Stin

Dawnstar

A blast of fire explodes nearby as Ayla drives her sword through the chest piece of a Thalmor soldier. She pulls it out and lets the body fall to the ground as she turns towards her comrade, Athena.

"Smug bastards decided to attack Dawnstar," Athena yells as she releases an arrow into a Thalmor wizard, "pretty daring to attack a Stormcloak held city so close to your base. Especially after the alliance,"

Ayla doesn't reply as she throws her sword into a charging Thalmor, stepping back as he falls in the spot she was standing, "Dawnstar is a good port," she says, trying to think of why the Thalmor would attack such a small town, "maybe they wanted a port of their own,"

Athena lets out a laugh, "c'mon Ayla, this it the fucking Thalmor we're talking about," she reasons as she dodges an arrow, "if they need a port, they'll leech off of the Empire's control of Solitude,"

Ayla sighs as she watches Odah burn down a group of both wizards and soldiers of the attacking Thalmor, who were brave enough to approach one of the dragons.

"The sooner we end the Thalmor in Skyrim, the better," Ayla snaps as she runs forward and sends both of her swords in the chest of two Thalmor. She pushes them both to the ground and pulls both blades out, blood following and coating the once golden Thalmor armor.

A body falls to the ground behind Ayla and she turns to see a hooded figure pulling the Thalmor soldier's head back and dragging their knife across the exposed throat, "for the Dragonborn, you really don't watch your surroundings," the woman says as she stands, tossing the body aside.

"Not all of us are skilled Assassins, Tal," Ayla replies as the two walk closer to the battle as another dragon joins Odah in burning several enemy wizards.

"There is always room in the Brotherhood, Ayla," Tal adds before running back into battle, leaving Ayla by herself. With a sigh and a small smile, she too runs into battle.

~~

The roar of two dragons can be heard overhead as they circle the recovering Dawnstar. Soldiers of Ayla's army, clad in black armor, walk around, collecting the dead bodies of the Thalmor and tossing them in a pile while others collect the dead, both innocent and fallen soldiers, and lying them down in a separate area.

"Another success," Kharjo reports as he comes to stand beside Ayla at the entrance to the town, watching the citizens slowly start emerging from their homes.

"I can see that," Ayla says with a small laugh before her smile fades, "I fear if we were a second later, the entire town would've been burnt to the ground," she feels that cat's gaze on her.

"We wouldn't let that happen," he assures her, "you wouldn't let that happen," Ayla turns her head to meet his stare and smiles sadly before looking back at the town.

She sees Taliyah approaching them and sends the assassin a smile, "Dawnstar lost three citizens. They died before the battle started," she informs the two, glancing back at the town, "the Thalmor retreated in the direction of Morthal. My guess, they're retreating to Solitude to regroup. We did kill a good chunk of their soldiers,"

"Not them all though," Ayla adds with a shrug, "and it is a very good chance that wasn't their whole army. The Thalmor aren't stupid,"

Tal shakes her head, "no, they aren't," she agrees before her gaze trails behind Ayla, "you expecting more soldiers?" she questions, head tilted and brows furrowed in confusion.

Ayla turns half her body and furrows her brows as well. A small group of blue-clad soldiers approaches them, the lead on horseback. Ayla fully turns around and glances over at Kharjo, who shrugs.