Keeper of the voice

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The campfire was beginning to splutter now, rather than the healthy crackled it had been no more than thirty minutes ago. It was cold, even by Skyrim standards this night, and fire was life out here in the forested mountains. The ability to create fire with magic was useless without the means with which to keep it burning. The young woman had gathered what dry wood she could find, and was terrified by the thought she was going to have to venture into one of the many caves in the side of the great mountain. A cave may offer shelter from the cold, but it brought with it all new kinds of danger. Bears and wolves would be the least of it, unintentionally stumbling upon a group of bandits was not what she needed right then. A cloud of vapour escaped into the air as she exhaled heavily, longing for the place she had once called home. The place she could never go back to if she wished to keep her family safe. Of course, they were only family in the sense that she had known these people most of her life and loved them dearly, even if they weren't blood kin. Dark hair brushed her shoulders as she looked down at the silver ring that hung on a chain around her neck. She had been close to being married, once. To the king of the guild, no less. He had sworn he would have her head when she had broke it off, the night she had discovered the truth about herself, the night she had left the Thieves Guild behind.

It didn't take long for the dark haired of the two women to see the smoke. Her eyes watched for some moments before she groaned, realising she was about to go against her nature. "Wake up." She demanded, poking at the blonde girl with the toe of her worn boot.

"Please! Father, reconsider!" the little blonde shot up, waving her hands around herself. when she saw where she was, she gave the other woman a sheepish look. "Sorry...was I...snoring?" She asked, thinking it was still night.

"Do you love your father, your people, even after they tried to sacrifice you?" The dark haired woman asked. "Would you still wish to help them, if you could?"

"Yes of course." The little longer said, pushing her still freezing fingers through her hair. "They are my family. I should have stayed in the first place." She added. 
Slowly she got to her feet looked around surprised to see the morning light. "My name is...Loralie. Before you say anything, I know you don't care."

"That's family?" The other woman asked with a snort. "Where I come from, family die for you, they never ask you to die for them." She added.

"The werewolf king demanded me by name. what were they supposed to do? Tell him no? have you ever seen Him? He is seven foot tall, golden eyed and mud colored fur. He...reminds me of a hound I once took in though...he can't possibly be since Rafe never learned to do anything but bark for a sweetie. 
"Father used to beat him him when I wasn't around. I had to let him go in order to save him. poor thing. before you  say anything, I know. if I had left the poor thing alone he'd be better off
 like you would?" She asked sheepishly .

"I've seen many things." The other woman replied with a somewhat jaded expression. "But I know one thing, no one would dare lay a finger on someone I loved, be it man or beast. I'd take their hand for it." It was clear she wasn't joking.

Loralie sighed deeply. "I am not a warrior but I did what I could for the poor thing. I found him in a field one morning, injured and close to dying."  She smiled to herself. "He became my only true friend. But..my father hates animals. There was only so many times of daring to shout at him for striking Rafe I could get away with before he turned his anger on me. So I kissed him on the nose and wished him a happy life and sent hI'm home one night. 
"I am so sorry I could not remove my father's hand as you said. He is still my father, no matter hat he's done to me."

"Does it not make it worse that he is your father and he still did such things?" The armed woman replied curiously. She felt her insides twist as she said this, knowing the one she had loved wished her dead, and yet she had done little to prevent it aside from fleeing.

"I've heard of girls who have it much worse." Loralie confessed. "Why are you so set on me hating my father, miss? what happened to you?"

"Nothing, and it's not Miss... it's Ruby." The dark haired woman replied, though clearly at least part of that reply was a lie.

"I see." It was clear she didn't believe the other woman. "Well....I see that it is morning. I'd better head back toward my village. i...I'm sorry I was a bother to you..."

"Back for what?" Ruby asked bluntly. "A beating for fleeing? Another chance to be sacrificed? Or... well you saw the smoke, there may be no one left."

"Smoke?" Loralie ran out to the cave entrance, her hands covering her mouth. "Oh god...don't tell me the werewolves did that...are they? I have to go and make sure they are all right. oh....I'm a monster..."

Ruby didn't really do much to stop the fair haired Loralie, though she did grab her sword once more and attach it to her belt this time. "You really think you can do anything? You couldn't stop a wolf..."

It  wouldn't take Loralie long to return to her village. Or what was left of it at least. The young woman could barely force herself to breathe. "Papa?" She called softy at first and then louder as she saw the state of the Jarl's home. The smoke had been rising from there but now it was little more than a shell. it wasn't hard to see what had become of her father, the charred corpse still sat on his throne.
"This is all my fault. the entire village..." Loralie whispered. "All I had to do was sacrifice myself so they could live...I am the true monster here."

Ruby was not too far behind, watching for any wolves that may still be lingering. "This is hardly your fault." She scoffed. "They tried to sacrifice you instead of simply putting the wolves down. You can't be responsible for their actions." She added, pushing an ash covered stool aside with her foot.

"You can't simply put a werewolf down. we're you not listening when I told you how large their king is? He would have slaughtered them singlehandedly for trying. My village wasn't full of warriors like you.
"We...I have to find their king. I want answers from him. He owes me that much..." She wiped at her eyes. "But first...I have to bury them..."

"I'm not a warrior." Ruby corrected rather quickly. "I just know how to defend myself." she added a little more gently. "I had to, growing up with Imperial blood and surrounded by Nords." The dark haired woman looked around at the sheer number of bodies and shook her head. "They couldn't possibly expect you do bury them all."

"I have to try." The young woman said, trying her ravaged dress between her legs and headinformation out toward the field. there was a communal barn and hopefully everything was still insode. it seemed to be the only building that wasn't touched.

"Will it change anything? Their souls will have entered Sovngarde by now." Ruby insisted, again following Loralie. "What if the wolf comes back? You want him to finish what he started?"

Inside the barn, Loralie found the shovel she was looking for. "I can't leave the first things to feed off of. This is bad enough." She said softly. "It's the least I can do for abandoning them."
Outside the barn, a tall man with dark hair was standing.  "Oh thank the gods there are survivors." He said with a relieved smile. "Are you ladies alright?"

Ruby had been about to protest it merely being the natural way of things when she heard the stranger's voice. The young woman didn't exactly trust Loralie, never mind the man who had appeared without even her hearing a single footstep. "We're fine." She replied thinly, a hand on the sword at her hip.

The stranger seemed to ignore the threat and moved closer, offering to take the shovel from the lighter haired woman. "I am a priest, Miss. let me you help both honor the dead and ensure their arrival to Sovngurd."

"We don't need your help for that." Ruby replied sternly, snatching the shovel back. "I know your kind. You're like skeevers, crawling out of the rubble to prey on the unfortunate!"

"As you wish." The man replied simply. His mismatched eyes swept over Ruby and he gave her a smile. "I just hate to see such a lovely woman burying the dead alone." He added, motioning to where Loralie had sat on a half burned porch and buried her face in her hands. "Besides, you are an imperial. these Nords deserve their fate in your eyes. right?"

It was clear this man had just said exactly the wrong thing to Ruby. "No soul deserves what these filthy creatures did." She spat, her grip so tight on the hilt of sword now that if she had not been wearing gloves, it would be easy to see the skin was white. "I find it suspicious that you appear only once the actual threat of danger is gone, so don't give me your lies about wanting to help her simply because she is beautiful."

"I wasn't talking about her." The man said, his eyes sliding over Ruby's face. "I was talking about you. And if you think the threat of danger is past, you are a fool. It wasn't the werewolves who made this mess. Though I will say they lured the creature here." He turned his head, purposefully looking around them. He paused, frowning at the remains of a child. "This was a dragon's work. They simply set the bait to draw it here. I don't think they would have if the sacrifice had remained on the altar but...you know..." He chuckled. "Too late for that now. Isn't that right?"

Ruby seemed to grow paler at the mention of a dragon, though kept her worry inside. "Dragon?" She scoffed. "Don't think you can make me believe your stories because you assume I'm an imperial." The dark haired woman added. "No one should be sacrificed, for any reason."

"Oh I wouldn't go that far." The man said with a strange smile. "There are those who need to pay for the the lives of others. the gods demand it."