We left Whiterun the two days later. We had spent the first day getting some money; Sarah, who knew some healing spells, worked at the temple of Kynareth for donations; Brinn, who proved to have a wonderful voice and artistic talent, sang at the Bannered Mare; and Helga, who was strong and fit, helped some merchants move wares for a pittance. We didn’t get much, barely a hundred septims, but it was enough.

 

The second day we used the money to buy proper winter wraps. They were wooly cow wool vests that fitted under the robes or armor. Helga had a steel armor, shield and long sword, Sarah had a wench outfit. I wondered if she wasn’t going to be cold, but she knew enough magic to protect her from cold, she said. Brinn had leather armor, a light wooden shield and a steel sword. I used some robes that made me look like a monk. Helga, Brinn and I wore the winter wraps under our garments. We also bought some food and a bedroll for me. The girls already had theirs’.

 

We pondered the idea of taking the cart to Winterhold, but at 50 septims per passenger, we were 162 septims short. And so, we took the road to the east. The girls had a map, and we had taken a look at the safest road. We wanted to keep south of the perpetual snows as long as we could. That meant taking “the scenic route” over the marshes after climbing down the rift, following the White river which went northeast. We’d stop at a city called Windhelm then take the road east, following the Yorgrim river, to get to the junction that would take us to the road to Winterhold.

 

We’d been walking for several hours, and Sarah and Brinn were talking…

 

‘So, have you thought of a new song about Raya?’ Sarah asked.

 

‘I have my mind on it…’ Brinn replied. She looked like she really did.

 

‘Please,’ I said ‘whatever you do, don’t mention my nature or that you are my slaves. I don’t want people realizing what I am.’ I warned her.

 

‘Yes, Raya. Don’t worry.’ She reassured me with a smile.

 

‘By the way, Sarah, weren’t you going to teach me some basic spells?’ I asked.

 

‘Yes, of course… You want me to teach them to you now?’ She wondered.

 

‘Why not?’

 

‘Alright. Usually, you learn spells by consuming the magical energy within a spellbook, but since we don’t hav any of those, we’ll have to use the slow method.’ She lamented. ‘The most basic and useful is “Flames”. It allows you to throw flames from your hands.’

 

‘I see, so, what do I have to do?’

 

‘You first have to focus on the idea of fire, and let that idea flow to the palm of your hands. Once you have manifested the flame, just project it forward.’

 

‘I see… Easier said than done, I guess.’ I said, and started to try with different ideas of fire: the sound, the heat, the smell, the image of it… No flame whatsoever.

 

‘Don’t worry, I’ll help you when we rest.’ She smiled tenderly.

 

We had followed the road for some time when we reached the waterfalls of the White river into the Rift. Over them, two ancient stone towers, with a bridge connecting them, stood tall. The Valtheim Towers. We didn’t realize it, but we were being followed. As we passed by the towers, a band of bandits emerged from behind the bushes and the rocks. I could not defend myself and was easily captured. The girls put up a fight, and Helga actually managed to kill one, but they were reduced.

 

We were taken into the towers, where the bandits had made home, and tied down against some poles. The girls were unconscious, I was the only one awake, but I feigned being knocked out. I could hear the bandits who had taken us prisoners.

 

‘Í wonder how much will we get from these four. None of them seem to be nobles. The dark haired bitch even killed Lepur.’ Said one.

 

‘Not much. Gangrum will probably want to take their belongings and slay them if we don’t get an answer from a Jarl in the next days.’ Said the other.

 

When they left I fighted the ropes, but that only got them tighter. Then I smelt something burn. I looked at Sarah, and saw she was awake and burning the ropes with the flames spell. It didn’t take her long before she was free. She immediately came to undo my ties.

 

‘Thank the Nine you’re alright.’ She whispered. ‘We need to get out of here.’

 

‘Agreed. Let’s wake Helga and Brinn first. You untie them.’ I commanded.

 

A minute later, we were all free and awake. Our weapons had been confiscated by the bandits, and our bodies hurt all over, but we had a chance.

 

Still, we’d need a weapon. We looked around, and we found a knife and two thick sticks. The girls took them. I would stay behind. That filled me with anger and bitterness in front of my own helplessness.

 

I followed the girls as they, one by one, took the three bandits in the second tower. We were at the other side of the river. On that tower, the bandits had made makeshift barracks using the existing structure. There were a couple of small beds on the lower floor, with a table and some chairs; and a large bed on the second floor. It was probably that Gangrum’s bed. In that “room” we found the swords, the shield, the bow and the arrows that had been taken from the girls. We had acquired several daggers and a new bow, better than the one Sofia already had, by killing the bandits.

 

When we exited the tower and were in the bridge, the other eight bandits came out from the first and southern tower. At the head, a brigand in light leather armor with a mace and a shield. Helga took the front of our formation, with Sarah behind her to provide ranged cover. Brinn stayed before me to protect me. The bridge didn’t allow for much more: only one person could pass at a time. It was windy, and the sky began to feel heavy. The first drops of water fell on us as the girls’ hair danced in the wind.

 

The bandits obviously saw us, and the first one charged. Helga kneeled protecting herself with her shield, and as soon as she was down, Sarah shot an arrow that killed the man. Behind him, a woman with grey skin –I presumed she was a dunmer- charged with an axe and a shield. Helga got a jumpstart and charged shield first. Sparks light the steel as the first lightning fell not far from where we were, the thunder drowning the sound of the clash.

 

The body of the first bandit slipped over the bridge into the turbulent waters as both women fought, an arrow shot by Sarah passed between their heads and landed on a female bandit behind the dark elf, killing her.

 

It started to rain heavily. Another lightning struck close by, the thunder followed, killing the scream of pain of the dark elf as Helga opened her gut. She fell to the ground, her copious blood being washed by the rain as her entrails spilled over the bridge. She tilted to the side, and the woman and her vowels fell to the river.

 

Next in line was an orc in steel armor with a great sword. Orcs are hard to mistake. The other four had made tails and run away. The orc struck at Helga, who parried with the shield and tried to hit him, but his reflexes were fast, and he parried with the guard. Helga bashed her shield forward, and denied the man’s attack. She followed with her own, that hit him in the left shoulder. The floor was slippery between the blood and the rain; when he tripped with the body of the third bandit –the second woman killed by one of Sarah’s arrows- the orc lost his footing and fell to the river but, in doing so, took Helga with him.

 

What happened next felt like an eternity to me, but was merely an instant. As I saw Helga fall from the bridge, I instinctively jumped to grab her. We were a good 15 meters from the surface of the water, and I reached her just before the two of us –and the orc- crashed into the water. I could not breathe, I was drowning. The hit had taken away the air on my lungs, and Helga was unconscious. The current was too strong to fight, and we fell over the edge of the waterfall. “I don’t want it to end like this.” I thought. “They’re my responsibility!”. I lost my consciousness, too.

 

We woke up a hundred meters from the base of the waterfall, with Brinn and Sarah by our side. I looked at them. ‘What happened?’ I asked. ‘Are we alive?’

 

‘Alive!? Don’t you remember?’ Brinn said. ‘What a sight!’

 

‘A sight?’ I was confused. ‘What sight?’

 

‘You came out of the waterfall in a blaze of fire, holding Helga. Your skin was red as a ruby; you had flaming horns and a red tail, and these huge red feathered wings that you used to glide down here. We came here as fast as we could.’ Sarah explained.

 

I looked at myself, and then noticed cold on my back. My tunic was completely destroyed on the back, the cloth burnt. There was no way to survive the fall. The waterfall was more than 20 meters high. Then I had a strange thought. ‘What about the orc?’

 

‘Orc?’ Sarah asked. Then she realized who I was talking about. ‘We didn’t see him at all. Maybe the current took his body.’

 

‘Maybe.’ I said. It was starting to get dark, and the rain had become a nuisance. We were all wet and cold. ‘Let’s go back to the towers. You girls can sleep in the barracks. I’ll keep an eye during night for trouble.’

 

‘Yes. Let’s move.’ Helga said, standing up. In her eyes I could see that the experience had changed her outlook on me. How that worked for the slave of a succubus I didn’t know.

 

We climbed the path back to the towers, and on the second tower we all hid during the worst of the storm. We all undressed and took the clothes of the bandits to stay warm. They were not the cleanest clothes there were, but they were warm and dry. A couple hours later, the storm slowly faded, and I could see the moons –Masser and Secunda- again. When it was obvious that the rest of the bandits were not coming back, I went back in touching my head. “Fiery horns”, I thought.

 

Helga was awake. The other two were sleeping in the bed –we had chosen the boss’ room to stay. She said nothing, she was wearing a shirt too large for her and it was practically a dress. She took my hand and guided me outside again. She offered me a seat on the lower room, so I sat down. She opened the trousers I was wearing and cupped my balls. She started to lick my dick. I wanted to say something, but she signaled me to stay quiet. I smiled. My dick was getting really hard, and soon she started properly sucking. She was good at it; she knew how to bend the tongue to make a cushion and how to use her upper teeth to stimulate my shaft as she bobbed up and down.

 

She didn’t get me even close to climax, though. She just made it hard and then she stood up and let her shirt fall to the ground. She was completely naked. It was cold, and her nipples were so hard I figured they had to hurt. She positioned herself on top of me, and guided my penis inside her. She let her hips go down all the way. She was sitting on my lap, impaled by my manhood –ironic, considering my appearance was female.

 

She proceeded to rock her hips around in place. She was completely silent, although we both were panting by then. Her arms over my shoulders, she bent forward and kissed me. Not the cheap kiss of a whore, the cold kiss of a servant or the mechanic kiss of a slave: it was a lovers’ kiss. She kept kissing me as she started to move faster. I had started to move my hips, I couldn’t help myself. I broke the kiss and sank my face between her toned breasts. My arms held her around her waist, helping me reach as deep as I could within her. Her nails sank on my back. I could hear her heart racing so fast I was afraid it would break.

 

She came first. As a succubus, I had an unholy amount of stamina. Still, shaking and trembling from her own climax, she didn’t stop until I shot inside her. She had done that to please me.

 

The moment I came, I felt energy go through my body. I felt stronger and refreshed. I felt satiated. “This is eating? I’m going to be a glutton.” I thought.

 

A few moments later, after cuddling on top of me, Helga stood up and cherishingly put my dick and balls back into my trousers and buttoned them. ‘Let’s go wake the others.’ She whispered.

 

We woke them up and prepared. Our clothes were already dry, and we put them on. We ransacked the place for some coin, and we found 31 septims, taking us to 59. Helga sharpened her sword, a bit dull after the fight, and while she did and Brinn made sure our belongings had not been spoiled by the river –some of them had floated away- Sarah and I had a magic lesson.

 

‘Give me your hand, Raya.’ She said. I complied. ‘I’m going to project the flames through your hand, so you know how it feels. It may help you do it yourself faster.’ And She started. I felt fire through my hand. It didn’t burn. It was a strange feeling. The fire came out of my hand, but using Sarah’s energy. I could not stop staring at the flame. When I realized, she had taken her hands away, and I alone was sustaining the flame. I was afraid to move, but she closed my fist, extinguishing the flame. ‘Now try yourself.’

 

I focused on that feeling. I channeled all my energy through my hand. I wished for fire to come out. It was extenuating. I had my eyes closed to focus better. When I opened them, there was a faint flame coming out of the palm of my hand. I felt the same feeling I had felt when Sarah had her energy flow through my hand, but way weaker.

 

‘Practice and you’ll get better.’ She smiled. I kept doing so while the girls set everything ready for the journey ahead.

 

It was soon after dawn that we took the road again. We went down the path to the bottom of the waterfall and then turned East for a few hours. After we reached a sign, we took the road to the north, to Mixwater Mill. The path was clear and we had no more bandits jumping on us.

 

We reached the small village, barely two houses and a sawmill. We paid ten septims to rest for the night at the basement of one of the houses. Sarah wanted to have some time with me, but I was tired. She seemed down, and I promised her we’d have our time once in Winterhold.

 

Next morning we took the road and crossed the white river. The day passed without an incident, but we had to stop at Kynesgrove for the night, as we had not reached Windhelm, although we could see it in the distance. The place was little more than a couple houses, a mine and an inn. There were, however, too many people gathered at the entrance of the inn for the size of the village. The men were waiting in line, we went to ask the bouncer –yes, it had a bouncer- what was going on but as we were women we were invited to enter.

 

Turned out it wasn’t an inn, but a brothel. Around twenty lovely women were on the main room, serving and “serving” the patrons. It was not the best place to sleep, but after some negotiation with the innkeeper/madamme, we managed to rent a small room for 10 septims for the four of us. We left the room and went into the main area. I had to slap a guy –I thought a punch would cause too much attention- who groped my ass. The girls seemed to be doing the same. There was little to eat and a lot to drink, and after a couple hours and another 21 septims –we had 18 septims left-, Helga and Brinn were too drunk to continue.

 

I found myself chatting with one of the girls of the place. She was pretty. After a while, Sarah came to me and signaled me to follow her. She had not drunk at all but I had had a couple of rounds myself. She took me to the basement, which had been transformed into a wine cellar. There was, however, a small bed.

 

‘Raya, I really need it.’ She said. I had forgotten my essence was addictive. She was a bit pale, and sweating. I had assumed it was because of the place –it wasn’t exactly cold inside there- but she had abstinence syndrome.

 

‘Come here.’ I said, and embraced her. She was shivering, cold.

 

She fell to her knees slowly, and opened my trousers which fell to the ground. She did not waste time and started sucking my dick, hungry as she was. She did it roughly; she obviously was in a hurry. Her hands grabbed and squeezed my ass, and I helped her head with my hands. When it was hard enough, she stood up and took off her armor. Then she rested her knees on the ground and her body on top of the bed.

 

‘I need you.’ She said. I kneeled behind her, and guided my dick towards her pussy, but she stopped me. ‘Mmmhm.’ She said shaking her head. She guided my shaft towards her anus. ‘I need you back there.’

 

I was not one to complain so spat saliva on my dick until it was wet and slippery and then I pushed it in. It was tight, burning hot. It wrapped around me and pressed me. She trembled. I could hear her moan. The sound upstairs was enough, and the fact that it was a brothel made for nobody to wonder where her moans came from. I started to move, slowly at first. I bent forward and pressed my breasts against her back, groping hers. She was panting, her mouth completely open, yet with a smile.

 

‘You sure like it in the ass.’ I said.

 

‘I like it everywhere as long as it’s your cock, Raya.’ She replied.

 

‘That makes you sound like a slut.’

 

‘Ohhhh! Yes! Call me names! I love it!’

 

‘What a little bitch!’ I tried. I felt her ass tighten. I had an idea, then. I gathered all her hair in my right hand and straightened myself, then pulled up from her hair. She straightened up too, hanging from her hair. Her face was of ecstasy. ‘You’re a masochist?’

 

‘Ahhhhhh…….’ Was all she managed to moan in response.

 

I pulled harder from her hair, bringing her completely against me, and started to swing my hips violently. It was tremendously arousing. I was basically raping her anus, and she was in a trance. It didn’t take long for me to cum inside her, and not a second later, she came.

 

Then she went completely limp. I had to hold her and put her on the bed. She had fainted. However, she awoke in less than a minute. ‘I have you inside. I feel it.’ She said. She was completely depleted and had no strength. I had eaten, but her weakness was due to the sex, not my feeding. ‘Am I your little bitch?’

 

‘You’re my little bitch.’ I replied, and kissed her. We both slept in that bed.

 

In the morning, when we came upstairs, the brothel actually looked like a tavern, clean, just a few patrons, and the girls nowhere to be seen. The madamme wasn’t there, and the person who said to be the innkeeper did remember us coming in the night and renting a room, but she was scandalized when I asked about the brothel. Brinn and Helga exited the small room.

 

‘My heeeeeeaaaaddddd…..’ Brinn complained. ‘Uh? Where’s everybody?’

 

‘It seems they were never here.’ I replied.

 

‘What do you mean?’ Helga asked in a very low voice, trying not to worsen her own headache.

 

‘I’ll explain later.‘ I replied.

 

We had breakfast and took the way north. Over the way I explained the girls my suspicions: the brothel was actually Sanguine’s doing. They didn’t seem very surprised, neither was I. As for what did he do what he did, who knows what a daedra thinks?

 

We turned West short of Windhelm, and crossed Anga’s Mill. We kept going for some hours until we reached the intersection that leaded north, to Winterhold. We already were within the perpetual snows zone, and as the night fell and we marched north, the cold intensified. Our breath condensed in vapor clouds in front of us.

 

A couple hours after night felt we were freezing with no sign of shelter, we finally saw a structure. It was a fort, but it looked abandoned. We went inside, as the door was not locked. It was empty, so we lit the chimney fire and got ready for the night.

 

I woke up a couple hours later, tied and gagged. The girls were in the same situation, and around us, three armed skeletons stood guard. From the shadows, a figure in a black robe approached me. She bent forward. It was an old elven woman.

 

‘I see you are awake.’ She said. ‘Don’t try anything with me. It won’t work. Yes, I know what you are, succubus.’ She grinned. ‘Them, on the other hand… They shall make for pretty zombies until they rot away. Then I’ll keep them as skeletons.’

 

I tried to yell at her to leave them alone, but the gag impeded my speech. I looked at her furious, until I realized I could touch the knot tying me down. The woman was not very smart. I focused while pretending to yell things and flailing around. The little smoke the rope made as it burnt wasn’t noticed.

 

She came closer to me and bended forward.’ What, you were saying something?’ She mocked me.

 

But I was already free and jumped on her with both my hands burning her face. She yelled and fought me, but she was physically weaker than me. I was angry, really angry. I put my right palm over her open mouth and projected my small flame. It wasn’t small, though. I used almost all my energy, and the necromancer burnt alive from the inside as her skeletons fell to the ground, her magic sustaining them no more. ‘Take that, you perturbed bitch.’

 

I crawled to the girls and shook them awake. They had been poisoned; I could see a small scratch on the neck of each of them. Thankfully it wasn’t lethal and they soon awoke from their slumber. Sarah burnt her rope as I did, and untied the other two. I felt hungry. I felt dizzy.

 

‘Raya!’ Brinn was the first to jump to me.. ‘Are you all right?. By the Nine! What happened?’

 

‘Witch. Dead.’ I whispered. I couldn’t do much more. ‘Hungry.’

 

‘She used her energy to cast the “Flames” over her limits!’ Sarah said after looking at the corpse. ‘She must be starving!’

‘That can be helped!’ I hear Brinn say.

 

I felt dizzy, but I could see how Brinn kneeled in front of me and bended over my crotch. I felt her hands on my dick. She performed a hand job until I was hard. Then I saw her take off her clothes. The other two girls were by my side, cherishing my skin. She squatted and I felt my penis enter something warm and wet. She started to move. I could not feel much, it was like being fed food; I was rather passive as I had no strength, but soon I started to feel livelier. Brinn was panting, going up and down on my cock.

 

As soon as I had the energy I grabbed her and rolled into a missionary position from which I started to wildly thrust. I was crazed on my feeding, and she was enjoying every minute of it. She came three times before I unloaded on her. I fell asleep on top of her immediately after.

 

I woke up in the morning and the three girls were already awake. I sat and ate some jerky. After I was done, I told Brinn, who was packing to come closer.

 

‘Yes, Raya?’ She said, smiling.

 

‘Yesterday… Hunger got the best of me. I raped you and didn’t even say sorry. I want to fix that.’ I apologized.

 

She kissed me tenderly. ‘You were hungry, and I’m thankful I was your meal. I volunteered, after all. And sometimes I like it rough.’ She winked.

 

‘Still…’

 

‘You saved us all. You saved us from our aimless lives. You saved us from losing a friend. You saved us from a necromancer. You can do whatever you like to me; I’m a thousand times yours, Raya.’ She ended the conversation and went back to packing. I felt strangely good. Every time I heard them pledge their belonging I felt at ease.

 

Still, I felt at a loss with these girls. It seemed no matter what I did they would smile and have a nice word for me. I had the frightening feeling that if I told one to decapitate other they’d both cheerfully agree and do it without a second thought. I had to take care of them, and for that I needed the power of a mage. My small flame wasn’t enough. I cast it on my hand to look at it. It had grown significantly larger due to the overstress during the incident of the night, but it was still weak.

 

We were about to go when Helga decided to search the small fort. She called us all into a room a few moments later. In front of us, a small chest filled with diamonds, rubies, amethysts, emeralds and sapphires glistened under the trembling light of the torches. Also, we found a set of enchanted mages tunics that the girls insister I wore. Sarah said they were really powerful. We split the contents of the chest between our backpacks, making sure they were safely tugged and wrapped under our clothes –I had the new “powerful” robes on- and headed out.

 

Most of the day went without incident, if you can call walking in a hailstorm with snow to your thighs “uneventful”. It was when we were close –or so we thought- to Winterhold when we heard a road behind us. We had not seen them in the storm, and they were white as the snow. Two large beasts, similar to white gorillas, but with three black eyes had flanked us.

 

‘Frost trolls!’ Sarah said. ‘Helga, take the one in front. They’re vulnerable to fire, I’ll take care of the rear one. Brinn, protect Raya!’ That last bit hurt, because it was true I needed protection.

 

Helga roared and charged the beast, shield bashing it in the face and sinking the sword into its unprotected gut. That didn’t seem to do much to the creature, who sent her flying several feet in my direction. She stood up and charged again, this time sliding under the troll’s legs and striking at its back. That seemed to have some effect. The beast tumbled forward a couple steps, giving her enough time to jump on its back and sink her sword in her spine, killing it.

 

Sarah was basically evading the wild monster while burning it alive. Slowly but surely, the creature’s movement dulled. It was too stupid to disengage. She kept projecting her flames on the troll until it fell to its knees. The she pulled bow and arrow and before the thing regained its strength, she sank an arrow between its eyebrows.

 

While all this was going on, I heard some crackling noise behind me. I turned around, but could not see anything. ‘What is it?’ Brinn asked. I didn’t answer. Then I saw it. It was floating in the hailstorm, looked like a snake made of ice. It was coming fast at us.

 

I decided to test to project my flames without using my energy. I extended my palms with flames on it and focused on throwing the flame. Nothing happened, and the creature kept coming. I tried again and again. It kept coming. ‘Dammit, WORK!’ I yelled. It was no good. Right before the creature reached me. Helga struck it and it shattered in the air.

 

‘Why didn’t you tell me a wraith was coming!?’ Brinn protested.

 

‘I didn’t know what it was.’ I replied. ‘Besides, I wasn’t sure if it was even real.’

 

The menace neutralized, we kept our march north. Towering over us, visible even in the hailstorm, we could see a giant statue, tall as a mountain. It was the statue of Azura, Daedric Princess of Twilight.

 

Finally, as the storm weakened, we could see Winterhold. The challenge now was to get accepted mid-term in the College.