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."

Ulfric's hands moved to Bree's hips, pulling her against him as his lips drew another kiss from her own. "A fool, perhaps... But what does it make the woman who kisses me?" He breathed against her lips with a playful chuckle.

"Not personally, no." Dex replied coolly. She didn't care if he tried to arrest her. The young woman was in no mood for playing nice. Draco had managed to darken the part of her that had once been playful and filled with mirth.

Bree pulled back and shook her head, frowning when most women would have blushed. "Well then...you are done with protecting. We are in Winterhold, are we not?"

"I think you should come with me." The guard snarled, reaching out to take hold of Dex's upper arm.

"Maybe, maybe not." Ulfric replied flippantly. "Maybe we are right back in my palace." He added, folding his arms behind his head.

Dex snatched her arm free and in a fluid movement had her dagger pressed to the guards throat with her other hand. "You really don't want to push me over the edge right now." She warned darkly. "The rest of the guild may not be killers... But then they have not seen the things I have."

"I have seen the inside of the Palace of the Kings." Bree snorted, shaking her head. "The lighting in the Jarl's room is much better than this." She folded her arms across her chest and gave him a wicked smile.

"Dex!" Brynwolf was quick to grab the young woman and yank her away from the guard. "There you are! I told you never to leave the Bee and Barb alone when you're drunk!"

"I see there is no fooling you." Ulfric chuckled, the muscles of his hard stomach contracting as he sat up to be nose to nose with Bree. "Well, if you think the lighting there is so Marvelous... Perhaps I should make you my queen..." He purred, pausing to brush his ips to the Dunmer's slender throat.

"I am not drunk!" Dex hissed at the man who had grabbed her before she even realised it was the very man she had come looking for. "Brynjolf..." She breathed, suddenly seeming so very vulnerable and childlike as she looked up at the man she had once thought she loved.

Bree's eyes fluttered closed and she let out a soft breath. "Why are you so obsessed with my being your queen, Nord?" She asked him, her fingers betraying her as they rested on his powerful shoulders.

Brynjolf offered her a weary smile, leading her away from the guard. "What in the gods name are you thinking? Do you want to lose your head, girl?"

"Why are you so against it?" Ulfric countered. "You would want for nothing... Not even the power to aid your own kind."

"Maybe..." Dex murmured, simply allowing Brynjolf to lead her away. "Or maybe I already did."

"You don't even know me." Bree shot back, shaking her head. "After what I did to you...you should have stood by and watched those men burn me."

"I have always wondered that." Brynjolf sighed deeply, shaking his head. "Come on. We can't get a good mead at the Bee and Barb. Let's go home."

"You wish for death?" Ulfric asked. "I am not sorry for saving your mother. I am only sorry you think all Nords alike."

"You know I can't. I step foot in the rat way... And the whispers will start again." Dex replied. "Brynjolf... Did you know I was coming here tonight?"

"I have tended to stay away from your king after what Roloff did to my brother. The soliders were no better...they let him do it. What was I supposed to think?" Bree returned, moving so that her lips weren't on the verge of brushing his own every time she spoke.

"No. But you're lucky I was trying to sell Troll piss to Ms. Black-Briar." Brynjolf said darkly, shaking his head. "And since when did you care about whispers?"

"I agree, those men were indeed bad. But I am not those men." Ulfric pointed out gently. "I only ever wanted what was best for Skyrim."

"It must be so easy being you." Dex breathed. "Everyone does what you say... Respects you, and what did I get? Cast out for daring to feel something for you. Well... Guess that's a lesson I still aren't learned." She added, her tone growing bitter as she thought about the feelings she had confessed for Draco.

"You did little to stop them." Bree reminded him, putting even more distance between them. "You were told of what they did to my brother. You said that concentrating on the war was more important than the life of an insignificant Dunmer."

"Dex, you're scaring the hell out of me." Brynjolf whispered, still steering her toward the Ratway. "Have you been into the Skooma or something?"

"It was not that he was a Dunmer, it was simply that the lives of the many outright the needs of the few, as they say." Ulfric replied honestly.

"I'm touched you think I would even touch that stuff." Dex snapped defensively. "I only came back here because I have never felt so lost in all my life. A funny thing for someone who was abandoned as a baby to say, huh?"

The distance between them grew yet again. "That means nothing to me, Nord." She breathed, already looking for the few items she'd fallen asleep with. "My brother was not insignificant. He was a good man and a hard worker. He didn't deserve your disrespect. Every life is important, Ulfric Stormcloak. Every single one!"

"I should say so." Brynjolf said gruffly, pushing open the door and pulling her in with him. "What's with the pity party? It's not like you to bother with the why me's?"

"Why? Because someone who means nothing to the world, could in fact mean the world to someone?" Ulfric replied, clearly not ready to believe this.

Dex was scowling, though also refusing to meet Brynjolf's gaze. "Forget it." She growled, already turning around. "I knew it was a mistake to come back here!"

"Every life is important, Nord." Bree said again, sweeping his heavy cloak over her shoulders. "When you can answer that question for yourself, we will speak again about your idea of having a woman who means nothing as your queen." That said she shut the door and left him alone.

"Stop that." Brynjolf said gently, pulling her to a stop before she'd gotten too far. "There's no reason to be bent out of shape like this. I just asked a simple question."

Ulfric groaned loudly and buried his face in his hands. He knew he was an idiot when it came to truly knowing women. Bree challenged him, something poppy had been afraid to do in their brief time together. The Jark was astute enough to realise that was why he was falling for the Dunmer woman.

Brynjolf was wrong, there was every reason. Even if she couldn't confess all to him. "Brynjolf... Am I... A coward?" Dex whispered, though she let her dark hair hide her face from view as she spoke.

Bree marched out of the inn, ignoring the calls from the drunkards. It didn't bother her that they were calling her a Dunmer whore. She'd been called it many times before. The thing that kept her smiling was the reminder that she could slit their throats without ever touching them. Well...she could have if her magicks weren't still weak.

Brynjolf would have none of this and he was instantly pushing her hair out of her face and behind her ears. "You are the bravest person I know." He whispered, pressing a warm kiss to her forehead. "Talk to me, kiddo. Tell me what's going on."

It probably didn't help Bree's reputation any when Ulfric came stomping from the room a moment later, wearing only his pants and his boots. It didn't matter that they were in Winthold, he had to stop Bree before she got herself into any serious kind of trouble.

Dex's fingers shook slightly as she touched them to the angry wound that marred her once smooth cheek. Where did she even begin? So much had happened since she was forced from the guild. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." She breathed at last.

Bree stood in the street leading to the mage's college, wishing she were back home. Snow slammed against her like a physical force and it was enough to make her want to break into the college just to get warm.
"What's wrong, whore?" A drunken man slurred, making a grab for her. "I can warm you up, you know."

"I think we should get some Black Briar mead and talk about it." Brynjolf told her, starting to pull at her again. "You'd be surprised at what I'd believe these days. You heard the bit about dragons?"

The snow bit into Ulfric's bare torso, though he barely even noticed. He couldn't understand why all of a sudden his every thought revolved around Bree. He was a jarl. He was supposed to be fighting a war, so why was it he found himself wanting to give all of it up, if that was what pleased Bree?

"Dragons?" Dex echoed, allowing Brynjolf to pull her along now. So, word of Draco had reached Riften already. it made the young woman's heart twist painfully to think of the man she both loved and hated with a passion.

"Let go of me!" Bree shouted. Though she was doing her best to force the drunkard to let go, she was having very little luck. He was forcing her backward and into the alley, already tossing aside the heavy cloak and tearing at her dress.

"Oh you wouldn't believe it! They were saying one attacked Helgen and then another...maybe it was the same one...took out a village on the otherside of Skyrim. All the guards are up in arms." Brynjolf exclaimed.

Ulfric wasn't sure it was Bree he heard, but he followed the sound of a woman's shouts all the same. It was dark, but even in this cold he was certain Bree's scent was leading him in the right direction. He was silently hoping he found her before something happened.

"And what do you think of it all?" Dex asked uncertainly. "This dragon... Or dragons, what if they're just looking for something that was taken from them?"

Bree found herself shoved hard against the side of the building, the man's knee between her thighs as he struggled to remove his pants. She screamed again and this time found her head slammed against the stone. Her vision swam as the man's dirty hand clamped down over her mouth. "Stop squirming, elf. No one cares."

"What can you really take from a dragon?" Brynjolf asked her. "How do we even know these rumors are true? I think there are people getting ahead of themselves."

"And yet here I am." Ulfric snarled from behind the man, a dagger in his side before he could even turn around. "No one makes my wife squeal but me." He added, his teeth clenched in anger.

"Maybe..." Dex replied, trying not to let her mind wander to Draco. "So... This mead you're offering me, you're not going to make me pay for it later, are you?" She asked her former lover with the ghost of a smile.

The anger that was spread over Ulfric's face was all but terrifying. But despite this, Bree flung herself into the king's arms, clinging to him as if she were drowning. "I...I..." Her teeth were chattering wildly. "...mage's college...that Nord..."

"Have I ever made you...pay for it?" Brynjolf asked with a wicked smile. "At least with septims?" He added, sliding an arm around her slender shoulders.

"He won't be bothering you any more." Ulfric breathed, a hand smoothing over Bree's dark hair as he gently kissed the top of her head. "It is all my fault... I should not have let you wander out here alone." He added, not even thinking about the biting cold that was turning his torso blue.

Dex didn't quite know what to make of that remark. In the past... It was her judgment that she had sacrificed for a glass of mead, meaning she ended up in the master thief's bed. Whether it was his intention or not, Draco had left his mate feeling rather confused, and extremely worthless.

"What in the gods name is wrong with the two of you?!" A portly woman had come stomping around the corner, a frown on her face. "Have you both lost your mind?! This is no place to execute your marital rights!" She shooed them towards the front of the inn, muttering about their lack of clothing.

"I've missed you, Dex." Brynjolf breathed as he pressed a kiss to her temple and buried his face in her hair. "You smell like a sweet roll...no better...A glass of Alto wine..."

Ulfric lifted Bree up into his arms, allowing the other woman to continue thinking they were in fact married. His every thought was now consumed with how wonderful it would be to make love to the Dunmer woman in his arms. As it was, it simply kissed her forehead lightly.

Dex closed her eyes as Brynjolf buried his face in the flowing waves of her dark hair. This had always been her problem; she had so easily fallen for this man's honey dipped words. If she thought back... She would not come to a moment when Draco had simply whispered such things in her ear.

"That is what you rented a room for, is it not?" The plump woman roared, once she'd gotten them back into their room. "I'll have a hot bath brought up." She muttered, slamming the door behind her.
"Damn it all anyway." Bree muttered, wishing she didn't still feel so weak. "Stupid bossy Nord woman."

Before Dex would realize what was happening Brynjolf had tipped her chin back and pressed his lips to hers.