Two Graves - The Song of Nephiah and Brelyna

Chapter 12: Her Domain

"My life is over.", Brelyna said with desperation in her voice. They had been walking for a while, past Winterhold, past Windhelm and took a right turn at the thermo active plains of the Eastmarch. And slowly but surely, the reality of what just happened sunk in. "Over! Done! Past tense!" Nephiah's wound was still hurting. She kept a hand on it as they trotted along. Brelyna was in distress, rubbing her forehead with one hand as panic settled in. "I'm going to get expelled!" Nephiah looked at her, trying to understand. "There are strict rules against violence at the college! That's it! And even if it weren't, Neloth is not the kind who stops short of getting what he wants!" They began to cross a shallow river bed, ankle high water running through it. "What am I going to do?! How am I going to live?! I can't go back there and I can't go back home either!" She looked into the sky, the red of dawn was beginning to show on the horizon. Her mind was racing with options and courses of action, all of them bad. "Azura guide me..."

Nephiah was looking at the water surface as they crossed. Suddenly her hand shot down into the water and came back up, holding a fish. She presented it to Brelyna, holding it up to her face as it flapped about, giving off sprinkles of river water. "Dinner?", she said. Brelyna gave off a short laugh as she pushed the arm away to get some distance between the wet fish and her face. It seemed to be a very simple approach to a very complicated problem. She sighed. "I hope you have a place we can go." Nephiah threw the fish back into the water.

They moved up a hill, green grass, bushes and lush trees began to reappear. They continued to walk into the wilderness in silence, Brelyna was lost in thought. Eventually they reached a serene little pond which had a small island in its center. Still thinking, Brelyna automatically moved to go around it but her course was quickly changed by Nephiah who grabbed her hand and pulled her into the water. It wasn't deep, it reached waist height before they began to re-emerge on the island. Nephiah grabbed a bush and moved it to the side, revealing a wooden hatch. She opened it, a shaft led down into the darkness underground. She jumped in, ignoring the makeshift ladder attached to the shaft. Brelyna looked around and then down the hole. "So this is where you live?", she shouted down. No answer. A flash of light appeared at the bottom revealing Nephiah who had just lit a torch. It was a few meters deep. She looked up and signaled Brelyna to follow.

As Brelyna reached her - she used the ladder - Nephiah pulled a rope that was hanging down from above. The hatch closed and a brushing noise indicated that the bush had been placed back on top of it. Nephiah grabbed her hand again and began to lead her through a series of narrow tunnels. There was not enough space for two people to stand side by side. Occasionally she stopped and pointed at hidden triggers for traps to avoid. Contraptions of wooden spikes to shoot from out the ground and heavy rocks to fall from the ceiling were ready to greet any unwanted visitors. The tunnel was lined with plenty of them. Eventually they reached a dead end. Nephiah let go of her hand and grabbed a big iron lever that by the looks of it had been installed there a long time ago. As she flipped it, one could hear a mechanism work behind the rocky walls. A part of the wall began to move to the side, revealing a larger cave behind it. Nephiah entered, making another gesture to follow.

Brelyna carefully entered and looked around. This was her domain. There was a table with a chair and a simple wooden bed filled with animal furs. A torch flickered on the wall, giving off a faint light over the humble scene. Nephiah moved further in and held her torch to a large waist high chalice which flared up, illuminating the entire room. It was revealed to be much larger than the small torch at the entrance lead Brelyna to believe. She stopped moving and stared in awe. A corner of the wall harbored a chest filled with gems and jewellery, piles of gold coins to the left and right of it, there must have been thousands of them. Another corner contained stacks of books of all shapes and sizes, another had animal hides and furs piled into it. "Where did you get all this?", she asked not believing her eyes. "Around." Nephiah shrugged. "It's everywhere." "How long have you lived here?" She shrugged again and moved another lever. The door closed behind them.