Resh POV

For people wearing nothing but fur and rags Resh never would have imagined the Forsworn could be at all formidable. But to his surprise the uncivilised savages put up a relatively challenging fight, far more so than anything he had done recently.

The barbarians may have had the massive numbers advantage seeing as it was an entire camp of hundreds of them, but it was night, and Resh and the Blades had the ability to ambush them from a range. Unfortunately Delphine and Esbern hadn't known any archery so they had to attack them up close.

It didn't matter much though about the numbers, as the Tsaesci predicted the majority of them hid in their tents to protect the non-fighters, so only a few dozen actually left to combat them, which was a lot easier to manage.

What made the fighting more difficult than usual was the Breton savages unique resistance to magic, it was annoying because he couldn't fry them from far off like he had wanted to. So like the others he had to charge in as well, which he hated doing when there was a chance of potential arrows going his way.

To his relief the arrows never came, likely due to his presence in the civilian camp, the Forsworn probably didn't want to risk missing and piercing a tent that might have someone in it. This in turn forced the Forsworn to attack the group with melee, which, because of their pathetic armour and Resh's Tsaesci strength, didn't bode well for them. They were clearly built to fight spell casters, so fighting him, coupled with a Blades sword, meant he could cut them down as if they were wearing nothing at all, which to be totally honest, most of them weren't.

Not just him but Delphine and Esbern were also making short work of the Forsworn, more so the female Blade than the old man seeing as she used a sword rather than his atronach summoning the savages were resistant too, but regardless, Resh could still respect them or holding their own. Obviously not as well as he was, but still quite well indeed.

It seemed Resh was too caught up in his thoughts to notice the pale Forsworn charge at him from behind one their hideous town decorations. Swinging both of his tribal weapons to his chest, fortunately Resh's reactions were fast enough to move out of the way in time. Due to the unique design of the Forsworn weaponry he couldn't grab the Blade like he usually would have preferred, lest he have his hand pierced by various spikes on the sword.

Resh glanced at the new foe, and saw that he was clearly different to the others, not only was it his pale complexion, or that he was almost completely nude, even more so than the other savages, but because rather than where the heart should be was a gaping hole in his chest and a gnarled demonic looking plant in it's place. The Tsaesci knew immediately this would be a more challenging fight, fortunately it was only he and the Briarheart rather than anyone else, Resh wasn't sure if it was because he had killed all the others, or if the didn't think the Forsworn leader needed help.

Judging from the force of the Briarhearts attack against Resh's sword when he parried the next lunge he guessed the latter, the half-alive half-dead monstrosity wasn't quite as strong as a Tsaesci, but it was fairly close, very strange coming from such a small Breton, making him know not to underestimate him.

Using a second weapon allowed the man to attack again in almost no time, not giving Resh enough space to block or even narrowly avoid it, so the weapon gashed his arm, making the Tsaesci let out a hiss in pain.

Fighting back Resh ignored the minor injury and pushed forwards, catching the Briarheart by surprise, the pale man quickly recovered, but Resh kicked his shin, toppling him, before he could fight back, leaving him able to do nothing but attempt to defend Resh's repeating blows.

For what it was worth the Breton did a valiant job, but not good enough, as under the sheer superior strength of the Tsaesci his weapons were all but breaking, and it was clear that the disgusting creature was tiring out too.

Resh didn't want to make any foolish move so kept at it, knowing he would win so he didn't feel the need to look for an opening, as that would likely give the Briarheart an opening. Putting a bit of extra force into his swing Resh heard one of the wooden weapons splinter under his attacks and smirk.

This brief moment of overconfidence gave the Briarheart just the opportunity he needed to escape, so he kicked at Resh's ankles while he was being cocky. Bringing the 'Nord' down to the floor with him. Resh growled in annoyance as he hit the ground, but knew it was his own fault and quickly used his free hand to catch the Briarhearts arm as it's arcing swords lethal blow came close to striking his skull.

Deciding enough was enough Rehs tightened his grip as much as he could, taking advantage of his Tsaesci strength being able to rip through the average mortals flesh with ease. But alas, this was no average mortal, and although it made him drop the weapon his arm was fine, if not mildly scratched.

That was all he needed though, and Resh quickly snapped up so he was standing again, holding the far smaller man in the air by just the arm. The Forsworn attempted to thrash around and escape, but with no weapon, one of his hands being restrained, and the other likely broken from repeated hits, the vile creature didn't have a chance.

Regardless it had still been a very worthy enemy, and had put up a decent fight, so deserved to be free of whatever cruel blood magic had kept it in the disgusting state he was in now. The Briarheart had fought like a Daedra, and was far stronger than a Breton should have been, so it was no doubt influenced by some kind of evil magic. It also hadn't made one noise at all during the fight, so that was just another reason it needed, and had earnt, his help to be free of it.

Glancing around Resh saw the camp had been dealt with completely, other than the civilians in houses, and any soldiers in them too as protection, every Forsworn was dead. And the two Blades watched him in awe as he held up the most powerful fighter of the Forsworn camp as if he was a toy ragdoll.

He smirked again, knowing this time he had earnt the right to be cocky, there was no coming back from this now, for the Briarheart, so it didn't matter. The Forsworn leader merely looked up at him silently from beneath the mask, his expression unknown beneath it.

Grabbing the helmet Resh threw the covering to the side, if he was going to kill someone who fought honourably and managed to lay a fair strike on him he wanted to look the man in the eye. Other than the paleness of his flesh, and the gaping hole in his chest, he looked just as alive as any Breton, vampire always had a corpselike appearance due to their undeath, but there was no doubt this thing was still alive in 'some' way, Resh almost didn't know what to do.

After a few moments of thought the Tsaesci did the only think he thought was appropriate and drove his hand into the Forsworns 'heart'. The Breton struggled, but remained silent, as his hand worked through the wooden guard around the plant, but relented when he realised it was a losing battle and seemed to just accept fate.

Finally having a grip Resh wrenched it out, throwing it onto the floor and stamping it, releasing the man from the evil blood magic. The now 'ex-Briarheart' started to convulse but Resh held him still, making sure he couldn't do any damage to anyone.

In his final moments the Forsworn stopped completely and went still, and with his last breath of air said the first, and last, thing Resh had heard him say. "Dragon…"

Elenwen POV

'Finally!' the Thalmor almost shouted out loud, at long last thing were going well for the First Emissary. With Maven promising to provide mercenaries to stop couriers from the College it meant even if they failed and one got through she wouldn't be implicated. The letter itself would be devastating enough, but at least it wouldn't have other factions angry at her.

Not just that, but Resh had done even better than she had expected regarding the Blades situation. Instead of just killing Esbern, Resh had found a way of infiltrating their base of operations to take out their leader as well, truly his kind would be valuable allies, and she'd only had the pleasure of working with one of them so far. She could only imagine the entire race, and she had big plans for that fantasy.

So far the roads had remained practically empty regarding courier letters from the College, so Elenwen was in the clear on that front. And it took a letter to convince them, but the Thalmor agents Resh was currently working with were believing her that he was with Ambassador wondered if it was worth just telling them the truth, but decided against it, knowing it was Resh's choice to decide. He may have been her little pet sycophant of a puppet but she was still going to let him make some choices regarding his life.

Her superiors back in the motherland were so far very pleased with her progress, even more so than the interrogation of Kayci, which was what got her the Emissary job in the first place. If she kept this up it wouldn't be long before she became the youngest Thalmor to reach the upper echelons of control.

With any luck she would get to fuck him a few times before getting her new job out in the Summerset Isles, it would be a shame to lead him on to help her with diplomacy and the war and end up not doing anything about his willingness. But if they didn't get the chance to meet in the near future she was content going without.

If the war worked out how she wanted, and Resh followed her plans, the future would be very bright for not just Elenwen, but the entire Thalmor. In fact probably for his own race too, if the vague books still in Tamriel from literal ages ago were correct then the Tsaesci would be more than happy to settle in Tamriel.

Who knows, maybe after sorting out the inferior races in this continent the two races could sort out the living scum in the other one. The Thalmor may not 'have' to be comprised of only Altmer, it seemed there was another immortal race that might be able to join. After all, the 'Thalmor' was a government, not a race, and she was sure it could be jointly run with another worthy race. Elenwen could definitely see this alliance going very well…

Brelyna POV

This was starting to get insane now, it seemed Resh still hadn't replied to her letter, and Brelyna was starting to be less and less optimistic about the hopes he had gone after and killed Elenwen. Either the letter hadn't arrived or he was dead. And the Dunmer was unfortunately fearing the latter to be true.

She would have to send off a few more letters to make sure he was okay, or try to listen to more rumours regarding the man. Maybe she would be able to find out what happened to him, and what he's doing. The sooner they all met up again the better, the group clearly wasn't functioning properly when separate, they needed to all travel together or it just didn't work.

After the last few weeks seemed Lydia had finally calmed down, Brelyna didn't know quite what had prompted it, and quite frankly didn't want to know, but regardless she was pleased it had happened. Not just for Lydia's own safety, but for the baby itself, it must have only been about two, maybe two and a half months away from birth, so the Nord really should have quit drinking and fucking much earlier, if even started in the first place at all.

Brelyna really hoped Resh got back to see it happen, with any luck once this minor setback was dealt with they could all be happy again and adventure again, and no more hormonal related drama either. Of course she knew that was a pipe dream in many ways, especially considering Kayci's deep flesh injuries, but Lydia and Resh could definitely go off together again.

For now though Brelyna just had to try and make sure Lydia didn't do anything stupid while she was in such a vulnerable state. Being heavily pregnant now, Lydia needed a lot of food, and warmth to sustain herself, as well as this her emotions were all over the place so she could have done any number of stupid things, smoking and drinking were just a few of what Brelyna had to keep her from doing. The Dark Elf decided it was probably best to get the Nord checked for any diseases too, it would be a shame for her to have contracted anything seeing as babies are often born with the same condition.

The last problem on Brelyna's list, but in her opinion the most important, was Kayci. A few weeks ago Brelyna would have thought she was acting normal, but she knew now just how wrong she was. Kayci seemed distant, and not just physically seeing as most of the reason they hadn't been with each other was Brelyna's work, and the fact she didn't want to push the Tsaesci to have sex.

She knew something was off when it became apparent Kayci was trying to close herself off to people, not really wanting to have proper conversations with anyone and avoiding eye contact, all the while acting as if nothing was wrong. It was clear she was affected by her knowledge about what had happened, and didn't feel safe in her current state, further enforcing Brelyna's belief she needed to be in her true form for a while.

"Kayce?" she ventured, trying to grab the attention of the woman staring into space. Almost immediately her lovers previous empty expression turned friendly and she glanced over as if nothing bad had ever happened to her in her life, there was still an echo of sadness in them though.

"Yeah?" she asked, smiling happily, her personality couldn't help but make anyone happy with how upbeat she always was. Brelyna felt awful knowing that she was going to change that expression in a few seconds.

"It is no secret you have gone through some horrible experiences, ones which have left their mark and been very traumatic. And even today they affect you, especially when you recently relived those bad memories," Kayci face fell, and filled with a strange unusual emotion, the Tsaesci was going to cut in, probably with denial, but Brelyna carried on, stopping her before she could object. "And I was thinking it might be good for you to be in your Tsaesci snake form for a while so you feel more safe and comfortable."

It was clear Kayci agreed with her, but still she seemed reluctant, trying to find a way out for some reason, "But what about the other people, they would see me. I can't do it."

"You could live in 'the Midden', it's roomy, no one else lives down there let alone goes down there, and I could go down there to see you often. There are a few creatures down there to kill but I'm sure we'll have no troubles sorting it out," Brelyna explained, knowing it would be best the further away Kayci is from other people, and in her true form.

Kayci blinked for a few moments, remembering what 'the Midden' was from what J'Zargo had told her. "You expect me to live in the Midden in my Tsaesci form…?" Kayci asked, and when Brelyna nodded, she grew angry. "You want me to live in a cave like a monster?" she went on, her tone getting hostile, and Brelyna tried to stop her seeing how what she said could be perceived as a large error on her part, but was ignored. "As a monster?! I know the Tamrielic stereotype that hideous creatures live in caves, and you are trying to make me do just that. Is that what you think of me just because I'm another species to you? Do you have any idea how racist that is?"

Brelyna sighed, and turned away from the angered woman, realising the damage done to her wasn't something she could so easily help with, and that there was nothing she could do. "I was only trying to help…"

Resh POV

Not even looking behind to check if the Briarheart was telling the truth Resh dived to the side, sliding through the mud behind a rock just as the ground he previously stood was scorched to a cinder. He may have only fought two dragons, but that was more than enough to know not to take any chances, looking at what happened to Kayci it was clear to avoid them when possible.

'Fortunately', or in some ways of looking at the situation, 'unfortunately', Delphine and Esbern seemed to be completely fine, neither of the two were anywhere near the dragons breath, and it only seemed to be going after him.

For a brief moment he wondered what the Thalmor agents watching from afar were likely to do, but realised it was probably nothing, after all they didn't want to blow their cover, and although Elenwen probably told them he was to be kept alive, most people wouldn't want to risk their own lives to do so.

He had no time to think about it before the dragon attacked again, fortunately the cover he had protected him, but not by much as the stone turned molten and dripped onto his armour as it wasted away slowly.

Getting up from behind his defence Resh sprinted as fast as he could from the dragon's gullet, hoping to preemptively avoid a third burst of flames. He was successful, but barely so, because if he were in his snake form, his tail would no doubt have been ruined.

His aim wasn't just to get away from the fire, more so to get to a better position. And where he planned on going was up, with any luck there would be somewhere to hide at the top of the huge stone structure, that was his ancestors mark on the country. Despite using it as a means of hiding from a dragon, Resh was sad it would be damaged in the process, it was a shame that such amazing remnants of his species would be ruined.

But then again, that wouldn't be much worse than at the moment, the place was a breeding ground for these Breton savages, so it was probably better off gone. Mighty temples like these were much better than the wooden and thatch houses the pathetic Nord's had today and these were made thousands of years ago as an outpost for the Dragongaurd, it just went to show how much better his kind was than the Tamrielic races, except maybe the Altmer that is.

It seemed Delphine and Esbern had the same idea as he, and followed him up, Delphine either going so far as to push past him and head into a cave down the side of the mountain to escape completely. Shrugging and realising the unknown was better than another dragon fight, he followed suit, Esbern also doing the same, besides, it was likely the same route they were going to go on anyway.

A few minutes passed and Delphine stopped running, apparently deeming the place safe enough to rest after their escape. "What ever happened to the Dragonborn being able to kill those things?" she muttered through grit teeth.

Resh, not nearly as tired out as the two humans, but at her statement a thousand times more irritated grabbed the woman by the chest piece and hauled her off the ground in anger, smashing her against the wall, "I told you not to fucking call me that!" he growled, not caring about the cry of pain she let out as he shook her, if there was one thing that annoyed him more than being called 'dragonborn' though, it would be someone criticising his honour, especially from someone like her.

She gasped out trying to correct her error, but the wind was knocked out of her in his blind rage, "I'm sor-"

"I don't care! I said not to! And I could have easily killed that dragon, I just couldn't be bothered to, it would have wasted time," he hissed at her, anger subsiding as he spoke more complex words than just spewing profanities. "I didn't exactly see you running in to solve the problem did I? no lets deal with this quickly, the less time spent around you pricks the better."

Delphine looked as if she was going to argue, but Esbern quickly stopped her, he had seen the whole event take place, and decided it was best for the two to just stay on the safe side, he doubted even the two of them together could beat him, hence why he didn't interfere during his outburst.

Satisfied Resh carried on walking, only guessing the way, but not wanting to have to resort to following the foul Breton woman, he couldn't wait until she died.

1 Hour Later

The rest of the cave was fairly insignificant if Resh was totally honest, the enemies inside that is. The place was just filled with some more Forsworn, nothing really worth wasting time dwelling on. The actual aesthetics of the place though? that was another question entirely.

It was amazing, the whole was like a giant complex, made by his own people. A bit underdeveloped considering the time difference, but far better than anything the other races had made. If he had the opportunity he would live in this place for the historical value alone.

The text along the walls was something to behold too. Esbern tried to translate it, but Resh beat him to it, and with likely much better accuracy, it was all ancient tales about dragons, and the formation of the Dragonguard and various temples. It was beautiful.

The Blades couldn't understand how he knew so much, but again didn't want to argue with him, knowing that would be far more costly than beneficial. The final and most important areas of the temple were coming up now, but it was different to what Resh was expecting, a large blood seal dominated the room and stood in the way of himself and the central chamber, along with any information about dragons inside with it.

It was unexpected for such a lock to be in place here, and Resh sighed in despair, they were never going to get in now. Akaviri blood seals were triggered only by those who they were coded to, who were usually high ranking people in charge, of which he was not. They had a lot of them back in Akavir instead of keys for door locks, it was painful, but much more secure. Unfortunately it meant he was never going to get that armour Delphine owed him…