Purple Haze Ch. 01.5 - Interlude

Hello everyone! This submission is a compilation of stories that introduce new characters and move the plot forward. There won't be much sexy content here.

The events of this chapter take place between the events of the stories "Ch.01 Lana" and "Ch. 02 Ulrise".

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1. The mage

A small caravan moved along the ridge of mighty mountains. It was heading south, toward the borders of Skyrim and Cyrodiil. However, they were not here for trading. Not much trade happened between the Empire and independent Skyrim since the Stormcloak rebellion.

A rugged bunch carefully walked unsteady mountain trails. Elves, khajit, redguards -- the only thing they had in common was a desire to leave Skyrim.

An experienced Nord guide led them, picking ways that allowed them to avoid the Stormcloak patrols. Right now, he was staring disapprovingly at the Altmer mage, who struggled to keep up with the group. If they were caught because of this elf, big troubles waited for all of them and the mage in particular. Ulfric's dislike of the Altmeri people was well known.

They found a nice, hidden cave to spend the night in. Despite the mage slowing them, they made decent progress today. At least the elf was not whining or demanding stops, that deserved some respect.

The travelers disguised the entrance to the cave with branches and leaves. They drew lots to decide who will be on the watch. The mage drew the morning shift, which allowed him to grab some rest.

As the dawn emerged, the guide was infuriated to find that the mage was not on the post. As a matter of fact, there was not a single trace of him in the cave, nor him nor his possessions.

The Nord shrugged -- If the elf wanted to take a walk in the mountains at night, it was his choice. He wondered who will get to the elf first -- Stormcloaks, predators, or just treacherous unsteady footing of the mountain trails. Without spending any time looking for the missing elf, the group moved forward.

Little did the guide know that none of these dangers got the mage. As he returned to conciseness in a cellar lit with a torch, the first thing he saw was the tall dark-skinned woman, playing with her knife in front of him.

"Mistress... I can explain everything! The companions, they destroyed the place, I was forced to flee for my life!"

"And I am guessing you enjoyed fleeing so much you decided to continue it, out of the Skyrim," the woman mockingly retorted. A flicker of torchlight cast reflections upon her tattooed arm. Thin glowing threads flickered and faded in the darkness.

"Quite an interesting reading I found in your backpack," she told and waved a book in front of him. The terrified mage recognized his own research notes.

"You know, making detailed notes of all experiments and spells is a trait of a good scholar. But you have proven yourself unreliable."

"No, no, no! I still have some ideas that only I know! Do not kill me!" he retreated from her until his back was pressed to the wall.

"Kill you? Oh dear," the woman unbuckled her belt. "That would be wasteful."

"In your notes, you often wondered how do I produce the "secret ingredient" for the experiments. You are about to learn it firsthand."

In silent horror, the mage stared at the abomination in front of him. A thick, long, veiny dick was growing out of the woman's crotch, with a pair of heavy balls hanging under it. She pumped her hand on it, smiling manically:

"Say hello to your new master."

2. The warrior

A hulking orc woman stood in the forest clearing, looking at the white bones of a troll. Her name was Agrulla and she, along with her annoying Bosmer companion, was tasked with finding any creatures that might have escaped from the perverted menagerie that they cleared recently.

Both of them were Companions, fresh blood in the pack as one of their comrades said. Not long ago they got a word that a weirdly behaving werewolf was spotted in this neck of the woods. Apparently, he tried to mate with a local woman but was driven off by the villagers.

Agrulla cast a glance at his comrade. Aeranel might be an insufferable prick at times but he was good at tracking. It was him who lead their team to this cursed den, full of cages.

She stepped closer to the bones and scattered them with her boot. As expected, there were traces of the pink crap on the bones.

When they fought in the cave, they quickly noticed the pattern -- beasts always went after women, but they did not try to kill them. Agrulla herself fought off a huge snow troll with a raging boner. She preferred not to think about what might have happened if the monster managed to pin her down.

Ultimately, the Companions prevailed. Some monsters managed to slip away though, so here she was, tasked with exterminating them. Looking at the remnants of a beast, she thought, "The ones that we killed in the cave also disintegrated into dust. This magic stuff makes my head hurt. It is dead, this is what is important."

The elf whistled, "There is a second set of tracks here. A human, a woman, or a child judging by the size of a boot."

Agrulla approached him, but all she notices was a shrub with some pink flowers and grass around it.

She asked, "Were they hurt? What happened here?"

After walking between the shrub and the nearby creek the elf made a sigh of relief:

"Whoever it was, they successfully escaped the beast. The tracks go to the dragonthorn there," he pointed at the pink shrub, "And then back to the creek. The return tracks are deeper, this person was running away. They escaped, thanks Gods."

The orc woman shared his relief. She was afraid to think what this troll would have done to a village girl if he got a hold of her.

"What a peculiar breed of dragonthorn. Such an exquisite color!"

She threw a glance at her companion. He already switched back to his annoying personality and now was ogling the shrub, which was apparently somehow special. Aeranel took a whiff of it, acting with his usual mannerism. Why did elder Companions see fit to pair them together?

Agrulla sighed and angrily stared at the bones in front of her.

"Is this an arrow?" the elf inquired. He approached herm now having a wreath of flowers on his head. How was he able to make it so quickly?

The orc woman rolled the troll's ribcage aside and saw that her companion was correct -- there was, indeed, an arrowhead beneath it. The beast probably broke the shaft on its way here.

"Good eye," she grumbled. Agrulla kneeled and noticed it stuck between troll bones. Good steel was always not easy to come by, and Companions endorsed scavenging as much as possible.

Seeing that it is stuck deep and it will be impossible to simply dislodge the arrowhead she grinned. "Now it is my time to show this pesky leaf-eater how I earn my pay."

Agrulla flexed her muscles, took two bones, and snapped them in half in one quick motion. She took the arrowhead and inspected it. Agrulla brushed her thumb over the edge to check if it is still sharp.

"Nice find, it is still in good condition," she showed the bead of blood forming on her finger to the elf. "Did not expect it to pierce my skin, ha!"

She tossed the arrowhead to the elf who caught it in a swift, snake-like movement and put it in the bag.

"Was that the last set of tracks?" the orc warrior asked.

"Indeed, it was. Jorrvaskr waits to hear of our victory and celebrate it as it deserves!"

Agrulla grinned. It was still days to get there, but she can almost feel the rich mead taste on her tongue. Even her companion's fancy wordplay can not spoil her mood now.

The pair of warriors turned southeast and were soon on their way. None of them noticed several pink dustbins on the inner edge of the arrowhead, smeared in fresh blood.

3. The assassin

Ulrise sat in the corner of Silver-Blood Inn, slowly slurping a bottle of cheap apple wine. When she first stayed here, she ordered a bottle of the finest brandy they had, but as her money grew thin, the quality of drinks dropped accordingly.

Fortunately, there was a job coming her way. She was pretty close to the Brotherhood, so sometimes they threw her a bone. They even offered her to join, but Ulrise politely declined. All this shit with living in darkness, worshiping a literal corpse, and keeping a spider as a pet really set her off.

After she finished the bottle, the woman stood and proceeded to the designated room on the second floor.

Soon enough she heard the knock on the door. After they exchanged the secret phrases, Ulrise opened the door and let her client in.

It was a redguard woman. Tall, with fair hair. Not as light as Ulrise's own showy white locks though.

The woman cast one sight at her and smiled, "Now I see why they call you Pale Wraith."

Now that was surprising. Not a lot of people were friendly to a murderer who does the dirty work for them.

The woman meanwhile sat on a chair and continued, "The Brotherhood assured me that you have magic talent and can track anyone. Am I correct on both accounts?"

Ulrise snapped her fingers and made them burn with cold blue magic fire.

"Once I have found a bandit chief who hid in the Falmer dungeons inside Dwemer ruins inside usual ruins."

"Sounds like you are the one I need. But the explanation of the task will take some time," saying that she started to pull vials of some white stuff from inner pockets. Ulrise sat and watched patiently as ten of these we lined up on the table.

"What do you think are these?" the client addressed her.

The white-haired assassin reached with her magic senses -- there was no poison in these vials, alchemical or magical. She shrugged, "Some milk drink?"

"Depends on your definition of milk," the woman grinned mysteriously, took one vial, and gulped it down.

"I am afraid you have to drink one as well, this is instrumental for our task."

Ulrise picked up one vial and it was weirdly warm. She double-checked that this is not a poison.

Should she agree to this? The woman was friendly so far, and the fact that this order came from the Brotherhood gave her some credibility.

She shrugged. "Why not? My throat is a bit dry after the wine."

The pale assassin downed it in one go. The taste was nice, sweet with musky undertones. And it was actually warm.

The familiar rush of magic filled her. Ulrise cocked her brow, "So it was a magicka potion? They always taste watery and bland; I would not mind drinking more of this."

The redguard woman looked like she is trying very hard to keep her face straight and not laugh.

"Maybe you will. Have you noticed that I am not moving my mouth to say these words?"

"Fuck, you actually didn't," Ulrise said. "I am guessing it is somehow connected with this potion I drank?"

"Yes. Concentrate on the magicka from the potion and try use to use it to find more similar magicka around, like you are casting Clairvoyance."

Ulrise did exactly that. Her magic sense exploded as if she was standing near a sun. This woman was full of it!

"Damn, you are glowing with it."

"I can hear your thoughts now. And yes, I am."

"No disrespect, but I do not like other people in my head. When will this end?"

"As soon as you burn all magicka from the potion to maintain the spell. We have to do one more thing to do before this happens -- try to reach around and find more sources of this magic."

Ulrise concentrated and extended her senses in all directions. Soon she noticed it -- like a dot on the horizon, a slight disturbance of an otherwise inert world.

"I sense it. To the north from us, now sure how far."

Her client smiled, showing impeccable teeth:

"I knew you will manage it. Yes, there is another person infused with this magic. Find her or maybe him, this is my contract."

"Any specific instructions on how they should die?"

"This is another important point. They should not. Unless until I spoke to them and discover how they came into procession of this gift".

Ulrise frowned, "I specialize in eliminating targets, not apprehending them."

The redguard sighed, "Well, one must work with the instruments they have. You have magic talent and are good at finding people. I promise your troubles will be compensated."

She threw a pouch on the table. "There is equivalent of 300 gold in diamonds here. I will pay 700 more when the job is finished."

"Fuck," at this moment Ulrise did not care if the mysterious woman could hear her thoughts. One thousand gold was good money. It was more than good, she might retire from this damned job with money like this.

Then she returned to her senses and burned all magicka from the potion in one short burst of concentration and willpower.

"I suppose we should return to speaking with our tongues. If you read my thoughts you already know I am in. If you didn't, I am saying it now. Do you have any clues that will help me find this person whoever it is? Other than the vague direction that they are somewhere to the north?"

The client nodded approvingly, "I knew you will make the right decision. And I cannot read your mind all the time, only when you are reaching out to me.

"I actually do have some clues. To the north from here, near the Dragon Bridge village, there is a cave. One traitorous mage worked on something for me there, but he no longer does. But it can provide some insights into how this person came into possession of this gift.

The implication did not go unnoticed by Ulrise. Betraying this woman would not be the wisest course of action.

Meanwhile, her client continued:

"Also, an unusual magic incident happened to me recently. After using a potion I saw a phantom of a woman. It might be our target. A redhead, maybe in her early twenties. No scars, tattoos, or other distinctive features."

Ulrise marked the location on her map. At least now she had a place to start and a suspect description. There were times when she did not have even as much as now and still carried on the task.

The woman gestured at the rest of the vials, "You can take them. When you find and secure the target, drink one and reach for me, I will be there as soon as I can."

She stood from the table and extended a hand, which Ulrise shook. Most of the client's skin was hidden by clothes but funnily it looked like her arm and palm are covered in glowing threads.

"You can call me Mistress."