Morning had come and Vera spent most of the night awake. She'd had a good rest before coming and even if she didn't, she doubt she would sleep. She's had a lifetime of insomnia.
The trip to the cavern was quiet and uneventful. It wouldn't remain like that for long, though. Things always go bad. But she was prepared, just as the others were.
She was fu
lly armored. Her gauntlets encasing her hands, her black boots covering her feet and strong legs and her belt safely secure around her waist. Sported on her back was a bow and a quiver full of arrows, deep in her boot was a vicious knife, easy to reach and to pull out. She placed her
helmet over her head. It would serve to preserve her identity amongst thieves and bandits, and though she was aware the group had seen her face, she still wouldn't flaunt her looks to her enemies in Skyrim who knew her under a different alias.
As far as she's concerned she was still a wanted woman in the Reach and in Riften. But in the end, she planned on leaving no survivors or taking any prisoners. She couldn't say the same for the others, though.
Kayla had her potions and poisons; healing, invinsibility, and a special potion for Aravi.
She didn't need any. There were few abilities in her disposal that included blending in with her surroundings and become invisible to the naked eye. But she learned to not be too dependant on that power alone. She'd stick to the high grounds and the shadows. Besides, they need the potions more than she does.
More for them.
She checked and rechecked her arrows once more, seperating the different pointed ones. Some would work better against steel plate, others wouldn't. Some were made just for piercing soft flesh and to penetrate armor.
"The cavern inside might have multiple levels. If we're splitting up I want to know who is going with who."
She put an arrow in her quiver in the back before adding. "Who's going to need me to watch over their backs?"
She doubted some of them would even need her assistance, but she didn't come this way for nothing. She expected to be vigilant over someone or two people in the caverns. If the group split up, then she'd have to focus on one.
Some of them were capable. Aravi and the high elf. She didn't know much about Darnand other that he was a mage and the other Imperial girl could inspire the others to fight while she remained away from the heat of battle. If anything, she can whack a troll alongside the head with her lute if things went bad . . .
Vera almost nearly smiled at that.
And yet I am, and live—like vapours tossed.
I long for scenes where man hath never trod
A place where woman never smiled or wept
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept,
Untroubling and untroubled where I lie
The grass below—above the vaulted sky.”