The cold strong winds consistently creaked the glass windows which made the owner of the inn, Bladd a dunmer, was already regretting replacing his wooden windows to setup beautiful decors on his place. Although he was a dunmer, his body appeared to be more of that of a nord than a dark elf; tall and bulky. Still, he felt some discrimination when he started living in Windhelm after marrying his wife. And these glass windows were part of his decors to celebrate the end of racism and discrimination towards his race in this city. But he feared that this would only be the cause of his financial headache if the blizzard became even stronger.

Right after the opening, his business was booming. Thanks to the unification of Dawnstar, Winterhold and Windhelm into one kingdom, under one king… who was still absent to this day. The throne was empty so the administration of the three holds was given to the high steward that was left with great responsibility. He felt sorry for the poor man but after his last visit, he changed his mind from sympathizing to being creep out. Then he decided to shrug it off as it’s probably also the main reason why the man was given such position.

His nord wife, Satala was busy stacking up the firewood from their storage room to feed the fire in the hearth while he was slowly dying of boredom from the inactivity due to the cold and the frozen stale atmosphere from his customers whom preferred to huddle together on the fire than waste their energy in talking. In the previous winters, most of his clients would drink together and even the neighboring or nearest households would go to his inn then drink to warm each other with talks and mead. Now, the cold cannot be endured anymore that almost all of them were wearing three to four layers of warming clothes and coats. Not even the spicy Vulcan Mead of the Black Briar could fight this cold.

Even worse, the gloomy faces of his clients made it even uncomfortable and awkward to start a wholesome talk. It’s been like this even before the winter came. Right after the end of the Civil War. He opened another bottle and was about to help his wife in serving lunch in the kitchen when the main door of the inn, suddenly opened wide. Letting the cold gushing blizzard enter like an unstoppable gale, along with its two visitors. It was strong enough to almost kill the fires in the hearth that were desperately covered with their coats by the customers in their survival for warmth.

“Fu-Fuck! Close the door dang it! Are you going to freeze us all to death here?!” Bladd screamed as he covered his face with his sleeve to shelter even the skin of his face from the cold. It was a tall man and a woman, the latter quickly closed the door shut as she shook her body of the frostbite and snow while the man was strangely steaming.

“Hahaha! You need something cold to wake you up Bladd! I can sense your dying state a house away!” a familiar voice rang out.

“Huh?” Bladd was immediately curious on the stranger then he recognize the rugged red hair. “Mortred? Mortred!!”

He immediately walked to Mortred and gave him a bear hug. Several years had already passed since they last met. Then he also recognized his hooded companion which revealed to be a woman after uncloaking herself. She had brown red hair in ponytail. She appeared to be shorter than Mortred but she was actually taller than an average man. This made Bladd immediately recognize her.

“Fang! You’re here too! Hahaha!” he also treated her with the same welcome.

“How are you friend?” Mortred asked. “Long time no see Satala!”

Bladd’s wife heard the voices and quickly welcomed the two.

“A very long time indeed milord.” She bowed with a smile then Fang hugged her from behind. “It’s also good to see you Fang.”

“Geez you should stop that already.” Mortred scratched his head, he was still awkward with that title when hearing that from his former party.

“I cannot milord.” She smiled again in denial.

“Come! It’s cold here! We should talk this in the middle room.” Bladd said then noticed something. “What the hell? Don’t you feel the cold or what?”

Unlike his companion Fang who was covered in thick fur overcoat all over her body, Mortred was just wearing his Blade armor and fur shoulder plates. Then Bladd noticed the steaming state of his body again. Then with a single breathe, Mortred sent a warm pulse that covered the entire inn. Making their body forgot the cold immediately. Even the customers near the hearth was surprised at the sudden warmth temperature that covered their bodies.

“What the… that’s cheating!” Bladd complained.

“An advantage as a mage.” Mortred laughed.

The sudden break in the cold stalemate of the atmosphere made the other customers curious as they sat back to their seats around the hearth.

“Bladd! Give them hot mead.” Satala said.

“Yeah, yeah… so is there anything you want Mortred? On the house, as payment also for saving the crew of Ladyboon.” the inkeep opened his arms.

Mortred raised his brows as he was confused on what he did to get this gratitude. Then he remembered.

“Ah! That ship! What was your relationship with the crew?” he asked.

“The captain was actually my sister-in-law.” Bladd answered. “When she docked here in Windhelm, she kept telling me about you and how proud she was to be as a Breton when she found out about the… real you. I haven’t told her that we were old mates but she knew that you have ties here in Windhelm so she left me with a task to give her gratitude, in case you pass my inn.”

“A small world huh… Well, it was nothing actually. My expedition crew was one of her passengers so we have the responsibility to defend the ship if we don’t want to swim in the middle of the sea, but if you insist, two deepbowls of Mammoth soup and keep it coming.”

“Coming right up!” Bladd smiled and yelled the order at the kitchen.

Fang and Mortred sat in the counter. Satala served them two spicy meads and two hot bowls of mammoth soup. Fang and Mortred quickly dug in and savored the aroma and taste of the dish. Then the two uncorked their drinks and enjoyed as it goes through their throat.

“Ahhh… that’s more like it. I really missed this taste.” Mortred said.

“I’m sure both of you are not here to taste my wife’s cooking again.”

Fang shook her head and made several gestures through her hand which was undecipherable to Bladd, then went back to dig another spoonful of soup.

“Uhhh… sorry, but can you tell me what she said?” Bladd asked Mortred.

“She just complimented the chef. Its part of my objectives in visiting Windhelm. No one in the city could rival Satala’s cooking.”

“Arent you going to add more?” Satala asked as she already knew the stomachs of Fang and Mortred.

“Then get me ten bottles of mead, two rolls of cheese and two plates of grilled horkers meat. Prepare seven plates also.” Mortred replied.

"What about your companion here?" The innkeep asked

"So Fang, what do you want?" He looked at.

Fang, nodded and made gestures again.

"I'm afraid I don't understand." The Satala got confused and looked to Mortred for help.

"Oh she's saying that she will get same as mine, but with a roasted venison, and two bottles of wine." Mortred translated it for her.

“Mmm! Leave it to me!” Satala nodded and went back to her kitchen. Mortred and Fang finished their bottles before continuing their meal.

“I’ve got good contracts now, especially that no adventurer and mercenary was willing to travel in this season. So you want to hear?” Bladd got them another drinks from his shelf.

“Ahhhh… that’s more like it." Mortred purred after sipping his drink. “What are the contracts?”

"The prey this time is a rampaging werebear and a giant crystalline arachnid.” Bladd answered.

“Hoo, tell me more.” Mortred was now interested.

“The werebear was a former husband of a beautiful woman in a village of Hornlet in Dawnstar. But due to his violent tendencies and abusive personality, the wife left her for another man. Then he was banished from the village after he tried to kill his former wife.”

“Then?”

“Then he did what all desperate foolish peasants would do. He made a pact with a Daedric prince. You should know which one I was referring to.”

“Hircine in all of his might and glory.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Yes. He started terrorizing the village for several months. Maybe due to him losing his sanity, he didn’t know that his wife and her new husband had already left the village. The last straw which made these poor villagers ask the guild for help was when he killed the tax officers for the village. Which made the local lord very concerned after the attack.” he explained. “At least, that was what the contract entailed.”

Mortred drank his entire bottle and opened another one while Fang was eating her plate and drinking wine in alternation.

“The second contract was on the mines in Winterhold. They were digging under the sunken part of the former city when they encountered a mutated arachnid specie. The last report of the miners who saw it was it was as big as a mammoth."

“Why are you telling me this though?” Mortred asked/

"Here I thought you liked to preserve such rare beasts." Bladd replied. “It will be far easier job for me with less deaths for inexperience but ambitious mercenaries.”

"Fine, I’ll be visiting Winterhold anyway. I will send a raven then you will have it officially as already slain. Mages and top scholars in the college will be very interested in capturing such specimen alive anyway, knowing them." He shrugged. “For the werebear, just have it send to Dawnguards, they will take care of the rest, you don’t even have to pay them.”

“Fine.” Bladd then went to the room behind their counter and wrote something on a strip of paper, then took out a raven and inserted the scrolled paper on its hidden back on its chest. He opened the window and quickly let the raven fly after whispering some words. Then closed the window, while shivering.

“I thought you will be interested with Hircine’s spawns?” Bladd asked as he came back.

“I don’t have time, the scholars of Dawnguards will capture it alive anyway. It will be a good addition to their strengths.” Mortred said.

Satala took out their used plates and replaced it with another newly cooked dishes.

“So… you’re not here just to eat a meal right?” the innkeep asked.

Mortred drank from his mead then leaned closer.

“I’m will need your help this time.”

“Oho?”

“Not just you. Satala and the rest of the Thirteen.”

Bladd was confused at first, then laughed heartily.

“Where?”

“Akavir.” Mortred whispered.

“Damn!”

Bladd slapped the table that caused the customers to flinch.

“Satala was actually complaining about the inaction recently, count us in!” Bladd laughed. “You will not even accept even if we say no, right?”

Mortred just smirked.

“We will probably be gone for at least 4 years but if this expedition was a success with good development, it would probably be even longer. So do you have someone to take care of your inn?”

“I can probably leave this property to my cousin. She would be very happy to have this inn in my absence.” Bladd the asked. “So when do we prepare?”

“Now.”

“That’s more like it! Same rendezvous?” he asked.

“Yep.”

“We will prepare tonight. Are you going to find the others?”

“Youre the first ones.”

“Nice.”

“I’m going to finish this first before leaving. So keep it coming.” Mortred and Fang asked for seconds on his awaited delicious dishes of Satala.

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“Shit… I really need some good fire at this moment.” Sheba complained as she breathes out an icy breathe. She was marching alongside her four hundred battle brothers and sisters of Dawnguard, sent here by their High Commander to hunt another abomination. The cold snow sends freezing blitz on their steel armor, penetrating the protection and giving them an uncomfortable frostbites. Despite this, their division continues through the deep snow until they arrived a seemingly empty village.

Their discipline had seeped through their mind and body that it chose to ignore the cold and maintain formation in a cautious manner as they entered the village with high combat alert. Advancing in a long line of fifteen rank shield wall formation in each battalion, she was among the first to step inside the walls of the ruined, deteriorated wooden walls of the village.

“It seems no one is home.” Jerod, said under his cold breathe while peeking through the safety of their shield wall.

“It’s too early for assumptions, have the battalions clear out every corners and check every houses while covering for each advance.” Their captain Firith, muttered mentally as he then sends several orders as his men continued on a slow march. They were the nearest division that was assigned in Dawnstar. So they were given direct orders from their High Commander to capture a suspected Hircine spawn in the nearby village of Hornlet. According to the message, it was a tip from an associate in Windhelm and the details claimed that it was a rampaging werebear. He wished deep inside that they had a vampire on their side like other divisions across the empire as reconnaissance would be easy with their blood magic due to its great advantage in being hard to be detected.

He sighed and turned to his adjutant Alleta that was standing beside him.

“Could you check for any traces or just confirm the presence of the beast?”

His adjutant nodded and quickly took off her armor, handing them out to their fellow battle brother beside her. And in her naked white skinned body exposed to the cold snow, fur started coming out, muscles across her body became bigger, her feet dislocated itself forming a large hind foot with claws and her face disfigured into a giant maw of a wolf, transforming into an orange furred werewolf.

Then she quickly sniffed the ground and the walls around them. After confirming some residual odor of a werebear, she pointed with her claws to the largest hall in the far end of their sight, located at the middle of the village.

“Thanks.” He thanked her then turned to his brothers and sisters as he yelled his orders mentally. “Third, Fourth and Sixth Battalion! Stay and clear out the houses and search for any survivors! Remember to check for any bites and use caution on every encounter, may it be human or inhuman! Prioritize containment! The rest follow me! We advance!”

They slowly advance with a manner of alert and caution until they arrived at the target location. It was probably the house of the former village leader. They quickly surrounded the great hall and positioned themselves on every possible entrance and windows, waiting for the signal to enter. Firith turned towards again on their company werewolf, who was sniffing the main doors. Then she used her predatory senses to sense heartbeats around her and aside from her battle brothers and sisters, she sensed two presence inside. One of them had weak heartbeats while the other clearly sensed the Dawnguard presence as it exudes alerted beats. She looked at Firith and licked his face in confirmation.

“Geez, you don’t have to lick me everytime!” he scolded her telepathically.

Recognizing that they finally found their target, he sends a mental order to break through the doors. Dawnguards entered in surprise by penetrating through the wooden walls of the hall with their full body armor, then yelling in unison as they simultaneously broke in.

“WE ARE THE DAWNGUARDS!! SUBMIT AND YOU WILL BE SPARED!”

They all saw the large beast and an unknown person standing next to it, as such they quickly reformed ranks in shield wall, surrounding the two. As Firith and Alleta entered in unison preparing for combat, they went from full alert to full shock as their eyes saw the scene in front of them. It was the same to other Dawnguard members who surrounded the strange beast and the seemingly human companion.

Alleta even felt like the beast in front of them was neither a werebear nor even Hircine’s spawn. It had an appearance of the largest polar bear they had ever seen in their lives. It was so big that even it was lying on its side, its body had already reached the wooden frames of the hall’s ceiling. And Alleta also sensed that it was critically wounded seeing the blood soaked white fur on its side and the ragged breathing she can hear. This was scene was even more stranger when the person beside the beast was a beautiful, peach skinned human girl with long green hair wearing an obviously luxurious noble dress. All of them simultaneously felt like they were in front of a royalty, sensing the magnificence and charm she gives off. Alleta saw this lady’s green eyes and felt a calming wave of stupor filling her body. Firith quickly found himself back and forced his mind to focus on containment.

“I am Firith, captain of the Dawnstar Dawnguard Division. We are here to contain a suspected rampaging beast that terrorized this village.”

The lady in front of them, or probably a young girl as they quickly realized after hearing her voice.

“We have never terrorized anyone. This village was already abandoned when we took shelter from the blizzard.” The girl said. Firith judged that this girl was probably 15 to 17 years of age. But he could feel that this person was not a normal girl, as he sensed a tremendous overpowering aura from her. Something that he usually senses from powerful mages. So he decided to take an initiative in diplomacy first to finish this without issue.

“Even then, we cannot ignore the existence of such beast that may risk the lives of the nearby settlements in the possibility of its rampage.” Firith said.

A stalemate of silence ensued for several minutes, which gave the girl and Firith some time to think about on how to solve their predicament without spilling blood.

“Haaaa… this was an inevitable outcome huh. I assure you we are of no danger to anyone.” the strange girl sighed and cleared out. Then pointed at the giant polar bear beside her. “Fine, you can contain us if you prefer, but I request an immediate treatment on this child’s wounds.”

Child? So that giant bear was just a cub? Alleta thought.

“We are willing to provide such service as long as you and the beast will cooperate.” Firith responded.

“Of course but I will not accept any circumstance that we will be separated, even if I reassured you all that we are of no danger to anyone… I can also assure you that we would be if we deemed that we are in danger in any way.” She threatened.

Firith frowned upon hearing this and sighed.

“Then to avoid any misunderstanding and also for the safety of my men, we will carry out the treatment here.” Firith nodded to his healers in the back and had them quickly moved in to the beast, checking its health while others were maintaining high combat alert. Firith and Alleta walked towards the girl to issue more dialogue to get more information.

The werewolf moved closer though near the healers who were now stitching and applying treatment to the various deep wounds in the large body of the bear.

“That is my adjutant Alleta, I hope you don’t mind her standing beside our healers. We are just taking precautions here for their safety also.” Firith said.

“It was actually my first time to see a werewolf cooperating with humans.” she stated, as it was also the reason why she let her guard down after seeing her presence as she immediately assumed that this group of soldiers were not a stranger to beasts.

“As we have mentioned earlier, we are Dawnguards. We prioritize containment of any abomination and if possible contain their rampage and cure them of their curses and beastly instincts. It is our duty.” Firith said. “And after treatment, these abominations and beasts were given the chance to join us in our crusade against those uncontrollable monsters who threatened the peace.”

“That’s interesting, we could probably use your help back home if that’s true.” the girl replied with an impressed expression.

“We are willing to assign our battle brothers on provinces that needed our help.” Firith then took out a journal and asked. “This is just a part of our containment process, so you have to answer some questions to help us understand your situation.”

“True, it will be beneficial for us also to have some neutral party on our side.” the girl said.

“You stated that this was your companion. So can I ask about your names? And your business here in Skyrim? And where did you come from?” Firith asked.

“Oh my apologies, I forgot to introduced ourselves. That child’s name is Misha, we both met and came from Kislev. I don’t know though if that’s near here… and I am Shen Zoo.”