Chapter 7
Location:- Rorikstead
Date:- 2E 581 First Seed
Loredas 14th
The outskirts of the town
was in ruins, burnt shells of buildings all starting to collapse in
on themselves. Charred corpses littered the road where some of the
occupants that had managed to escape the fires but either been cut
down by the raiders or died from their burns. Volk charged past the
devastation his senses hardened by years of constant warfare. Brom
struggled as he looked for survivors, until Delte passed him and
turned a corner in the road to head towards the town centre from a
different angel to Volk's route. This snapped Brom from out of his
doldrums, by the time he rounded the same corner Delte was stood on
her horseback with daggers drawn bearing down on the raiders. As it
reached the barricade she jumped off using the momentum to sail over
the heads of the attackers. She landed on both feet and killed two of
them in one move. Delte parried blow after blow from another two
attackers, one of the attackers over extended and over balanced.
Delte exploited this and dispatched him in one swift move. Brom
fought for his life against an armoured man wielding a huge two
handed sword. He caught an over head swing on his shield that popped
the iron rim off its rivets the blow jarred Brom's arm and he pushed
the large sword to the left while stepping in and killing the
armoured man by ramming his sword up at an angle underneath the
breastplate. He turned to check on Delte she had dispatched the
other assailant and was now being hard pressed by a giant of a man
swinging a huge two handed axe.
Delte dodged each swing
of the slow weapon that was being used by the large man sporting a
bushy black beard and long black greasy hair. The only attire he wore
was a fur loin cloth. His naked torso was covered in daedric runes
and ritual scars. Each time she tried to step in for the kill her
opponent had seen it coming and checked the move. He swung the axe
again and as Delte moved in anticipation of the attack he quickly
changed its direction and caught a glancing blow to Delte's head.
Dazed and disoriented she fell to the ground. Blood ran down one side
of her face and her vision was blurred, laying on her back on the
hard dirt packed road daggers crossed up in a guard position her legs
pumped trying to move away and give her time to recover her senses.
Slowly her vision cleared only to see the huge towering form of the
man bearing down on her he brought his axe up high to finish her off.
Delte closed her eyes waiting for the end.
The death blow never came
Delte opened her eyes and saw Brom stood over her, the remains of his
shield hung from his arm that had blocked the blow. His face a rictus
of pain the snap Delte had heard was the sound of his arm breaking.
She sat up and rammed her dagger between the 3rd and 4th
rid of the bearded man killing him. He slowly toppled over backwards
like a huge oak tree that had been felled. Brom sliced the leather
straps to his now ruined shield that still clung to his broken arm, a
movement in Brom's periphery vision got his attention. He turned to
see another raider rushing towards them swinging two swords. The man
stopped dead in his tracks and looked down at the two arrows that had
appeared in his chest then fell down dead. Delte and Brom looked
around and saw Johan stood on a barn roof nocking another arrow. A
strange lull came over the scene of battle and a babies crys came
from within one of the burning buildings, Delte's sharp hearing
picked up the sound, before Brom could stop her she dove through the
doorway and vanished into the flames. He looked over the barricades
at where Volk and Left-Paw-Alight were fighting and made his way over
to them to help in their skirmish.
Left-Paw-Alight used his
staff to parry a sequence of attacks from a dunmer with a longsword
and a parrying dagger. With each parry a ball of kinetic energy built
up on each end of his staff. Left-Paw-Alight feinted to the right his
dunmer opponent fell for the ruse and left himself open to the follow
up attack. One end of Paws's staff struck him squarely in the chest,
the kinetic energy on the end of the staff that struck the dunmer
exploded and sent him flying back against the stable wall. His dead
body fell to the floor the chest cavity caved in from the blast.
Left-Paw-Alight looked around and saw three more attackers coming
towards him, he twirled his staff and slammed the unspent energy ball
onto the ground. A wave of kinetic energy spread out and threw the
three would be attackers to the ground. Johan pinned each one with an
arrow and they never got back up.
Delte dashed though
the common room of the burning house, flames licked at her and the
smoke made her eyes water. Her innate dunmer resistance to fire and
heat allowed her to move fairly freely in the inferno. Another cry
from a small room gained her attention and she homed in on it. A
small bundle of blankets moved in a cot, Delte ran over and picked up
the small baby and then made her way back out of the burning inferno.
Brom turned a corner on
his way to help Volk and Paws. In the middle of the street a Breton
woman was in a magical dual with a man in black robes wearing a blood
red mask. Lighting arched between the two mages, the air had a tangy
taste and smell of iron to it. The breton woman gave a cry of shock
as her wards fell, this galvanised Brom into action. Quietly stepping
up behind the enemy mage he rammed his sword into his back and gave
it a twist, as he pulled it free the man fell dead to the ground. The
breton woman stood straight and gave Brom a smile of thanks and ran
back to the barricades.
With the death of the
enemy mage most of the attackers vanished in puffs of acrid smoke and
a scream as their tether to Nirn was severed. The remaining mortal
attackers devoid of their daedric support dropped their weapons and
fled. A huge cheer erupted from the citizens left alive as they
realised their victory.
Delte ran through the
front entrance to the burning house with the small child clutched
tightly to her chest. Once out in the fresh air she took a few deep
breath to clear her lungs of the smoke she had inhaled. Gently she
placed the small bundle of sheets on the ground and unwrapped them. A
small human child lay there before her unmoving, its tiny lips had
gone blue. Tears welled up in Delte's eyes and ran down her soot
covered face leaving clean tracks of skin. A blue glow emanated from
her hands as she poured healing magicka into the small form that laid
before her on the ground. A scaled hand was placed on her shoulder
and a familiar voice spoke with concern. “Delte the child is dead.”
Paws said to her “Save your energy for the living.”
Delte shook his hand
off and carried on trying to heal the small baby. Paws shook his head
and walked away.
People were milling
around still dazed by what had happened to them and their small town,
work teams had started to put out the fires and try to save what
property they could. Brom sat on a stone wall as the breton woman
healed his broken arm, his attention was alerted to three women
huddled together crying over a burnt corpse of a man. Delte appeared
holding a small bundle of soot stained blankets, her cloak was burnt
around the edges, her leather armour covered in soot. Her face
covered in black soot also apart from the strips of skin where her
tears had cleaned it off. One of the women looked up at her and
wailed as she recognised the blankets. She stood up and slowly walked
towards Delte with apprehension. Delte smiled as a small leg moved
and poked out from within the bundle. The woman stopped crying and
hitched up her skirt and ran over to where Delte was stood. Delte
gently handed over the baby to the woman, as the child recognised the
familiar voice of it mother a happy gurgling sound came from the
blankets.
“Some joy survived
this day at least.” The breton woman said to Brom.
“Aye and to think
I was going to stop her from going into the burning building.” Brom
said as he flexed his fingers.
“You was concerned
for a friend, that is understandable.” She said with a smile as she
finished the healing spell.
Brom held out his
open hand to the woman and looked into her green eyes framed by long
black curly hair. “My name is Brom Shatter-Shield.” He said to
her.
The breton woman
looked down at his hand and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek
“Serena and thank you for helping fight off the attackers.”
Brom blushed and
looked down at his feet to the amusement of Serena.
“I best see to the
wounded.” She said to Brom as she picked up her staff and walked
away. She paused and turned back to look at Brom and asked. “Why
did they attack our town? Who were they?”
“Daedric cultists
of Molag Bal.” Brom replied before he could stop himself.
Serena's smile faded
“Are you and your friends hunting them?”
Brom nodded and
walked over to her “I would like to help you with the injured, and
maybe while you teach me some of the finer details I can talk to you
about the attackers.”
Glad for the company
she nodded and they started going around the wounded townsfolk.
Delte stood and
watched the mother now reunited with her baby, dead townsfolk lay all
about bunt and bleeding with open wounds on the ground.
Left-Paw-Alight came to stand by her side and watched for a moment
with a smile.
“I am glad you
didn't listen to me Delte.” he said to her “The town elder wishes
to talk with us, are you coming?”
Delte nodded and
turned to leave with Paws to meet with the elder.
A man in his
twilight years dressed in scale mail leaning on a large two handed
sword was deep in conversation with Volk. The man's long grey hair
blew freely in the breeze. He sported a long bushy beard that was
more grey than its original red, but his blue eyes still held some
fire of life to them. His armour had gone rusty in places and some of
the straps had not been fastened due to the rush of putting it on
during the initial attack. The sword he leaned on had fresh notches
along its length and was now slightly bent from the years of use and
now neglect.
“Delte, Paws this
is elder Sven Jager.” Volk said as way of introduction “He has
some interesting information about our friends.”
“Delte, Paws thank
you for your timely intervention.” Sven said “If you hadn't of
come when you did we would all be dead.”
“Brom and Johan
are helping tend the wounded.” Paws told Volk and Sven as he shook
hands with the elder.
“As I was saying
to Volk the raiders came from the north.” Sven said to the three of
them “Not sure why though, all we have here is grain, potatoes and
goats.”
“People.” Delte
said in reply “You have people that is why they attacked.”
“Sorry miss but I
don't understand.” Sven replied as he ran his fingers through his
long grey hair.
“They are daedric
cultists looking for slaves and souls of sentient beings.” She
explained to the elder “You need to send word to Whiterun and
Markarth and let them know what has transpired here.”
“We go north from
here then?” Paws said looking at Volk.
“I have had
reports from local hunters about strange lights and sightings of
undead at an old fort on the boarder to the Reach and Whiterun.”
Sven said as Volk stroked his beard in thought “I thought nothing
of it until now, you know hunters drunk around a camp fire telling
each other stories.”
Volk nodded in
agreement and said “Hardly worth our time investigating rumours
from drunk wildmen. We go north from here.”
“No!” came the
reply from Delte “We should investigate the fort. These hunters if
they are anything like the ashlanders of Morrowind simple ghost
stories wouldn't scare them. They are often made of sturdier stuff
than your average local.”
“I am not going to
argue Delte.” Volk turned and looked her in her eyes “We go
north, I am not going to gamble on this one. My wife and child's
lives are at steak here.”
“What is north
from here Volk? Where can the cultists hide and do their worshipping
north of here?” Delte replied back.
“From here only
Morthal and Solitude.” Paws said as he followed the discussion “No
ruins to speak of or any real cave systems.”
“Brom.” Volk
shouted over to his brother and waved him to come over.
Brom left Serena and
walked over to where Volk was stood a huge grin on his face.
“Stop your
flirting with that breton whore, I have a job for you.” Volk said
as he approached.
“She is not a
whore, and her name is Serena.” Brom said in a hurt tone “She is
the town healer for Rorikstead and the out lying farms.”
“No matter, I want
you to ride to our clan longhall and report to the old bear. Ask him
to send Kavak and his oathsworn over to Rorikstead to bolster the
defences here.”
Brom nodded and
walked over to where Johan had tied up the horses Delte walked with
him.
“Thank you Brom
for saving my life.” Delte said as she walked arm in arm with the
young nord.
Brom shrugged “It's
ok, I broke my arm but Serena fixed it for me.”
“She likes you
Brom, be careful on the road.” Delte replied with a smile.
“How do you know
she likes me?” Brom asked as he mounted his horse.
“Woman's
intuition.” Delte said with a smile and a wink as she left Brom and
walked back to Volk and Paws. Johan followed close behind with bow in
hand.
“So where to now?”
Johan asked Delte as they walked back.
“An old fort west
of here on the boarder to the Reach and Whiterun.” Delte replied.
“I thought Volk
was set on going north.” Johan said in a confused tone.
“He is.” came
the reply from Delte with a knowing smile.
When Delte had
arrived back to the conversation Volk had planted daggers and stones
on the ground. One large rock showed where Rorikstead was and two
daggers showed Solitude and Morthal. A twig showed where the ruined
fort was on the boarder of the two holds. Volk shook his head “The
only thing north of here would be reachmen and they are more
xenophobic than the maormer.” he said
“You also have
your family hold on the northern boarders to Whiterun and Morthal
Volk.” Paws said as he looked at the makeshift map “If the
cultists are north of here they would of run afoul of your fathers
patrols.”
“Yes your right so
Delte's assumptions maybe correct and its the only thing we have to
go on.” Volk conceded the point “I guess we go to the old fort of
Broken Tower from here then and hope the hunters were right to fear
the place.”
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