Northbound Pilgrimage II

Chapter LXIII - Brothers and Sisters

Author's Note:

For those of you interested, I have posted the second and last chapter of the first side story for the second book. It's available in the Second Book Extras :)

And other than that, I hope you'll enjoy the read :) Aeyrin very rarely uses swear words, even in her own head (without Bishop goading her into it, of course). But when she does, you can be sure that she's really pissed :D

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There was a strange odor in the air.

Aeyrin could still smell that odd alchemical tinge, but it was much fainter than before. The main thing that was bothering her was the strange wooziness that she could still feel and the blurriness in front of her eyes.

They were open, she should be able to see, but it was hard to make out anything but vague shapes right then.

She tried to concentrate on where she was, on what had happened. She only remembered going outside through that window and then someone grabbed her. There was only the smell then.

And now she was here, wherever that was. Her shirt was gone and she was splayed on some cold stone slab with her arms stretched along her body. She could not feel anything else. There were no binds restraining her, no chains, no gag. But she could not move at all. Her eyes were open and they were stinging unbearably, as if she hadn't closed them in a long time. Her lips were parted, but when she tried to make a sound, nothing came out. She could feel the sound leaving her, her throat vibrating, but nothing at all made it out. How?

Her eyes were so dry. Why couldn't she close them? She must have been paralyzed.

She'd never been paralyzed before. It felt awful. It was one thing to struggle helplessly against bindings, but this was so much more unnerving. She could move! She was free to move! Why was she not able to move?

Alright. Fine. She was paralyzed. It was a spell. It would pass. She needed to concentrate and figure out where she was.

She knew that she was on a stone slab or table and not on the ground. She could feel the edges on her arms and ankles. And it wasn't particularly cold in there. That meant that she was somewhere inside. Likely still in Windhelm. Nobody would be able to take her out of the city, right?

She remembered her own body vanishing before her eyes before she had lost consciousness. The attacker must have made her invisible. That's how he got her through the city without the patrols picking up on that.

The attacker. Was it Calixto? Was all that talk about the figure in the dark just a ruse? Or was her attacker that figure?

She couldn't figure out much without actually looking around. Her eyes were still blurry and stinging so badly and there was also a slight pain right in the middle of her right arm. It was as if something was stabbing her in it, but not very violently. More like pinching.

She needed to find out why she was here, but before she could ponder again, suddenly, her eyelids twitched in reflex.

She blinked! She could move! This was her chance!

Her eyes were starting to clear as she continued blinking rapidly, trying her best to wet her dry eyes. The next thing she did, she did on pure instinct. She needed to make sure that nobody paralyzed her again.

But when she tried to Shout, to summon her ethereal form to shield herself from magic, no sound came out.

Why?!

"Ah. Conscious already?" a voice echoed in her ears and she suddenly felt herself stiffen again. She didn't even manage to move yet and her body was paralyzed once more. For a while, she could only see bright green light in front of her as the effects of the spell spread out throughout her form.