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."

"You need to get out of the palace." Ulfric told Almeada once he had his armour on. "I cannot garuntee you're safety when I am not here." He added, blissfully unaware of the true nature of the spell that had just been cast.

"Was I ever just... A girl." Dex asked, her tone somewhat sad. She somehow knew that in that majority of her incarnations, her life ended abruptly, and painfully. "You know... Growing up on a farm, or something mundane like that."

"I wouldn't dream of staying here." Almeada told him with a soft laugh. "I am far too attached to my own home. Good luck to you, my Jarl and friend."

Draco snorted as if the thought of this were disgusting to him. "Why would you ever be something like that? How boring!"

Ulfric took the fastest horse in his stable and was on the road as the sun set that day. He somehow knew exactly where Bree wash and he wasn't entirely certain it was all because of the spell Almeada had cast.

"because maybe then I would get to grow old with the man I loved." Dex replied quietly. "I'm not an idiot, Draco, I know I never make it to old age in any of my lives."

Breenan was seated in the midst of what remained of her tent, looking rather forlorn. She was still ill from the forced loss of her magicks but this was not enough to explain the heartbroken look she wore.
Not far away a giant stood watching her, looking unsure of what to do about her.

"Think of something else." Draco snapped suddenly. "You're depressing me and you're worrying yourself for no reason." He swooped down on the landscape below, sending a group of Nord children running and screaming in all directions.

Ulfric dismounted his horse and tethered it to a tree some distance away, not wanting to give the giant cause to attack. It was odd... But he swore he felt Bree's presence before he saw her sitting in her tent. Moving as quietly as hhis heavy armour would allow, the king joined the woman he had sworn to protect. "You move quite quickly he commented simply as he sat beside Bree, not looking at her, but rather the giant who was watching them.

Dex said nothing else. Not even the screams of a fleeing children roused a smile from her, as the sound of them made her start thinking about what Draco had said some time ago, how his mate had been killed whilst birthing their child.

Bree reacted badly to this, the element of surprise alone giving her the power to have Ulfric on the ground beneath her, her blade pressed to his throat. "I stole a horse." She growled, her dark hair falling like a veil between them.

Draco didn't seem to realize that she was lost in her memories. He was too busy lifting them back up into the air, chuckling to himself. He loved it when children ran screaming. Perhaps he should have killed them.

"I hope it treated you well." Ukfric relied with a slight smile as he looked up at Bree, rather liking the fact she had reacted this way.

"Are we there yet?" Dex finally asked softly, pulling at the now dried cream from the cake that was matted in her hair.

"Damn thing. No better than a Nord." Bree snorted, though she was on the verge of a smile too. Gingerly she removed her blade from Ulfric's throat but didn't get off him. "Why are you here?"

"Soon." Draco told her, able to see the edge of the falls when he lifted his head. "You'll remember this place."

"Helping you, remember?" Ulfric replied, daring to rest his hands lightly on Bree's hips as she pulled the blade away. "You want to continue on to Morrowind, right?"

"I think maybe you place too much faith in my memory." Dex breathed, though as she closed her eyes, she swore she could hear the rush of a waterfall.

"Just like a man." Bree snorted, rolling her eyes as she swatted Ulfric's hands away and got to her feet. "You weren't listening. I said I was taking my mother there and then making my fortune elsewhere. Only..." She didn't finish, her eyes taking on that sadness again.

"We shall see." The dragon boomed, beginning to angle down toward the waterfall.

"Why is fortune so important? Wouldn't it be better to stay amongst your people? That's what your mother wanted, wasn't it?" Ulfric replied, though didn't get to his feet.

Dex couldn't help but squeal suddenly and cling tighter to Draco as the world below suddenly seemed to meet them with surprising speed.

"My mother wanted me to wait around for some fictitious protector." Bree said, now watching the giant as he turned his interests back to his Mammoths. "Almeada herself admitted that she was wrong. There is nothing left for me here and...you know...my mother wanted so badly to leave Morrowind. So why the hell would I go back there?"

Draco roared with laughter at this, feeling rather giddy as the falls came into full view. He hadn't seen them since the death of his mate many years ago.

"And this protector you are waiting for... He couldn't possibly be a Nord jarl who Mae a promise to your mother?" Ulfric asked, sitting up at last.

"This isn't funny!" Dex whined, her grey eyes screwed tightly shut. "If I fall and die... I'm coming back to haunt you, dragon!"

Bree glanced back at Ulfric when he said this, offering him little more than a frown. For several minutes she had nothing to say. "A Nord Jarl...are you kidding? And you of all of them? Seriously, you don't believe in that whole...Almeada got to you, didn't she? Tell me you were just trying to be nice to her?"

"It wouldn't be the first time!" Draco shouted to her, this time shifting his weight. He knew that she'd shut her eyes. She'd have no idea how close she was to the water until she fell in.

Ulfric simply shrugged his shoulders, not saying one way or the other. "At the very least, let me help you return your mother to Morrowind. After that... You can do as you like."

The sudden coldness of the water was a shock to Dex as she plunged into it. Her first reaction was to scream, though she quickly clamped her mouth shut as she was completely submerged.

"That's not possible." Bree's voice cracked ever so slightly and she turned her head. She wasn't about to let this man see her cry again. It was a weakness she could not afford. "Your men...your friend...scattered them in Windhelm to mock me."

Draco transformed in mid-air and dropped into the water near the falls, feeling like a boy again. He came up laughing.

Ulfric couldn't help but openly snarl at this news. "He is no friend of mine!" he was quick to move closer to Bree now, wishing he could make things right. "He is no more than a monster, and I thought that before I just found out of the dishonour he showed you."

As Dex's head broke the surface her fringe was plastered against her forehead, obscuring her vision. "That was not funny!" She spluttered, though secretly she had indeed enjoyed it.

A single tear slid down Bree's cheek as she turned to look at Ulfric. "Why do you care?" She demanded. "After what I did to you? You owe me nothing. I don't understand why you've even come back."

Draco laughed even harder at the sight of her. "Oh sure it was! You just don't like getting wet, my little kitten!"

Ulfric reached out and gently wiped the tear away with his rough thumb. "Do I really need a reason?" He asked. "I have been betrayed, I have lost control of my hold. Helping you... It is the least I can do after what my own men did to your people... To you."

Dex pushed her dark hair from her eyes and scowled at Draco, though there was hardly any real fire behind it. "You could have warned me!" She pouted finally.

"It sounds to me like more than anything you need to stay here. To take what is yours. It's my fault you're in this position. I should be the one offering you my help." Bree told him.

"Why? So you could have tried to talk me out of it? What good would that do?" Draco purred, swimming closer to her.

"To try and right a hundred wrongs all at once would only create chaos." Ulfric breathed. "No, first I must right what was done to you. I cannot reclaim your mother's ashes, but... If we returned to Morrowind, we could still create a marker to celebrate her life."

"Maybe it wouldn't have been talk?" Dex replied, allowing the gentle movement of the water to carry her a little further away from Draco as he swam closer.

Bree sighed deeply, pushing her fingers through her hair. "You'll think me difficult for arguing but I know now that my mother had no intention of returning to Morrowind. Perhaps I should think of it as your friend did me a favor." She turned back to Ulfric fully and shook her head. "Stop trying to press the issue of helping me. I can take care of myself, Nord."

Draco did nothing to hide his wolfish smile. "If not talk...then what?" He asked, using his powerful arms to move him closer to her, even as she moved away.

"Alright then, I'll be your stalker instead." Ulfric replied, as though it were that simple.

Dex smiled sweetly, and a moment later a piece of her glass armour floated the surface and bobbed about on the water like a tiny life raft.

"For the love of Talos, Ulfric!" Bree groaned, all but slapping her forehead. "What do you want from me? I've absolved you from the promise. You are free to go. You owe me nothing. I...on the other hand...owe you much."

Draco found himself purring loudly. He submerged himself in the water and swam to look for her, hoping to see more than he'd seen the last time.

"Very well, if you owe me... Then as payment, I require that you allow me to be your protector." Ulfric replied with a smug grin.

Dex was a better swimmer than she had let on, and was in an entirely different location by the time Draco would reach the place where her armour floated.

Bree threw her head back in silent frustration and blew out a puff of air. "The gods preserve us!" She hissed. "You are the most insufferable man I have ever met!"

Draco surfaced and narrowed his eyes, tempted to transform into an Argonian, just to get to her.

"Why thank you." Ulfric replied with a grin. "Now you see why no woman ever married me through choice?" He added with a playful wink.

Dex had surfaced just behind the waterfall and was giggling into her hand. She really thought she could evade her dragon.

"I would marry you just to spend the rest of your life torturing you." Bree snorted. She rubbed at her forehead for a long moment and sighed again. "I have no means to return even to Windhelm. It seems bandits or soliders have looted everything I own. Even my armor is gone."

Draco heard the giggle and would have responded to it had he not seen a set of warriors heading down the mountainside towards them. He glanced toward the waterfall and then back at the shore, trying to consider what his next move would be.

"Then I shall have to get you some more, won't I?" Ulfric replied, being perhaps a little too upbeat. "Afterall, you just agreed that while we are travelling, you will be my wife." He added with a chuckle.

Dex took the time while hiding to wash the cake from her hair, the whole purpose of coming here in the first place. As such, she didn't notice the warriors, or that one of them had caught sight of her shadow behind the falling water.

Probably to both their surprise Bree hit Ulfric, sending him sprawling. It wasn't that there was true power behind her attack, just another element of surprise. "We are not traveling!" She shouted at him. "You're going back to your kingdom and you're going to fix it! I am going to...to...do something..."

Draco was quick to exit the pool, this time in Argonian form. "I was here first." He growled at them. "Move on to somewhere else."