Chapter 29

“This is a nice home, Argis. You’ve done well in maintaining it.”

“It is my sworn duty to protect you and your property, my Thane. You ... well, your exploits are those that will be sung about through the ages. I am honored I was allowed to swear to your service.”

“Very good. This is Lydia. Just as you are my housecarl for Markarth, she is housecarl for me in Whiterun. And this is Annekke, someone who is following me as we, as you put it, have exploits.”

“I was told to expect the three of you, I have a meal ready for you, beds should you be tired, and stand ready to do whatever you request or require of me.”

“Whatever? This could be interesting. Let us eat and rest some, then talk more after.”

We changed into house clothing, then ate a good meal. “Excellent food, Argis. I hope you won’t think I’m rude, but it’s been a tiring day and I think we all need some rest.”

“Certainly, Thane. Your bed is through this door and to the left. My room is to the right, with the room between a private study for you. There’s room in there, or here, for additional bedrolls if those are needed.”

“I think we’ll be fine. I’ve a question for you, though, before I retire for the evening. You said something about being allowed to swear to my service. Please explain that.”

“It’s quite simple, my Thane. My job is to function as your sword and shield. Well, that means I have to be fit for combat.” He moved his head a bit, so I could see his left eye was blind. “A Forsworn wizard did this to me during one of their assaults on the city a couple of years ago. I kept my strength and training up, but no one wants the blind guy in their force.” He choked up a little. “I’ll ... I’ll understand if you don’t, as well.”

“Is your sword sharp, Argis?”

“Yes, my Thane.”

“Does your shield stand ready for battle?”

“Yes, my Thane.”

“Would you like a chance to kill some Forsworn if you are with me, and we run into some?”

“Very much so, my Thane.”

“Do you swear your allegiance to me personally as your Thane, forsaking all others?”

“Of course I do, my Thane.”

“I was going to wait until morning to have this discussion with you, but I think it’s important enough that my sleep can wait.”

“My Thane, while I appreciate the courtesy, you are whom I am sworn to follow, not the other way around. If you are tired, then you should rest. I will guard you.”

Lydia chuckled. “Argis, I think that you’d find an easier time arguing with the wall behind you than with our Martina when she has her mind set on something.”

“You call your Thane by her name?” He sounded shocked.

“Well, it is my name, after all. I think you’ll find that I’m not as stuck on the whole title thing so much as others are, especially since everyone knows me as the Dragonborn. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very much in charge of this band, and of the others that you’ll meet in the future. But a certain ... informality ... isn’t necessarily a bad thing.” I stretched a bit, arching my back and thrusting my breasts out.

“Didn’t you get enough at the Temple of Dibella?” an amused Lydia asked.

“You ... you were at the Temple?” Argis stuttered.

“Why, yes. I had some dealings with the priestess there. Seems I’m an apt student. Would you care to see some of what she taught us?”

I could see that Argis was getting very uncomfortable in his seat, shifting a bit. I leaned over to Annekke sitting beside me and started kissing her lightly on the lips.

“By the Divines, my Thane, are you trying to kill me the first day I work for you?”

He just sat there as I started caressing Annekke, allowing my hands to roam over her body. His breathing began to get rapid and sweat broke out on his brow.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Argis. We’re leaving you out.” I got up and walked over to him, then started rubbing my hands through his hair.

In an almost strangled voice, he said, “My Thane ... I ... we...”

Lydia moved over to Annekke. “Don’t bother fighting it, Argis. Trust me as a fellow housecarl on this. Martina has decided you’re part of our family.”

He tipped his head back so that it rested on my chest. “It’s been years now, since I was disfigured. No one will lay with me.”

I simply leaned over and kissed him full on the mouth. His beard tickled a little, but I didn’t let that stop me. I stood up, pulling him with me. Lydia and Annekke got up and came over, to help him out of his clothing. I continued kissing him and rubbing my hands over his muscular chest while they stripped him nude.

He was responding to our ministrations as expected. Lydia and Annekke got on their knees and started licking his already half-erect manhood. He began to pull my clothes down, to feel my breasts.

“Oh, my Thane...” I was responding to his touches, and I could smell the other women’s excitement as well.

“Come, let us all examine this bedroom.” The four of us went into the master bedroom. Argis backed up to the bed, still not believing what was happening to him. His legs hit the foot board, and he fell backwards onto the bed, his now fully engorged manhood sticking straight up into the air. Lydia crawled up with him and then impaled herself on his spear. Annekke moved his legs apart and started licking their joining while rubbing on herself. I climbed into the bed, straddling his face so he could lick and suck on my nubbin.

The gentle rubbing of his beard rubbing on my inner thighs was a wonderful feeling. I could feel everyone getting close to their release, and none of us held back anything. My inner juices liberally coated Argis on the face, then Lydia and Annekke kissed and licked him clean. Afterwards, we fell into a tumble of sweaty and tired bodies and I quickly fell asleep.

I awoke the next morning to a bit of a noisy discussion going on in the other room. Annekke was still snuggled next to me sleeping, but I could hear the two housecarls arguing in the other room.

“It’s just not possible! I can’t believe it!” Argis was trying to be quiet, but his deep voice was a bit too loud.

“What’s not to believe, Argis? You have pledged yourself to her service, why should you not be rewarded for your pledge?” Lydia argued back.

“But it’s not natural!” He was a bit too loud then.

“Housecarl! Get in here.” He and Lydia heard my call, and both came running in. They were dressed in regular city clothes, not their armor, but at least they were dressed.

At the same time, they both said, “Yes, my Thane?”

“Argis! Explain to me what’s not natural about people expressing affection for each other?” I was a bit mad.

“Huh? Nothing at all, my Thane.” He looked puzzled for a moment. “Oh, you must’ve heard the last thing I said. No, my Thane, I have no complaints or concerns about what happened last night, only the ... I guess you’d say, the results. Lydia was trying to explain it to me, but I just don’t understand.”

“Okay, what don’t you comprehend?” I asked.

He turned his face towards me. “Don’t you see? I’ve been blind in this eye for two years now. Now, I’m not!”

“Ah, okay, I’m sorry, I thought it was something serious. Lydia, is breakfast about ready?”

She nodded and turned to leave the room. Argis looked at me in shock. “Nothing serious? My Thane, you don’t understand! I was blind!”

Lydia reached out and grabbed Argis by the ear. “Your Thane has said it was nothing serious. Come with me and I’ll explain why to you that, if you’re going to be around her, she’s right. It is nothing serious. And for her, it’s perfectly natural.” She led him into the other room, and I could hear her talking to him in a low voice, probably explaining what had happened to him the night before.

“So, Martina, is that what you meant about Sylgia?” Annekke looked up from the bed beside me. “I can feel the difference in myself after last night, and listening to Argis, it’s almost too much to hope that she’ll be healed as he was.”

“I hate to say this, but why is it too much? You know who I am, what I am. One thing I’ve learned is that love doesn’t divide, it multiplies. And when there are honest feelings of affection and desire, well ... you just saw one result.”

“That’s just ... it feels like something that should be a miracle from the gods.”

“Were you paying attention when Lydia explained my history? Dragonborn, daughter of Akatosh, daughter of the Madgod. Does that mean that it shouldn’t happen, simply because it’s not in a temple?”

“By the Nine, no. It’s just that ... I’m just a simple adventurer, a simple ranger. I don’t feel worthy of what I’ve seen.”

“No, now that’s where you’re wrong. You may have been that at one point, but not anymore. Now you’re part of my family. And by the way,” I reached down to her still moist private area. “You feel pretty good to me right now, and that’s definitely something worthy right there.”

“By Dibella, you truly are my liege. Oh, gods, don’t stop...” I continued rubbing her for a few more minutes until she had a small release.

“Come on, let’s get something to eat. We still have to find Sorine.”

While we ate breakfast, I asked Argis multiple questions about the Forsworn in this area. I caught him several times turning his head to the right, just so he could look at me out of his left eye. We discussed the areas we needed to visit while here in the Reach. After eating, the four of us left Markarth.

We stopped at the stables and I purchased more horses for us to ride. “My Thane, are you sure about getting more horses?” Lydia asked.

“Well, since it’s sort of tough for us to get a wagon to carry everyone where we need to go, and we’re going to be crisscrossing Skyrim ... it’s not like I can’t afford it. Worst case situation, we end up feeding a dragon again.”

I heard Argis mutter, “Again?”

Annekke laughed. “It’s truly a sight to behold, watching Martina absorb the soul of a slain dragon, Argis. Combat worthy of us all.”

We followed the road east out of town. As we were coming down the first major hill, a dark elf came screaming towards us.

“Finally, a worthy opponent for me, as Boethiah promised!” He swung a mace at my horse.

I kicked him in the face to knock him back. Annekke and Argis pulled their bows out and started shooting arrows at him while Lydia and I dismounted.

“She promised me combat!” he shouted.

“Come on, if you’re eager to die,” I taunted him.

He charged at me. I used my shield to block his charge, then swung my sword in an arc. His head leapt from his body, fell to the side, and started rolling down the hill while his blood poured out onto the ground.

“What was that all about?”

“He said something about Boethiah. I’d guess there’s some sect that’s worshiping her for the promise of battle. Misguided fools. Remind me to wipe them out if we ever run into them. That’ll give them the death in battle they seek.”

“Of course, my Thane.”

As we got back on the road, we were passed by a couple walking along, being escorted by an Imperial guard. “Get out of our way, Skyrim trash,” the woman screeched. “We’re on our way to the party celebrating the engagement and upcoming wedding of the Emperor’s cousin in Solitude.”

I held my hand up so my companions wouldn’t do anything, and we watched the party continue on. From my vantage point on horseback, I could see two sabre cats laying in wait. I heard my companions ready their weapons. “Let’s wait a moment, shall we? I think that we Skyrim trash shouldn’t get involved just yet.”

Argis laughed deeply. “Remind me never to make you angry, my Thane.”

We sat and watched the cats spring into action. The soldier tried, I’ll give him credit for that. But one cat killed him, then jumped on the woman, ripping her throat out as she screamed in terror. Her companion turned to run, not realizing that they were on the edge of a precipice. The other cat jumped on him, knocking them both over the edge. They both fell to their deaths. I fired a single arrow and killed the remaining cat.

“Well, seems that the true trash has been taken out, doesn’t it?” We continued up the road. We passed the turn off for Old Hroldan, then reached a dirt pathway that led up towards Rorikstead. We climbed the steep path, expecting to find a Forsworn camp at the top. Instead, we found a massacre site. “Um, were we here before, and I forgot about it?”

“No, my Thane. This is very ... odd. While this is something you and I could have done, we’ve never been through here.”

Argis spoke up. “Well, whatever it was, made things a bit easier for us, I’d say.”

“Definitely, but at the same time ... this is disturbing. A whole lot of dead Forsworn, and it’s obvious that they were killed by swordplay. Yet no casualties for those that attacked them. Even vampires should have taken some losses against these fanatics. And it’s still relatively fresh.”

Lydia said, “Well, don’t look know, but there happens to be a dragon heading this way. So either that was the cause of this, or he smelled the blood.”

“Good. I want to try something, since he’s still quite far away. Ready your bows.”

The dragon was still a long way off, but definitely headed right for us. I used Dragonrend on him, forcing him to the ground well out of close combat range. We started shooting arrows into him, and he started roaring in pain as he tried to climb the hill towards us. I continued shouting to keep him grounded, and he finally started breathing fire at us.

The range was such that it was easy to dodge his flames. I could hear him screaming his frustration, then he gave a roar and died.

Argis was shocked. “Did I just help kill a dragon?”

“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet. Let’s get down there, so Martina can do her soul absorb magic.” Lydia sounded happy. We walked down the hill and my newest companion got to see me absorb the soul of the dragon. We headed back up and retrieved the missing shipment for the merchant in Markarth, then continued on our trip through the mountains to find Sorine.

We rode north for quite a while without running into anything serious. Lunch was eaten quickly in the saddle. We saw a couple of Forsworn encampments in the distance, but avoided them. Our path finally found a bridge that crossed the river and a road that sort of went in the direction we wanted to go.

“Pardon me for sounding out of place, my Thane, but are we lost?” Argis asked.

“I wouldn’t say lost as much as I got turned around and went the wrong way. It’s ... well, I looked at my map wrong. I think if we hang a right here, and follow this trail, it’ll take us where we need to go. And no, it wasn’t out of place.”

“I was just wondering. This is territory that’s heavily infested with Forsworn, so we just need to be careful is all.”

We followed the trail to edge of the river, and then forded the river. There were several Nirnroot plants growing here, so I dismounted to pick them before continuing on. Right as I picked the first one, the ground shook as a dragon, coming in without any of us noticing in advance, landed right beside our party.

It startled all of the horses, making them buck and difficult to control. The dragon roared and breathed fire towards them. I was the only one who had her feet on the ground, so I quickly drew my bow and started shooting arrows to distract him. He glanced at me, but saw what seemed to be an easy meal in front of him, so snapped at my horse.

“I don’t think so, asshole!” and shouted Dragonrend at him.

His head snapped back towards me as I shot another arrow, taking out one of his eyes. “Dovahkiin! It will be my honor to kill you and prove my Thu’um is stronger!” He started waddling towards me, preparing to breathe fire at me again. I got another arrow off, and watched him send fire my way. Holding my bow, I dove into the middle of the stream, underwater, letting the fire pass overhead.

I swam forward a few feet, then realized he wasn’t pursuing. I surfaced and watched his head flop forward in death. My companions had used the time I’d won for them with my actions to gain control of their horses and attack the rear of the dragon. He’d been so distracted by me he’d ignored the danger to his rear.

“Well, Martina, at least you don’t need a bath for now. But you might shake that fish out of your backpack.”

“Thanks for your concern, Lydia.”

I waded back ashore, dumping what seemed to be gallons of water from my armor. As I got closer to them, I absorbed the soul of the dragon. “You know who’s going to be happiest to see us back in Whiterun? Adrianne. She’s going to have a lot of dragon bone and scale to work.”

“I’m just glad we have horses. I am sworn to carry your burdens, but if we get a few more dragon bones, this is going to get ridiculous.”

We followed the trail up the hill. The top of the hill held the explanation why we’d just been attacked by a dragon, there was an empty dragon mound by the path. We continued following the edge of the stream and path. Several mudcrabs were in the middle of the stream, and provided some more ingredients for potions. After killing the last one, I noticed a satchel laying beside the waterway, half covered in mud and hidden. Looking inside, I found several Dwemer gyros. I heard a woman’s voice coming from just above the bluff.

“Stupid mudcrabs. Why would they want my satchel, anyway?” I walked up to her. “You wouldn’t happen to have seen a sack of dwarven gyros laying around here, would you? I swear I left it right here.”