YOU, ME, AND THE GHOST
Volonare and the outpost captain finally arrived at the Thalmor embassy. Once again, his stolen horse was stubborn the entire trip. He was almost impressed with the horses resolve honestly. As soon as he dismounted the horse began pulling and trying to run off from him.
"Ornery beast, aren't you?". He pulled out his sword and slit the horse's throat. It whimpered, groaned, and fought with every bit it had to stay on its feet until it collapsed to the ground twitching. Blood slowly pooled around the horse as Volonare sheathed his blade.
Both guards at the entrance as well as the outpost captain stared at Volonare in a state of shock and astonishment.
"Winter is over. That'll rot much quicker now. Needs to be cleaned up." He spoke as he walked past the guards, he didn't even look them in the eye as he passed.
He and the Captain proceeded into the embassy hall and immediately headed up the large staircase in the middle and headed to Elenwens study on the second floor. Volonare stopped before entering her office. Taking a deep breath to calm himself. He had seen much resistance the last few days and knew that lashing out at Elenwen was even more foolish than his plan in Winterhold.
Elenwen was sitting at her desk in the middle of the room. She was finishing a letter, she signed it, let it sit to dry and then rolled it and placed her seal on it before even acknowledging either of the justicars. She got up from her desk and walked towards the door to the office and handed the letter to her Bosmer steward who was waiting on the bench by the front door. Still not acknowledging either of them.
"Leave us" she said as she handed him the letter. The Bosmer kept his head down and received the letter without saying a word.
Elenwen was the High Ambassador in Skyrim. She answered to no one except the high council in Summerset Isles. No one could ever tell you what emotions Elenwen may be feeling. Her demeanour was always cold but spoke and moved in a graceful manner that you were never quite sure if she was ready to kill you or lay with you. One thing was for certain, Elenwen was in charge of every room she ever found herself in.
She sat back down at her desk and finally looked the outpost captain in his eyes. Saying nothing but finally acknowledging their existence. "You have twelve new agents on their way to your outpost as we speak. If you ever relinquish control of your agents to another captain again without my explicit permission, you'll be cleaning chamber pots at an outpost in an Elsweyr jungle, do you understand me?"
She spoke firmly yet calmly while staring him in his eyes. "Now leave us. Close the door on the way out."
"Of course, my lady" he glared at Volonare out the side of his eyes as he left the room.
She straightened herself up on her chair as the door clicked shut. Volonare went to grab a chair that was sitting against the far wall. "You've been sitting on a saddle all day. I'm sure it l would be nice to be able to stand and stretch a bit agent."
Volonare stopped in his tracks and stared at the wall and scowled. He knew giving any sign of insubordination would not be inconsequential and that included body language. He turned around and stood in front of her desk, he put his hands down behind his back and stood at attention. Elenwen put away her inkwell and her sealing stamp. She rolled up the excess blank papers she had and neatly tucked them in a drawer. She admired her empty desktop for several seconds before opening another drawer and removed two wine glasses and a bottle of wine.
She poured a small amount in the glasses and tasted them. She then poured the rest of the glasses, Resealed the bottle and tucked it back in its drawer. "Do you know what I've been doing all day? I've been Writing letters. Ive written a letter to the Queen of Skyrim. I've written a letter to the Jarl of Winterhold. I've written a letter to the Ambassador in Cyrodill. I've written a letter to all twenty of my outposts in Skyrim. I was growing wary of writing letters so I decided to pick twelve agents to replace the agents that were killed under false pretenses. That meant I needed twelve more agents to replace them. Do you know how I get replacements? I write a letter. Do you know why I've been performing the monotonous task of writing letters all day?"
Volonare kept his eyes directly on Elenwen who had still not touched the now full glasses of wine. "My actions in Winterhold" he responded trying to match her sense of calm.
"I had to write all these letters because a rogue agent refused to accept the results of a seven year old investigation. An investigation that I oversaw personally. Not only does this rogue agent lie to his colleagues, but this rogue agent also gets them killed because he thought he could intimidate a city who's inhabitants are some of the most powerful people in the country one of which being the prisoner he intended to take. Powerful people that this rogue agent has had tensions with in the past. Tensions he should have the maturity to have let go of by now. This rogue agent has set us up for retaliation and made us look weak trying to settle a personal vendetta. Even worse, he failed at doing so. Failed horribly and in such an embarrassing fashion they were blushing all the way in the Summerset Isles" her last few words had a small hint of frustration.
"Walk with me." She stood up, leaving the wine glasses and walked towards a window that overlooked the front entrance of the embassy. Volonare followed her. His hands still tied behind his back. He kept his head facing forward. Matching her cold demeanor. She stared out the window. Seeing springtime plants making their first appearance. Then she saw a dead horse being cut down so the guards could remove the pieces of the heavy animal's body.
"I hate this place. I truly do. Snow and freeze for half the year. Most of these nords are barbaric ingrates masquerading as nobles and knights. You must acknowledge their resolve however. I orchestrated a civil war that only United them in the end. Dragons return and instead of devouring them it gave them a hero to rally around. Now they are growing, building, becoming a beacon of false hope for all of Tamriel. Now they can rally around a moral victory against the dominion because you can't let go of the past"
She left the window without acknowledging Volonare. She sat back down at her desk and fiddled with the glasses but still did not drink them. Volonare continued to look out the window. Seeing the guards load the pieces of his vulgar display of frustration into a cart.
"Please grab a chair and explain yourself." She said from her desk.
Volonare once again let the disdain in his eyes stay hidden from her gaze. His disdain for her control games wearing thin on him. He grabbed the chair he had reached for before and sat down in front of her desk.
"I received a lost correspondence from Ancano. Appeared to be his last before his murder. It was found on a courier that was slain while making his way to our embassy. It outlined the conspiracy against him to frame him for the college's irresponsible use of artifacts they were too weak to control. The college and the entire leadership of the city has helped to frame him. They murdered him and their own Archmage so this Yarwil traitor could mutineer the college…"
"Enough." She stated sharply, interrupting him. "YOU did not receive a correspondence. I did. What you are not aware of since you did not see the letter until after I did was that it was using this year's wax seal. We make a slight alteration to the seal every two years. Ancano died seven years ago. Did the artifact give him the ability to foresee mundane details of the future such as a a slight change in a wax seal?
Everything else in this courier's possession had fallen to rot. Not this letter from Ancano though. This letter was dirty and weathered but it was the only thing still legible in the courier's possession. It was forged and planted. Had you of discussed this with me before you decided to go have a grand display and make a mockery of the dominion you would have known that."
Volonare was embarrassed. Angry at himself for allowing himself to be tricked. "Who planted this false evidence then?" The anger in his voice began to come out. He never could hide his emotions as well as Elenwen could. Something that has always come back to bite him.
"That remains to be seen and it is not your own concern. The concerns of the dominion are not the concerns of a rogue agent. The Thane in Winterhold, The imperial and that vulgar Orc, They are the Legionnaires from the incident in Morthal, are they not?"
"Belligerent drunks who defied my orders, yes" he responded.
Elenwen finally took another sip of her wine. "They didn't defy your orders. They defied your sadism, and rightfully so. Are you aware of what they had been doing in the ten years since you last encountered them? I know you have. You're reminded of them every time you look in the mirror. I know you've obsessed over them just as you've obsessed over the death of Ancano."
"I won't apologize for seeking justice for my brother. OUR brother. " he snapped.
Elenwen again touched the glasses but did not drink. "Yes. And my preferred brother at that."
A cold silence ran across the office. The two elf siblings stared at each other.
"This rogue agent had led us to a potentially beneficial opportunity…."
Volanare finally had enough. She wanted to get under his skin, as she had their whole lives. She had once again succeeded in this, as she had their whole lives.
"I AM NOT A ROGUE AGENT!" He yelled and slammed his fists on her desk. This immediately caught the attention of the guards outside her door. They flung open the door and unsheathed their swords.
Elenwen slowly raised her hand causing them both to re-sheath their weapons. "He wouldn't dare. He's just having one of his moments." She said.
An obviously patronizing comment spoken with the same empty neutral tone as she would ask for silverware from an innkeeper. It made comments like that Sting that much more to Volonare. Without speaking She motioned for both guards to leave. They went back into the hallway and closed the door behind them.
"One of my moments."He stated angrily under his breath. He paused and allowed himself a moment to try and match her calm.
"I am not a rogue agent. I had received what I thought to be evidence of a conspiracy to cover the murder of a Thalmor Ambassador. In spite of the fact that I am related to this particular ambassador, I believed myself To be acting within my duties as a Thalmor Justicar."
"You should stick to telling the truth, you are much more suited to it. If you genuinely thought you were acting within your duties would not have lied to the outpost you recruited from. "
She was right. Stick to the truth he thought to himself. "The truth is that we were met with aggression and hostility from the moment we walked in. The college wouldn't let us on their grounds. The Jarl questioned me in view full of the town. We told them they had a wanted criminal, and the guards did nothing. The thane and his housecarl threatened us with violence from the moment they decided to involve themselves. They incited the citizens, and we were mobbed. Then they executed justicars right on the streets while the Jarl watched.
The truth is that this hold has allowed anyone and everything inside its border for the sake of economic growth. That hold is full of smugglers, vagrants, and fugitives because of it. If the Jarl is not just turning a blind eye to where his tax collections are coming from then he is grossly incompetent. I feel it is the former. The truth is that a hold like that should be compliant as possible to keep us from looking around at what is happening, like Riften. They showed us that they have no respect for the White-Gold Concordant. They have no fear of law. No respect for the thalmor.'
Elenwen allowed the slightest upturn of her lip in one corner. The closest to a smile he had seen from her in decades. She then grabbed one of the wine glasses and set it front of Volonare.
"As always You're so close but still so far, little brother. The city and its growth and the reasons behind it is not the issue at hand. Do you think I haven't had ears in Winterhold over the last seven years since Ancano has passed? I have more assets in that college than anywhere else. The Jarl is as aware of what happens in his hold as I am, and you know as well as anyone, I know everything. Thanks to you I will travel there tomorrow to meet with him. Where you are missing the point is that it's not the city, it's not the college and it's not the lordship that is the issue. The issue is the Imperial and the Orc. It's not the Thalmor they don't fear and respect, it's you. You have only yourself to blame for that.
Those two grew up in sewers among beggars and thieves. They groveled at people's feet for food in their youth. They ate vermin and scraps. They grew up being stepped on, spit at and ignored. Ten years ago, when you ran into an issue of defiance with them you thought you could humiliate them into submission. You thought you could embarrass someone who used to pick people's trash for food and clothes. You clearly did not learn your lesson because ten years later you show up to where they call home, where they are idolized and treated like nobility. You thought you could intimidate them. They spent years fighting dragons, draugr and daedra and you thought you were going to intimidate them? They have the Mace of Molag Bal in their armory. How do you think they acquired that? They sure didn't buy it.
They will never respect and fear you until you learn to respect them. You can't show up to their home in the night and try to take someone that they consider a mentor and expect them to bend to your will because you showed up in ceremonial armory and used some choreography. I assure you they haven't forgotten who you are either and they saw through your tactics the moment you arrived just as they did when they were legionnaires. Any other justicars shows up that night and The Archmage goes with them.
You are my most dependable and successful justicar at weeding out talos worship because your tactics work wonderfully and efficiently on farmers and stubborn old Nords.
They'll never learn to fear and respect you because you won't do the same for them. They are special. They are powerful. Acknowledge them as such. They are not beneath you as you think they are.
Winterhold has as many other races as it does Nords at this point. Most of the college's students aren't even from Skyrim and travelled from High Rock and Cyrodill. They don't care about the ban on Talos worship which means they didn't care about the Thalmor at all.
They do now though and it's your fault. You're going to fix this."
A dead silence again went through the office as Volonare slowly spun his wine glass.
"And I will. They fight with emotion. I can exploit that. Give me fifty good agents and I'll so see how much of a hero they really are" He confidently responded.
Elenwen let out a small chuckle. Volonare was slightly startled as he hadn't heard that from her since they were children.
"I'm not giving you any more of my agents for you to lead like lambs to a slaughter to those two. You can call it by any name you want but you lied, took actions beyond your duties for personal reasons and had an entire squad killed because of it. You ARE a rogue agent and that's how you're going to fix this. You are correct that you will need an army, but it won't be mine. Not everyone loves those two. They've been spent years as sought after mercenaries. They've made plenty of enemies. even if they are tight lipped about it. They are hated by an element that wouldn't dare side with Thalmor but may respond better to a disgruntled defector. "
She handed him a key to one of the cells at the prison underneath the embassy. "Hide that however you see fit. The official story is that the rogue agent was apprehended but escaped our custody after three days, before he could be extradited back to Summerset Isles. He was helped to escape by the steward who was secretly showing him my confidential correspondences who has since been dealt with. The whereabouts of the rogue agent currently is unknown but is being searched for."
Another long silence as she sipped her wine.
"I will deal with the college and the Jarl. You will build your militia and when it is to time to strike, I will send word. You will make no attempts to seek revenge until then, and you will make no effort to contact me or any other agents. Are weclear on this little brother?"
Volonare nodded and finished his wine in one gulp. Then he tucked the key into the braid in his hair. "Just between you, me and your little Ghost, I'm sure" he said.
Elenwen loudly tapped four times on her desk and then the guards from outside her door entered. "Please escort our rogue agent to the holding cells. See to it that he receives the cell on the end with the water leak."
Volonare sent darts at her with his eyes as he stood up with the guards with no resistance. He could endure mold for three days. As they left Elenwen finished her wine and then stared at her door. She then took her long pointy index finger and motioned for someone to come to her. As she did this a distorted short elven figure started moving towards her. The figure seems to move along with the pattern of the floor and walls. The figure was in tight leather armor and hood enchanted with a chameleon spell. Not as lost to the eyes as an invisibility spell but lasted longer and was not as easily disrupted. Perfect for stealth.
The figure stopped and lifted its head showing its face under the hood. A Bosmer with a grey tone to its skin of that of decay. The eyes were solid black and felt lifeless. Its mouth sewn shut.
"Found out where he goes when he leaves the cell. Be his shadow and if he tries to step out of his bounds again stop him. Kill Him if necessary."
The figure nodded and left through a window.
...
WHAT EXACTLY WERE YOU THINKING?
Early the next morning the traveling party had loaded the carriage and were all enjoying a large breakfast together before finishing the final leg of their journey.
Some guards from the Pale were loading up their own horses to help escort the girls to their respective homes. The girls were more comfortable and in good spirits considering their experience.
The guard captain came into the tavern to let them know they would be off. Travius and Hadrig got up from the table and greeted him.
"We should be off here shortly. Luckily one of them is from here in the pale. From a small village just outside of Dawnstar with which I am familiar. Another is from Markath, we have contacted a trusted and dependable mercenary to get her home safely.
We do have a small issue with Astrid, the youngest, and her cousin Deena. Astrid's father was sent to mistwatch by the Thalmor over the winter and she since been traveling with her cousin Deena and her father. They are from Falkreath but were traveling merchants and do not have a permanent home and stay at the inn when they are not traveling. Deena tells me they were traveling to Winterhold hoping to get one of the free land pots and settle there. This means we unfortunately have nowhere to take them and see no choice but to send them to the orphanage in Riften. "
"No, Deena is too old and they'll probably turn her away. Astrid does not need to be split from the only family she has left. Hadrig, could I trouble you for a quill and some paper?" Travius asked him.
Hadring went into his quarters and grabbed the items as requested. Travius wrote a short letter addressed to Jarl Kraldar explains the situation and asking him to shelter the girls until he returns. He ended it by singing with a small picture of a flame and hammer. A code they used to indicate this was an actual letter from Travius or Vhoryhak.
He handed the letter to the guard captain "Winterhold has room for them. Give this letter to The Jarl himself. He'll see to it that the girls are taken care of until I return."
The captain took the letter. "I'll escort them myself and assure you they'll be there when you return. I am curious. Do we have any idea what happened to the adults they were traveling with"?
"Yes. They were locked in a room and left to starve. The girls have no idea and I see no reason they need to." he said
The guard sighed and looked down and shook his head. "Aye. I agree. Thank you for your help. These girls may never be the same again, but they will live be because of you and your crew." The guards came in to collect the girls. All the girls said goodbye and hugged the travelers as they left. The rest of the group finished their food and then all left the tavern themselves.
"I'll have a couple barrels of black briar mead for your return trip. Next time will bring better memories like normal I hope." Hadrig said to the group as he held the door open for them on their way out.
...
The group had been making great time and were easily going to make it to Whiterun by nightfall. When they left the night gate inn J'Zargo had ridden on Travius's horse leaving everyone else in the caravan. Aratore had spent much of the day enjoying the views and identifying and pointing out animal tracks and discussing the plant life they saw on the way with Anaelle. Vhornyak spent most of the trip asleep as he stayed up guarding the Inn all night, the other travelers occasionally pushing and moving him to get a temporarily relief from his loud and abrasive snoring.
Travius spent this ride like he spends most carriage rides which was to catch up on his reading. Travius always liked to collect journals and logs he found in his adventures. Besides just the information that could prove to be useful in fights he liked to see things from the perspective of fellow adventurers and mercenaries. It was a habit that he gotten from the Dragonborn. He kept a journal himself but kept it to himself for security reasons.
Today he was reading a journal He collected last night from Gruzrag. It proved to be quite a read and Gruzrag appeared to be much more educated and articulate than your average bandit. Even more so for an Orc. He had been keeping this journal for years. Dating back before he wound up with the clan he had been with last night. Travius was nearing the end and came to the final entry. Written weeks before their encounter.
'Morndas year 4E 211
The men have changed since we found the caravan full of skooma. I tried one sip and told them something was not right about it. This was not normal skooma. I want nothing to do with it. Ale always suited my needs anyway. I'm also becoming disgusted with these how they are treating these prisoners. They are children.
I have tried to reason with the red one but he refuses to hear me out. We've only had these prisoners for a week and the men have already all had their way with these girls multiple times each.
He does not understand that robbing caravans will mostly be ignored and considered an assumed danger for traveling merchants. Kidnapping will not be ignored.
Several men have left in the middle of the night due to a lack of interest in laying with young girls. Coincidentally it is the ones who didn't drink the skooma either. Part of me wants to join them but I fear these girls won't make it through the week if I leave them here.
The Red One has taken the youngest as his personal toy. His "special one" as he refers to her. The other girls are atleast beginning to bloom into women but not her. I had no idea I was following a child lover. I'm even more surprised that the others are so blinded by their cost and effort free release that they are turning a blind eye to how depraved we are actually behaving.
Middas: 4E 211
It's been a full night now since I've heard any scratching coming from the door with the males. They have no doubt succumbed to hunger. We have not earned a single coin by doing this. I really think it has something to do with this skooma. I could tell immediately it was off and there was such a suspiciously large amount of it. Enough that the remaining members of the clan have been in an intoxicated haze for days now.
I've been staying up after everyone else passed out so I can feed the girls and make sure they at least don't have wounds that'll will cause rot to take over. I cannot access the door to get to the youngest girl on the end. The Red One does bring her food and dirty water so I assume she's still alive. None of the girls cry anymore. They seem to just be accepting their roles at this point.
Fredas 4E year 211:
This is getting out of hand. The men are in and out of the girl's rooms one after another. These girls can't manage this forever. The men are becoming restless again and are taking out all their energy on these girls. I need to get them out of here. Get myself out of here.
I've been seen as the caretaker for these girls, and I can use this to my advantage to help buy them time before it's too late. Thankfully, most of these men are stupid and I've convinced them that it would be better for them to go in one at a time and enjoy them all at once. I've been making sure they stay drunk constantly and have them now brawling each other for who gets the girls for the night. Five of them didn't like this idea and felt I was overstepping my bounds. As if we had some right to do what we're doing. I have their heads on pikes.
Tonight, after everyone else is asleep I'm going to get them out of here. I saw an inn not far from here. I'm going to pose as a mercenary who found these girls while looking for a bounty. These folks don't know the inn is there and I'm sure the Innkeeper will inform guards to help these girls. We've been underground for weeks now. I'm going to head to Winterhold myself, see if all the rumors are true. The sounds of those men clawing and the acceptance and silence from these girls will haunt me forever. Maybe a fresh start will help forget.
Tirdad: 4E 211
I've tried every day for over a week now to get these girls out but I can never seem to find a time when no one is watching. I may have to just fight my way out with them. It's only a matter of time before we're found out here anyway. The oldest one has been vomiting in the mornings now. I fear the worst for her. '
Travius rechecked the dates and realized this journal ended the night before they showed up. He also realized Deena was pregnant. He felt a pit in stomach of sympathy for the girl but did take some solace in that he redirected her to Winterhold instead of Riften. The Jarl would be wise enough to take the girls to a healer right away in any had finally arrived in the part of the road to where it was all meadows, lakes and small mountain ranges. This meant they were in White Run Hold now and we're merely a few hours from the city proper.
"Let's take a short rest. The horses could use some water and we could all use a stretch, I'm sure." The driver announced as he stopped the carriage. Everyone happily stepped out of back and headed to the lake themselves. Anaelle insisted everyone grab one of drinks and then found a spot not from where they stopped that was full flowers and she giddily walked through and collected ones she could use for drinks and potions.
Travius, Vor, J'Zargo, and Aratore found a large log laying next to the water. They all opened their bottles and clanked their bottles together for a cheers. All Of them but Aratore took a seat on the log and watched the water. Aratore walked along the water and identified any tracks and was able to tell what breed of fish were in the lake by the plant life that he saw in the water and surrounding areas.
"Maybe I made a mistake, maybe the companions were the right place for him. The kid seems to live for hunting and wildlife." Vhor said with a slight bit of concern.
"J'Zargo had good conversation with boy yesterday. It's all the boy knows. The boy was tracking animals and trapping fish since he could walk. J'Zargo thinks that despite the dangers, the boy will travel well with you. The boy could learn much more from spending time training with you and the academics at the college you would expose him too then he would on routine hunting missions with the companions. The Boy does not need a job, The boy needs a mentor. If the boy had aspirations for magic, then J' Zargo would take him under his wing himself. All of us could possibly learn a magnitude of things from him as well."
Vhornyak looked at J'Zargo inquisitively. "Did you intentionally say 'the boy' that many times or did it just kind of happen that way?" J'Zargo wisely ignored him and looked out on the lake while he enjoyed his drink.
"J'Zargo is right. He would be bored with the companions. He's young without question but he's not much younger than we were when we joined The Legion. He has been through a lot in a short amount of time. We have a couple days of leisure ahead of us. Let him settle his mind and rest his body. He's still processing everything but I think last night unlocked something in him.
Also, you did say 'The Boy' an odd amount." Vhornyak snickered at Travius response. J'Zargo wisely ignored him too.
"It seems your lady there came with a few surprises as well" Vhornyak stated and nodded his head towards her behind them still collecting ingredients.
"Aye. She clearly has an interesting past we don't know about. I'm sure we will in time. Her skills aside she had a confidence about her that will do well with us." Travius turned to look at her. It was a look of admiration and excitement.
"Will you be yourself with her around though? She's special to you. Not just a hired blade." J'Zargo asked with a certain level of concern.
Travius smiled "She wouldn't let me worry about her if I wanted to."
Vhornyak got up and finished his drink. "I'm going to go see what the boy is studying over there. The boy seems lonely over there. I'm going to keep the boy company." He said with an obvious affliction to rile J'Zargo
"Looks like the driver is bringing the horses back. Make sure you and The Boy are back in time. Don't want the boy to get left behind. Don't mean to abandon the boy. The boy would be lost." Travius responded. Both men trying their hardest not to laugh but it was becoming more and more difficult has J'zargos face became more and more animated.
J'Zargo kept his frustration inside and walked back towards the carriage. He looked back at Travius. "J'Zargo thinks you enable his words too much Travius."
The carriage driver announced it was time to depart again and everyone headed back and started. Aratore asked if he could ride the horse for the last leg and was obliged. Once everyone was ready to go the carriage driver turned around. "Will the boy be ok on the horse? Wouldn't want the boy to get split up and lost. seems like the boy is a good kid."
At this point Travius and Vhornyak both burst into laughter. Vhor could not longer contain himself and loudly passed gas to the point where birds started panic flying away from the area and caused a horse to neigh. J' Zargo was sitting next to Vhornyak and moved all the way to the other side of the bench.
"You enable his mouth, Travius! You enable his farts!'" He yelled in frustration. He then crossed his arms in defiance almost like a child.
This caused everyone to start hysterically laughing as the caravan pulled off on its final leg to white run. Even J'Zargo himself started to chuckle when he realized how he sounded.
...
The group continued to make Conversation with consistent laughter for the rest of the trip. They had been passing around bugsmoke as well as Anaelle drinks enjoying the view as they rode. The large meadows and plains inside of a large valley between the mountain ranges made white run hold easily the lost beautiful view in Skyrim. The groups banter and laughter came to a halt as an arrow came flying through the air hitting Vhornyak in the shoulder of his armor. Not quite piercing but creating a noticeable sting. The caravan stopped.
The driver looked towards the direction of the arrow and rolled his eyes and sighed.
"These fools again." He turned around to the group and saw Vhor angrily rip the poorly crafted iron arrow from his armor.
Aratore jumped from his horse and in one swift motion before he even hit the ground had his bow out and was taking cover behind the caravan. Everyone else jumped over the side of the caravan and readied their weapons or spells as well.
"I'LL WEAR YOUR SKIN LIKE A RUG CAT!" They heard yelled at them from a distance and saw some very young, very dirty and drunk small clan of bandits charging towards them from the backside of a small Hill. Just large enough to hide them from the road. The group not exactly being sober them selves began to snicker at the comment.
"….what did he just say?…." Aratore asked and the group began to laugh louder.
J''Zargo rolled his eyes. "Always the rug thing"
The caravan driver had made no effort to protect himself and finally left his seat. "No need for strategy here, I'll deal with these idiots." He then waved at the bandits as the members of the traveling party all stood up from behind the caravans.
" You lads are getting worse at this instead of better you know."
The bandits all stopped charging and looked at each other with confusion.
"Look at who's in my caravan. We have a Khajit in a Wizard robe, an archer following us on his own horse and a knight in ebony armor. Do you see this Orc? Have you ever in your entire life seen an orc this big?"
Vhornyak waved at them and blew them a kiss.
"I'm not even sure what's going on with this young lady but I'm quite sure she can make herself invisible. What made you look at this party and think to yourself that you should mug them? What exactly were you thinking lads?"
The young bandits took a moment to quietly talk among themselves. Until one of them finally yelled out.
"We thought they would have good loot…isn't that the thane of Winterhold?"
The driver made a heavy sigh and with clear confusion in his voice yelled back.
"You knew who they were, and you still attacked them?!…Go home nephews!"
The group realized with this exchange no threat existed and began climbing back on the caravan, doing their best not to laugh and antagonize the young buffoons. Everyone finally re boarded when one of the bandits yelled from the top of the hill
"Can we ride back to the city with you Uncle?" The driver just glared at them for a few seconds and then they rode off.
"Sorry about that non sense. I have a sister who likes to practice Dibellian arts with mercenaries but has no shrine to Dibella if you know what I mean. She has a brood of illegimate troll brained sons to show for it. Each one dumber than the one before it. They don't have the skills or courage to attack anyone else, so they just attack me. They have yet to be successful. It's bad for business though. Lost customers over it. Matter of fact, if you could find some way to get these boys out of my hair without hurting them I'll wave you payment for the trip home."
He pondered for a few seconds and turned back to the group, "Actually, made hurt them just a little bit."
"I think we can manage that." Vhornyak said while looking back at the boys and shaking his head.