Lost Legends

First topic message reminder :

"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."

Dex was laughing when Poppy confessed her true name. "Valeria." She told the breathless blonde. "I am told... I was named Valeria, but when I joined the thieves guild, I was given a new name, and it just stuck." She added, sitting down against a nearby tree, looking for a sharp enough rock to cut her bindings with.

"Oh for heavens sake..." Poppy moaned, dropping her head into her hands as best she could. "My mother is going to have a heart attack. She might not survive this one...Well...at least I can use this as a reason not to marry a man I don't know...A thief? Is that why you were there?"

"Let's just say yes, okay?" Dex replied, rubbing her wrists now she had cut them free. "I don't think you would like the truth any better anyway." She added, her mind wandering to the golden eyes that had been the last thing she saw before she had hit her head.

"My home is probably a mile or two from here..." Poppy sighed, trying to get to her feet. "I can't offer you a brawny...whatever you wanted but I know there's meed. It's the least I can do since you saved my life."

Dex shook her head. "Wouldn't want your mother knowing you associated with a thief, would you?" She added. Though she was trying to sound aloof, her smile was sad. "No, I need to get back to my camp anyway, they'll want to know about that dragon attack."

"It's not safe." Poppy argued. "And I didn't mean it like that." She'd managed to get back to her feet and was looking around for something to pull off her own binds. "If you can't tell, I have a horrible problem with just blurting things out. Telling the Imperial that I am betrothed to Ulfric wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done."

"Be thankful that when you burt things out... Stuff doesn't set on fire." Dex muttered, noe able to reach the concealed blade at the back of her belt and use it to cut Poppy free. "If you really are betrothed to Ulfric Stormcloak... You certainly don't want me anywhere near you." She added, trying hard not to think about the one time she had met him...

"I've never met him myself." Poppy confessed, rubbing at the darkening bruises on her wrists. "Thank you, by the way... Please? Let me repay you for returning my life to me. I'm sure my family and Ulfric would want nothing less than to give you the same courtesy."

Dex snorted and rolled her eyes. "Hardly." She replied. "The first time I met your precious Ulfric, he was travelling alone on the road. I robbed him. He was humiliated, and forced the thieves guild to hand me over, else he would kill every last one of them."

Poppy raised an eyebrow at this. "You know...I've never heard stories of Ulfric that way. All we ever hear is that he is our fearless leader. I feel more like a fatted calf set for his table than a future wife."

"Of course that's all you ever hear. You think the man who would be emperor wants the entire country knowing any kind of weakness he may have?" Dex snorted. "Look, you don't owe me anything. I was already there, it's not like it was all that hard to drag you out of there with me."

"It was." Poppy argued, not backing down on this. "I'm not exactly a tiny woman and I was rather...well...shall we say...struck dumb back there...I insist you come and receive a reward." She added firmly. "It is what you deserve. Take something offered for a change, Ms. Thief. It won't cost you anything."

Dex sighed wearily and rubbed at her dirt smeared face. "If it will shut you up... Fine!" She huffed. "Geez... You'd think I had just brought you back from the dead or something..."

"Close enough." Poppy said with a warm smile. It was her turn to take the other woman's hand and pull her forward. "We'll be at the village in no time. I'll bet they've already got the celebration feast prepared!"

Dex remained hesitant. Past experience had demonstrated how much the people of this country disliked anyone who was different. "You know... It really isn't a good idea. I could have a bounty in your home town..."

"Oh please. It's the night before the daughter of our village head is given to the Jarl of Windhelm. There will be so much celebrating I doubt anyone will be sober enough to notice anything. Never mind how terrible a choice they've made for him." Poppy finished with a soft snort.

"You shouldn't put yourself down so much." Dex chided softly. "You are lucky to have such privilege, most would give their sword arm for the knowledge they could have the same warm bed every night."

"I'm just not sure this is going to turn out like our village hopes. What if he arrives and finds himself disgusted?" Poppy asked, coming to a stop just before the forest came to an end. "I mean...I'm no real prize...what if he simply chooses me as a concubine for his men?"

"Poppy, you are a perfect Nord woman, how could he not want you?" Dex asked gently. "I'm starting to think maybe... You're the one who doesn't want him?"

"I've never even seen him." Poppy spluttered. It took her several minutes to overcome herself and she finally smile. "Listen to me. I'm rambling on like I know you! All you did was save my life, that doesn't give me the right to unload on you!" Again she grabbed the other woman's hand and pulled her toward the village. Instantly, Dex would find herself surrounded by Nords of all shapes and sizes. All of them seemed to be in a rather jovial mood.

As she was surrounded by all these beautiful blonde Nords, Dex was once again reminded why people took an instant dislike to her; she looked far more like an imperial. Everyone was in such a good mood, but at the first chance, the slender, dark haired thief found herself a dark corner to sit and drink the one glass of mead she had told Poppy she would stay for.

Poppy herself had been bustled off to be prepared and hadn't so much as seen the other woman since. Though an occasional server would come by to refill her glass, Dex was more or less left alone.

Dex liked it this way. No one paid her any attention anyway, not with so many Nord women around. She continued to drink from her apparently bottomless glass, wondering if things would have been different, had her head not hit the rock and knocked her out.

Dex would not remain alone. A well built man sat across from her at the table his dark hair covering his eyes. "Seems a bit much for the Jarl of Windhelm. Don't you think?" He asked, his voice a deep rumble.

Poppy found herself peering out of the upstairs window of her family cottage, watching the large group of Ulfric's men approaching on horseback. They'd come from the land of ice it seemed, the dark horse in the lead still covered in a light layer of frost.

"Any excuse for a party, I suppose." Dex replied, taking a long gulp of her drink. Her mood was far darker than it had been when Poppy had all but forced her to come here. "Besides, if the rebellion pays off, he will soon be high emperor too."

The horse was a sight to behold all by itself. It was pure back, and far larger than the rest, and it's eyes... Were blood red. Ulfric hadn't want to leave the hold at such a crucial time, but his advisors were all telling him the same thing; a bride will be good for their cause. He hadn't even met the woman they had chosen.

"I suppose they could do worse." The man chuckled. "Besides, the mead is rather warm and...what's the word..." He seemed to struggle a moment to locate a word that would fit. "Fresh."

Poppy's stomach lurched as she saw the size of the horse, not to mention it's eyes. They were all but in the village now. If the horse was any indication, Ulfric was going to be rather frightening.

"It's free, that's all I care about." Dex replied bluntly, still not looking at the man who had joined her in her dark little corner. "As soon as I can, I am out of here and back to Solitude. I will deliver the news of the dragon, then I want to hear nothing more about it."

Ulfric dismounted his horse, patting it gently before leading it into one of the stables. "Don't worry... You're still going to be my number one girl." He told the horse softly.

"This place doesn't seem concerned about the dragon." The dark haired man remarked. "For being less than a day's ride away from the carnage, you think they'd be more wary." The man pulled out a cheroot and lit the end of it, though it would be hard to tell where the source of his fire was.

The moment he stepped from the barn, Ulfric was all but mobbed by well meaning family members of the soon to be bride. Promises were already being made by the girl's mother that she was of fine stock and would serve him well in breeding as well as everyday life.

Dex finally looked up, her grey eyes looking the stranger over. "They're too concerned with the trivialities of marrying off the village heads daughter." She replied. "I'm sure they mean well, but marriage isn't something any woman should have forced upon her."

Ulfric was trying to be polite, but he was finding all this just a little too much. "I'm sure she is of excellent breeding." He agreed. "However, we are at war, I would not dream of putting a child in the middle of that."

"What a romantic notion." The dark haired man chuckled. "Too bad you are alone in your thinking. Marriage is made purely for breeding the best. I believe of all of us the Argonian have it right. Companionship has nothing to do with it. Securing a perfect race is a high priority."

The plump woman frowned at this, not seeing war as a reason to prevent children. "The war has not reached our village." She said thinly, her good humor gone for the moment. "Come, you'll need to prepare yourself. The wedding is at dusk."