

"All right? Where might he be?"

The Vigilant began to laugh. "If your plan is to do to him what you did to us..."

Nephiah tightened her grip again, Brelyna instantly put her hand on it to stop her from going too far. "Just tell us..."

The laughter was broken up by choughs. "He is Ulfric's court wizard. Quite a powerful mage. Not that he needs to be given that he is protected by an entire army..."

"Azura..." Brelyna knew of Ulfric. He was leading the Stormcloak rebellion from his throne in Windhelm. If he was his court wizard, that's where he'd be. She had visited their alchemist a couple of times, she remembered the looks she had gotten just crossing the street. Elves weren't particularly welcome. And yes, the bulk of his army was stationed there. She got to her feet, a hand on her forehead.

She put a hand on Nephiah's shoulder. "Let's go."

It took Nephiah a moment to release the Vigilant, she still thought it better to quell the danger right here. "Come on..."

She let go and stood up. She looked down on her target as the Vigilant pressed the broken arm to her chest with the other hand. The sight was pitiful, the fire in Nephiah dimmed. She felt a deeply unpleasant sensation in her stomach, she couldn't quite identify it. As it grew stronger with every second she looked at the Vigilant, she quickly turned and followed her mage.

"Sparks must have run off, trying to find shelter." The horse was nowhere to be seen as they reached the foot of the hill. Brelyna whistled loudly. Nothing. "He'll show up eventually, he always does." She sighed. "Windhelm..." She turned to Nephiah. "Listen, this changes things. Remember that Stormcloak camp? There are hundreds of them in Windhelm, including Ulfrik himself."

Nephiah looked at her, not understanding the significance of the name. "You know? Ulfrik Stormcloak? Leader of the rebellion? Killed the High King?"

Nephiah raised an eyebrow. "What, have you lived in a cave the past twenty years?" She giggled. "Never mind."

They started to walk into the forest, heading east. "If Wuunferth is the court wizard there, he is virtually untouchable. The number of people protecting him... just take all the enemies we have faced thus far and multiply. By a lot." She stopped. "Also we have a bounty on our heads there because of the Nightgate Inn. I don't suppose we can call the whole thing off?"

Nephiah's facial expression darkened.

"That's what I figured."

An ice spike hit Brelyna from behind. Her ward was instinctively raised to block it, she didn't even have to think about it anymore. But the impact made her stumble forward a few steps.

As Nephiah turned around to look for the source, her breast plate was hit by a second projectile. It shattered and sent her flying backwards until she landed in the snow a few meters back.

Brelyna turned around, saw the column of ice quickly closing in from the top of the hill, threw her hands up and sent flames towards it to stop its approach. As the two beams met, one icy blue, one flaming orange, violent arcane discharges crackled through the air at the contact point. The ray of ice was slowed but didn't stop. Brelyna leaned into the incoming fire to not get pushed back, the hostile spell was very potent.

Nephiah pushed herself up and shook the snow from her face.

The Vigilant was slowly walking down the hill, her left hand stretched out, casting the ice spell. The broken arm she pressed against her chest, forming a fist that was also glowing in bright blue.

"My name is Carcette!", she began to yell. "Keeper of the Vigil! Defender of Stendarr's light!" She moved her casting hand backwards and thrust it forward, once more intensifying her spell.

It pushed Brelyna back, leaving deep trails from her feet in the snow.

Nephiah got to her feet and began to run towards her, grabbing the hilts of both swords that were sheathed on her back.

The Keeper opened the fist of her broken arm, the palm pointing outwards. Another ice spike was released and shattered on Nephiah's armor, sending her flying back yet again. The distance between the ray of ice and Brelyna shortened to a worrisome degree, she pressed her lips together, squeezed her eyes shut and held against it with all she had.

"Stendarr have mercy on you!" The Keeper shouted. "For the Vigil has none!" With that a pulse shot through her arm into the spell. It traveled across the ray of ice, doubling its diameter as it went.

Unimpressed by Brelyna's spell, the pulse traveled through the flames as well until it was revealed to be another ice spike that was fired through the ice ray from the same point of origin. It impaled her left hand, she screamed as she was thrown back and landed in the snow.

The rays of ice and flame dissipated instantly, the Keeper began to charge something else.

Nephiah pushed herself up again and looked in shock at her mage, lying on the ground, a large piece of ice lodged in her hand. She grabbed a sword from her back with both hands and hurled it towards her foe, it made high pitched swishing noises as it rapidly cut through the air.

The Keeper opened her fist again, sending a projectile to intercept. The ice hit the blade mid air, changing its trajectory up and back until it came down on the spot from which it was thrown.

Nephiah jumped to the side, the sword cut deep into the frozen soil. She landed on her stomach in the snow, a few meters away from Brelyna who was lying on her side, holding her aching hand.

Their eyes met, anger on Nephiah, pain on Brelyna, fear and uncertainty mixed in with both.

Brelyna's eyes widened, she stretched her right hand out towards the Keeper.

"Kiss me...", she whispered. Without hesitation, Nephiah began to crawl over to her as fast as the high snow would allow. The intensifying blue aura around the Keeper promised nothing good, she released her spell. A bright blue beam of ice made its way across the field at tremendous speed. Nephiah reached her mage just before it hit and pressed her lips against Brelyna's. Her eyes closed.

Time froze for a moment, blocking out all noise around them, all she heard was the heartbeat of her love. Her right hand began to glow, the incoming ice spell mere centimeters away from her, frozen in movement like everything else. As time began to run at its normal speed, a bright flash from her hand was the prelude to a ferocious fire storm to be cast forward. It effortlessly vaporized the incoming ice spell, including the snow on the ground, leaving a trail of scorched earth behind.

It reached the Keeper before she even had time to identify it, all she knew was it was odd and dangerous. There wasn't much of a scream as the fire consumed her as quickly as the snow she stood upon. A partly melted amulet of Stendarr was all that remained, it fell to the ground where the Keeper once stood. Eventually the spell joined the flames that still engulfed the burning hall on the hill. Their lips detached.

Their eyes opened, they turned their heads to see the long crater they had just produced.

Brelyna gave off a short laugh, again finding it all very absurd. Shortly after the ice spike that was still sticking in her hand made its presence known again. "Ou ou ou!"

Nephiah got up and helped her mage to her feet. She took hold of the spike's wide end and looked into her eyes. "I'll be quick."

Brelyna nodded and closed her eyes. She sighed in anticipation of more pain. "Breton mages are a nightmare..."

Heavy muffled footsteps began to be noticeable in the distance, they looked around.

"Sparks?" Brelyna asked.

Nephiah shook her head. "That's two horses."

She let go of the spike and grabbed her upper arm instead. She quickly pulled her to the tree line, removing her sword from the ground as they passed it. They crouched down in the bushes, the darkness of night concealed their position further. "Shhh."

Two riders appeared on the path to the hall, judging from their attire, they were Vigilants as well. "Stendarr's mercy!", one of them said as they began to make out the carnage. As they reached the start of the trail of crystallized earth that lead up the hill, they got off their horses.

They grabbed their steel maces and slowly followed its path. Half way up the hill one of them stopped and kneeled down. He picked up the scorched amulet and turned it around. He could make out a bit of the engraving on its back. "Gods... this was Carcette's." He held it up to his companion with a shocked look in his eyes.

The other Vigilant continued up the hill, tears formed in his eyes as the burning roof of the hall was revealed, the burning walls, fallen brothers lying in the snow outside. The burnt door had already fallen out of its hinges, he could see the corpses inside. Brothers, sisters. As he spotted red armor through the flames. He ran towards the hall and began to look for a way inside. His companion reached the hill top behind him. "Tolan! What are you doing?! They are all dead!"

"Look!" He pointed at one of the bodies on the floor inside. His companion walked up behind him and found the spot that was being pointed at. He recognized the shape of a vampire. And another one.

"Gods help us." The Vigilant was shaken, he couldn't move.

His companion put a hand on his shoulder. "Tolan... this was very recent, we should leave."

He still didn't move. "They wouldn't be bold enough to attack us here unless there was a lot of them. If they come back..." Tolan turned around. He looked his companion in the eye for a moment, then ran past him towards the horses.

His companion followed. "What are we going to do?!", he yelled after him. "Find reinforcements." Tolan said, jumping onto his horse.

"Stendarr's Beacon? There should be a handful of us there."

Tolan shook his head. "We need more." With that they charged off into the night.

As soon as they were certain they wouldn't be spotted, the Dunmer got to their feet.

"What do you suppose that was all about." Brelyna asked, staring into the distance where the Vigilants began to fade. As they were gone, she sighed. "Well at least the plan worked. OUCH!"

Nephiah tossed the ice spike away and produced a bandage from her pouch.

Brelyna's knees got soft. She began to fall but was instantly caught by Nephiah who continued to gently lead her to a secure kneeling position. "Learned any healing spells?", she asked as she began to apply the bandage.

Brelyna sucked in air through her teeth and gave off a short moan. "Yes and no..."

Nephiah carefully continued.

"Given your affinity to get into brawls, I read the book on Healing Hands but that would only work on others. If it would work. I tried it on a fox once. It OUCH! it didn't work as intended. Made a nice stew though. OU!"

Nephiah looked at both sides of the bandaged hand. "This will do for now. We should find shelter, then I'll stitch it up."

Brelyna's eyes opened wide. "Stitch?!"