Northbound Pilgrimage II

Chapter CXVI - The Empire's Glory

The sound of weapons clanking against each other filled the air, bouncing off the cliffs around.

The last night of full Secunda passed much like the previous one. Bishop and Aeyrin stayed on the plateau near the Skybound pass, just like before. Once more, Aeyrin was secured in the chains through the night. It was all the same. She was aggressive and kept lunging and growling at Bishop throughout. He tried to talk to her, seeing if that would calm her a bit. At times, he felt like it worked, but at other times, it seemed to do the opposite. He wasn't really sure what to make of it.

Aeyrin had been so hopeful that it was going to get better the second night. She still remembered nothing from when she was transformed and Bishop really didn't want to bring her even more down by telling her that it was pretty much the same, but he didn't really want to lie to her either. He just tried to reassure her that it was too soon for her to be gaining control over the werewolf – the twins said so too.

She was disappointed, but she wasn't even sure why. She didn't want to 'become one' with that monster at all, did she? She tried to concentrate on the fact that there was a cure instead. It was the only hope she had been clinging to since this whole mess started.

Regardless, they made it through the last night of full Secunda unscathed and, once they got their rest through the morning, they headed out west, finally back on track towards Dragon Bridge.

Well... they weren't exactly on their intended 'track'. They took a considerable detour and now their best course of action was to go through Falkreath and then continue north through Rorikstead towards Dragon Bridge. It would also ensure that they would get to avoid the majority of Whiterun Hold. It wasn't as if they couldn't traverse it through the wilderness, avoiding patrols, but neither of them were really eager to deal with even the small chance of anything going wrong. They'd been stressed enough after their brief stay in Whiterun.

And besides, Bishop kind of wanted to go through Falkreath. This whole business with the bounties suddenly felt all too fresh and he was worried that whoever was sending these, might have sent one to Falkreath too. He just wanted to make sure. Better than to be caught off guard. They approached the town carefully and Bishop made sure to be seen by the guards from a large distance – far enough so that he could still run away safely if they got alerted to his presence. But fortunately, nobody in Falkreath even gave him a second look. It seemed like the place was still safe. It was a small victory, even though neither him nor Aeyrin really relished spending much time in the Hold altogether. It still brought back bad memories and it probably wouldn't get better anytime soon.

They didn't linger, neither in the town itself nor on the roads around the forests, even though those were much safer now with Thorn's clans wiped out. And besides, the weather tended to urge them onwards. The entire day, the whole Hold had been plagued by heavy rain mixed with the occasional snow.

They were almost on the road to Rorikstead, by the Reach border, when the sounds echoing through the area alerted them.

They could see the commotion down the road. Most of the old Imperial forts around Skyrim were often abandoned and so was Fort Sungard the few times they had passed around it. But today, a large battle was raging in the area. It looked like a siege.

The fort had visible red banners all displayed on its outer walls and an Imperial flag waving in the strong wind on a tall post on its tower.

It looked like it had been occupied by the Imperial forces. And their attackers were carrying tellingly blue banners.

The Stormcloak soldiers were rushing the fort in full force. There had to be at least several dozen of them, lunging themselves at the barricades and attempting to position large ladders on the battlements. The Imperial soldiers seemed to be staving them off for now though. They had plenty of archers and mages up on the battlements, defending them to their deaths.