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SPOILER INFO
This fanfic novel is largely based on the events that occurred in an actual game of Skyrim I played. Therefore, it's inevitably a spoiler.
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previous day
4-202-02-22 07:46
Uthgerd's House, Hviterun, Whiterun, Skyrim
At 8 to 8, I step out of the door or my house and find my followers duly waiting for me on the street. A look into Lydia and Jordis's eyes confirms that Valdimar did pass the test. I won't need to ask anything.
I now officially hire Valdimar as my active follower and let Jenassa go. I understand she plans on resting in the city for a day or two and then she'll travel to Winterhold to be with Nelacar. To tell you the truth, I feel very sad. I feel kind of lost without Jenassa. Let's hope our Hammerfell "adventure" won't last too long.
Last night, I was so absorbed chatting with Lucia that I couldn't be bothered to tell you about the deal I made with Carlotta and Ysolda. The deal is I'm leaving all the gear that I don't need with them and they will get rid of it for me over time, getting a generous share of the proceeds. Carlotta is an established trader, small-scale as she may be, and Ysolda has connections to the Khajiit caravans, and I can completely trust both of them. Ysolda, by the way, is still having a relationship of sorts with the bard Mikael. He keeps sleeping around and she's unhappy about it, but she still can't help loving him. That, and I just got distracted from the topic. Sorry. I meant to say I'm fed up with carrying all that junk around and searching for traders who can afford to buy it.
You may be wondering what I need so much money for anyway. The answer is: when this is all over, I'm going to divide up three quarters of my entire capital between all my current and past followers who are still alive, to each proportionally to the time she has served me. For instance, if I were to return to High Rock right now, Lydia and Jenassa would get more than 900 thousand septims each, Jordis would get almost half a million and Valdimar would get a little more than 36 thousand.
Apart from which, I'm certain my family back in High Rock can benefit from my quarter of the loot and put it to good use. But enough of this now. We need to get going. We've got Hammerfell to save, and potentially Skyrim.
After a little chat with my and Ysolda's friend the Khajiit trader Ri'saad in the southwestern suburb (he is more than delighted to participate in my business scheme and will surely know better than to try to rip me off), we run westwards.
A little way before the Big Northkeep Intersection, I notice a road leading uphill into the mountain range north of Lake Ilinalta. I decide to check it out.
There is a cave called Bloated Man's Grotto. It's completely unknown to all of us. Lydia is quite surprised she has never heard of it even though she's from this region. Well, it turns out to be one of those scenic caves with spriggans guarding it, as well as many bears.
We can't avoid killing a couple of bears, after which I order a hasty retreat. A pity as it may be, we don't belong here.
I ask Valdimar to walk down to the main road and wait for us. I can't control my curiosity any longer.
"What did he do?" I ask as soon as Valdimar's out of earshot.
The girls look briefly at each other and Lydia begins to tell. "He already had a hard-on when we got naked. First he made us lick it together, each from her side. Then he had Jordis suck while he was fondling me, the breasts mostly, and after some time we switched, and after some time we switched again, and so on."
"And who was the one who got lucky?"
"Well," says Lydia, "I was quite happy with him sucking on my tit and squeezing my buttock."
"Yeah, I got his load in my mouth," says Jordis. "But I don't mind."
"I know you don't," says Lydia.
Jordis slaps her upper arm and goes on: "When I'm alone with a man, I really enjoy it. With all his ecstasy focused on me, so to speak. To swallow sperm while the man is fondling another – that is not so great."
"Well, those decisions shall be out of our hands from now on," I say.
"I know. The suspense is already killing me."
"Me too," says Lydia. "Shall we?"
"Wait, what about the morning?"
"He had me sideways," Lydia explains, "with Jordis cuddling up with him from behind."
"Right, I caressed him with my hand and made fucking movements against his bum. Some men like it."
"I know," confirms Lydia. "They get a kick out of the knowledge you haven't got anything down there you could stick into them, so you can bounce all you want."
"Precisely."
I stand up. "Right, enough of the chatting. Let's go. No, I just remembered something! Give me two minutes with Valdimar, will you?"
I return to Valdimar alone and say:
"What I told you yesterday about embarrassment and lewd remarks also includes something that happens to women once a month."
"Laura."
"What?"
"I'm not as dumb you maybe think I am."
I stop and look at him, slightly surprised. "Okay. Good to know." I wave to the girls to follow and we start running.
That's the path up to the grotto we ascended a quarter of an hour ago.
"We won't lie to you about having menstruation just to piss you off," I feel I have to explain Valdimar at the last moment before the girls have caught up with us, "but when we do, we don't want you to comment on it in any way."
"Fine with me. And I'll give my best to not make your life too sweet on the other days."
I gasp with surprise. "Okay." Looks like he really has it in him.
We run westwards, through both Northkeep intersections and past Fort Unguard. The weather is basically nice and everything is peaceful along the road with the exception of a couple of patrols diligently looking for any troublemakers. Soon we can see the farms outside Granite Hall under the partially cloudy sky.
We go briefly into the town, just to ask the people if anything unusual has happened recently. Nothing has. So we move on westwards, pray at the roadside shrine of Dibella and then run uphill to the south.
[series of 2 pictures you can click through; click on the first picture to make it big, then press the right arrow to see the next picture etc.; press Esc to return to the text]
No road leads all the way to the Gate to Hammerfell, so finding a more or less direct path across the mountains is not very easy, but by half past 2 in the afternoon we're there.
Approximately ten meters from the gate stands a spriggan next to the corpses of an elk and a man. A fox is leisurely trotting away.
We washed ourselves with Spriggan Soap this morning (a precaution to keep at least the wild animals away while we might be heavily outnumbered by the enemies in Hammerfell), but this spriggan still attacks us, so we have no choice but to kill her. Seeing that, the fox returns and attacks us too. Normally, foxes don't attack humans, but evidently they come to the defense of spriggans, just like that elk did on that lake island near Dragonbridge a month ago.
"Now remember," I tell my followers, "our most important job on the other side of that gate is to stay alive. We're not going to actually fight this war. It's a job for the armies. We are here to evaluate the situation and bring information back to Skyrim. That'll be our second most important task. And only on the third place is the task of helping wherever we can. But we won't be there longer than absolutely necessary."
We go in. The weather gets sunny soon, even though some clouds remain in the sky. In the settlement of Dragonstar, there are five people this time. That includes Kartano whom we already know.
I ask him how to get in contact with the armed forces of Hammerfell. He replies there is no such thing.
I think I must have misheard. How is it possible that Hammerfell hasn't got an army?
Kartano explains that the government of Hammerfell broke down years ago. There's basically anarchy in the country. The Aldmeri Dominion controls the strategic points, but the large majority of the people live by their own rules as well as attack the Dominion forces at every opportunity. In fact, he tells us, they attack all foreigners, so we can expect hostility from everyone, High Elf and Redguard alike.
This is crazy. If there is no government, what did the Dominion attack? What's all the fuss about a new war? Who sent me the letter begging for help? And why are these five men in Dragonstar friendly towards us when the rest of the nation supposedly isn't?
Valdimar knows that the southern part of Hammerfell has been occupied by the Aldmeri Dominion ever since the Great War, but the central and northern part haven't. Probably the Dominion has decided to subdue the entire rebellious people of Hammerfell.
Whatever. Let's take a look around. We're not turning back just because one not very intelligent-looking dude tells us there's no point in us being here. Maybe Kartano has been misinformed. Maybe he is bullshitting us.
The other four men between the fortification walls don't tell us anything new. We exit by the gate. Beyond the patches of lush vegetation begins a region of steep sandy hills. Behind the second or third bend, we find ourselves facing at least ten enemies. In spite of our sneaking, they notice us and cast (mostly) fire magic at us. I take serious damage. What's worse, most of my arrows mysteriously miss the enemies who are perfectly visible and not moving much. Even those arrows that hit cause surprisingly little damage.
Those aren't soldiers, just a couple of wandering mages I've run into while trying to approach the main group from a different angle.
Busy enough healing myself and frantically shooting arrows at that black mass of enemies, I'm not getting around to keeping an eye on my followers. I soon realize it can't go on like this. I order retreat and we run all the way back to Dragonstar. As there seems to be only one gate, we take up positions where we can comfortably shoot at it. Strangely enough, we are not being pursued. I climb a hill near the defense wall, trying to take a look at the enemies over the wall, but the hill is not close enough to the wall. So I sneak out again, telling the others to follow cautiously and keep a decent distance from me. With a part of the enemies killed earlier, we now succeed in finishing off the rest.
However, I realize I can't expose my followers to this kind of danger. I just can't. I won't be able to fight efficiently with the worry about my followers' safety eating me up. Besides, we have no business taking on military units of this size in the first place. This is a task for a regular army, not a group of four adventurers.
Nevertheless, I want to take a little closer look. Ordering my followers to stay behind, I venture into that maze-like landscape of sandy hills.
I soon notice some village ruins – remains of several small wooden houses. There's another group of hostiles, mostly archers and footsoldiers this time.
The landscape is very uneven, which is why I can see only their heads most of the time. I have a clear view of a low hill maybe a hundred meters away. Down that hill is that village ruin. The enemies are not too keen on ascending the hill to engage me, so I sneak closer and shoot them dead a few at a time. I still can't understand why my arrows keep missing them so often. I have more than enough bow-shooting experience from a great variety of surroundings to be positive that this is not normal. It has to be some kind of magic that impedes bow shooting. However, thanks to the enemies' incomprehensible reluctance to come and charge at me all together, I eventually slaughter them little by little.
I loot the corpses and examine the ruined houses. There is nothing of interest, in particular nothing written. Among the killed hostiles are also a couple of Redguards, so apparently at least some of the locals are hostile to us – and possibly even allied with the Dominion forces.
A dragon?? That would really make my day! :-(
I have my followers stand watch on top of the highest hill overlooking the wooden house ruins, just in case someone should turn up unexpectedly and sneak up behind me. I'm basically ready to leave this madhouse, but I want to explore just a little more. I go to a different direction, between the village ruin and the gate to Skyrim. I surprise a few thalmors from the first group who have gotten lost looking for us between those gigantic sanddunes. They must have been deployed around here not so long ago, because they seem unfamiliar with the terrain. To tell you the truth, I'd better not venture too far either, with those small steep hills all around me indistinguishable from each other and no map.
After a while, I see what looks like a small town at a distance.
There are even more enemies there. I shoot a couple and then realize I'd better not try to invade that place, especially at this hour. The sun will set soon and I don't want to even think about fighting that black-robed horror at night.
I retreat to where I left my followers and we waste no time running to the border crossing. Luckily these thalmors aren't pursuing us either.
That's the gate to Skyrim. On the left is the town of Dragonstar.
It's getting dark. Having crossed to Skyrim, we go a little way away from that dead fox and I look at my followers. What do we make of it all?
Guess we'd better go to Granite Hall before it gets completely dark, suggests Valdimar.
Good idea. An inn room will be a much better place for an evening discussion than a mountain slope in the middle of nowhere. Although in this case we'll have to postpone war counsel for tomorrow morning, because I'm going to be with my boyfriend Mojarik.
At any rate, I think I know why the thalmors were reluctant to pursue us and thus deprived us of any chances of ambush. It looks like they had been ordered to defend certain strategic locations and repel any attackers, but not to chase after every rebel showing himself and thereby, well, risk getting ambushed, and possibly losing their way in that maze of sandhills.
We reach the river in halfway decent moonlight, and the main road that leads east has street lanterns every now and then, so there is no inconvenience at all, apart from an Argonian moron who attacks us just outside Granite Hall. In the town, I tell my followers they're in home mode, and hurry to the guard barracks. Mojarik is there and we go and take a room at the inn.
Physically speaking, this man is so amazing. He touches a sensitive spot somewhere inside me (all right, all right, I know exactly where, I just can't describe it to you) so that I'm climaxing in no time, and I keep moaning in one orgasm after another. I think he's even better than Gregor, even though I understand it's probably just that we happened to choose a position where our anatomies fit each other perfectly.
So, while from the physiological point of view, this was as perfect as could possibly be, the strange thing is that when we lie there embracing each other in the afterglow, I suddenly realize I don't feel anything for that man. I can't explain how, but being pressed against Mojarik's body doesn't give me a feeling of protectedness. I long to spend the night in the other room with Valdimar and the girls, but of course I can't offend Mojarik's feelings like this. All I can do is avoid talking, so we can go to sleep as soon as possible.
next awakening
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