Splint

"The wound is considerably bad. I'm doing what I can, but I'm not convinced that this will entirely work" Mura said, moving her hand over Seren's chest. A bright yellow glow eminated from her hand as she worked.
"Is there anything I can get to assist you?" I asked, leaning against the wall on the other side of the room.

It's a bad situation. Seren is lying on a bed in a ruined house in Cheydinhal. One half of the city is occupied by Imperial Army deserters, the other half by rebels. Arguably, the rebels are in the right, attmepting to maintain control of the city and all, but I'd rather just not be here at all. After our brief stint in the Pact Army, we headed east back out into the wilderness. It was just our luck that Seren came down with an extremely bad fever leaving her almost completely unable to walk.

My immediate plan was to get her to Cheydinhal which was the nearest settlement. What I didn't know was how the town was divided. A bad ambush cut through the left side of Seren's chest badly. After carrying her into this house, the best I could do was just lean against the wall twiddling my thumbs waiting for the healer to work.

I hated that. I couldnt do anything to help. It was out of my realm of capabilities. I hate not being able to save my friends.

"Talk to Leonia downstairs and see if she still has any poultices. I've stopped the worst of the bleeding but only time will tell how well she will heal" Mura said.
Slowly, I walk down the stairs, taking care to not accidentally fall through them. The house was half destroyed but just as ironically, still the most stable structure on this side of the river. Leonia, an orange haired girl, was mixing something in a bowl and I dared not ask what. It smelt terrible.
"Any spare poultices?" I asked. "Mura needs more"
"Here, it's my last batch." Leonia said, picking up a tightly knit bundle and handing them to me without looking up. "After these, any more I make go to our own people" She finished.

Moving back upstairs, I hand the poltices to Mura. She unravells them and begins to work on Seren's wound. Ten agonizing minutes later, she finishes.
"It's all up to time now" Mura said, putting her hand on my shoulder before leaving. Now it's just Seren and I in the room. She's still unconscious.

I sit down on a chair and stare out into empty space, thinking only the gods know what. It could have been a minute or an hour later, but Seren's chest suddenly rises alot and then lowers. She's awoken.
"Not dead yet" She says, turning her head to look at me.
"How are you feeling?" I ask, standing up and walking over to her.
"Like I've been hit by a mammoth"
"Might as well be that. How's your head?"
"Still pretty bad. Where are we?"
"On the safe side of Cheydinhal. I'm going to make sure your okay before we move again."
"Pfft... Don't worry about me..." Seren says quietly.
"Your all I worry about" I say, raising an eyebrow. Seren looks at me, not entirely sure what to make of the statement.

Before I can say anything else, she's slipped back into the realm of unconsciousness.

Leadership

"Wulfharts team will move to the south, cut off access of the lumbermill and then prevent reinforcements from moving in to counter siege us along the road. Imirin's group will head north west, around the top of the keep and hit the mine. After that, she can move down to reinforce Wulfhart." Commander Hawthorn pointed to two areas on the small map we were all studying. The four of us in the tent seemed satisfied with his plan so far.

"Seren can lead her team against the farm on the eastern side. Just ahead of the main assault te-" Hawthorn continued
"I'm sorry, what?" I interjected"
"Is there a problem?" He asked, turning up to look at me.
"Yes. Since when did Seren lead teams?"
"Since I said that she was and since I promoted her to the rank of Captain as of two minutes ago. Do you have a problem with that?"
"Are you telling me that you just went and conscripted my friend?" I asked, putting my hands to my hips.
"Yes" Hawthorn said, getting impatient. The two others in the room, Wulfhart and Imirin remained silent but eyed me carefully. One didn't usually contradict the commanders plan.
"Did you ask her?" I asked.
"I'm the commander. I don't need to ask" He said.
"Try telling her that then"

Hawthorn's rage bubbled over. I'd rather not put into writing what he then said, as Imirin tried to keep him calm and Wulfhart tried not to laugh at the commander's short temper. I left the tent with his yelling behind my back and walked down the hill to where Seren's tent was, a short distance from my own.

"What's on the lunch menu today?" I asked, eyeing the pot slowly bubbling over the fire"
"Goat stew" She said, tasting her broth. I was tempted to make a sarcastic quip about her cooking skills to lighten the mood but I also didn't think that now was a good time. I sat down by the fire, overlooking the flat plain a few meters off the side of the hill where a number of soldiers were training.

"Tell me" I started. "If you were to lead a group... Any particular soldiers you'd like to lead?"
Seren stopped cooking for a moment and looked up at me with a confused look on her face. I'd never asked such a thing before.
"Well, I don't think I could ever lead you" She said.
"Eh?" I asked.
"I said I don't think I could ever lead you... You've always been the one mentoring me so it'd be too werid"
"Fair enough. What about them?" I asked, pointing to the recruits behind me.
"Torvoal is pretty good with his sword arm... though admittedly he can get a little bloodthirsty at times... and drunk" Seren said, raising an eyebrow. "How big a group are we talking here?"
"Dunno. Your choice"
"The Circine sisters from Morrowind are decent healers. I'd definately bring them along. Though as we both know, defending people is always a bit hard"
"Eh. They can take care of themselves" I said.
"That archer as well... Sinmild I think his name is? He's a fairly good shot" Seren said, returning to cooking.

"Sounds like you have a good team then" I said,
"Any particular reason why you asked?"
"Hawthorn conscripted you into the Pact Army and made you a Captain"

Seren suddenly stopped cooking and looked at me.
"Well... I suppose I'm honoured and all that... It's rea-"
"You want to punch him in the face for not asking you personally, don't you"
"Yea" Seren said flatly. "I'm not a token to be bought and sold"
"Well go on ahead. I'll finish making lunch"

Seren stood up and walked back to the command tent where I came from. Almost a minute after she entered, I heard a crash as a table was overturned. Seren came back out, a slight redness to her right hand. She sat down and I passed her a wooden bowl with her food in.

"Feel better?" I asked.
"Much better."

Scrolls and Keeps

"So, tell me again why this thing is so important?" Seren asked me. Both of us were on horseback, riding hard to the east, heading for Farragut Keep.
"I have no idea. Something about morale, destiny and innate magical properties"
The thing in question happened to be an Elder Scroll. I had never really studied up much on them as I always considered old magic to be out of my realm of knowledge, typically leaving this sort of thing to people who knew better than me.
But right now, I had one. Stolen directly from the Daggerfall Convenant and now moving very quickly east - to safety.

My biggest concern, however, was that these "Elder Scrolls" are like big freakin' beacons. Right now it's strapped to my back and apparently any senior mage is able to immediately sense it's location. Obviously, this makes me a very big target. Especially since I am out in the middle of nowhere.

"All I am concerned about is getting to Farragut. We can stop off at Chalman and Arrius. Hopefully scouts in the vicinity can tell us if there's any problems on the road ahead." I said.
"And if there is?" Seren asked - doubtful that even I had to the prowess to stand up against a small army.
"Then we'll deal with them as we get to them. Besides. Unlike the past several months, there's more than two of us this time"

And for reasons that still concerned me, this kept putting Seren at unease. I wasnt sure why but she always felt uneasy around anyone but me. Behind me were several veteran soldiers who volunteered to protect me. Mive, a considerably powerful mage who enjoyed playing with fire just a little too much; Captain Tagerie, A warrior of great renown who wielded a very powerful two handed sword. I'm fairly certain that it's infused with magicka, as I have seen several of his foes discintegrate into dust upon their untimely death.
Those are the only two that I knew by name, having stood by them in the assault on Fort Warden and then making the push through the Gate of Ni-Mohk.

Still, we had a good plan and I was fairly certain we'd at least get to Chalman Keep without too much difficulty.