War of the First Age

V: From the East

1A, 936Y

Bay of Ice, Winterhelm

Bazzridian and Jêss rode out of the scorching Eleneth into a familiar cooler climate, a large pine forest protected Winterhelm from the Eleneth's hot winds. Though the trees closest to the desert were browner than the others, they still stood protector over the winds. The rest of the forest was lush and green foliage was spread across the ground, ferns and grasses sprouted from the ground and attempted to overgrow the worn dirt path. Bazz took a swig from his water skin then handed it to Jêss who helped herself to the last of the water, as she was incredibly parched from the hot, dry winds of the desert. At a steady pace their horse trotted down the path into a clearing, directly in the middle clearing was a wooden gatehouse with a wall spreading as far as the eye could see on either side, one way down to the ocean and the other way it spread deeper into the forest. Guardsmen patrolled the wall and the gate, their crimson tabards blowing in the gentle wind, a white snowflake emblazed on them. At the gate was obviously a commander, a dwarf with a long, braided brown beard, his silver armour glistening warmly in the sunlight.

"Halt, be ye friendly or enemy Wizard and Miss?" the dwarf said. Bazz smiled and rode closer and the dwarf almost fell over, Jêss gave a little wave to the dwarf who was lost for words "My King, My Queen" he managed to say.

"Greetings" Bazz said cheerfully. The Dwarf bowed his head the opened the gate and the royal couple rode through, once they were through the gate Bazz pulled out a parchment of paper and wrote down a little note and passed it to the Dwarf. "First few pints for you and your men are on me, give that to the bartender, if he doesn't believe it he can come and talk to me" Bazz smiled again and rode off, Jêss waving goodbye calmly then wrapped her arms around Bazz again as they continued towards their city. Bazz shuddered a bit as a wisp of cold air cut through his robe, Jêss hugged Bazz tightly, trying to keep warm, their bodies not yet used to the cold air. The dirt path turned into a cobblestone road and soon the trees parted away and opened into a large bay, Bazz and Jêss looked down into it from their high spot. Ships were transporting goods and supplies into the city, workers worked hard on rebuilding walls and broken ships, smouldering masts and broken hulls of Blackveil ships sat uselessly in the middle of the bay, black sails and flags floated in the water, soldiers marched amongst the harbour, helping out with heavy work, merchant ships were paid for the amount of supplies they contributed to the Crown, no merchant was permitted to sell goods on the outside of the city after a battle for a month, to make sure they didn't get locked outside should another attack commence. Wooden frames were built around sections of wall which had been damaged, the most notable was the great hole near the Cathedral, workers brought more stone and materials up in an attempt to fix to shattered wall. Bazz and Jêss rode down into the harbour and entered the main gate and people flocked to see their King and Queen returned, a few off duty soldiers ran with their shields and created a barricade between the citizens and the pair, and escorted them throughout the several districts until they reached the castle. They stabled their horse and walked into the castle, as soon as the doors opened a messenger ran up to the pair and gave them a note.

Jêss read out the note to Bazz as they walked up the stairs.

"To His/Her Royal Majesty, King Bazzridian and Queen Jêssïcâ of Winterhelm.

The St. Alexander Cathedral has encountered a serious disease with no discernable cure, victims of the disease are acting feral and have rapid acceleration of what appears to be fur, their faces are slowing being dis-morphed each day, these victims have been put in the Military prison and are being assessed by trained priests and priestesses, it appears this disease did not come from Skyrule, but another Realm. The Wizards are attempting to help us but are unsuccessful with their alchemical experiments, Mages have begun doing visual research on the creatures and have discovered nothing other than it only spreads by a bite or a scratch from these creatures, and it takes less than half an hour to get the feral tendencies. If you have any questions or concerns, please come and talk to me.