Chapter 10: Second mission to Windhelm

[13th – 14th of Rain's Hand 4E 202]

After the clearing of Shimmermist Cave and Erik's death I had spent some time in Whiterun, helping people and finding out, with helpful advice from Ulfberth War-Bear, that some ladies appeared to like me or at least found my body attractive. Outside of Warmaiden՚s I had also spoken to Adrianne and her daughter Silvia, and I had promised to help with the girl's efforts in enchanting by getting some supply of silver or gold ore. Finally I had purchased the book 'The Ten Commands of the Nine Divines', and I planned to study it from time to time to find out more about the local religious aspects and 'compatibility' with my own Lutheran Christian belief.

For Morndas I had been asked to visit Jarl Balgruuf the Greater in Dragonsreach. He had made it a habit to talk to me for an hour or two about various topics, mostly political, once a week, since he had made me Thane of Whiterun, and in particular since I had been in Windhelm last time. I knew that the Jarl was thinking a lot about potential alliances, and I knew him well enough to assume that he was not driven by a lust for more power, but by the quest to find the best way into the future for his hold and citizens. Sometimes those conversations made me feel a little bit uneasy; after all, who was I to advise the Jarl on those topics? I was neither versed in politics nor in military strategy. However, my desire for peaceful solutions was something I had in common with him, and we both knew that achieving an entirely peaceful solution for Skyrim was about as likely as defeating Alduin tomorrow. Today was no exception from our normal routine, as I was about to find out. I arrived in late morning, and Jarl Balgruuf started in a very direct way:

"B'lushona, you know that I have thought about that for many weeks now, and with the year turning into spring, it won't be long before the skirmishes between Imperials and Stormcloaks will again take the blood of many good men and women. With us being neutral, most casualties will be from other holds, but it worries me nonetheless."

I nodded; he was right, and there was nothing to add to his statement. While the Jarl led me upstairs, he continued:

"Now, we can either try to stay neutral for as long as we possibly can, we can join the Imperial side, or we can join the Stormcloaks. If we stay neutral, no side will have a decisive advantage, and the Civil War may last for maybe many more years. I suspect that certain forces, specifically those related to the Aldmeri Dominion, may like and even support this prospect. Agreed?"

"Indeed, my Jarl, I agree. The more we have internal fights in Skyrim, the less likely it will be to muster our forces for another war with them."

"Quite so. Now, if you had asked me a year or two ago, I would have preferred to join the Imperials. They represent the legal government, and Skyrim is a province of the Empire after all. Events of the last months have made me change my mind, though. Not only have I heard from various reliable sources, including your own report, that the Stormcloaks are really trying hard to accept other races and to keep their racism in check, but I also had to be told about the way the Imperials have treated my two Thanes. In addition to that, I have realized that the Thalmor are given way too much freedom of movement in our province, and the Imperials do not do anything to stop them from harassing and even killing innocent citizens; even the vague hint of Talos worship is enough excuse for them to detain people. I simply cannot accept Tullius as legal arm of the government any longer. Further, although I do not openly admit to that, I pray to Talos as well, and Tullius will never do anything even vaguely restoring that option; he is probably working with the Thalmor a little too closely."

"As a matter of fact, my Jarl" I injected, "you mentioned some time ago that you intended to write a letter to the general and ask him about the reasons how he treated Fiona and me. Did you have a chance to do this yet?"

"Oh yes, I did" Jarl Balgruuf responded. "The reply arrived, and I was not happy with it. He refuses to justify his decision to me, and he urges me once again to allow Imperial troops to be stationed in my hold. He does not really go out of his way to entice me or so."

I nodded again, and after looking at the big map on the table in his war room, the Jarl slowly continued:

"After you came back from Windhelm last time, I have heard reports from a few other people, including traders, and they mostly match and confirm my thoughts. So, after a few almost sleepless nights I have come to the conclusion that we need to ally with Jarl Ulfric and the Stormcloaks, and we need to do that quickly. We need to have some of his army in our hold before Tullius learns about it, and if things go well, we might even have a chance to end the bloody war this year."

"But what about about long term plans? If the Thalmor see Ulfric winning and Talos worship restored, isn't there a risk that they will declare war again and blame us for violating the White-Gold Concordat?"

"Indeed, son, indeed. We must be very careful about that, and this is a topic I need to discuss with Ulfric. Maybe there is a way to limit Thalmor authority without throwing them out of the province completely. However, this is the only way I can see to restore peace in Skyrim quickly. You see, if we allied with Tullius and eliminated the Stormcloaks, there might be officially peace for some time, but sooner or later another unrest would start as Tullius would make sure to enforce tight rules and regulations all over Skyrim, and another rebellion leader would eventually emerge to aid the suppressed people."

He had a good point, and for various reasons, one of them being my task to restore legal Talos worship in the province, I agreed with his view and decision. All I could do was to ask:

"Jarl Balgruuf, I believe that you are right. How can I best help?"

"That's the spirit, son, thank you. I need you to travel to Windhelm again, and very soon. I will of course write an official letter, but please invite Jarl Ulfric to a neutral place, like Valtheim Towers, which is right on the border between our two holds, for an important conference. What I will not put into the letter is the part where I ask him to bring some part of his army with him; as soon as we have signed the alliance documents, he is free to move them into my hold as he sees fit, and from a military point of view, I will defer to him and allow him to lead our forces. He is certainly a much better military strategist than I am. I don't want Tullius moving his troops quickly, and I want to him to think twice about moving against Whiterun, if that's his intention."

We discussed a few more details, but the general idea was clear. I had been able to spend many weeks here in Whiterun to mostly focus on my house building project, and while I certainly did not need to go out for an adventure every other day or so, a nice trip to Windhelm would be something to look forward to. I promised to leave early in the next morning, and just before we stepped down from the war room again, Jarl Balgruuf handed a very special and nicely crafted and decorated axe over to me, saying:

"Such a special weapon is a gesture between two warriors who understand each other; Jarl Ulfric will understand the meaning."

We sat together for lunch and talked about a few other topics as well, and then I was dismissed. Right away I called Jordis, my Solitude housecarl, to me. Antonius, my Whiterun housecarl, was out getting more supplies for my new home, and he would not be back until a few days later. Jordis would have to do, and when I told her what we were going to do, she liked it:

"Good; I liked Windhelm when we were there before, and I will be looking forward to seeing the city again."

"So, Jordis, you don't have a problem with Whiterun getting allied with Eastmarch, to eventually also fight against the hold where you grew up?"

The pretty Nord replied after deliberating my question for a few seconds:

"No, not really. While I still feel some loyalty for Jarl Elisif, I saw the way you and the Lady Dragonborn were treated by General Tullius, and I have to admit that what Jarl Balgruuf the Greater intends to do is likely the right decision. Don't get me wrong; I think that Lady Elisif is a fair leader of her hold, but she allows herself to be controlled by General Tullius way too much. I don't even blame her for that; she is so young, and General Tullius is a seasoned and experienced leader."

I was glad to hear that; I preferred not to have a housecarl around who had a conflict with loyalty. I was probably mistaken, but I had a feeling that Jordis did not really feel happy and something bothered her. I asked if we needed to talk about this further, but she declined without further comment.

Bright sunshine illuminated the plains of Whiterun when I went hunting again, all alone, just with my two saber cat cubs. I had moved a little further away from the city than originally intended, and I happened to get close to a small bandit camp. I knew that I needed to be careful, but observations revealed that the camp was mostly deserted; I could only see two people moving around, a male Imperial and a young female Nord. Disregarding my usual caution I attacked, and the Imperial got killed by my axe before he could even start to defend himself. The Nord was stunned and shocked, and a quick look around revealed a third person sleeping in a tent; before that person woke up, I killed them as well.

The female Nord looked very pale, and she started to plead: "Please, do not kill me! I surrender!"

For a moment I was tempted to ignore her words and just kill her, so that I could start collecting all of the available loot, but I realized that the Nord was quite young and pretty. Maybe there were some other options? I opened my mouth slightly and allowed my tongue to stick out a little bit on one side, and then I slowly asked:

"Hm, let's see about that. Why don't you remove all of your clothes to see if there's anything you might be able to do for me?"

There was a tiny voice in the back of my head telling me that this was not right, but I ignored it. The Nord swallowed, but she had dropped her weapons and realized that she was not going to be able to escape; my legs were much longer than hers, after all, and she was clearly intimidated by my tall and strong body. Slowly she started to shed her hide armor, and when only her panties and a breast band were left, an appealing slender and slightly athletic body showed itself. She hesitated to continue, but I just stepped next to her and ripped the remaining pieces off her body, using my claws. She shuddered and trembled, and a malicious grin showed on my face.

"Now, what about that?" I told her. "I think that I am going to tie you down on one of those bedrolls over there and have my way with you. If you are good enough, I may even let you live."

"Please, master, spare me!"

Of course I ignored her pledges, and I used some of the ropes lying around to do what I had suggested. When her helpless nude body was fully tied down, Hanni and Nanni were sent to stand guard outside, and I started to remove my own armor and clothes...

I woke up almost shouting, and I needed a few seconds to realize that I had been dreaming. Another nightmare! Well, from some people's perspective, maybe that would have qualified even as a nice erotic dream which had ended right when the best part was about to start, but not for me. That kind of attitude and behavior just was not me, and I had no clue what might have triggered the dream. Was this a sign that I urgently needed to get laid? Was it a sign that I had suppressed wishes and needs or so? Or was it maybe an indication that a dark part of me was waiting to be released and dominate my behavior?

I was happy to see that dawn was close, and I needed to start with getting ready for traveling anyway, which also helped to distract my thoughts. Sunrise found Jordis and me already out of the city and just past the road crossing southeast of Whiterun; earlier in the morning Proventus Avenicci, the Jarl՚s steward, had seen us off and handed over a sealed letter for me to deliver together with the special axe. My housecarl was on horseback and had been assigned a strong and fast horse, and while I was supposed to be on a horse as well, it had been much more difficult than expected to find a strong horse willing to tolerate me as rider. Most horses appeared to see Khajiit as predators, and above and beyond that I could not really ride well; this had definitely not been one of my hobbies in my previous life, and I had not practiced riding here in Skyrim either. I stated that I would easily be able to keep the pace when walking, and that was that. Most of our equipment was carried by the horse, and I only had a light load in my backpack.

Jordis mostly kept her horse in a medium speed trot, which I estimated to be around 15 kilometers per hour. This was a comfortable slow jogging speed for me, and we made fast progress on the road towards Valtheim Towers. About halfway there, when we were about to pass the side path left leading to one of those stones on a hill, a pack of wolves ran towards us from the right side, and I quickly blasted a shock spell into their group. That discouraged some of them, but one of the wolves managed to get close to me nonetheless and bit into my arm. No, not really, actually; the beast tried to do that, but found my reinforced leather armor too tough, and my skin was not even nicked. I chuckled and cut the wolf's throat with my dagger. A couple of others tried to follow up now, but I simply increased my speed and ran off; Jordis made her horse change into a canter, and after a few minutes the wolves got tired and stopped pursuing us, specifically with Hanni and Nanni running interference.

When we reached Valtheim Towers, we stopped for a short break. The Jarl had sent a detachment of soldiers a week ago, and they now occupied the place and made sure that no bandit could claim it as home any longer. We all, including the horse, got something to eat and to drink, and off we went again after about twenty minutes. Hanni and Nanni had fun running at our side, and so far they easily coped. From here on the road went downhill, and our speed accelerated a little bit.

Just before noon time we turned left close to 'Fort Amol', and right when we passed, a group of people in dark robes emerged from the fort's main entrance and started to walk in our direction. We did not bother to wait for them and simply rushed off, and when I turned around a little later, I saw that they did not follow us any longer. Noon time found us around Mixwater Mill, where we had lunch break; my saber cat cubs were now panting and needed some rest. We had been at this place before, when we had gone to Windhelm for the first time, in the moth of First Seed. The sawmill's owner, a female Imperial called Gilfre, even recognized me, but that was not really a big surprise; there weren't many Khajiit of my size in Skyrim. The woman was still understaffed, as almost all of her assistants had been recruited by the Stormcloaks, and how was Ulfric expecting to get large supplies of lumber delivered with so little help, she complained? Well, that was likely a typical side effect of war – too many people were taken off their normal duties and professions, and something suffered. I understood, but we were on a mission and could not stay longer.

Just before we left the mill area after our break, I looked back south, and I saw a dragon in the distance, possibly circling around the fort we had passed less than an hour ago. I was not the Dragonborn, and at least today it wasn't my business to attack the dragon; the mages or whatever they were residing in the fort would have to deal with it. Jordis was amazed by seeing the dragon in the air; although it was not very close, it was still an impressive image, and it was the first dragon she had ever seen, as she admitted.

About one hour later we were about to pass a side road to our left, the one which I recalled led to some kind of fort, but suddenly four grim looking people jumped out from behind bushes and started to threaten us with their weapons. Hanni and Nanni were behind us, chasing some rabbit or so, and had thus not noticed the ambush. I had a feeling that the four people were not willing to talk or at least negotiate, but more likely just wanted to kill us and get our money and weapons. Jordis was on her horse and thus had an advantage, but two of the bandits tried to grab the reins and get her down to the ground, whereas the other two attacked me. A quick fire spell against them gave me time enough to get my axe out, but handling two attackers at the same time was not something I was used to, and I struggled. My size and strength helped, and one or twice I simply turned with my arm and axe stretched out, which forced the two bandits to jump back. Nonetheless I got some minor wounds soon, and I wondered how I'd survive this encounter. Fortunately Hanni and Nanni had heard the noise and ran back, and they jumped one of my adversaries right away. That gave me a chance to swing my axe against the other one, who was briefly distracted by my saber cats appearing, and cut deeply into his chest, so that he went down to the ground. The other two, though, had managed to scare my housecarl՚s horse, so that it ran away with Jordis still in the saddle; that gave the other two bandits time to also turn towards me. With one down and one severely wounded, I again had two fighters against me, and it did not take long for me to get a deep cut in my left thigh. I could still stand, but it hurt a lot, and my mobility was restricted now. I tried to get some cover, like with me back to a rock or so, but the bandits prevented me from doing so. The situation did not look good at all, but all of a sudden one of my attackers was hit by an arrow right in the chest; the second failed to see that right away, and a few seconds later he also got hit, in his right shoulder. I breathed a sigh of relief, and when I looked up I saw that Jordis was back and had her bow raised. All together, we were now quickly able to end the fight, and there were four dead bandits, a Nord with only her pride slightly wounded – Jordis – and a big Khajiit with long cuts in arms and one leg – me. While my housecarl got a strong healing potion out of my pack, she told me that she had allowed the horse to run for a few moments when the bandits had managed to drive it away, but had quickly been able to stop behind a corner, get off, tie the horse to a tree, and get her bow out.

"You saved the day and my life today, Jordis" I had to admit.

"That's my duty as your housecarl, my Thane" the Nord smoothly replied.

"Thank you nonetheless!"

"You are very much welcome" she replied and actually smiled a little bit.

[Author's Notes: I am not sure if it is realistic to have a horse trotting most of the day and keep an average speed of about 15 km/h; I am not a horse expert. I just assume that they picked a very strong horse with great endurance for Jordis. B'lushona, as a Cathay-Raht, can easily keep that speed for most of the day. Considering that a human top class marathon runner maintains a speed of 20 km/h for over two hours, this seems to be reasonable.]