Not Alone (A Skyrim Fanfiction)

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

     The name didn’t sound like one Mirjoln would have picked, but then, I hadn’t seen her in a very long time.  When we were kids we used to lay back on the bank of the river and talk about the future, and she had always dreamed of starting a family and enjoyed telling me what names she wanted her children to have.  I couldn’t really remember any of them anymore, but I knew Babette was not one of them.

     Oh well.  Most likely her tastes had just changed, or her husband had had some say in the matter.

     “Babette, if I can ask…” I started cautiously, not wanting to upset her.  “What happened to your mother?”

     Her face grew mournful, but she showed no signs of bursting into tears.  “She and daddy went out on a hunting trip together.  She said she’d be right back….”  Her voice shook.  “She didn’t come back.”

     I barely heard a single word.  Mirjoln would never have gone on a hunting trip.  She loved animals and could barely stand to eat meat even as a child, instead spending hours with the horses and goats on the farm. 

     I kept my stride steady and carefully assumed a sympathetic look, but inside my mind was reeling.  There were two possibilities here.  One, perhaps the person who had told Babette what had happened had bent the truth in order to soften the blow of an uglier truth, or else-

     -or else this girl was not Mirjoln’s daughter and never had been.

     If that was the case, who by the Nine was she?

     Plan.  I needed a plan.  I didn’t know what could drive a little girl to impersonate another little girl, but surely such a reason couldn’t be a good one.  And she had lived in the orphanage under Grelod the Kind’s influence for gods only knew how long, all for this.  What did she want?

     Maybe the first possibility I had thought of was the truth, but I had to prepare for the worst.  The best course of action would probably be to lead her closer to Odahviing before confronting her.  I couldn’t do much else besides confront her, because I certainly wasn’t just going to attack a little girl even if I didn’t know who she was or what she wanted.

     A frostbite spider chose that moment to attack, its poisonous web narrowly missing my right shoulder as it struck a tree with a wet plop sound.  Babette shrieked and ducked behind a tree.  “Just what I needed,” I muttered in annoyance.  Unwilling to let it get close enough to me to use my swords but also not particularly wanting to start a forest fire, I waited until it moved into a clearing where I had a clean shot.  Letting loose two firebolts, I watched as it flailed in agony, rising up on its four back legs and pawing at the sky with the other four only to crash down on its back.

     Suddenly I felt a sudden stinging pain on my right arm and looked down to see small cut in the fabric just below where the leather armor reached.  Had the spider nicked me?  I hadn’t felt it at the time, but then, it was a clean cut and the adrenaline could have easily drowned out the pain. 

     Clean?  It’s too clean, I realized suddenly.  Then the true nature of the situation hit me with horrifying suddenness. 

     I spun around to face Babette and locked eyes with a completely different person.  This girl no longer had the face of an innocent, young girl.  A cruel smirk replaced the delight-filled smile, her eyes narrowed slightly to make the golden light around her pupils even more eerily pronounced, and she twirled a small dagger in her slender hands.

     I tried to grip my sword hilt, but my fingers refused to close around the weapon.  A stab of fear struck me as I suddenly recognized the feeling as the paralysis caused by a certain rare poison that had been used on me once before, unbeknownst to me at first, to save my life.