On the shores...
Orakh went wide-eyed at Leif's torches. He could not believe this man didn't bother to see his right arm frozen in rimes, while the other busied itself with the axe. His unarmored clothing was, well, cloth, therefore susceptible to fire. The wind also propagated the flames towards him, but it was thankfully hail-filled wind that doused rather than ignited. Still, this haphazard action did not impress the Orc. He had no time to correct Leif, only swatted the thing as far away as possible with his axe.
Dumhuvud, on the other hand, caught the torch and lit up an ice wraith just in time. Normal ice would have melted, but the creature merely shed a layer of frozen skin and coiled back to attack. This time, Dumhuvud had the upper hand, catching the wraith with an uppercut and shattered its weakened form into pieces. It should have been a quick victory, that was, until Orakh rolled out of his wraith's way and it flew towards the Cat-Kicker.
“Useless Orc!” Dumhuvud cursed and started to back away. Two to three steps later, he tripped against a pebble and fell on his back. The wraith was charging headlong his way, he propped up his weapon to intercept. The axehead all of a sudden felt tiny to rows of ice-fangs. Dumhuvud braced himself for an incomplete block, one that bound to have attack leaking through. That attack never came; the ice wraith was smashed apart from behind, with a thrown axe, an Orcish axe.
“Lots a people called me that.” Orakh followed up and retrieved his axe. It and the wraith landed right in front of Dumhuvud's feet, a second later and something sharp would have found something soft. “But considering you kinda saved my life, I'll spare ya the usual rebuttal.” Orakh snorted, half offering his hand to the downed man.
“Huh.” Dumhuvud wasn't impressed at all. He slapped the Orc's hand away and stood up shakily on his own. “Do your worse, don't think this makes us friends.” The Cat-Kicker scolded.
In the hastily established perimeter, torches combined with alert mercenaries managed to overcome the ice wraiths. The creatures that attacked were either destroyed or driven back beyond the hails, and from further down the shoreline returned the Dunmer priest, with a female Khajiit in tow.
“They're gone.” The Dunmer breathed a sign of relief. “Maybe Azura still watches over us after all.” He gently tugged the Khajiit, wearing a thin-looking robe and a poorly fitted fur blanket. “Is that your ship? Hurry, we need to get her warm.” His fire-colored eyes darted between everyone.
“Not so fast.” Dumhuvud blocked the way. “You're not going anywhere without any explanations. Start with yourself, the cat and how in Oblivion did you get stuck between ice wraiths?” The one-eyed Nord stood firm, axe between himself and the stranded folks.
“For once, I agree with the Ca-, with him.” Orakh added. He almost said Dumhuvud's last name, but considering their guest being a Khajiit, such detail best remain unmentioned for the time being. “Just what's piddling around here?”
“Fine, I suppose you deserve some explanations after everything.” The Dunmer relented. He glossed over his rescuer, particularly taking the time to look over Sadri and Rhasha. “My name is Kattun, an acolyte of the New Temple.” The elf blinked, noticing his Khajiit companion was shivering, hugged her closer. “I suppose to fill in for Aranea this month, at the Shrine of Azura up top. This here is R'ihanna, a traveling bard. She stopped here to visit the shrine. Unfortunately, her boat was blown away soon after making landfall.” Kattun nodded to the Khajiit.
“I swear they were snakes on those batten-sail ships.” The Khajiit woman exclaimed. “These ships were channeling magic into the sea. I could see, feel the storm building with them.”
“Sure you did.” Dumhuvud said sarcastically and pointed his axe at the Khajiit. “For all we know, you could have been the one causing all this and luring us to a trap.”
“How could you say that!?” The Dunmer launched forward, only to be held back by R'ihanna. “She barely escaped her abusive fiance, and Azura's guidance was the only light in her darkness. Do we look like villains?” He pointed to his scathed robe and frostbitten hands. “We were almost gone, frozen to death in that cave. Surely you know better than this lout” The priest looked to Sadri and Rhasha for help.
“Whoa there, let's start from the beginning.” Orakh put himself between an all too familiar good egg Dumhuvud and his potential victims. “How done y'all end up down here, instead of that shrine of yours?”
“I ran up the path there,” R'ihanna tipped her head to south-eastern direction, “and he helped me, but we thought the iron-boat was aid. We were wrong, and been trapped ever since.”
“She came on the day the disaster happened, I think it was the 6th? Probably a week ago. We've stayed up there for four, no, five days, then the metal-ship came.” The Dunmer clarified, talking as fast as he could in spite of biting winds. “They were so different from the red, wooden vessels that came during the disaster. We packed up, came down here thinking they were rescuers like you, then it shot ice shards at us.” He sighed and shook his head. “We ducked in that cave inland, but the path up was already blocked by ice wraiths. The fire was the only thing keeping us alive.”
“Kamals.” Dumhuvud gritted his teeth. “Did that ship leave? Have you seen it since.”
“The what?” Kattun and R'ihanna traded glances, both completely puzzled. “Well, it went away fairly quick. That way, to the east.”
“I'll be damned.” Orakh admitted. “Alright, I reckon these folks have gone through quite the whopping. Let's get them settled back on-board.” The Orc told everyone. Dumhuvud was surprising cooperative in getting out of the way.
“Check her up and do your cat things.” Dumhuvud said to Rhasha. “And you two, keep an eye out on the holy man; I don't trust either of them.” Grunting to Sadri and Leif, Dumhuvud began herding the group to the ship. “In the mean time, I'll be writing this shit up for Ashav.”
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