Daughter to Dragons- a Skyrim inspired fantasy

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"We're cancelling the trip tomorrow," Mikald said as he paced through the center of his bedchamber.

"Not a chance," I replied, firm and resolute. "We need this quest. We need to make a good impression on the Redguards if we stand a chance at uniting our lands."

"An assassin just tried to kill you!"

I waved my hand dismissively. "People try to kill me all the time." I turned away from him to hide the unease I knew I wore on my face. "They got a little closer this time, but they failed. I'm alive and we will know who hired them and how the managed to get in soon enough. Right now you need to focus on your priorities—securing an alliance with the Forebear Party."

"Your life is my priority," he said, his voice just above a whisper. He stopped his pacing with his back turned to me. His arm stretched up, finding balance against the wooden pillar of his four-poster bed. He sighed, leaning into his post. "You're right. We need to proceed business as usual to not arouse suspicion. We leave at dawn, just as we've planned."

I nodded approvingly. "Good. Serana says that she will get to work on our prisoner, use some of her vampire magic to crack him open. Besides, we will be safer on our journey than here apparently. Nobody outside of our two groups know about our mission."

"Do the Redguards know about the assassination attempt?"

I shook my head. "Unlikely. Only the three guards from the courtyard and the jail-master know about him outside of us. I made sure of that."

"But what if they were the ones who ordered the hit?"

I stiffened. The thought had briefly crossed my mind, but the likelihood of it being true was so negligible it bordered on impossible. I was too valuable to them, Amret had practically told me this himself. "The Thalmor," I said, turning to him. "It has to be one of their agents."

"But the assassin wasn't an elf," he said, perplexed.

"I've had... sources inform me that the Thalmor are potentially recruiting humans," I said tentatively. He spun on me, opening his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. "The intel is new and unverified. That's why I hadn't brought it to your attention yet."

He snapped his mouth shut and crossed his arms over his chest, glowering. "I don't like being kept in the dark, Amelsa."

"There was nothing you could do with the information until I had proof of its truth," I stated. "This is my domain, Mikald. I know what I'm doing."

The muscles of his jaw tensed as he ground his teeth. "You are the only person who would speak to me in such a way without fear of retribution."

My eyes narrowed and my nostrils flared. "I've been away too long then if you think candor is warrant of punishment."

A long, terse silence stretched between us. A knock at the door ended it abruptly and I was glad of it.

"Enter," Mikald barked. The door swung open revealing one of Mikald's elite accompanied by another guard, a woman.

The woman clicked her heels together and bowed deeply. "Your Grace. My Lady," she greeted to each of us respectively. "A message from Serana," she handed a folded note to the elite guard who then passed it to Mikald.

Mikald took it, turning his back to the guards as he opened it. He skimmed over it before handing it to me. "Thank you," he said to them. "Dismissed."

The pair saluted before exiting. I scanned the note once we were alone again. It was written in the Falmer script, only used between us when whatever message we are trying to convey is of the utmost importance. My decryption skills were a little rusty so it took a couple additional reads to gather all of what she was trying to say. It read: