ʜ ᴇ ʀ ᴏ // Teldryn Sero

o.o.3 // ash

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Rhea Nahro's POV
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I quickly grabbed my bow off of my back and nocked an ebony arrow, taking a deep breath before releasing the feathery end. One of the ash spawn was hit, being staggered before turning to me.

I grimaced. "Gods, you're fucking ugly!" I grumbled before shooting another arrow at the creature. It continued running at me with a rather large sword. I growled, releasing one last arrow before it crumbled into a pile of ash.

I looked over, running to help Teldryn and the Redoran man with the other two ash spawn, seeing the mercenary dig his sword deep into the creature's chest. He certainly held a hatred for these things, though i can see why.

As soon as all the ash spawn were defeated, the Redoran man turned to me while Teldryn dusted the ash from his armor.

"Thanks... I wasn't sure I'd make it off this farm alive. I wish I could have said the same for my man here." The man sighed, gesturing to the corpse of his ally. Teldryn grimaced, turning his attention to the two of us now.

I nodded. "No problem. What were those things?" I asked, which led Teldryn to give a rather dramatic eye roll.

"Do you not trust my input?" The mercenary asked, crossing his arms. I ignored that.

"Some of the Redoran Guard have taken to calling them "ash spawn." Me? I don't care what they're called... all I know is they're a danger to Raven Rock and they need to be stopped." The man said, running a hand over his face. "The names Captain Veleth."

"Rhea Nahro." I replied politely, looking around at my surroundings. "How did that bring you to this old farm?" I inquired, seeing now as this was a rather run down farm. There was a small building that seemed to be collapsing in on itself, surrounded by some odd looking crops.

Captain Veleth sighed. "I was going to search for clues that might lead me to wherever they're coming from. I know it isn't the best place to start, but we know they've been coming from this direction." He responded, sounding quite exhausted of this whole 'ash spawn' issue.

Don't fucking say it, Rhea, you're retired. Focus on yourself. Dont be a savior-

"I'd be glad to lend you a hand." I said with a kind smile, even though the Captain couldn't see it.

"For a price!" Teldryn added quickly. The Captain glanced at my follower for a moment before clearing his throat.

"Hmm. I think I could talk the councilor into paying you, and I could use an extra pair of hands. Besides, I don't feel comfortable leaving Raven Rock behind, and I'd hate to lose any more Redoran Guard." Captain Veleth said, nodding to Teldryn and then turning to me. I internally smacked myself for agreeing to this bullshit.

"Very well, where do i begin?" I asked, ready to throw another weight on my scale. This is why it was so hard in retirement. I only wish that I could have saved myself from that resolution. If only I still had-

"Nahro, are you still there?" Teldryn nudged my arm with his elbow rather harshly, causing me to shoot him a glare.

I cleared my throat. "Apologies. I was lost in thought. What was that?" I apologized politely, nodding to the captain. He waved it off.

"It's alright. I understand. We were searching the farm when the ash spawn ambushed us. Have a look around and see turn up anything useful." Captain Veleth said before turning away and kneeling down to his late friend.

I rolled my eyes and turned to Teldryn. "Let's split up. You check one ash pile, i'll get the two others. Save you some work since you're so adamant about keeping your glorious armor free of ash." I grumbled. Teldryn scoffed.

"When you've been around these vile creatures for as long as I have, you'd understand. Any time you want to head for Skyrim, I'm right with you... I've spent enough time on Solstheim to last a lifetime." Teldryn said, stretching his words a bit for emphasis. I deadpanned.

"There's no way i'm going back to Skyrim just yet. I have far too much business to attend to here." I said firmly. Teldryn groaned dramatically.

"Fine. Go check the ash." He huffed, moving over to one of the creature's remains before digging around for anything important.

I rolled my eyes and did the same, digging through the pile of ash. Sadly, i came up with nothing but dust, gold, and one of my arrows. (Though i pocketed the gold)

I stood up and began to search around the farmhouse before-

"Nahro! I found something." The mercenary called over, standing up with a nearly scorched piece of paper in his hands. I quickly jogged over, peering over his shoulder to read the note.

"Holy shit..." I mumbled, Teldryn seemingly having the same response as he just stared at the note. I slipped it out of his hands and ran it over to Captain Veleth.

"We discovered this note on one of the ash spawn." I said, handing the note over to the captain. Teldryn cleared his throat.

"I discovered the note." He corrected, crossing his arms in annoyance. I shrugged.

Captain Veleth scanned the note, eyes narrowing. "This is strange. The note says it's from General Falx Carius, but that's impossible."

I tilted my head to the side curiously. "Impossible? Why?"

"Well, Carius was the Imperial garrison commander at Fort Frostmoth, but he died over 200 years ago when the Red Mountain leveled the place. There's no way he could still be alive." Captain Veleth said, gritting his teeth. He pocketed the note, sighing. I hummed.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, a bit more eager to help now that I knew about this supposedly dead-alive guy.

"If General Carius is still alive, there must be something keeping him that way. I need you to head out to Fort Frostmoth and check it out. I'm going to head back to Raven Rock and prepare the men for further assaults." The captain stated, giving Teldryn and I a nod before turning to walk off. "Oh, and be careful. General Carius sounds out of his mind."

Teldryn barked out a sarcastic laugh. "No shit." He grumbled, turning to me. "Shall we be off, then?"

I nodded, sighing deeply. "I suppose so. You know the way to Fort Frostmouth?" I asked him. Teldryn nodded, puffing out his chest.

"Frostmoth, and of course i do! I know the entirety of Morrowind like the back of my glove." He said proudly, looking down at his glove. "Oh shit is that a fabric tear?"

I scoffed and walked off, Teldryn running to catch up and leading the way to Fort Frostmoth. This would be a long trip.

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this one was mostly dialogue, but we do get to see a bit of banter between shithead 1 and shithead 2!
-1171 words-