Nozama and the Hagraven Chapters One to Four

  • Nozama and the Hagraven

    Chapter One:

    "Hail and well met, my good friends. I am Nozama and will be your bard for this fine though cold evenin..."

    A burly Nord stood up from his table and snorted derisively at the Redguard.

    "By Shor!" he roared. "What is the meaning of this?!! Innkeep! Where is Snorri?"

    Baylor, the Breton innkeeper of the Hawk's Eye Rest Inn and Tavern sighed and answered.

    "Snorri is flat out drunk again as you well know, Volstagg. So its either her or you can drink in silence staring at the ugly faces of the other miners. Makes no difference to me."

    Volstagg snorted again and yet he sat back down, sullenly gazing at his tankard of Honningbrew mead.

    Nozama kept a broad grin though deep inside she was rather nervous. Why did she ever agreed to take the place of the drunken lout who merely sung tales of "Ysrgramor this and the Five Hundred Companions that" out here in this mining camp in the Reach?

    By the Divines, how low have i sunk. From graduating the Bard's College with the highest honors and praise to this. Entertaining dirty silver miners for mere coin. What should i tell these Nords, a tale or a song? I mean what would keep these barbarians interested without all of them leaving the inn in disgust or worse, have their way with me?

    She could sing but that was not her strong suit and not all of these Nords are really that drunk enough to ignore her awful singing voice. She could tell them a tale of Nordic heroes and their deeds of rapine and slaughter but her professional pride forbade her to lower herself any further than she had to tonight.

    Then a idea came to her. Her mentor in the art of Speechcraft and Dean of History at the Bard's College in Solitude (and former lover) Giraud Gemane would frown upon such blatant embellishments but he was not here tonight, was he?

    "Hark and listen well about how i came to be here after escaping from the Forsworn and their foul leader, the Hagraven named Regina....”

    That brought the attention of all in the taproom even that rude pig, Volstagg was looking with interest. It was hardly a secret that the Reachmen were never popular in the hold and stories like this would please even most non Nords especially those who had suffered though Forsworn raids.

    Nozama smiled even more and began her tale...

    Chapter Two:

    - From her vantage point on the juniper tree covered ledge, Nozama held back her tears as she stared down at the carnage in the gully some fifty feet below her in dull shock.
    The Forsworn certainly took its sweet time following the caravan bound for Whiterun before raiding it. She had caught a glimpse of their scouts two days ago after the caravan left Markarth.

    Nozama gave the others warning about what she saw and they were prepared for the eventual attack, but to what end? They were far from any known settlement or mining camp and to stand their ground and try to fight off the Forsworn would mean certain doom. The sudden barrage of arrows from the skirmishers took out half of the group of defenders while the main raiding party came seemingly out of nowhere and hit the remainder of the caravan. Nozama and a couple of others had the right idea: they got the Oblivion out of there.

    The Forsworn spared no one of course.

    She silently thanked the Eight that the raiders had not yet noticed her. She should be safe as long as they don't look up...

    Just then, she heard the soft sound of a foot scraping on stone behind her. Nozama turned around, her hands reaching for her dagger but she was not fast enough to avoid the big wooden club striking her head and knocking her out. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was a young Imperial woman dressed from head to toe in Forsworn armor standing above her... - 

    "Aye, quite the bloody battle it was. Fortunately once the ambush began, we managed to kill at least half of these Forsworn but i ended up being captured after killing two myself. At least the caravan got away with only minor injuries." Nozama boasted at the enraptured crowd.

    Volstagg the Nord looked on dubiously.

    "The others in the caravan did nothing while those Forsworn took you away?"

    Nozama shrugged her shoulders. "What good would that do? It all happened so fast that by the time they knew what was going on, the raiders took me far into the hills where pursuit was impossible."

    "So what happened then?" asked Dagmar, another miner as he drank his ale.

    "Well, it took about a entire day and a half but soon we arrived at their camp..."

    (To be continued)

     

    Chapter Three:

    - Nozama did not know how long she was unconscious. A day, maybe two? She did know that she had a throbbing headache once she came to. She was being dragged and she used her body to become limp which made the Forsworn drag her slower with the added weight.

    "Not to complain and all but this is rather kind of like having the worst hangover ever but without the wine, lies and eventual sex." she muttered.

    "Not that you two fine, strapping gentlemen needed the wine or lying to have sex..."

    The Forsworn who dragged her by the arms thought it was quite very funny though it was apparently not amusing enough to ease their grip.

    "If you lot aren't going to let me go then can you please at least tell me where we heading?"

    The Forsworn did not answer but managed to stand her up and continued with dragging her. This time, she complied and walked with them.

    "Okay, you can laugh but not talk? Pity. You two would have made the perfect husbands. The world can use with more laughter not conversation if i do say so myself..."

    "By the Skymother. Don't you ever shut up?" a rough voice took Nozama's attention. It was the Imperial woman who knocked her out earlier. She was walking alongside the trio.

    "Why should i? I am going to die anyway. Not my fault if you forgot to bring bindings to gag my mouth." Nozama replied defiantly. Not that she was the bravest person on Tamriel but she figured she had nothing left to lose if these Forsworn meant to use her as a slave or a blood sacrifice. The first option was palatable to live with; the second was not.

    "We don't need gags. We either cut throats or take out tongues." The Imperial snapped.

    "How enlightened. So why am i still among the living as well as the talking?"

    "Not my place to ask, Redguard but i'll find out soon enough."

    This piqued Nozama's interest. It sounded like by the sour tone of voice that the Imperial was tasked to do something unpleasant. No, not like killing. Nozama knew that this woman would do so in a heartbeat and with glee. It was as if she was spared at the very last moment and the Imperial didn't like it one bit.

    "Name's Nozama from Totambu. Who might i be addressing?"

    The Imperial frowned but answered tersely. "I am Regina. Now, for once be silent for we had finally arrived."

    Nozama craned her head around and saw a collection of a dozen tents surrounding a odd statue. It seem more like a makeshift village than a war camp. About half the tents had fenced off areas that was being used for gardens and pens for goats. There were even a few sullen children running about here and there. It took Nozama several moments to realize what the statue was...-

     

    "It was a wretched place. An unknown, unnamed Nordic ruin where the Forsworn were practicing foul rites with the dead and leading the ritual was the hagraven Regina as she called herself..." Nozama intoned in a sad voice.

    The faces of many of the miners became twisted with rage. Bad enough the Forsworn were killing unarmed people in the Reach but to dishonor the dead as well?

    Nozama kept her pleasant expression on her face though she smirked inwardly.

    As Giraud told her more than once: "History is written not only by the winners but the survivors as well because even the losers can create historical facts the victors cannot entirely erase and thus will come to believe in it themselves even if the facts are false and proved to be so."

    And Nozama had her audience; hook, line and sinker.

    (To be continued)

    Chapter Four:

    Nozama paused dramatically just long enough to lengthened the suspense and continued with her tale:

    - "By Lady Dibella's ample teats!" Nozama exclaimed irreverently. The statue was quite similar to the ones she had seen in roadside shrines all over Cyrodiil. The body seemed to be of Kynareth but the head was that of a hawk.

    "That's the Skymother" Regina said simply.

    - "Yesss...dearie, i be what the Nordsss call Hagravensss." snarled Nozama in a rasping voice as she made grabbing gestures toward the crowd, her hands mimicking like claws. "LIESSS!!!!! We take what the Lossst had given usss, matriarchs though we call ourssselvesss nessst sssissstersss."

    Nozama waited some more for the image of the hagraven to sink into their ale soaked minds and went on.

    " 'The Lost? ' i asked Regina as i tried not to gag from her foul breath.'

    "The onesss who worssship and honor usss. We ssserve the will of the Ssskymother who firssst gave the gift of change to usss...to become like her.

    "Sounds a lot like Hircine...

    "Ssstupid girl-child... The Ssskymother needsss no name. Ssshe isss all. Ssshe isss the sssky above, the firssst of usss... You are like a canary though not yellow. You do like to hear the sssound of your voice, dearie... Perhapsss i ssshould tear that pretty, pretty throat out ssso the Lossst can’t look at your pretty, pretty face. No dearie, i have plansss for you.

    " 'P-pplans?' says i.

    "Do not be ssso sssad, my pretty, pretty Breton girl-child. This isss an honor.

    "I'm a Redguard actually....

    "More liesss.... You are not red but your blood isss...

    "You're going to sacrifice me?

    "In a way...You are to be like me...

    "A HAGRAVEN?!!"

    "A nessst sssister actually but i can sssee how sssuch namesss matter not to you...."

    "By Talos!" swore Volstagg, breaking the silence in the taproom. "What happened next?"

    "Let's just say that not everyone in the ruin wanted me to be the guest of honor for their sick ritual. It began ......"

    (To be continued)

     

Comments

4 Comments
  • Cold Steel
    Cold Steel   ·  May 22, 2013
    Finally fixed the blog issue and can now make new blog posts. dang malware.
  • Bryn
    Bryn   ·  May 19, 2013
    Was just wondering
  • Cold Steel
    Cold Steel   ·  May 19, 2013
    Brynjolf - I tried that but my pc had issues at the time. I had to save what i typed on a usb stick since the harddrive got corrupted. I'll do the stories over but until then this the best i can do. Not everyone can afford the latest tech you know.
  • Bryn
    Bryn   ·  May 18, 2013
    Umm... Why don't you post the next chapters as a new blog?