Chapter 5
The two renegades walked silently into Rorikstead with downcast faces. Lylaia tied up the horse and asked around to find the nearest inn. A young farmer guided her to the tavern and Leon followed her down the road. They entered the small building and talked to the inn keeper to arrange a room with two beds. The inn keeper apologized when she could only offer them two separate rooms. Lylaia understood and told her it was fine. The innkeeper offered Leon some medical supplies and he thanked her before patching himself up slowly. When Lylaia had entered her own room she gave the key to Leon with a skeptical look.
"Don't think I won't be watching you. Don't go running off now." She warned him with a stern gaze.
Leon sighed, "Where would I go?"
Lylaia seemed confused, "Wow, you sound seriously depressed. Are you okay?"
Leon glared at her, "The fact that I was randomly taken from my home and forced to believe in some ancient prophecy ticks me off a little bit, but you wouldn't understand would you?"
Lylaia gaped, "Well look who turned on the attitude! I saved your life Stryde! Don't you forget that."
Leon rolled his eyes, "Well I'm safe now. Could you please disappear from my life, what say, forever?!"
Lylaia groaned exasperatedly, "How dare you! My lord and master commands me to see to it that you are kept safe and all you have for me is reproach?"
Leon chuckled sarcastically, "Of course! It always comes back to your precious little master, doesn't it?"
Lylaia nodded, "Well of course, he's the one that got us out of that mess in Whiterun!"
Leon shouted angrily at her, "Well if he's going to help us, why not show his face?"
Lylaia's eyes burned with uncontrollable rage, "You dare test Hircine? Do you not know your place, fool?"
Leon stuck his finger accusingly at her, "Don't talk to me like that! Don't act like you know who he is! This guy is a cloak and dagger act at best! He wouldn't dare show his face in the mortal world because he has no power here!"
Lylaia looked shocked and was speechless for a moment, "You-… You really don't understand anything do you?"
Leon scoffed, "Enlighten me."
Lylaia nodded but a certain look in her eyes depicted a strange fear, as if some dark force were tightly wrapping itself around her neck, strangling the deep rooted courage she had had for so long, "Hircine is the Daedric lord of the Hunt. You know this well because I have told you. What you do not know is that he already walks this world without us knowing. You have seen him before, if you hadn't he would not have ordered me to kill you."
Leon cocked an eyebrow in utter confusion, "What are you getting at Lylaia?"
Lylaia took a deep breath and started to shudder faintly, "Hircine is the spirit of blood lust. He is manifested within the hunt, but he resides many different places. The shadows of the physical world, and the dark thoughts of our minds are home to him. He is a Daedra, but not like the others, not like them at all."
Leon was starting to look concerned, "You are starting to sound psychotic, and you are beginning to scare me a little. What are you trying to tell me?"
Lylaia shook her head in dismay, "I cannot tell you, the horrors and dark deeds of the Daedra. But I am bound by his word to escort you across Skyrim and hand you off to fate."
Leon figured she'd gone off the deep end and nodded in false agreement, "Alright. Well it has been a very long couple of days and I think you ought to be getting some sleep about now."
Lylaia nodded, "I suppose you're right. In the morning we will set off."
Leon cocked an eyebrow, "Where are we going?"
Lylaia smiled, "I do not know. Hircine will tell us."
Leon nodded and moved to his room after she closed the door behind him. He opened the door and stripped his armor off before lightly tapping at him wound. It still ached but bled no longer. He laid down on the bed of bear and mountain lion furs. Leon looked at the ceiling and tried to comprehend what he had just heard. 'Is she crazy? She seems to know an awful lot about the Daedra but she doesn't want to tell me anything about it. I thought she was gonna kill back there, was she in a trance or something? Crazy woman…' Leon thought to himself just before he drifted into sleep.
Lylaia felt herself drift slowly into a deep sleep where her dreams soon took over. Just like she always was when she dreamed with Hircine, she took the form of a shadow. A scene slowly emerged in front of her; a tall mountain with a winding path of steps led up to a temple filled with old monks that seemed eerily silent. The base of the mountain was mainly inhabited with farmers and travelers taking a rest at the local tavern.
A soft voice spoke to her, 'He belongs here, at the temple on the mountain. The only way to take him there would be on foot and the trek up the mountain would be perilous if not exhausting.'
Lylaia was at ease when she recognized the voice as Hircine, yet suddenly chilled when she heard an unfamiliar voice. 'Hircine you are a fool. The boy will not accept their offer. The Greybeards do not worry themselves over an unsure boy that cannot even Shout. They would turn him away at a second glance.' The voice was of female variety and seemed a loud whisper; raspy and legato like.
'You'd do well to remember your history Mephalla. The Greybeards had no intention of training any Dragonborns until Paarthurnax convinced them.' Hircine corrected the lady of whispers with a swift tongue. 'My disciple does not need to be led astray by your dull whispers.'
'Some would covet such a strong and loyal follower. I'm sure Mehrunes Dagon has not had such a follower since The Opening.' Mephalla chuckled a bit when thinking of the Daedric lord.
'I worry not of Mehrunes, my thoughts reside with Sheogorath and Clavicus Vile. Both have not seen mortal affairs in quite some time.' Hircine grumbled almost angrily.
'You need not worry of Sheogorath. He found himself a champion when he showed a young man the Shivering Isles on a whim. A foolish choice to invite mortals to his own realm, but it turned out okay for him. Clavicus has been a bit moody lately. You'd best watch out for your trusty disciple and her Dragonborn companion.' Mephalla's voice faded as she laughed heartily and Hircine reiterated the location once more before Lylaia was jolted awake.
Lylaia opened her door and realized it was morning. She walked across the hall and rapped on Leon's door, "Leon I know where we are supposed to go. My dream depicted it pretty specifically I think I can find it on a map." There was no answer from inside the room and Lylaia tried to knob and realized it was unlocked. The door swung open to reveal an empty bed and none of Leon's belongings remaining.
"Damn that foolish Dragonborn!" Lylaia cursed and slammed the door behind her before running down the stairs and out of the inn after paying the innkeeper. She ran to find the horse unhitched and nowhere to be found.
The farmer from the night before waved to her, "That boy rode out this morning, before the crack of dawn even! Said he was heading west towards Markarth, didn't say why." Lylaia thanked him but cursed under her breath. 'That stupid boy is going the wrong way!' she headed out of the town going west when four soldiers on horseback confronted her a ways out of town.
"There was a report saying a young Wood Elf and Nord man were seen on a stolen horse last night just after the killing of an imperial soldier. We'd like to take you to solitude for questioning ma'am." The first soldier spoke as he dismounted his horse and pulled out his sword.
Lylaia couldn't possibly fight four soldiers head on, she was used to getting the jump on enemies but this was a bad situation. 'I can't go to Solitude! That's days from Markarth!' she thought angrily. When she thought all hope of ever finding Leon again was lost one of the soldiers was knocked off his horse by a flying axe. Lylaia gasped and jumped back. She took this as an opportunity and unsheathed her bow while readying an arrow. Before she could even let it fly the soldier she was aiming at was hit by another mysterious axe.
"What in the name of Hircine is going on here?" Lylaia groaned when the last two soldiers ran after seeing nothing around them that could've thrown the axes. There was a thump behind her and she turned on a dime to see a tall man holding a large dwarven hammer in front of her. "Who the hell're you?" Lylaia asked cautiously.
The man smiled and walked past Lylaia to take his axes back from the dead bodies of the soldiers. "The names Kell but I think you should be asking why I helped you." Kell was a tall, greatly toned man with a deep caramel tint to his skin. His eyes were a dark green color and his armor was of Ebony make, with a blue tint to the shiny black armor. Kell had dark brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail with a bloody white ribbon.
"Fine, I'll bite. Why are you helping me?" Lylaia cocked an eyebrow and figured it was safe to sheath her arrow, while still keeping her bow out for defense.
Kell wiped the blood off of his axes with his gloved hand but only seemed to smudge it in deeper. He sheathed them at one side and slung his hammer over his back. "I was sent here by the Blades to help Leon make his trek to the Greybeards."
Lylaia cocked an eyebrow, "The Blades? As in the ancient dragon slayers?"
Kell grinned, "Who else?"