Two Graves - The Song of Nephiah and Brelyna

Chapter 15: Guardian

"Now it's yours." Nephiah looked at the dagger with reverence. For as long as she could remember, her father had carried it. He pointed at the Dunmeri symbols that were engraved into its hilt. "Know what that means?" She looked back at him and slowly shook her head. He smiled at her and removed a drop of blood from her cheek with his thumb. "One of these days, little pup, if we find a way to keep you sitting still for five minutes, we ought to teach you to read."

"Reading is boring!", she said not pleased by the proposition. Her father laughed. "You are going to have to learn eventually." There was that frustrated look on her face again. He looked at her for a moment. "You have a fire within you, little pup. I don't know where you have gotten it, but there it is. And it burns fiercely for the people you care about." Nephiah looked at him with fascination. She knew the feeling he was describing yet hadn't had a way to name it. "It will always lead you to a place where you can do good, just like the Sarethi farm, just like today. It is the very essence of who you are. Listen to that fire, Nephiah, you will always know what to do."

A scream echoed through the woods. They instantly looked into the direction it was coming from. Nephiah recognized the voice, it was her mother's. They began to run. She had trouble keeping up, his wife's repeated screams calling him to her urgently. She was a few meters behind him when he got thrown back and landed on the ground in front of her. It was then she saw the arrow sticking out of his chest. She gasped. "Papa!" She ran over and dropped to her knees. She grabbed the arrow, he screamed in pain, she instantly let go, leaving traces of his blood on her hand. He looked up and spotted the three big shapes closing in. "Son of a bitch!", one of them yelled. "That was a good shot!" He looked at his daughter, panic in her eyes. "Little pup...", he said with his last breath, "...run..." Then his head fell back, he stopped moving. "No, papa, no..." She cried bitter tears of despair, shaking his lifeless body at the shoulder. And then she got pulled away.

Hjornskar held her up in front of him, she seemed even smaller in his big hands. "I don't see what's so valuable about this.", he said in his deep voice. Siegalf stopped in front of him and looked up at her as she struggled fruitlessly against the giant's grip. He shrugged. "I don't care. Look at this!" He held up a large coin purse and grinned. Frokwulf was standing a good deal apart from them. He threw his bow over his shoulder and looked at their prize. "So you are going to be the first." He watched her continued struggle. She must have realized she wouldn't be able to get out of there yet she persistently tried. "I like a challenge." Siegalf looked at him with skepticism. "You are a sick man, you know that, right?" Without responding, Frokwulf turned and left for the farm. Hjornskar, grabbing her by the ankles threw her over his shoulder and left as well. Her tear filled eyes locked onto the dead body that was her father a moment ago until she could see it no more.

She gave off a short scream as she awoke. Breathing heavily, she looked around. She was home, lying in her bed. She quickly got to her feet and looked around. All the torches were lit, nobody was there, just the quiet she was expecting from the place. She spotted her father's dagger lying on the table in front of her. She took a step forward, picked it up and looked at the artifact, heavy with memories of her past. She hadn't looked at it in years, kept it locked away in that chest.

One of the ropes that she had attached clam shells to began to rattle, she looked up to the door. This meant someone had triggered a trap in the corridor. She picked up the dagger and rushed to the door, placing herself next to it so she could surprise anyone who might step through. A deep rumbling on the other side of it indicated another trap had been set off. She heard the switch and the door mechanism, she reaffirmed the grip on the dagger, getting ready to strike.

As the door opened and she saw the first sign of someone stepping through she turned, ready to find a neck to put the dagger to. Terror drove down her spine like a lightning bolt as she realized who it was, stepping through the door. She stumbled backwards, fell on her back and instantly began pushing herself away. "SLAVE!", his voice echoed through the cave, all the wall torches lit up brightly, doubling the height of their flames. Nephiah's breathing got loud as panic took hold in her, the world around her slowing down. She hit a wall behind her and froze, looking up at him slowly stepping towards her. There was a black patch over his left eye, otherwise he hadn't changed one bit.