A/N: Thank you for reviews, it's nice to know that somebody is reading. ^^ And thanks for the note about spelling, I'll try to improve! Even if I try not to leave such mistakes (English is my secondary language :/) I'm sorry if that happens. I usually recheck later, and correct mistakes that I find.
(As deletes star marks I used to put as separation marks in the story, now I put three 'I I I' letters.)
Hope you enjoy this chapter! (:
Chapter 3: Curse Of The Nature
Her eyes were still sealed, but she woke up with that odd feeling pressing her head from inside. Her head ached. She cracked her eyes open and stared at the wooden ceiling, then rose at her elbows. She blinked and the thought stroke her.
The letter!
She jumped from the bed only to bend from a sudden pain in her legs. She breathed in deeply and cast a healing spell in both her hands, to feel it running pleasantly through her body. The pain dissolved slightly, but she could still feel that odd pulsating in her head and she frowned, rubbing it.
"That's why I don't drink…" She reminded herself and looked around the room. She saw her cloak hanging on a chair's back while her bag was lying on the table near the window.
She looked down at her clothes and realized that she didn't take them off before going to sleep. Yet their fabric was thick, and they didn't appear as battered as they should have. She reached for her bag and took out a small comb, then ran it through her hair several times. She was a mage, after all.
She put comb back in her bag and hung it on her shoulder, then wrapped the blue cloak around herself and hasted to the door. The key stuck in the keyhole, she turned it one time and the door opened. Levoren hastily stepped downstairs and put the key on the counter table. "I am sorry, what time is it?" She asked Argonian man, who stood behind the counter.
He took the key and shrugged. "Should be around midday."
She grabbed the paper and ink from her bag and threw them on the table, while with one hand continued searching for the quill. Damn, where was that feather!
Levoren managed to find it on the very bottom, covered in remains of dried herbs and shook them off. Then she started writing….
Dear Tolfdir...
She hesitated, tapping the quill at the tabletop several times. What should she begin with? Should she mention… the fort?
She pressed the quill on the paper.
She'd better just go to the point.
Quill moved on the paper hastily; she wasn't sure if that was the most suitable tone she was writing in, but there wasn't much time to think about it. Courier must come today, if he hasn't already… She folded the letter and placed it in the envelope, then took a candle from the table, carefully dropping a few dribs of wax to seal it. She reached for a little stamp with an eye on it, and pressed it in the wax. Now she had to get to the stables and fast.
She stepped on a bridge, when she heard someone's familiar voice.
"Hey! Levoren!"
She looked back to see Marcurio waving to her. "Good morning," he smirked, approaching. "So, you woke up!"
"I need to send the letter!" She waved envelope in front of her and they walked to the city gates.
"And I went to knock your door again," he said. "You did not answer for the first time. And second too." He grinned. "I wish I could sleep like that!" She gave him the look and he smirked. "But I found out something about the cult."
They approached the gates and she pushed heavy wooden door. "And what is it?"
"Two women disappeared here."
"When?"
"Two days ago." He grinned. "Though they are dropping their standards, it seems," he added, shrugging.
She curved an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"They took the ones that will be missed only by certain… clients, let's say. They chose maidens not so pure," he shrugged, grinning and she rolled her eyes.
They saw people congregated besides the stables and Levoren sighed in relief.
"Lucky you," Marcurio said. "Courier usually comes earlier."
"At least some good news," she said and they joined the waiting.
Crowd was getting impatient; people started glancing at the road every moment and murmured, sounding more and more annoyed.
"Maybe a troll got 'im," a man finally said.
"Or bandits," someone else added.
"I need to send an invitation to my cousin! For my wedding!" A woman exclaimed and everyone's faces turned into a stony frown.
Yet soon they heard hooves, hitting the hard layer of the snow and saw galloping horse with a man in the saddle.
"At last," a man mumbled and everyone stood arms-crossed with their letters in them.
"Just in time," Marcurio smiled at Levoren and they stood into the row.
I I I
The letter was in couriers' hands and on its way to Winterhold. Even if she had to pay some additional money for fast delivery, she was promised that the letter will be there soon. And she hoped she could trust that.
"Congratulations, you've made it," Marcurio smirked, clapping his hands.
"At least something went without complications," she answered and closed her eyes, placing her hands on her face. It seemed that they glowed weakly, but only for a moment and then she breathed in deeply and exhaled, raising her lids open.
He shifted from one foot to another. "So, what are you going to do now?" he asked.
"Um…" She rubbed her head thoughtfully. "Well… For now I will have to stay here and wait for the answer from Tolfdir. But… if I lose a trace of them…" She went in a thoughtful frown.
Marcurio slowly trampled snow with his boot. "It will be some time until your letter reaches Winterhold. But we can do something now, as you wait."
"What is it?"
"Well, we can try find out where they are going, of course."
She nodded slowly. "You mean... Should we follow them?" She narrowed her eyes at him in question.
"They must have passed a village if they went straight that way. And if they passed by it, someone might have seen." He turned his eyes at the mountains in the horizon. "Wouldn't hurt to check, would it."
"Okay," she said. "But only…" She rubbed her head again. "I will have something warm and wake up for now." She began walking back to the city gates.
He grinned and trailed after her. "And don't forget to buy a potion."
I I I
"How could the weather have changed so much in just one night?" She asked, glancing at the snow-capped forest that they went by. "I would say it's even warmnow." Her cloak hung behind her shoulders as a cape now, and he noticed that she wore pants shade of the dark oak, accompanied with a lighter top with thick black sleeves. Her booths reached to the middle of the calf. He noted that hers looked like travel clothes more, not like something mages used to wear.
"Well, warm comparing to yesterday." she said.
"Yes, quite strange."
She hesitated for a moment, but then spoke. "What makes you think necromancers visited the village? They could have passed through the forest, couldn't they?"
"Thinking that they kidnapped two people here, they still needed one more," he said. Then he added, seeing her eyebrows go up in question. "I've seen their ritual once, you know. And also that's written in the books, cults always use one or three or six and so on."
She stared at him, surprise in her eyes. "You've seen the ritual yourself?"
Marcurio shrugged "Well yes… Haven't I mentioned that? No?" He grinned at the odd look she gave him and added. "That was unplanned encounter, if you think anything."
Levorens' brows knotted into a little frown. "Then can you share with me how did you run into them?"
"I was always a curious person." His lips curled into a little smile. "I just… exactly, ran into them. Okay, maybe sneaked into them, but it was unexpected encounter. These ruins… didn't look like an ordinary necromancer's lair, as to say."
"And how an ordinary necromancer's lair looks like, then?" she asked.
He shrugged. "Well, you know… There weren't bodies anywhere, not even a single skull or a puddle of blood. Nothing that said necromancers," he whispered the last word. "But when I got deeper, I felt something, some, how to say…" He hesitated, picking the right words. "A feeling, perhaps. Something lingered there, heavily and sultry."
Colder whiff of wind blew at them and Levoren placed her hands beneath her cloak. "And curiosity pushed you further?" She asked. "I've heard that at least three students of the College disappear in the ruins every year."
Marcurio smirked. "You don't know how many disappear overall, then. Where did I stop? Yes, then I walked further until I heard voices, but they were silent, as if coming from behind the wall. Then I noticed candlelight gleaming somewhere forward and came closer. I saw a big hall and them in there. That hall was full of figures of people."
She raised an eyebrow. "And you still went there alone?"
"Have I mentioned that I was the best in Destruction class?" A trace of smugness turned up in his face. "I didn't fear anything, but I was always careful."
"But apparently not careful enough that time?"
Marcurio gave a weak laugh. "If I wasn't, I probably wouldn't be here now, having your enjoyable company."
She rolled her eyes and he continued. "A lot candles illuminated the hall, but still the light was dim. I've noticed many places where I could hide and watch it closer. When they were all turned back from me, I sneaked behind the crypt and watched ceremony from there. I noticed three people lying on the crypts, probably bound to them. Two women and a man. Well, I should say that I heard them first. Necromancers were going to perform a ritual of sacrifices to their god, but I am not sure who do they worship. Probably some Daedra. Everyone were in black, but one woman wore brightly purple robe and without a hood. I found that she is their leader, sort of."
"You think you saw her yesterday?"
"Well, I couldn't see her face too well, but she looked like human, judging from her shape. The woman I saw in the ruins back then was Breton." He thought for a moment, recalling what he'd seen back then. He wouldn't say it wasn't an interesting experience. He always had interest in the unusual. "She stood before the stone altar, preaching on the usual topics, you know? How the dark lord will arise in the world of mortals, blood of the innocent will be spilled in his honor and the god will bath in crimson…" He snorted. "Devotion to dark arts, they say. I call it foolishness."
"What happened to the people?" She asked. "Did you try to free them?"
Corners of his lips went up and he burst into laughter. "Really, what else would bother you?"
She looked at him disapprovingly. "So then, what happened that they saw you?"
Little flames appeared in his hands, and went off with a flash. "Well, let's just say some fire happened."
I I I
They saw dull smoke twirling from the chimneys into the gray sky and soon villages' wooden cottages appeared surrounded by the forest. Coming closer, they heard a man shouting. "I tell you, it's something with her!"
Approaching, mages saw a group of people congregated aside stone well between the houses.
"Perhaps Meara has been cursed," an old Nord woman said.
"She stays at home and comes out only early in the morning." An Orc man spoke in his harsh voice.
"Mardik saw her yesterday," another woman said. "He said she has long green things growing from her fingers, they looked like thin branches, he said."
"It's her fault, all of this!" Nord spat out. "I've heard enough! Even if I had doubts, now I am certain!"
"She was always a good woman," old woman said. "She helped me with picking herbs and with washing."
"Oh, divines, she received the curse of the nature itself!" Younger woman exclaimed, worry in her eyes. "I hope she won't call this upon our village, our children…"
"She already has, don't you see?" Nord shouted in anger. "Filnjar's daughter was killed by the beast already and who else, if not her, called this upon us!" He pointed his hand towards the forest. "Wolves never approached our village before, never before!"
"It is a cold winter," wrinkled old man spoke. "Wolves can't find food in the woods, so they came to seek here."
Nord clasped his fist. "And do you know for sure? I tell you, it's black magic and this can't be a simple coincidence." He looked at another Nord, shrouded in a fur coat. "Ymir, tell them!"
Man shrugged. "I… shot one wolf last night…"
"And when has the girl disappeared?" Nord glared at the old man and nodded for his friend to continue. "Tell everything, Ymir."
Man hesitated shifting from one foot to another. "I am no hunter… But when I seen the beast, I grabbed a bow from my house and ran out. I shot, and then it fell, just a few leaps away. But I found my arrow in the snow, it wasn't blooded. I didn't hit 'im with arrow."
"Wolf's fur was frozen, he lay like a stone," Nord said. "I saw myself. When does a body get cold so fast? I tell you, it's witchcraft. She will call curses upon us, you'll see!"
"But the girl's body wasn't found yet," an Orc noted. "Have you seen any blood anywhere? Maybe she just went to the city."
"Well isn't that interesting," Marcurio murmured silently. Levoren looked at him in question, but then turned at the people again.
The Nord sniffed. "Alone? In the middle of the night? Filnjar is grieving his girl already, do you want more deaths? More curses?" Nords eyes shined in anger.
"What do you want us to do, Jorhin?" Black-haired woman asked.
"Send her out of here!" Another woman yelled. "We can't risk our children and our entire village!"
Nord man shook his head slowly. "Send her out? No no," he grinned. "What then? End for us then. She has to be sent far away. Very far..."
An old man raised his hands. "But, Jorhin, you don't know for sure! How could you do this? The divines would never forgive you!"
"Forgive me for sending a witch away!" Nord spat out. "Just wait," he frowned and shook his head. "Wait and you'll see what this will bring to you…" Nord turned his head and noticed the mages. "Just who are you two?" He narrowed his eyes at them.
Levoren opened her mouth. "We are –"
Marcurio made a step forward. "We are traveling priests," he smiled charmingly, making his most frank expression.
"Priests?" Nord eyed them suspiciously, others glanced curiously. "Really? You are here about the witch?"
"We can help," Levoren said, stepping to the mage's side. "Where does she live?"
"Priests, eh…" Old Orc spoke. "She lives in a small house near the fa'm, the way down. She used to wo'k there."
"Can you tell us more about this… curse?" Levoren asked.
"She is turnin' into a tree." He said crossing his hands on his chest. "I seen 'er too. 'Er hands turned into branches, and 'er skin is turnin' greenish."
"I hope it's not contagious at least…" Woman with black-hair frowned. "I wouldn't want to catch that."
"Try what you want, but I tell you," Nord man waved his hands, walking away, "it will only make things worse. Try, priests. I hope we won't have to clean your bloody bodies afterwards."
They watched the man until he was off sight, then an elder woman looked at them with her sad eyes."Do what you can, please. She was a good person, I will never believe it's her fault. She… someone did this to her. She has nothing to do with this, I am sure."
"We will try," Levoren nodded and looked at Marcurio. "We'll do what we can."
"But she doesn't open the door to anyone," black-haired woman added. "Not even to her sister when she came to her. Poor woman is so worried about her..."
Marcurio placed his hand on Levoren's shoulder and when she looked at him, nodded sideways. They walked behind a house and he spoke. "It's not a coincidence, I'd say. They passed here. I think they went into the mountains."
Levoren stared at him with that look of hers. "We have to help that woman." He felt her intense eyes on him and nearly shuddered. "You think it was their work?" she asked. "The wolf?"
Marcurio nodded. "I think so. They must have sent it as a distraction and took the girl, so people would blame simply the wolves. About that woman…" He shrugged. " Well, I've never heard anything like it."
"We have to do something to help her," Levoren said. "They think she sent the wolves!"
Marcurio grinned. "How could I have forgotten that you wanted to give mercy even to a bandit."
"It's not her fault!" He saw tiny green flames flash in her eyes. "You heard what that Nord wants to do to her!"
He shifted from one foot to another. "It's not ours fault either. I thought you had more important issues right now?"
"They are planning to kill her! You heard what they said!"
Marcurio pointed his eyes at the sky. "And you, of course, have to drag yourself into everything." But then, he thought, didn't he?
"It won't take long," a smile appeared in her face. "I think I know what she has." Levoren uncovered a bag from behind her cloak. She started searching for something in it.
Marcurio raised his eyebrow. "Oh really? I never heard of such … symptoms before."
"But I have." She smiled and picked out a small book with a brown cover.
Mage glanced at the book. "What's that?"
"My journal," she said, flipping the book open and flicked over the pages with her fingers. "I write down recipes for potions here." She pointed her finger at one page and raised her eyes at him.
He arched his eyebrow. "And how do you happen to have a recipe for something like that?"
"Alchemy is one of the subjects I study," she explained. "And sometimes very curious… conditions occur. I learned about some rare diseases in Cirodiil and I recall a very similar case."
Marcurio went into laugh. "Right, and it has nothing to do with witchcraft."
She stared at him. "I learn to heal people."
"You don't have to be very insightful to notice that." He grinned. "That was irony."
"I will try to make a cure for her," Levoren said, reading the list.
Marcurio sighted. "Well, you paid me. You lead, I'll follow."
They walked down the street where Orc pointed, leaving steps on the soft snow, that seemed to be turning softer every hour and now they left wet steps.
"But traveling priests?" Levoren frowned. "Why did you lie?"
Marcurio sniffed. "You know, mages aren't most likable personas in Skyrim. Of course, you don't know that, do you? It's safer to introduce yourself as a priest in such… places, at least at first."
"Is it because of what happened in Winterhold?" she asked.
"So you know about the Great Collapse?"
"I… heard something, yes." She nodded slowly. "When I first came it was strange to see the whole city in such condition, as if something horrible happened just yesterday."
"Winterhold was the capital of Skyrim once," Marcurio said thoughtfully. "But it's hard to believe now, isn't it? Yet Nords were always distrustful of magic." He shrugged. "It was so even before the Great Collapse, it only worsened things. Nords just don't have the talent for magic. Not as…"
"Imperials." She rolled her eyes. "They must have had a reason for distrust."
"They fear it, because they can't learn to tame it and so, they think of it as incomprehensible threat."
Corner of the cottage showed in the end of the street. It was from dark wood, and it whole looked dark. Mages stopped and looked at the house.
"This must be where she lives?" Levoren eyed the cottage.
"There's a farm on the other side of the stream." Marcurio nodded towards the building. "So this must be… But the house looks empty."
All windows were covered by a heavy dark fabric. "Or what they say is true," he grinned. "I would like to see that…"
She gave him disapproving look and came closer to the door. She knocked three times and glanced in the window, looking for any movement of the curtains.
But they heard nothing inside.
Levoren knocked again and leaned closer to the door to listen.
"You heard what they said. She doesn't open a door even to her own sister, why do you think she will to you?"
Levoren gave the door two more knocks. "I came to help you," she said softly. "Please, I can try to cure you."
"Leave me alone!" Creaking woman's voice came from behind the door. "I haven't done anything!"
"We can help you," Levoren repeated. "Please trust me, I think I know what you have! It's curable!"
Silence stood behind the door for a while.
"Just go away," the woman said mournfully and then they heard nothing.
"She won't open it," Marcurio said.
Levoren sighed and nodded. "She probably won't," she said sorely and they turned around.
The door cracked quietly and a little gap appeared.
Levoren rushed to the door. "Can we enter? I promise I will help you."
"Go in, my dear" woman sighted. "I… don't know what happened with me..."
Levoren entered the cottage and glanced at the woman's figure. She now stood back to her, but something strange reached to her knees. Marcurio came in and closed the door behind quietly. Woman turned to them slowly and they saw her hands. Marcurio raised his eyebrows and Levoren nodded slowly. Her skin looked oddly grayish in faint room's light, even green. Her eyes were completely black, two dark buttons and her hands…
He narrowed his eyes and peered at the claws, growing on her nails, or maybe her own fingers were turning into these long branch-like formations. They looked more like branches, just like the villagers said.
Woman shook her head slowly and tears began forming in her eyes. "I did nothing to get this, I don't know why…" She sobbed once, and tears started running down her face. She raised her arms weakly and her fingers moved, but then her arms dropped to her sides and she shook her head, sobbing.
Levoren approached woman and placed her hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry," she said calmly. "I know that it is curable."
Woman sobbed, sitting on the bed. "It started so slowly... My nails turned brown first, and then they grew and grew…" She shook her head, but continued. "My skin started to change color… Marta asked if I was ill, but I felt well, only a little dizzy, that was all… But they kept growing and growing, I tried to cut them first, and cut them again… But they grew back faster and faster, I tried to hide them under clothes. I wore long sleeves and…" She raised her eyes at Levoren with sorrow in them. "I couldn't cut them anymore, nothing could cut them. They grew so long and hard." She stared at her hands. "And my eyes went black. I said that I got ill. I stayed at home and went out only when everyone was asleep. But they saw me. I heard them talk about me. That I am cursed." She sobbed. "But I am, am I not?" She looked at the healer in sorrow, but her black eyes gleamed in hope.
Levoren shook her head. "No, no it's only an illness. It must be from Spriggan pollen," she smiled slightly. "I know a cure."
"Are you sure?" Marcurio murmured, making a step closer.
She looked at him, then at the woman. "Very rarely, but it happens," she said. "The pollen grows in another organism, slowly taking over it. Have you been in the forest?" She asked the woman. "In spring, when everything was blooming?"
"I have, but… I have never even seen Spriggan myself…"
"You didn't necessarily have to," Levoren explained. "The pollen is so light, it can be easily picked by the wind. If you breathe in large amounts of it, sometimes it starts growing…" She felt Marcurios' doubtful look and added. "As I said, in rare cases, very rare. Pollen usually lives for a few days only." She looked at the woman. "Nobody knows yet why this happens."
"But… can you really cure me?" Woman asked weakly. "If it is inside of me, growing…" Her body shuddered.
"I only need to make a potion," Levoren smiled. "I know the recipe. You will be cured, I promise," she turned to the door; Marcurio glanced at the woman again and went after her.
"Divines bless you…" Woman said and stood to close the door after them.
"Don't worry," Levoren said and they left the cottage, the door hastily closing after them.
Marcurio turned to her with his lids half-closed. "I've never seen anything like it. Did you ever think it would ever be useful?" he asked. "That recipe."
She turned the page with the recipe open. "I didn't think it would get useful so soon. The potion isn't hard to make, I think I have everything with me, except snowberries. I read that they must grow in this region."
Marcurio smirked. "Yeah, tell this to them."
"I've seen some bushed on my way here," she said. "Aren't there snowberries here?"
He shrugged. "I haven't gone harvesting for quite some time."
She pointed towards the woods. "Let's look around here. We need some leaves," she explained. "And a few berries would be great."
"You need," Marcurio looked at her. "I'd say we go back and wait for your letter now."
She looked at him with that look. "The faster we find it, the faster I will make that potion. You know how the leaves look like?"
"Of course I know, who do you think I am?"
They walked into the forest, but no snowberry bushes were to be seen. They saw a frozen pond and she turned to him. "Okay, then go look in the forest around here, and I'll check near that pond," she nodded towards it. "It will be faster if we search separately. Then let's return here."
Marcurio nodded weakly. "Don't go too far." He stepped into the forest while she approached the ice-covered pond. There was a white bush and she brushed some snow off it to find only bare branches underneath. Not a trace of ruby berries or even a single leaf. And, there, she learned that winter was thriving time for snowberries...
She looked around and spotted another bush near the pond. She came closer, when something caught her attention. She stood still for a moment and listened.
That sound…
Where was it coming from?
She looked around, listening carefully. She came closer to the pond and looked behind the rock – there she saw brightly green leaves. They seemed to be emitting their own light.
She leaned closer.
How could a plant grow at winter?
She landed on the ice with her knees and tried to reach the glowing plant, when suddenly a voice greeted her from behind.
"Well, what do we have here?"
A firm grip landed on her shoulders before she even realized it.