The Ebony Renegades (Skyrim)

chapter twenty three

At their leader's speech, the rest of the group cheered before setting up and doing their usual secure perimeter chores. with Severin lying down by the overhang overlooking the entrance to the mine that was fenced off by thick pine trees that were made into a wall. He pulled his daedric crossbow out before laying it down on top of his bedroll as he was going to take on sentry duty along with Salazar. Because the overhang that had been made into a campsite had a roof over it to keep him dry if it rained on the same cliff was a blacksmith forge which Gentu and Yamma took advantage of the orichalcum mine inside to get materials to make some orcish weapons as an offering to the stronghold they were going to be passing by on their way to Markarth as well as to upgrade them. Gila was still recovering from her injuries from her encounter with the werebear so she took it easy and set up some traps around the area to catch any would-be trespassers that attempted to invade the mine that night, Tully, Myra, Sabrina,  and Shadow-step patrolled the nearby forests making sure there was no other campsites or towns nearby, after not finding any aside from a nordic home on a hill that looked empty yet for sale. Lianya, Suvvan, Ebon-Shi, and Asadelf made another thorough sweep inside the mine making sure there was no one still hiding in there before setting up everyone's bedrolls as Gila started passing out her famous meat rations made from dried deer meat and expertly seasoned. After all the proper precautions were made the entire group reconvened on the inside of the mine and the big room where they had found the orc chief they had laid out their bed rolls save for Severin, Salazar, and Tully the latter of the three was scouting about the inside of the cave of the mine checking for anything of use not finding anything he sat in a chair at the intersection. leaning the bloodskal blade against his shoulder as he leaned up against the wall facing the entrance so he could see anyone coming in and out assuming they were able to get past Severin and Salazar which was unlikely but something the group preached and practiced religiously was not taking any chances and leaving no room for error. Gila had to come in and lay down on her bedroll to try to get her injuries to heal sooner but she knew better than anyone that if she wanted her body to heal properly she had to get lots of rest and eat as she ate a piece of the meat rations that she made for the entire group she ate part of her share. soon the recon group came in explaining that there was nothing of extreme interest or need for concern to report. Ebon-shi nodded before setting everything up. After a little while Gentu came in to start replacing Gila's bandages to ensure that her wounds were healing properly and that they wouldn't get infected. Carefully Gila removed her savior's hide revealing only her slim furtop that covered her breasts Gentu carefully removed the bandages that were around her torso before thoroughly inspecting her injuries making sure that her ribs were healing properly although as expected they were still sore which came to no surprise once he was done rebandaging her torso he moved down to her ankle carefully removing the splints and then had Gila move her foot around a little bit. Gila complied moving her foot to the side and then angling it like she was walking it seemed that her sprained ankle had already healed properly although her ribs would still take some time before they were fully healed but other than that she was fit as a fiddle. " Well, Gila your ankle is healed so you should be able to walk normally now, although your ribs still need time to heal so I would advise you avoid any strenuous activity for a while alright?" Gentu advised as Gila smiled before setting up carefully and putting her savior's hide back on. " Thanks Gentu you're a real lifesaver." Gila replied and laid her head against the wall calming down and relaxing. Ebon-shi walked over brought Gila's water bladder and gently handed it to her she took a drink and laid her head back down as she put the water bladder at her side and closed her eyes to rest. " Thanks, boss I'm sorry I'm such a drag right now." Gila said softly as Ebon-shi patted her shoulder comfortingly "It's alright, you just focus on getting better, and we will handle the rest." Ebon-shi said under his ebony helmet his red eyes visible through the opening of the helmet as Asadelf walked over with some plants Gila described acting like a pain killer. " Are these what you were talking about?" Asadelf asked as Gila looked at them before nodding taking one of them and chewing then instructed Asadelf to gather some more and have Sabrina turn it into medicine just in case of another situation like this. "OK Gila, you just get a nice long rest and we will be off at first light tomorrow, Goodnight." Ebon-shi said as he went outside as Tully, Myra, Sabrina, and Shadow-step came in to rest for the night in the first shift of the night. Throughout the night, Severin kept a vigilant eye on the visible areas in front of him with Salazar sitting silently nearby sitting on his knees his palms gently resting on his lap as his insect-like eyes stared blankly into the dark foreboding forest. Due to his chorus mutation in the dark Salazar could sense body heat like a snake occasionally when Severin requested a scan of the surroundings Salazar would use the detect life spell to scan the surrounding area. Due to Salazar not being able to speak their native tongue Severin and him developed an ingenious workaround. If Severin needed him to scan the area he would tap his tail on the ground three times. and if Salazar detected an individual approaching he would click his mandibles once if he didn't detect anything, he would click two times. The familiar sound of the mandibles clicking twice put the assassin at ease a little considering the detect life only showed living organisms and not daedra, automatons, and undead. Although the arcane rune traps the group put down earlier would alert him to any careless bandits, the runes themselves gave off an arcane glow which would give them away to a competent and thorough assailant. A group of bandits like the legendary crimson dirks would easily spot the runes a mile away and find a way around them. Severin closed his reptilian eyes for a moment to compose himself as his eyes focused down the length of the crossbow with a steel bolt locked in the bowstring his finger lightly stroking the trigger ready to fire in an instant. The gentle yet calm echo of footsteps approached as Lianya brought the two lookouts a tankard of mead. " Figured the two of you would be thirsty out here." Lianya said as she placed the tankards next to them then spoke in the falmer tongue handing the tankard into Salazar's hand The chorus mutant lifted the drink to his mouth giving a contented sigh and a gentle nod of the head as Lianya sat nearby as Yamma and Gentu wheeled out a wagon full of freshly mined orichalcum ore and the two immediately got to work forging the most incredible orcish weapons and armor from the standard orcish armor, to the orcish plate armor, then even the light orcish-scaled armor. Gentu and Yamma worked in silence no words needing to be said it was as if they were in syce like cogs in a dwarven mechanism. After they had all the weapons and armor forged they put them in a wooden wagon and connected it to Gentu's dwarven horse to pull behind in the morning. Later when the sun peaked over the pine trees both Ebon-shi and Asadelf were on the ground level walking around staying close to the wall for cover Everything was quiet until the time for the group to get on the move when one of the fire runes ignited alerting the group's attention to the surprise as the others ran out including Gila who's ribs were still healing. It wasn't long before a loud banging was at the heavy makeshift gate. " What do you think it is?" Asadelf asked as Ebon-shi spoke. " It can't be forsworn we haven't even entered the Reach yet." Lianya rushed over to the bottom level and ran to Ebon-shi. " Salazar says that he didn't get a reading so whatever it is is either undead, a daedra, or an automaton." The dark elf nodded as the front gate opened a group of vampires entered unaware that the group was lying in wait preparing they're anti-vampire tactic. Once the vampires were in the middle of the compound they stepped on a paralysis rune causing the vampire enemys to be rendered paralyzed save for a few who managed to resist the effects. Upon seeing this the group sprung their attack Lianya used Aurei-el's bow and fired a sun-hallowed arrow at the rising sun. The sun flashed as brilliant bursts of solar energy rained down upon the vampires while the group was in and around the mining camp had taken cover as the vampires were weakened and severely burned barely able to stand Yamma pulled the counterweight making the large wood gate close as Tully used the bloodskal blade and twirled the blade making the arcane sword release a vertical shockwave that both damaged and killed the ones that were able to resist the paralysis and the rest closed in and effectively killed the group of bloodsuckers that tried to kill them. Not willing to wait around for the vampire's reinforcements they mounted their horses and rode away from the mining camp that had served them well that evening. As they rode along the forest path soon hitting the actual road and passing by Fort Sungard they had to move at a slightly slower pace to compensate for Gentu's dwarven horse hauling the wagon of orcish armaments, they proceeded west along the narrow winding roads with a rapidly moving river on their right side they entered the Reach hold with Gila who was still recovering was in the center of the envoy behind the wagon and surrounded by her comrade's protection as Tully and Ebon-shi rode up ahead to take point upon seeing an Imperial patrol they took cover hiding behind rocks as Gentu made himself a less suspicious individual by pretending to be inspecting his wagon as soon the imperials passed by not even gaining the dwarven armored breton a second look the group proceeded they're way towards Markarth. After a half hour of riding, they came to a fork in the road a stone bridge on the right, and the path on they're left. Deciding to take the path on the left they moved forward passing an overturned wagon as they gripped their weapons in anticipation of an ambush from hostile enemies they soon crossed another stone bridge as they rode through a dwarven tower that could be seen from over the horizon on their left as well as a dirt path which Yamma rode up and gestured for the group to follow as he rode ahead the rest following behind with Tully moving back to occupy the opening on Gila's rear view as they rode up the path crossing another stone bridge as the dwarven tower came closer into view as Gentu started recognizing the place since he was in this area before as the dwarven ruin he met Katria in all those years ago was nearby here. As they rode up the hill they came face to face with a gigantic cave bear as the group halted about to find another way around before a well-shot bone arrow between the bear's eyes dropped the beast as Gila limped over and got her arrow back. "What's with the shocked looks? my ribs still hurt but I can still use my bow damnit." Gila said with a smirk as she walked back and climbed back on her horse after slinging the bear onto her horse. They made their way up to the orc's stronghold of Dushnikh Yal where on a watch post an orc sentry spoke in a demanding voice to the renegade group. " Halt outlanders, state your business at Dushnikh Yal." Yamma dismounted his horse and held the great warhammer Volendrung high above his head before speaking. " I am Yamma Skullcrusher, I am here to request a meeting with your chief and have brought a gift for his great stronghold." After five minutes three steel-armored orcs exited as the chief exited and approached Yamma, the chief was wearing steel armor and a steel Warhammer on his back as the two orcs stood a mere four feet apart from one another the chief orc spoke a low yet friendly tone. " Welcome to Dushnikh Yal my brother."