While Kaleeth took Sabine's signal to drink from her waterskin, the Redguard gave a simple, subtle shrug in response to her worried question. "Never can be too safe."

Kaleeth was even more worried when their smugglers walked them through the large group, to a finely dressed Imperial in the back. One side of them was blocked off by the steep, rocky hill, and the rest of the large, armed group was on their other side. They would have no quick route of escape.

The Orc greeted the Imperial woman with a simple nod, while the Redguard was the one to talk with her. "Alright, our part's done. Our pay?" He said.

"Of course." The Imperial responded as he handed over a pouch of coins to the Redguard. Kaleeth was fully on alert by this point, but they still did not quite have a reason to start fighting. None of the group had yet threatened them, and it was not unreasonable, if this Imperial was a part of Viper's organization, for her to handle payment of the middlemen, but it was perhaps even more likely that she was paying Viper for delivering more Talos worshipers. In any case, Kaleeth doubted it would be long before they had their answer.

The two smugglers casually walked out of the camp, leaving Sabine and Kaleeth to this Imperial and her allies. They were armed and armored like soldiers and mages, so they were not at all being discrete as one would expect from smugglers. Kaleeth, seeing no reason to delay, decided to ask a question that would hopefully force that answer. "So, um, ma'am. How long do you think it will take us to reach Daggerfall?"

The Imperial regarded Kaleeth with both immediate and obvious annoyance and disdain. "I'm afraid we shall not be going to Daggerfall. Restrain them." She ordered in a calm, assertive voice. The Imperial started to walk away, unconcerned with the two supposed Talos worshipers, while the nearest of the warriors to Kaleeth, an Orc, grabbed a hold of her. Naturally, Kaleeth was quick to make use of the first surprise she had in store for their attackers. The Orc, having not expected Kaleeth to be capable of any real resistance, had his grip of her easily broken, after which she reached up, grabbed his head, and smashed it into the stone face of the rocky hill.

There was visible strain on Sabine's face as they approached the Imperial woman. It was an effort of concentration to keep her magic charging without her hands beginning to show mist and frost. She was almost tempted to dismiss her spell and follow along with the Imperial until the trap was sprung.

Sabine used the initial shock of Kaleeth's show of strength to hold her hands out in front of her and let them flood with such a cold as could be felt by anyone close to her. It did not go unnoticed; one of the men tried to pull out a sword and grab Sabine with his other hand. He was interrupted by an involuntary scream of pain as an arrow suddenly appeared between the bones of his forearm. He dropped his sword.

In that instant, there was a deafening howl, silencing the entire group. From nearby undergrowth at the edge of the clearing, the dark, blurring shapes of two werewolves burst out at a full sprint.

Fendros had given Malithus' pack basic tactics to engage with, though they were told to use their own talents to their fullest as long as they took captives.

In the meantime, Sabine had just enough space to discharge her spell from the middle of the shocked warriors. The frost on her arms climbed up to the rest of her body and forced the very air around her to become opaque with sheer cold. With a grunt of effort through grit teeth and a spin of her upper body, a sudden whirlwind of biting cold engulfed everyone nearby to her. Icicles spun into existence to cut at exposed areas and the surface skin began to freeze over. They found themselves drained of energy.

Kaleeth, thankfully, was spared the worst of this effect by the potion she had taken from her waterskin. It was not intentional, but the pain that did get through to her served to spur her beast spirit. The thick fog that had whipped up was more than enough concealment to unleash it.

In the midst of the blizzard, Kaleeth had began her transformation. She kept her grip on the Orc's head and pushed it against the rock as her transformation commenced. As she grew larger and stronger, she continued to push with ever-increasing force until, by the end of the transformation, she had smeared his skull and its contents across the rock face. Needless to say, he was not being captured.

While Sabine's potion did mostly protect her, Kaleeth's beast spirit was still quite intent on getting out of the blizzard. As such, she charged straight through into the enemy, crushing two of those who had been caught in the ice to varying extents, then, once she emerged from the blizzard, struck a plate-armored Redguard with enough force to send her flying fully over the person behind her. Even with all her armor, it would likely be easier to count the number of bones in her body that were not broken.

Nelise and Rolaan were the members of Malithus' pack that were charging in as werewolves. They were quick and ferocious, though were intentionally trying to avoid killing blows. They would not place too much risk on their own lives, but unless any of the enemy surrendered, their strategy for capturing prisoners would simply be to wound everyone they fought to the point of incapacitation. Some would die from their wounds, but as long as some survived, they would have their prisoners. Between Sabine, Kaleeth, and Fendros' arrow, half of the hunters had already been killed or incapacitated. The display of magic from Sabine had naturally attracted the attention of most of the Talos hunters, so Nelise and Rolaan were both able to pounce on one opponent each. Shurgrag was launching fireballs at the remaining three to keep them from closing the distance to the werewolves, while Malithus and Arthon were taking a stealthy approach to move around to attack from the opposite angle. Quick, powerful, and effective sneak attacks were something that the Champion's pack had honed into an art form over the years, and Malithus' pack was now seeing that.

Despite the chaos and death around her, the Imperial woman the Imperial woman had set herself a goal to accomplish. She projected a magic ward around herself like a shield, and walked straight into Sabine's blizzard. The moment Sabine came into view, she let out a rage-fueled scream and launched a fireball at Sabine. She was no novice mage to be able to sustain such a ward while still fighting back.

On the calm edge of the chaos, Fendros drew another chitinous arrow and released it to catch the leg of a running fighter. He was not going for killing blows just yet. By the looks of things, the ambush would be over quickly and they would have the time to chase down the frostbitten and wounded runners.

The blizzard would last for another several moments, though Sabine was not left alone. None other than the well-dressed leader of their opponents forced her to raise a ward to immediately rebuff the fire spell slung virtually at point-blank range. Sabine did not have the warning to fully develop her ward and stumbled two steps back. The momentary show of weakness did not last long, as the residual licking flames seemed to get absorbed into Sabine's hand. She was no novice either.

With her ward now fully formed in front of her, Sabine grit her teeth and threw out her other arm, sending a large icicle the Imperial's way. She would have to burst that ward before making any attempt to subdue her.

Since the Imperial's ward was already up, Sabine's icicle was absorbed by it. However, between that and the blizzard, it was being stressed to its limits. As such, the Imperial had never stopped charging forward. She knew Sabine to be the superior mage; her blizzard had been enough proof of that. So, she was going to try a different tactic. While maintaining her ward as best as she could, the Imperial conjured a bound mace in her hand just before reaching Sabine, then swung sideways for her center mass to try and guarantee a hit.

The last of the hunters still trying to resist were caught between werewolves on one side, Malithus and Arthon on another, Shurgrag's fireballs, and Fendros' arrows. Being the thoroughly hopeless fight that it was, two of them panicked and dropped their weapons, while the last tried to run off in the most empty direction he could find. The Imperial fighting Sabine was essentially guaranteed to lose, but Sabine would need to protect herself for the next few seconds.

Sabine could guess at the Imperial's intentions as she closed in. There was no time to cast a shielding spell, let alone drink from her waterskin that she had neglected in lieu of casting a spell before the fight. Her training kicked in with what she had left. Instead of trying to leap back or duck under the mace, she pushed off her back foot and closed the distance to the Imperial as she was making her swing. Sabine brought one fist up to knock the woman in the chin while reaching for her mace arm with the other. She was no weight-lifting fighter, but she was still a lycan and could leave a mark against an unwitting opponent.

The downside was that the mace was still able to strike Sabine in the back. She let out a strained gasp on impact. It was less damage than a full hit, but the wicked bound weapon still cut her and took the wind from her lungs. The pain of her rib cracking was dulled by the adrenaline of the fight.

As the small blizzard cleared, Fendros spotted Sabine and the Imperial in their grapple. The moment of indecision had him hesitate to shoot down the final fleeing warrior. After another second, he saw his allies closing in and shot the fleeing man in the back before he got too far. It was no use trying to incapacitate from the distance he had built.

Sabine, despite not being a seasoned warrior, was able to immediately break the Imperial's jaw with a solid punch, and there was little chance of her wrestling free of Sabine's grip. With her free hand, the woman tried to focus on another spell, but Sabine had taken care of herself for more than long enough to allow her friends to come to her aid. As the flames were just starting to appear in the Imperial's hand, Kaleeth returned with the full might of her beast form.

The werecrocodile put her hand around the Imperial's torso, her claws digging into her flesh, then slammed her into the nearby rock face. Since Sabine and the Imperial had been grappling, it caused Sabine to lose her balance, but to the Imperial, it broke half the bones on one side of her body. Nevertheless, the woman fought through the immense pain to bring herself up to her knees. Now that the fighting had died down, she could look over her lycan opponents with rage burning in her eyes. She was beaten, unquestionably, but she had different plans than capture in mind.

The Imperial brought herself up to her feet, ignoring the fact that she could hardly breathe. In the face of defeat, she started to laugh. "You think you've...won. But you can never win. Nothing can stop it. Nothing will stop it. You...all of you will serve him in the end." The woman raised up her unbroken hand in the air and charged destructive magic through it. Despite everything, her expression turned to a grin. When she released her magic, flames engulfed her whole body. For a moment, she screamed, but those screams quickly turned into frightening, sickening laughter.

"Your time is over! Nothing you can do will stop it! You will drown in the tide of his power!" The Imperial shouted as her clothing, and the flesh underneath, burned away to ash. Her skin blackened, her blood boiled, and her eyes were melting out of their sockets, but she was still walking slowly towards Sabine. It was a nightmarish sight: her burning body walking towards Sabine, screaming and laughing until her charred remains finally collapsed to the ground.

Sabine tried to twist away when Kaleeth took the woman in her claws. She only succeeded in stumbling back until she was on one knee and scrambling to her feet in time to see the Imperial woman rise.

Charging a spell to render the woman unconscious in one hand, Sabine tried to stand straight and step forward, but instead ended up yelping and clutching her own side. The mace hit had thrown a sting up her entire body that caused her to stagger once more. She was having trouble breathing now.

The delay was all the Imperial woman needed to conflagrate her entire body. Sabine took steps back in the sudden horror of what she saw. It was not the gore or the burning individually that disturbed her, it was the mix of pain, madness, and laughter as the woman fell apart before her eyes. Sabine's shallow breathing quickened and her eyes bulged. She took a step back as the woman approached.

"Sabine! Put out those fires! Retrain her!" Fendros' distant voice as he began to jog towards them was no help. Sabine couldn't save this woman if she wasn't paralysed in shock. "Sabine!" Fendros shouted louder.

Sabine took another step back and found herself up against a rock by the cliff face. She felt the stone behind her and dreaded touching the approaching woman.

She fell on her front another pace and a half away.

"Damn it!" Fendros closed the distance too late. He stood over the flickering corpse and sighed. He was not armoured -- rather he was dressed in his city clothing, but he had his bow and chitin arrows on his person all the same. Quickly moving on, he half-turned on his heel and barked out. "Right, get the survivors stable and bound! Bring them here!" He did not face Sabine. "We can use the wagon to transport them to the meeting place! Is anyone injured?"

Sabine looked at the ground in front of her, feeling ashamed. "Sorry," she said quietly.

Fendros returned his attention to her with what was outwardly a calm face. However, the way he quickly strode up to her hinted at frustration. His voice seemed calm enough, even slightly sympathetic. "What happened, Sabine? I thought you were going to stay near Kaleeth? Why didn't you follow her?"

"I could not drink my potion. The blizzard would have struck me. I needed to stay in the eye..."

"What? You brewed that potion specifically. Why didn't you take it?" Fendros craned his head down to one side.

Sabine shook her head and didn't look up. "I did not have the chance. I needed to charge my spell and..."

Fendros interrupted again. "Sabine, look, that was a dangerous risk you took. You're a skilled mage, but you're not invulnerable. You could have been trapped if there was more than one mage amongst them and...Are you alright?" Fendros narrowed his eyes at the worsening of Sabine's shallow breaths. She was nearly sobbing.

"I was struck," Sabine croaked.

"Oh...Sabine, let me see..." Fendros' voice was far softer.

Sabine turned, finding it easier to hide her tears from the shame and the previous horror with her back to Fendros. She lifted the back of her tunic to reveal the welt the mace had left. "Broken bone," Sabine added with some strain.

Fendros didn't even wince. "Don't just stand there, Sabine, get yourself fixed up. Do you need any help?"

She shook her head and began to charge healing magic in a hand to reach to her back.

"Very well. See to yourself and then go help the others heal the wounded." Fendros ruffled Sabine's hair and left her to it. When he turned around, he next addressed Malithus. "How many have we got so far?"

With the smell of blood thick in the air, and a fair coating of it on her claws, Kaleeth could not deny her beast the ability to feast. Fortunately, the headless corpse of the Orc nearby was a perfectly suitable candidate for a meal. Even after all this time, Kaleeth still gave in to her beast's desires more frequently than the rest of her pack. She could control it when needed, but she felt that she was much more comfortable in her beast form if she allowed it control whenever there was a good opportunity. Her mind was not as rational in the moment, so she was not exactly listening to any of Fendros' orders in the moments after the fighting. In fact, when Rolaan approached, still in his werewolf form, to join in her feast, her beast smacked him away with a swing of her tail. She knocked him clean off of his feet and knocked the breath out of him, but being a lower ranked lycan, he walked away with a few high-pitched whimpers, rather than to challenge her.

Malithus, meanwhile, froze up briefly when Fendros addressed him. It had only been a few moments since the last of the enemy had been incapacitated, and he was not accustomed to the quick, efficient manner in which the Champion's pack operated. "Oh, well, two surrendered and, um..." After a few moments of stammering, he turned to Shurgrag and Arthon. "Secure the prisoners and collect the wounded. Shurgrag, focused first on the ones most likely to be saved."

Fendros was quick to point at Rolaan after hearing his whimpers. "Woah, hey, careful around Kaleeth. She's not quite a pack animal." The attention took him away from Malithus, who was already working on the rest of the hostages. Fendros proceeded to scan the rest of the area, sling his bow over his shoulder, and assist with assessing and moving the wounded. He had a healing potion to help where needed.

It didn't take Sabine too long to reset her rib. It would be painful for a while, but she could attend to the other wounded as long as she didn't strain it. She tried not to look at the charred Imperial woman as she went about treating the prisoners, though images of her demise kept brushing across her eyes.

The work was quick and quiet. Soon, the remaining prisoners would be loaded, unconscious and bound into the back of the wagon and they could start moving them to the meeting spot.

Fendros was still disappointed about not getting their leader alive. He focussed on the task at hand for now. Before they started moving, Fendros took one last look at the charred remains of the leader to see if any identifying jewellery or other items survived.

Fendros would find little of use on the charred Imperial corpse. The spell she had immolated herself with had been a fairly powerful one that had burned her inside and out. Even if Sabine had been able to act quickly enough, it was unlikely that she would have been able to stop her from killing herself. Obviously, she had been a dedicated zealot to Vile's cause, but hopefully, the rest of their hostages would not share her conviction. For the ones that surrendered in particular, it did not seem likely.

In inspecting the wagon, there was one more interesting discovery to make. In the midst of the fighting, a Breton woman and a Breton girl about ten years of age had hidden themselves away behind a crate in the back. The woman had covered them with a cloth tarp to keep themselves effectively out of sight. The horses had been scared away in the fighting, so Kaleeth remained in her werecrocodile form to help pull the cart. However, as she walked past the cart after her meal, she caught a scent, then pulled away the tarp out of curiosity. Immediately, there was a shrill scream as the Bretons laid her eyes on the monster towering over her. Unlike the others in the camp, they were not armed or armored, and the older woman did not move to defend herself with magic.

"Fendros." Kaleeth said to get his attention, though the screaming had likely already done so.

The shriek turned everyone's heads. None of them had seen a child nearby. Fendros was only half-invested in his vain search of the leader's ashes, so he leapt up and jogged over to where Kaleeth had called him to.

When Fendros propped himself up on the side of the wagon with his hands and feet, he laid eyes on the woman and the girl -- presuming them to be mother and child -- and let out an exasperated breath. "Azura's light..." he breathed, looking to Kaleeth. They had seen her. That would mean they couldn't just let them go. Not to mention, the most likely reason they had to be here was not encouraging.

Fendros raised a hand and tried to talk them down. "Hold on, hold on, we're not here to hurt you." His hand gestured behind him. "This is Kaleeth-rei. She isn't going to hurt you either, isn't that right?" Fendros turned his head. Even if Kaleeth just nodded to show intelligence, it might give them a reason to calm down.

"Okay, okay..." Fendros took another breath as he faced the pair. "Were you sent here by the Viper as well? What are your names?"

If they were Talos worshippers, hopefully they were smart enough to realise that the Thalmor didn't use werecrocodiles, let alone hire Dunmer.

There was very little that Kaleeth would be able to do to stop the woman, and especially the little girl, from panicking. She was a giant, blood-soaked monster in their eyes, and there were no rational words that were going to change that image. But, since the pair were hiding in the back of the wagon, Kaleeth was able to slink away out of their sight to allow them to focus solely on Fendros. He was a much less threatening sight, so they would accomplish more if Kaleeth stayed back.

Even after Kaleeth stepped back, it was another minute before the pair gave anything resembling a coherent response. For much of that time, the little girl was turned away crying while the woman held her protectively in her arms, though she too was horribly frightened.

Eventually, after a while of not being harmed, the woman mustered up the courage to speak between her cries. "I don't...what viper? I don't know what you're talking about. I just drive the cart. They paid me to drive the cart; I don't know anything else."

Fendros leaned on his arms up on the edge of the wagon and waited patiently for one of them to calm down. The woman's response surprised him, though it quickly turned into narrow-eyed suspicion.

"Wait, you don't know what was happening here?" Fendros asked. His tone was not exactly hostile, it was a strange mix of sympathetic confusion. "Surely you would have overheard what went on before we arrived. Do you honestly have no idea what you've gotten yourselves into?"

Being that a few minutes had passed by this point, Sabine had stabilised all that would live long enough to provide answers. Her curious face poked up from behind the walls of the wagon beside Fendros to peer at the Bretons within.

"I don't know anything!" The woman repeated, this time shouting in her defense. "They just paid me to take them here; to drive the cart. That's all I did; just drove the cart. They hired me before and nothing happened. I just want to go, please! Just take anything you want and let us go!"

Malithus had not yet looked into the wagon at the Bretons, but he was easily able to hear what was happening. While he still had time to do so, he made a wise decision. He ordered Nelise and Rolaan to remain werewolves, and for the rest of his pack to transform as well after packing away their belongings. Then, he transformed himself. He stepped up behind Fendros, though tried to keep himself out of the line of sight of the pair of Bretons.

"We will probably need to get to the meeting place soon. Maybe we can just take them there? Until they can calm down." Malithus suggested. Although, he had not yet communicated why him and his pack had transformed.

It was likely not the best idea, Fendros realised, to question the Bretons while they were still in such a panic. He looked to one side and licked at the inside of his cheek, considering Malithus' suggestion. The meeting place was not a sensitive one, there would be little risk in taking these two along with them.

Fendros looked sideways at the woman for another moment when he had made a decision. He pointed a finger at her with a stern frown. "If you want to live, you will stay where you are until we tell you otherwise. Don't run, don't raise a fuss, don't step out of line, and you'll go home safe with your pay, along with some extra. Understood?"

There were likely more questions or demands. Fendros ignored them. He instead turned to Sabine, who returned his look with confusion. "Sabine, you sit across from them and keep an eye on them," he said quickly. They were not threats worth binding in rope. Fendros jumped down from the wagon and shouted out. "Let's start moving!"

Sabine pulled herself up and over the wall of the wagon to sit across from the Bretons, just as she was ordered. She remained quiet for the moment to allow them to speak on their own. The curiosity she had was a good distraction from the Imperial's death, however guilty Sabine felt about keeping some innocent wagon driver and her daughter captive.

Fendros' threats were enough to silence the woman and child completely, apart from whimpers and cries. The wounded Talos hunters, despite their injuries, were still tied up and put into the back of the wagon, while those that had surrendered were made to walk alongside under the guard of Malithus' pack. They were all in lycan form, so there was not the slightest chance of them escaping. Altogether, four of the hunters were deemed worth the effort to take with them. The rest of those that had survived the fight were too injured to reasonably be able to heal without better resources, so they were given quick deaths before the group departed.

Between Kaleeth and Malithus' pack, the majority of the group was in lycan form. Fortunately, there was no need to go near the roads. Bankorai did not have nearly thick forests to hinder their progress, and Kaleeth was more than strong enough to pull the cart over rough terrain. He was not nearly as fast as a horse, but she could easily pull a far greater load. They had picked their meeting spot as a place that was not too far from Viper's planned path, which they had closely followed, so it did not take them too long to reach it. Based on Malithus' maps of the area, they had decided to meet at an old cabin that had been abandoned for many years after its owner died. It was a small, two room abode on the edge of a small lake, which nature had been steadily reclaiming for years. The grass was overgrown, with the remnants of a garden inside a few mostly collapsed fences that was now filled with weeds. Vines and moss were growing on the cabin itself, and it likely had only a few years left before it too would collapse from the years of neglect. There was nothing significant about the cabin, aside from the fact that it was an isolated, but easy-to-find landmark.

As they approached, Fendros would be able to see that Ahnasha was already present and waiting. She was there alone, sitting on an old chair on the porch, looking out over the lake.

Sabine soon gave the Breton pair less attention as they progressed. Fendros' words had obviously sunk in far enough that they did not feel like talking. Instead, Sabine looked ahead as the wagon bumped along, only giving the captives occasional glances.

Their approach to the meeting place was mercifully lacking in anyone else. To have a werecrocodile pulling a cart become a story spread around the local community was not something they could afford, let alone the pack of werewolves escorting them.

Upon spotting Ahnasha by the cabin, Fendros flashed a small grin. He waved and called out. "Greetings, o lithe and graceful hunter! Have you any fur to trade?"

Ahnasha laughed back at Fendros, raising up her hand to wave back as he approached. "Sorry, I only deal in crazed prisoners of war. But it looks like you have plenty of those, so we might still make a deal."

Standing up from her chair, Ahnasha stepped down from the porch and met Fendros halfway to the cabin. She was indeed dressed as if she were a local hunter, with rugged leather pants and a leather vest, in order to help her blend. As soon as she was close enough, Ahnasha leaned in and gave Fendros a quick peck on the lips in greeting, along with a pleasant smile. "Well, I take it from your mood that your mission was fairly successful? I have some information as well, hopefully that will be useful. So, anything unexpected happen, or do we need to just get to the interrogating?"

Once Fendros took Ahnasha's shoulders and received her kiss, his smile began to fade and he looked over his shoulder. "Actually, it wasn't ideal. Even though we managed to capture a few of the enemy men, the leader of the group killed herself before she could be captured. That and..." Fendros looked at Ahnasha and hissed in breath through his teeth. "A woman and a girl were hiding in the wagon during the ambush. They're claiming to just be the wagon drivers, paid and told nothing else, but...well, Kaleeth found them in her beast form. We haven't decided what to do with them yet."

Sabine stood up from the wagon, smiled, and gave a wave to Ahnasha.

Fendros let Ahnasha go and began to turn to the wagon. "Let's get everyone inside and you can tell me what you've found out."