Karloh woke up early, when the sun had not yet risen, a custom acquired after years traveling through the lands of Skyrim, his brother and he went to bed the instant the sun disappeared and woke up a few minutes after the sun appeared so they could continue their journey with the light of day.
The khajiit got up from the makeshift bed, gathered the furs and sheets and folded them up leaving them aside to be retrieved by the family, he tidied the room quietly with the use of the telekinesis spell, returning it to its usual configuration that had been altered to allow him to sleep in it.
He took a seat in one of the chairs present and sank into his thoughts.
The gods know that Karloh has only questions and doubts, but he can't get any kind of answer due to the communication problem, and despite his attempts, his learning of the local language is slow, maybe in a month or two he can have a good enough level to be able to ask his questions, but in the meantime he can do nothing but let himself be carried away by the current situations.
Everything he knows so far he gained through mere observation, and what he hasn't been able to stop himself from noticing, is the similarities of this plane to Nirn.
If it wasn't for the fact that he can sense the difference in magic, he could believe that he is only in some unknown place in Tamriel, the omnipresent forest has simply identical flora and fauna to what can be found in Tamriel, and furthermore even if the local language is different, the body language is almost exactly the same, which helps a lot in being able to learn the language.
There are also the races, so far he has seen one similar to the goblins, another similar to the orsimer and that of these people who by appearance look like some bretons with very long ears.
And from the reaction of these people to his appearance, Karloh surmised that there is a race similar to the Khajiit, for although they looked at him with curiosity, they did not do so with the expression one would expect to see from people who had never seen or heard of anything similar to himself
The sound of slow footsteps brought Karloh out of his thoughts, he watched young Shauna come out of her room and head for the living room with a slow pace and a sleepy face.
That led him to remember about the night before, he was actually asleep, but then again when you are an adventurer who spends too much time traveling you have a habit of waking up at the slightest noise, Shauna was discreet, but she is not a master thief or a skilled assassin, so she woke him up.
The girl's interest in him is uncomfortable, because while he thinks it's mere childish curiosity, a part of him can't help but think it goes further than that "Shauna" Karloh greeted, already feeling a little annoyed that his only way of communicating is by saying the name of someone or something.
Shauna seemed to snap out of her drowsy state as soon as she heard him, she looked in his direction and as soon as she did she couldn't help but blush, probably remembering what happened last night. She responded, she said one word before saying his name, Karloh assumed that was a greeting.
To reassure the girl he offered her a smile, an act that only increased her blush.
Slowly the rest of the family began to wake up, each one greeted him with the same word used by Shauna and then his name, at the end Karloh decided to use it and when Liluth heard it she nodded giving him a smile, showing that he had used it well.
The family was about to sit down to breakfast, but Karloh sensed it.
The khajiit naturally have better senses than humans and the Mer, their sense of smell, their hearing are better.
And Karloh could smell something in the air that passed through the window of the room, a smell different from the rest of the villagers, a smell of metal covered in sweat, the smell of a man wearing armor.
Karloh moved quickly and intercepted with the palm of his hand a bolt that was heading straight for Ahren's shoulder, the bolt embedded itself in the khajiit's hand, but he made no sound of pain, too used to that sensation.
He only looked outside the house noticing a group of men obviously dressed for battle, these began to try to knock down the doors of other houses and the one who had shot watched in surprise at Karloh.
He was about to reload his crossbow, but that didn't work when his skull was impaled by an ice stake that killed him instantly.
Karloh pulled the bolt out of his hand with a single jerk and immediately used a healing spell, closing the wound before it bled too much.
The family screamed in shock and terror as they realized what had happened, Karloh immediately moved towards the front door of the house, but before leaving he looked towards the family "Shauna, Liluth, Elui, Ahren" he said before pointing to the ground, motioning for them to throw themselves at him.
Liluth seemed to understand and dropped to the floor under the table, an act that was followed by the other members of his family, he nodded at their actions and then exited the home, ready to take down these men whoever they were.
As soon as he left, Karloh cast the Ebonyflesh spell that made his body as strong as Ebony, that black metal, then he looked around noticing how the men are trying to open the doors of the dwellings using axes, some are even trying to enter through the windows.
Using the telekinesis spell, Karloh pulled those men throwing them into the air, not caring in the least if they die in their fall.
That made some of the people present notice him, at first glance they only wore simple chainmail armor with some cloth over it and simple steel helmets, nothing that would offer them a great advantage against him.
One of the men tried to attack him using his sword, but Karloh was faster and just raised his hand releasing the Sparks spell and electrocuting the man, something easy, as his armor helped the electricity to run more easily through his body.
Another managed to shoot him with a crossbow, but the bolt only bounced off his magic-hardened skin.
The Khajiit let out a grunt of annoyance, right now it would be very useful for him to have conjuration magic, he could simply summon an army of familiars and let them deal with these nuisances, no better than bandits, but right now something like that is not possible, so he can only use the rest of the schools to defend.
A few more attacked him, and were killed, either by lightning or ice stakes, the only good thing about it all is that at a certain point they stopped trying to enter houses and focused entirely on him. Their attempts to harm him were unsuccessful because of his reinforced skin and his own speed with which he dodged most attacks, after all it is not because he does not take damage from their blows that he must let them connect.
Osman smiled satisfied, the attack began without any of the elves realizing it, the surprise effect is important in this kind of attack, since it doesn't give them time to prepare themselves neither physically or mentally to defend themselves.
Everything will be over soon, but before Osman thinks about getting some girl, it is always fun to rape them while their parents look on begging to be left alone, he was about to order his horse to move forward when he observed how a man flew away, he stopped his flight when he collided with a tree so hard that Osman could hear his bones breaking.
He watched that in surprise and it was not long before he began to hear cries of pain and screams. Osman, completely confused, advanced towards the place, wanting to see what was making his men scream and send them flying.
As he approached he observed in surprise a man throwing ice stakes right and left and lifting men with only one hand, for some strange reason the man seemed immune to the bolts, as they hit his skin only bounced harmlessly as if they were hitting the hardest of armor.
As for those who tried to wound him in melee, if they were not killed by an ice stake or lifted into the air and thrown hard against some tree, they were simply dodged as if they were children trying to attack a hardened adult.
Osman had brought with him about fifty mercenaries and that force was quickly being whittled down by one man, while at first these seemed confident as more and more of their comrades died, they became more devious and some even began to tremble with fear.
"What are you idiots doing, kill that beast man!" shouted Osman furiously, this was not foreseen in his plan.
His words motivated the men a little to attack again, but it also had the effect of drawing the beast man's attention to him, he looked at him for a few seconds before raising his hand in Osman's direction, then the slave trader felt his body rise and quickly approach the beastman.
Osman tried futilely to free himself from the invisible grip, when he reached the beastman's level, the beastman posed his hand which let out an icy air, in front of Osman's face and looked defiantly at the surrounding mercenaries, clearly demonstrating that if they move he will die.
"D-don't attack idiots, don't attack!" shouted Osman, right now terrified at the thought of his skull being impaled by an ice stake.
The mercenaries obeyed against their will, their numbers had been reduced considerably, by more than half in a few minutes and the confidence they all had recently had been reduced to ashes.
The beastman looked at Osman, evidently furious, but instead of speaking to him he shouted a name "Ahren" He shouted in the direction of a house.
A few minutes passed before an elf came out of it armed with a forge hammer, the elf looked around frightened at the soldiers and corpses strewn across the floor, the beastman pointed his head at Osman and the elf seemed to take time to understand what he wanted to tell him.
"W-who are they?" the elf asked, taking some courage as he noticed that the mercenaries would not move.
Osman watched the elf angrily refusing to answer, but felt something sharp sink into his cheek, he let out a cry of pain and returned his gaze towards the beastman's hand noticing how an ice stake was forming in his hand and had already begun to wound him.
"I am Osman, a slave trader, these mercenaries are my men!" shouted Osman recognizing a threat when it is made, and by the looks of it this was no idle threat.
"Your accent... It's from Baristein" Pronounced the elf in surprise "What does this mean, our kingdoms are at peace, the princess's engagement and your king makes sure of that, you are violating the law of your lands!"
Osman wanted to mock, but the tip of the ice stake was still sunk into his skin and he was slowly beginning to feel that part of his face freeze, wanting to cut out as much of this torture as possible he decided to speak.
"No, I'm not breaking any laws, the king gave me permission to do this!" Explained the slave trader.
The elf looked surprised and confused in equal measure, something that had almost made him abandon all fear, grave mistake, a mercenary near him quickly caught him and put a sword to his throat, Osman smiled, now they too have a hostage and the beastman will have to free him or the elf die.
Too bad Osman's hopes died in an instant, the beastman threw Osman to the ground and stomped on his torso preventing him from fleeing, he pointed at the mercenary who took the elf hostage with his hand and immediately lifted him into the air as he had done so many times before.
With horror everyone then watched as the mercenary's body began to be pressed by an invisible force. His bones, muscles and skin were torn and shredded as he slowly transformed into a sphere of flesh, during the whole process the mercenary did not stop screaming in pain and begging for mercy, at one point his neck broke and he died, then the beastman let him fall to the ground turned into a human ball.
With that spectacle any desire to fight that the other mercenaries had disappeared instantly, they dropped their weapons and ran away screaming in terror, it did not matter that Osman shouted at them not to leave him alone.
That done the beastman pointed at Osman again, though there was no longer an icy air coming from his hand, that was almost more terrifying because it meant he was ready to use that same strange power he comes from using on the mercenary instead of throwing an ice stake at him.
"His majesty plans to use the princess to gain access to the capital and force the surrender of the kingdom, he won't even take the marriage vows and will just use the princess for that and then sell her as just another slave!" shouted Osman, no secret is worth dying in such a horrible way.
The elf, who seemed as shocked and scared as the rest by the mercenary's death, came out of his trance when he heard Osman's words "W-what... No, that's impossible, they made a treaty!"
"Baristein never thought to respect the treaty, the king let me come alone because I promised him that I would not fail to be a witness, by the time they realized it would be too late!" revealed Osman covering his face in fear as he watches the beastman's hand pointing.
Ahren had tied up the slave trader and locked him in his warehouse, the rest of the inhabitants left their homes as soon as they saw the danger passed, and when Ahren told them the truth panic and anguish flooded them all.
"What are we going to do?" asked an elf.
"We can't do anything, according to the news the princess is already on her way to Baristein" Answered an elf.
"True, we will never get to a large settlement in time to warn them of what is being plotted" Confirmed another elf.
"Is that a human turned into a ball?" Asked a terrified elf.
Many look to Ahren for answers, for some reason as the first elf to have left his home and learn of the situation, everyone is now looking at him as if he has the solution to the problem in hand.
But he can't tell them what they already know, the nearest city that can contact royalty is a week's walk away, and even then the information will take time to reach the capital of the kingdom, by the time that happens the princess would already be in the hands of Baristein's people.
"We must wait for Elunia to arrive, she will know what to do" Ahren explained.
"What about the beast man? He sure can help us in this situation" Said an elf.
"It's true, he saved your daughter from those monsters and protected us from the slavers, he seems to be as powerful as Elunia" Said an elf hopefully.
"And he doesn't understand anything of what is going on" Ahren pronounced "Karloh is intelligent and capable, but he doesn't understand our language and he doesn't know our lands, making him understand what we want will be almost impossible"
Explained Ahren, certainly wanting to do something he has no shortage of desire, but he can't manage to think of what might work.
Ahren looked towards Karloh, he was approaching the dead mercenaries, removing their weapons and armor and positioning them all in one spot, while the corpses he was stacking them away from the village, he didn't quite understand what he was doing, but he let him do it, clearly he knows better than they do about this situation.
"We can send someone to look for Elunia" Proposed an elf.
"That's a good idea" Ahren said.
"If we even have a horse" Shouted a young elf approaching them pulling a horse, the animal seemed to have been brought by the mercenaries.
Although a horse in the woods around isn't exactly useful, still it can travel the trails created by years of elves passing through them, and that will allow them to get around faster... "Who knows how to ride a horse though?" asked Ahren.
No one answered, which let him let out a sigh.
Karloh approached them just then, and Ahren had an idea "Karloh" Ahren called him, he pointed to the horse and then pretended to ride, it was kind of ridiculous, but Karloh seemed to understand quickly, he nodded, approached the horse and mounted it with ease.
"He can ride a horse!" Said an excited elf.
"Is there anything this guy doesn't do well?" asked an elf.
"Wait, what if the mercenaries come back? Without the beastman we won't be able to defend ourselves" An elf said, to which Ahren had to validate.
Ahren tried to think of a solution, looking around he came across the weapons and armor that Karloh had piled up, he also watched in the distance as corpses were being burned, luckily the wind carried the smoke and smell towards the opposite direction of the village.
Though such a sight turned his stomach, he had never seen such violence, he was thankful that the violence was to protect them, but Goddess knows he would rather have seen nothing.
"The weapons and armor of the mercenaries, we can use them to defend ourselves if the mercenaries return, the ones that escaped were not very numerous" Ahren explained.
"You know how to use a sword?" Asked an elf.
Ahren slowly denied.
They had always had Elunia to protect them, which made it unnecessary for the rest of the village to learn how to defend themselves and focus more on practicing their trades efficiently.
That brought good things, as thanks to that their village is the largest around and the most prosperous, but now without Elunia around and with a threat hovering over their head they are at a crossroads.
"Dad" Ahren turned around watching Liluth, he had told her to stay indoors with her mother and sister, not wanting her to see the dead bodies, they are now burning in the distance, but still he is not happy with her disobedience.
"Liluth why are you disobeying me? I told you to stay indoors" His daughter tried to make herself smaller at his reprimand, but she stood her ground.
"W-we can ask Karloh to teach us how to ride a horse" His daughter proposed, many present whispered giving her support for the idea.
"That... he can help, if he can teach quickly, but I don't see how he can teach quickly without knowing how to speak our language."
"I can, I understand it best, it's not much, but it's better than nothing" Liluth said.
"And let you go find Elunia when you learn? No, I won't do that, the surroundings are dangerous with monsters and mercenaries roaming around" Said Ahren, alarmed by his daughter's proposition.
"Then come with me, I will ride the horse and you will be on my back to defend me" Said his daughter.
Ahren wanted to refuse, but before he did so he rode his sight through the town, the people are scared, frightened and nervous, it is not only about their safety, but also that of their kingdom, they can't let Karloh go, for he is needed to defend the town, but they can't waste much time either.
The more time they waste the less chance they have of preventing the princess from falling into Baristein's hands, Ahren let out a sigh and nodded.
Now he was wondering at what point his life went from being that of a simple blacksmith in a village to having to prepare a mission to prevent his kingdom from falling.