Two Graves - The Song of Nephiah and Brelyna

Chapter 18: The Unliving

The horse was slowly trotting along, crossing the Great Plains of Whiterun. Brelyna was steering, Nephiah was sitting behind her, holding on tightly. She didn't look comfortable, focusing on keeping her balance and not falling off. Brelyna giggled. "You're so cute!" "Shh!", Nephiah replied. The horse took a short jump over a few rocks, she instantly tightened her embrace. "Ou ou ou! Tight Squeeze!" Brelyna yelled, unwillingly applying pressure to the horses back with a hand, making it turn around on the spot. Upon receiving Brelyna's notification, Nephiah instantly loosened her grip but the sudden turn made her lose balance. She fell off, a dull metallic crash sounded as she landed on her back. "Shhhhh, shhh." Brelyna stopped the horse's movement and looked down at her warrior who lay there, looking up at her in a way that said 'I told you so.' "So you want to walk then.", she giggled again. Nephiah got back to her feet, they continued on their way side by side.

"All right, so, the Vigilants of Stendarr.", Brelyna began explaining, "They think that worshipping Daedra is a bad thing. They believe this to a degree where they get violent towards any Daedra worshippers. People like, you know, us." "I don't worship anybody." "Well? All Right? People like me then." Nephiah looked up at her. "Azura is a Daedra. Most Dunmer pray to her, she has guided our people for a very long time. And the Vigilants think that only worshipping the Aedra is the right way. I find that funny because you can't even tell if they are real! Azura talks to people. Personally. Aedra only exist in text books. Oh! There it is." She pointed at a cave in the distance. "The barkeep in Rorikstead told me about the place, the locals call it Broken Fang Cave. Rumor has it, there's a couple of vampires living in there, like to steal people in the middle of the night." "Vampires." Nephiah's face darkened. "Yes, ever seen one?" Nephiah nodded slowly. They stopped, Brelyna got off the horse. "So the Vigilants are leading a campaign of war against them. I figured if we leave a couple of bodies at their hall after you're done doing, you know, what you do, nobody would look into it too long and maybe we can still show our face around the Dawnstar hold after."

Nephiah looked at her for a moment. She had obviously put a lot of thought into this. But it was an inconvenience at best. Nephiah didn't care about bounties or guards, she was prepared to take on anybody who would come to put her in chains. She almost wanted them to try. But Brelyna was trying to protect something. Their life after. Nephiah had never planned that far ahead, she only had her immediate goal in mind. But if Brelyna needed it to be this way, then she would do it. Wouldn't mind killing a few vampires in any case. She looked at the entrance.

"Wish I had a bow. Thin the herd from a distance." "The herd? There's a couple of them in there, maybe three. And they are really vulnerable to fire, I think we can manage." Brelyna held her right hand in front of her, palm up, and let a fire ball fly into the sky above them. Nephiah followed it with her eyes until she couldn't see it any more. Then she looked at her mage, then the cave entrance. She began to walk. As they were about to enter, they removed their backpacks and put them to the ground.

A dull impact noise sounded behind them, they turned around. A seagull had fallen from the sky, its white feathers smoldered by fire. Brelyna gasped. "Oh no!" She placed a hand over her mouth. "What were you even doing here, so far off the coast?!" Nephiah looked up, there were no other birds visible, the fire ball must have hit it really high up. She looked back at her mage. "Nice shot." She gave her a quick pat on the back and entered the cave. "I'm sorry!", Brelyna whispered towards the dead bird. Then she followed her warrior through the entrance, her shoulders hanging low.

After a short steep tunnel the cave opened up. The chanting they heard immediately after entering the cave got louder. A ramp along its wall led to the larger space below, another exit on the far end. The walls were lined with wooden coffins, human bones littered the floor. In its center a group of vampires stood in a circle, a man cowering in the middle. One of the vampires raised his hand and the large purple crystal he held in it. Nephiah stopped, hiding at the entrance. She counted ten opponents in the circle. She looked at Brelyna who was staring at the scene with big eyes. "Just a couple, huh.", she whispered. Brelyna didn't answer, just stared silently. Nephiah looked back to the group. "Wish I had a bow."