Dark Waters

-vitrin’s pov-

Guilt had sunk its hooks deep into me by the time I was well on the road to Solitude.

I let Aldis down.

I got caught up in my need to kill Elenwen, and I let him get taken from me. He got captured because I got greedy. I didn’t want her to get away, I wanted Elenwen on her knees at my feet right then. But in exchange my bloodlust had caused Aldis to be caught and taken.

I knew they were going to torture him. I know the Imperials who took him thought that those whom they’d left me with would’ve handled me. They’re waiting for two more Imperials, and Elenwen to stroll into the Keep with me in tow, bound and tied. Or they were waiting for them to come back with my head in a sack.

In any case, I know they’re going to hurt him. They’re going to hurt Aldis because I got too vengeful.

But the thought of getting him out alive pushed me to walk on, towards Haafingar.

I pushed through my aching calves and my tired mind. My body was growing weaker, and my soul had gone without rest for much longer than my body. I could feel how it was worse for wear.

Nearing morning I had drifted towards the river that ran through The Reach. My hands were soaked in Elenwen’s blood, and my face was splattered in the guards’.

I closed my eyes as I knelt down and slowly sunk my hands into the cold river water, scrubbing them together to scrape the dried blood off. I was afraid to open my eyes. I was afraid of what would take advantage of my vision. I was slowly slipping off into a darkness I wasn’t sure I wanted to be in. My life was being engulfed by this blackness, and I wasn’t sure how to combat it. All the blood I had shed…all the lives I’d taken…there was no hope for ever coming back from the things I had done, and it was taking it’s toll.

A sharp pain in my side made my eyes shoot open. There’s still hope.” Cynric’s voice startled me as I grabbed my side, my hands over the scar that still haunted me with memories of Cynric. My eyes locked on the water of the river. It ran red, though I wasn’t sure if it was truly from my hands, or from my mind. I was shaking again.

”Please, Vitrin.” Aldis’ voice made me cringe, my mind finally breaking. ”You didn’t have to let them take me. I moved my hands from my side, ignoring the pain, and pressed my palms over my ears as the voices grew.

”There’s still hope! Cynric was screaming now, and I shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut as hard as I could still .

”There gonna kill me, V! Aldis’ voice, sounding so weak, but so upset, finally made me snap.

“Just stop it!” I screamed, as loud as I could at the sky. Aldis and Cynric’s voices only grew louder repeating their sentences in my ears. In my head. “Shut up!” I yelled, my fists removed from my ears and balled at my sides as I stood. “Leave me alone! I’m sorry!” Suddenly I was met with silence. I took deep breaths, looking down at the water. It was clean. I looked around, my voice still bouncing momentarily as I scoured the trees. I blinked as I turned in a circle, my eyes watery, and my throat now sore. My breaths came out in heavy huffs, and I slowly let my fists unball as I looked down at my hands. They were still stained pink.

I listened for a second to the stillness, the sound of the water and a cricket in the distance being the only disruptor to the silence of the night. I knew I couldn’t remain alone very much longer. The silence and emptiness of being without Aldis made me question my feelings towards him, and my feelings about myself.

My mind was breaking. I could feel it.

But what I worried was that my soul was going to follow.

I picked up my pace after the incident at the river, half jogging my way to Solitude. I needed Aldis, this much I was sure of now, as much as I did not want to admit the need of someone else. He was different.

By the time I arrived at the gate I noticed security was sparse. They had only two guards in the towers, and only the two closest to the main gate. I hid and drew my bow. Lining up a shot with an ebony arrow with the one closest to me, I let it loose, but was too far away to hear the sound it made as it entered the man’s eye socket.

“Who’s there?!” The other guard was close enough to hear it though, and I quickly turned my attention to him, making sure to stay hidden around the corner of a boulder. I drew another arrow back; aiming. I let it loose, and it went into his neck. He lurched forward and I heard the gurgles of life escape him as he fell over the side and from the tower. He landed with a thud. I moved from my position, towards the gate and into the city. I wasn’t afraid of running into guards, I wasn’t afraid of anyone in this city anymore. They had taken Aldis from me, and for that I was going to make them pay. I pulled my hood over my head.

But there wasn’t an Imperial soul in the city to bring punishment down upon, other than normal civilians, which were off limits. They’d partaken in no crime, they deserved no punishment. As I walked towards the keep, I found it stranger and stranger. There wasn’t a single guard. I hesitantly entered the keep, but still: no one. I made my way to the left, and down the stairs towards the dungeon, where it hit me.

The screams.

They unsettled me so much I had to stop halfway down the staircase. They were the sounds of a wounded animal being beaten, and tortured.

It pained me a great deal to know where they came from as I got to the bottom of the stairs. I saw what was happening, and quickly hid behind the wall.

Two guards were on either side of the doorway where I was hiding, and in the middle of the room a wooden post had been brought out, in the shape of a T. On the arms of the T, there was a shackle on each end. Aldis wore those shackles as he screamed. He hung there, bound by his wrists, and ankles, covered in blood as the white haired man slashed him over and over with a sword. A small table of healing potions sat next to him on one side, and behind him, there was an oblong cooking pit, but with no spit, just the pit and the hot coals inside . Behind the cooking pit there was a woman in Imperial armor, watching with two guards on either side of her. They were burly men, bigger than the two guarding the door. I couldn’t run in or I would be dead within the moment. I had to think.

The sound of human flesh being split by an Imperial blade stopped. “You will tell me about this girl, Aldis. You will.” A man’s voice caught my attention, but I didn’t dare peek.

“Never.” Aldis’ voice was weak. He was more than wounded. He sounded destroyed. It killed me inside.

“Men, again.” The older man’s words caught my attention though, and I peeked out from the wall at the man’s voice. My breathing stopped at what I saw.

Aldis seemed out of it as his head hung down, and the two burlier men walked over to the T he was hung on, and picked it up. The shackles on his wrists and ankles clinked around and went taught as they did so.

“No…no please…” Aldis whimpered weakly as they brought him over the coals, and I put a hand over my mouth. “Please no! No!” They lowered him onto the coals. ”No! No! His screams were heartbreaking, and I had to move back. I couldn’t watch it.

“Bring him up, bring him up!” The older man ordered, and I looked back knowing it was over. They sat Aldis upright, and the older man placed his sword on the table and grabbed a potion, and popping the cap off he went over to Aldis. I couldn’t see the side of him that was burned. He didn’t seem alive, he wasn’t moving. The older man lifted his head up and shoved the neck of the bottle in, tilting his head back and forcing the contents into him. Aldis began responding again as the man took the bottle away. “I will break you, Aldis. It seems you forgot who I am.” His words made anger surge into me suddenly.

I had no plan, but I drew my sword and dagger and sprung from the wall, quickly slitting the throats of the two guards on either side of me before I ran towards the guards at Aldis’ side, stabbing one in the gut as the woman on the far side of the room ran at me. I turned and she blocked my sword from going into her chest. I heard a yell from behind me and quickly turned, dodging an attack as the last guard stumbled in his attack, falling into the woman.

“What in Oblivion… It’s you!” The older man yelled at me in an accusing voice, but I hadn’t the time to respond as I slammed my sword into the back of the burly guard, and he made a noise of defeat as I drew my sword from his back, and the woman shoved the body off of herself. I pounced before she could get up, dropping my dagger as I went to slice her head off, but she grabbed my sword. One hand was on the blade, the other on mine. She growled in her attempt to hold me off as I pressed down harder, putting all my weight on the sword.

I heard a crack as her arms broke, and her scream was cut off abruptly as the sword sunk quickly through her neck, cutting off the fingers of the hand still on the blade as well. Blood was splattered on my face from her head.

I stood and kept my eyes on the older man as he stood in shock it would seem. I wiped at the blood, letting out a breath as I realized I smeared it.

“What have you done?” The older man asked, staring at me with wide eyes. His sword was lying on the table from where he had picked up a potion for Aldis. He was unarmed.

I lunged at him anyways, dropping my sword as I pushed him into the coals, but he spun and stopped himself from touching them, his hands on the stones that kept the coals in an orderly rectangle.

“I broke her arms I’ll break yours too.” I growled at him, and he screamed as I put enough pressure on him to make his arms snap, and his screams only intensified as I pressed his head into the coals, feeling their warmth on my hands as I put my weight on his head. Suddenly I was sprayed with more blood.

It popped. I wasn’t sure if it was the hot coals or the pressure, but his head caved in, splashing me with crimson blood, and I quickly withdrew my hands from the mess, and stared at his body as he fell to the floor, what was left of his head stuck to the coals. My breathing was choppy as I backed up from him, turning to Aldis. I had to avoid putting my hands over my mouth at the sight.

Healing potions; while lifesaving at times, are expensive and never ideal for healing because of their effects. The scarring they leave can make someone look…inhuman, and that is exactly what had happened to Aldis.

The whole left side of Aldis’ body was scarred by burn marks on one side and tiny cuts on the other. I couldn’t make out many details due to the blood he was covered in, but I could make out enough.

I stepped forward as he lifted his head more, his eyes pained, watering. I placed a hand on his cheek, and he smiled slightly.

“Thank you, Vitrin.” He whispered in a thick voice, and he smiled, his lips trembling.

“I am so sorry this happened to you.” I whispered, letting my hand fall. “I didn’t mean for you to get taken, I-“

“It is alright. I just want to get out of here.” He smiled a little more and I nodded; turning and checking the old man’s pockets for a key. My fingers found the small metal object and stood with it, going over and unlocking one of Aldis’ wrists, and he put his arm around my shoulders as I unlocked the other. He leaned on me lightly as I bent down and unlocked both shackles around his ankles as well. He then put most of his weight on me with a grunt.

“Can you walk?” I asked, standing up and supporting his weight, his husky form swayed a little as he brought his weight from me, but kept a hand on my shoulder.

“Yes, I’m just sore. I need my armor, and we can go.” I didn’t protest as I let him go, and he limped slowly over to the chest behind the T, and opened it, gathering his things. He pulled his armor on at a surprising speed before sheathing his sword and dagger, then looked around the room. “We need to leave. The troops he sent out to find you are to return today at noon, what time-“

“It’s nearly noon.” I informed him shortly and he picked up speed, and I followed, taking notice as he had trouble climbing the steps. “Here,” I took his arm and put it around my shoulders.

“Thank you.” He muttered quietly as we ascended from the dungeon and back the way I came in. We made it to the front doors, and he kept his arm around me, pulling his hood up over his head as I did mine. We made it out into the courtyard, and then into the main walkway on Solitude, heading for the gate.

His breathing wasn’t labored, but his walk still had a slight limp as he leaned on me. “You know, you just killed General Tullius, and Legate Rikke. The Imperials will crumble now without them and Elenwen.”

I didn’t look over at him; I just ignored the looks we received from passerby as we made it to the gates. “How do you know I killed Elenwen?”

“You’re alive.” It was answer enough as we left Solitude.

I silently swore to myself I would never return again.

Solitude was home to the people who thought they would break Aldis and me.

Now, I’d broken those people, and their legion.

Their city was just beginning to crumble, and I planned on doing the same to Windhelm.

No one would ever break us.

No matter if we get beaten bloody by enemies or ourselves, no one will ever break us.