Mutants Misplaced

Chapter 27

Victims

Once Mona felt ready, she and Raph left with the Khajiit as they headed towards Windhelm. It was a rather slow pace due to Raph's broken leg, but he tried to move as fast as he could. During their way there, Raph was constant on the lookout for any sign of trouble, as he was in no condition to fight. Even the Khajiit were eyed with a little suspicion, even though they had saved their lives, but there had to be some kind of reason to why people saw them as thieves.

'I really don't want to distrust them, but I have to be vigilant. Better to expect trouble, than to be caught unaware.' he thought.

When night had fallen, rather than setting up camp again, the Khajiit continued for several more hours before finally deciding to rest. Raph was grateful that they finally stopped, his leg hurt a lot, even though he didn't show it.

While Raph sat down, Mona aided the cats with setting up camp.

"Taashi?" she asked. "Why is it that you hear so much about how Khajiit are thieves and such? Is it true or just a horrible rumour?"

"I'm afraid that it is true." Taashi said with a sad undertone to her voice. "Many Khajiit turn to stealing, smuggling or worse, but not as many as they say, and few take pleasure in it. After leaving our homeland, survival has become difficult, especially here in Skyrim. We only want to survive, but sometimes, it forces us to drastic means."

"And just because some misbehave, you are all blamed for their crimes."

"Yes, the Nords are not the most trusting of people, but this kind of treatment is very hostile even for them. Luckily, not all are like that, but I feel sad about our kin that have to steal to survive. It can not be an easy life."

"It isn't, that I know well." said Mona, this time it was she that had the sad tone in her voice. "I used to live like that a long time ago, if you could call that living. Keeping to the shadows so I wouldn't be seen, taking things that other people had worked hard for, just so I could see the next day. Not a day went by without me feeling guilt for what I did, for all the people that I hurt. I hated it, hated myself for it, and I'm never going back to that."

"I did not know. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. It was a very dark part of my life, so many things went wrong in such a short time. It's all in my past now, but I feel for those that suffer the same way that I did."

As Mona and Taashi talked, Raph listened to every word they said. He knew what Mona meant, and he started to understand more about how the Khajiit were treated, how people looked down on them. In the end, they didn't have much better than mutants back on their own world.

Early the next day, they packed up their camp and hit the road again, only stopping for sort breaks. Raph continued to limp as best as he could, but he hated being a burden, not being able to move without his crutch, and it would take a long time before it had healed enough for him to even begin thinking about fighting again. Then, another kind of thought crossed his mind.

"Hey, could I ask you something?" he said to a male Khajiit with white fur.

"What is it you want to know?"

"I don't want to sound ungrateful, but why are we heading to Windhelm? Why couldn't we have headed the other way and searched for our friends?"

"Our supplies are limited, we have already been on the road longer than we planned. If we had spent time searching, they would not last us to Windhelm, which is the closest city."

"Okay, I understand. But don't you hunt or something?"

"No, even before the dragons, it was very easy for the hunter to become the hunted."

Suddenly, the female Khajiit that walked a little ahead of the group signalled for them to stop. She had black fur and wore some pieces of leather armor in addition her regular clothes, and was standing on the top of a small hill by the road.

"What's going on?" Mona asked. Taashi walked up to the other Khajiit.

"What have you found, Faashan?" she asked and Faashan pointed to something a few hundred meters ahead.

Approaching carefully, they saw what Faashan had spotted. An abandoned carriage.

Faashan moved slowly, examining the carriage and the ground around it. After only a few moments, she explained her findings.

"Tracks of sabre cats, but they are fake, made by bandits no doubt, to fool everyone." she said pointing at the ground. "They attacked the carriage, taking everything, even the horse. The driver was thrown off and hit his head, the small bloodstain on the road shows where. The larger stain shows that his throat was slit, he choked on his own blood." She then walked over to the carriage itself before continuing.

"False clawmarks on the floor, used to make it look like at least one sabre cat attacked the passenger, who tried to flee. It was a woman, there are small pieces of torn cloth, most commonly used for farmers' dresses, stuck in the marks. She ran that way."

Following the trail some ten meters to the side of the road, they found more signs of the attack.

"This is where they got her. See the bloodstains? There are also signs of struggle, she tried to defend herself, but she didn't have a chance."

"How recently?" asked Taashi.

"No more than a day, the bandits may still be close by. We should keep moving. They have to be smart to stage this kind of scene, and they were not taking prisoners, but they did take the bodies."

Just as they were about to return to the road, something in the grass next to the woman's final battle caught Mona's eyes. Picking up the small object, Mona's heart broke when she saw what it was.

A simple doll, made from dirty cloth with buttons for eyes and strings for hair. Part of it was covered in blood, but she could still see where small hands had held on to the doll with a strong grip.

"H-how could they…?" she said weakly, falling to her knees and tears running down her cheeks. "It was a family, a mother and her child, maybe a father too, and someone just slaughtered them. That's not right! What kind of monsters would do something like this?!"

"Mona..." Raph said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry… It's just so monstrous, that someone would do this to a family..."

"This is not the first time we have seen such things. Bandits and animals have always preyed on travellers, even before the Civil war, but back then, there were more patrols. Nowadays, most guards have either been withdrawn to the larger cities or included in the armies, leaving the roads unprotected." said Taashi.

"We can not stay here, we must move." Faashan urged everyone.

"Can't you at least give her a little time?" Raph objected.

"It's alright, love. I'm… I'm okay, I didn't expect this, that's all. I'm ready to continue." Mona said drying her tears.

"Are you sure, babe?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Let's leave this place."

Before they left, Mona gently placed the bloodied doll where she had found it. Her heart still aching, she promised herself that she would never let something happen to her family. And if she would become a mother one day, she would kill any who threatened her child.

Sometimes, life is cruel is in Skyrim, Mona and Raph found that out in a hard way.

I know this chapter was a sad one, and I can't say that the next one will be much happier, but tune in to see what the others do during the same time, or you might just miss something.