#belrand

Mhari gave Amalthea a firm pat before settling into her saddle, Belrand doing the same. As the sun started to peek over the mountains beyond, dressing the valleys with the first glows of morning light, they made their way across the magnificent Dragon Bridge, following the southern path among the towering pines.

"We'll stop to rest once we're farther south down the river, just shy of the half-way point," Mhari called behind her shoulder to Belrand, who gave a quick word of understanding.

The sky had begun to darken, and the stars began to speckle the sky as Mhari and Belrand approached a small stone bridge extending over a small branch of the Karth River. Mhari knew they were nearing the half-way point, but as they continued along the path, she noticed Amalthea growing steadily anxious, her ears perked up in high alert.

"Hold up!" Mhari signaled to Belrand.

"What is it?"

"Something's off," Mhari muttered under her breath, her eyes scanning their surroundings for anything out of the ordinary. "Keep your eyes peeled."

Belrand nodded and drew his sword, readying his other hand with the orange glow of a spell as he dismounted. Mhari followed suit, knocking an arrow in the string of her bow, the two horses following uneasily behind them. As they walked cautiously across the bridge, they noticed a wooden wagon at the side of the road. Mhari jogged closer before stopping in her tracks. The cart appeared to have been ransacked, any of the remaining contents strewn across the dirt. The horse that had been pulling the cart lay dead on it's side, three arrows protruding from it's neck. A Nord man in farmer's clothing was crumbled near the front of the cart, and a Redguard woman had seemingly been flung or dragged a few feet away; both bodies had been badly maimed.

"Gods..." Mhari gasped.

"This is a common sight on the roads of Skyrim these days," Belrand stated gravely, bowing his head. "With the guards and soldiers occupied with the war, the bandits may as well be running unchecked."

"I wonder who they were." Mhari frowned. The faces of the bodies were maimed badly enough that she could not make out any distinctive features.

"This is a merchant's cart; that much is clear. But beyond that, I'm afraid I couldn't tell you."

"Poor things," Mhari sighed, kneeling beside each body, whispering a quick prayer in respect.

"Look over there," Belrand pointed further inland to a small camp by the creek. "Perhaps these two had more travelling Companions; we should warn them that they may be in the presence of bandits. I'd hate to see this happen to somebody else."

Mhari and Belrand led their horses to the camp, but upon arriving, they found no one. Mhari investigated her surroundings while Belrand kept an eye out. The campfire that had been made was only mere embers, now. There were two leather and hide tents pitched side-by-side, with unused bedrolls tucked neatly within them. Mhari noticed a brown leather journal open near one of the tents and decided to read the latest entry.

"They're adventurers, from the looks of it. It says here they were investigating the attacks on the merchant wagons in the area, but..." Mhari continued to read, feeling her stomach drop at the remainder of the entry. "These people seem to doubt it was a mere bandit attack."

"Then what, I wonder," Belrand's expression grew grim as he, too, appeared to be uneasy at the notion. "Does it say anything else?"

"Says here they headed up the trail to investigate a cave nearby called Chillwind Depths, but..." Mhari set the journal down, looking at Belrand with concern. "They left here at dawn, and if they're not back, yet..."

"They may be in trouble," Belrand finished her thought, frowning as he folded his arms. "It would be wise for us to make camp for the night, but I don't know how well I'll sleep knowing that whatever slaughtered those merchants may still be nearby."

Mhari looked up the path that the adventurer had described in his journal and rose to her feet with a deep breath. "Then let's get this over with."

"Are you certain?" Belrand approached her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's normal to be scared, you know."

"Scared? I'm terrified!" Mhari's eyes met his, her face pale with fear. She steeled herself within a moment and took a deep breath before she continued. "But according to our map, we're liking miles away from any guards, and I wouldn't feel right just moving on if there's even a shred of a chance that these adventurers are still alive and waiting for help."

"Good on you, then," Belrand nodded in respect. He turned from her and faced the embers of the campfire, dusting the ashes into the palms of his hands. "It's not much, but I think we could use a little something to bolster our numbers just in case."

"What are you doing?" Mhari cocked her head in confusion as she watched Belrand summon his magic; her eyes widened with wonder and her jaw dropped.

The embers of the campire rose into the air and started to swirl in front of Belrand like golden torchbugs caught in a whirlwind; each ember popped, bursting into several more sparks, growing more and more numerous before they crashed back into the ashes with a blaze of magical flame and a bright flash of light. Mhari squinted for a moment, allowing her eyes to readjust when she gasped in delight. Where the ashes had been now stood a large flame in the shape of a dire wolf.

"That was incredible!" Mhari exclaimed, regarding the creature with amazement. "How did you do that?!"

"It's a conjuring spell," Belrand chuckled, dusting the ash from his hands as he rose to his feet. "Allows me to summon my wolf familiar."

"I've never seen a conjuring spell quite like that," Mhari watched as the wolf regarded Belrand obediently, waiting for instruction. "Can you teach me how to do that?"

"I think we have more pressing matters at hand?" Belrand chuckled, raising an eyebrow at Mhari, who sheepishly cleared her throat.

"You're right, sorry," she sighed. "But I want to come back to this when we get back."

"If we get back," Belrand joked sardonically.

Mhari and Belrand began to make their way up the path, Belrand's familiar a few meters ahead. Within minutes, they found themselves at the entrance of the cave.

"This must be it, then," Mhari whispered. "Chillwind Depths."

The area surrounding the cave was entirely silent. The air was cold and damp, and around the entrance of the cave were various patches of mushrooms and somewhat fresh footprints that Mhari assumed to belong to the adventurers from the camp.

"I'll take the lead," Belrand suggested in a hushed voice. "Stay behind me, and keep your bow drawn and ready. My familiar will trail behind us in case anything tries to come up from behind. Are you ready?"

"No, but let's get started."

Mhari followed Belran into the damp, darkness of the cave. The light emitting from Belrand's familiar allowed them to see a few feet around them; the stone walls of the cave were slicked with water, luminescent mushrooms grew from the walls, giving the interior of the cave an eerie green glow that made Mhari's stomach churn. Immediately, she could feel that she and Belrand were in danger from the moment they set food beyond the maw of Chillwind Depths.

"Step quiet as you can," Belrand whispered. "Who knows what we'll find in here."

The cave floors were partially-flooded, as Belrand and Mhari waded through cold, knee-deep water. Mhari shivered as they continued as silently as possible, already looking forward to a warm fire and a cozy bedroll. She couldn't help but envy Belrand's familiar, who simply walked on the water's surface effortlessly. They rounded the first corner of a narrow tunnel to see a long stretch of the cave adorned with a smattering of silky cobwebs.

"Wait, what's that?" Mhari spoke hopefully, seeing the silhouette of a figure sitting slumped in a chair on a dry patch of stone in the cave wall just beyond the corridor. Belrand attempted to stop her from rushing ahead, but she had already tread forward to investigate, but halted when she realized that the figure was slumped in the chair with his neck snapped and massive gashes and fatal wounds etched throughout his torso. "Dammit. We're too late."

"That only account for one of the adventurers," Belrand stated calmly. "The other may still be in here somewhere. Do you want to keep going, or are you ready to turn back?"

"No, we can't turn back now."

"Alright, then. Let's keep moving." Belrand continued to wade through the water, the corridor growing darker and darker with every step they took.

To their great discomfort, the cavern grew smaller and more compact as they proceeded onward, both Mhari and Belrand crouching down to fit through the tight openings of the passage. Just as the passages seemed to be getting too small for Belrand to squeeze through, they emerged into a large, open area with large naturally-formed stone columns and stalagmites hanging from the ceiling. The entire room was covered in cobwebs.

Mhari had to stifle a scream as she tripped over what she thought was a large stone, only to realize it had been a petrified human body, bound in layers of silky webbing. She covered her mouth in terror, but the sound of her falling backward into the dust and rocks echoed throughout the walls of the room, alerting what slumbered in the shadows. The sound of insect-like chattering began to reverberate throughout the room, making Mhari's skin crawl.

"Here they come!" Belrand readied his sword and shield, dropping into a defensive stance as he scanned the inky blackness for any signs of movement. "Get ready to defend yourself!"

Mhari gasped and knocked an arrow as Belrand's familiar crouched into an aggressive position. From the ceiling, two spiders the size of Belrand's familiar dropped to the ground. Both spiders were blood-red in colour with eight massive legs, inky black eyes, and gargantuan mandibles. Before Mhari could react, one of the spiders spat a stream of webbing towards Belrand, who managed to raise his shield in time to save himself. The wood of his shield bubbled and sizzled slightly at the contact of the webbing.

"Be careful!" he barked. "Those webs are like acid! Don't let them touch you!"

"Shit!" Mhari hissed. She crouched and took aim at the spider closest to Belrand and let an arrow fly, striking it clean in the abdomen, causing it to let out a shriek that made Mhari's skin crawl.

"Good shot!" Belrand flashed Mhari an exhilarated smile before lifting his blade and piercing the spider in the head, silencing it immediately.

Belrand's familiar rushed forward and engulfed the other in flame, simultaneously searing and tearing the spider apart, turning it to nothing but ooze and ash. Once the dust settled, Mhari could swear his familiar had gotten slighter smaller in size.

"Belrand, your familiar..." Mhari frowned, watching the fiery wolf trot to his side.

"Ah, yes." Belrand warmed his hands over the flames of his familiar. "It doesn't last forever, I'm afraid. Every attack, every use of that fire magic, will cause the spell to weaken and eventually dissipate. Not unlike an elemental atronach. Technically, my familiar is conjured using a very similar spell to that of a flame atronach."

"I have so many questions." Mhari joined her companion, warming her hands as well, grateful for the chance to breathe. "But I suppose we should keep moving."

Mhari and Belrand stepped lightly through the darkness of the cave. Their only light emanating from the lapping flames of Belrand's familiar, and the occasional patch of glowing mushrooms protruding from the dampness, dirt and water-slicked stone.

"How deep is this cave, I wonder," Mhari whispered, her nimble hands gripping her bow in unease.

"It's hard to say." Belrand turned to face her with a heady sigh. "Skyrim's home to all kinds of caves and caverns. Some take days to explore."

"It feels like we've been in here for days..." Mhari frowned, feeling the tension in her bones as she let out a shiver at the chill in the air.

"Only a few hours," Belran chuckled. "We've come this far; no point in going back-"

Belrand let out an anguished grunt of pain as Mhari watched in shock and pure fear; an arrow fashioned of grey chitin with a wickedly-forked tip soared out from the darkness beyond and pierced her companion through the arm. As he dropped to a knee, his hand clasped around the arrow with a curse and a hiss, Mhari knocked an arrow, aiming toward the passage where the arrow had come from, as Belrand's familiar rushed forward, banishing the shadows with a roar of flame, revealing what waited within.

A pale-white, hairless humanoid figure with long, pointed elf-like ears and abnormally-long limbs stood illuminated by the fire; Mhari gawked at the sight. The creature had long slits in the center of it's face that clearly served as it's nose; where Mhari expected to see eyes, she could only see what appeared to be wrinkled scar-tissue. The creature wore little more than a hide loincloth and bracers fashioned from chitin and steel. It let out a feral hiss as it aimed it's own bow at Mhari, paying no heed to Belrand's familiar. Mhari let out a sharp gasp when the arrow narrowly missed her head, ricocheting off the rock wall behind her. She loosed her arrow and struck the creature in the neck. It gurgled and clawed at the arrow for a second before it fell to the ground, letting out a long-winded dying sigh. Belrand cussed as he pulled the arrow from his arm, rising to his feet once more.

"Here," Mhari held out a hand, her palm facing Belrand. "I don't have much by the way of magical ability, but I do know a basic healing spell."

"Save your magic and energy, Freysri," Belrand held up his hand and shook his head. "This is not a mortal injury. We can treat it once we return to the camp."

"What was that thing?" Mhari approached the body of the creature she had slain, her stomach in knots.

"It's a Falmer. Used be called 'Snow Elves,' but that was back before they devolved into the monstrosity you see here." Beland poked the dead Falmer's leg with his toe. "But that's a long history best saved for sitting around a campfire. All you need to know is that they're blind, but their sense of hearing, their sense of smell, are heightened."

"They don't need to see us to be able to kill us, you mean."

"Precisely." Belrand gave Mhari a nod. "We're bound to run into more trouble. Falmer are rarely found on their own. Keep your guard up."

Onward, Mhari and Belrand trekked into the darkness, the sound of a breeze echoing throughout the cave. I can hear the sound of wind; we must be nearly through to the other side. Mhari thought to herself in relief. They finally came to a small, but open room, half-submerged in ice cold water, with a large dirt mount raised in the center. Upon the mound was a pile of bones, bloody rags, and the body of another adventurer, practically torn to pieces.

"Dammit." Mhari let out a cuss of frustration. "We're too late for this one, too."

"That's likely the last of them," Belrand frowned. "Judging by the number of bedrolls at the camp. At least now we know what happened to them."

The sound of a guttural hiss reverberated throughout the walls of the room, snapping Mhari and Belrand to attention as they drew their weapons, Belrand's wolf bristling with a threatening crackle.

"More Falmer..." Mhari's eyes scanned the darkness for movement. "Where are they?"

They were silent for a moment when the pale figure emerged from around the corner across the room, brandishing a spiked club of steel and chitin, as it let out a gut-wrenching snarl. Mhari let loose an arrow, piercing it in the forearm, but this only seemed to anger the Falmer further as it barely flinched, hobbling at her at full-speed. Mhari staggered back, shakingly attempting to knock her next arrow, fumbling as her foe began to quickly close the dostance between them. Belrand's wolf leaped forward and engulfed the Falmer in a magnificent burst of flames, leaving nothing but a pile of ashes. As the light of Belrand's wolf faded, it too, was nowhere to be seen.

Two more Falmer barreled around the corner. Belrand charged and impaled the Falmer in the chest with his sword. The Falmer let out a mixture of a hiss and a roar as it grasped the blade of Belrand's sword, breathing it's last before slumping over. Belrand placed his boot firmly on it's stomach, kicking it to the ground, and whirling around to slice the head clean off the second's shoulders as it attempted to rush him from behind. The cave was silent once more. He wiped the burgundy blood from his blade and let out a sigh of exhaustion as he peered around the corner where the Falmer had come from.

"The way out's right over here," he said at last, motioning for Mhari to follow him. "That should be the last of them."

Mhari and Belrand emerged from the darkness of the cave and into the chilly Skyrim air, simultaneously sighing in relief as they trudged down the path to the adventurer's camp.

"Well, that was a bust," Mhari slumped down at the mouth of one of the tents with a resigned groan.

"Not entirely." Belrand cast a flame spell on the empty firepit, producing a small fire in it's core before tossing a small leather satchel to Mhari. "I took the liberty of throwing some souvenirs in here for us."

Mhari reached in the satchel, expecting perhaps a handful of various mushrooms but nearly shrieked when she pulled out a long, pale pointed ear, still dripping with Falmer blood. Belrand burst out laughing at her reaction.

"Falmer ears are useful alchemical ingredients, Freysri," he chuckled. "When prepared properly, these can help increase your resistance to many poisons."

"Gross." Mhari dropped the ear back into the satchel with a scrunch of her nose. "Useful, but gross."

"You don't have much experience with alchemy, do you?"

"Well, I have some experience." Mhari looked away sheepishly, feeling foolish at her reaction to the Falmer ear. "But I'm used to using other things. Plants, fish, antlers, insects, animal bones; that sort of thing."

"Don't be afraid to expand your resources," Belrand instructed. "You can't always afford to be picky; sometimes you just need to use what you have available."

Mhari nodded in response. "I know, you're right. I guess it just takes some getting used to."

"Oh, now that we're not in that horrible cave," Belrand began, pointing to the puncture wound in his arm with a wince. "Would you mind patching this up?"

"Gladly." Mhari rose to her feet and placed her hands over the wound. "I thought you knew how to cast your own spells."

"I do," Belrand began. "But most folks that practice magic have very specific areas of expertise. Healing is a part of the restoration branch of magic; my area of expertise is in conjurations and destruction, more specifically, fire and light."

"Are you able to cast any other elemental spells?" Mhari rubbed her palms together, generating some heat so that her skin wouldn't be so cold to the touch.

"Technically, I can cast basic lightning and ice spells, but the more you hone your focus on one element, the more powerful those elemental spells become." Belrand winced as Mhari first placed her hands on his wound. "There comes a time where you need to choose; balanced skills in all three elements, or mastering the skills of one in particular."

"I really do have so much to learn." Mhari summoned her magic, her hands filling with golden light. "I only know a couple basic spells."

"I'll tell you what." Belrand watched at his wound closed before his eyes as Mhari's magic wrapped around his arm, fading along with any soreness he'd been feeling. "You teach me how to cast a basic healing spell, and I'll give you some pointers on fire-based conjuration spells."

"Really?!" Mhari perked up at the offer, imagining being able to summon her own familiar. "Gladly!"

"Good! Enthusiasm; I like it." Belrand laughed at Mhari's energetic reaction, giving him arm a stretch, glad that the soreness of his wound had dulled so significantly. "So, how does one start with learning a basic restoration spell?"

"With this!" Mhari chimed, digging into her bag. To Belrand's confusion, she plopped a dead salmon onto the ground before taking a seat in front of it, motioning for Belrand to sit across from her; he hesitantly obliged, waiting for her to explain. "I know what you're thinking, but really, this is the best way to hone your healing skills!"

Mhari used her steel dagger to make a small laceration on the side of the salmon.

"Your spell won't bring the salmon back to life, but this is a great way to practice the fundamentals without causing harm to something that's already alive - or to yourself." Mhari held her hands over the laceration and summoned her magic in the palms of her hands. "You need to focus on what it is you're trying to mend. Bone, tissue, flesh - even scar tissue. Your spell isn't just creating these things out of thin air. What you're actually doing is speeding up the healing process that the body goes through naturally on it's own so that, instead of waiting for weeks, or even months for a bone to heal, you can speed things along and regrow the bone in minutes, or even seconds if you're an expert."

Mhari allowed her magic to seep into the laceration, trying to cast her spell as slowly and carefully as possible. Belrand watched as the tissue of the fish started to regenerate, layer after layer, until the salmon looked as it had before Mhari had taken her blade to it. She made another cut into the salmon and motioned for him to attempt the spell.

"I see." Belrand nodded in understanding, summoning his magic with ease. To his dismay, however, the magic simply surrounded the salmon, causing it to glow, but the wound remained. "Hm. What am I doing wrong?"

"You need to focus on the specific area of the wound," Mhari explained. "Otherwise, your area of effect spreads around your subject, causing it to scatter and dissipate. I think you may be trying to cast your restoration spell similarly to how you case a flame spell; flames tend to engulf and surround the target. Try to imagine that your magic is more like water; allow it to flow into the wound instead of around it."

Belrand followed her instruction and let out a grin as he watched the fish slowly, but surely, healing in layers as it had done for Mhari.

"Perfect!" Mhari cheered. "Keep practicing on things like fish and maybe even insects, and you'll be patching up your own wounds in no time."

Mhari let out an involuntary yawn, stretching her arms up to the sky.

"That may be the end of the lesson, eh?" Belrand chuckled. "That may have been the biggest yawn I've ever seen."

"No, no!" Mhari attempted to look as awake and alert as possible, but to no avail. "I want to learn how to summon a flame-based familiar far more than I want to sleep."

"First thing tomorrow, I'll be happy to show you." Belrand had clearly made up his mind, and Mhari was far too exhausted to protest further. "I'll take the first watch."

Mhari flopped over into her bedroll with a defiant grumble, but within seconds, she was fast asleep. Belrand settled in place by the fire and practiced his new skill on the salmon. May as well let her sleep for a few hours. That kid pushed herself a bit too far today.

~To Be Continued...

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Note From the Author: Thank you again for reading the latest chapter of Songstress of Skyrim! If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider following this story and dropping a review below. I'd love to hear what my readers think; what their favourite parts were, what they'd like to see more of, etc. If I receive any questions, I am happy to either answer them via private message, or even as a short QA section in the next chapter. I hope to see you in the next chapter, dear reader.

The Redguard stood nervously fiddling with his scarred hands a few feet away from Belrand, seemingly unwilling to be the first one to speak. Belrand raised an eyebrow. “Speak, Redguard,” he said, before downing the rest of his mead to give the small man time to sum up his courage.

Sure enough, the man finally spoke. “I…I need a bodyguard.”

“Kinda figured that,” Belrand responded. “Do you have the coin?”

“I…I do…” the man said hesitantly. He patted the satchel that hung at his side, protectively.

“Well then, hand it over.” Belrand leaned back in his chair, gesturing vaguely at the table he sat at.

The man swallowed hard, before approaching Belrand. Stepping a bit more into the light, Belrand could see the man’s face a bit more clearly. He seemed young, though clearly old enough to sport a beard, as well as a rather nasty set of scars on the side of his face. The man’s brown eyes were big and round, with an innocence to them much like a puppy’s. Dark brown curls kissed the man’s shoulders, though most of his hair was tucked away under a blue scarf.

Thin scarred hands reached into the satchel, pulling out a sizable coin purse, which was then set before Belrand on the table. When Belrand made no move to go for the bag, the Redguard spoke hesitantly, “It’s all there, I promise.”

“We’ll see about that,” Belrand said, before slowly leaning forward. He snatched up the purse, first feeling the weight of it, before jostling it around slightly. Setting it back on the table he drew his sword, which caused the Redguard to flinch. Belrand rolled his eyes, before slicing open the purse, allowing its contents to spill onto the table. Gold coins spilled out onto the table, some even clinking onto the wooden floor.

Belrand hummed, before focusing on the Redguard. “What is it you do for work?”

“I’m a blacksmith,” he responded, sounding almost shy about it. Belrand raised an eyebrow at that.

“A blacksmith? You’re tiny,” he said bluntly.

“I…I’m not that small,” the Redguard responded, but then he hesitated, like he was going to say something else. “Technically I’m a jewelry maker.”

“Ahah!” Belrand said, pointing a finger at the other man.

“”Ahah” what?” the Redguard asked, baffled.

“I knew you couldn’t be a blacksmith,” Belrand responded simply. He began gathering his payment into his own coin purse, counting under his breath. Sure enough, it seemed like the man had paid him enough.

“Back in Hammerfell, I was a blacksmith,” the man said suddenly. “Not for jewelry either, but for weapons. I was good at it too.”

“I’m sure you were,” Belrand said, his tone rather condescending. “Anyway, what’s your name, Redguard?”

The man hesitated a moment, before shuffling forward with his hand held out. “Ezra, sir.”

Belrand eyed the Redguard Ezra’s outstretched hand, debating whether to take it or not. He supposed the man did pay him, so he should treat him with a modicum of respect at least. He took the man’s smaller brown hand in his calloused pale hand.