"It's a shame, isn't it," Danica breathed out once all four of them entered the quiet sanctuary of the temple.
Mori moved to the side, keeping a distance from all of the women. "What do you know about the tree?"
Danica sat down on one of the benches. "The Gildergreen, yes. It's a bit of an eyesore at the moment. More of a problem for the pilgrims than for me, but not many of them around anymore."
Her priorities didn't align with Mori's, then. She took a few more steps to distance herself from Imelda trying to prowl closer to her. "How did it come to grow here?"
"It was planted as a seedling in the early years of Whiterun. Disciples of Kynareth could sense something holy in it, and traveled far to hear the winds of the goddess in its branches."
Hm. Maybe the spirit grew close to the goddess after that, then.
"But where did it come from? What is it, exactly?"
Danica's eyes grew a little dreamy. "To the east of here is a hidden grove where the Eldergleam resides. It's the oldest living thing in Skyrim. Maybe all of Tamriel. Our tree here in the city was grown from a cutting of that tree. You can still feel the glory of the mother tree through it."
Seriously doubt it is the oldest living thing in the whole world...but that sounds promising.
"Tell me more about the tree," Mori shuffled again. While the third priestess remained aside, giving her space, Imelda wouldn't relent. She was starting to feel rather bristled.
"It's an old tree. Very old. They say it was a seedling when the first men were arriving from Atmora, thousands of years ago. The sap is precious. It can restore barren fields or bring life to rocks."
Danica's eyes focused again and excitement lit up her tired features. "I can use it to repair the Gildergreen, so we can worship properly again. Trees like this never really die. They only slumber."
Oh they do die if the spirit of the tree perishes.
"Where is the tree?"
Danica shook her head with sorrow. "Even if you could get to the Eldergleam, you couldn't tap it. Not with any normal metal."
I don't like where this seems to be going.
"Eldergleam is older than metal, from a time before men or elves. To even affect it, you have to tap into the old magic." Danica leaned forward, resting her head against her intertwined fingers.
"You'll have to deal with the hagravens. I've heard about a weapon they've made for sacrificing Spriggans. It's called Nettlebane. The hags terrify me, or I would have gone after it myself."
Mori bared her teeth before she caught herself. I knew it! This priestess is no good!
Wanting dark magic shortcuts instead of focusing on other paths, bah!
All the priestesses must have caught onto her displeasure, possibly even a little unintentional show of fangs, as tension flashed across their faces.
Tune it down. I have to eliminate the hags either way. They won't tell me where to find them if I startle them.
"I'll get the blade," she forced calm into her voice. "And then go look for the mother tree. Where?"
Danica visibly relaxed. She rose from the bench and motioned for Mori to follow. The priestess led her to a small office, hidden from the visitors of the temple. A map lay on the desk there.
"I received...information...about hags convening at a place known as Orphan Rock," Danica pointed out a spot. A small valley hidden further in the Autumn Pass.
Good thing the hags didn't try to attack the twins there. Even with their skills and Nevras present it would have been a hard fight.
"And the tree?"
"I am not entirely sure, but the sanctuary is supposed to be hidden somewhere in the volcanic tundra in Eastmarch," she put her hand on a large area of the map.
Not very helpful. Ah well. I will find it myself.
"I will be on my way, then," she turned on her heel, ready to march out of the temple.
"Wait! The sacred hawks," Danica called out, stretching her arm towards Mori, "they reacted to you. Can you hear Kynareth's voice?"
Mori stopped in the doorframe. "I hear voices of all the spirits of the wild," she uttered over her shoulder. "Be it in the wind, whispering of waters or the calls of beasts."
With that, she left.
Imelda ran after her, but once she dashed out of the temple door, no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find the tiny woman anywhere.
XXX
Erika hurried back to Jorrvaskr.
"Are Vilkas and Helgi still here?" she flung the door open and called out to Farkas.
"Yep. Helgi's preparing her stuff, Vilkas is with Kodlak, why? Also, weren't you supposed to be shopping?"
"I was, and that's why I'm back so fast!" Erika marched over and lowered her voice. "I noticed the little blonde friend of yours. Vilkas' girl. The priestesses corralled her into the temple after...quite the display."
"What did they do?" Farkas' tone grew icy. He started getting up from his chair, but Erika pushed him back down.
"Not them, her! She...the sacred hawks...it looked like she talked with them, and then she touched the tree and then all the birds from the temple gardens flew to her and chased Imelda away and...and...oh boy. And then they just sat around her and stared without a single noise or movement. For at least an hour."
"But what happened in the temple? That spectacle wouldn't have you running back here looking to tell Vilkas."
"Right! Well, I was listening under the window. They asked her to go hunt hagravens! Hagravens, Farkas! And she agreed! We need to get Vilkas to talk her out of it!"
"I...wouldn't be too worried for her," Farkas swallowed, his eyes growing distant.
Erika shook her head. She jumped up and hurried downstairs. The door to Kodlak's antechamber was open, so she barged in without hesitation.
"...build an armory and a proper kitchen hall for Tilma and her nieces," Kodlak was just saying. He turned his gaze to the entrance. "What is it, Erika?"
"Vilkas, your girl has just set out to hunt hagravens for the temple! You need to go talk her out of it, she might still be around!"
Vilkas sprang from his seat.
"Calm down," Kodlak froze him in place with a look. "I am certain lady Lakeview knows what she is doing and wouldn't agree to a fool's errand."
"Lady...Lakeview?" Erika's eyebrows shot up.
"Besides, Helgi needs to go for her trial and you will be her shield-brother," Kodlak gave Vilkas a stern look. "She deserves as much." Then he finally turned to Erika. "Yes, older lady Lakeview. You didn't know?"
"The witch?"
"The witch."
Erika shot Vilkas a look. "The one with the...rats and spiders and wolves and birds?"
"...aye."
"The very same who sent those things to eat the bandits alive?"
The corners of Vilkas' mouth twitched. "Aye."
Erika plopped down on an empty chair. "Well, now the whole fucking thing makes sense." She scratched her head. "Sorry I barged in, then. I thought they convinced a little lass to do something stupid because of religious zeal or something."
"Understandable," Kodlak tapped the table. "Since you're here, can you give me a report on the Silver Hand? Should we pick Falkreath for Helgi's trial or are other places safe for just the two of them?"
XXX
Few days later
It didn't take Mori too long to find the place. She had spent most of the day observing. Now, perched on a branch of a tree overlooking the valley, she was deep in thought.
A full coven waited below.
Well, almost full. One witch and an apprentice were missing. So eleven instead of thirteen. The beldama of this coven was, as the priestess had said, a hagraven. The others remained human.
Dark witches. Corrupting filth.
Even here, such a distance from it, I can feel the foul influence of the weapon.
She shuddered. I should avoid getting wounded by it. I'm glad I put on ritual warpaint...it will help protect me and amplify my magic.
On her own, she couldn't defeat so many at once. No matter how powerful you were, getting overwhelmed and swarmed was still a thing. Maybe if she could summon lightning bolts from the sky, but...she couldn't.
It was already a chore to branch out into aspects closer to mine.
How to go about this...
XXX
Mori pounced.
Her leopard body easily tore the lone witch peeing in the bushes down.
One bite through the back of her head ended her struggle before she could even scream.
Mori grabbed the body. As leopards do, she dragged it up into the trees. She dropped down. Scarlet droplets followed.
Another witch should be standing guard at the other side of the camp.
XXX
After the third they noticed something was amiss. Mori withdrew deeper into the woods in the valley and observed.
Most of them retreated to their camp. Three of the older ones set out to look for the missing women.
I could possibly land on two...
No. It will be best to call in the reinforcements.
She mrowed softly. The birds who had been feasting on the corpses up till now lifted their heads.
Mori slipped through the underbrush under the sounds of flapping wings.
"Why are there so many birds?" one of the women raised her eyes to the trees suspiciously.
"There are always birds everywhere," another croaked. "The more the better for us. We'll have a feast." She raised a bony finger and one of the crows in the vicinity dropped dead to the ground.
"Bring it here, Fjola," she ordered the youngest of them.
Fjola scoffed, but obeyed. Once she handed the dead bird over, the crone broke its ribcage and pulled the heart out.
She put it in her mouth, chewing with satisfaction.
"The birds are all looking at us," the first commented, her eyes darting between the branches. "That's weird."
The crone opened her bloodied mouth to say something, but Fjola noticed one of the corpses hanging from the tree.
"That's Risa!"
The birds descended as one. As they attacked the witches' eyes, their screeches filled the valley.
Mori entered the fray. She easily broke through the barrier spell the crone had summoned to protect herself from the beaks and talons. Old bones cracked all too easily under her body mass.
Flames spurted around. Fjola, screaming as the birds were tearing her eyes out, poured her pain into a spell, turning their surroundings into an inferno.
Mori growled and leapt away from the flames. The birds followed her lead. She shifted back into a woman. She turned on her heel and before any of the remaining two witches could flee, she put a crab shell on top of them, effectively trapping them in with Fjola's flames.
She burnt herself and her sister to a crisp.
Mori quickly cut off a chunk of her hair with a claw. It had caught fire. It didn't stink as bad as the two corpses, though.
I hope Vilkas won't mind...it's still long, so he shouldn't.
She waved for the birds to follow. Sleek grey shadows joined them, slipping silently between the trees.
The remaining witches have put up a barrier around Orphan Rock. The hagraven was minding her business, cutting a spriggan to pieces up on an altar. The other four stood in position, powering the barrier, watchful eyes trained at the trees.
Mori stopped just far enough so they wouldn't spot her among the shadowed branches, but she could see.
"Prowling in the shadows. Tsk. Come to light, darling, let us see," the hagraven called out, not stopping her grisly work. She sliced an arm off of the spriggan and lifted it to beckon Mori to approach.
The dark blade in her hand had gone through the magical wood like fangs through tender flesh.
A moose bull walked into the clearing.
Mori bade him to stop. She needed to assess the situation first. The moose tossed his massive head, snorting loudly.
She summoned ghostly replicas from the animals that came to her aid and sent them forward. Spectral birds hit the barrier from the top while the wolf spirits ran against it at the bottom.
The first few splattered against it and dissipated.
After she poured more magic into the rest, they withstood the barrier's repulsion. Alas, their beaks and claws beat against it without purchase.
The hagraven let out a disbelieving laugh. "Could it be? Has there been one so foolish to spawn the Daughters? And the Beast herself is here, alone? We will feast well tonight, sisters!"
She stabbed down into the Spriggan's heart. "Force her out of the woods!"
The four witches began screaming, moving frantically in place. Their arms and legs snapped from position to position in a macabre replica of a dance.
The ground beneath Mori's feet stirred.
She howled like a wolf and broke into a sprint. Thick bloodied bramble vines broke through the dirt, covered in sinister thorns. They assaulted anything living close to them.
More vines shot out from under her feet, attempting to tear her down.
Real and ghastly animals both clashed against the barrier, shaking it.
Mori bellowed.
The moose bull responded in kind. He broke into a gallop, charging at the barrier.
Mori herself shifted into a moose mid jump. As she did, three spirit images of the bull split from his body.
The wolves and birds withdrew in a cacophony of overlapping voices.
The spiritual copies attacked the bloody brambles.
Another three images split from the charging bull.
Animals both real and ghostly clashed with bloody brambles. Some dissipated upon touch. Some got impaled by the thorns, their flesh torn to pieces, their necks broken by powerful tugs of the demonic wood.
Others fought back, their forms enforced with a wave of magicka, breaking the brambles to pieces.
Mori and the bulls ran into the barrier.
The hit of the stampede has shaken it to the very core, spreading waves through its water-like structure. The massive beasts recoiled. Immediately, fueled by rage known only to them, they began beating antlers and hooves against it.
Spirit and real both, birds assailed the barrier at the top again.
With the moose assistance, they managed to get their claws into the weave of the spell. As they took apart thread after thread, the barrier began faltering.
The brambles tore down the moose, burying him under a writhing mass of thorns and wood.
The barrier broke down.
Wolves poured in, quiet and deadly.
The birds dived.
Mori galloped between the witches fighting for dear lives against the claws and fangs. Her eyes were trained on the hagraven.
The hag cackled. With a wave of her clawed hand, the dead beasts rose again, animated by the very vines that killed them.
Damnit! This is one powerful hag.
As the thought flashed through Mori's head, she shifted into a leopard and leapt. The moment her paws found purchase on the stone pillar of Orphan Rock, a fireball set out to greet her.
She sprang up, climbing to the side like only mountain cats and goats could. The red bead of hissing light flew past her. Fire exploded in the grass. Mori jumped again, finally making it to the top of the rock.
Claws and a black blade greeted her.
As she spun away from the sharp edges, strange pressure hit her.
"Struggle, struggle, little beast, in the end, you will be my feast!" the hag cackled, swinging the blade again. Mori almost bent under the horrible force trying to press her down.
With utmost effort, she dodged. Her muscles felt sluggish. Heavy. She just needed to lay down, rest...
No! That's exactly what she wants!
With an angry feline screech she shook the feeling off. Just in time. She jerked away, narrowly avoiding claws on their way to cut her skull open.
Mori slid sideways along the hag, attacking back. The hag avoided her claws. Mori wasn't finished yet, however. She swung her tail. The hag's thin long legs weren't the strongest...
With a scream, the hag lost her balance.
Mori spun around. She reared, descending on the hag's back with her full weight. Claws sunk deep. Bones cracked once they hit the ground.
"Vile sprite!" the hag screeched. Her hands grew cold and shards of ice, sharper than obsidian, rose from the ground like the hungry dead.
Mori sprung up, all four paws in the air. She shifted into a bird and took to the sky. The fight around Orphan Rock was still going on, last of the witches and bloodwine zombies trying to stop the onslaught of crazed beasts.
The ice spikes melted into water as warm healing energy enveloped the hag's body.
Mori dived. Several spiritual copies of her bird body split from her. While she stopped the dive early enough, the copies didn't. They sliced right through the hag, interrupting her healing spell.
Mori shifted into a woman, fingers elongated into claws.
The hag turned around, aiming the black dagger towards her.
Mori curled into herself. Instead of cutting deep into her belly, the dagger sliced her thigh open.
The wound burned.
Festered.
She hit the ground. All air in her lungs escaped. The hag rolled over, slicing the foul dagger once more.
Mori covered her chest with her arms. The blade left another deep cut, this time on her forearm.
"I will have your heart, sprite!" the hag spat and reached back to slice again. "I will devour it and gain your power!"
Mori grabbed the hag's leg with both hands. With a bestial growl she twisted. The femur broke, splinters and spikes of it poking through the flesh. The hag shrieked in horrible pain, letting go of the dagger.
A bird swooped in. It grabbed the weapon and sped back up into the air.
The heavy oppression blocking Mori lifted.
She threw the shrieking hag off, jumping to her feet. She moved in on the hag, trying to crawl away. The hag tried to block Mori's first attack with her hand. Mori grabbed her wrist. Then the elbow. With a horrible sound, she tore the joint in two.
She spun the torn hand sideways, using it to block another claw attack from the other side.
Ice started enveloping her legs.
Mori grabbed the remaining wrist. She dropped the other one, freeing her hand. She reached back. Her arm shot forward. With a sickening squelch, her hand broke through the hag's ribs and wrapped around her heart.
Growling, she pulled.
"Who's got whose heart now, hag?" she hissed through prolonged fangs into the hag's dying face. "Yours is not even worth devouring," she dropped the red mess on the ground.
The howls and struggles all around slowly died out as the hag lost her life.
Mori fell to her knees. She breathed out and slumped, exhaustion setting into her body.
The oppressive feeling returned. Soon, wings flapped and something clanked as the bird released its prize.
Mori's eyes moved. The black dagger lay on the rock not far from her, sinister in the burning red light of the setting sun.
She grabbed it.
"Ah!" she cried out, jerking away. The moment her fingers touched the handle, a burning sensation filled her whole body. It remained in her wounds, pulsing with scorching pain.
Mori bent over, putting her hands in the sparse grass growing on the rock. As she called to the roots, the burning soothed. But it didn't disappear. Shadow of it remained in her wounds.
She directed more power and attention to those.
They...got a little better, but refused to heal properly.
Bad. This is so bad. What should I do? Maybe potions or ointments will do better, since this must be connected to my being a Daughter. She did call me a sprite, just like the xivilai.
And the blade is meant to kill nature spirits.
Mori pulled herself up.
All the surviving animals gathered around the rock, eyes on her.
Right, I still need to repay their help. So many died...
Mori raised her hand, gathering the energy still left in her. There was a surprisingly large amount left, but she knew if she tapped it right now, she would faint.
I need to learn to use all my potential.
Sparkles of light began falling from the sky, entering the bodies of the waiting beasts. "Be strong. Resist disease. Have many young," Mori declared her blessings as the magic carried her will over to all the beasts it touched.
"Now feast on the dead," she lowered her arm with a heavy breath. The last sparkles found their targets as they slowly dispersed in groups and individuals to pick out the best meat.
She looked away, her eyes falling on the blade.
What to do with it?
XXX
Two days later, Lakeview
She landed in the courtyard of the manor. As she changed shape into a woman, she stumbled.
Hands holding a loose robe gently grabbed her shoulders to steady her. "Mori, dear, are you alright?"
She looked up at Falco from under her messy hair. "Not really."
"What-"
"Take this, please," she handed him a slim packet wrapped in cloth ripped from her dress. "Hide it somewhere for now. Far away from Yvaine. And don't let her touch it."
Falco took it. He unwrapped it to have a look. "What is this?" confusion filled his eyes.
Mori took a taproot out of her bag. It was glowing steadily, but once it got closer to the blade, it's heart-beat like glow got erratic.
"Nettlebane. A hag's blade meant to kill spirits of nature."
"Like you?" Falco's voice jumped a bit higher.
"Like me. And Yvaine. Hide it. I...I don't know how to destroy it yet. Normal fires didn't even heat it up."
Falco's eyes darted to the grey wounds on Mori's leg and arm. "The blade?" he whispered.
"Yes," Mori leaned on him.
"You can't heal it?"
"No. I was hoping something not connected to my magic might."
"Right...Bjorn! Bjoorn!"
"What are you screaming-" Bjorn's red head poked out of the door. "Oh."
"Take Mori to Yvaine's laboratory, and if she's not there, bring the little sprite too," Falco turned his commander persona on.
"What-"
"This," Falco raised the blade. "I'll deal with it for now. Go!"
XXX
"It is better, somewhat," Yvaine looked over Mori's wounds. "But...not good."
Mori nodded. "I guess it will get better once the blade is destroyed." She sighed. "I...I think I'll need to talk to Orgoch."
Yvaine flinched. Bjorn, who stayed with them for the whole process, tensed. "Why her? What makes you think she'll know more than you?"
"She stayed in the Reach. We left. She will know more about old magic. I will go alone. Now. Then I will go to the Eldergleam."
"Mori..."
"I can handle it," she smiled at Bjorn. It was a genuine smile. "I feel off, but it is not doing anything horrible to me."
"You're still bleeding," he pointed out.
"And Orgoch was the most gifted healer of the three of us," Mori shrugged. "I will call out to her."
"The connection?" Yvaine piped up, uncharacteristically quiet.
"Yes. And if it is too far to hear, she WILL hear me in her dreams." Mori closed her eyes. She let out a bird cry. She was clearly producing the noise with all the voice capacity she had, but Bjorn could barely hear it.
He shot a look at Yvaine, but the young witch avoided his gaze. She was shaking.
He walked over and hugged her around the shoulders. "It's okay little spirit, we're here for you. We won't let her hurt you."
"She didn't hear," Mori breathed out after a while. She slumped against the wall. "I will go to bed now. It is late, so it shouldn't take too long for her to go to sleep as well."
XXX
Mori ran through the dreamscape. It blurred and shifted around her with every step taken with her starry leopard paws.
A ribbon of foul energy trailed behind her.
Even in dreams, the blade's infection won't let me go.
Shivers ran through her body. What if it can't be healed?
But those thoughts had to wait. The last blurr took her to a deep, deep grove of ancient trees. She stopped at the border.
"Orgoch!" the roar of a leopard was also words at the same time.
The trees whispered, swaying gently to the echo of her voice.
Nothing else moved.
"ORGOCH!" Mori stomped a paw into the ground. The imagery under it swirled around, rising like sand in water.
The trees creaked.
"What brings you to me, betrayer?" an ancient, almost wood-like voice resonated through the dreamworld. The trees moved, encompassing Mori in the darkness of an endless forest.
"Ill tidings," Mori's tail swished, clearing the area. The trees closest to her dissipated into millions of specks of light, floating in an endless night sky. "I came across an ancient, foul blade of the hags. I wish to know if you can destroy it."
"So that's what the stench you have about is," one tree bent over, releasing a visage of a woman. She looked much older than she should have been. Her hair resembled leaves and her skin bark. Only her eyes were just as Mori remembered them - bright green, thorny and cold.
"Alright, I will make an exception for something so important. Bring the dagger to me-"
"No."
"No?"
"I will not bring it now. I first want to see if you can destroy the mark of the weapon. If you can, I will hand it over. If not, I will figure something else out."
The tree-like visage of Orgoch grew so large it filled the sky. "Do not mock me, girl! You are not enough to deal with it!"
Mori, unperturbed, sat down and licked her paw. As she did, Orgoch's gargantuan form shattered, leaving only a small wooden woman standing in front of the starry leopard.
"And yet it was I who retrieved it, who shed blood for it," her eyes met Orgoch's. "Not you. Never you."
Orgoch snorted. "So be it. I will entertain you this once, only because the mark is...sinister. Meet me at the place your betrayal started."