Lost Legends

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"It can't keep going on like this!" A young woman's voice gasped as two figures dove over a snow drift to avoid detection by passing guards. "We have been fighting for so long that no one even cares anymore!" She added, running her fingers through blue black hair that had already become brittle with the cold.
"Of course they remember, Dex." The young woman's companion replied in an annoyed whisper. "We fight for freedom from the imperial invaders who seek to make us bow down to them!"
The woman who had just been referred to as Dex rolled her grey eyes. "What does it matter who sits on the throne as high emperor? Either way, we're still left down here in the dirt." She added, poking her head up to see if the coast was clear. "The rebellion is just pushing back the tide, sooner or later the imperials will find us all, and execute us as promised."

"I only need him able to talk." Ulfric confirmed, though gave the Mage no further information. He allowed the man to work for some time before he spoke again. "What do you know of... Dragons?"

Dex sighed heavily, pulling away from Alex, though remaining seated atop him. "One extreme to the other... First I mate with a dragon... Now I have some weak minded fool playing at being an assassin."

"The stuff of legends." The Mage explained, then looked up at the Jarl with a sheepish smile. "Of course, that was until a week ago. Why do you ask?"

"You really are crazy!" Alex screamed. "Get off me! Go away! You're no better than an elf!"

"In those legends... Did the dragons ever... Look human?" Ulfric ventured uncertainly.

"My how the tables have turned." Dex snorted as she got up off Alex. "Tell me where the dark brotherhood sanctuary is, and I won't tell them what a failure you are."

"No. Never. Only the priests." The Mage said, placing hands over the man and whispering under his breath. "Why? Ulfric, did you hit your head or something? Do I need to check you for diseases?"

Alex told her everything she needed to know then took off into the night, making sure he stayed as far away from Dex as possible.

Ulfric laughed quietly, then shook his head. "You wouldn't believe what I saw... Even if I actually told you."

Once she was back on the road again, Dex had far too much time alone with her thoughts. She was beginning to wonder if she was a completely different person to the woman she had been before she met Draco. It bothered her that he was all she could think about, like he was an infection slowly taking her over.

"I would believe that your new wife has taken over the hold." The Mage said after a moment. "She's energized the servants into cleaning every corner and even has the cook using salt piles. I'm not sure what to make of her." He went on, still working on the man.

Ulfric smiled again, this time it was somewhat wistful. "She's a marvel, that's what you make of her." He confessed. "I've never known anyone like her."

Unfortunately for Dex, the rest of the brotherhood were rather better equipped than Alex had been. She barely even got close to their sanctuary before she was captured, and found herself being tortured for information.

"I'm not sure that's a good thing." The Mage chuckled. "She took the cook out this morning and they came back with snow berries. I'd like to know how she accomplished that. The wolves are thick in that area this year."

"And you let her go out there?!" Ilfric hissed, his deep blue eyes suddenly wild. "That silly girl! She should have known better! At the very least... The cook should have!"

"I had nothing to do with the queen's adventure." The Mage snapped, scowling as he looked up at the Jarl. "She left before sunrise and cook...I don't think we have to say any more about her."

"You fix him, I will be having words with my wife." Ulfric muttered, already sweeping from the room. The Jarl didn't need to ask where the queen was, he soon found her in the kit he'd with the cook he had told her he couldn't fire.

It would probably be an odd sight for Ulfric to hear his cook laughing. She and Poppy were standing side by side at the hearth, one of them stirring a spit the other stirring a pot. Poppy lifted the spoon to her lips and tasted it, nodding at the cast iron pot. The cook gestured for the spoon and soon the Orc woman was nodding as well.

Draco was dreaming of Dex and he thrashed in his sleep. It was more because of the nature of his dream than the fever he was still in the throes of.

"It must be good, if you got her to laugh." Ulfric remarked as he watched the two women. "My cook laughs at very little."

Dex had finally lost consciousness at the hands of her torturer. The young woman was chained in the basement of the sanctuary, having been promised she was never leaving there alive; the brotherhood did not take kindly to being spied upon.

"Don't you have a kingdom to run." The cook snapped, scowling at Ulfric as she waved the spoon at him.
Poppy completely ignored the other woman's sudden attitude change as she turned. "Ulfric! You came back!" She threw her arms around him, nearly sending the two of them tumbling to the floor.

Ulfric's powerful arms slid around Poppy and he laughed softly. "You doubted my prowess in battle?" He teased. "How could I not come back, when I have such a beautiful and talented wife?"

"You got hit on the head, didn't you?" Poppy asked, reaching up to inspect him for just such an occurrence. "And just so you know I doubted nothing, just that you wouldn't be back so soon!"

Draco's eyes flew open and he took in a shuddering breath. He didn't want to breathe. He wanted to be dead, then this worry he felt for a simple human woman wouldn't bother him so badly.

"And that is why you thought it okay to sneak out and collect snow berries?" Ulfric asked, also inspecting her for any injury. "You shouldn't go out there with a guard, anyone, or thing, could have snatched you!"

Dex had silently begged for death many times since her capture. The burns, the cuts and the bruises she could deal with... But what came next would forever scar her once proud psyche. Her abuser forced himself on her in the way no woman should ever have to endure from a man, all while the female leader of the brotherhood silently watched on. Despite this fresh abuse, Dex still refused to cry out in weakness.

Poppy waved a hand at this, not sure how to deal with the fact that someone truly cared where she had been. "It's not like anyone knows about me." She whispered, ducking her head as she tucked a stray curl behind her ear. "And everything was fine. We weren't out fighting dragons like some people."

"Some people have spent their whole lives fighting." Ulfric replied gently. "Promise me you won't go out unattended again?" He added, silently wondering if he should tell his queen about the man he had brought back with him or not.

As usual, the newly weds were interrupted by Galmar who was carrying with him a badly injured woman. Poppy recognized the woman instantly, but said nothing, hoping that Ulfric wouldn't.
"Jarl, sir...we raided what we believed to be an Imperial hot spot. It turned out to belong to the Dark Brother hood. But...I couldn't just leave this one there...She was being tortured."

Lucky for Poppy, and Dex, Ulfric didn't recognise the young woman lying motionless in Glamar's arms, given just how badly beaten up she was. If not the the very shallow rise and fall of her chest, it would be easy to mistake her for dead. "Tortured?" The Jarl asked. "What would the dark brotherhood want so badly from a waif like this?"

"Before I killed the man who was..." He paused, looking toward Poppy as if to say he wouldn't finish his story in front of her. "He told me she was a spy. She looks so bad I can't tell if she's even one of ours."
Poppy was already moving away from Ulfric, asking the cook for supplies. "Call the Mage, Galmar." She said gently. "Take her to my room and call for the Mage. We'll take care of her."

"Poppy, I agree she needs help, but we don't know who she is!" Ulfric insisted. "She could be dangerous!" Even as he said those words, one look at the condition Dex was in would tall anyone that she couldn't even stand, let alone hurt someone.

"When the day comes that she can so much as raise her head, my Jarl, I will call for a guard." Poppy answered gently. "You will have to learn to trust me."
"I will stand guard, sir." Galmar said gently, the look in his eyes something strange. He'd never looked that way before.

Ulfric sighed heavily, then nodded in agreement. He had understood what Galmar had begun to say, and was thankful he did not mention this woman's true ordeal in front of Poppy. "Send for me when she is well enough to speak." He told Poppy gently. "It isn't like the brotherhood to do something like this without reason. If she truly is a spy... We shall need to know if she is one of our, and if so... Who sent her."

Poppy nodded. "I'll come find you in a few hours. I have a wedding gift for you." She told him with a soft blush.
Galmar rolled his eyes. "I'll take the...night shift." He said after a long moment. "You can come back to her in the morning, your majesty."

Ulfric smiled as his queen and kissed her lightly. "Be extra vigilant." He breathed. "As my queen, you have unfortunately gained many enemies." that said, the king glanced to the unconscious woman in Glamar's arms once more, still feeling the same uneasiness he had the first time, then left the kitchen.

Poppy came to find her king later that evening, sitting beside the bath he'd finally allowed himself to take. She carried with her a tankard of mead, grinning all the while. "How are you?" She asked him, setting the drink aside as she began kneading the muscles of his broad shoulders.

Poppy's fingers were exactly what the Jarl's tight shoulders needed. As she worked the knots in his muscles, her kings dark blond hair brushed her slender fingers. He murmured in appreciation, and this was even before he saw the mead. "Finished with your pet already?" He teased.

Poppy laughed softly at this. "She is not so much my pet as Galmar's. He has never left her side since we brought her back to the queen's chambers. "I'm afraid that's left me with no where to sleep however." She told him, offering him the mead she'd made of snow berries. She wouldn't say so, but she was terrified he was going to hate it.