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POV: Briljof

We made quick progress back to our horses after looting the Thalmor. What we got from the Thalmor wasn't much all things considered. Most of them had their weapons and tools destroyed because of the way Brealla and Serana killed them. Then the two Justicars I killed had nothing but their robes on.

Their robes could sell some coin if there was anyone who was willing to buy them. However, no one was because it instantly put you on the Thalmor radar if you did and they went after those people ruthlessly. The only ones who would be willing to pay were in Windhelm and they didn't have the necessary tools to take advantage of the runes and enchantments within the robes. As such no one would willingly don the robes either making them next to useless.

A fact that resulted in taking the robes not worth the trouble. Compounded by the fact I already knew how to inscribe runes even if I was far from a master. The ones on the robes weren't all that good to be honest. Mass produced and put together cheap just to make sure they worked well enough to be serviceable. Not worth the extra weight of taking them with me.

Other than that, I did get a good couple dozen elven arrows out of it. Better quality than usual as well. Brealla and Serana got nothing out of the corpses besides a decent bit of gold from the bodies. All of which got stored into my pack and we moved on. Though Serana did make sure to put some blood from one of the Justicars into a potion case for herself later. As long as she wasn't going after us I was willing to look the other way with how disturbing that was.

As we reached the horses Brealla and I mounted them but Serana didn't. Each time she approached them both horses would snort, whinny and stomp their feet at her. Though the stomping didn't get aggressive until she got within two paces of the horses. Each time she did I had to pull on the reigns of my horse to keep him from being too aggressive to her. Brealla had the same problem as me but hers was worse. She had to actively pet the neck of her horse so it wouldn't charge Serana.

Serana answered the actions of the horses by sneering at them. Almost hissing in how she bared her vampiric fangs at the two animals. An action that seemed to spur the horses further into aggression. Forcing both Brealla and I to pull harshly on our reigns. Both of us giving her questioning looks as we were able to calm down our horses. This had been amusing at first but was now getting far too tedious.

"I can just run alongside you two as you make your way," Serana stated. Looking down at and patting down her dress trying to save some type of face at what was happening.

"And have any traveler see you running alongside a pair of horses wearing a hood like you are?" Brealla stated. She was taking the logical way of the argument. "At best they'll see us as mistreating a servant who's with us and at worst they'll think we're slavers that are exceptional at training."

Serana seemed to accept that answer and once again tried to approach my horse only to have the same result. A result that had me thinking on a possible solution. Having her run with us was out no matter the result. Beyond common curtesy it would draw far too much attention from any traveler that we happened to pass. That's not accounting for it we got close to any cities or towns. People would talk and with how beautiful Serana is I don't doubt some idiot would decide she was a damsel that needed saving. Which presented a whole other nest of problems.

"Serana," I stated getting her attention after thinking of a possible solution. Might not work but it worth a try. "Go to the small hill in front of us and sneak up on the horses."

"Okay," she answered after taking a look at the hill a few dozen paces away. The moment she was out of sight the horses both calmed down. Exchanging looks with Brealla we spurred our horses forward at a slow walk. We passed the hill without a problem and the horses kept on walking like nothing happened. That got me to release a breath of relief and my body relaxed.

After we passed the I felt something softly land on the horse which had me acting on instinct. My dagger was already of out its sheathe with my head and body halfway turned around until I saw that it was just Serana. Who had now made herself comfortably pressed up against my back. The horses thankfully hadn't noticed anything, but I kept my knife out and in hand as I held the reigns.

"You okay?" Serana whispered uncomfortably close to my neck and ear as she wrapped her hands around my waste.

"Yeah. Just uh… didn't expect you to be so quiet."

"I'm a vampire. We're born to be hunters of the night and silent. Mind telling me why you were about to stab me just now and why your dagger is still out?" the innocent way she went about saying that was more unsettling than anything else. Looking into her brown eyes though there was no deception that I could see. Yet, her red eyes from yesterday reminded me just who was riding on my horse. From how we were right now I would be dead before ever having the chance to act if she so wished.

"Not used to Vampires."

"That's not all."

"No. It's not," that ended our conversation and I looked forward. Brealla giving us both odd looks before continuing.

The silence we rode in did nothing to soothe my nerves. My dagger had gone back into its sheathe but my hand stayed on it. My other hand held onto the reigns in a death grip; both while she made no moves to move her hands from around my waist. I always made sure a part of me was touching her arms too just in case she acted and tightened her grip. Thus giving me an early warning as I focused on the road in front of me.

Through it all though her hug was soft, almost gentle. Never forcing me to get closer to her in any degree but enough that she wouldn't get jostled off. Did not help that her chest was bouncing on my back with each step of the horse adding another distraction.

Following Brealla we made it to the road with ease and followed it. The ride was mostly silent despite my few attempts to start conversation with Brealla. She rebuffed all of them with just one-word answers or sounds. Slightly concerning as that was there wasn't much that could be done on the trail. If she didn't want to talk, she wouldn't. Serana was the same way but mostly responded in ways that made her body vibrate; humms or the like.

Serana's responses and the vibrations she made didn't exactly make me uncomfortable but were distracting. It's one thing to feel a woman pressed against you but the vibrations made it more pleasant than they might've been regularly. Though for some reason she seemed to inordinately enjoy doing them. Chuckling mildly at various times but for reasons that eluded me.

"So, how long have you and Brealla known each other?" Serana asked as the sun was starting to set. We hadn't been pushing the horses and instead had been taking it easy on the ride. The slow pace put us near the mountain path we had used to get to Winterhold. However, with the snow falling as it was in the path we needed to find some shelter and make camp within the next hour or two.

"We met and knew of each other while we were both in Hammerfell over the last five years. We've only been traveling together for over ten days," she hummed at my words before responding. The vibrations pleasant as always and helped me to relax.

"Hammerfell still a catastrophe of sand and sun?" I chuckled at her words. She said them with such disdain it was impossible not to.

"Not a fan?"

"I'm wearing a hood in Skyrim, in a mountain path with enough sun that even the palest of individuals wouldn't flinch. What do you think?" laughing at her sarcastic retort I caught sight of Brealla to my left and like the whole day, she simply looked away from me huffing. Though her ire seemed more directed at Serana than me.

"I understand," I answered as my laughing calmed down and no longer feeling like death was behind me. "Hammerfell is still mostly dessert but the cities near the rivers are massive and usually thriving. A harsh but good place to live."

"Much like Skyrim. Can't say I don't miss the heat though," Brealla spoke, deigning to speak for the first time in the day.

"You are not alone there. The cold hasn't been that bad yet however," I answered her deciding to ignore the fact that she had been ignoring me all day. "We should find shelter soon. Don't want to get caught out in the open here."

Both women nodded their ascent to my statement. All of us looking for any place that could be used as a shelter. Serana even got off the horse and began running around the surrounding area in search of a place to stay. Her doing that left both Brealla and I alone and the silence was mildly uncomfortable. Nothing but the wind breaking the silence between us.

"... You okay?" I asked Brealla as both of us dismounted our horses. She barely glanced my way before answering.

"Yes."

Nodding at her answer I looked to her and we made eye contact briefly. She broke eye contact immediately and turned to look at the ground around her horse. Seeing as she didn't want to open up I tried to pass the time by looking around the road for anything that could give us shelter. There was nothing of note in the area beyond the uneven hills of the mountain, a few sparse trees and snow.

"How was your ride," I heard Brealla ask timidly as I was looking around. Looking at her she seemed nervous and was wringing her hands.

"Terrifying," I chuckled out. Which seemed to get her full attention.

"What?'

"Having a vampire, even a friendly one, that close to my neck as we rode was terrifying. Easily top five most stressful experiences of my life. Any other dagger besides mine I might have broken the handle with how hard I was gripping it."

"Oh," Brealla let go of her reigns and closed the distance between us. Her red hair standing out against her blue mage robes and the white snow around us. Given an almost fiery look by the setting sun as it shined upon her. Still ringing her hands, "If you want you can ride with me next time. Serana is nice and all but I can see how being that close would be uncomfortable."

"That'd be nice," I smiled in answer which earned one from her as well.

We settled back into a comfortable silence after that. Serana came back after about 20 minutes, her reappearance making the horses unsettled but less than before. She did notice the change in atmosphere between Brealla and I and smiled at that before speaking.

"Found some shelter a couple hundred paces that way," she pointed behind her and into the mountain on the left side of the road. "It's already occupied but they're just bandits."

"How can you tell?" Bandits were easy to spot but with how long she had been under she might mistake them for someone else. I wasn't about to kill some hunters just for some shelter. Worse comes to worse there we could share the shelter.

"Worn down armor, the smell of alcohol on them and the fact that they had people in cages," slavers. My hands clenching on instinct in anger.

"How many?" Brealla growled. Lightning sparking up and down her forearms.

"Six. One Sentry and the rest are in the cave… Enjoying themselves," easy to tell what she meant. Even more reason to kill them.

"Show us. We'll leave the horses a decent bit away before killing them," Serana nodded and walked off the road and further into the mountain.

Following her we got about 100 or so paces before dismounting the horses and setting them up against some trees. With that done Brealla and I followed Serana the rest of the way. Making sure to stay as quiet as possible and stay hidden. Brealla casting Muffle on us to help in the process as she took up the rear. Serana and I at the front with her leading the way. My bow drawn and knocked with an arrow.

The trek didn't take long and within a few minutes we came upon the entrance to a cave. With sure enough a singular sentry at the front looking both bored and aggravated. Probably pissed that he wasn't having any fun with the slaves that they had. However, he had a good point of reference around the entire area.

There was no way Serana got past him without him noticing her so how did she know there were six in total. She saw my unasked question once we were close enough and tapped her ears in answer. Didn't know Vamps had that good of hearing… or maybe her particularly blend of Vampirism made it so.

Taking aim with my bow on the soldiers I waited for the wind to die for a moment. Keeping my breathing and aim steady the whole time until the wind settled. The instant the wind did settle I released the arrow and it soared through the air. Slamming into the sentry's neck. His hands reaching up to his neck trying and failing to do anything. His eyes wide with shock and fear as he died. The arrow missing his spine but hitting his arteries. He died quickly but not instantly.

Rushing forward with another arrow already knocked Serana got right behind me with Brealla next to her. Stepping over the body of the deceased sentry I peered into the cave and saw a fire along with moving bodies inside. Not bothering for the subtle approach and sprinting in all five slavers looked up in mild confusion at me.

That confusion ended quickly and morphed into anger as my knocked arrow was released and punched through the eye of the closest one. A girl no older than 12 winters below him, crying and naked. With him dead the other slavers jumped away from their merchandise with their drawers down and mostly naked running for their weapons a few feet away from them and all piled onto each other. They never even got the chance to get them.

An ice spike and lightning bolt each hitting two of the final four and killing them instantly as they ran. The final two made it to their weapons but were eviscerated by a fireball. Nothing left but ash and their weapons didn't fare any better. Just a smoldering pile of ash and burning remnants unidentifiable to all. All except a pair of steel bracers that were glowing from the heat but otherwise completely intact, must either have runes or be enchanted.

With how easy it had been to kill the slavers it was a wonder how they had managed to take these people. Still, they were armed and surprise could kill even the mightiest. They probably preyed upon these people as they toiled the fields away from the main cities. No guards to protect them and their families away unable to protect them or fell to the surprise and died. The fact that all the slaves were women ranging between their 12th and maybe 40th winter reinforcing that. Ten in total with some still tied up.

Brealla and Serana consoling the women as I went about taking stock of everything that they had in the cave. A decent bit of food that should be able to feed everyone tonight but there wasn't much beyond that besides six horses. That should be enough to get the women back to their homes when the sun broke tomorrow. However, that wasn't what had my attention.

What did have my attention was a notice asking for labor. Where no questions would be asked upon delivery and payment would be given. An added bonus for 'labor', as the note said, that would be able to 'service' the ones in charge. So pleasure slaves as well, almost ripping the note in half as my hands clenched in anger but I calmed myself at realizing nothing could be done. Not that I didn't want to do anything but the note only had a location for delivery and that the offer would be ended within a week. No names or final locations on where these people were going.

The location was called Valthume and it was South East of Markarth. There was nothing else on it and the location came up blank on my name. As for taking care of the people who would be buying these slaves Brealla and I needed to talk. I had a feeling she would want to charge right in and kill all of them.

That was a line of thinking I was fully on board but was it worth the waiting to find out who took the horn? They had more information on what was going on around Skyrim then us. That information could save our lives in the future. Not to mention that finding Valthume would be hard and we currently knew next to nothing about the area around it. What predators were there, bandit numbers, Thalmor presence as it was closer to Solitude, and weather above all. Just too much we didn't know to make the trip viable with the distance we would need to take.

"Brealla," I called over to her. Snapping her head to me she saw me as she was healing one of the older women. Seeing me motioning for her to come over she talked to the woman quietly before coming over. I handed her the note the moment she was next to me.

She read it over for a few moments. Eyes running up and down the note for a couple minutes. Lightning sparking all over her body after the first few seconds of reading it. Her eyes narrowed with her brow furrowed, nose flaring in anger as she clenched the note. Said note becoming more and more crinkled as her hands clenched. The air in the cave becoming electrified by the magical lightning arcing all over Brealla.

As her lightning began to arc off her, I stood up and put a hand on her shoulder. Her head snapped to mine as her eyes burned with absolute fury. Seeing my silent plea for her to calm down she relented and pulled back in on herself. The stagnant electricity in the air disappearing as she calmed her magic. Her anger was still there and very prevalent but was shelved for now.

She took a few deep breaths before going back over to the women and started healing again. I saw Serana try and speak with her while they healed the women but got no response. The women she was helping staying silent and letting her treat them. I watched her idly for a couple minutes as she finished healing them. While she did that, I inspected the bracers.

Steel and well taken care of. No runes that I could see so it was enchanted instead. Was easy to find out the enchantment as well. Even with the heat from Brealla's magic still definitely evident the whole thing was cool to the touch. Not an outright magic resistance, fire specifically. A bit specialized but the gloves of the bracer were enchanted as well. Would make dealing with anything or anyone fire related a lot easier. Not having to avoid my hands being burned as quickly would be nice. So, I donned them.

They were a good fit, but I would need to stitch the empty pinky finger backwards. Wouldn't do to just have it flapping in the wind. Other than that there wasn't really anything to complain about them.

After trying out the bracers Brealla seemed to finish healing the women she was taking care of. Evident by her shooting up to her feet and leaving the cave at a brisk pace. Seeing her go I left her alone for a few minutes. Making sure Serana did the same as we distributed the rations out to the women. Serana taking initiative after they had their food to begin talking to the women. Seeing where she could help them heal in the short time she had. With how she approached it she might've had some experience in that. Not my place to pry.

I didn't want to leave Serana alone in the cave with the women, but she seemed to be treating them with every bit of care. Thinking she might've had experience here, I decided it was okay to leave her and go grab the horses. An unnecessary thought as the moment I was outside Brealla came into view with the horses only a few dozen paces away. Walking to her and taking the reigns of one we walked our horses inside the cave. Putting them up near the other horses.

Once done Brealla went straight back outside with me following. She had her time to calm down and now we needed to talk to discuss our next course of action. Getting outside she was doused in lightning as it ran up and down her body from head to toe. Pieces of trees snapping around her as lightning arced off her body. Catching a few pieces on fire involuntarily. A clump or two of snow taking care of the small fires.

"Brealla," I spoke just a couple feet behind her. She spun around to face me with fury plastered on her face but also shame. A couple deep breaths later she calmed down and just looked at the ground around us.

"I know. I know we can't do much for these people or even kill the ones that were planning on buying them but…"

"You're still mad about it," at my words she nodded her head. Walking forward I wrapped my cloak around her giving her a hug in the process. "We are but two people Brealla. There's no way we can help everyone. We will fail people."

"How can I be this… this person of prophecy if I'm just going to fail these people. How can we change that?" she asked burying herself into the cloak and me.

"It took me years to get contacts across all of Hammerfell. It's going to take the same amount of time here. We must be patient and take every opportunity we can. Set up a network of people willing to help us. Even then we'll need to be careful as loose lips have killed more people than daggers," she nodded before pulling away and activating her flame cloak. Looking around the forest around us she stayed silent as I kept close to her. The flame cloak was warm after all.

"You think these women will be of any use then?" she asked me as she turned around and looked into the cave. Every opportunity indeed.

"Depends on where they live. We could use them for information though; trade routes, patrols, bandits, anything would work. Really just giving us an idea of what's going on in the region," she contemplated my words for a minute.

"Good enough for now. Thanks Briljof. Truly," she put a hand on my shoulder looking directly into my eyes before giving me a dazzling and dangerous smile before going inside the cave.

Staying out in the cold for another minute or two I went back into the cave and found a spot on the far side of the cave. Away from the women in the cave and curled in my coak after piling some wood near me and setting it on fire. With that I drifted off into sleep and let it take me.

Waking up the next morning with me being the last one awake was a bit surprising. Though from the way some of the women flinched when they saw me beginning to stand up Serana and Brealla might've woken them up early intentionally. Grabbing my gear, pack and horse I left the cave and went all the way to the road.

My mind rationalizing that it was best for me to a good bit out of their way as they started the journey back home. Hopefully they would all make it but the way Skyrim is it wasn't a guarantee. Especially since none of them looked like anything that could be considered dangerous. We did about as much as we could with everything else hanging over us.

Either way it didn't take long for the women to reach the road and start back the way we had come. Brealla and Serana waving them goodbye with Serana on the horse and Brealla standing on the road. Trotting over to them Brealla stopped my horse gently for climbing on letting Serana have her horse.

"We push for Riverwood or take our time and get there tomorrow?" I asked the both of them as we started trotting down the road. Getting there today was possible but the horses would be exhausted and need a couple days of rest before we could do anything with them.

"Tomorrow. We'll need the horses later," Brealla stated getting a nod from Serana. With that done we made our way forwards.

The travel throughout the day was quiet and nice. Got to enjoy the ever changing and evolving beauty of Skyrim as we rode. Taking our time on the road we got to the edge of Whiterun's territory as the sun was setting. Pushing through we were able to find a small tavern on the side of the road that let us stay the night for cheap. Got to feed our horses with some of the feed I had bought in Dawnstar a couple days ago.

Waking up the next morning we got back on our horses and made a beeline straight for Riverwood. We got there a bit past midday but not late enough that it could be called evening. Leaving our horses tied up outside the Inn we walked inside together. Brealla and I walking straight to the counter. Serana waving down a tavern made and getting some food for herself.

"We'd like the attic room please," Brealla said and just from the way the woman reacted I knew instantly she was the one who had taken the horn. Her face wasn't one of surprise at seeing us, more like acceptance and curiosity. For appearances though she humored the code.

"We don't have an attic room but we do have a room available. Please follow me," she came out from behind the counter and the way she walked had me on edge. This is someone who has made a living hiding and acting on threats before they became one. Maybe not an assassin but definitely a spy of somesort and she had to have a weapon on her. My right hand hidden behind my cloak fingered my dagger and made sure it was out and ready just in case.

Exchanging a short look with Brealla as the woman neared a room in the corner of the Inn we silently agreed to be ready for a fight. The woman then opened the door and we followed her in. As we stepped through the door slammed shut and the woman made to pull a dagger from a sleeve but I was faster and ready for it. Brealla casting Muffle upon the room instantly.

Slamming my dagger's blade against hers and throwing her off balance for a moment I shoulder checked her and slammed her into the wall. She headbutted me and scratched her fingers along my exposed neck before lifting her legs up and planting her feet against my chest and shoving me off. Denying me the chance to pin her against the wall and do anything more to diffuse the situation. That was all for naught through as Brealla hit the woman with a small bolt of lightning. Not strong enough to kill but enough to give a good shock before she took out the note.

"I believe you have something of mine stranger," she growled at the unknown barmaid.

"Dragonborn," the woman answered. Her stance relaxing just a hair but not enough for me to relax as well. "We have much to talk about. Follow me."

There it is folks. Hope you enjoyed. Have a good day