The Ebony Renegades (Skyrim)

chapter sixty two

At first light after Ebon-shi, Gila, Tully, Serana, Sabrina, Myra, Gentu, and Lianya mounted there steeds and rode off towards Forelhost before they left Ebon-shi took the painkiller that Sabrina had made for him as he led the way on Arvak. Before they arrived at the monastery they passed a courier who was heading in the direction of Fort dawnguard which Myra handed him a letter to deliver to Vladbram and Bowen which The courier nodded and went on his way as the group went up to the monastery of Forelhost getting there first and setting up to await their guests. Gila had set out a blanket to have a bit of a picnic setup while Tully and Serana cleared out the inside area making sure there were no hidden surprises laying in wait. Ebon-shi sat down by the blanket as Gila set out the food and fruit juice that she prepared. Meanwhile Myra, Sabrina, Gentu, and Lianya scouted out the outside. After not finding anything the entirety of the group reassembled out in the front courtyard of the monastery and awaited there soon to be guests. About a half hour later the sound of crunching snow caught their attention as the two approached. "Bowen, Vladbram you made it I trust you weren't followed?" Lianya asked with a smile as the vampire Hunter and vigilant shook their heads as Lianya and Gentu the led the two over to the rest of the group as Tully and Serana exited the monastery after confirming that it was cleared out. The two members approached to the others before sitting down around the picnic blanket. "You must be Bowen and Vladbram it's a pleasure to meet the two of you, I thank you for watching my friends back yesterday I'm Ebon-shi." Ebon-shi said offering a hand to shake which they both returned. "It was no problem, I must confess that they saved us more than anything we couldn't have thought off the Thalmor yesterday without them." Bowen said humbly before crossing his hands in front of him "I agree, even though they didn't have to when we saw the explosion from the fort yesterday they didn't have to come back with us to help but they did, but it became obvious by my performance yesterday that I have lots to learn, and my father believes that traveling with you will broaden my horizons so I humbly request to join your ranks." Vladbram said as the two sat down as Gila passed them a plate of horker jerky and some juice. "Excuse me but I hope you don't mind me asking, why did you ask us to meet you all the way up here?" Bowen asked setting his hammer to the side and respectfully took a peice of horker jerky and ate it. " Well due to your respective jobs we wanted you aware of the members who is a werewolf and vampires." Ebon-shi said calmly as both of the members tensed looking up at them. "There's a werewolf and a vampire in your group?" Bowen asked hesitantly as Vladbram locked onto Tully and Serana reaching for his crossbow. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, I understand because of your respective jobs but it would be very wise of you to stay your hand." Lianya said as Vladbram's hand shook over the handle of his crossbow as he stared up at Tully and Serana. "Vladbram, I believe this is why they wanted us to meet them first, this way we wouldn't be surprised when we met them later." Bowen realized and spoke as Vladbram's hand continued trembling over his crossbow. "That is correct, this way you could get to know them first as people rather than vampire and lycanthrope." Myra said walking up behind Bowen and slightly smacking him upside the head as the vigilant looked up before his eyes widened seeing a familiar face. "Myra? Is that you?" Bowen asked in response Myra nodded before sitting down next to Tully who was currently sitting down cross legged with Serana leaning on him. "You know her Bowen?" Vladbram asked not taking his eyes off of Tully and Serana. "Indeed me and her were once part of the same unit for the vigilant, we were on a job and I accidentally threw my hammer at her." Bowen admitted lightly rubbing the back of his head as he took another bite of his horker jerky. "Now if you wouldn't mind I would like to know more about you too, if you are going to join up with us we would like to know more about you, your past, your preferences, just random things." Ebon-shi said while keeping his hands neatly folded on his lap seeing the two have calmed down a little bit. "I'll go first, well my childhood wasn't anything Grand, I was born into the life of a vigilant of Stendarr by both my mother and father my father was a vigilant enforcer and my mother was a vigilant healer. I was five years old when I lost them there was a rockside that they were trapped in and the vigilant were too late to dig them out they suffocated, but before they died they left a note for me. It told me to protect those who couldn't protect themselves to show the mercy of stendar to all those who needed it and show no mercy to those who cause suffering like the Thalmor." Bowen said looking the dark elf in the eye with a gentle smile. "The armor I'm wearing now was actually my fathers." Bowen continued with a small smile lightly caressing an ebony mace on his hip that belonged to his mother. "I continued training with the vigilant for a long time in order to follow in my parents footsteps I looked up too Myra as a big sister that I never had and me and her train together for a while. Soon enough when I reached the age of eighteen I found myself in possession of Stendarr's legendary hammer, I was beyond honored to have been bestowed such a incredible item so I did my best to make my parents proud Myra left about a week later. After an assignment up in the reach when I returned to the hall of the vigilant I found it destroyed and we never knew the culprit the people who trained me along with the people who raised me were all gone." Bowen spoke as he drank some of the juice and gently said it to the side. "I joined up with Isran for a while and me Vladbram hit it off and we decided to be partners regarding our respective jobs and we've been working together ever since." Bowen explained as his associate silently nodded keeping his eyes unmoving from Tully and Serana. "That's such a noble thing to aspire to do, I am sure your parents would be proud." Lianya said with a pleasant smile as Bowen gave a respectful bow of the head grateful for their kind words. "What about you Vladbram, what's your story?" Ebon-shi asked as the young redguard vampire hunter took a deep breath before sighing finally releasing his grip on the crossbow and took a bite of his own horker jerky. "My mother was killed by vampires when I was just a boy, growing up I only had my father Isran while he was busy putting his fort together I was in cyrodill training with the legion for a little while my father was friends with a instructor there and managed to get me into a beginners class. The training was gruesome and draining but I could easily see the improvement I was making, I made a request to the instructor on my first day, don't let me stop, don't let me rest, and push me as hard as you can." Vladbram said looking up at the dunmer whose face was stoic but his eyes were closed but he was distinctly listening with a clear head before opening his eyes and nodding signaling for him to continue. "Really the only classes I excelled with was shield and heavy armor classes, to me the imperial swords felt too light meanwhile they didn't have standard two-handed weapons like I would have preferred so after I learned as much as I could I requested the instructor train me with two handed hammer techniques as well as one-handed axe techniques accompanied with a shield. Long story short he quickly took me under his wing and taught me how to maneuver a hammer with the efficiency of a halberd by using the weight of the head together momentum behind my strikes." Vladbram said taking a drink of juice and setting it to the side. "I returned to Fort dawnguard about the same time as Bowen joined up and like he said we hit it off and we have been working together ever since but the entire time and my entire life the only thing that kept me going with my hatred for the vampires who slaughtered my mother. As far as I was concerned the only good vampire is a dead one." Vladbram said not turning his gaze away from Tully and Serana as the two simply continue leaning on each other and listening to their stories however they both had sympathetic looks feeling bad for what Vladbram and Bowen went through. "I'm sorry to hear that, but assuming all of one species are bad is simply wrong, no one is born good or evil for example, my lover who is an altmer is a former Thalmor but she turned her back on them and joined up with us." Ebon-shi said as Bowen smiles finding comfort hearing the leader of such a renowned group believing the very same as him. "Did you lose someone you cared for to a vampire?" Vladbram challenged as Ebon-shi shook his head. "No, but I did lose both my parents to separate events that had nothing to do with either the dominion or vampires, my father was a Morag tong assassin and my mother was a priestess of Azura. My father was killed in the line of duty, and my mother was involved in an accident, my sister on the other hand she joined up with a cult worshiping the tribunal even though me and her have different religious orientations I still consider her my sister." Ebon-shi explained with a gentle smile as Vladbram removed his helmet revealing the face of a redguard who had a scar on his left cheek. "You're saying that despite your lover being formally with your enemy the dominion, you still put your trust in her despite the possibility of her being a spy to lead you into a trap?" Vladbram asked curiously as Sabrina spoke up with her arms crossed. "Everybody in the group puts our trust in each other, that is the source of our strength has nothing to do with the artifacts we wield for our individual training, it's the trust that we have in each other that makes us such a formidable force." Sabrina said sitting down her cup of juice. "So what do the two of you say are you going to join us?" Ebon-shi asked with his arms crossed as both Bowen and Vladbram looked at each other before giving each other a smile and a nod. "Yes we will join you, it will take a while for us to get used to being around two vampires and a werewolf but we will get used to it." Bowen said as Vladbram nodded placing his helmet back on as Gila started packing up the picnic after everyone was done eating. Once the group was ready with their two new recruits they walked to their rides Bowen hitching a ride with Myra and Vladbram hitching a ride with Gentu. Once everything was set the group turned and made their way down towards Riften to sell off the elven and glass weapons and armor along with the potions to the khajiit caravan that they passed on their way through on their way up to Forelhost. Riding their way down to the Riften stables writing down passing the goldenglow estate run by a wood elf and surrounded by mercenaries acting as bodyguards for the honey farm. As they entered the Riften City after dismounting their horses and reindeer first thing they did was buy Bowen and Vladbram their own horses. While Sabrina and Myra sold off some of the smaller items specifically the potions to the khajiit caravan just outside of the Riften stables. The leader of the khajiit caravan bought up the entire supply gratefully while they traded. After they were done with the training Myra, Sabrina, Bowen, Vladbram, Lianya, and Ebon-shi entered Riften to sell off the weapons and armor while Gentu, Tully, Serana, and Gila stayed out by the stables to keep an eye on the horses and reindeer. Upon entering Riften the first thing they saw was a couple black briar mercenaries beating on a local homeless man shouting something about daring to oppose Maven Black-briar which Bowen wasted no time walking over and shoving them away from the homeless man. "Why don't you pick on someone who can actually fight back you spineless cowards."