Perennia Draconis looked to the front door of her farmhouse when her shepherd dog started barking at it frantically. "What's wrong Jake?" she queried as she stood up from the old, oak table. The dog glanced her way before pawing at the door anxiously and letting out a whine.
Perennia went to the kitchen drawers, opened them and plucked out a large knife, which she placed in the deep pocket of her apron. She moved then to the door, lifted the lantern hanging on an iron hook to the left of the door and placed it on the end of a wooden crook before lifting the crook with one hand. It was late enough, almost midnight she guessed, and she was wary that it could be bandits but she worried that it could just as easily be a lost or tired traveller on the lonely road to Bruma or even one of her children.
"Careful now Jake," she cautioned the black and tan dog before lifting the latch and turning the iron key. She then opened the door to a cool, frosty evening and peered out into the wilderness as Jake bounded forward with a growl.
There was a shadow up ahead stumbling out of the trees. Perennia tensed, tugging out the dagger and gripping it tightly even as she held the lantern forward. It was heading towards her, too far away to properly make out yet. The night was clear, the stars small and distant and Secunda outshining Masser, with a faint hint of pink softening its carmine rays, yet there wasn't enough natural light to decently illuminate the form staggering forward.
Jake paused five feet from it and let out a bark prompting the form to stop and look to him warily. Fearing an injury to her dog, Perennia hastened forward, the lantern held high. As she neared the stranger at last she was barely able to hold back her gasp of horror. It was a woman clad in black, young and fair with emerald eyes filled with shock and skin soaked in blood. Her cheeks were smeared red and Perennia could hear the droplets dripping off her fingertips and onto the hard ground below. Drip. Drip. Drip. It was revolting. The woman was unarmed but Perennia was suspicious that her weapons were merely concealed though it was difficult to tell if the woman was the victim of an assault or the cause of it. Her face bore bruising and swelling that looked fresh, there were cuts on her hands, a sleeve was torn on her right arm, and her hair was in disarray.
"My dear who are you and what's happened?" Perennia queried gently. 'She looks so young, poor thing,' she sympathised.
The woman merely blinked back dully and Perennia wondered if it was shock.
"Were you injured?" Perennia pried.
Jake stood by her, his amber eyes never leaving the woman though he was silent but his ears were down and his tail was still. He no more knew what to make of her than Perennia did.
Looking at her made Perennia think of her youngest child Sibylla, this woman looked like she was of a similar age and was sadly in a similar state of wildness. "My nerves get rattled rather easily these days, I'm afraid," Perennia commented, "but it is no excuse for my ill manners. Please, come with me and we'll get you cleaned up." She could already hear her proud captain daughter Caelia's scorn as she warned of the dangers of strangers who would consider a lonely old woman easy pickings. 'She looks frightened,' Perennia reasoned with herself, 'and she's alone out here, it wouldn't be right to leave her, especially on such a cold night and I do have Jake.'
"I..." The woman spoke up hoarsely. "I...thank you." Words seemed to fail her and she simply nodded.
Perennia nodded back with a small smile before turning around and leading the way back to her farmhouse. Hearing the dripping sound made it clear that the woman was following. 'Awful sound,' Perennia thought hatefully, 'is it all her blood I wonder?'
Once indoors, Perennia put the lantern back on the hook by the door, placed the crook against the wall and gave Jake a friendly pat before urging him to his bed. The dog went grudgingly, his eyes never leaving the blonde woman as he did. She stood in the doorway, peering in reluctantly before glancing down at herself shamefully.
"Come in girl," Perennia urged, "before the heat escapes the house."
"Bloodstains," came the numb answer.
"Don't worry, they can be cleaned," Perennia assured.
The woman stepped in at that and shut the door behind her slowly, as if she was reluctant to banish the wilderness.
Perennia lifted the candle on the kitchen table and turned to the young woman. "This way," Perennia urged before heading down the hall. The woman followed her slowly down the hall and to the left into a modestly sized bathroom. She waited as Perennia used the candle to light the four in the room and then turned back to her with a smile. "There's not much water," she remarked apologetically, "but it's clean and it should do. Tomorrow you can get more from the well if it pleases you."
The woman nodded numbly as she looked about the room with unease. There was a copper bathtub, half full of cold water, a bar of soap, some glass bottles of expensive oils and perfumes, a sponge, cloths and soft, fluffy towels. The oils, perfumes and towels were all gifts from Andy, her third child, a well off tavern owner who liked to know that his mother was in good comforts even if she refused to move closer to him or one of her other children.
"I will wait in the kitchen," Perennia said calmly before she headed back down the corridor, abandoning the woman to the bathroom.
The blonde washed hastily, she did not bother taking off her clothes having none to change into. She kneeled down by the tub and plunged her head into the icy waters, the cold was a shock to her system, swapping one numbness for another and when she came spluttering there was an odd sense of relief too. It was like she had been clouded, half-blind and deaf, but now she was restored, alert and herself again. She scrubbed at her face and arms hastily until they were red raw and the water was a murky pink, then she dried off, slung her damp hair up into a bun with a simple loop of string, stood up and headed back to the kitchen.
She was surprised to find Perennia sitting at the table reading a book with a small selection of cheeses, ham, breads and fruit sitting out on a silver tray with a jug of water and a pot of tea with two clean cups sitting beside them.
"Help yourself," the woman urged without glancing up from her book.
"Thank you," the blonde answered stiffly before tugging out a seat and sitting on it at the edge of the table. Her stomach let out a growl and despite her misgivings about having food so soon after scrubbing blood off herself, her hunger won out in the end. She helped herself to a cup of water first, gulping it down quickly in one go before letting out a gasp of relief. She then put a small piece of cheese onto a slice of bread and chewed at it thoughtfully, not wanting to rush her food and risk vomiting. When her stomach let out another growl she could not resist grabbing a bigger chunk of bread and adding cheese and ham to it and devouring it in two large bites.
After ten minutes had past and the woman finally stopped eating and drinking, Perennia placed down her book, open at its place, and looked at the woman thoughtfully. "My name is Perennia," she finally introduced herself. The woman appeared calmer though there was still a spark of fear in her green eyes.
"I'm Seraphina," the woman confessed quietly.
"Were you attacked Seraphina?" Perennia pried. "It's alright, you can tell me."
"I..." Sera clutched the cup of water between her hands tightly and frowned. "I don't know..." It was true, she had been on her way to Bruma and then... "Red skulls," she muttered fearfully.
"Pardon?"
Sera shook her head dismissively. "I'm sorry I just don't remember."
Perennia nodded sympathetically. "Shock, of course dear, it's understandable. Well you can stay here in Sibylla's old room."
"I..." Sera glanced up at the woman in surprise. "Aren't you worried about my intentions?"
The old woman let out a light laugh. "I know you are more than you appear Seraphina, I can see that ably enough but I also know you are no danger to me and that you are a young woman who was alone on the road to Bruma late at night and suffered a traumatic and violent experience."
Sera's eyes widened as she had a flashback of blood splashing on trees. She trembled causing her cup to shake on the table and the water to swirl in it noisily. "I'm grateful," she murmured.
Perennia nodded again before quipping, "shall I show you to your room?"
Sera nodded, uncertain if she could sleep but certain that she did not want to face anymore questions. They stood up once more and headed back down the hall to the back of the house and into a room on the right. It was small and shabby with a single bed, a lone candle in a silver dish on a small table, which Perennia lit, a shelf on the wall with several tomes about beasts and animals, and several scraps of parchment with pictures on them of animals.
"Matty's work," Perennia murmured, "my son, he did them for his sister Sibylla, she always loved animals."
"They're very good," Sera retorted sincerely as she looked at a detailed picture of three galloping horses and then another of howling wolves.
"Yes he has quite the talent for art but sadly he's wasted it, Matty...well he fell in with a bad crowd, not the worst but not the best." Perennia let out a soft sigh. "Well, sleep soundly Seraphina."
"You too."
"Look over there Matty, is that blood?"
Matthias Draconis sighed before looking to where his sister nodded. She had been grumbling for most of the journey about their mother's lack of security and vulnerability in the middle of nowhere and just ten minutes ago commented on the odd silence in the woods. Matthias had grumbled that she was paranoid but privately found it unsettling as well. He frowned as he saw the carmine glint on the trees at the edge of the woods.
"Cae what are you doing?" he snapped when his younger sister started hurrying towards the stains.
The tall woman moved with her sword out and her shield raised, ever prepared for danger. Matthias had always recalled her suffering from an unhealthy mix of paranoia and toughness as a child and now it was evident that a career as a captain of the guard had only enhanced those traits.
Matthias tugged out his own blade and followed reluctantly, even if Caelia Draconis was a captain of the guard she was still his little sister and it wouldn't do to let her go charging alone towards silent spooky woods with bloodstains. He skidded to a halt in the fallen leaves as he reached his sister and exclaimed a curse.
"Yes it is rather disgusting isn't it?" Caelia quipped calmly as she surveyed the grizzly scene.
There were several animal corpses in the centre of a ring of dead trees, all of them gutted and bloody, killed in a brutal and ugly fashion. There was a doe, three rabbits, a fox and two wolves and all of their corpses were infested with horrible, black, slithering worms. On the dead trees, of which there were seven, were large, grinning skulls with long fingered, bony hands crossed beneath them. They had been painted on presumably with the animals' blood. The smell of death was sickening and Matthias was finding it hard to ignore. He wondered with a cold gaze why there were no birds or flies feeding off the bodies.
"It's sloppy work," Caelia murmured as she eyed the streaks where the blood had dribbled and the spatters indicating splashes. "I wonder what it all means." Her frown deepened and she turned her gaze back to the path they had broken from warily. "It's obviously the work of one of those crazy members of the forbidden daedra cults. Come on Matthias," she snapped at her brother, "we need to get to mother, these corpses are still relatively fresh, the killer could be near."
Matthias nodded grimly and hastened back to the path with his sister. He was more perplexed by the scene than worried, why would anyone do it? And to whom or what? It didn't seem directed at a particular Daedric Prince and there was no shrine or statue. Was it just the work of a madman or a gruesome prank to scare travellers? It was near enough the main road after all and the blood was prominent enough to spot with the sun out. Perhaps there was a bandits' den hidden deeper in the woods and it was a deterrent.
Caelia's pale brown eyes filled with delight when they spied their mother's farmhouse nestled ahead with its infamous apple trees causing the sun to hit the building in a dappled pattern. She quickened her pace, almost breaking into a run, her sword still out and her shield still half-raised as she worried for her mother.
Matthias had already put away his sword and had no inclination to tug it out again. The farmhouse looked fine, the door was still securely on its hinges, no windows were broken and there was no damage to the bushes or fences outside.
They heard the familiar bark of Jake and the door was soon opened to let the shepherd greet them. "Cae! Matty!" Perennia called out to her children happily with a wide smile.
Jake's tail started wagging as he bypassed Caelia, who had made it clear that she had little fondness for dogs, and hurried to Matthias with an excited bark. The Breton bent down to scratch behind the dog's ears. "Hello Jake," he greeted back before standing up again to avoid being licked in the face.
"Mother are you alright?" Caelia demanded.
"Yes of course," Perennia chided, "as I always am. Honestly I know I'm old Cae but I'm not helpless, why are you charging at my door with your weapons drawn?"
Caelia frowned as she lowered her blade grudgingly. "It looks like there was trouble nearby and recently too," she announced in a firm tone.
"Oh?"
"There were dead animals, it looked a ritual killing," the captain commented in a conspiring manner. "Lots of blood on the trees, someone had used it like paint to mark up skulls."
Perennia stiffened slightly and her gaze hardened just a little. 'Red skulls?' she thought curiously. 'That's what Seraphina said last night, was she involved? Poor dear did the same people that killed the animals harm her?'
"Well they've not come this way," the older woman assured, "now both of you come in so I can stop letting the heat out of my house. I've got a nice pot of broth cooking on the fire; you've arrived in good time." She gave them both a wide grin that was enough to soften even Caelia's stern demeanour before turning and heading back into the farmhouse.
Caelia followed and then Matthias with Jake close on heels. The Breton took care to shut the door tightly behind them but didn't bother bolting or locking it.
Perennia led the pair over to her large dining table, which sat opposite a fire on which a delicious smelling broth was cooking in a large, iron pot.
"Isn't that quite a lot of broth for one?" Matthias queried with a quizzical look.
"Well now we're four," Perennia retorted, her smile now tainted with a hint of awkwardness.
"You don't mean that smelly dog as well do you?" Caelia complained as she finally sheathed her sword and rested her shield against the wall.
"No," Matthias answered for his mother as he looked to her accusingly. "Mother what do you mean?"
"Now Matty don't get bold," Perennia chided, "this is my home you are in and I am your mother."
"Mother is there someone else here?" Caelia queried in surprise as her hand automatically went for her sword's hilt.
"By the Seven," Perennia retorted with a roll of her eyes. "I live with only Jake for months at a time and here my two children show up and act like I'm a feeble, confused woman. Yes," she confessed as she gave her children a stern look, "there is someone else here, a poor, young woman who came this way last night, injured and lost."
"A likely story!" Caelia snapped as she banged her fists down on the table. "Where is this trickster? Hunting through your things?"
"Caelia do not treat my kitchen like an arena. Honestly, I wish you could be a little bit more lady like, and the woman is getting ready in the bathroom, she will join us once she's dressed."
"Came with luggage did she?" Caelia queried dryly.
"I gave her some of the clothes I bought for Sibylla," Perennia answered airily, "better a stranger uses them than they get no use at all."
Caelia bit back a curse and sat down reluctantly under her mother's stern gaze. Feeling his mother's stare fall upon him, Matthias followed suit.
In the bathroom a troubled Sera looked at her back in the ovular silver mirror, which was framed in ornate rosewood and had been a gift from Perennia's late husband Remus. She turned pale at the sight of the scars there, criss-crossing lines to match the marks on her arms.
"Hold her down. Yes, cut her but not deep, I need the blood but I need her alive."
A voice, it had filled her head and sent pangs of pain through her making her want to scream in agony. Its owner had been absent though, watchful but still just a voice. Forms in black, Dunmer, Altmer and Imperial, she could not recall their faces, they had held her down and cut her with ornate daggers and then, then they had let go.
On fleeing to Bruma, cursing herself and Lachance, he had queried her safety alone after all. She had thought the worst of it over until the voice had come again, a gleeful command in her head, a pressure on her skull, one which she had been powerless to resist.
She looked at her palms and felt bile as she caught a flashback of the doe squirming in them as she brought a dagger to its throat.
"Oh what a marvel you are puppet. Don't squirm, I could make you cut people, yes I could make you carve out their eyes and gut their throats, I could even make you bathe naked in their blood and smile about it. Soon enough anyway. This will do for now however."
The dead rabbits had lured a fox and the doe had lured the wolves. She didn't know how she had had the strength to fight and kill two wolves and winced as the large, bruising bite on her right side above her hip reminded her that it not been easy. She had tried to resist, tried to fight back, screamed every profanity she could think of at him but she had failed. Only when the bloody marks were on the trees did she break his hold. He had wanted more- words of warning, phrases praising the Worm King but she had overcome him. Him, it, what? She didn't know.
It was all a mess of blurs, shadows and brief flashbacks but most of the night was gone, clarity had only come when she had splashed her face with cold water in Perennia's bathroom late last night.
She swallowed hard before tugging on a cream shirt that was modestly low at the bust, ruffled and had long sleeves. Over this she fastened a brown, leather corset with fancy, gilded buckles and clips, and a deep purple trim. To match it were cotton pants of the same deep shade of purple, soft, practical and an almost perfect fit, save an inch in length, Sera was surprised by how snug they felt. She rolled up the bottoms and slipped on a pair of supple, black, leather boots and then finally gave her hair a quick comb before exiting the bathroom.
She tensed hearing voices in the kitchen and considered skipping breakfast but there was only one way out of the house and she could not hide in the bathroom or Sibylla's room forever. So she headed up the hall with caution, putting her thief's skills to good use as she feared that there might be guards or bandits waiting for her. She wanted to trust Perennia but she hardly knew the woman and being with Lucien had taught her well that a snake could easily lurk behind an attractive guise. She scowled as she mentally scolded herself for thinking Lucien attractive of all things, he was close to being old enough to be her father and there was nothing attractive about that cold, threatening stare of his or that malicious smile he seemed to reserve for her.
She hesitated as she neared the end of the corridor and heard Perennia scolding a 'Matty' and a 'Cae'. Recalling that Matty was her son she guessed that Cae was probably another relation and wondered if Perennia had told them about her. Hoping that she had and considering the fact that they hadn't dragged her from the bathroom as a bandit or thief, she chose to reveal herself at last.
Sera stepped into the room causing Cae to spring up from her seat with a glower, Perennia to smile welcomingly and Matty to glance over with curiosity before he too jumped from his seat with a look of alarm.
"Ser...Miss Polita," Matthias stammered awkwardly.
"Mr Draconis," she retorted calmly, "it looks we're having breakfast together after all." She didn't know how she managed such quick wit with him but it came easily though inside she felt an odd quiver. Was she happy to see him or worried? It was hard to tell.
"Do you know her Matty?" Caelia queried disapprovingly.
Sera looked to the woman warily, she was fully dressed in armour after all but thankfully not of the Imperial City, on her chest was a sigil depicting a golden horse rearing with a green, ovular background. Sera was taken aback by her beauty, despite her masculine stance, her ambiguous outfit and the way she had her coppery-brown curls scraped back her good looks were still striking. She had an appealing, youthful face and the smooth, enviable, pale golden skin of an Imperial. Sera looked curious as she glanced from her to Perennia, there was definitely a resemblance there, both were pleasant faced, Imperial women with pale, brown eyes and identical noses. 'Matthias is a Breton,' she thought in puzzlement, 'so how can his mother be an Imperial?'
"Yes we're fr...well...er..." He paused helplessly; Sera and he hadn't exactly met or parted under good circumstances. He openly frowned as he recalled how his best efforts to engage with the young woman had met with either hostility or suspicion.
Sera didn't know what to make of Matthias' discomfort until she recalled their last meeting too. She had seemingly gone mad in front of him, talking to that stupid voice, and then practically shoved the Ayelid statue at him before fleeing to Kvatch. Still, it wasn't like him to be nervous, from their very first meeting he had been bold and blunt. "We met a few weeks ago," she confessed, "in the city, I should hope we'll be friends though," she added as much for Caelia's benefit as for his.
Caelia kept the hostility in her gaze as she turned to her brother for confirmation.
Matthias nodded dumbly prompting his mother to let out a giggle. "Oh it must be fate," Perennia jested, "that this woman should be your friend." She grinned back at Sera and commented teasingly, "you know Matty's always been blunt with his words but I've known him to be this bad!"
Matthias scowled and a dark red flush began creeping up his neck. "What are you doing here Ser..Miss? What about Kvatch? Did you witness that?"
"Sera, remember?" she queried gently as she was stunned to see concern in his eyes. "And yes, I...Kvatch had fallen when I reached there so I decided to head for Bruma. That's why I was on the road last night," she confessed.
"Mother says you were attacked," Caelia piped up as she eyed Sera's wounds almost accusingly. "What happened?"
"I..." Sera shook her head helplessly. "It was dark and..."
"My daughter and son came across a gruesome sight," Perennia commented helpfully, "dead animals in the woods; perhaps the people who did that hurt you too?"
Sera couldn't hide the horror from her face as the colour drained from it. Matthias took a concerned step towards her and gestured to his former seat at the table. "You should sit," he suggested.
"And have some broth, it's ready now," Perennia said as she turned her attention to the pot.
"Were you involved with that?" Caelia questioned sharply as Sera slumped into the seat.
"Involved?" Sera echoed with a startled look.
"Caelia," Matthias chided his sister. "She's always in guard mode even when she's not in Leyawiin," he grumbled.
"I don't remember animals," Sera lied, "there were people in hoods and cloaks, they attacked me and I ran, that's it."
"Hoods and cloaks?" Caelia repeated in a voice that sounded disappointed. "That could be any number of people, what colour of cloaks? How many people?"
Sera paled as she shook her head angrily and replied sardonically, "I don't know, I didn't stop to count."
Before Caelia could retort Perennia served up the bowls of broth and said, "time to eat."
They devoured their broth quickly, all three ravenous after being on the road for so long. Only Perennia took her time with hers, pausing every so often to smile at her children. It was good to have people at her table, it was so big it often felt lonely and yet she couldn't bear to part with it. Once they were finished, Perennia stood to pick up the dishes but Sera surprised them all but springing up and reaching for the bowls.
"You don't have to do that," Perennia objected gently.
"Please," Sera responded softly, "it's the least I can do."
"Well, if you insist," Perennia murmured as her brown eyes flickered to her son with a gleam in them, "Matty get up and help, you're the only man here so act like it."
Matthias hastened to his feet with his head bowed as his neck reddened once more and he swallowed down a curse. He went to pick up his bowl just as Sera reached for it and for an instant his hand was upon hers. He snatched it back hastily as Perennia gave a small smile at the sight whilst Caelia rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat with a disapproving scowl.
Sera smiled from under her blonde locks as lifted up his bowl and carried them over to a tin basin. "The well's out back, right?" she queried.
"I'll get the water," Matthias offered quickly as he moved to the door.
"I'll go with you," Sera replied quietly, "I'd like some fresh air."
He gave a grunt in retort before opening the door and hurrying out. Sera followed after him round to the back of the house where more apple trees grew. There were apples growing there, small and red with a good bit of growth still to go. "It's lovely here," Sera murmured softly as she followed Matthias to the well.
"Yes," he retorted as he turned his attention to the well and began winding up the rope.
"Did you grow up here?" Sera pried.
"I spent a few years here," he answered vaguely.
Sera frowned at him as she leaned back against the wooden fence and folded her arms. There was a nip in the air but no frost or ice yet though her breath came out in a faint, white mist. "That's not what I asked."
"I didn't know we were bonding," he grumbled, "I thought you only wanted to do business with me."
"That was your idea," she reminded him frostily, "it was why you plucked me up off the streets and got me well again, remember?"
"It is not," he answered hotly as he tugged the bucket up and slammed it down on the edge of the well with too much force causing some of the water to splash out. "You could have just left my house after you got well, I could hardly have hunted you down for the artefact."
"Alright, well I didn't so what's with the hostility?"
He frowned over at her and reminded her, "you bolted off without reason, remember? Now here you are in my mother's house, a wounded stranger in the night, what should I make of that thief?"
Matthias let out a cry of pain when he was hit squarely on the nose by a violently thrown apple.
"I'm not like that!" Sera snapped angrily. "I don't steal from everyone you know, especially not people who are kind to me!"
"Well why are you here then?" Matthias grumbled as he rubbed his reddening nose with one hand. "Why are you going to Bruma? I thought you were going back to the city after Kvatch."
Sera stepped forward and retorted moodily, "not that it's any of your business but I'm looking for someone." She snatched up the bucket and added, "those dishes won't do themselves let's go."
"Looking for someone," Matthias grumbled, "what another mark?"
"No," Sera retorted angrily.
"How should I know? Who can trust a thief?" he retorted hotly. "Or worse," he added snidely, "I mean there are dead animals not ten feet from here and blood all over the trees and here you are in the wake of it all covered in cuts." He let out a cry when the entire bucket of ice cold water was upended over him just as he stepped into the doorway. He slammed his right hand against the door, clenching his fingers tight against the wood as his sister let out a curse.
"O what did you do now Matty?" his mother scorned as she hastened up to him. "Come back Sera!" she called to the blonde woman who was now running up the path.
"She's a common thief," Matthias grumbled.
Perennia looked to him at first in surprise then in anger. "You get after her now Matthias Draconis!" she ordered.
"What?" He gestured down to his soaked form and snapped, "look what she did to me!"
Perennia gave him a firm shove. "I did not raise you to let wounded young women wander dangerous woods on their own! Now go!"
When she raised her hand in a threatening manner, Matthias blanched and turned quickly to pursue the blonde.
Sera ran blindly, not sure where she was going, she raced off the path, determined just that she should put enough distance between herself and... 'That asshole?' she thought numbly. 'Or that sweet lady who doesn't realise she let a killer sleep in her home? Oh gods, am I the danger?' Perhaps it was a coincidence or simply ill luck or perhaps it was the cruel mechanisms of fate that drove Sera to stumble into a familiar spot. She skidded to a halt and let out a scream at the sight of bloody, red skulls.
She staggered back and tripped over the broken neck of the doe and fell hard amongst the wolves. "No!" she shrieked as she saw the black worms slithering towards her. "NO! NO!" She screamed it out as she began to brush at her legs frantically as they tried to wriggle onto them. "I didn't do this! I didn't!" she sobbed as tears began to streak down her face. "I didn't!"
She was seized briskly by both hands, yanked to her feet and tugged back from the grizzly scene. "Silly pauper," Matthias chided. "I'm sorry for what I said, I was just being cruel because you threw an apple at me and it bloody hurt."
She shook in his grasp and rasped out, "I didn't do this."
"No one says you did, I didn't mean it," he muttered as he released her arms and turned her away from the bloody scene.
"No," she shook her head, "you don't understand. I..."
He took her gently by the hand and said, "come on back to the house and we'll try again. If you don't my mother will probably beat me, so please do, the apple was enough."
Sera looked at him in disbelief, too stunned to take in the attempt at humour. "Will you tell me if you grew up there?" she demanded.
"Sure."
"You know you're kind of wet," Sera teased weakly as they walked.
"I hadn't noticed," Matthias retorted sardonically.
So I really loved Mannimarco and the necromancer plot in the game but felt that it could've been more I mean Mannimarco is built up in Daggerfall (from what I've read) and then he's back in Online, so why was he barely in Oblivion and kind of underwhelming in the end and an easy foe? Somewhat the same for Mankar Camron. So of course I must do something about this in this fic :-)
I also loved the Draconis family, it was Perennia's note about her children that made it for me, it gave them all distinctive traits and made it a little bit harder to kill them and so difficult to kill her since she was a very sweet, caring lady. So I just knew I had to have them in the fic as well.
Anyway thanks for the reviews and favs so far and please, please read and review it really means a lot to me!