Northbound Pilgrimage II

Chapter CXXVI - Straight into Oblivion

Alright. This was it.

Witchmist Grove. The... 'witchy grove'.

Right after Bishop left Ysolda's house and found the ring, he got out of Whiterun as fast as he could. He didn't want to risk anything and, as tired as he was, he didn't stop until he was out of Whiterun Hold, heading towards the Rift.

That was where he was supposed to go, right? Where his 'perfect girl' was waiting for him in a cottage. He had assumed that it was his cottage, but that didn't seem to be the case. According to what that girl in Riverwood had said, he was supposed to go to some grove.

He made camp outside Whiterun Hold to get some shut eye. It wasn't really a camp. He had no bedroll, no food, no water and he didn't even have a flint. He managed to catch a rabbit with his hunting knife and made fire the old-fashioned way – with rocks. At least he could eat. It was so fucking bland without his spices – he got so spoiled about food. But it was food. And there was the river nearby, so he had water too. He just had to sleep in the grass.

The next day, he stopped some hunters on the way to ask about this 'witchy grove'. They speculated for a while, but they came up with this place.

It checked out. It was called 'Witchmist Grove', apparently, and it was north of Riften. It was in Eastmarch, sure, but still, north was north. This had to be it. Not only did the name and shit fit, but there was an actual cottage there.

It looked nothing like his cottage. It was old and shabby and kind of creepy. It even had fucking spikes all around it like some ridiculous battlements. It definitely didn't look like a place that Aeyrin would voluntarily be in.

But weirder shit had happened during his delirium. Anything was possible at this point.

He just wanted to find her already. Even if she didn't know what happened to either of them after Rorikstead, he just wanted to be with her again and figure this shit out together.

Fuck, he really hoped that he hadn't fucked up the proposal. But that was unlikely, since he didn't have the ring the whole time. Or at least a lot of the time, probably. He hoped so.

He just couldn't figure out what it was with this place. Why would Aeyrin be waiting for him here?

Well, he wouldn't figure it out just standing here.

He walked past the spikes, through the eerie mist gathered around the place and into the creepy cabin. There were some strange sounds coming out of that place. Like some crunching. What was that?

He didn't pay it much mind though, he swung the shabby door open, eager to see Aeyrin at last.

"Princess?"

He barely managed to look around the one small room when the noises stopped. His eyes laid on the culprit in an instant – there was no princess. There was a wrinkly monstrous face staring at him in shock instead.

A hagraven.

Fuck!

That thing reacted quickly. Its hands lit up with fiery blaze in a matter of a second and it shot a ball of flame at him.

Bishop jumped out of the way, but only barely. He felt searing heat envelop his arm – the wounded one – and he barely managed to register that, while his leather armor withstood it with only some damage, his cloth arm-sling caught aflame instantly.

He didn't have much time to act. He instantly dropped to the ground and rolled around, attempting to douse the flames. He was done in no time, but his sling was in charred tatters and it practically fell apart right away.