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| Kitty stood beside Ubergard, looking at the rushing water below. "She jumped over! What happened?"

Instead of answering, Ubergard watched the water for a long time until, satisfied that Helfer was not going to reappear below, Ubergard explained briefly. Then both went to Mikael. A prick from her blade and he too fell to the ground but was soon back on his feet and asking questions. | | | "She is gone, but I do not know if she lives or not. She planned on forcing me to drop you over the bridge in frozen state, to lie on the bottom of the river forever."

"Force YOU? How could she do that?" Kitty asked, disbelievingly.

"Another Shout. Some sort of Compel Shout. I could not break it, but I was able to use VirginDruung to break your frozen spell. It is magical, so I thought it might work."

"Good thing! Otherwise..."

"Otherwise you'd be laying at the bottom of the river and I'd be trying to get to you. If I survived Helfer's plans for me that is. But I have no idea what those were." | | | "But, if she cast the freeze Shout on you, how did you break free?"

Ubergard looked down at her armor. "It did not work. My armor prevents cold from reaching me remember. I had no idea if it could withstand a Shout, but I had little choice. I just acted frozen until she ran past. Then I threw VirginDruung at her. I didn't have time for anything else. The handle broke her throat in some way. She could no longer Shout."

"Damned good throw, Ubergard!" Mikael praised her.

"You credit me too much, Mikael. It was a damned poor throw. I intended to cut off her head," Ubergard said, returning to the side of the bridge and looking further downstream. | | | "Do you think she survived?"

Ubergard shrugged. "No idea. Probably not. Why don't you two go on ahead. I'm going to scout out downstream. We don't want her following us. Ever."

Mikael looked at Kitty, both nodding approval.

"If we don't see you before then, we'll meet you at the inn in Morthal," Mikael suggested.

"The Moorside Inn," Ubergard confirmed. "I'll meet you there." | | | Kitty and Mikael continued on towards Morthal while Ubergard began following the river downstream, determined not to allow Helfer to escape if she still survived. | | | As the banks became smoother and it's speed dwindled, she spotted a figure on the far bank. Pathetic now, it lay gasping and dripping mud and blood from it's mouth. Helfer did not see her as she crossed the river until she was almost upon the wretched Khajiit. | | | Helfer did manage to crawl a few feet away before she realized the futility of any escape in her current state and resigned herself to the inevitable. | | | She then sat back, her throat laid bare for the stroke and a look of sad acceptance on her face as she closed her eyes tightly. Ubergard's fury turned to pity at the creature on the ground in front of her now. She lowered her blade and knelt as Helfer waited, still coughing blood sporadically. "I cannot do it, Helfer. Here. Take this." | | | Helfer opened her eyes and accepted a small red vial from Ubergard. Tears began streaming from her eyes now but otherwise she remained silent. Whether the vial contained the healing potion it appeared to, or a nasty poison, she accepted it from the giant Argonian as her fate. | | | "You are a murderer, Helfer, and would have done so again. But your life has been a hard one. I cannot be the person who ends it."

Helfer looked up at her with something in her eyes that still looked like love to Ubergard. The Argonian bent to kiss the Khajiit. "I am sorry I can do no better, Helfer. This may not restore your voice. But it will keep you alive. Do not follow me. I will have to kill you. But you can make a new life here in Skyrim. You can forget what you were, what you have done. Worse people than you have managed that." | |