It was getting more and more confusing and disturbing each time they accidentally met him.
Or just caught a glimpse of him.
How did it come to this?
Two years ago, he was nothing but an annoyance. A brief encounter with barely any significance. But since then, strange things were happening around him. To him. Maybe because of him.
He was supposed to be a simple bard. A famous one, apparently but it seemed the fame brought him a little too much attention. Presumably in the wrong places. From the wrong people.
Here he was now. Not a stage to be seen, no concert hall, no music, but there was an audience all the same. Enraptured with him just as they had always been. Hanging on every word, even without the tunes accompanying them.
It was a disturbing scene. The crowd looked quite riled. Some of them were actually wielding weapons. Some had pitchforks and shovels brandished like they were ready to kill someone with them. And maybe they were. As Bishop and Aeyrin walked closer to the scene, they couldn't help but notice some of those tools were properly bloodied already. It wasn't hard to guess what happened.
"They are not your overlords. They bleed, just like anything else," Alec's melodious voice carried through the canyon. It still had that sweet tinge to it, but it was hard to focus on. He sounded… angry. Determined.
Convincing.
"They bleed like the rats they are! Nothing more. And you can fight them. Believe me, I've seen the other side all too much. You are the only hope any of us have anymore. The Empire is lost to them."
He continued, riling up the crowd. They cheered and hooted, all encouraged by his words. They were the ones who killed the Thalmor by the road. It didn't explain everything – it didn't explain why the Thalmor were in Whiterun Hold in the first place. It didn't explain why Alec sounded so convincing when the last time they'd talked to him, he'd been begging them to help him, to free him from what they could only assume were Ulfric's clutches. Or were they wrong?
But it did explain why the people dared to kill members of the Dominion. From what it looked like, they were simple people. Villagers maybe. Farmers. They were somewhat far from the outskirts of Whiterun still, but there were no other settlements near here. Yet their origin probably mattered little. They were clearly following Alec's words here.
The crowd was so busy, they barely noticed Aeyrin and Bishop approaching behind their backs. But not everyone was so oblivious.
It was brief, but Alec noticed. It was hard not to for him after all. He was almost facing them, but even if he was just concentrating on his audience, he would have caught a glimpse of Aeyrin's shiny armor glinting in the sun. He did notice. But he didn't let it show much. He quickly turned his attention back to the crowd, making sure that he didn't acknowledge their presence too publicly.
But there was someone else that saw them. Someone who was now staring at them intently with an inscrutible expression. As strange as it was, she had become much more subtle. Perhaps by now, she had a lot of practice with secrecy. It was just unfortunate that it involved being too hard to read, because she was certainly not subtle enough about their presence.
Jora.
They kind of knew she was with Alec, doing whatever they were doing. Actually, they had no idea what was even happening. First, Alec begged them for help when they shared a carriage from Morthal, but then told them to forget the whole thing when the carriage driver was within earshot. And then they spotted him in the streets of Windhelm, dragging Jora away from her post in the temple, much to her Master's dismay.
They had no idea why. All of this was just… strange. And what were Jora and Alec doing here at all? Aside from clearly inciting rebellion.
Not that killing Thalmor was ever a bad thing.
But this just somehow looked really bad.
"You have to fight for your freedom! You can still resist!" Alec almost pleaded with the crowd. "Isn't that right, sister?"
"Talos bless you for standing for our hope," Jora finally tore her eyes from the two of them and gave Alec a nod. She… looked odd. And her tone was much more monotonous than usual. But once Alec seemed satisfied with her words, she returned again to stare at Bishop and Aeyrin. And that didn't escape everyone's notice this time, not when the attention had been on Jora before.
Some people from the crowd looked behind their shoulders, only to spot those two there, still standing slack-jawed. They didn't manage to get out of the shock and confusion of this scene yet. And some of the crowd began to whisper.
That was when Alec no longer gave them the courtesy of ignoring them.
"Empire's lackeys," he scoffed at them disdainfully. What?! "Did you come to see what you stand against?"
Alec looked so serious. So cold. So full of hate. And so did his audience.
There were no more subtle glances. Everyone turned around to pay full attention to the two of them, glaring at them. Some only now noticed the intruders in their midst, but others seemed to be just waiting for this moment.
What was happening here? They still weren't sure what they just walked into and now these people looked way too aggressive. Was Alec goading them? Why? What happened? What happened to him wanting help? Was he angry that he got none? Or was he just… different now?
What happened to him? True, Aeyrin and Bishop knew little and what they did have were just assumptions based on their strange carriage ride from Morthal, but they thought they had it all figured out. Well, not all of it. Some of it. They thought Alec was definitely being blackmailed by Ulfric to spread his propaganda. And that he was being watched often.
Was that the case now too? Was he just keeping up pretenses? But he seemed to be riling these people to actually… be aggressive.
"What are you talking about?" Aeyrin quickly raised her hands in mock surrender to try to diffuse the situation. "We just heard the commotion and came to look. Why would you think we're 'Empire's lackeys'?" Two Thalmor were dead. Fine. She only worried about the connotations of that – about the people who actually killed them. And about the fact that those Thalmor were here of all places. But that didn't mean she had a problem with them being dead. They were Thalmor. As far as she was concerned, after everything that happened down south, every dead Thalmor was a favor to the world.
"Pfft, everyone knows the precious Dragonborn is nothing but Tullius's lapdog," one of the people from the crowd scoffed at her hatefully.
What? Where did that come from? Aeyrin quickly shook her head in negation, but nobody seemed convinced. Why did they think she was in any way tied to Tullius?
Things were getting strange. Aeyrin took a subconscious step back from the crowd, colliding softly with Bishop who was always at her back. From his stance, the arm at her back now, she could tell he had his hand on the hilt of his sword. Maybe the whole time. That probably didn't help the situation, but she knew it would have deteriorated anyway.
Aeyrin quickly glanced towards the one person in the crowd who didn't seem to be itching to get violent. Jora was not looking at her anymore. She stood beside Alec with her eyes closed and her hands wrapped around herself as if she was trying to give herself comfort.
What. Was. Happening?
"I'm… I'm not Tullius's anything!" Aeyrin tried to defend herself, but it only earned her a disdainful scoff from Alec, followed by some chuckles from the crowd.
"Don't make us laugh," Alec snarled. "You proclaimed your allegiance before publicly enough. We all know who we're dealing with."
Proclaimed her allegiance? Oh Gods. Did he mean… that time in Falrkeath? When Siddgeir made her give that damned speech so that he would release Bishop from prison? Could the word of that one stupid thing she said really have spread so much? Ulfric had commented on that before too.
This was bad.
"She's just gonna run to her Thalmor overlords and tell on us," another person from the crowd yelled.
"L-let her!" Jora suddenly piped up. Her eyes opened again at last, but she was still hugging herself protectively. Her façade was not as strong as before. She seemed terrified, but tried to play into her determination. "The Thalmor had no right to be here!"
"What Thalmor?" Bishop asked promptly. He had to try. Maybe if they pretended they had no idea what exactly they walked into, they might just be able to walk away. Though by the faces in the crowd, it didn't look likely. They all started to focus on him now. And Alec looked quite angry. What the fuck was wrong with him?
"I think there's a big bounty on that guy," someone from the crowd pointed out.
Fucking shit!
Ugh. That was the last thing they needed. He shouldn't have drawn attention to himself. Were they seriously going to try and attack? They certainly looked like it. Nobody even looked hesitant. Well, save for Jora. But she didn't seem to have the guts to speak up anymore.
"You are the true sons and daughters of Skyrim," Alec's scowl turned into an almost reverent smile. Hopeful. "You are not intimidated by anything! Send the Empire a clear message!"
"No, you really don't want to do that!" Aeyrin yelped. These were just… people. They were barely armed! Nobody had any armor on them. This was insane. She didn't want to kill them. What was wrong with Alec? Why was he doing this? Was this some kind of revenge for them not helping him? They had no idea how! And he told them not to in the end.
"She's the Dragonborn! What the fuck do you think's gonna happen?" Bishop snarled at them. He wasn't sure why. He could see that these people had decided, but he could also see how much Aeyrin wanted to avoid this, no matter how pointless it was.
"Do not let them scare you! Do not let them take your legends onto their traitorous tongues!" Alec called out.
What? Why was he trying to get them killed? And didn't he know it would only get these people killed instead? They were clearly not trained or armed properly.
Though they did kill two Thalmor already…
That was no small feat.
"No! Don't listen to him! We don't want to hurt any of you," Aeyrin tried again, but every word just seemed to anger them more. They almost seemed entranced, but she knew there was no magic at play here. Maybe they were overly confident after their previous achievement.
Maybe rightfully so.
It happened fast. The man closest to her rushed towards her in an instant with his flimsy steel sword ready. It would hardly do any damage through her reinforced crystal armor. But before he could even find out, she felt movement behind her.
And there it was. No turning back. Not unless these people actually wisened up and ran at the sight.
Bishop's ebony sword went straight through the man's gut in one fluid motion, stopping him in his charge. His body began to spasm and tremble instantly as the jolts of electric enchantment wreaked through his impaled form. But Bishop didn't let that image linger for long. He withdrew his sword soon, letting the man limply slump to the ground in his own pool of blood, as he had his sword ready for anyone else that tried.
Unfortunately, everyone did. Everyone brandished their weapons, some more menacing than others, and everyone charged.
"IIZ!"
A spray of frost spread through the crowd, radiating from Aeyrin. She acted quickly and soon, a few of those charging at her got stopped as a layer of frost began to envelop them rapidly. That would keep them at bay. And hey, they were Nords. They would possibly even survive this. She just wanted them all to calm down.
But that did not happen, despite her, if she were to say so herself, very scary dragon attack.
Bishop quickly rushed into the frey. There was no point in getting out his bow. Everyone was too close for that to be of any use. Instead, he promptly thrusted his sword into another one of those assholes. He knew what Aeyrin was doing. Or trying to. But he had no real way to keep this shit non-lethal without taking considerable risks. Those fucking pitchforks had long reach.
And besides, those frozen fuckers were surely dead too. There was no saving anyone here.
Especially not Alec. He was gonna pay for this shit.
Aeyrin was forced to brandish her mace soon as she defended herself from one pesky woman wielding a club. And from then on, it was a familiar routine. These people were no match for their training and equipment. That was plain to see. It was impressive that they managed to kill those Thalmor at all, but maybe they caught them off guard. One of them seemed to be at least trained in combat, but not enough to save him.
A few more hits and slashes and it was over.
Such a short battle. Nobody even tried to run. It must have been around fifteen people. Fifteen lives lost, just like that.
And he just stood there, watching the scene in strangely reverent disbelief. Still there in the same spot, down by the base of the Talos statue. Blood splatters were all over his fancy frock, but Alec clearly didn't mind.
Not like Jora did.
She was still huddling herself into her own embrace with her eyes firmly closed, as if trying to pretend none of this was happening.
"What did you do?! What's wrong with you?!" Aeyrin yelled at Alec angrily. He caused this! He riled them up like that. Goaded them to attack. Did he really think these people would kill her and Bishop? And even if he did… why?
"Shh. Not yet," Alec suddenly gave her a strange smile.
What?
Alec walked a bit towards the nearest corpse and bent down. He grabbed the weapon lying by the body's side – what looked like a simple plank with some nails in it. That was a disturbing improvised weapon that neither Bishop nor Aeyrin noticed in the brief battle. Everything had been so fast and confusing.
It kind of looked like Alec would try to attack them too, as stupid as that would be on his part. But none of his actions so far were particularly enlightened.
But instead, when he was finally wielding that stick, he turned towards someone else entirely.
"No! Jora!" Aeyrin cried out, trying to alert her. The priestess was still standing there with her eyes closed, possibly unaware of where Alec lunged. Aeyrin tried to interfere, but it all happened so quickly again.
Jora noticed the situation too late, but not too late to flinch away from the charging bard. She cried out in pain as that stick hit her in her arm, the nails borrowing through her robes and into her flesh, but with her quick movement, she only caused them to scratch along her forearm.
Alec let go of his stick when Jora flinched away and Bishop quickly used the opportunity to stand in his way. He pointed his sword at him, keeping him at bay, while Aeyrin made her way to Jora.
"You… you know her name?" Alec gasped in surprise. He didn't even flinch at the fact that Bishop's sword was pointed at him, but he didn't lunge again. For someone who just riled the crowd to attack the two of them, he did not seem even a little wary of ending up just like those people now.
Aeyrin quickly approached the priestess. That horrid stick was still lodged in her forearm disturbingly, but Jora was barely making a sound. She was mostly shivering and letting out strangled gasps. She seemed so out of it, even more shocked than Aeyrin and Bishop were. The only one not disturbed by the sudden slaughter seemed to be Alec, but he did seem rather nervous instead as he stared at the scene. He paid no attention to Bishop's threatening stance, but he did focus fully on Aeyrin and Jora, ignoring the obvious threat to his life altogether.
Aeyrin shushed Jora soothingly as she reached out for the stick. It was strange seeing her like this. Jora had been a secret conspirator for over a year now, passing notes, plotting, scheming, sending very dangerous letters out to anyone and everyone. She could have been found out and punished harshly, by Thalmor and Stormcloaks both. There was no side of this that ended well for her if she got found out. She lived in constant threat of death or torture quite bravely.
But this was somewhat different. A priestess or not, being faced with such mindless and pointless slaughter was not something people took well. Especially if this was the first time she actually saw someone killed. It was quite possible after all. Aeyrin had never seen anyone actually killed during her clerical training either, not until she got out there into the real world. She had seen people die on the infirmary berth, she had seen people hurt or she knew that they were killed during her youth and Ri'zhassa's schemes. But she had never seen something like this until she was out there. And it was quite likely that Jora was in a similar situation now. She might not have even seen the murder victims from the Butcher's rampage. Those were likely moved straight away to the Hall of the Dead.
"Deep breaths. It's gonna hurt now, alright?" Aeyrin tried to comfort her and showed off an exaggerated breath, as if telling her how to breathe. Jora tried to nod, but her breathing didn't calm at all. But it was still best to get it over with.
Aeyrin yanked the nails from her skin, eliciting a loud yelp from her, but it was quickly over. The priestess returned to her ragged breathing and shock. Aeyrin was very sure that Jora was a much more talented healer than her. She would be able to help herself much more efficiently. But she was in no state to do that. So Aeyrin promptly rolled up her torn sleeve and placed her hand on her forearm, lighting it up with magic.
"What…? Just kill her!" Alec suddenly snarled as he watched the scene. That made both Bishop and Aeyrin look at him in shock sharply. What? What was the matter with him? And it only made Jora flinch away from Aeyrin's touch. Gods, did she believe they would do that? Didn't she trust Aeyrin?
Then again, this scene could freak out just about anyone.
"How about I fucking kill you instead?" Bishop snarled at Alec, moving his sword a little closer to the bard's chest.
"I… what? But… I thought you… You know that we need to talk! Just… just get rid of her. She's the last one," Alec stammered in confusion. What was he talking about? He acted like this was some sort of a plan they were in on. Like they knew why he was goading the crowd to attack them.
Did he do that so that they could talk in private?
He… got those people killed for a talk?!
"Talos, what's going on?" Jora finally spoke with a trembling voice. No wonder. It was all so confusing. And Aeyrin and Bishop didn't even understand why she was here. Why did she get dragged into… whatever this was?
"'Talk'?!" Aeyrin stopped her healing spell. Jora's arm wasn't fully healed yet, but Alec's words distracted her even from that. "You want to 'talk'? You got them to attack us! You… you knew they stood no chance! Are you insane?!" Her eyes went to the few Nords remaining, enclosed in frost. They were slowly melting, but she could tell already. Even they wouldn't survive.
"On no honey, not insane. Desperate. Now, please! I can't take it anymore! Get rid of her!" He pleaded with her, almost hysterically. He still adamantly ignored Bishop's sword as if he didn't care about that at all. Or as if he was confident that Bishop wouldn't use it. Granted, the confusion of the situation did make him stay his hand. Clearly only Alec knew what was going on.
"You fucking made those people attack and now you think we're gonna do what you want?" Bishop scoffed at him hatefully.
"Oh, don't pretend like you care!" Alec snorted and rolled his eyes. "If you do, you shouldn't. They were zealots. Saw your pointy ears and were itching to kill you," he nodded at Aeyrin with palpable disdain in his voice.
It made her flinch instantly and move her hand to her missing ear. As if she needed to hide it. But she realized soon enough that he said 'ears' and everything was hidden beneath her loose braid. And why was she bothered by her missing ear now? That was not important. She quickly returned her hand down to her lap in shame as she continued to kneel by Jora.
"Or just by knowing who you are. Dragonborn. Do you have any idea how much that bothers them all?" He continued, shaking his head. "They would have been all too happy to attack you without me as well. And she's one of them," he pointed at Jora.
What? She was not!
"You're the one who created them!" Jora suddenly found her voice. A very resolute one at that. Her eyes flared with anger at the bard, but then they turned to Aeyrin. Pleading. "Aeyrin, it's a trick. He knows. It's all a ploy to keep his hands clean, I'm sure of it. And if he knows about me, he knows about you. Maybe more of us. He's a spy."
"I… I kind of know that," Aeyrin nodded slowly. Well, she suspected that Alec was a spy. Or at the very least some kind of a recruiter for the Stormcloaks. But she also knew that he was doing that likely because he was forced to. And that was not something that Jora seemed to know.
But then again, she was referring to her and Aeyrin. She was referring to their dissident schemes. Was… Alec somehow involved in that? Was he supposed to uncover that? Why was Jora here otherwise? Why her?
"A 'spy'," Alec scoffed disdainfully. "Sounds so glamorous when you say it. If only."
"Aren't you?" Bishop scowled a bit. "Isn't that what you were trying to tell us the last time?"
"Stop," Alec hissed at Bishop, shaking his head erratically. "Get rid of her. Please, by the Eight, get rid of her already." Jora's eyes widened at his words, probably at the expression he used, but she didn't say a word to address it. Probably too wary to do anything anymore.
"That's not fucking happening," Bishop retorted instantly. Like fuck they would kill Jora. Even he trusted her way more than he trusted this guy. Not to mention Aeyrin and their relationship. There was no way in Oblivion. Besides, Jora was hardly a brain-washed zealot eager for slaughter.
"Trust me, please. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you," Aeyrin whispered to Jora while Bishop and Alec 'talked'. Jora nodded slowly, but she still looked so confused and so uncertain. Unfortunately, Aeyrin had no idea what else to do.
The only thing that could help anyone here was the truth.
"I don't know why she's here. But I promise you, she's not one of Ulfric's… lackeys," Aeyrin sighed as she stood up and walked towards Alec too. She couldn't help her gaze be drawn to the corpses around and she had to convince herself to even say this, but… she needed answers. "Just… talk already. What's going on? Why would you do all this?"
"I'm not saying a word if you're letting her go," Alec shook his head desperately. "I… I'm already in deep with all she heard. Dammit. She'll… she'll tell him, I can't allow that. She's here to watch me."
"What? I'm not! I'm here to… You are here to kill me! I… thought," Jora gasped in astonishment.
"Alright, enough!" Aeyrin shook her head, her gaze drifting to the corpses around again. What a mess. All because of a misunderstanding? Really?
But she still didn't know anything.
"Enough of this. Neither of you is going anywhere right now, so you might as well just tell us what's going on. If either of you is a 'spy' or something, we won't let them leave," Aeyrin tried to sound assertive, but at the same time, she threw a reassuring look at Jora. She knew who Jora was. There was no question about it. But she needed Alec to talk.
"I… I can't!" Alec shook his head desperately.
"You already said you're fucked. You either explain yourself, or you're dead," Bishop snarled at the bard, almost poking him with his sword. If he did poke, Alec would get a nasty shock. "We know who she is and if it makes you feel any better, she's no friend of Ulfric's. So now's your chance. Talk."
"Ulfric himself summoned her! Said she has to come with me," Alec tried it once more, but there was no convincing them. Not after all this time with Jora helping the dissidents.
"I thought he did that to get rid of me," Jora let out a small sigh, mostly to herself. By now, she mostly calmed down, even if not emotionally, at least physically. Her own hand was on her forearm, continuing the healing, and her eyes roamed around the corpses covering the area too. "Talos, what is happening?"
"Don't ask Talos," Bishop scoffed and pointed with his sword at Alec again. "He's the one who knows. Talk, bard."
"You sent all these people at us so that we could talk, so talk," Aeyrin snarled at him. She still couldn't believe he did that so callously. So convincingly.
"And what people were they, huh? Maybe I sway some on the fence, maybe I talk some nobles into giving money where they wouldn't under any other circumstances, but who do you think these people were? If it eases your conscience, they were murderers. A crowd made for lynching and nothing else. Or did you miss the corpses on your way here?" Alec rolled his eyes almost exaggeratedly.
"The… Thalmor. They had no business here and I assumed…" Aeyrin shook her head. She assumed there was a fight. That the people tried to chase the Thalmor away but those pompous assholes wouldn't have it, as usual.
"You assumed wrong, whatever you assumed. Some of them lured them here just to be slaughtered," Alec scoffed. "These people are turning into a cult. All offense intended!" He turned to Jora again and snarled.
"What? What does that have to do with me?" Jora stared at him in shock. "I didn't even know…"
"Right," Alec tutted her, interrupting whatever she wanted to say.
"Enough of this shit. Neither of you clearly knows why you're here. Tell us what the fuck's going on already," Bishop growled at the bard, still with his sword pointed at him.
And Alec still didn't seem disturbed by that in the slightest. Though he did seem a nervous wreck in general. Almost as if that sword threatening his life was the least of his problems.
He plopped down onto the ground, sitting in the grass, though he avoided the pools of blood. It was a rather dastardly scene. The famous bard, in his fancy colorful frock, sitting in dirt surrounded by corpses and with a sword pointed at his chest. He lowered his head for a spell, letting his hat, one from the apparent collection of ridiculous headwear he clearly owned, obscure his eyes as he let out a long-suffering sigh.
It was hard to say if he was just being theatrically dramatic, but somehow it didn't feel like it. Especially when he looked back up at Bishop and Aeyrin and began to speak. His voice was quiet, as if he was still trying to exclude Jora, who was still on the ground nearby. Or maybe he had trouble speaking now.
"Last time we talked… you remember that man… the carriage driver?" Alec asked.
"Yes, you didn't want to talk in front of him. And you asked us about… things like the paladins and Whiterun and…" Aeyrin reiterated the events before Bishop interrupted her.
"Ulfric forced you to be his 'spy' or whatever, that much we figured," he shrugged. "So what? You go around recruiting people to the rebellion? Swaying nobles for their money?"
"That's… exactly what I do. Nobody gathers information like a bard with a silver tongue," he smirked, almost proudly at that. "And the nobles all love me. They believe me when I badmouth the Empire to them or talk about the rebellion. I'm not… affiliated, of course. I just have… opinions. That's how it looks to anyone out there. I'd seen the worst of the Empire. That's what Ulfric has me do. That and… riling up crowds like these. People that just need a little bit of push to become fiercely loyal and to do whatever he wants them to without being… associated with him in any way."
"So you… targeted these people specifically? What… what exactly happened?" Aeyrin stared at him in disbelief. She and Bishop kind of suspected Alec was doing something like this, but not any… specifics. Not like this. "And… what do you want with Jora?"
"Want with her? I want her dead! She's gonna tell on me," Alec scoffed. "I was just… reporting back and… Ulfric told me she's coming with us. That I should have a priest with me to sway the faithful more successfully. She's just another handler. Just like that 'carriage driver'. I have been watched constantly ever since that… damn… ever since that performance at the Palace. Of course she's just another 'insurance'. Like he was," he inclined his head to one of the corpses – a man who actually had a proper weapon – a sword. And unlike the others, his clothes had some studded leather parts to them, almost like subtle pieces of armor.
"That was your handler?" Bishop raised his brow at the corpse. He remembered this one. He put up a slightly bigger fight than the rest.
"One of them," Alec nodded. "Like her."
"No, I was sent here because Ulfric knows. Sent with his spy to be disposed of discreetly," Jora shook her head frantically.
"Knows what? He told me nothing about you! I assumed you're one of them," Alec's eyes widened at her.
"Jora, if Ulfric knew… you wouldn't be disposed of," Aeyrin gave her a concerned look. If Ulfric knew that Jora was helping dissident worshippers of Talos, she would be taken to the cells and very likely tortured for any information she had. Ulfric would want to know what's going on. He wouldn't just dispose of her secretly. What would be the point of that?
"What… what do you mean?" She asked uncertainly. It was… still a bit strange. Sometimes she was so efficient and determined. And sometimes…
"I still feel like you have no fucking clue what you've gotten yourself into," Bishop smirked at her in mild amusement. He still remembered how she spoke of the 'conspiracy' out in the open in the streets of Windhelm to him a while back. She was apparently good at knowing who to reach, how to help people, but some aspects of their endeavors seemed to go way over her head. "He would want to know more, if he had any idea of this."
"Oh. Well… of course he would…" Jora mumbled a bit to herself.
"What are you talking about?" Alec looked at all three of them in confusion.
"Don't worry about that. Worry about being fucking sincere and convincing right now because if you're not, you're not gonna live long enough to wonder anymore," Bishop sneered at the bard. As if they would risk Jora and the entire conspiracy if they had any suspicion that Alec was really on Ulfric's side. It was not that worrying, since it was clear that Jora could not return to Windhelm anyway. What would she say? How would she explain any of this? How would she explain returning without Alec and the handler? How would she explain going against Ulfric's order? And would there even be any point in trying to think of some excuse for her if there was even the slightest chance that she's right and Ulfric does have suspicions about her?
They were way past getting anything back to how things were.
"Jora's not who you think she is and we'll leave it at that," Aeyrin nodded resolutely. "Tell us what happened here. Why did you come here? What happened with the Thalmor?"
"I was just told to take her with us, I got a new handler, and then I was supposed to come to this… rally," Alec explained.
"'Rally'?" Aeyrin frowned at him. What did that mean? What were they rallying about?
"It's… common. Farmers, wretches, anyone dissatisfied with something… they gather in taverns, complain about this and that and then they try to create more ruckus. They organize these… rallies and things. Sometimes they rob someone, destroy something. It doesn't matter. Petty crimes and directionless people. Easy to manipulate. I've been working these ones for a while now. They had only one purpose in life anymore. Zealotry for that God of theirs. Harassing anyone with pointed ears."
"Ulfric… wants that?" Aeyrin cringed. Did that even help him in any way?
"Of course. Why not? There are Nords, freedom warriors all over the Province. The common people stand with him, just like the nobles. And he is not responsible directly for anything these nutcases do," the bard scoffed. "These ones… they made this plan all on their own. One of them made himself into a very obvious 'secret Talos worshiper' and lured the Thalmor here. When they approached the crowd of simple farmers walking the road, asking if they'd seen him run around, they were slaughtered."
"I… I didn't know about any of that! We were just supposed to wait here," Jore shook her head frantically again. "We were just supposed to be here by the statue and preach to some… gathering."
"Oh yes, I was actually invited. They sent word – apparently had a plan that would make me proud. Of course, I don't get to read my own letters. My handler did and he was all too eager. This is where we were meeting them."
"And they came bragging about slaughtering people," Jora spat disdainfully.
"Nothing wrong with killing Thalmor," Bishop scoffed, earning a rather disturbed look from Jora. She probably had no idea what had transpired down in Cyrodiil when Therien was captured by those fuckers.
"You should be more focused on the fact that they tried to kill you," Alec noted.
"Because you goaded them! You made them attack us!" Aeyrin snarled. "You knew we would kill them!"
"They were itching to kill you already. You're just another one of… them for these people. They don't care about your prophecy, they don't care about some dragons that they only hear stories about or see from a distance. Not when they're convinced there's a much bigger threat. When some of them still remember from the Great War," Alec tried to justify himself.
"You just said you 'directed' them to this. You're the one who made them care about this," she shook her head at him in disbelief.
"I had to. And if not me, Ulfric has others. You think that I'm the source of all his influence?" He retorted instantly. "They were going to do worse. Their hatred hardly ends with the Thalmor. You may not like it, but you may have prevented worse things by killing them. In fact, you hear me out and you could actually save a life."
"Pfft. Yours? How fucking tempting," Bishop scoffed at him disdainfully.
"No. Not mine," Alec lowered his head again, his hat obscuring his face.
There was a burning question up in the air that still didn't get answered. It was the one they had no answers to for a long time. Ulfric was a powerful man with a lot of influence. But that influence was not infinite. And Alec was a famous bard, not without his own means. He could have just gone back to Cyrodiil, protected by both the Empire and the Dominion from Ulfric and his spies.
"Alec… what does Ulfric have on you?" Aeyrin asked at last. And she couldn't stop remembering the event that started all this. The concert in Ulfric's honor that he ended up dedicating to her. An elf who claimed to be a Nordic legend and outright refused to cooperate with Ulfric. The man was clearly mad, but… did Alec really have no opportunity to escape him since? And how could Ulfric be that mad about something so… banal?
Well… she knew how petty the man could be, but this still seemed over the top, even for him.
"Was he really that mad about the concert?" She continued when Alec provided no explanation. And that finally got him talking.
"The… concert? Oh… darling, get over yourself," he smirked a bit. "This has nothing to do with you. I only dared to 'include' you back on the road from Morthal because I know you are no friend of Ulfric's and never will be. He denounces you wherever he walks. And so do I on his urging. The fact that you two showed up here… I couldn't pass that opportunity up. The opportunity to finally speak to someone who might be able to… help. But do you honestly think this is about some ludicrous concert?"
Aeyrin felt properly embarrassed by his words, but through the burning in her cheeks, she still tried to sound assertive. Fine, that was silly. She knew that already before but that was the only connection she made to Alec's unwilling association with Ulfric. So what else was she supposed to think? Especially when Alec still gave no answer.
"So why? Why do you have to do this?" She asked again.
Alec stared into the ground for a while again. Nobody spoke this time. It would hopefully force him to spill it at last. And after a while he did.
He looked surprisingly sincere.
Desperate.
"I'm doing this for her. Please, you have to help me save her."