Chapter 25: Act of Kindness
Brelyna arrived behind her warrior who turned and looked her in the eyes. "Fire."
Brelyna nodded and raised her hand towards the necromancer.
Nephiah pulled her close by the hip, looked her in the eye a moment and began to kiss her passionately. A flash emanated from Brelyna's palm, a bright ray of fire shot towards Wuunferth at tremendous speed.
He brought his ward up and let the flames wash over it. He visibly had trouble blocking it, he had crossed his arms in front of his face, it seemed to require his full concentration. Still hovering in the air, he was pushed back from the force of the continuing spell. He clenched his teeth and made fists, concentrating even harder. He hovered to the side, trying to get out of harm's way, but the fire followed his every move.
He began to push forward, towards the fire.
Nephiah moved her head back and turned to check on their target. Upon noticing his approach, she looked back at her mage. "He is closing in."
"M-hm?" Brelyna answered, smiling at her, not a trace of uncertainty on her face, intense fire still erupting from her hand. "Less talking, more kissing."
One side of Nephiah's mouth rose ever so slightly.
Their lips met again.
A bright yellow pulse shot through the ray of fire. As it hit Wuunferth, his ward faltered, he was flung through the air and landed in the snow a few meters back.
The Dunmer turned and began to run to him. Nephiah was ready to run her sword through his heart and put an end to it.
Again, Wuunferth shot into the sky, stopping at about five meters above ground.
"Fascinating.", he said, smoke rising from his robe. "I better keep you separated." He stuck his hands out to them. As his fist closed, Brelyna was lifted off the ground. Her flight path matched his hand as he quickly moved it to his side. She was catapulted through the air and landed in the snow on the far end of the field.
Nephiah's eyes followed her in shock. With little hesitation she stuck her foot beneath a Draugr sword on the ground, threw it up to catch it, turned on her own axis and hurled it at him. He quickly closed a fist, his telekinesis caught it in the air. He gestured further, making the sword reverse course. He reopened the fist, making the blade shoot at Nephiah. It gave off little yellow sparks as it was deflected on Nephiah's armored forearm which she had instantly raised in defense.
"This isn't what I had in mind for you but you are obnoxiously persistent." He raised both hands to shoulder height, the earth began to shake and rumble.
The tremors caused Nephiah to almost lose her balance.
Brelyna pushed herself out of the snow and looked around till she found the two of them in the distance. She began to feel the ground shaking as well. "Oh no... not again!" She got to her feet and charged a fire ball. At this distance her aim wasn't too good but maybe she could distract him.
Wuunferth didn't react to the fireball that passed a good deal behind him.
Nephiah looked to where it came from and spotted her mage across the field. She made a hand motion for her to come over, then began to run towards her.
Brelyna started to run as well.
The ground broke open all over the field, legions dead rose yet again.
"Ancient Nords killed each other in the thousands on this field, my child. So do try to enjoy yourself."
They stopped running as dozens of Draugr got to their feet between them.
"Stay there!" Nephiah yelled and readied her sword. The ebony blade cut through the air with a high pitched swish. "I'll come for you!"
The body lying at her feet was one of the Telvanni soldiers. His sword was of Elven design, she quickly picked it up with her left. Not having to fight with rusted blades that were buried for a thousand years would certainly help. Without hesitation she sliced the two Draugr closest to her apart.
The horde turned to look at her, another eerie moment of silence passed.
"Nephiah?!"
Her love's call for help lit the fire inside her, dark rage settled on her face. She stopped seeing a terrifying army of risen corpses, they were all just future victims of her fury. Woe betide the creature standing between her and her mage. She rotated the swords on her wrists.
"Azura..." Petrified, Brelyna looked into the cold, white eyes of dozens of undead, staring back at her. She charged fire balls in both her hands. Things began to run at her, she released her spells at them, setting them ablaze, throwing them off their feet on impact.
Nephiah spotted the orange light of her mage's fire rise over the army in front of her. She did not wait for them to charge her, she ran at the first Draugr standing between her and the light. Its axe hit her left hand sword, her right sliced it apart at the hip, she didn't stop moving.
Blades coming at her were shattered as they made contact with the ebony blade, both her swords twirled left and right, cutting down two undead in front of her, two more to her left and right. She didn't stop moving. She saw more fire flaring up in the distance, her mage was still fighting. She crossed her blades in front of her face, stopping a battle axe from splitting her head in half. She pushed the Draugr back, giving of a short scream. The push was so forceful, the axe impacted in the Draugr's face and shattered its skull.
She fell to a knee and stuck her arms out to both sides, impaling a flanking undead on each sword. She moved her arms forward, ripping them apart and got back up. The maneuver was over so fast that kneeling and getting up was just another step taken on her way. The undead behind her had trouble keeping up.
Brelyna charged and released flaming projectiles to the left and right, then in front of her, striking down any Draugr running at her. Her eyes were wide open, trying to identify the closest targets. Her spells fired quickly, but there were too many of them. Her breathing got faster as fear took hold of her until suddenly a fire spell wouldn't charge.
In shock she looked at her empty hand, then back up at the monster standing right in front of her. Its distorted voice uttered something she couldn't understand, it raised its axe up high above its head.
Then its top half fell to the ground, leaving its legs and hip standing, revealing her warrior behind it. Without hesitation Nephiah turned around and continued to fend off the masses.
Brelyna's spells started working again. "Damnit!", she yelled, deeply displeased with herself. Even though she loved the fact that the presence of her warrior would always help her magic, she would prefer to not keep failing when left to her own devices. She fired to the left and right while Nephiah took care of the front. "How long can we keep this up?!"
Nephiah didn't answer. She struck out in front of her, running her sword through a Draugr's chest. "Did I have a book on Telekinesis?!", she yelled over her shoulder whilst using her foot to dislodge the corpse from her weapon.
"Yes!"
"We need to get over there!" She pointed at a rock formation sticking out of the horde a good deal away from them.
"I only read the theory! How am I supposed to..." Before she could finish the sentence, Nephiah had turned around and pulled her close. "Oh, right."
The Draugr stopped and looked in bewilderment at the two Dunmer locked in a tight embrace rising from the ground, their heads tilting to the left and right as they shared a passionate kiss. They were slowly spinning around their vertical axis, it almost looked like they were dancing through the air.
Undead archers standing on the edges of the field began to release arrows their way but all missed their target as they moved faster and faster towards their destination. As they arrived, Brelyna gently set them down.
Their lips detached, they looked each other in the eye.
Detecting an approaching swishing noise, Nephiah quickly looked to her left, then pushed Brelyna away. She stumbled a couple of steps, an arrow passed where she had just stood. "You know, this would be fun if it weren't for the constant threat of death!"
Nephiah got a good look at the field from this elevated position. The masses had already turned and were coming for them, the many footsteps rumbling intensely.
Wuunferth was nowhere to be seen. She hurled the Elven sword down into the ever moving abyss, it impaled something down there from the sound of it.
She crouched down at the edge of the rock and reached for the hilt of her second ebony sword, that had been waiting for her since she had driven it into the stone earlier that day. She looked over her shoulder. "Think it's loud enough?"
Brelyna crossed her arms. "You are developing a sense of humor NOW?!"
Nephiah began to utilize her entire strength to pull the sword upwards, using it as a lever to break away the rocks it was stuck in. Her arms, her back, her legs, every muscle was working towards her goal. The rocks began to crumble, dust fell off its cracks. She began to scream as finally the blade moved up and the rocky wall beneath broke apart, creating a small avalanche of stone that crushed a good number of Draugr beneath it, even more as the heavy rocks rolled out into the field.
The entire horde came to a standstill, the sound of a thousand footsteps stopping all at the same time. They looked at the black hole that had been opened up by the Dunmer standing above it. As the dust settled, a cave was revealed to be behind it, monstrous screams echoed forth from the darkness.
The focus of the horde shifted as they turned their weapons towards the cave. A deep rumbling from beneath became louder and louder until suddenly droves of Falmer spilled out onto the field like a fountain, screaming aggressively, jumping the Draugr, cutting them apart.
Many of them had magical staffs that released ice spikes on their foes. A chaotic battle erupted, Falmer and Draugr hacking away at each other, screaming in their respective unintelligible languages.
Nephiah was breathing heavily as she watched the scene below unfold.
Brelyna stepped up behind her. "Now what?"
Nephiah began to scan the field for her primary target. "Where is he?"
Brelyna pointed at the middle of the field.
After a second of focusing on the spot, Nephiah recognized the hooded robe in the middle of rusted armor.
Wuunferth was looking confused and worried as his undead army was decimated. Many Falmer were struck down but the process took its toll.
Nephiah unsheathed her other sword, bloodlust returning to her face.
Brelyna instantly grabbed her shoulder and turned her towards her. "Please...", she said, worry in her eyes, "Don't do anything reckless."
Nephiah looked down into the chaotic vortex of violence below, then back into her eyes, raising an eyebrow.
"All right? Don't do anything ELSE that's reckless." She placed a gentle kiss on her lips.
Her kiss calmed Nephiah's rage as it always did. She moved slightly forward until their foreheads touched. She let a moment pass by, a moment in her presence, they both closed their eyes. She took a deep breath, taking in her sweet scent, the warmth that emanated from her. It was strangely peaceful.
Then she took a step back and removed herself from her mage, she looked up. "I love you."
She turned and jumped. The warm silence faded behind her as she fell, monstrous screams, harsh winds and sounds of war closed in.
Brelyna's eyes opened wide as her gaze followed her warrior into the abyss. She fell to her hands and knees and kept looking over the edge. "You weren't supposed to say it!"
Nephiah came crashing down on a Falmer, implanting both her swords in its back. The body had softened the fall, she quickly rose to her feet, her left hand sword instantly blocking a Falmer sword that came at her from the side. She quickly twisted her sword around the Falmer's until it lost hold of it, propelling it to the side. She then impaled it with her right hand sword from the chin upwards. She retracted her weapon and looked around to get her bearings.
The other Falmer didn't pay her much mind, they were all busy with the Draugr. The number of enemies on the field had been diminishing quickly. Where there was a sea of undead, there was now only groups of them, engaged in combat with groups of Falmer.
Lightning strikes lit up the field a few hundred meters out, apparently Wuunferth had decided to help his ever shrinking army.
She knew where to go.
Few enough of them were left fighting that she didn't have to cut a path to him, she could just walk between them. And so she did, at a slow and steady pace, both swords in hand. Ever focused on the target ahead, beginning to imagine what she would do once she reached him.
"You will suffer for me, won't you, child." His voice echoed in her head.
She pressed her lips together as her lust for blood began to show on her face, the need to cut him down became overwhelming. This was it. The last thread of it to be cut. The pain of memory flooded into her as she began to recognize him between the undead. It was fuel for the fire that raged inside her.
An ancient axe came at her from the side. She blocked with her left and sliced the attacker in half with her right. She didn't even look, her eyes fixed on the purple robe in front of her.
And there he was, his back turned to her, throwing thunderbolts at Falmer, not noticing the real danger that was standing right behind him. She had imagined this moment so many times. In captivity and in the many years after. Standing this close to him. Not bound and helpless, but armed. She tightened the grip on both her swords and began to charge.
Wuunferth instantly turned and raised a hand towards her, lifting her up and throwing her overhead.
She toppled over a few Draugr as she crashed into the ground and slid across the snow before coming to a halt a few meters away.
He walked closer and stuck his hand out again, lifting her into the air. There he held her. The smug look on his face was gone, it was grim, sweating in exertion. "I should have killed you twenty years ago!", he angrily shouted. He focused and began to close his fist.
Nephiah's armor began to buckle, his telekinesis was crushing it. She clenched her teeth as the steel plates she wore for protection became a tight cage closing in on her, bending her bones to the breaking point.
"Better late than never!" He raised her even higher then slammed her into the ground.
She coughed violently as she pushed herself onto hands and knees, trying to find her weapons. As she spotted them in the snow within reach, she was lifted off the ground yet again.
He began to slowly close his fist, the metal of her armor shrieked as it was bent inwards. It was getting hard to breathe, a short agonized scream was all she could muster.
Brelyna watched in terror as she the scene below unfolded. She fired a ball of fire onto him, but he was too far away for an accurate shot. It hit the ground far off to the side, doing nothing but alerting the undead below that had just dispatched the last remaining Falmer to her presence. They growled and began to run around the rocky cave to make their way up to her.
"Azura..." She charged another fireball, she had to do something. But instead of sending it flying across the field, it sizzled out, leaving a slim column of smoke to rise from her hand. "Damnit!" She shook her hand around and tried again. Nothing. "Please! I just need one good shot!"
She began to hear the rumbling of footsteps behind her. She turned to see shadowy silhouettes of undead approaching, axes and swords raised above their heads. She began to make high pitched noises while breathing, panic settled in.
She looked back to the scene below. The Draugr that had remained on the field were forming a circle around their master while he was still holding Nephiah in the air, crushing her at a sadistically slow pace. She was about to die.
Brelyna closed her eyes, relaxed her stance and let both arms fall to her side. "Azura...", she faintly said, "Mother of roses, goddess of dusk and dawn."
The footsteps behind her grew louder, growling of Draugr mixed into them.
"Guide your daughter through her time of darkness, so she may see the path to the light." She closed her fists. "Grant her the wisdom to save those dearest to her." An image flashed through her head. Beautiful dark eyes looking at her sternly, filling her with immense warmth. It was there and gone in a split second. She opened her eyes.
Wuunferth closed his fist further, a cracking noise sounded from Nephiah's chest indicating the first rib had broken. Blood began to drip out of the side of her mouth. The Draugr surrounding them were giving off a creepy chant, banging their swords against their shields.
"I was alive long before you were born, child. And I will be long after..." Startled he looked to his right, having noticed the fiery projectile of immense proportions that was moving towards him from above the cave in the distance.
Nephiah dropped to the ground as he released his spell, turned around and brought up his ward. The fireball caused an explosion on impact, sending several Draugr flying. Wuunferth's ward was depleted instantly, he was thrown backwards and landed in the snow. The ground rumbled as he came to a halt. The earth broke open and swallowed the remaining Draugr both on the field and up on the hill.
Brelyna turned around to see the undead sink into the ground right in front of her, then back to the field. She threw both hands in the air. "Yes! Oh thank you! Thank you!"
Lying on her back Nephiah forced herself to reach across her chest to grab her chest plate on the spot under her arm where it was tied to the back plate with leather strips. She gave off heavy exertion noises as she pulled as hard as she could, until the strips snapped and the armor was flung away from her, letting her breathe again. She pushed herself to a sitting position and looked for Brelyna's shape in the distance. She saw her silhouette on top of the rocks, her arms raised, excitedly jumping up and down. A side of her mouth moved up ever so slightly.
Then she turned to her hands and knees and ripped bent pieces of steel off her shoulders, upper arms and upper legs. Still coughing up blood, she crawled through the snow, eventually finding one of her swords, then the other.
Wuunferth's eyes opened, he moaned as he sat upright. Spotting Nephiah pushing herself to her feet, he instantly stretched his arm out to her and lifted her of the ground, yet not remotely as high as before. He was breathing heavily.
Nephiah didn't feel like she was being crushed so much as she was merely floating. She looked at him and spit blood his way. "Tired?!"
Wuunferth stood up. "Not even remot..." Another fireball hit him from the side, knocking him back down.
Nephiah was able to land on her feet this time.
Brelyna approached, her hands in front of her, ready to fire.
Nephiah walked up to him as he turned to lie on his back. When she was close enough for him to see her, he raised a hand. His spell made her stop her approach but it wasn't strong enough to lift her up anymore.
Brelyna arrived at her side, they both looked down upon him, fear and pain on his face.
"Is this what it was like for you?", Nephiah asked in a threatening low tone of voice. "Looking down at me?" She rotated her swords around her wrists, they stopped pointing backwards.
"Wait!" He began to plead, his long life not having him prepared for the possibility of death.
"Now you know what it was like for me." She raised both swords over her head and brought them down, arriving in a crouching position, her fury breaking his spell without effort. Both blades pierced his chest and were driven deep into the earth beneath him.
He didn't scream, his mouth just opened wide at the shock of the sensation.
Nephiah was breathing heavily as she watched the purple glow in his eyes dim and flicker. Finally, he smiled. "A slave?", he whispered. "A blasted slave..."
As he inhaled his last breath, his hands opened, lightning shot out of his fingertips across the ground and many corpses. His young face wrinkled and fell in, the black color of his long beard faded to grey, then white, then the flashes faded away into darkness. He exhaled, the purple light in his eyes disappeared, he stopped moving.
Nephiah didn't move. The possibility of closure never really occurred to her. But it was over, and she was still alive. She felt a hand on her shoulder. Her touch was a promise of the future, void of violence and conflict, void of pain. A life worth living, also a concept she did not know existed. She let go of the weapons, leaving them where they were. Arriving in an upright position, she turned around.
Brelyna brushed the wet hair out of her face. "Is it over?", she asked.
Nephiah coughed and took a half step to the side to get good footing, her legs and knees suddenly aching and feeling very weak, her bare feet suddenly freezing in the snow.
Brelyna instantly reached beneath her arms to help keep her upright. As she was sure she wouldn't fall over, Nephiah looked back into her big, concerned eyes. Very slowly, she began to nod.
The concern on Brelyna's face gave way to a big smile, reading the sincerity on her face as the darkness it was covered in faded away. She laughed an exhausted laugh of relief and began to wipe the blood away from the side of her warrior's mouth. "We should probably find you a healer.", she said, watching many more drops of blood appear all across her face. "Look at you, you're such a mess!"
She noticed Nephiah's face shift to shock and fear in an instant.
"What's wrong?" She followed her gaze down to her chest, the tip of an ancient arrow stuck out of it. "Oh no..." She turned around to see where it had come from.
Nephiah's shocked eyes opened even wider as she spotted the shape holding the bow, standing in the middle of the field.
"SLAVE!" Nephiah flinched.
"Is that him?", Brelyna asked. Then the strength left her legs and she sunk to the ground.
"Nonono!" Nephiah fell to her knees alongside her, holding her shoulders.
Brelyna began to cough, blood sprinkled on the snow in front of her.
"Brelyna no!" Deep terror coursed through her bones. This was happening, she was not prepared for it in the slightest, she did not know what to do.
Brelyna fell to her back, pushing the arrow further through her chest. She screamed, she suddenly noticed the pain.
Nephiah grabbed the arrow to pull it out.
"Ou ou ou!" Brelyna's voice was high pitched and filled with agony, so much so, Nephiah instantly let go of the arrow. She would normally work through to make her better but that sound in her voice made her stop. It was a mortal wound.
"I had no books on healing?!" Nephiah's usually very stoic voice showed her fear.
"Just the...", Brelyna coughed again, "...just the one..."
Nephiah looked up and down her body, the snow she was lying on turned ever more red. "What do I do?!"
"Kiss me..." Brelyna said under her breath.
Nephiah quickly let herself fall to her, put her hand down beside her head and moved for a kiss. It was energetic and frantic, driven by fear more than anything else.
Brelyna's eyes closed, pushing tears out of the side of them.
Nephiah moved her head back and looked around. "Nothing happened!"
Brelyna moved her hands up and took hold of her warrior's face, making her look her in the eyes. "Nephiah? Listen...", she said hastily, knowing there wasn't much time.
"Nonono..."
Tears fell onto her from her love's eyes which were still hastily looking for help all around. "Listen!"
Nephiah looked her in the eye.
"You, my love, are the bravest person I have ever known..."
Nephiah gave off a loud sob, immense pain in her eyes.
"You must continue to be brave... for me... please do..." Brelyna took a quick breath, fighting against the pain. "Please do me this kindness... Please Nephiah, you have such a good heart..." She moved her left thumb gently across Nephiah's right cheek and the scar it carried. "They tried to kill it, but it is still there." She coughed again. "I have seen it... if you would just believe me..." The sadness in her heart overwhelmed the pain in her chest. She wanted to show her things, make her laugh, find out who she was without her memories haunting her.
The dull tingling in her hands and feet, however, let her know it was not going to happen. She had only a few words left to say to her love, she just hoped she would be wise enough to not waste them.
"All I ever wanted was for you to be alive..." She looked into her big dark eyes, eyes that had given her comfort, strength, eyes she loved so much. Eyes that looked at her in pain and fear. Her warrior was dying just as much as she was. "Well that and the kisses. The kisses weren't bad either."
A short laugh broke through Nephiah's whimpers.
"Made you smile, didn't I.", Brelyna said forcing a smug expression on her face.
Nephiah slowly shook her head, a motion that eventually turned to a nod. "Yes... yes you did..."
Both giggled shortly, a movement that quickly reminded Brelyna of the pain in her chest, which in turn reminded Nephiah of hers.
Her face still in both her hands, Brelyna wiped a stream of tears away from under her eyes. "So kiss me... my noble warrior."
Nephiah closed her eyes, their lips touched.
Brelyna's hands began to emit golden sparks that danced around them like fireflies, her arms glowed in bright yellow colors. Incredible warmth shot through Nephiah's body, she could hear their hearts beating in unison. The light grew brighter and brighter, eventually engulfing the both of them, shooting up into the sky, illuminating the entire field.
Then one of the hearts slowed down.
It beat once more.
And once more.
And once more.
Then the light stopped. Its last flickering sparks rose into the dark of night. The hands holding Nephiah's face fell lifeless, so were the lips she was kissing. She slowly moved her head back and opened her eyes.
No more puffs of steam were rising from Brelyna's nose or mouth, a last tear left her eye and made its way into the snow.
It was Healing Hands, the spell she overcharged with their final kiss. It had mended Nephiah's bones, her cuts and bruises, healed even her many scars. Including the one on her cheek. Including the one on her hand. She gazed upon the back of her hand for a moment, so sign of the branding left on her.
Then her eyes fell back onto her mage. She gave off a few loud sobs at the initial realization that her love lay dead before her. She moved her head back down until their foreheads touched. "No...", she said in a half whisper, a high pitched voice interjected into mostly exhaled air.
She got to her knees and turned her gaze to the man on the field, tears streaming down her face.
"I always knew where to hit you to make it really hurt, didn't I, slave." The one eyed man smiled a sinister smile. She moved her arms out and pushed her upper body forward as she released an incredibly loud, bone chilling scream of agony.
Frokwulf kept smiling. "Now that's what I like to see."
As the emotional bomb exploded in Nephiah's head, she grabbed her shoulder and ripped the chainmail she had been wearing under her armor apart, it dropped to the ground. The rags worn under it covered only her upper torso and nether regions to prevent chafing, providing no combat protection whatsoever. She didn't care, it was heavy and restricting and she wanted it gone.
"How savage of you!", Frokwulf yelled amused.
She flung herself to the side and took hold of her swords. She began to charge him in the same movement they were pulled out of Wuunferth's corpse, flinging him around as if he had no weight at all. As she ran towards him at high speed, she screamed again, the wound she had just received powering her rage unlike anything she ever felt. It wasn't so much driving her as it was consuming everything there was, making everything weightless, pushing her from behind. Gone were the sensations of sharp winds and freezing feet.
Frokwulf unsheathed two swords of his own from behind his back. "I am Wuunferth's final breath! A fitting death, his gift to you!"
They met, the clashing of steel instantly echoed through the night. Her movements were incredibly fast, her swings incredibly powerful.
He was on the defensive right away, he had trouble keeping her at bay. More trouble than anticipated by the look on his face. He almost lost his weapon a couple of times trying to block the wraith of fury hacking away at him.
She wasn't operating with reason, nor was she exercising any kind of tactic. She saw the face of the cause of all her pain in front of her and she wanted him dead. Her body simply obeyed, every muscle focused on this singular goal.
"Slave!" Frokwulf shouted half angry, half scared. "Kneel!"
Nephiah did not flinch, nor did she slow down. She released another agonized scream, her swords still attacking in combinations of low, mid level and high attacks, waiting for the one block of his that would fail him.
"This does not hurt! You don't exist!"
Nephiah's fire lit up even stronger upon hearing this particular voice saying those particular words. She brought her foot up and kicked him in the gut with enough force to make him lose his weapons and stumble back. She brought her torso down and charged, ramming her shoulder into his stomach. She screamed as she lifted him up over her shoulder and let him crash into the ground behind her. She rotated her swords on her wrists as she turned to bring them down on her tormentor with flaming rage.
He quickly rolled to the side, the swords got burried deep in the earth. He used the second that she needed to pull them out of the ground to jump to where his blades had fallen. He grabbed both of them and quickly turned as Nephiah was already on her way. Sparks appeared where her swords met his.
She stopped slashing and held steady against his block. She moved her blades up until they crossed, he did not possess the strength to keep her down. She began to push, moving the crossed swords closer and closer to his neck.
Their faces got close, he stared into her agony filled eyes, dark, unstoppable fury burning brightly inside of them.
"When he learned you didn't die in the purge, he kept my corpse around in case he ever found you. Or you found him." He was beginning to push back harder. "Say what you will about him but he was not a fool. Because no one knows you as I do."
Her stance wavered at hearing those words. A split second of uncertainty that he instantly exploited by moving his head forward, letting his forehead collide with her nose.
She stumbled back, he instantly followed up with a kick into the gut. The pain made her lose grip of her swords.
He threw his swords down and walked up to her. "Such fire you have in you!" He grabbed her by the neck, raised her up as far as he could and then slammed her into the ground. There he held her as she was coughing. He began to squeeze.
Both her hands moved in between his arms and grabbed his neck. But instead of pushing or squeezing, she pulled him down.
'She should not be able to pull with that kind of strength' was the last he thought before his face collided with her forehead.
His hand instantly lost hold of her, she threw him off to the side and jumped up. She put a foot under one of her swords and threw it up, her right hand caught it mid air.
He had pushed himself into an unstable kneeling position. The impact had left him dizzy, blood shooting out of his nose. As he saw the blade rushing towards him, he stuck out his left arm in reflex, it was sliced off at the elbow. He screamed at the pain and the sight of his stump gushing out blood.
He turned to his right and reached for one of the Draugr swords on the ground. A high pitched swishing noise later his right hand had been separated by the ebony blade that hit the blood drenched snow beneath it. He screamed again, more in shock than pain.
She picked up her other sword and positioned herself in front of him, he looked up at her. She rotated both swords on her wrists until pointing them backwards, raised them and then brought them down with another agonized scream, driving them through his thighs, his calves beneath them and even further into the ground until the hilts stopped the movement.
He was not only disabledbut nailed to the ground.
She took a knee to be on even height with him, reached behind her back and produced her dagger. She grabbed the back of his head and held it up so he could get a good look at the Dunmeri symbols engraved on its hilt. Then she moved the tip of the dagger close to his remaining eye. "Do you like what you see?"
A thousand images flashed through her mind in that moment. Her father taking his last breath, a Bosmer boy murdered in front of her eyes, a thousand whips cracking down on her back. Brelyna's face, smiling at her. Hot iron pressing down on her hand. Blood, her own, that of a boy, a claw scratching at her face, an arrow sticking out of her love's chest. That last image lingered a second longer than the others.
She slowly moved the dagger forward, taking in every second of his agonized scream. She joined in with his screaming as the hilt reached his eye socket and wouldn't move any further.
And there she held it until he stopped making sounds, stopped moving. Her scream persisted a good while longer then his. Eventually, its echo faded into the woods.
She let go, his lifeless, mangled body fell to the side. She sat down, emptiness on her face, her cheeks wet with tears.
His skin turned grey, then black, then the icy winds tore his shape apart, blowing the ashes into the starry night. Her eyes followed his remains as they faded away, the winds whistled across the field all around her.
After a moment she forced herself to move. She crawled to Brelyna on hands and knees and sat down at her side. She took her hand, it was already very cold. She looked at her face. Tears continued to flow as pain returned to her face for a moment. "Why am I alive...", she whispered, "...and you are not..." Then emptiness yet again.
She was void of warmth, of strength, she was done. Would her mage open her eyes and smile at her, she might find the strength to move. But no such luck. She had nowhere to go, no reason to.
They were all dead.
In a way he was right.
She didn't exist.
That arrow had killed the both of them. So she just looked at her, waiting for her body to follow her spirit. "Do me this kindness...", her voice echoed through her head. She began to feel incredibly tired. She lay down in the snow at her side, resting her head on her shoulder.
Her tears began to form little ice flowers on her face. It was a cold night. She closed her eyes.
