{"id":4089,"date":"2019-09-26T21:12:35","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T21:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/?page_id=4089"},"modified":"2019-12-07T19:28:41","modified_gmt":"2019-12-07T19:28:41","slug":"chapter-4-frina-and-ulfric","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/volume-iv\/part-iii\/chapter-4-frina-and-ulfric\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 4 – Frina and Ulfric"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oh. Must have fallen asleep.<\/em><\/p>\n

Frina blinked and rubbed her eyes as the ship stopped moving. \u00a0She rubbed them again, and squinted; it was hard to tell whether she actually had them open or not. There was a light snowfall, true; but what really obscured vision was a dense, clinging fog. She couldn\u2019t see much of anything around the ship, even after she stood up and walked to the rail to check. Beneath her was very cold-looking water. One dark area beyond the opposite side of the ship looked as though it might be a hill, or a tower… or something.\u00a0 She spied Adelaisa Vendicci standing at the bow, scanning the horizon on all sides and looking a bit anxious, Frina thought.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d Adelaisa said as Frina approached, \u201chere we are.\u00a0 We think.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve reached Japhet\u2019s Folly, then?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHard to say. The weather\u2019s taken a bit of a turn here.\u201d She peered toward the dark area for a few moments, then shook her head and frowned. \u201cHaldyn\u2019s been known to obscure his hideaways with magic. If we take care of him, the way should be clear to properly assault the island.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frina nodded.\u00a0 That tactic had been used for many an age, and was one of the reasons mages were so prized in war. In fact, it had long been rumored that the Great Collapse that toppled most of Winterhold into the Sea of Ghosts had been caused by magically-conjured storms.<\/p>\n

Adelaisa stared at Frina, expectantly, she thought.\u00a0 It took Frina a moment to realize why.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, let me guess. Taking care of Haldyn is my job, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman shrugged. \u201cWell, you have proven yourself useful before.\u00a0 All of these lunks are too afraid to take on Haldyn before the fog\u2019s cleared. So, if you\u2019re willing to perform one more service for the Company\u2026 we could put this matter behind us for good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just one little, tiny service. Take on a skilled, dangerous mage by myself.\u00a0 Sure, why wouldn\u2019t I be delighted to do that?<\/em><\/p>\n

Why did I think this was a good idea, again?<\/em><\/p>\n

She remembered the sound of Ulfric\u2019s voice telling her it was out of the question, and her ire rose again.\u00a0 Oh yeah. That was why. Tell me what I can\u2019t do, when I\u2019m offering to help? The nerve of the man.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTake out Haldyn, and we\u2019ll handle the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frina walked to the opposite side of the ship and peered out over the edge.\u00a0 There was thick surface ice all around them, some of it packed between what she could now dimly see were a couple of islands.<\/p>\n

Well I guess that\u2019s where I\u2019m going.\u00a0 If I\u2019m careful I\u2019ll make it across the ice and not get too wet.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nobody had put down any sort of ramp or gangway, so Frina simply hopped down off the side of the ship onto the ice and began making her way across it. The first of what had looked like dark spots from the ship was not too far away, and seemed to be either a very small island coated with ice, or a small iceberg.\u00a0 Frina didn\u2019t stop to fully investigate it, because now that she was out on the ice she could see that there was in fact a large island with a tower on it, just barely visible across another expanse of sea ice. \u00a0A ship, not quite the size of the one she\u2019d just left, bobbed up and down near what might be a long dock.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

She started picking her way toward the island. Progress was slow and she had to backtrack a couple of times when what had looked like a continuous sheet of ice broke up into large gaps of icy water. She slipped a couple of times and nearly fell in, but caught herself at the last moment and only one foot got wet.\u00a0 That foot was going to be mighty uncomfortable; but Frina knew she was going to be far too busy to worry about it for long.\u00a0 She reached a narrow strip of rocky soil at the base of the island \u2013 the closest thing to a beach in the area \u2013 and walked along it in each direction for a few paces.\u00a0 There was really only one obvious place to go: a cave opening directly in front of the ice she\u2019d crossed.<\/p>\n

Well, here we go.<\/em><\/p>\n

She stepped into the cave and immediately regretted it.\u00a0 The sheltered interior was warmer than the outside air, and the snow that had blown into the opening had melted into puddles that topped her boots. Not too far into the cave the water was a bit deeper, and someone had pulled a small boat into the shelter.\u00a0 A few crates stacked up on rocks just above the water\u2019s surface sheltered several mud crabs that surprised her, but which she dealt with easily. A sloping path led up from the pool to another open space, at the far side of which was a man-made stone structure with a large hole punched through its side. Frina could see light flickering beyond the stone wall, so she dropped into a crouch and kept to the shadows as she slunk closer to it.<\/p>\n

It was, she could tell as she got closer, an old Imperial fort. The construction was unmistakable.\u00a0 Why the pirates hadn\u2019t put a door across the opening, she couldn\u2019t imagine; but beyond it were chests and barrels and sacks, and a woman standing with her back to Frina.<\/p>\n

Blood Horkers.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Frina took aim with her bow and shot once, striking one of the rings in the pirate\u2019s ringmail armor.\u00a0 She turned and drew a war pick like the one Frina used, then staggered backwards as Frina\u2019s second shot struck her and embedded itself in her belt.\u00a0 She growled and hurtled toward Frina, screaming.<\/p>\n

Frina took two steps backward and drew her own melee weapons, planting her feet and timing her first swings to catch the pirate before she could stop herself.\u00a0 The woman howled, raised her pick and caught Frina a solid blow in the side.\u00a0 She felt the pick\u2019s deadly spikes raking down through her armor, and her blood start to trickle down inside it, and in her panic she began flailing wildly at the pirate.\u00a0 Two or three sets of matched blows did the trick and the woman fell.<\/p>\n

\u201cDamn!\u201d\u00a0 She healed herself as quickly as she could, ruefully examining the damage to her armor and making a mental note that she was going to need to protect that side of her body.\u00a0 After a few minutes she was able to look around for valuables. She took a few coins from the chest the woman had been guarding and then made her way up a short staircase to a wooden door just beyond the stacked barrels.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the door was a round tower; undoubtedly the tower she\u2019d seen from the ship, of the same basic construction as every other Imperial tower she\u2019d been in.\u00a0 To her right was storage; the real target was undoubtedly up the circular stairs to her left.<\/p>\n

Near the top she heard a deep voice muttering.<\/p>\n

\u201cGonna start keeping a knife in my boot. Tired of gettin\u2019 disarmed.\u201d<\/p>\n

She crept up a few more steps. There was a trap at the top, a spiked gate with a pressure plate mounted in the floor.\u00a0 The pirate walking away from it was definitely not the man with the deep voice, but rather another average-looking woman. Frina decided to take advantage of the fact that she was walking away and fire an arrow into her back.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen too much at this point to worry about whether it\u2019s an honorable kill or not. These people surely won\u2019t be. Two of them. One of me.\u00a0 I should even the score a little.<\/em><\/p>\n

She pulled out the staff that had served her so well against dragons, and used it to conjure a wraith. The Horkers were instantly on the attack. The wraith disappeared around the corner above, and Frina could hear the man yelling at it as Frina backed down the stairs. The woman followed her, weapon raised.<\/p>\n

\u201cHa! You think you can take me?\u201d she cried, pounding on her shield with a mace. Frina fired several arrows into her but did not fell her; as she reached for her own melee weapons the pirate landed a solid blow against Frina\u2019s left arm.<\/p>\n

The pain almost blinded her for a moment, and she gasped trying not to cry out.\u00a0 Then she once more hammered an opponent with the moves that had served her well in the past.\u00a0 Sweep the legs; bury the pick into the assailant\u2019s side.\u00a0 Pull the pick out and do it again. Her arm was shrieking with pain but she gritted her teeth and kept moving, for to do anything else at all would mean death.<\/p>\n

When the pirate dropped to the floor, Frina backed down toward the wooden door and healed herself, listening for signs of battle above. The man was still shouting; either he or the wraith tripped the pressure plate and the spiked gate swung forward with a clang.\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t tell which of them it had hit, but decided to play it safe and assume that her wraith was gone.<\/p>\n

She ran halfway back up the stairs only to meet the pirate, his bow drawn and aimed at her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere you are!\u201d he shouted.<\/p>\n

Frina cast another wraith and ducked to dodge an arrow as the wraith ran ahead. Frina changed weapons, drawing her bow; but she\u2019d only returned a few steps up when she heard the pirate cry out and his weapons clang to the stone floor.\u00a0 The wraith came scurrying back to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cNicely done!\u201d Frina murmured.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There was the usual open space at the top of the stairwell: a semi-collapsed storage room on one side held foodstuffs and another alcove had a door embedded in it.\u00a0 She made for the door and pushed it open as quietly as she could.\u00a0 It opened onto a long hallway, largely empty aside from a couple of shelves holding food supplies.\u00a0 About halfway down its length, on the left, was another wooden door.\u00a0 She passed by it, heading instead toward the large, open circular room at the hall\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

She had just enough time to take stock of the circular room and its surroundings. A room to the left. A descending staircase to the right. And just at the top of that staircase a pirate.\u00a0 Frina had her bow in hand and used it to fire an arrow into the woman as she was disappearing down the steps; then she turned and ran to the far end of the hall to take up a more secure position. She would have a very long, safe shot to make if the pirate followed.\u00a0 Several minutes passed, though, and nobody attacked; so Frina slipped back down the hallway to see whether her arrow had dropped the woman.<\/p>\n

It had not.\u00a0 Frina nearly jumped out of her icy-cold, wet boots when the woman sauntered back up the stairs.\u00a0 She sank another arrow into the pirate and ran back down the hall; this time the woman followed and Frina used the long straight corridor to her advantage.\u00a0 One arrow.\u00a0 Two.\u00a0 She could see that the pirate was bleeding; still she ran forward.\u00a0 Frina stepped back into the room behind her and around into the semi-collapsed storage room, hiding behind one of the toppled columns to consider her next move.\u00a0 She pulled out the staff and waited.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nothing happened.\u00a0 Frina crept out into the open and looked around; not only had the pirate not followed her into the area, she had closed the door that opened into it.<\/p>\n

Well alright then. Be that way. A couple more arrows should do the trick nicely.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sure enough, the pirate clumped back into the room not long after she\u2019d reached the end of the hall.\u00a0 One quick arrow finished her off.<\/p>\n

Frina looked around and weighed her choices.\u00a0 The opening to her left led to another circular staircase up. The pirate she\u2019d just killed had been on a descending staircase.<\/p>\n

Down, or up?<\/em><\/p>\n

Has to be up.\u00a0 They always put the leader up high where he\u2019s well protected, right? Haldyn must be at the top of the tower.<\/em><\/p>\n

She\u2019d only gone up a few steps when she heard the sound of metal bars sliding into place, and jumped.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t remember seeing any barred openings on her way in but had the uneasy feeling that she was now trapped inside the stairwell.<\/p>\n

Better be good, then, Frina, or Ulfric will be able to laugh at your corpse.<\/em><\/p>\n

That thought made her frown, and it made her anxious.<\/p>\n

Would he laugh at my corpse? Would he miss me at all?<\/em><\/p>\n

She shook her head. \u00a0Foolish girl. This is not the time to be wondering about that.<\/em><\/p>\n

She walked up the stairs, slowly.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo threes? What was he thinking?\u201d<\/p>\n

She dropped into a crouch and slid up the remainder of the stairs at a snail\u2019s pace; hoping desperately that the voice she heard was Haldyn, and not some additional lackey that she would need to kill to get to him.\u00a0 There was a man there across the room, leaning against the doorframe.\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t tell whether he was in armor or mage\u2019s robes, whether he had a weapon at the ready or nothing at all.\u00a0 She just pulled her bow and fired at him, sinking an arrow into his shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u201cArrgh!\u201d\u00a0 The man cried out; and yet Frina had time to strike again before he finally turned, saw her, and cast an armor spell on himself.<\/p>\n

Damn. It\u2019s Haldyn. Has to be. That\u2019s good, but\u2026 mage.<\/em><\/p>\n

She fired one more arrow, which went just wide of him. Then she grabbed for the conjuration staff and called forth her wraith.<\/p>\n

And then she screamed. Haldyn had hit her with a lightning spell and every muscle in her body contracted, painfully, taking her breath.\u00a0 She stumbled to the side, praying to Talos that the wraith would be able to hold Haldyn off long enough for her to get her weapons up and ready.\u00a0 She heard its attacks firing at him \u2013 pop, pop, pop<\/em> \u2013 and swung around with her weapons held high.\u00a0 She hurled herself at him, forcing herself to run even as another lightning spell struck her.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Howling with pain and trying to dodge the wraith\u2019s spells, she barreled into Haldyn swinging.\u00a0 To her utter disbelief, he cried out and turned away from her.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease don\u2019t kill me!\u201d he shrieked, running to the back of the space and cowering.\u00a0 She followed, swinging hard; the wraith fired one more spell, Frina took one more swing, and the mage died.<\/p>\n

She stood there and stared at him.\u00a0 This powerful mage, powerful enough to change the weather, had gone down to just a few arrows, a couple of hits from her weapons, and the power of a conjured wraith.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell there.\u00a0 Now to go back to Windhelm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frina descended the stairs, noticing the row of slots where the bars she had heard must have been.\u00a0 They had retracted again, but clearly she\u2019d been locked in there with Haldyn.\u00a0 She retraced her way down the hall but rather than go through the damp cave she decided to try the door, now on her right, midway down the hall.\u00a0 It opened to the outside. She smiled to see that the fog had cleared.<\/p>\n

Frina stepped out the door into the sun. A moment later, a burst of fire and a deafening roar wrung a scream from her throat. The projectile had landed at a gap in the stockade fence just in front of her, and the wood was now ablaze. Motion to her right drew her attention and she watched aghast as a body flew through the air.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Whiterun all over again!<\/em><\/p>\n

Panicked, she drew her weapons and darted left, out of the way, looking for some place to hide. \u00a0There were some downed columns ahead of her; she ran for them.<\/p>\n

Behind her, she heard footsteps and a woman\u2019s voice.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve had enough of you!\u201d<\/p>\n

She whirled.\u00a0 A Blood Horker pirate wielding a nasty-looking battle axe was almost on top of her.\u00a0 Behind the woman a mage fired lightning bolts.\u00a0 Frina\u2019s heart pounded; she rolled to the right to dodge the lightning, then popped up under the axewoman\u2019s wide swing and took her down with a couple of carefully aimed strikes. The mage had ducked back behind the fence, but jumped out again and cast a shock spell that caught Frina.\u00a0 She gasped, and once more prayed that her wraith staff could help.<\/p>\n

To her horror, the wraith did not appear in front of her. She heard its spells being cast, but it must have appeared outside the stockade fence.\u00a0 The mage, an angry Dunmer, was bearing down on her, firing his shock spell over and over.\u00a0 Frina doubled over in pain and managed to wrestle a healing potion out of a pocket, just enough to allow her to stand and fight; but it wasn\u2019t going to take much for her to be dead.<\/p>\n

Please, Talos, let me live long enough to see Ulfric once more.<\/em><\/p>\n

She forced herself upright and swung the staff in a sharp backhanded blow that caught the mage across the cheek.\u00a0 He shrieked, and stumbled backward; and that was just enough time for her to bring her pick down on his neck. He crumpled to the ground, dead, and Frina marveled at it; for he was wearing armor almost as sturdy as her own.<\/p>\n

And then a sharp razor of pain sliced through her side.\u00a0 She turned to see a grubby blonde pirate wielding a halberd and getting ready to thrust it at her once more.\u00a0 If he struck her, she would die. It was just that simple.\u00a0 She whirled and lashed out at him with her pick.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The man\u2019s head, still scowling at her, separated from his shoulders and flew up and away to her right. It seemed almost to happen in slow motion, a graceful, elegant execution the likes of which Frina had never experienced before, much less caused.<\/p>\n

The pirate\u2019s body slumped to the ground, and Frina cast healing on herself with as much power as she could muster.\u00a0 When she ran out of magicka, she found more potions in her sack.\u00a0 Once she stopped shaking, she headed for the opening in the fence \u2013 still in flames from the explosion \u2013 and slipped through it.\u00a0 The dock had to be below her, beyond the fenced yards; and that was where she needed to be.<\/p>\n

There was another explosion, just to her right. Frina startled so badly that she nearly dropped her weapon, but steadied herself and pushed forward. She slipped through the ruins of an outbuilding, shaking uncontrollably.<\/p>\n

Another bomb exploded almost directly in front of her. She screamed, and tears started pouring down her cheeks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Make it stop, make it stop!\u00a0 I hate the explosions!\u00a0 I\u2019ll fight all you want but make them stop, I want to go home now!<\/em><\/p>\n

Two more explosions happened, altogether too close to her, before she\u2019d made it out of the yard.\u00a0 Her face was starting to stiffen with frozen tears.<\/p>\n

What is wrong with me? What is wrong? I fought at Whiterun! I fought at Solitude! I\u2019m Stormblade!<\/em><\/p>\n

Suddenly, it was a battle again, and she stopped thinking. Three more Blood Horkers ran from the lowest fenced yard toward her, one of them casting shock spells. Frina turned and ran, back up through the yards, back through the stockade, all the way to where she had beheaded the bandit, and turned to face them.\u00a0 This was a narrow spot.\u00a0 She could take them on one at a time, with the help of the wraith.<\/p>\n

The first pirate closed in on her. She swung her pick down, harder than she could ever remember having done, and caught him in the neck.\u00a0 He dropped.\u00a0 The mage came close on his heels, carrying only a knife in her right hand, and her spells readied in the left; Frina struck her two times, four times, and on the fifth blow she fell lifeless.<\/p>\n

Frina drew her bow and waited.\u00a0 Ten seconds went by, then another ten, and the third pirate did not appear; so she walked, slowly and purposefully, her bow at the ready, back down through the yard and out toward the gate.\u00a0 At the last opening she saw him; a Khajiit archer with an arrow waiting for her.\u00a0 His first shot caught her in the right shoulder, but just at the top of her armor; it pierced her skin but did not penetrate far.\u00a0 She unloaded several rounds at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll kill you!\u201d he growled, running toward her.<\/p>\n

She sent a wraith after him and cast healing on herself several times, then drew her pick and her axe once more and attacked at a full run. The cat was wearing armor that looked toggled-together from pieces of steel plate and Dwemer metal, with layers of leather beneath, and it took everything she had to hammer through it far enough to draw\u00a0 blood.\u00a0 The wraith, meanwhile, was pelting him with magic attacks; they had him struggling.\u00a0 Finally, through some combination of their skills, he dropped.<\/p>\n

Frina shuddered, and scrubbed at her face with the back of her hand.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m so ashamed.\u00a0 I fell apart. I cried. What is wrong with me? I was so scared.<\/em><\/p>\n

But the explosions had stopped.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t hear any more voices telling her how she was going to die.\u00a0 All she could hear was the cold wind, and she wanted nothing more than to go below deck on the East Empire Company\u2019s ship and return to Windhelm.<\/p>\n

She trudged through the bodies, and the burning wood, and made her way down to the docks.\u00a0 Adelaisa Vendicci was standing there, her weapon ready, scanning for danger; but when she saw Frina approaching she relaxed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve killed Haldyn,\u201d Frina mumbled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere you are,\u201d the woman said, smiling.\u00a0 \u201cImpressive work. We started the attack once you made the fog scamper away like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI made the fog scamper?\u201d\u00a0 Frina heard herself speaking but it felt as though the words came from somewhere far outside her.<\/p>\n

\u201cHope you didn\u2019t catch any of the fire,\u201d Adelaisa said, almost as thought she hadn\u2019t heard Frina\u2019s question. \u201cWe can head back whenever you\u2019re set. There\u2019s celebrating to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m set,\u201d Frina said, feeling dazed. \u201cLet\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t feel much like celebrating.<\/p>\n

__<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ulfric was pacing in his quarters. Back and forth he walked, back and forth, stopping from time to time to look out the window.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what to do. I can\u2019t very well go after her myself. I am needed here.<\/em><\/p>\n

He\u2019d been a soldier for more than thirty years, fighting first in the Imperial Legion alongside Galmar and Legate Rikke in the Great War against the Aldmeri Dominion. He\u2019d been imprisoned by that same Dominion and coerced into revealing information to them; information that in the end mattered not at all to the outcome of the war but which, they told him, had allowed them to take the Imperial City. The shame of it, the horror of believing that he personally had caused the Empire to fall, had been almost too much to bear.<\/p>\n

He shuddered, remembering it. Not just coercion, but torture. He\u2019d suffered, and he had survived, but he had committed the experience to memory because he could see how effective it had been when used against him.<\/p>\n

The pain. The never-ending pain. I learned why an animal caught in a bear trap will gnaw off its own leg just to escape.\u00a0 Anything at all to make the pain stop.<\/em><\/p>\n

He remembered the Empire that he loved growing weak, capitulating to the Dominion\u2019s demands by signing the White-Gold Concordat and outlawing the worship of Talos.\u00a0 It was a move designed to break not only the Empire\u2019s armed defenses but also its morale, and that of the citizens who loved and worshiped Talos.\u00a0 It had been nothing short of carefully calculated and designed cruelty on the part of Elenwen and her ilk, the elves who saw the devout Nords up close and knew what would demoralize them most. That was why he had gone to the aid of Hrolfdir, the Jarl of the Reach, in an attempt to take Markarth back from the Reachmen and restore the worship of Talos \u2013 only to be sold out once more, and imprisoned by the very Empire he had fought and bled for.<\/p>\n

All those betrayals were why he and Galmar had begun to assemble their own forces, first in secret and then in the open. They had begun with those men of unquestioned loyalty who had fought alongside them, and then increased the ranks by reaching out to men like Roggi, young and impressionable, who loved Talos and hated the rule of the elves.<\/p>\n

Young and impressionable. And willing to do anything at all I asked of him. Absolutely anything. I knew we had to have him once I saw what a brilliant mind and incredible promise he had. A well-trained soldier with the skills of a thief and the strength to take down the largest of enemies, and yet also possessed of the insight needed to see into a man\u2019s heart and know what would frighten him the most.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I suppose I got exactly what I deserved, turning him into an inquisitor. He might well have ripped my fingernails out, without even thinking twice about it; and I, as strong as I am, would not have stood a chance of stopping him. Perhaps I would not have tried.<\/em><\/p>\n

He shook his head and paced across the room again, stopping at his table to pour himself a goblet of wine. Soon. Soon someone would arrive to let him know what had happened on Japhet\u2019s Folly.\u00a0 The sniveling Argonian the guards dragged up from the docks had folded at the mere sight of Roggi\u2019s workroom and told them where the ship had been headed.\u00a0 Roggi himself hadn\u2019t been needed; disappointing, really.<\/p>\n

Would he actually have come to me if I had asked? I wonder.<\/em><\/p>\n

Frina was right about one thing, of course: shipping needed to be open. Trade was vital. The pirates had not been uppermost on his priority list so soon after the war but they were an issue. \u00a0Funds and materials were in short supply and were desperately needed.<\/p>\n

But she shouldn\u2019t have gone by herself. <\/em><\/p>\n

And soon I will know whether she lived or died.<\/em><\/p>\n

He grimaced, just thinking about it.\u00a0 There\u2019d been entirely too much death. He\u2019d been rotting in a prison cell after the Markarth incident when they brought him word that his father, Jarl Hoag, had died.<\/p>\n

Too much death. Too many on both sides. Too many people whom I cared for.<\/em><\/p>\n

Briinda, for example. He could see her even now, the woman he\u2019d thought might be a proper match for him. The woman he could legitimately present to the world as the next royal consort; someone who would stand up to him and with him, who had the strength of character to deal with Skyrim\u2019s politics and dangers.\u00a0 She\u2019d been an excellent soldier, in the same unit as Roggi, and that had been where the problem began and, ultimately, ended. Because Briinda had said no, she had chosen Roggi, and he had been unable to keep himself from trying to change the situation. It was a decision he rued to this day.<\/p>\n

He shook his head.\u00a0 That was the only time he could remember desiring something more than he had desired Skyrim\u2019s freedom, and as he had told Frina, it had led him to do things he deeply regretted. When word had come that Briinda had been killed and Roggi nearly so he had mourned, privately and quietly, away from prying eyes.\u00a0 He\u2019d reluctantly let Roggi go from his daily awareness; because to the best of his knowledge the man had been ruined by the loss of his wife. Ulfric had finally needed to admit that there was nothing he could do to help. More than a decade later, there still wasn\u2019t. Roggi had gone on with his life, and found someone else to be with.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ulfric frowned at that thought, and drained his goblet, placing it back on the table. He returned to his pacing.<\/p>\n

Probably Jorlief is the only one who knew how very sad I was.<\/em><\/p>\n

And undoubtedly that is why he hovers now. He\u2019s seen me with Frina. So much like her sister was, but so much more. I have finally found someone who might stand with me; and she may be dying as I sit here in my room, slowly losing my mind.<\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what to do.<\/em><\/p>\n

Talos be with her.<\/em><\/p>\n

Part III: Complications<\/a><\/div>\n
Previous<\/a> \/ Next<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh. Must have fallen asleep. Frina blinked and rubbed her eyes as the ship stopped moving. \u00a0She rubbed them again, and squinted; it was hard to tell whether she actually had them open or not. There was a light snowfall, true; but what really obscured vision was a dense, clinging fog. She couldn\u2019t see much … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Chapter 4 – Frina and Ulfric”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4022,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4089","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4089"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4355,"href":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4089\/revisions\/4355"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baakay.com\/FanFic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}