Northbound Pilgrimage II

Chapter LVII - Settling Scores

"Do you think that they'll throw us into the mine?"

Aeyrin whispered to Bishop as she shuffled in spot nervously.

They were both sitting on a stone slab by the Jarl's throne with their hands behind their backs, clapped in irons. When they got caught outside the abandoned house, they tried to frantically explain to the guards what had happened. The men were intent on investigating the house, but Aeyrin quickly deterred them. When they saw the look in her eyes as she tried to explain the presence of an actual Daedric Prince inside, they got considerably more nervous.

Instead of exploring the household, they placed the door back in place as well as they could have and barricaded the entrance with various things to keep the citizens from entering. Some guards remained on guard in front of the house while the others arrested Aeyrin and Bishop and led them back to the Keep so that they could explain themselves and the happenings in the house to the Jarl.

The Jarl was not very convinced by their recounting. He didn't believe that something like that was possible at all, but he was still too wary to send his men in. Right now, he was talking quietly to his steward and housecarl, discussing the situation and how to proceed, while Bishop and Aeyrin remained in chains in the same room.

"I don't know," Bishop sighed. Being thrown into Cidhna mine was a definite possibility at this point. And the Silver-Bloods would surely love an excuse to get rid of Aeyrin like that. Although... would they? Thongvor was interested in the bounty. If Aeyrin was in the mine, he could hardly claim it now, could he? But... he could probably just snatch her from the mine then with no repercussions and deliver her to Mercer.

Fuck, this was excruciating. All for that stupid Daedra! That fucking thing was vicious, even remembering that filled him with an unpleasant feeling in his gut. How could he let it manipulate him like that? How could he let it convince him that obeying it was the right choice? Was he really so weak? Was that thing right about him? Did he always just 'pretend' to fight, but then when the stakes got too high, he just... submitted? He always thought of it as survival. It was irrational to fight a losing battle. It was irrational to keep struggling instead of biding his time and waiting for an opportunity.

Aeyrin wasn't like that. She was ready to fight and struggle to the last, no matter what. She didn't listen to that thing for one second. But... at other times, this stubbornness was what got her into trouble.

He wasn't sure what was right anymore.

He just hoped that Aeyrin wasn't too abhorred by him letting the thing get to his head.

"I think... I think that they'll send us to the mine..." Aeyrin lowered her head mournfully, tearing Bishop from his ruminations. "I killed that man..."

"You saved him," Bishop tried to sound encouraging. She really did save the man. He didn't give much thought to the afterlife, but the idea of promising it to some disgusting Daedra had to be worse than anything else that might have awaited him. Especially someone like Bal. If Bishop thought that he hated submitting to people like Thorn or Torban, he didn't even want to imagine how he would suffer under that monster's command.

But their current situation didn't allow him to convey too much encouragement.

"Maybe I could have changed his mind," Aeyrin sighed again, still peering into the ground.

"Princess, he was gone already. His mind was... broken, you saw that. If he wouldn't swear himself to that thing at that moment, he would have done it a second later. You saved him," he repeated it. She must have known that. That was the only reason why she killed the paladin. Why was she second-guessing herself now? She did the right thing. She was the only one who had the strength to do the right thing in there. Bishop had even considered taking that fucking mace and just killing the paladin on Bal's behest.