//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Valtheim Towers and Missed Encounters (UPDATED 11/8) // Story: Two Sisters and a Dragonborn // by Spettro138 //------------------------------// Back on the Eastern road at the base of the moutain towards Ivarstead, Luna and Ky’ell were taking in the beautiful sights of the landscape of the Whiterun hold. The sun was still high overhead, bathing the duo in a generous amount of warmth. The city towered in the distance to the north like a shining beacon in the valley, while the Throat of the World towered high into the heavens to the south, piercing the very clouds. The cool, moist wind gently blew across the open landscape of the Whiterun Valley and brushed across their faces giving them a cool, refreshing feeling. Clouds slowly moved back into the valley, signaling the coming of another rain shower to soak the hold very soon.  Blue butterflies danced all over the hillside and landed on many of the flower bushes that grew alongside the cobblestone roads. Small birds could be seen fluttering about looking for food for their young before night fell once again. Ky’ell seemed to be fiddling around with the tunic section of his Studded Armor as the two of them were slowly making their way out of the hold and around the base of the mountain. Luna had pulled out a green apple to snack on when her stomach started growling. The fruit satisfied her, but could never compare with the succulent crop of a certain farming family in Ponyville. After she was finished with it, she tossed the core to the side of the road for any animals to finish off. After a few minutes of silent walking, an Eastern wind blowing down across the road carried a foul smell towards the duo that smelled of rotting flesh and death. Not long after, the duo walked another mile and came across a grisly sight that made Luna sick to her stomach. A small pile of bodies that had been piled up alongside the road with dried blood spattered all over the place. Flies were beginning to swarm the rotting corpses doubling the already horrid smell that seemed to corrupt the air around them. Only a few of the corpses among the morbid pile seemed to be humanoid. Most of th other carcases appeared to consist of various dogs and what appeared to be wolves. A wooden horse-pulled cart was just a yard away, completely tipped over with its back wheels smashed into multiple pieces. “What in Tartarus happened here?” Luna exclaimed in shock. “Beats me,” Ky’ell replied with a shrug. “Might as well take a look see for what happened.” “Uh, can thou search the bodies for me? Tis been a very long while since the odor of decaying flesh has graced my nose,” she said dryly. “Sure, why not. I’m used to the smell anyway. Lemme go see what I can find for ya” “HOW??? This is worse than tripping into elephant excrement.” she gagged. "And I suppose you have experience with that sort of thing?" he quipped. "Please be silent for a moment dear Ky'ell. My insides are on fire!" She held her nose and her stomach, trying to calm down what could turn into a deluge of vomit. I suppose it has been quite a long while since I have smelled a dead body. I almost forgot how foul it was. Especially in humid weather like this. she thought as. “Eh, I’m used to it. Ma really had a bad habit of stealing clothes from dead bodies while the caravan traveled.. Not sure why though. Ma is weird” Ky’ell replied. While Luna stayed behind a hundred feet away from the horrible odor of decaying flesh, Ky’ell took his time to search each of the bandit corpses. He then pulled out his sword to carefully skin the dead  wolves for their fur. Their skins would serve well in armor crafting at later time. Luna had tried turning around to avoid vomiting, but just simply the sound of metal scraping and slushing slowly against flesh and skin added with the smell forced Luna to the right side of the road where she violently threw-up a month’s worth of food into a nearby bush. She continued vomiting, alternating between wet heaves and dry heaves for a whole minute before she was able to properly get a grip on herself. She kneeled down by the bush for another minute, holding her stomach to focus her thoughts and feelings as to stabilize her stomach. “Did thou find anything Sir Ky’ell?” Luna gagged out while holding her hand over her nose and one over her stomach. “Nuttin much. A couple bags of coins rangin from 5 to 20 gold septims in each, you should really carry more than that,  nice amounts of iron and steel arrows, and oooh! a couple of potions, and some kind of small note.” he said. “A small note? Let me see.” she requested as she slowly stood back up and shuffled over to the man. She took the paper when Ky’ell held it out for her and quickly unfolded it to gaze upon the contents inside. Her eyes quickly darted back and forth down the page until her eyes widened. “C’mon what’s up? Did you find us a lead on something fun? Preferably the shiny kind? I like shiny things.” “What are thou? A raccoon?” she asked with a weirded out expression. “Not exactly, listen to this”. Adril, I need you to go out and find the rest of the missing pit wolves before the next tournament. We lost too many during last tournament when Butcher’s white furred horse wench broke out and destroyed the cavern. We won’t be able to train more in time for the next tournament in our new location. Find them and bring them back to Cragslane at once! She looked up at Ky’ell and found him with his eyebrows raised as if expecting an answer. “While I may violently slay whoever called her a...wench. This provides us a lead to my sister! It proves that she’s alive! Perhaps if we hurry to High Hrothgar, I can inquire as to whether The Greybeards can direct us to this Cragslane Cavern. "It sounds like your sister...Celery I think, did quite a number on this place." And rightfully so. Forcing animals to fight one another to the death and capturing girls for foul debaucherous activities against their will was punishable by death or imprisonment where I am from. Let alone on my own sister,” she growled. Then suddenly, something pounced out of the bushes and right on to Luna. Luna was so caught up in holding the snapping jaw away from her face that she could not properly get a look at whatever was attacking her. All she could see was fast moving fur and teeth, and hot, putrid breath. “Bad doggy, no biscuits for you!” Ky’ell cried as Luna forcefully kick whatever was holding her down off of her. Luna got back up to find a snarling grey wolf growling at them. Its eyes were black as onyx and its mouth was foaming unnaturally. "I'm so sorry my sweet," Luna said sadly to the rabid wolf. "It is my responsibility to end your suffering." Luna said sadly as the wolf began to run back up to her for another bite. She quickly stepped to the side, pulled out her sword and sliced it from front to back with a single blow, killing the animal instantly. The carcass of the wolf collapsed to the ground with a thud. She simply beckoned Ky'ell to continue on down the road with her as they moved down on past the pile of pit wolf carcasses. Ky'ell didn't know too much about Luna and her past, but he could tell that there was something that was bothering her right now. However, he had a decent idea about how her mind worked even after a few days, so he just decided to give her a little bit of silence and space for a few minutes to allow her to clear her head about anything. Maybe another treasure hunt will take her mind off of that little scene. he thought as he pulled out his enchanted map to gaze at the locations on their way to Ivarstead.... Back on the Eastern side of the passage between Whiterun and Windhelm, Celestia had been busy getting to know her new companion. A Khajiit mage born in Hammerfell called Katia Managan who had been transported a century into the future by unknown magical means. Since she had no current means of returning to her own time, Katia decided to travel with Celestia. They continued walking up and down steep inclines down the western road to Whiterun through the tall pine trees of the Windhelm hold. Streams steadily flowed alongside them acting as highways for the various aquatic life of Skyrim and a calming sound for any travelers. The clouds of Windhelm finally dispersed as the sun's radiant rays were allowed to shine through and reveal a bright blue sky high above the tall pines of the forest. Birds in the trees were twittering their melodic symphonies about their wondrous lives for any and all things that may want to listen. Various small creatures living in the trees or occupying bushes silently observed the two newcomers on the road from their hiding spots. The two were beginning their walk up another very steep incline as they began to converse with each other. Because of the circumstances of her coming to be in this dangerous new world, Celestia felt it prudent enough to be able to trust her brand new student and traveling companion Katia with her true story and all of the details about how she came to be in the province of Skyrim. Even if the latter may not believe a single word she say, Celestia felt that it would be beneficial if there was at least one person in this new world that knew her identity in order to help each other. "So basically...you are a pony....from another world entirely...and you walk on four legs like a normal horse like all of your ponies? and rule this Equestria....even though you are called a princess with your sister, raise...the sun, and the two of you are essentially....goddesses?" Katia asked to clarify very slowly and deliberately with a hysterical laugh coming out of her mouth every few seconds. Her right eye twitched the more she continued to hear of Ceestia's seemingly insane fantastical tale of her origin. "Well, that's a bit of an unrefined summary, but for all intents and purposes yes," Celestia replied happily. 'Why aren't you losing your shit right now? She's essentially a queen. A royal! Aren't you scared of those?' 'Come on! Its not like her crown is going to jump off of her head and spontaneously bite your head off.' 'C'mon try to talk to her. You might like her.' "You know, surprisingly, you guys aren't helping," Katia replied dryly to the voices as she felt her eyes begin to twitch nervously. "For a brief moment in the ancient past, I had that title, but I am glad to be called a princess with my sister. There cannot be two Queens ruling over the same nation Mr. Voice." "I still can't get over how you can hear them," Katia replied nervously. "Most people would have laughed me off as a looney if I told them I can hear voices inside my head." "As surprising as is is I don't know how I can either, but it doesn't scare me too much. They remind me of...someone my sister knows," Celestia said cryptically as she stared off in thought for a moment. Celestia then caught Katia staring at her crown with her big greenish yellow eyes and a vaguely paranoid look for a solid minute gazing upon it as if she were gazing upon her biggest fear in the world. Her eyes then darted back to straight down the road where she was looking a second prior. Celestia frowned at her when she saw this. She had obviously done something to upset her and she needed to find some way to help her open up about it. "I am sorry if I make you feel uncomfortable Katia. I can take off my crown if you would li-" "No, no, no, that's...that's okay your majesty," Katia interrupted. "It's just that..." Celestia could see her yellowish-green eyes go distant for a moment, lost in deep thought. A mix of emotions ranging from shame to fear ran across her face. She stayed silent for a few minutes as if she was trying to process what to say next. She darted her eyes back and forth left and right every few seconds, before turning her head back in Celestia's direction to finally answer her. Her voice became shaky and full of sadness. "All my life I've had crippling nightmares of royals like kings, queens, and other people of that nature, but I don't really know where they came from. Just that they started when I was a little kitten. It could have been my parents jobs in the Hammerfell royal palace, but I don't know that for sure. When they started, my parents had to move out of the palace and into the country. We soon after became poor and they blamed me for ruining their lives ever since. And the nightmares only continued getting worse and worse as time went by." "Oh Katia, I'm so sorry..." "And even after Quill-Weave helped me get over meeting the Countess of Anvil, I still see that....king in my dreams. Stalking me....sitting there in silence with his jaw-like crown and needle like fingers. Whenever i try to talk to it, it always grows more terrifying. Recently, I tried fighting it, but it......" she stopped for a second again and began to hyperventilate. Celestia then wrapped her in a comforting hug and began to shush her, in an attempt to calm Katia down. It seemed to work as Katia gradually slowed down her breathing and began to calm down again. Katia sunk into Celestia's chest fur, just above her armor's collar as she stood there silent with Katia for a few moments nonverbally telling Katia to let everything out. She could feel her fur getting wet as Katia wept a few silent tears. She's been holding the stress of this trauma in for a while. This sounds too much like the nightmares Luna had back then.... Celestia thought sadly as she recollected an old memory. After a few silent moments Celestia then released Katia, allowing her to take a deep breath to calm herself. "Like this," Celestia said as she gestured for Katia to copy her. She showed Katia a familiar breathing technique that she had previously taught to Cadence. Katia did the same as she followed her arms movements and steadily breathed in and out very deeply. The technique seemed to work as it appeared to calm Katia's nerves. "There we go. Much better," Celestia said calmly. "Now Katia. I must say that I can say for certainty to you that I would never even dream of hurting you or any of your friends. You don't need to be afraid of me and I aim to show you how different my Sister and I are different from most other royals. Besides, I don't want you to think of me as a royal here. I want you to think of me as a friend. I would like to be your friend If you allow me to be." "Th-thanks" Katia replied. "Now, perhaps we should continue on". Celestia and Katia made their way down the road, taking in the beautiful sights of the forest. They soon came to a large stone bridge crossing a steep canyon. A river lied at the bottom of the canyon that flowed down from a giant waterfall just a mile down the canyon where it flowed in the opposite direction eastward, presumably back towards Windhelm, where it would then flow into the ocean. Katia looked over the edge and discovered what appeared to be some kind of large stone fortress built into the side of the canyon. Celestia eyed it cautiously, as passing it seemed to give her an eerie, foreboding feeling. The fortress was falling apart from the passage of time, bricks were falling out, entire sections had broken off and sat at the bottom on the riverbed. Some of the wooden skeleton of the structure had become visible as some of the brick sections were becoming more and more unstable and fall off. "What do you think that is Princess?" "It almost looks like...an old prison of some kind. It seems to be ancient though. Something...isn't right about that place. ....I think we should keep moving." Celestia concluded. "Perhaps...if we can spare any time after we find Luna, we might be able to fly down there and investigate. "You can fly? How exactly?" "With my wings of course. I couldn't do that without them you know," she giggled as she pointed to her back with her index finger. "Well, perhaps I could, but its been a long time since I've used telekinesis on my own body. "Wouldn't flying to Whiterun be faster Princess?," Katia asked with her eyebrow raised. "I suppose so, but I am trying to aim to find Luna and get out of Skyrim without bringing too much attention to myself. I figured that most people here don't have wings, so I thought it might be a little more beneficial if I kept my wings concealed unless I am in an emergency or I am certain that no body is around to see should I have need of them here." "Just more weird things that ponies can do" she remarked dryly. Celestia raised her eyebrow, which forced Katia to slightly backpedal "N-n-not that there's anything wrong with what you can do though-princess. I'm no racist. he-he-he" "That's quite alright. I think my magic is weird sometimes too. We should probably get a move on though. Its already afternoon, and I would like to arrive at Whiterun before night comes along," she suggested. They turned their attention back on to the road, trying to avoid staring at the ominous structure beneath them as much as they possibly could. They soon came to the other side of the road where they came to a fork in the road. Down to the south, the road seemed to lead past another giant stone fortress that was visible through the trees. To the North, the road finally began to level out, save for the occasional stray path that lead up the side of the mountain. They turned down the North road towards the Valtheim Towers which marked the border between the holds of Whiterun and Windhelm. Back on the Eastern Road, Luna was trying to keep Ky'ell's attention as they continued on towards Valtheim Towers. He was busy fiddling around with his hunter's bow, randomly pulling on the string and plucking it as if it were a musical instrument. The dark clouds overhead slowly blew their way into the hold of Whiterun, signaling the call of another heavy storm to fall on the valley later in the evening. They could see many birds in the air flying off towards their nests to hunker down away from the incoming thunderstorm. Various bugs had come out to enjoy the moisture on the various flower bushes and shrubs that had been soaked during the storm the previous night. "How much longer until we get to these Valtheim Tower Sir Ky'ell?" Luna asked. "We are getting particularly bored and in need of some action." "Hm? Oh, yeah. It should be coming up very soon. Then we circle down south. You can keep the map for now if you want," he absent-mindedly replied as he pulled out his rolled up enchanted map and tossed it over his shoulder with one hand, while the other was preoccupied with fiddling around with the bow. Luna frantically reached out for the enchanted map and tried grasping it with her fingers, but it bounced out of her hands. Luna juggled the map in the air by accident a few times, trying to keep it from falling before she was able to get a solid grip on the parchment. She glared at the back of the man's skull with irritation before unrolling the map and taking a quick glance at it. The enchantment that was on the map seemed to activate as she could see it faintly glow and then bring up the emblems of the locations that Ky'ell and her had previously visited. Southeast of Whiterun seemed to be a pair of intricately drawn arrows that slowly moved down one of the marked roads across the map towards a blurred out icon. Both of the arrows glowed distinct shades of blue. One light blue and one royal blue that she assumed was supposed to be K'yell and herself. "From the looks of thou's interesting map, we appear to be closing in on our destination. Unfortunately though, it does not explicitly state whether we are actually closing in on Valtheim Towers or some other undisclosed location in thou's homeland. Are thou certain that this is the correct way?" Luna asked as she looked up from the map expecting Ky'ell to be in front of her leading the way. Instead, she founds empty air. Feeling vein noticeably growing bigger on her temple, she scanned her surroundings for the scatter-brained human and found him chasing a blue butterfly up one of the paths, alongside the mountain and away from the main road. She quickly, but carefully rolled the map and slipped it back into her own backpack before running after the human so that they could get back on track. She made her way up the steep hill feeling her leg muscles begin to burn as the incline began to get more steep. The dirt path spread out as she came closer to the top of the ridge. When she made it to the top and found where Ky'ell had gone, she began to laugh nervously at a new unsettling sight. Ky'ell had stumbled into some kind of encampment. This encampment was surrounded by strange spear-like stones that made the area feel like an arena of sorts. A giant bonfire in the middle of the encampment sat on top of a large stone pedestal. The bonfire was surrounded by large sacks that seemed to be filled with some kind of white substance, but she wasn't close enough to see what it was. Ky'ell was busy trying to grab at the butterfly like a cat, the only reason she could reasonably come up with is that he intended to use it for alchemic purposes. Close to what appeared to be the opening into a cave stood three massive humanoid figures carrying large clubs potentially capable of killing a man with a single swing. Which is exactly what Luna was worried about. 'We might be able to survive and even push back a hit from one of those...if our magic was fully restored , but Sir Ky'ell might not be so lucky if I DON'T GET HIM THE BUCK OUT OF HERE!' she frantically thought. Ky'ell was busy trying to grab at the butterfly, unknowingly running towards the giants that had just noticed him. They tried to frighten him off by shaking their clubs at him, but when it looked like that he wasn't paying any attention to them, they started to chase after him. Luna then ran headlong into battle, hoping they could get out unscathed. Back on the western road towards Whiterun, Celestia had been enjoying how entertaining Katia's expressions were and hyperactive she was towards all of the new sights of Skyrim compared to the sights of Cyrodiil a century earlier. Not that she didn't share her awe and wonder of the beautiful new environment though. The air was so crisp and clean, the water was so bright and fresh, the sky was so clear, and the wildlife all around looked so, for lack of a better word, natural. Everything took care of itself and did it fairly adequately. It made her wonder if Equestria would have been different should it never have had any need for the stewardship of her ponies to control the weather and wake up the animals once winter was over and done with. She shook her head and looked up to observe the road. Straight ahead, she could see the silhouette of a large bridgelike structure crossing the river to their right that she assumed to be the Valtheim Towers. She saw a trail of smoke rising from the base of the bridge and the faint flickering light of a campfire in the distance. Her blood turned ice cold as her eyes landed on the bodies that were hanging from the bridge directly over the rushing water. "Katia? I need you to listen very carefully." 'You stand back up after thoroughly enjoying picking the colorful flowers and mushrooms you figured you could sell in town at a local alchemy shop. You wonder whatever has troubled the Princess.' "Thank you, I think I could have easily said that on my own though," Katia deadpans at the internal voice. "What he said." "See those towers?' she asked. Katia looked ahead and gulped as she could faintly make out the figures hanging from the bridge like Celestia did. "Uh-huh" she simply said. "I believe it may be good for us if we keep our wits about us. A fight could be inevitable here." The world seemed to slow down for Katia as she stared off into space and folded her ears back. "F-fight?" Memories of being robbed by a large orc highwayman came flooding into her mind as she contemplated the thought. "Come on Katia, let's just proceed as careful as we can and be ready for anything." Celestia urged. They slowly approached the large structure, carefully listening for any sounds on the wind. Katia noticed that as they got closer and closer to the large structure, Celestia had rested her right hand on her sword that was still hanging by her hip. Her heart began to race as she followed Celestia down the road and prepared for things to go badly. They were within 40 feet of the entrance to the structure, when someone standing there emerged from the shadows. "Hold it!" A woman wearing fur armor, and armed with an iron sword attached around her hip approached them. The woman's eyes darted between Celestia and Katia, carefully observing both of them. Celestia caught her attention for a few minutes, unsure what to make of her before putting a slimy smile on her face. "This is a toll road see! You'll have to hand over...say...200 gold to use our road." "Princess. I-I don't have that much. What are we going to do?" Katia whispered fearfully to her. Celestia had given a sigh of relief. 200 gold was fairly high, as she needed to carefully ration out the gold that she had for essential supplies. Perhaps if she could carefully negotiate with this obvious bandit to bring the price down. "We really are in a hurry. Will 50 gold suffice?" Celestia asked hopefully as she deposited 50 coins into a smaller handheld burlap bag. The bandit was silent for another moment before putting on a malicious smile once again. "I believe...that will suffice," the female bandit replied. Celestia gave the bag of coins to the bandit, but as she and Katia tried to walk further, the bandit stopped them again. "But 50 does not leave us with much. Perhaps, if one of you can do something for my chief, I can be persuaded to let you two go." Celestia looked at the bandit cautiously. "Do...what exactly?" Celestia asked carefully. "Oh, nothing much. Just be his bed woman for say...a few seasons? The women in our group have grown...boring to him." Celestia was thoroughly disgusted with the suggestion, but professionally did not show it on her face. She decided that it would be better to cut their losses and circle around the closest pass just Northwest of their location. She knew Luna was safe for the moment, so she decided to focus on Katia's safety. "That...is quite alright. I think we will just turn back the way we came" Celestia tried saying. They tried turning around back down the road to take an alternate path, but the bandit simply unsheathed her sword and blocked their way. "Please let us pass". "I don't think so. My chief has been killing for a new woman for a while now, and none of the Nord women have sufficed. So we have decided that you two are are best bets." Celestia saw that Katia had been shaking like a leaf with pure terror from the insinuation. Celestia sighed, hoping that they could get through in a peaceful manner, but it seemed like that she would seldomly have that kind of luxury in Skyrim.... "How about you let me through and I don't kill you?" Katia turned to Celestia with a look of shock on her face, unable to believe what she had just heard. Celestia however, looked at the woman with cold contempt on her pale white face. The woman laughed a sickening laugh, and approached both of them, drawing her sword. "Hah! Tough talk for someone about to have their guts spilled!" She charged. Everything seemed to move in slow motion for Katia. She froze on the spot, with her green eyes fixed on the cold steel coming directly at her and her companion. For a moment, Celestia seemed frozen as well, but just as the woman was about to reach striking distance, She felt magic flow through her arm and by instinct, she shot out her her left hand and shot a burst of fire directly into her attacker's face. The bandit woman screamed in agony and dropped her weapon to clutch at her face. She fell to the ground and tried to crawl away from Celestia's persistent flames. Seconds later, Celestia released the spell, drew her steel sword and impaled the bandit through the chest. She twisted it for good measure, before ripping it out and silencing the suffering bandit. Katia watched all this in a state of shock and inspiration only to be shaken back to her senses by an arrow whizzing by her head. "Into the Tower!" Celestia yelled, as she grabbed Katia's arm and pulled her to the open doors. "You're going to pay for that!" They heard from the top of the tower, as a second arrow over shot them by several feet. Celestia gently pulled Katia in and shut the door behind them. "Why are we in here?!" Katia asked frantically. "If they are this persistent, then they will only go after us if we try to run, and I would rather not bring dangerous bandits closer to a city filled with innocent pon-people." she corrected herself. She had made sure that the door was jammed closed with a discarded board that had been propped up by the wall.. She looked up and could clearly hear steps on the upper levels of the keep scrambling around. She saw a chest off to the side of the stairs and quickly approached it so she could quickly pocket whatever valuables it contained. When she went to open the chest though, she heard a mechanism activate which allowed her only a second's notice to press up against the wall and narrowly avoid the chain mace trap that had been activated. "Holy Crap!" Katia exclaimed as she fell on to her bottom. After a few seconds, the mace stopped swinging and just hung harmlessly by the chest. She then opened the chest and found a small number of various potions, a golden, wing-like quiver full of arrows and a bag of coins and rubies. She quickly pocketed them in her bag, before hearing more sounds. She turned her attention the stone stairs above her, hearing movement and loud voices getting closer. She swore under her breath. Celestia moved to Katia and pulled her up from her panicked position on the floor. She resisted and thrashed about hitting her in the nose several times. After finally getting a good grip on her arms she pinned them to her side. "Please Katia! I need you to bring out any weapon or magic that you might have to defend yourself!" Celestia urged. At that moment A large Breton in full Steel Armor appeared at the top of the stone stairs. To Celestia's horror the man was carrying a war hammer. What was even scarier was that he seemed to know how to use it. "Die!" He yelled before jumping off the top of the stairs, hammer coming down on both of them. Thinking quickly, Celestia pushed Katia to the opposite end of the room against a bookshelf while she herself jumped to the door. The hammer smashing the stone where both of them had once stood. Immediately the bandit turned towards Celestia, whom he must have deemed a greater threat, and swung his war hammer wildly. Celestia ducked and dived, swearing as she felt herself backing against a corner. But before the armored man could deliver the finishing blow, she made a golden glow envelop around him, the armored man looked around confused before finding himself blasted through both the makeshift barricade AND the door, smashing the man against the cracked stone mountainside. The armored bandit lay at the base of the mountain writhing in pain. Katia leaned against the bookshelf looking at the destruction of the door and the man that was yelling out in pain outside the tower. Celestia approached her before looking back up the stone steps. "Stay here." she said, Katia only nodded in response. Celestia moved up the stairs, sticking to the wall and holding her sword with her right hand. she came to an archway that opened into palisade steps. she listened and found no one was coming down the palisade. She cautiously peaked her head by and immediately withdrew as an arrow sailed into the doorway. "Shit!" she swore out loud. Without her magic fully restored, staying here would eventually get herself and Katia killed. If they tried to make a run for it the archers would surely pick them off. There was only one choice to make. She had to chance it. Taking one last look at Katia, she stuck her head out. An arrow sailed by, without any hesitation, she charged up the wooden palisade steps. She could hear yells coming from the opposite end of the river, but she ignored them. Her priority was the archer that was on top of their tower. Luckily she didn't have to go far. Dodging another arrow and running into the archway on the second floor, she ran headlong into the archer. He had dropped his bow and was now wielding a war axe in his right hand, and a leather shield on his left. He swung, just as Celestia stepped into the archway. Ducking, she severed the archers leg in two with a well executed slice.The yelling bandit collapsed on the floor. Celestia quickly ended his life with a stab through the heart. Without skipping a beat, she pulled out her Dwarven Shield and rushed out to the bridge. It was stupid. She knew it. But she had to risk it. If the bandits crossed that bridge, Katia would be in danger and unable to do anything in her current state of shock. She forced her body to magically pump more adrenaline through her veins, an ability she had learned in her younger days. She ducked, narrowly dodging one arrow and blocking another with the Dwarven shield, hearing it bounce off harmlessly and clatter to the ground. Another fearless bandit ran forward to meet him at the center of the bridge. It was an orc, lightly clad and wielding axes. He jumped into the air, bringing both weapons down upon Celestia and roaring in fury. Celestia grit her teeth in pain as the two axes connected with her shield. She staggered back and narrowly avoided the second attack by her opponent's rush. The third attack however, was an unsuspecting power kick and it connected fully with the small armor plates that only somewhat protected Celestia's gut. While the armor protected her from any life threatening damage, the kick still managed to knock the wind out of her slightly from raw blunt force. Her breath left her for a moment, and she doubled over as the orc took his time placing his blade on either side of her neck. "Look me in the eyes whore. I want to see the fear in your eyes." He snarled, giving Celestia an evil smile. "Sorry sweetie, but you aren't my type." She obliged his request and just when the orc was about to finish her off… Her eyes glowed red and she roared as a blast of solar magic from her horn blasted the orc on to his backside. Immediately, Celestia swung her shield and her sword and knocked the orc's axes out of his hands, before stabbing him in the gut with a downward thrust, drawing it out and then finally decapitating him with a spinning motion. She quickly panted allowing herself a few seconds of rest before continuing to run to the opposite side of the bridge, As she was doing this she heard thunderous impacts coming from further up the mountain behind her, but she couldn't pay any attention to them until she was out of danger. An arrow shot from one of the towers, pierced diagonally just at the right angle, going under the collar of her Dwarven chestplate, into her shoulder, and narrowly missed her heart; Which was thankfully protected by her royal necklace. She screamed out in pain and dove into the doorway into the second keep. She somersaulted and impacted against the stone wall. She tried lifting her shield arm but found that it had been rendered useless. She had been holding the shield incorrectly and her penalty was having her shoulder dislocated by the impact of the orc's strike. "Oh, I'm definitely going to miss my masseuse after this", she said to herself before painfully knocking her shoulder into the wall and popping back into place with another quick shriek of intense pain. Biting down on the handle of her sword, she then used her magic to painfully rip the arrow out of her body. She stood back up and grasped her shield once again, trying to power through the pain of her previous action. before running up the stairs to finish off the rest of the bandits. Celestia's yell of pain, snapped Katia out of her panicked state. She was still quivering, but at least she had the good sense to move. She crept up the stairs slowly and peaked out of the stone archway. There she saw pinned behind a small pillar on the upper levels of the other tower, trying his best to make himself as small of a target as possible. She wanted to help. But she was scared. She was so scared. What could she do? 'Try that explosive trick you did back inside Sigrid's cage!' 'Yeah, that might help!' 'You're suckiness in magic might help Make everything explode into a blazing inferno!' 'Establish a flawed connection with the Soul Cairn as you are connecting with the bridge' "What good what that do-Oooooooh!" she said in realization as she saw how unstable the bridge was. She closed her eyes and felt around her immediate vicinity for the familiar aura of an Aetherial crosshair to grab on to objects. After a few tries, she finally felt the familiar shapes and symbols. After establishing a link with the crosshairs, she contacted the skeleton realm with her magicka and tried to summon a servant skeleton from the Soul Cairn. For a moment as she felt the grasp of the crosshairs start to tighten, she thought that she had made a connection with the Soul Cairn. The skeleton was starting to come through a portal through Oblivion. But then something went horribly wrong as the last thing she saw was a bright flash... Celestia wasn't exactly sure what happened next. One moment the bandits were firing arrows down around her, the next she saw a huge flash of light crack on the other side of the bridge, momentarily blind her, and they were gone, along with a quarter of the tower. Bits of stone rained down around her and she lifted her shield up with her good arm to block any incoming debris. She quickly looked through the tower and relieved the bandits of their items and supplies before going back towards Katia to see how she was doing. As she walked back across the bridge, she heard another thunderous smack from further up the mountain followed by a loud, obnoxious yell. She looked up and made a face of utter confusion as she glimpsed something rocket into the air. She shrugged and continued onwards. With a groan of pain, she yanked the arrow out of her shoulder, pulled a small red potion out of her pouch and downed the soothing liquid as she felt the damage repair itself. She looked back in the tower and found Katia on the ground twirling her head around with stars in her eyes as if she had been whipped around in a bad rollercoaster. Taking her time, she helped Katia stand back up as she wrapped her left arm around her body and walked towards the door. She unbarricaded the door and began walking her down the road, away from the Towers. "I think...we could both use a small break." Celestia panted. "Yeah...that sounds good. Just find somewhere safe, flat and away from water..I need fifteen minutes." Katia replied still dazed. With a goofy, but exhausted grin on her face, Katia stood back up and stumbled around before falling right on to her face out cold. Back at Galdum Rock just 2 miles from Celestia and Katia's current position, Luna and Ky'ell were having an incredibly difficult time of their own. Ky'ell had accidentally wandered into a giant camp after being distracted by a blue butterfly and woke up the small group of irritable giants that were living there. For the past ten minutes, it had been a relentless game of cat and mouse with Luna and Ky'ell trying to avoid getting hit by the giant's clubs while also trying to get in hits of their own. 'I'm glad that the few remote tribes of Giant ponies Equestria has aren't this foul mooded.' she thought as she panted around the battlefield. Luna had just witnessed one of the most impressive and strangest things that her eyes had ever lain upon. When Ky'ell wasn't looking, he bumped into one of the giants that had been peacefully sleeping. It quickly struck at Ky'ell with its club, but the effect was not one that she expected. The ensuing impact of the giant's club had rocketed Ky'ell into the atmosphere faster than she could keep her eyes on him. He let out an obnoxious yell as he rapidly fell back down to earth. "K'YELL! HOLD ON! WE SHALL CATCH THEE!" she yelled to him while trying to avoid the giant that was now pursuing her. She watched his descent and determined where he was going to land. Reaching out with her magic, she began to slow him down in attempt to make his landing a lot softer. Unfortunately, concentrating on Ky'ell and the two giants coming after her was proving to be difficult. She needed a plan if she was going to end this quickly. Looking at the other giant, she quickly ducked between its legs, dodging another potentially deadly strike and sliced at the back of the giant's legs, causing it to fall on to its back. She could still hear Ky'ell screaming as she moved his trajectory further to where she was. The other giant moved into hit her, but she quickly dove out of the way again, causing the giant's club to impact into the other giant's head. The downed giant grabbed his face in pain from the impact and tried its best to get back up on to its feet. The other giant scratched its head trying to scan the camp for his missing enemy. It suddenly groaned in pain as its legs were also sliced with Luna's sword, causing it to fall face first onto the downed giant. As the two giants roared in pain and tried to get back up, a loud, masculine scream coming from above was the last thing they heard before something impacted into them with the force of a meteor, instantly killing them both. Luna had to cover her eyes as a rain of dust, pebbles, and debris flew out from the impact. Through the dust, she could hear a faint groan. She ran to where the giants were, and as the dust began to settle, she saw Ky'ell lying on top of the giant corpses, clearly in a lot of pain with his eyes wide open. "Ky'ell!" she exclaimed with concern as she gently pulled the man off of the giants. "Are thou alright?" "Grandma? Is it cookie time?" he said deliriously as he lifted his head and let it fall back down. "Why don't we rest here for a moment so we can tend to thou's heroic battle injuries?" she replied. "Yeah.....sure. I could go for a nap and maybe a little snack." Unknown to Luna while they were resting, the one that she had been searching for in this dangerous new world, just passed her by at the bottom of the hill...