Prologue

AUTHORS NOTE:

Hi! This is the first fanfiction I have ever done – and I would like to apologise beforehand for any mistakes I have made. To everybody who reads this story, I would just like to say thank you, and I would like to especially thank Skyflower51 and Blaxconiox, who without their help, this story would never have been written or uploaded. And I hope that you enjoy it.

Ever afterwards, it always seemed to me that one moment, Hadmir was holding my hand and laughing.

The next moment, he was dead.

They had come in the same way that lightning comes – suddenly, without warning, bringing destruction in their wake. There was no warning – none at all. No time to act. No time for a single goodbye. No time to even mourn and regret my actions. Just time to run – and not even enough time for that. From nowhere, they were suddenly there, standing in front of us with eyes like ice, living nightmares, doomsday made flesh.

Neither of us looked around as we heard the door open, nor did we pay any attention to the sound of the metal boots clinking on the wooden floor as they came towards us. It was not until the hair on the back of our necks began to prickle, and we felt their strong gazes burning into us, that the laughter died from Hadmir's eyes, and my smile dropped from my mouth. It was only then that we had slowly, and hesitantly, stood up and turned to face them.

And we had seen.

Pale golden skin. Eyes filled with arrogance. Golden armour that shone like the morning sunlight on newly fallen snow. Robes the colour of midnight. Magic cracking and burning in their hands. The details escaped me as panic flooded throughout my body, making my heart race like a galloping wild horse. Because they had come.

The Thalmor.

And that meant trouble.

That meant death.

'What's your business here?' Hadmir's voice had been cold as a morning in Evening Star, anger and hatred clear and stark and deadly in every word.

The robed one stepped forwards, his voice high-pitched and laden with derision. 'Hadmir Frost-Blade?'

His name. They knew his name. I felt myself shivering, and not from the cold.

Hadmir swept me behind him and looked the speaker in the eye. 'Stay back, Lorianne,' he had murmured, then raised his voice and looked at the elves. 'What's it to you?'

The second, a woman this time, clad in that shining armour, was the one to reply. 'We have reason to believe that you are a follower of Talos, the false Divine.'

I had felt my entire body tensing with rage, and Hadmir had stiffened, his ice-blue eyes narrowing into slits. 'False?' The single word sounded like the snarl of a wolf. 'How dare you?' His voice had been shaking with fury.

'While Skyrim is under the jurisdiction of the Aldmeri Dominion,' the man had replied coldly, 'His worship is outlawed, and all those who follow him are traitors.'

'You cannot betray those to whom you never had any allegiance.' Hadmir's hands had begun to stray to the hilt of his greatsword, and I reached for my daggers.

'Think before you draw that blade, Nord.' The woman had fixed him with a fierce green gaze. 'This is but a warning. No one needs die this day.'

'But unless you denounce your faith,' the robed elf continued, 'we shall return. And then you shall face justice.'

Hadmir had let out a sound somewhere between a roar and a growl, and drawn his blade with a scraping hiss. It had gleamed in the lamplight. As one, the High Elves brought up their hands, fire and lightning dancing around their palms.

'Now, hold it there.' The Dunmer innkeeper started towards us. 'I won't have any fighting in my inn-'

'Silence, fool.' The male Altmer held out a hand. There was a flash of greenish light. And the Dark Elf fell to the floor with a thud, paralysed by the spell, still as a stone.

In the silence that followed, we faced each other. I tried to move forwards, to stand beside my friend, my brother in arms, but again he had pushed me beside me. Protecting me. Just like always.

Hadmir had held out his Amulet of Talos, letting the light catch on its polished surface. 'The day I reject Talos will be the day Oblivion freezes over.'

The female elf stared calmly at him. 'You have until the end of this month to change your mind.'

'I never will. If we are to fight, then let it be now.'

'Hadmir-' I began, but the male Thalmor cut across me, his voice sharp and icy.

'Then you are a heretic. And you shall die a heretic's death.' His eyes turned to me, though shielded as I was by Hadmir's body, he could not see me directly. 'And if you stand with him, then you shall too.'

And to my utter amazement, the Altmer woman had frowned and lowered her hands.

'Erlandir,' she had said, a trace of confusion in her tone. That isn't what we came here for.'

'Hold your tongue, Aravir. This fool will not change his faith. And he must suffer for it. He must pay with his life. And if the girl defends him, she too must be slain.'

'We have our orders from the First Emissary. They were not to kill. And the girl is innocent.'

The man had smiled, a cruel and wolflike smile. 'She keeps the company of a Talos worhshipper. Even if she is not one herself, she must still pay. These inferior scum leave us no choice.' His voice dripping with contempt, he had fixed his gaze on Hadmir. 'Do you truly wish to die for a pack of lies?'

Hadmir had let out a savage roar- and lunged forwards.

And a moment later, all was chaos.

Spells cut the air. Fire, ice, lightning, flying in all directions. Hadmir's blade shone. Roars, screams, bellows, threats and battle cries echoed in my ears. I found myself drawing my daggers and lunging forwards. The female Altmer's eyes met mine for a moment, and I felt my blades meet with her armour, making it buckle and break. I dimly heard her cry out with pain. And then a ball of fire exploded next to me, sending me flying backwards through the air.

I landed by the door and lay winded, gasping for air. The High Elf woman's voice suddenly rang out through the room, filled with pain and fear, crying a single name. One I did not recognise.The word was followed by a terrible choking noise.

And then I heard Hadmir let out a wordless, agonised cry.

I struggled to my feet. I spun around. And I saw.

I saw the female Altmer lying on the ground, blood pooling around her, her eyes staring sightlessly at the ceiling.

I saw her companion standing with his robes streaked with red, fire and ice burning and clustering around his hands.

I saw Hadmir writhing on the ground at his feet.

With an ice spike through his chest.

I saw. But I felt as if I were seeing it from a thousand miles away.

He looked up at me, and raised his hand. He hurled something through the air, and I caught it without thinking. It was cold in my hands. His Amulet of Talos.

'Lori!' he roared. 'Run!'

I saw the Altmer draw back his hands to strike the final blow.

And so I turned.

And I ran.

Ran without looking back.

The rest of the world seemed to distort and fade away. My head was pounding, and soon I became aware of only a single fact.

There was blood on my hands.

I could feel it, hot, sticky, like a thick red river. I wasn't sure whose it was. Hadmir's? Mine? One of those Thalmor agents'? I did not know, and I did not want to know. I did not know anything right now. All I knew was that my hands were red with blood, and that my own was pounding in my veins as I ran, and ran, and ran. Running for my life.

I did not know where I was running to, but I certainly knew who I was running from. I ran as if I could run so fast that I could escape what I ahd seen - but nothing could erase the events which had been played as cards this evening. But my card had been used. And I had played the wrong one.

I struggled to resist the urge to scream. The hopelessness, the horror, the grief and fear I felt overwhelmed my very being. I should have helped. I should have done something. But all I could do was watch. And somehow let my hands become coated with blood.

I did not feel grief. Not yet. I knew that it would come soon, would hit me like a blow from a warhammer. But my emotions were raging like a storm and I could not feel anything.

I wanted to go back. I wanted to fight. But I knew that there was nothing I could do. I was nothing but a Breton girl, young and inexperienced. Nothing I could do would defeat the Thalmor. Nothing I could do could bring Hadmir back from the dead.

I kept running. Flying with the wind, and the angry hot tears running down my cheeks had to let be. Yet the tears prevailed and blinded me. Blinding me so I could not see. Searing my eyes with pain. All I could hear were the echoes of the fight. The crash of the spells smashing against the walls. The cries of the Altmer woman as she fell. Hadmir, screaming at me to run-

And so I ran.

All I could do was run for my life, and predict the card that the opponent placed down; and that when it was dealt, I would be ready for it.

And then I would call forth a card of my own.

The card of vengeance.