Just before sleep took me, the footsteps retreated into the city, and a small figure slipped through the doors before Derkeethus could catch him on foot. We stood before the gate, green scaled hands wiping down Nael in an effort to ease our boiling blood. And then the heat and rage eased, and Nael coughed wetly, hanging her head tiredly.
And then it as all gone...
"Gwaihen! Wake up! There's a group of Imperials that have been spotted down the road! It's Hrollod! He's come!" a voice fairly screamed in my ear as hands shook me roughly. I sputtered, hauling myself out of the bed and snatching my blade from under my pillow. Tormir backed away in surprise, but smiled excitedly just the same.
Eagerly grabbing my hands, she dragged me through the main room of the inn. I snatched a drying hunk of cheese from a table on the way out.
A bitter wind blew down the lane and I shivered. About us the snow was falling softly on the village, hissing quietly as it rested on the frosted grass. Watching the snow, I pursed my lips, thinking of Constantius' warning. If snow was falling here, then it wouldn't be long before it reached the south and Falkreath and Riften become wrapped in winter's embrace. Time was running out, and yet there were still miles to go.
"Isn't the snow beautiful? I always love the first snowfall of the year, of course, it doesn't reach usually reach us until much later," Tormir said, leaning against the rail and letting the snow fall in her hair. She walked down the porch and out into the thick of it. I followed slowly.
Somewhere down the lane I heard men calling excitedly and the clop of many horse hooves. The guards were welcoming someone and their cries quieted as the sounds approached.
The snow dusted our clothing and I closed my eyes for a moment, willing myself to stand straight, though I was already tired from even this minor exertion.
"Are you all right?" Tormir asked.
"I'll be fine. I just need a moment," I murmured, reaching into my satchel to down something to help with the cold. Her clothing rustled as she nodded her head.
"Do you think he's found Hrefna?" she asked at length, the sound of marching soldiers closer now.
"I hope so. The last I heard about her, she was still fighting her captors."
Tormir smiled at that. "That's my girl. Never would do as I told her without putting up a fight. She's a true Nord, already." Her smile slowly slipped off her face as she thought of her daughter, and the fierce protectiveness and eagerness to care for me in the last few days finally made sense. I was her surrogate daughter, even though I bested her by more than a century. As long as I was here, she could distract herself from her missing daughter, but now that Hrollod was here, I would be preoccupied with whatever it was that he wanted. She would be alone once more.
"We'll find her, Tormir," I said, taking her hand and squeezing it gently. She patted my hand in return and we stood in the cold and snow for a little while longer. My thighs slowly went numb and I began to wish for my bearskin cloak.
At last the group of soldiers rounded the corner and Hrollod came into view. Tormir started, ready to run towards her lover, but halted herself in seeing his company. I watched her fighting for composure as he casually strode up to us.
"Ah, Gwaihen, you've made it. Your Argonian friend has asked me to return early. He seemed...unwell," the Legate said, half-bowing in greeting.
"Thank you for all you've done, Hrollod. Hrefna would have perished by now were it not for you," I replied, forcing myself into a curtsy and hating myself while doing it. He nodded in response.
"Tormir--" he began, turning to her with a look of adoration for his head to whip sideways as she slapped him with all her might. "What....why....?" he stuttered, nonplussed.
"How dare you! You come into my village, claiming your unending love for me after I haven't seen you in years. Then you haul me out to this dump, only to leave me here without any promise that I'll be the one to retrieve my own daughter!" she screeched before hugging him fiercely.
"I'd hate to see what these two do behind closed doors," one of the soldiers muttered to another with a smirk on his face.
"Silence, Frald," the Legate barked in irritation. "Tormir, we've discussed this already," he said with barely concealed anger. "It's too dangerous!"
"And my daughter is out there in that danger! Out there with that-that...that beast!"
"Our daughter. And I'll not have her mother risk her life needlessly," he ground out, staring hard at the woman before him.
I rubbed the side of my temple, as the spat between the two grew more heated. Eventually, I excused myself from the discussion and returned to my room in the inn, the sound of the quarreling parents following me with the blowing snow into the inn. With a sigh, I rested my head on the down pillow and stared at the wood paneling for some time, examining the small designs in the wood grains.
Though the Legate made it here and would likely begin mustering his forces, I knew we wouldn't discuss Constantius until Derkeethus returned, and so I closed my eyes, wanting now more than ever to see him return safely to me. In spite of the connection between us, I missed him at my side. Floating in his mind couldn't compare to his physical presence, and I lost track of whose thoughts and experiences were whose the longer I was there.
Slowly the world in front of me faded, and I was once again joining my friend on his journey. He crept through Windhelm, keeping to the small alleys and always following the fading trail of footsteps ahead of him. Eventually, the steps ceased and a scuffle was heard. Rounding a corner sharply, a man lay unconscious in a snow drift and several confused tracks churned in front of a door.
Derkeethus guided me forward in his mind, and I made him stoop to examine the tracks. They were too muddled to distinguish. We tried the door, only to find it barred from the inside. The man in the drift grumbled and began to wake, and I was pushed into the back of my friend's mind to watch as he slipped back into the shadows. Not before lifting a little gold from the man's pocket, of course.
My disapproval radiated throughout his mind, and with great reluctance he dropped the coin purse next to the man. Don't know why I bother, he grumbled to himself, trying to keep the thought away from me, though I heard it anyway.
Cautiously we stole into The White Phial to find the shop silent as a grave. A sense of dread sank into the crevices of my being as we carefully padded through the shop. The counters were covered in a thick layer of dust and the alchemy stand in the corner looked long unused. In the back, a strand of quiet snores echoed into the front room.
Making our way into the very room I once occupied for over a month recovering from an injury, we found Quintus asleep on the bed, which looked even shabbier than before. His face was drawn in sleep, as if some distasteful dream plagued him. A green arm emerged into view, reaching forward to gently shake the Imperial.
With a snort he peered at my friend blearily before he screamed.
Comments
Hrollod and Tormir...really nice to... more