As promised;

Chapter 15

Although some of the officers weren't too happy with our plan, they couldn't give us a better idea, so we put ours into action. Ten soldiers went to prepare the barricade on the ruined docks while the rst of us hid as well as we could amongst the debris in the courtyard. The soldiers returned, and we put our plan into action. Gravius lit the fuse as the best magic user we had began to cast.

It worked almost perfectly, the fake ballista bolt hitting the barrier at almost the same time as the explosives went off. What was once the makeshift barricade was now burnt splinters, ash, and a gaping hole in the castle's defence.

As expected, the ships stopped their barrage and a group of about twenty men hurried forward. Perfect. I retreated from my vantage point on the walls and got to my place.

The men surged into the courtyard, swords out and ready to fight. What they got was me. On the far side of the courtyard, numerous corpses of imperials and slaves alike between us, I was the only one left for them to fight.

all but one of them sheathed their swords. The one who didn't began to walk twords me. I raised my blade and called into the night, "This fort is held by the Imperials Legion; you are not welcome here, begone!"

The man laughed at me, "We are the hand's of the Nerevarine, where he bids us go, we go. Now," He raised his sword to fighting position, "prepare to die."

"You first." With a yell, I ran forward and engaged him. I was vaguely aware of the rest of his group being attacked by our ambush before the swordplay I was busy with halted my observations.

our swords met with a clash, he backed off and tried to get my flank. I turned on him and slashed at his head. He parried easily, turning his defensive maneuver into a chop. I sidestepped the blow and brought the flt of my blade down on his helmet. He staggered back, his headpeice ringing like a gong.

He recovered uickly and lunged tword me. I deflected his thrust at the last second, then spun around, wedging my sword into the small chink between his breastplate and greaves. He let out a cry of pain, then attacked in a fury. I gave ground fast, barely managing to block the many varied assaults he threw at me.

Then I did something that surprised the dunmer as much as it did me. My tail swung around from behind me, wrenched the sword out of the dunmer's hand, and held it. From somewhere, three swords, one imperial and the other two similar to the one my tail now held, flew between us. In a fraction of a second, my opponent, armed with two blades, and I, with three, re-engaged.

The only way I can describe the rest of the fight would be insanely fast; the two of us were not much more than blurs dancing about the courtyard. Eventually my superior firepower wearied him, and he fell, my tail's sword lodged into his throat.

Another update..finally, lol. Great job once again, stargate. I anxiously await the next passage.

A very interesting use for a tail. It's clear that your character knows more about fighting than this story has let on. Will we find out more of the character's history and discover how the character learned to use the tail in combat?

um.... yeah....

*furiously rewrites chapter 16*


But the next one is sorta boring compared to that last one. But he does get a name finally!

What do you mean 'you never noticed'?

here ya go.

Chapter 16

I pulled the sword from the mer's throat. His warm blood slid down the blade and onto my hand as the lifeless corpse kneeled, then slowly, ever so slowly, fell to the ground. I could hear all three of my swords fall to the ground, but I don't ever remember releasing them. I had killed a man. He might have had friends, family, parents, a wife. I snuffed him out of existence like I would a candle, although none had the means to relight this flame. His glazed, sightless eyes stared at me in shock and reproach. I had killed him.

And I had liked it.

The adrenaline coursing through me, the thrill of the battle, the feeling of invincibility as the cold steel slid into his throat like a knife into butter. There is nothing I can write that can describe that feeling. It was amazing, it was sensual, it was arousing.

And it was revolting. The joy of the kill quickly evolved to one of utter nausea and sickness. I turned to the side and emptied my stomach. Slightly relieved, I tore my gaze from the corpse and looked around me. I saw the Imperials around me and my opponent. They looked so tall, it took me a moment to realize that I was on my knees. Gravious and another, and Argonian, raised me up and half carried, half dragged me to stone on the edge of the courtyard and sat me down. In front of me I could see them stripping the bodies of the dunmer, just like we had planned.

As the cuirass of the dunmer nearest me came off, I saw a piece of jewelry come off his neck and fall near my feet. I picked up the locket and opened it. Inside was the picture of a young, beautiful woman. On the reverse side it read; to my dearest father... He was a father, he had a wife and kids, and we killed him.

The next thing I remember is waking up in a cave, Gravius at my side. I was unbound, so it must have worked. the rest of the army had no reason to doubt a troop of their own men escorting captured slaves north to the prison compound. Fifty of us were saved from certain death that night in Ebonhart, but at the cost of my own conscience. I had killed a man, and I would have to live with that for the rest of my life. An equal trade, you say? perhaps, but only time will tell.

Hey! I thought you said he was going to get a name?!?!? Well, there goes the story.
Seriously, a great update. I was glad to see that the plan worked out for them. I also enjoyed your description of the character's inner struggle with just having killed. Although, his experience with swords might indicate this wasn't the first time?

secret plot twist with the sword. as for the name, I mixed 16 and 17, which is sitting on my desk, up in my head. He gets one next time, I promise.

Well, I guess we can wait until the next chapter to learn the name. I will definitely look forward to someday learning about the "secret plot twist" with the sword.

*double post*

Who told you about that?

Really though, who said anything about the sword?

It looks like you did. Perhaps you had already forgotten?

I guess it's not much of a secret anymore (except for what the twist actually is)

I meant the 'sword' as 'sword being weilded by tail'. The sword itself won't have a backstory.

*looks about misceviously*
or WILL it?

Chapter 17

During the days that followed I learned more and more about what it was exactly we had gotten ourselves into. We were living in a cave outside of Vivec, an abandoned smuggler's den by the looks of it. Plenty of room for all of us, though not the most comfortable accomodations.

To my annoyance, I was now even more respected by everyone, almost to the point of worship. I didn't want that kind of fame, all I wanted was to go home. While I was here though, I certainly didn't want to be known for a murder. I found that this would be hard to avoid, as there was a 20,000 gold peice reward for my head, and there was rumored to be a poem circling around Vivec entitled 'The Hero of Fort Ebonhart' about my 'heroic deeds'.

We stayed there a grand total of three weeks, resorting to highway robbery to feed ourselves. Suspicions in Vivec weregetting high, and demand for us to be found was mounting. Time to relocate, and, since I was now the leader by general consent, 'Sword-tail' was the one to decide on where.

I got together Gravious, Holds-The-Shield, the best argonian warrior we had with us, and Maer' Kesh, the master theif, to help make the descision. Obviously, we ruled out Suran, Vivec, Balmora, and Seyda Neen as hiding places, as well as the smaller villages on the western coast; the former were hotbeds of enemies, and the latter were too small to move through without attracting attention. The Redoran we rejected as well; even though they could shelter us, the weren't nearly strong enough to go against the nerevarine.

That left Dagon Fel and the surrounding islands in the North, or the telvanni lands in the east. After awhile we decided on Dagon Fel. Although the prospects there were bleaker, and the telvanni had no love of the Nerevarine, we somehow thought that marching a groupd of Khajiit and Argonians through the lands of experiment-happy wizards would be a bad thing.

Dagon Fel it was, though now we had to decide the route we would take. A straight line north would take us through Red Mountain. Although it was now idyllic farmland, it was heavily patroled. East, we could use he telvanni as cover, but they were almost as dangerous to us. West would be a difficult marchthrough swampland and bogs, although it would be the least likely to pose military resistance to us. The least of three evils, and the descision was on my shoulders.

Thankfully, Maer' Kesh had an alternative option, one perfectly suited for us to carry out, one that could prevent any more deaths. Now all we had to do was find one person, and we would be home free.

The plot tightens now.....so dwelling in a cave near Vivec....doesn´t seem to be the nicest place on Nirn huh?

Good story Stargate......I read it with pleasure

wow this is terrible tsk...tsk..tsk..

only joking its quite good,

just kidding.

Another great update. Once again, you have left us in great suspense. I'm assuming you do this on purpose; leaving out a critical detail just so we'll want to read more. Well, it certainly is working. I will look forward to finding out who this person is that they need to find, and how he/she will get them out of this mess.

suspence? why, whatever do you mean?

Glad it's working.

Chapter 18

Once again I found myself in the Arena Canton of Vivec. Although it had been almost a month since my little 'visit' here, it seemed like only yesterday. This time, I was cloaked in black robes, cape, and hood, partially against the rain, partially to hide the fact that I was an Argonian, and partially to hide my visage as the most wanted man in Vvardenfell.

It's ironic I thought to myself, dark day for dark buisness.

And it was dark buisness that brought me here. Some would call it madness. Waltz into the Nerevarine's own arena dungeon, release a prisoner there, and get him out of the city without any of the guards being any the wiser.

Alone.

The crowds thinned as I moved farther down the canton, until I was alone in the dry beige hallways. I checked the map I had gotten from the informant, and headed towords the dungeon. Inside, miraculously, there were no guards, but the retreating footsteps from the door across the chamber showed they were taking another victim up to the arena floor to be eaten by soem vicious creature.

I moved down the row of doors, checking the paper scrawlings of each, until I reached the one I was looking for. I quickly 'persuaded' the lock by way of scroll, and entered the cell. Inside was a man; aged and decrepit, his grey hair, at least what was left of it, was matted down on his head by layers of dirt, grime, and sweat. This most certainly did not look like the master strategist I had come to collect, but, checking the door's nameplate again, it must be the right person. I hefted his unconsious figure over my shoulder and staggered out of the prison block, down to the underworks below.

We met the informant there, an argonian freedom-fighter by the name of Runs-the-race. He got us out of the city that night by way of 'borrowed' gondola, with the promise of being ready for our signal.

It was at this time that my jailbird friend decided to awake. He looked at me and asked, "Who are you?"

"A friend Caius," I replied, "a friend."

A curious development, to be sure. I'll look forward to finding out if Caius can live up to this little band's expectations.

just wanted to say that this isn't dead, and that I should update with another by Jan. 10.