As the river was too deep to cross here, Caerwyn had a choice to make.
She could head up the hill to her left where the fort was and try to sneak past or head over the bridge and follow the road toward a place called Whiterun. The signpost did say a town called Whiterun was over the bridge and she really needed somewhere to try and get the shackles off, either by finding a key, lockpicks or someone to help her out of them.
She really didn't like the look of the fort and she was wary in case any Thalmor or Imperials were in there. There were torches lit in the windows but by hiding in the bushes next to the road she hoped to avoid anyone seeing her. But the fort overlooked the bridge and there was no cover on the bridge.
In the end, she decided she had to try and get over the bridge and seek help. She hugged the wall of the bridge and by crouching down and staying to the shadows of the wall she made it across without incident. The boots were noisy on the stones but hopefully she didn't attract any attention. It sounded like there were shouts and fighting going on in the fort so she hoped that would mask any noise she made and hopefully whoever was inside was distracted by the fighting. She quickly made it across and hid in the bushes on the riverbank to catch her breath.
The river was flowing by her side. Her thirst was starting to grow stronger and her hunger was gnawing at her. She knew she could survive without food for a few days but getting water was going to be a problem until she could get the gag off. The little she'd had to drink in the prison wasn't nearly enough to quench her thirst. She had tried getting a drink in the river by putting her mouth under the water against the flow but the little that trickled in the side of her gag and lapped against her swollen tongue wasn't enough. She couldn't hang around here much longer either in case the Thalmor and Imperials came back.
So, she resolved to keep following the road, keeping to the bushes, being wary of other people. There were a few times when her piercings went off and she paused until they stopped. She saw a few animals on the road but no people and she walked for some time and made good progress. She had started to get used to the heavy boots she was wearing and was able to go at a fair pace. She had tried to walk around her cell as often as she could for some exercise. It brought back memories of her time in the Valenwood when she used to climb trees and rocks and run around in her bare feet, despite the scolding of her parents. She loved the feel of grass beneath her toes. She almost started to cry again but fought off the tears. She had to retain as much water as she could, so she resolved to try and stop her bubbling.
She came to a bend in the road. She heard wolves howling in the distance and also smelled food cooking somewhere. The smell brought the drool running down her chin but she swallowed the saliva and crept round the bend. Creeping through the bushes she saw two stone towers, one on each bank of the river, with a stone span running between them. There looked like stairs running up the nearest tower from inside a doorway and there was someone cooking a meal outside this door.
She didn't know who these people were so she crept along the river bank through the bushes. However a twig snapped beneath her clumsy boot and the person doing the cooking turned round and saw her.
'Ah, who do we have here' she said.
The woman walked down toward her. Caerwyn knew she couldn't run away so she stayed where she was. She could see lookouts on the stone bridge above. The woman grabbed her by her collar ring.
The woman called up to one of the bridge lookouts 'Silas, are you blind? Run and get the boss. There's someone here he should see'
The man shouted 'I was watching for the wolves. I'll go get him' and ran across the bridge to the other tower.
The woman said 'This here's Valtheim Towers. Our place. Our road. If you want to pass you need to pay a toll'
Caerwyn grunted through her gag and shook her head. She was trying to tell them she had nothing to pay them with. Couldn't they see that?
'So you're not going to pay the toll? That's a pity' she laughed. 'We'll see what the boss says'.
After a few minutes a big ugly brute came down the stairs with four or five others and looked at Caerwyn. 'What's this, Maria?'
'She tried to sneak past without paying the toll, boss'
'Ah. Lets have a good look at her'
He grabbed Caerwyn under the chin and yanked her head up so he could look at her face. 'Ugh. She's ugly. And she's got a slave tattoo. I wonder if her master got fed up with her and threw her out. With a face like that, it's no wonder'
Caerwyn stared back at him defiantly, breathing heavily through her nose.
The boss felt her over and ran his long fingernails down her scars, which caused her to shake and mumble into the gag in pain. Caerwyn moaned and writhed in her bonds but Maria still had a firm grip of her collar ring
'Well, if she's not going to pay the toll, maybe we can keep her instead...how does that sound, girls and boys?'
'Aye boss!' several of the bandits said in unison.
'Silas, take her down to the river and 'wash' her face. See if you can make her look any better. You can eat last seeing as you nearly let her get past'
'Aye boss' said Silas sadly, taking hold of the collar ring and forcing Caerwyn down to the river. The other bandits walked back up to the cook fire to eat.
Silas forced Caerwyn onto her knees and plunged her head into the cold water. 'I'm not missing a meal because of you, ugly'. She struggled to get her head back up, mmphing into the gag. She had to hold her breath until Silas pulled her head back up. The water poured off her head and face. Silas looked at her and did it again and for a bit longer this time. Again, she tried to get her head up and thrashed against her bonds, to no avail, and the water was starting to get up her nose. Not quite the drink she was hoping for!
Silas pulled her back up and looked at her face. 'No change. What a pity' Caerwyn sprayed water out through her nose at him but he just laughed. She felt anger building up inside her again.
Just then, there was more howling and the sound of shouts and fighting. Silas dragged her back up the bank, wondering what was going on. The bandits were getting attacked by a wolf pack, which had been attracted by the cooked food. Probably the wolves she had heard earlier. Silas was intent on watching the battle, as he hadn't had any food yet he didn't want it all to be eaten by the wolves.
Just then, a shock came from Caerwyn's nipple piercings, which had been hidden under the chastity bra. Silas, who was still holding on to the collar ring, cried out in pain when the shock went through him and let go. Caerwyn recovered quickly and in her anger used one heavy boot to stamp on Silas' foot. He went down on one knee, crying in pain and she then kicked Silas in the ribs. He went down heavily, gasping for breath and clutching his chest and Caerwyn almost fell herself but managed to stay on her feet. She made a break for it along the bank, away from the fighting. She decided to run along the river edge, so the wolves couldn't follow her scent. She didn't know what happened to Silas as she didn't look back and ran as fast and as far as she could. The sounds faded into the distance. She took a quick look back and found she wasn't being followed. She was gasping for breath, due to hunger, thirst and the corset. She went round a rocky outcropping and went down on one knee.
It took her a few minutes to regain her breath. She carefully peered back the way she had come and didn't see anyone coming after her.
She shakily got to her feet and staggered along the river bed. She was feeling light headed. Despite the darkness she could see that across the river it looked like there were several farms with guards patrolling. She intended to try searching through several containers to see if she could find any keys or something to pick the locks to her shackles. She was really starting to feel weak and shivery by now and she knew she had to seek some sort of help. She couldn't recall ever feeling like this before or indeed ever being ill before so this was a new experience for her and she didn't like it. On shaky legs she staggered across the shallow river bed and up a slope. She could see all that water and yet couldn't drink and she had a raging thirst and was hungry. It was torture for her despite all she had suffered at the hands of Ancano.
She was finding it hard to put one foot in front of the other and felt very dizzy and weak. She saw a human shape in the distance but couldn't make out details. Her vision was blurred and she was gasping for breath at every step, which also didn't help her thirst. Staggering up the bank, the shape heard the noise of her boots on the bank and turned round, and that was when it went dark...
Comments
Also how did the bandit leader recognized the slave tattoo? Slavery isn´t exactly a thing in Skyrim.
Also how did the bandit leader recognized the slave tattoo? Slavery isn´t exactly a thing in Skyrim.
Hello William.
I've made a guide to help members create Links and I wondered if you would be so kind to try it out for me.
Here's a Link to it.
How to add links to Discussions, Posts ect.