Chapter XXXII: Warped Morality

"And so in the name of the Divines, I proclaim you guilty of being heathen witches, unable to live in peace with your fellow man, and thus sentence you to death!" Reynauld grandly sentences the duo of literal children to death by fire.

All the while Serana looks just about ready to rip him a new one if her twitching right hand with slowly elongating claws is anything to go by.

The squires quickly get to work tying the two up but before they can even light a torch I finally decide to cut in "Hold." The intimidation of the thu'um, combined with a mass calm spell immediately gets everyone to stop moving and pay attention to me.

All of my earlier joviality and cordiality with the knights was gone as I approached them fully armed and armored, the priest of Boethiah standing uncaringly in the back but even he showed a hidden disdain for what they were doing.

Reynauld, in his apparent infinite wisdom, decides to think I wanted in on the action and smiles at me "Ah, Court Mage you are just in ti-"

"What are you doing, Knight Commander?" I cut him off coldly, the chill in my voice making many of the less experienced Bretons stiffen and causing Alfred to give his student a disapproving huff.

Completely ignoring his teacher Reynauld still continues pretending nothing is wrong "Why punishing the heathen filth for their crimes, of course!" He says proudly.

"Heathen filth." I mutter before lightly tilting my head "What is a heathen, Reynauld?"

"Anyone who strays from the light of the divine!" He blurts and Alfred straight up facepalms.

"it would seem I have overestimated you." I say with disappointment and refuse to elaborate further as he gives me a confused look, instead I look to the duo of girls "And you feel that these two deserve such punishment?"

He blinks "Did you not tell us that there were witches hiding within the fort?"

I outright groan at this "I thought I saw the usual underfed Forsworn. Not a pair of fucking children you psychopath!" A bit of my power seeps through, causing the stone roof we were standing on to crack up slightly but thankfully not outright break.

I had enough sense to swiftly repair that with some rock manipulation.

This time Reynauld finally gets the hint and flinches as if struck "B-bbut they worship Daedra!"

"So do I, what are you going to do about it?" I bark at him and round on the two shivering children "You two, have you been initiated into the cult? And don't lie, it would waste both of our time."

The slightly older one attempts to cover the younger with her body while looking at me with terrified, and knowing eyes. My reputation had well and truly spread amongst the Reachmen and I had well and truly become the boogey man to many of them.

It takes her some time for her to gather her courage, all the while I am forced to listen to Alfred silently whisper/hiss at his students about not offending other state religions. The young knight was no doubt talented and charismatic but his closed circle of friends and contacts had seemingly created a very warped view of the world and how it should work.

Finally the witch apprentice manages to stutter out "My s-sis-ter on-only just st-started b-b-b-" Her eyes try to meet mine but she curls up onto herself in fear the moment she catches a glimpse before finally forcing out "I was initiat-ted y-yesterday."

My lips thin at this in annoyance "Renounce her right now."

"You know I can't do that!" She snaps at me with a sudden and desperate coherence "I'd be tormented forever after death!"

Even the recently eager squires flinch back at the desperation in her tone.

"Do so and I will free you from that fate." I respond without any hesitation and with clear certainty, my blood boiling at the very idea of denying Namira even the smallest possible prey.

Her eyes tell me she isn't unwilling, understandable considering how brutal the cultists of Namira were even to their own children "I do not even know what I am supposed to do!" She yells again, though her voice is slowly losing its vigor as she falls deeper and deeper into despair.

"A simple declaration will do." I drone simply.

She starts breathing heavily, and neither the squires nor the knights daring to utter a word at what I had turned from an inquisition to a conversion.

Serana was paying very close attention to all of this, however. Her situation had no doubt made her relate to the duo of witches, at least somewhat, and the result of this would likely have a heavy effect on her.

As she seems to finally be ready to speak her voice is stuck in her throat, as if something was stopping her from speaking altogether and would soon stop her from breathing as well.

It would seem that we had drawn the eyes of the cannibal cunt.

The girl's despaired eyes turn into outright panicked ones as she realizes what is going on and the knights, Reynauld especially, also seem to feel the sudden intrusion and slowly raise their blades while the squires loosely form up with each other.

All of it would be unnecessary however as I made my move and simply spoke "No." My aura rippled out, the ability to deny outside influence having grown since I had acquired it about a year ago now allowed me to banish unanchored attempts with relative ease.

Though something was obviously not working correctly as a small strand of the disgusting Daedra was still managing to hold onto something. Onto the child, I swiftly realized.

"It would seem that your newfound patron has found it fitting to interfere." I say casually at the now partially freed child "I need you to do what I have asked" In the next instant my sword appeared in my hand and I pointed it at her, as unthreateningly as possible "And then simply touch the blade."

She seems just about ready to fall apart, something I would very much like to avoid as brute-forcing the issue would probably have some uncomfortable consequences.

Or not, but I wasn't about to murder a child to find out.

However, just before she is about to break down her little sister grabs her hand and stares at her with hopeful blue eyes. No words were said between them but whatever they shared must have been strong for only a moment later the older sister spoke "Namira, Lady of Decay, your truths are false and I renounce my worship of you!" And she grasped the blunt side of my blade.

There was some kind of ripping sound as I saw the girl sag with obvious relief and she no doubt felt her bindings come off in the same instant.

A loud screeching sound, heard by our souls more than our ears, resounds across the small valley, a snarl of rage no doubt but it soon dissipates and leaves the place much cleaner than it was earlier.

Even the Bretons relaxed somewhat, though most were confused as to what just happened. All of them save for Alfred who was looking at me with astonishment and respect.

Seeing the two Forsworn children hugging each other and crying, and a chibi Scorch chirping lightly atop one their shoulders for whatever reason, I rounded back to Reynauld and pointed at him "You will take these two, feed and clothe them, and get them to Solitude safely. And the next time you attempt to murder a child like this, or in any way for that matter, I will have you whipped to death! Am I understood?" I bark out harshly.

The young Knight Commander clenches his jaw, his pride warring with his understanding of the consequences of his actions. Good sense seemed to win in the end, however, as his shoulders sagged and he bowed lightly "I will follow your orders, Court Mage."

"Good." I eye him coldly "And remember that you are here to wage a war, not play tournament in the backlines. Get your ass to the frontline and start fighting the actual war."

"But the forsworn!" He exclaims, genuinely confused as to why I would, in his eyes, leave the hold undefended from their attacks.

"Why do you think I am here?" I give him a bored look "The source of the problem will be dealt with before I leave the city, you can be sure of that." Still keeping him in my eyes I look to the other knights, many of them contemplative "Now get packing and start marching!"

The road back to the city was far less merry than the one we took here, my companions were all stricken with a somber mood and many of them couldn't choose between being too ashamed or too angry to talk to me.

At least listening to the Boethian browbeat them about their weakness while attempting to hide his own disgust with their actions the entire way was entertaining.

Though one thing of interest did happen.

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"How may I help you on this fine evening, Serana?" I ask without turning to look at my vampiric companion.

I had been standing at the edge of the camp while going over some mental plans, in hopes of allowing the knights to talk amongst each other about what happened and hopefully getting their shit together post haste.

Serana had been giving me odd stares for most of today's trip and she had finally seemed to gather her thoughts on whatever she wanted to discuss, though I probably managed to guess the topic already.

"Do you have a moment to talk?" The Daughter of Coldharbor asks with her usual emotionless voice, though I feel more than hear the slight hopefulness in her words.

"I have all night" I turn to her with a welcoming smile "What do you wish to discuss?"

"That thing you did with the child..." She trails off for a moment before finally settling on "How?"

I flip Blasphemy into my right hand, causing Serana to momentarily tense up, and twirl it in my hand lazily "This is Blasphemy." I say and the blade seems to hum in my hand "It once held another name."

"Which name?" Serana patiently asks, already having gotten used to my flair for the dramatics.

I grin toothily "Dawnbreaker."

It takes a moment for her brain to process what I've just said but when it does her expression is something I immediately burn into my mind as the thousands of years old vampire gapes at me as if I had grown a fifteenth head in the span of a moment "Impossible." She says, a bit brokenly.

"Oh I wouldn't say that." I tap the blade atop my left palm "Only improbable."

Likely leaving her thoughts for later Serana focuses back onto the present "How does the sword matter in this situation?" Her tone was no longer disbelieving, something she likely forced down, but was instead calculating.

"The sword is all that matters in this situation, Serana." I say and my mood drops "For in the act of usurping it I used it to liberate the soul of someone dear to me, leaving the blade forever capable of severing all bonds, for such was the power that fueled its transformation."

Her eyes widen "So you mean yo could..."

"Probably." I nod reassuringly "Though I'd recommend making the attempt in a more controlled environment, just in case of mishaps."

She blinks a couple of times, apparently not comprehending something "Just like that?"

"Just like that." I nod and unsummon the sword.

Serana spent the next ten minutes staring at me in disbelief, before simply shaking her head as if she had heard something ridiculous and heading back to her tent.

True, it would probably be reasonable to ask for something in return. But she failed to understand one very important thing: Spite was far more important to me than money, and spiting Molag Bal would be as sweet as ambrosia.

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