An Unexpected Rescue

Chapter 10- The Music of Life

The sun had risen over Skyrim, reflecting on the water and covering the ground. In Lakeview Manor, however, everything seemed to be left in the dark. The place had just been cleaned up after 'the incident' and the doors were locked tight. The residents, on the other hand, were left in shambles. Scouts-Many-Marshes was still trying to recover from his abduction while Forges-Many-Blades had changed completely. The Nightingale refused to leave Scouts alone and so never let Rayya accompany him anymore and left even more weapons hidden in the cabinets.
And just to ensure that nothing bad ever happened again, he prohibited Scouts from ever leaving the property, a rule that the former slave found appalling.

"Excuse me?", He had argued upon being told to never leave the manor. "Just because I get kidnapped one time, suddenly I can't go anywhere? Are you out of your mind?"
"This is for your own good," Forges had snapped, "I refuse to let anyone else harm you. That's final."

"You're being overprotective."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are! Keeping me in one place with your housecarl and not letting me go anywhere is being overprotective!"
"Well, I'm sorry if I care about you and your safety!", Forges yelled before leaving the manor for Falkreath, red and black clothes in hand. And for weeks, he didn't return home.

Scouts-Many-Marshes took the time alone to mull the situation over and contemplate the past. He knew now why Forges had taken him out of Windhelm: He didn't want Scouts-Many-Marshes to be slaughtered for a poor reason and hated Ulfric Stormcloak with every fiber of his being. Freeing Scouts was his way of telling Ulfric to take his stubborn Nord pride and stuff it up his backside.
A few years ago Scouts had been fragile, puny and covered head to toe with dirt and bruises. Now he had just enough weight and and the wounds no one else could find had almost entirely healed.
Forges-Many-Blades had courage and strength but his mind was easily fogged by rage and often held grudges. The incident with Rochelle was solid evidence of that.

Scouts decided that he wasn't going to listen to his husband. To Oblivion with that rule. He had the plan in place: He would grab a map of Skyrim to navigate through the province in case Forges had gotten a little too far.
When Rayya wasn't looking, Scouts would sneak out of the house and head out to Falkreath for himself. He had overhead conversations that Forges had with Rayya about a secret mercenary group that he refused to name. And that made Scouts curious.
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Night had fallen upon the Falkreath Hold. Rayya, tired from her daily routine, had went to bed. Meeko was asleep downstairs. Forges-Many-Blades still wasn't home. It was showtime.

Scouts peered out his bedroom door and looked around. No one was awake yet. Good.

Scouts crouched down and snuck towards the stairs, making sure he made as little noise as possible. When he decended to the main floor, he kept a good eye on Meeko to make sure that the dog didn't wake up and see him trying to escape the manor. With every step, Scouts grew closer and closer to the door until at last he could reach it. Scouts slowly open the door and peeked outside. No one. He stepped out of the house and carefully closed the door. Finally! Now to see what Forges was up to.
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"Well, he did say that he would be heading to the forest for a while.," The innkeeper responded when Scouts asked if she knew where Forges had gone. "Something about a meeting with mercenaries. Really far, nearest border. That's all he said."
"Thank you," Scouts replied, keeping a mental list of comebacks in case Forges tried to smooth talk his way out. "I'll take it from here."

As he left the Dead Man's Drink, he tried to think of any notable near Falkreath and the border, but couldn't. Nevertheless, Scouts knew that Forges had gone somewhere still close to town. He took out his map and examined it. To his surprise, there didn't seem to be any landmarks near Falkreath at all. The map showed only empty space between Falkreath and Skyrim's border. Perhaps there was something between the gap...