THE NEXT MORNING
Casix walked through the armory of The Thanes home after having finished putting everything back together from his men rummaging through it.
An Imperial girl about maybe twenty years if that much, sheepishly approached the armory door. Her dark brown hair was messy as if someone had been pulling on it. She had fresh bruises on her face and around her wrist and throat.
Unlike the other five woman in the house she had just endured her initiation into Casix Harem and was still scared and clearly uncomfortable in the near nude state Casix demanded her to remain in.
"Sir…your breakfast is ready…if you are." She nervously fumbled, trying her best to avoid eye contact with him.
Casix walked over to her and gently pulled her hair behind her ears and gave her a long kiss on her mouth. She didn't dare fight him but made no efforts to kiss back as she began crying.
Casix wiped her tears and held her chin to look at her.
"No need for that. You belong to me now, you're the safest you'll ever be."'
She started to cry again but held back as she didn't want any angry reactions from him.
"Now go upstairs and await me on our new bed. I still need to give you your gift."
She walked away up the stairs and passed all five woman who were all performing some type of cleaning or re organizing the pillaged home. The bumps in all of their bellies gave her a glimpse of his "gift" and her future bearing it.
Casix sat down and began to eat his ill gotten meal when one of his men came into the house.
Casix never even bothered to look up
"If you're telling me anything other than that you've found my prisoners then go back out and keep looking." He said
"Sir, The Thalmor are here." The man said
"I've already told the Inquisitor what I intend to do to them if they step foot on my land. Show them that I'm not bluffing." He barked.
As he said the that Elenwen came walking in his door and sat down at his table. Unnoticed by Casix or anyone else, her ghost stepped in with her and hid in a corner as his chameleon armor left him nearly invisible.
"How are you in here? In here and breathing at that." He asked her, still keeping his focus in his meal.
"I walked in. You seiged a city with no walls. The same thing that made it so easy for you to conquer is the same weakness that will keep you from holding it. Especially with all your men so focused on the Dragon outside, who looks very unhappy by the way. I sure wouldn't want to be in your position." She grinned as she to him
"Don't worry, my men have captured your run aways who slipped away last night while your poorly trained soldiers failed to do their job. Nearly fifty of your future slaves ran off in the night and you have no idea. Probably for the better, not sure how you intend to feed all these people anyway. You have about another month until winter sets in completely and fresh food becomes a myth in winterhold.
Unless of course you had a large network of traders exchanging goods in and out of the city, which you no longer will have. I'm sure you've made a plan for that right? How you're going to feed your people and your slaves that is. "
"The slaves who are too weak to handle the winter swill become our sustenance, I need no fake sympathy from you elf." He responded.
"Enough of that. You've never eaten anyone and you have no intention of doing so. Threatening savagery does nothing to quell me, especially when I know they are just that, threats and nothing more." She said to him with a stone face.
Casix finally took his focus from his food and onto Elenwen.
"What is it you want elf? I have a city to run" he said
Elenwen made a slight chuckle under her breath.
"You won't be in this city by this tomorrow if you don't cooperate, that I can assure you. You and I both know you don't have the prisoners you claim to have and the Dragonborn will tear you apart looking for them. You haven't built this army through respect or valid loyalty. You control these people through fear.
They only follow you because they are saving themselves from rape and your threats of cannibalism. They've already seen the Dragon tear through your army with nothing but his shouts. The militia you stole from me has already abandoned you. If you rule them through fear, what makes you think you'll maintain your loyalty when someone much scarier than you charges through the entrance again? Not to mention the inevitable revolt that will happen when they start starving this winter because you weren't prepared for harshness of the northern province compared to the more desirable environment of your original homes. Especially when they find out you aren't even of forsworn blood."
"I'd watch your tongue lady." He snapped at her.
Elenwen paid no mind to his threats and carried on
"Sometimes when you Bretons are born with mixed blood you don't have the tell tale sign of the ears. With the Breton ancestry of the reachmen allowed you to look enough like them that these savages don't notice when your so called father made claims you were his own, hiding the infertility of his wife, but you don't fool me. You don't fool the Hagravens either. It's why you make it a point to kill them." She then found a bottle of mead on the table and opened it.
"Atleast The Thane has good taste" she said
She gave pause to allow to say something but he had nothing to say so she continued.
"Even if you do manage to stave off the Dragon, you think the Empire will just concede this to you because you made a show of force? Winterhold was the most prosperous hold in Skyrim the last few years, that means they contribute the highest in taxes. You think the Emperor is going to just ignore his dues coming to him? Not to mention you destroyed a centuries old landmark that was full of the kin of some of Cyrodill's wealthiest and most powerful people when you foolishly eliminated the college.
I don't know what foolishness you allowed my brother to fill your head with, but you can't hold these lands by strength. You need something you severely lack. Diplomacy and respect of the outside world. Something I can offer you."
"I thought I made it pretty clear to both you and the Inquisitor yesterday on my opinions of further aligning with you. I'll have your head before you leave this table." He said to her
"Stop with the idle threats to me savage. You won't kill me now for the same reason you didn't kill me yesterday. You know what happens if I don't report to my people. You and your people will have the entirety of the Thalmor put you at the end of their swords. You'll barely be able to maintain yourselves here much less fight off the legion, the acolytes and The Thalmor."
Casix just glared at her in anger.
"What is it you propose then"
"The only real victory you have here is that you managed to eliminate the Jarl and anyone else who could make a claim to replace him. Meaning that at this time with no leadership appointed by the Empire exists in the hold. Centuries ago the entire hold was under the domain of the college. The college succeeded the hold itself to the empire in exchange for their own status as an independent entity. Due to their own conditions of the agreement if the hold would find itself without an Imperial representative it defaults back to the college, which is also no more, thanks to you. This means at this time, the political borders of Winterhold no longer exist. It is an unincorporated plot of land." She told Him.
"And you expect the empire to keep their word on an ancient agreement that most of them don't even know about?" He asked
"Not at all, but The Thalmor will. Not only can we reference the prior agreement but Im sure when you allow my Justicars to search the hold we're going to find plenty here that completely violates the white gold concordant, giving us cause to support a new leadership." She said as she finished the last of the mead.
"If the Empire loses its claim in Winterhold then that concordant doesn't apply here anymore." He said, he was trying to think of anything to put a hole in her plan.
"Wrong. The concordant doesn't apply to political borders, but physical ones. The citizens here as well as the fornsworn are still considered Imperial citizens by the concordant even if the Empire no longer holds court." She said.
"And the dragon, which is these conditions is he bound by"
"I'll deal with him. Not even he is foolish enough to cross us twice." She said as she sat up.
As she walked out she looked at her ghost who stayed behind in the house.
……………………..
flashback*
4e year 181, thirty years ago.
A Penitus Oculatus agent impatiently waited in an old Aylied ruin near the southern border of Skyrim and Cyrodill. He was becoming increasingly impatient as the day grew, checking his pocket watch over and over until he saw a figure walking towards him through the fog. He was carrying a large container and the distinct sound of a babies rattler could be heard. As it got closer he could see a Breton in the ebony and gold armor of House Velvala.
"Have you lost your mind wearing that armor? That armor is wanted by every possible entity in Tamriel! Are you trying to get us all killed?" The agent spouted as the Breton knight approached.
"My armor is of no more threat than your volume, now keep it down before you wake them again!" The Breton said as he lifted the cover on the container he was carrying to reveal two infants.
"The Reachman is coming and they we can all be on our way." He said
"The reachmen! It was only supposed to be us two. How did I ever get myself caught up with your house?" The agent was visibly frustrated as they awaited for the third man he knew nothing about.
"My house is the only reason you're not in prison for abuse of power. You would do best to remember that. The rest of Nirn may refuse to honor my family but you have no choice!" The Breton said to
"That's a baby! You told me I was smuggling A treasure for you!" The agent seemed to get more and more frustrated with every new piece of information.
"They are a treasure. Its only a matter of time before our name is wiped out. The name won't carry on but our blood can." He said
Finally they saw a briar heart approach the ruin and started to introduce himself.
"No! No! I don't want to know anyone's name nor do I want to know why you're giving a baby to savages. Just give me the cargo so I can be done. I have no idea how I'm going to smuggle a baby." He snapped.
"That's why you're a bad agent." The Breton said to him.
"These twins are the last children born of my family. We got lucky, they are of mixed blood and that made them fortunate enough to not have the ears. They are also not identical despite being twins. This means we should be able to hide their origin."
He then picked up one of the infants and handed it to the Briarheart.
"As our agreement, we make no claim to this child, as far as anyone is considered this child came from your wife's womb. He is a pure reachmen until he leaves this world." He then extended a handshake to the Briarheart graciously accepted.
"I'm glad I was able to honor our debt while I still
Could. No matter what they say me and my clan will always remember House Velvala as the heros you are." The Briarheart said as he quickly left the ruin.
The Breton the man turned to the Agent and handed him a baby along with a note and a damaged crest coin.
"You cannot leave your family crest with this baby if you don't want people to know who he is." The agent spoke with his trademark Frustration
"This coin is too damaged to be identified. No one is going to take the time and effort to have this cleaned and repaired, besides hopefully himself one day. Our deal with the forsworn requires me to cut ties with that baby but not this one. Take him to the orphanage in the Imperial City, that place has so many orphan children after the great war that he van be hidden there easily. We have given him the name Travius, use the family name of Velsala instead of Velvala so he has an imperial name. Hopefully one day we'll be blessed to be re unite." The Breton said.
"And this clears our debt?" The agent asked.
"And then some" The Breton responded.
The Briarheart came through the trees once he believed himself to be clear of sight and ran across towards a river where a young woman waited for him holding a small wooden box. She started to cry as he approached.
"We can let him go now my love." He said as he handed her the baby.
She looked into the infants eyes and began to smile.
"They have the same eyes."
He opened the wooden box she was holding to reveal a stillborn infant.
"He has his eyes. And his heart. And everything else." He then laid out several different flowers and a large stone in the box with the deceased infant. He then put the box in the water and the stone made it sink beneath the surface.
"You live on little Casix. You live on."