The War of Domination

A Companions Memory

Kirena tried to adjust herself as the ropes around her ankles and wrists dug into her already raw skin. The bumpy wagon ride across the stone laid road made it worse as they started heading up hill.

"We'll be at Markarth soon." Aetrid said as she turned a page in her book.

"Why am I still here?" Kirena said in a near whisper.

"Because." Aetrid said. "Because I was wrong and I found out about it too late."

A thalmor soldier ridding in the wagon smirked which made Aetrid glare at him.

"And would you care to tell us how even with two armies lost the only defensible city this side of Skyrim?" Aetrid asked in a hateful and sarcastic tone.

The soldier cleared his throat and looked at his feet.

Kirena saw Aetrid glare a moment longer before going back to her book. "A nord would have had the balls to answer that question." She muttered.

Her stomach slowly churned as she shifted in her bonds one more time before leaning her down and trying to fall asleep to pass the time. Her dreams where filled of memories and moments she would never forget along with the people who gave them to her.

***

"Kodlak my head hurts." Kirena groaned holding a hand on her head as she grimaced in pain.

"I don't doubt it." The old Harbinger said as he stood up and sat a drink in front of her.

She picked it up and drank it, it fizzed on her tongue and made her stomach bubble as she swallowed.

"When was the last time you actually read a book or wrote a letter?" He asked.

"When I was a child." She answered.

"So too long."

"Why does it matter so much?"

"Because hunting and fighting are not enough. I know you can count coin well enough so I wont bother with that."

"Illdene can tell me the stories."

"Oh, which ones?"

"The ones about Macke and Jeek, they are my favorite."

Kodlak let out a chuckle as he stood up with all his joints audibly popping while he walked over to a book shelf and picked one from it.

"'And do you know how Illdene learned of them?" He asked.

Kirena let out a sigh as she looked at the leather bound pages. "She read about them."

"Not only that but she read every one of these books at least three times over." He said.

"What does this have to do with me?" She asked.

"There will be times when putting an arrow through a heart wont be enough." He started. "Say someone comes to us for a missing loved one. You go to where the bandits that took him are and don't find him. What do you do?"

"I would tell them that they are still missing but the bandits are dead." Kirena responded.

"Now what if I told you that the bandits had their captive moved and the location was written down the the chiefs journal?" Kodlak asked.

Kirena only sighed knowing he had a point and she couldn't get around it. Then Kirena took another sip of the drink and picked up the book.

"Kolb was a brave Nord warrior." She started while stuttering through the words.

"Good, next we will work on writing." Kodlak said.

***

Kirenas dream turned as she was only partly aware of her surrounding, feeling the wagon shift as the breeze from a waterfall blew past her.