This is my first story so bare with me if it is not the best. It probobly isnt exact in Oblivion mith and the places are not correct distances. Thank you and enjoy I hope.


INTRODUCTION


It was a hot summer day in the Imperial City, my wife and I had gone out to the shops. I went into the shop and had told her to wait outside for me. Upon entry an immediate wave of heat struck me in the face. It took me a while to barter with the shopkeeper, he was a greedy obese orc who smelled of high hell. I finally got out of that cursed shop when I saw something horrible. As I excited the premises I saw my wife. Something wasn’t right though. There were imperial guards holding her to the ground while she screamed. A mage was on top of her.

A primordial rage burned into my soul and I charged strait at the mage. My sword rang down death upon him slicing into his back severing muscle tissue. The mage had been paralyzed by my attack.

The guards turned quickly to face me. One swung for my neck. Quickly I parried the blow away, spun around and unleashed a fireball that engulfed two guards. They began to run around screaming while being roasted alive in their armor. I felt the loss of strength ebb from my body but it didn’t matter. I turned back towards the mage his face full of horror. I stalked towards him, my heart was beating faster and faster. Warmth flew through my body and numbness had overcome me. I was next to the mage now. My hands trembling with rage I stabbed him in his chest puncturing a lung. He began to cough up blood and was dead in a matter of seconds.


At this point the other three guards had come around the corner. They swore and pulled their bows on me. Their hands began to pluck at the string that would make death fly in my direction. I jumped for the nearby packing crate. The arrows stuck into the wooden crate. THUNK THUNK THUNK! The punctured crate began to ooze the drug known as skooma. I pushed that from my mind as I readied myself to conjure up another flame of death.


One of the guards seeing what I was about to do put up his shield to block my magic, but quickly changed my target to the guard on my far right. He was readying his bow for another volley on my position. AAHGHAAGAhuuuu. Another one being baked in his own armor. Seeing that their companion was dying a horribly painful death I charged the guard in the middle who still had his bow up. In an instant my sword wedged into his flesh and punctured the life sustaining organ. A fountain of blood erupted from the cavity that was left from my sword.

The last guard seeing this began to run. I picked up the now dead guards bow. I steadied the bow pulled back the string that had just moments before been used upon me and let fly. The quarrel struck the man in the back of his thigh. He dropped instantly screaming in pain.

Reaching for my dagger. I came up to the last guard and mercifully plunged it into the back of his neck, the dagger reaching all of the way through to show the tip on the other side.

It was about midday now and I had dragged all of the tainted guards onto the side of the road to show this corrupt unjust empire that there was at least one person that they should think about messing with.

Its all good, but I suggest you start off slower in the introduction 6 people already died.

Wow, this guy is brutally efficient in his way of disposing the baddies. I wonder what he does that makes him so proficient in archery, magic, AND swordsmanship. Hopefully we'll get to find out.

I was surprised to see Imperial Guards do such a thing out in the open like that though; seems a little out of character for them. I wonder if their motives will be revealed in the future.

All the same, an interesting starting. I'd certainly like to see more. Welcome to the Fan Fiction Forums!

Thank you and yes it is revealed. It has actually allready been writen but i want to release it like other people in sections. I forgot who said it but they said it was more fun that way and I have to agree.

Edit: I mess up alot when I try to type without thinking... ... ...

No wories, I have that same problem when I don't analyze my own writing. Not a bad start, Tulustan.

Typing without thinking, I guess we all do that.

Shinnok and Mallet are right. Man, that guy sure is good at slaying. I can't think of many fanfic characters who would be able to match that, not in that timespan anyway. Hmm, let's see. Simion (possessed Simion specifically.), Taillus (No comment here, that guy is just walking death.), Telina Delvanni (especially on a bad day.), any of Revan's dudes (Though they're not exactly TES.) and Ra'trith (Preferably non-werewolf.)

What got me hooked to this story is not the fighting prowess though, but the depiction of a less than perfect empire. Most of the time, the good guys are at the side of the Empire while the bad guys are out to do something bad to said Empire. Seeing it the other way around is an interesting change.

Thanks I was trying to show him trying to get revenge right there in a bloodlust against the people who murdered his wife. Here is the next part.


CHAPTER ONE: THE GREAT ESCAPE


It had begun to dawn on me that soon more Imperial Guards would come and see that some of their men had died. If they saw me standing around I doubted I could hold them off. My body was shaking violently and I could barely steady my hands. I darted to the nearest shop known as "The Mystic Emporium". Once inside I saw the shop keeper.

She was a tall high elf. Her hair went down to about her shoulders, it had a sickly green shade in the candle lit stone shop. Her face had deep wrinkles. I asked her if she had a basement I could hide in. Of course she was curios. I told her my story as fast as I could. She opened the door to look outside.

She saw the dead guards and gave a gasp. "Oh my" she said in slight disbelief. I asked her if she could help me. She replied in a quitted tone, "You are in good hands friend, hurry here is a key to go down into the basement. We are a small underground resistance that is fighting the oppression of the Elder Council ever since our great Emperor Martin Septum’s’ sacrifice, now hurry down".

As I opened the door and walked down I heard a friendly voice calling me. "Hey you, hurry down we don't have much time they lock the sewer system in about an hour". I turned a corner. There I saw a rough looking wood elf standing and staring at me. He had short messy dark brown hair, and a stocky frame like a hardened woodsman. On his back he had a magnificent Battle Axe and in his sheath what looked to be a heavily enchanted sword. From the little bit that was showing I could see an eerie green light.

"C'mon" he said to me as he grabbed my arm and led me down a small man hole. When we reached the bottom of the ladder the stench of the sewers hit me. He lit up a match and we headed to a small gate. He jingled the keys carelessly as he pulled them out of his coat pockets and began to unlock the gate.

We began a brisk walk down the sewer for about an hour. "Strange" he said in a confused voice. "There is usually a goblin or two down here, even the rats are gone".

We kept walking then veered to the right. In a hushed tone he began to say "We are almo-" WHIIP as an arrow whizzed by nearly hitting him in the chest. "They must have found out about our escape passage from that rat Kajerrel, durned kajiits will do anything for money".

"FIRE AT WILL MEN" sounded out from an Imperial Legions mouth as another volley came in. Down! I yelled as I pulled my guide to the ground with me. I heard the arrows fly overhead and began to summon a fireball.

SHHHFIZZZZZ CRACK
my fireball had missed them but it had bloomed into a beautiful display of red and orange anger which highlighted the three Imperial Legionaries. At this point my guide had been stealthily sneaking up on the group of ambushers. Then a blinding green light erupted from where the ambushers were, a second later a scream rang out. Not knowing who it was I summoned another fireball.

Before I could send it off another blinding green light flared up from down the hall. Another scream echoed towards me, then another. It became quiet and still. I just stood there like a dumb animal until I felt a pull at my sleeve. "You okay"? I heard a familiar voice say. Still awestruck half blind from the green light I began to walk forwards. Finally we reached the end of the sewers.

Looking around I saw that we were right outside the prison. "Ok now that we are outside we need to get to the boat and head out to Old Bridge, there we spend the night and stock up on gear. From there you are on your own".

I did not remember asking his name, so I asked it. "Anewak, I thought I had told you that earlier". The rest of the trip was pretty quiet as we got onto the boat and made camp at Old Bridge.


EDIT: Added a few small details to make it a little more understandable.

Ahhh, things are certainly becoming more clear with this update. So perhaps Councillor Ocato isn't the nice person we all suspected he was, or maybe he's imprisoned by the other Coucillors, or perhaps he's been changed by the lust of power, I can't say for sure. But knowing this is after the fall of the Septim line is really good to know.

Right now you've setup a pretty relentless pace of action so far. While action is great and all (these scenes are also written quite descriptively. This if the first time I've seen onamonapeia(sp) on these forums) I do hope you balance this with plot and/or character development.

Continue when you please.

Thanks I had to look up the definition on dictionary.com to be honest with you. The next update is coming shortly.

Here it is... anyway the background is after this just bear with me thank you.


CHAPTER TWO: OLD FORTS

I awoke as the sun was still below the horizon. It was damp and my back ached. As i sat up I found the rock that had made my back so sore.

"You must had some interesting dreams, because you where moaning my name all night" Anewak said in a humorous tone.

"What! No you lie" I said as my face began to turn hot red in embarrassment.

"Oh thats fine but just so you know I do not roll like that. Well I cant seem to find the supplies that we usually leave here. There is another way station down at old Fort Homestead. We should head out now if we want to make it there by night fall." Anewak said as he began to head towards what I believed to be east.

As we walked along the road we noticed some traders and guards. Since the guards did not recognize us or instantly start to attack us I thought we would be safe, because they obviously didn't have a picture of us out for a bounty.

The sun had begun to set when I saw the silhouette of a old fort that had seen better days. As I neared I noticed that the mortar was coming loose and there where piles of bricks everywhere. A protrusion of green was evident on the outer wall, as some sort of plant was growing on it. Then I noticed the Kajiit standing guard at the entrance.
I looked over at Anewak as he got enraged and said "Kajerrel that traitor, he is going to burn in hell for selling us out. Tulustan I see two other traitors with him, you need to get behind them. Once you have gotten behind them send a fireball at that one with the heavy armor. After you have killed him get his buddy. I will charge the traitor Kajerrel and make him pay for what he has done. I bet that they sacked the stockpile at old bridge. Hurry go now and when the sun touches the earth destroy one of the scum bags".

"Ok" I said under my breath. Then I headed off. I veered far left to get behind the Fort. I stayed far away from the actual building until I was all of the way around. The sun was about to touch the ground in the west, I moved a little bit to the south so the sun wasn't in my eyes and hid behind a broken wall that once must have been part of a greater fortification.

I began to conjure one of my fire balls. I steadied my mind on the man in the heavy armor, and let loose the image of a fireball hitting him. Then I felt winded as a fiery ball flew towards my enemy and engulfed him in flame. The kajiit and the other man turned around looking for where I was hiding. I focused my mind on the other man. He was short for a man and wielded a bow that was trained on my position.

WHIZZCKK the arrow flew right below my right ear creating a small cut from the steel arrow on the front. I went down and my wound began to gush blood from the artery the arrow had sliced. I had to focus on drawing up some healing magic otherwise I was as good as dead. I tried hard to focus on my neck being completely healed. The pain was almost too much, I almost blacked out when I took a huge gasp for air. Then I began to feel the strength draining from me as though I was a pitcher and water was being poured out. My neck stopped bleeding and I began to become more conscious.

The man with the bow was still staying far back but the kajiit was moving slowly closer. I focused my will on killing the bow man at least. I began to picture the fire consuming him, then I felt the strength draining from me again as another unnatural creation of death headed for the man with the bow. He instantly dropped the bow and began to scream and yell trying to get the fire off of him. He crumpled dead and gone.

Then Anewak came running down the hill wailing like a man who just lost his balls. Kajerrel turned towards the new threat but was a moment too late. He tried to block Anewak's massive battle axe but did not get his sword high enough and Anewak's battle axe went through his soft neck, loping his head off with a soft thump as it hit the ground. Blood squirted out of the gaping wound for a few seconds as the kajiits heart beat a last few times.

"I guess you didn't feel lucky today" said Anewak as he spit on Kajerrel's severed head. As I walked towards the gates entrance I began to smell the sickening stench of burned human flesh. I would have gagged but I had begun to get used to this smell. Anewak pulled me from my thoughts as he told me
"Lets go inside and see if anything is left, I feel like a good wine and some meat!"

We entered the fort and looked around. "Well it looks like the food is still here, and they left the place in somewhat good order. Here help me move this blanket, and move this torch here. Good now can you light that with a small fireball." Anewak instructed me.

I focused on the torch that i could barely see and imagined a small flame. A second later it flared up into a blight light cascading over the surrounding area, banishing the shadows to the corners of the small entry way. Anewak motioned me to start heading deeper into the damp hallway. It forked about thirty steps ahead, we took the passage to the right and found a living area.

"We will sleep here tonight, and tomorrow morning I am going to head back to the Imperial City, the resistance needs to know what has happened here." Anewak was saying as he rifled through a chest of what looked to be smoked preserved meats. "Oh yes smoked deer this is some good stuff here, we have a few huntsmen that regularly supply these outposts with food and the deer they smoke is delicious. OH Surely Brothers wine! This stuff can mess you up. Here have some."

After we ate, I had some of the wine and do not remember what happened after that. All that I know is that, that stuff really did pack a punch.

Ah, you've got to love TES rascism. Nothing like Bosmer and Khajiit putting arrows and daggers into each other at every opportunity. (Or an axe in this case.) Funny how Anewak instantly came up with the culprit.

Haha, so true Jack, so true. Another excellent battle scene. I look forward to finding out more about this resistance that's going on.

CHAPTER THREE: MEMORIES

When I awoke the next morning I felt surprisingly good. I thought that wine would do more damage than it really did. I looked around for Anewak and when I didn’t see him I got worried. Then I remembered something about him telling me he was going to go back. I remembered about a small town that we had passed by earlier and decided that I would stay there until I figured out what I wanted to do.

As I approached the town the small four building town I noticed that three of the houses where a lot older than the last house. They were all made out of wood and had thatched roofs. The towns people seemed happy enough.

“Ello there” croaked an old man as he came up to greet me. He was doubled over with age and his beard might have touched the ground if it wasn’t being drooped over a twisted walking cane that kept up an old arm that looked as though it were just skin and bone.

“Hi, is there any room for a traveler to stay the night. I have gold.” I replied in a lazy voice.

“Sure an ye won be need’n no gol. Tis a friendly place this be. Com on oer t my ouse. I ave n extra bed ya can sleep n.” In the same low scruffy voice.

“Thank you sir, can I be by myself for a while.” I replied in a polite answer.

“Sure tis a small stream jus down the way. Great place I ave spent many a noon own der. Jus be back afore suns down”.

I said goodbye and headed in the direction he had sent me. When I finally got there it looked beautiful. The grass hill sloped slowly down towards the small brook. The constant sound of the stream got my brain working and going places that I had not gone to in a while. The first thing it sent me to was my childhood.

They tell me that I was an orphan, I know one thing for a fact though and that is I was raised in the mages guild by one of the battle mages there. I was found on the streets crying and a selfless battle mage took it upon his heart to raise me. I am not sure on how old I was then or how old I am now.

During my adolescence my “father” began to teach me in the arts of destruction magic. I was a quick learner and had a natural affinity for any magic to do with fire. I trained hard and learned to be proficient with a sword and shield. They issued us all robes that could be magically imbued with armor so the cloth was as strong as whatever armor was put into it.

One day he brought me glass armor shards that he infused into my robes with an expert skill. Then he gave me a small dagger. He told me it was enchanted with armor piercing, and that no armor known could stop it. Then he unbuckled his sheath and gave me his sword. He told me never to tell anyone what it did, then quietly he said “This sword has been passed down through my family, you are my son whether by blood or not. This sword was enchanted by a small group of mages from the founding of the guild. It has the power to destroy any defensive spell a mage might create and absorb any magic in the school of destruction. Of course if it absorbs too much it will release all of the stored energy and destroy anything in its immediate vicinity.”

A few years later I had started to take the required course of restoration when I met the most beautiful girl that I had ever seen. She had long blonde hair and a perfectly built body, and had just transferred from Bruma. She was the brightest student in her age group, which was a year ahead of what they estimated me at. We ended up marrying each other after she had mastered the skill of alteration.

I had taken up the hobby of shooting arrows. I wasn't in any way good at it, but with my magic I could hone it in on my target making it move at maximum about a foot in any direction in the air. I always tried to make that distance longer and longer, but that was as far as I could go.

About two years later and a lot of failed restoration tests I was finally accepted into the ranks of the mages. I had mastered the arts of destruction magic and was moving up the ranks in the mages guild, but father had been killed earlier that year in the first city quelling of Bruma. This had slowed my progress considerably because I could not concentrate as well. They had told us that the old Counts and Countesses where plotting to overthrow Elder Council, which had taken control after Martin Septum’s sacrifice to save our world. Soon all of the cities revolted and decided to unite against the Imperial City. One by one the cities and their guards fell to battle mages, deceit within their own ranks, and just from the fact that they had been cut off from the other cities.

The last stand was at Kvatch. This once ruined city was about to be destroyed again, housing the rest of the insurgency. I was there when they breached the walls, I did not participate in the slaughter that followed afterwards. The Council then rounded up all of the Counts and Countesses and had them executed. Then they were replaced with more pliable and weak leaders. Then a time of peace followed.

During this time of peace a small underground resistance organized. It was made from the remainder of the men and women who through trap doors had been able to escape the sloughter of Kvatch. I was the leader of one of the battle mage groups to hunt down and kill all of the rebels. They had concealed themselves well and only one group was ever found. They had been executed on the spot. Before we could get to their gathering areas some one, a mole they say would tip them off and it they would hide in another area. They kept up the search for another few years but it was futile and eventually dropped it.

From what I had read in the history books and from the timetable it took me to grow up I had estimated that I had been born right in the middle of the Oblivion Crisis. Not too much later some remaining Mythic Dawn assassins had gone after councilor Ocato and assassinated him. The new councilor who, from rumors I had heard from other mages was pretty self-serving. The long time of peace after the small rebellion of the cities had made it worse. The only thing the Elder Council worried about was income, how much they made and how powerful they were becoming. Even the best of councilors had succumbed to the worldliness of it all.

I knew what was going on but I just told myself that they were trying to unify the empire to strengthen us. I also believe that the towns people knew what was going on but with the Oblivion Crisis still burning in their minds they followed and stayed in line, just like me never questioned too far.

Well at least until about two days ago when my wife was mercilessly slaughtered, and I went on a small rampage. I do not know why they would kill her. Maybe the degenerating populace just accepted this type of treatment and evil. I do not, I don’t understand the point in killing her. We followed all of the laws and all the assignments given to us. The only thing that I can think of is that the guards lust overcame them. I can only wish that it hadn’t happened, I miss her but now I am an outcast of my old life. I am by myself, saved by the same people I had tried to kill not five years ago.

I begin to notice a small pain in my side and wonder why I hadn’t noticed it earlier. I opened my jacket and found a note.
“Hello sleepy its Anewak I am going to head back to the city. If you head to Faregyl Inn, and then to Robbers Glenn Cave you should find a red guard by the name of Joshewa. He is second in command of the resistance and can give you a place to hide and sleep until you figure out what you want to do. Of course there is a price. If you go there you will tell him all about the mages guild, its members, defenses and anything else he can think of. There is another message in your daggers sheath for him. Please do not read it.”

Before I went on I wondered why he would tell me where the second in command was and a possible stronghold, I had never said anything about joining them did I? What did I say to him last night? I began to read the note again.

“By the way nice sword, a mage wielding a mage killing sword who would’ve guessed. Also I have taken your mages guild ring seeing as how you probably wont be going back there anytime soon. We can put it up to some good use seeing as how it opens certain doors that were previously closed to us. Do not panic that is all I have taken from you. I hope that you join our little group of freedom seekers. I am sorry about your wife. If this helps clear anything up she was one of us. The kajiit that sold us out, sold her out as well. A note with names of our members and some gold was in his purse. I have tasked myself to warn those not yet assassinated by the Imperials before its too late. I hope to see you again as one of us.

Anewak- Sorry about the wine, hope you have a better experience next time.”

Wow, lots of information revealed in this post. Now we know more about the resistance, our hero's past, and the reason why his wife was killed. Pretty crazy.

Judging by the character's past, he seems to have a lot of devices that'll help him out. Robes that are strong as armour, a dagger that can pierce any armour, proficient use in sword fighting, magic, and marksmanship, and a sword that can take out virtually any mage. This guy is a walking medieval tank!

CHAPTER 4: KINGS

I decided that I was going to return to the old mans house and get a good nights sleep. The sun was setting and long shadows reached out from the nearby trees as if to grab me. When I finally reached the house I noticed little bits of smoke appearing from the chimney. I knocked after I had reached the houses quaint little wooden door, a moment later It creaked open and the scent of roasted turkey filled my nostril, and something else although I couldn't quite figure it out.

“Well hello again!!!” The old man said to me. “Come in, come in, and welcome to my court. Please I made us a little dinner, it took me a while but I was able to get one of my turkeys all cooked up.” Something clicked in my brain, there is no way this is the same old man from earlier. I could understand him he was saying full words. I began to wonder if this old man was trying to play me, kill me, or if he just had different personalities. “There you go sit sit, here is some food.” After I had taken my seat he handed me a good portioned leg of the creature he had killed.: When I looked back at him he had some eating utensils out and was eating his leg vary royally.

I remembered what he had told me earlier about that this was his court. So I asked him trying to be as polite as possible “So you have a pretty nice place here, so what lands and peasants do you rule over kind sir?”

“Dont you know? I am the King of Kings! I rule all of Tamriel, I just am a vary generous and kind leader. Right now I am on an information collecting mission to see what my subjects need and what they desire.” I was throughly confused at this point, I was beginning to think that the old man had completely lost it. “Excuse me, I need to take a drink from my morphing flask. You see I travel the world under this disguise so people don't recognize me.” He then pulled out a medium sized flask and took a big sip. He spilled a little bit of it on the floor, it pooled together and began to seep into the dirt floor. At that moment I realized what I had been smelling before, Skooma! I thought to myself but doesn't that make you even less intelligent and hard to be around? The old man seems so much more enjoyable, and understandable when he has it.

By the end of the night I was beginning to sicken of his continuous boring drab about how to run a successful empire and what the best battle formations were, also what foods to stay away from. He had finally passed out so I decided to go to the room he had showed me to sleep in. When I lade down I felt much of the past few days pressing upon me. When I closed my eyes I passed out almost instantly.

“Rys n shine leepy ead!” I just about wet myself when I heard to old mans voice next to my head. I remembered last night and wished he had some skooma in his system before he talked. “Sry bout las nite, I giv meself som skooooma afore I g te sleep. It elps me think boat wel, te towns folk ere don mind me doin et soes I does it. Oh did ye sleep good las nigh???”

“I slept great thank you for your hospitality” I told him as I began to put on my robes and get ready to leave.

“Were ya goin eh? Can ol Fellessen com long fer te journey?” He said as he stumbled along behind me.
“I ave money loads o the stuff I also no peoples everwhere thet ken elp uses out!”

“Ok” I told him, how could I say no he let me into his house eat his food and sleep in what may or may not have been a bed.

“Ware we goin?” He asked me, and I honestly had no idea. From what Anewak had told me I could go and join the resistance, but I wasn't really interested in that. So I told him I didn't know.

“I no a gret place te go! It has all de ladies n skooma a man could evah ask fer. We need te stoop at Faregyl Inn. Wat doo ye say?”

“Sure I have nothing better to do” plus it was on the way to the resistance if I wanted to go there. So we headed out. The most trouble we had on the way there was a few beggers trying to get some money from my now skooma'd out King at my side. Of course every one of them were interviewed and asked what they wanted to see happen and more such nonsense. When he tried to give a beggar some money he found out that he actually didn't have any. Once again this made me wonder how he got the skooma. He was a companion now but there was still so much more I could learn from him.

Haha, this was a pretty amusing update. I like that the old man actually gets relatively coherant once he's drugged up. I can see some antics between the two happening in the near future. Excellent update.

Wow, your character is more genorous than I would be. I'd probably just sneak away at the earliest opporunity. And until then I would keep wanting to tell that skooma adict to get away from me.

Well I believe it has been said before but it is quite interesting to see someone portraying a less-than-perfect empire. I was going to do a political piece about the downfall of Cyrodiil after the death of the last living Septim and perhaps I still will. This story really has a good background to it, quite fast paced but still easy enough to follow. Definately keep up the good work my friend.

Thank you for the comments I really apreciate them.

Chapter Four Continued

As we neared the Inn a chill went down my spine from the soft but frigid breeze. I couldn't wait to be in a warm shelter with a nice wine that wasn't drugged. It was getting dark as we approached the building. It was a regular looking building with a small stone wall around it. The building itself was stone about as tall as the average man, above that was wood and plaster, it looked as though it had seen better days. Vines and foliage of all sorts were creeping up the buildings walls and there were a few pots and pans lying around outside.

“This is the place my good man” the Kings personality of my companion told me. “They know me well here and are always ready to help their leader!” He took a noble posture and motioned me to open the door. I of course did, and when I did I almost fell backward. There was a huge commotion going on inside an Imperial Legionary had just gotten knocked off of his feet by a patron.

“You rebel I'm going to skin you alive!” the Legionary roared as he moved to get back on his feet, it wasn't in any way a graceful move or even sober for that matter.

The supposed rebel bellowed in a deep voice back at the Legionary “What are you talking about! I am not part of that stupid rebellion.” Then he backed down giving the Legionary some time to think about what he had just said.

“Lies, all lies! You are trying to trick me, hic*.” The Legionary responded after thinking for a second.
He then unsheathed his sword and went at the man. “DIE DAMN YOU!!!” he cursed at him as his strike completely missed the man he took for a rebel.

“Woah hey buddy watch what your doing with that” said the man a he jumped back to evade poorly placed strike. Then the man seeing exactly how drunk the Legionary was began to taunt him. When he began to do this everybody in the Inn began to laugh at the Legionary.

“Stop I order you to st hic* op. I will arest all of you!” then he began to spin slowly and look at all of the people laughing at him, then he stopped focused in on one of them and lunged at him. The man jumped on a table, but the table cracked and he fell and screamed in pain. All of a sudden the lightheartedness of the Inn became instantly still as the Legionary stood over the doomed mans body and plunged his blade into him. As he pulled his sword out blood began to gush from the wound and the poor man was crying for help. Soon his cries for help became more of a petty gurgle as blood flowed freely from the mans mouth.

The guard looked up at all of the horrified people and threatened “Is anyone else going to resist arrest?”
At that moment he noticed me and Fellessen standing at the door. “You!” He pointed directly at Fellessen and said “I remember you, you are going to pay for what you did.”

At that he said “I will not have my good people being killed by barbarians like you! I do not know how you were even accepted into the military. You will have a trial and no doubt be sentenced to” but he couldn't get the last word out because at that moment the Legionary rushed the “King of Kings”. I was about to step in his way and pull my sword but he pushed me roughly aside, it was with so much strength I was surprised. Only then did I notice a dagger in his hand and four more all with the intricate detail of a snake on the hilt and dark black blades. He raised his hand and threw the dagger dead center on the Legionary's head. He took another step forward then stumbled and fell onto the ground twiching once or twice.

“I am sorry for the family of this poor man and hope that none of my Legions act out of order again. Please file a complaint at your locale recruiting office about any guards that you do not approve of, thank you and tell no one that you saw me today.” After Fellessen had said this he pulled the dagger out of the dead Legions head. The head lifted then the dagger came out smoothly leaving the head to fall down and make a sickening thud onto the ground.

“Do you have a room for me and my guard here good Inn keeper?” he asked as royally as ever.

“Yes it is on the house we will have the mess cleaned up by tomorrow your majesty.” said the tall inn keeper his long beard moving up and down. This confused me more than ever, the King was wearing very poor clothes and had the stench of skooma about him. He didn't look royal at all, the only thing I could think of was that the Inn keeper was being courteous for killing the Legionary that killed the man, and that the dead man was a friend or a relative to the Inn keeper. Once again the mysteries of my companion had my brain working hard. Soon I had settled in the small two bed room and was thinking of other things deeply in my mind.

Heh, that king cracks me up. But he's definitely more than just a Skoomie. Who knows, maybe he is some long lost relative of the septims?

It wouldn't be the first time. I mean, Jagar Tharn managed to wear the amulet of kings for a decade. I doubt he did it by constantly casting an insanely powerful spell on it. He could, but it would be such a bother.

Hmmm, the "King of Kings" is getting more interesting with each update. For being "royalty" he's quite able with those throwing daggers. I can't wait to figure this character out. Keep up the good work.

CHAPTER FIVE: ON THE ROAD AGAIN

“Ey tere mista compatriot! Ow ye doin, we ave a busy day head of us”

“What! Who! Where!” I stuttered to get out as the old man had taken my sheets and his smelly breath washed over my face like a perfume gone bad. I thought to myself that if I was going to survive I needed to sleep lighter. “What do you mean we have a busy day?” I was able to say groggily at best.

“We ere goin te hed to Robs Glen, cuz we cen get into de skooma trade fast. Ther is a small cav te de sout of us. They smuggle de stuff from Marrowind an dey sell it fer more den anythin. All we ave te do is send shipmens frem de cav te the difernt cities. An on de side we get te keep som o de skooma!” He finished excitedly as he began to put on his shirt. The place sounded familiar but I coudnt put my finger on it, at to where I had heard the location.

“What about the Imperials, what if they find out about the operation?” I asked him, half hoping he would not have thought about that and would reconsider. I still had no other plan though so even if he wanted to do this I may as well play along for the duration.

“Dats de beuty o' it, dey pay dem Imps som money te stay off der backs. Som o' de men even buy frem us, most of de time though dey jus take it an say dey wont report it.” he said excitedly. At this time we were outside and on the road again. The Inn keeper had only given us a small wave as we had departed.

During the journey to the cave Fellessen kept going on about get rich quick schemes, I had dreaded that he had run out of skooma. All in all I didn't mind his company, I had never really had a friend except for my beautiful wife. The main thing that bothered me about him was his stench as long as I was either in front of him or beside him the smell was not bad, but every once in a while he would get in front of me and try to tell me something important, but I would be too occupied with the smell to pay attention.

For a while we kept to ourselves and I began to wonder about why he left his home so quickly to join me, and how he was able to peg the Legionary in the head with a dagger being on skooma. Now that the memory was getting replayed in my head it was as if he wanted me to see him throw the dagger perfectly. I wonder if I was being played by the old man that had chosen me as his companion and I him.

Fellessen lowered his head and began to say in a sad voice “Poor basards, in de Inn up a head. Durin de time o de Daedra tack de Inn was defenseless gainst those hellions an many a poor soul who was stayin dere was cut down n' burned alive.”

As we went around the corner there was an eary red glow off to the left. I assumed it had been a broken gate that was used to bring the Daedric army into our reality. A little farther down the path was a burned out husk of a structure that I guessed was once the inn that Fellessen was just talking about.

We began to near it and I saw some of the horrors that the Daedra had inflicted upon this little part of Cyrodyl. There were decaying bodies with arrows still in them or gaping wounds where swords must have been, the stench of rotting flesh was beginning to overwhelm my olfactory organ. Then there were the skeletons, they had probably been roasted alive, on closer inspection I noticed that all of the bodies had bite marks on them. I concluded that they must have fed some of their minions that way.

Once we had left that horrid sight I began to think about the supposed life ahead of me. A skooma dealer, that is probably not what my late father would have wanted me to be, but he also wouldn't have approved of me being an outlaw. I decided that I mine as well do it for a little while considering I had no money, and really only one place to go.

The day wore on without much event, we had passed a shrine, and there was an unusual amount of deer on the highway a little bit farther down the road, there was a few bandits on the side of the road dead and appearing to be completely looted of all their worldly possessions. Farther down was another crumbled gate to Oblivion.

“Ere we ar, I ope de boys need som werk.”

As we neared the caves door there seemed to be a half asleep guard sitting on the ground. He looked to be a Breton but I could not be sure. As we approached Fellessen said “Ello mate! It be me Fellessen, I bring you a new recruit! Plus me o' course, Sam hey wake up ye no ur not sposed to be nappin on de job.”

The man that I took for Sam opened his eyes starred at us for a moment and said “Well I'll be damned, yer back, ye need some more skooma I'm guessin. Anyway there is a new shipment sposed to be arriving shortly, There is an extra room with some food fer you an the new guy inside, then tomorrow head down to the docks an speak with the boss.

He opened the wooden door to the cave and led us to our quarters. Inside there was a small bed and table. He motioned to an otherwise concealed closet and pulled out what I took as the bed I was going to sleep on. A wool blanked sewed together and stuffed with what had to have been straw. On the table there was some crusty old bread and a glass of wine with 2 clay pots next to it. The only light came from a torch next to the door which spread eary shadows across the room.

I had taken a loaf of bread after Sam had left the room and began to try and eat it. It was almost a rock, I had to get my dagger out to cut it into manageable peaces to then stick into my mouth and soften it up with my saliva.

After I had managed to take and chew my first bite Fellessen told me he was going to find some old friends to get hooked up with some more skooma. After he had left I finished the bread and decided that I was going to go to sleep and wake up before my companion. I laid down on the prickly mattress and began to fall into a deep sleep.

I agree with Mallie! Good work my friend....good work...

Very nice update, keep up the good work.

Sorry bout the wait...

CHAPTER FIVE CONTINUED

I sat bolt upright on the mattress, sweat was beading down my forehead as I realized where I had heard “Robs Glen” from. The note Anewak had left me had said this is where I would find the resistance, but from what I had seen and smelled this was just your regular skooma operation.

I heard the light breathing to my right, I turned my head fast towards it. Through the faint light in the room I noticed a man, not old but young, in his prime. Slowly I reached for my dagger, I felt a sigh of relief that it was till there. With the dagger in my hand I got up and cautiously moved towards the sleeping man, then I noticed the same daggers I had seen just yesterday. At this point I was getting angry, I had just been played and brought to this skooma den by a fake calling for a rebellion. As I leaned over the man with black hair falling off of the back of the bed, I roughly rested its thirsty blade on his open and naked neck.

“Hey what the!” He yelled as he awoke suddenly. Then he muttered to himself “Damn it, I should have been prepared.”

“Who are you?” I asked this man whose life was in my hand.

“I have told you before it is Fellessen.” he told me in a bored voice.

“No the Fellessen I knew was old and smelled of garbage.” I replied shocked by the statement.

“Oh course that is what you saw and smelled, I put a globe of illusion around you so everything that you smelled and saw of me was a distortion of who I really am.”

“But why, why would you do this to me, and bring me here? And is this place really a skooma den? And”

But before I could ask another question he began to speak. “ This is a skooma delivery facility of sorts, but that is mostly a front. This is like the note probably told you one of the resistances main strongholds. I was sent to Pells Gate to bring people who wanted to join here. My little facade is to test peoples intentions and to show them that this is not just a group of farmers. Most people dont have a clue until they meet the “boss” who is the redguard known a Joshewa. Also if you examine your daggers sheath you will find that the note Anewak had put there now belongs to me. I had taken it the first night at Pells Gate.”

“What if I had not gone to Pells Gate though?”

“Then it would have been my duty to find the magical tracer Anewak had placed on you. I will diminish its power to nothing now that you are here. You will have a busy day ahead of you tomorrow, make sure you can remember what the mages guild had been like. Also I believe I have answered all or most of your questions can you please remove this deadly item from my neck.”

“One more question. What if I decide not to go cut your throat and leave you all behind?”

“I knew your wife and I know that, that is obviously not what she would have wanted, but go ahead I have done things in my life that easily deserve death.” He told me in a all to clam manner.

The memory of my wife made me snap. “It's your fault she is dead! If she hadn't been in the damned rebellion she would not have been assassinated by the guards!”

“She had come to us after watching what had been going on in the Elder Council. This may hurt you but she was assigned to gather information and that is the only reason she had stayed long enough to marry you. We had warned her about it, told her that it would only lead to pain, but her love for you was so strong it could not be conquered by our intentions. Now about that knife...”

At this I began to feel the tears welling up in my eyes, I let the knife fall from my hand, it being so light fell from Fellessens neck and lay to rest at the bedside. I began to cry in earnest, and cried until I went to sleep, I wished so badly that my wife was still here. Here to talk to here to tell me about the rebellion, here to comfort me, and here to help me decide what we were going to do. After a while I fell into a light and unrestfull sleep.

In the morning I felt the worst I had felt for a long time. My throat was dry and I felt sick in my stomach. I still got up because I knew what I was going to do. Fellessen had already left and I looked at the bed next to him and picked up my dagger, sheathed it and put my robes on. When I opened the door Sam was waiting, he looked the same except for his attire, instead now he wore armor and a longsword at his side.

“Hello there, Fellessen said you were a sleeper but man! C'mon we need to head out to the docks. Hurry follow me.”

I began to walk out the door and follow him. He navigated the tunnels in the cave differently than the way we had come in. Soon we had reached what must have been the back of the cave and a small door was opened by a lever off to the side somewhere.

Bright light assaulted my eyes. I could barely even open them, the warmth from the light assailed me as well. Squinting as much as I dared to, I took a step outside. Ever too slowly my eyes adjusted to the light and what I saw was beautiful. There was green grass hills with a river down a small slope in front of us. There was a forest on the other side of the river while there were only scattered trees on this side. Then I saw another evil blemish on the country side. There was a Oblivion gate near the docks, people had obviously tried to stay away from the evil thing as they walked around.

As we neared the docks I noticed a small dot to the south of us on the river. It must have been the ship that Fellessen was talking about earlier.

“Hey there Tulustan!” A low rumble from my left had told me. I whipped my head in the direction and was taken aback by what I saw. There was a large red guard standing there, he must have been at least a foot taller than me. His hair was a dark black and was pulled back into dreadlocks. He had Ebony armor all over his body except for his head. He had a sheathed longsword and on his back was a gigantic war hammer.

“Uh hello Joshewa is it?” I managed to say.

“Yes it is, I have heard you are not too fond of joining us, if that is true you are free to go.” After he said this I had thought to myself that he must be joking, but I had decided to join. Once again I had thoughts about leaving, but I realized where would I go. Sure there are plenty of underworld types I could join up with, but It was hard enough to decide to become a skooma dealer. Also I probably had a nice fat bounty on my head.

“I had thoughts yes, but if you accept me I will join.” I told him.

“There is one last thing you must do before you join us, you need to tell me about the mages guild...”

So I told him all that he had asked, I was given my own room and some edible food, or at least more so than I had last night. I began to think about my future and wonder if I was going to die fighting against what I had been born and raised to defend.

Hmm, Felessen is definitely one interesting fella. Constant effect Illusion, sweet!

Ahhh, so the oddness of Felessen is revealed. That's a new way of concealing yourself.

It's going to be interesting to see how Tulustan acts as a rebel. Keep it up!

CHAPTER SIX: NEW BEGININGS

“Everybody rise n' shine! Were off to new beginnings and a chance to show the Imperial bastards who is boss.” I heard a deep voice resonate throughout the underground complex. “Get your gear together we are going to kill some pigs boys!” At this I jumped out of bed and began to get dressed. First I put on my undergarments and then my robe. After that I put on my belt which had my dagger and sword on it.

“Hey there” the young man who was once Kings came up to me. “Hurry get your junk together! We are relocating to Fort Chalman, its just north of the Imperial city across the water. Its perfect for our new base, there are defensible areas with choke holds all around it. Plus it is close to the objective we have been working on for a long time. Bruma! We are going to capture Bruma by the end of next month, if all goes as planned. Once we have taken Bruma we will begin planting information that we are about take more cities, then the Imperials will have to listen to us and be forced to become more agreeable with us.”

“What? We are going to take a city? Do we have the resources to do that?” I asked in shock.

As we began to navigate the tunnels as Fellessen said “The resistance is a lot larger than anyone would suspect. Most of the bulk is in small villages throughout Cyrodil, we are the main body of fighters but a lot of our supporters are farmers who give us the food and information we need to stay alive.”

“Why were we never able to catch you at any of your strongholds?” I asked him after thinking about the early years of the resitance.

“As you were probably told a mole alerted us of when you were going to strike, but that was only the beginning. The thieves guild, or what was left of the the thieves guild is now spys. The most helpful are the beggars, they give us most of the info from around Cyrodil which is then sent through couriers to our camps all around. With this information we have found out the the people of Bruma are in a rebellious state, hence the gathering of our forces to take the city.” We had exited the cave at this point and were heading down to the docks.

I looked over at him and inquired “How exactly are we going to take the city? Am I going to be part of it in any way?”

“Oh so you've volunteered! Great ok one group will infiltrate the city and wait until the rest of us begin the siege. Then your first priority will be to kill any messengers trying to flee the city to warn the capital. Next you will gather the people who are against the Imperial Tyrants and at the time you give them, they will get towards the guards and do exactly what they did to us!” At this point he was working himself into a frenzy. “Those bastards will pay for what they did at Kvatch! They will pay with blood.”

“What was so bad at Kvatch all they did was back stab a few of the guards there.” I told him in my ignorance.

“Of course they wouldn't tell you what really happened.” He began to look down and mutter something I could not make out. “The defenders didn't fight to the death in that city, most of them actually surrendered! But the Imperials thought of them as a disease, or so that was what we were told. All of the rebels that surrendered were lined up on the streets of Kvatch. Every Legionary was ordered to spit on one of the condemned then cut his arm off. After this they began to burn the food stores in the city, all that were left alive inside including the towns people died. The mess was not even cleaned up!”

As we passed the destroyed Gate to the right I began to ponder what he had just told me, and I wondered how many other atrocities were committed but covered up by the menace that is the Elder Council.

“C'mon we don't have all day! Every body aboard!” A man on one of the skooma ships was saying. He was a large man with a round face and dark black hair. He was wearing what looked to be steel armor. His voice was like a lot of other people here, a somewhat low rumble. I had begun to wonder how so many people could have congregated together for one cause and all have a low deep voice. As I neared the ship he gave me his hand and with unimaginable strength he just about threw me onto the top of the ship. A moment later Fellessen was right next to me.

“Heh you were not expecting that hu?” Fellessen told me a proud voice. “C'mon lets get a room before we have to pick one without some more, how do I put this, “restless folks”.” We made our way to the lower part of the ship, the cargo bays. There were cots on top crates of what looked to be anything from skooma to weapons. “Its going to be a long trip, also we wont be leaving soon. There is still a lot to pack up. So you get to hurry up and wait.”

After he had left the room I got up and began to walk around. I made small talk to a few of the other solders on board who weren't at that time helping pack up. A lot of them had been orphans and were nurtured by the beggars who in turn sent them to the resistance. There were a few from some of the noble families of Cyrodiil though. There were more than a few crazy people that wanted revenge for petty things, but I thought that they exist wherever you go.

After walking around for a few hours I went below deck, I found an unused notepad. I took it and began to use my magic to force letters that became words onto it. I had started a journal of my life. My adventures and my mishaps. Most of all my love for my wife who I believe is still standing at my side.

At first I didn't notice this with all the seemingly random violence but you're quite a good writer, and it turned out that the violence was not so random after all. By the way, when I read your story, the fact that it is set after Oblivion gave me a bunch of ideas for mine, so thanks big time.

Thank you, and your welcome.

So now they're going to take over a city. Let's hope it won't turn into a second Kvatch.

Well I hope they have some backup plans for taking Bruma because no plan is ever foolproof when it comes to war. Tides shift unpredictably, and hopefully the resistance are ready to adapt to those situations.

I have one inquiry though. Did this event that happened in Kvatch come after the Oblivion Crisis or was the Oblivion Crisis a coverup for what really happened? It was a little unclear to me.

Sorry bout that, the Oblivion crisis burned the city, but then it was rebuilt afterwords. Then it was completely distroyed, and has not been rebuilt.

Ahhh ok, I thought that was probably the case. Thanks for clarifying.

By the time I had finished writing in my notepad, the ship had left dock and the sickness had begun to set in. I was not the first person to run up the ladder and onto the deck to give the waters our lunch, in fact most of the men in the cargo hold had run up disposed of their lunch. That though did not stop the taunting from those who, for various reasons were not getting the sea sickness.

Vary little happened during the voyage. I made a odd new acquaintance, his name, or what he told me his name was, was Bobb Fwed. Son of the noble Luciouse Vladiouse Fwed, ruler of the little know county Betrousque. He was medium height, nothing noble about him, he had shiny black hair like that of a panther, the first thing I learned about him was that he was arrogant. He was convinced that no one could beat him at a game of darts, and he passed most of his time throwing darts at a round piece of wood. He was truly talented, many of the men that had bet him lost a lot of money. I gathered he threw some sort of dagger like Fellessen.

Later that night I had met up with Fellessen, he was drinking with a few light hearted orcs. As I approached he asked me to join them. To me they all looked like green killing machines, but the most notable difference was their armor. Even though they all had ebony armor each had its own distinct color and pattern on it. One had gold monkeys jumping about, the middle one that was slightly taller than the rest, he had a blood red hammer and sickle crossing each other. The last had a gray wolf howling.”

“These good folks are the Grondrounden brothers” Fellessen was telling me after he finished taking a massive swig from his frothy beer. “They were some of the greatest adventurers before they joined our cause. The one on the left there is Rat jaw.”

“Hello there, I hope we can crack some heads together someday.” He told me in a predictably low voice. He was the one wearing the armor with the steel wolf emblem on it.

Before I could utter a thank you of any sort Fellessen was introducing me to the next one. “This is Gruondenken. He is a person that believes in equality above all else.”

“Yup back in the days when us three would find loot I would split it up into equal shares.”

“The last one on the right is Grunk.” Fellessen leaned closer to me and said just loud enough for the whole table to hear it “between you and me he is the grumpiest of the bunch.”

“Hey watch who your call'in grumpy chicken bones. Don't make me tear you apart!” Then he looked at me collected himself and said, “Oh um hello there and uh welcome.”

I spent a lot of the voyage at this table, and maybe a few too many bears. At one point the one named Rat jaw passed out from being so drunk, then the other two had a competition of who could drink the most beer without passing out. Unfortunately for them the ships had begun to dock and it was their duty to help unpack the weapons.

I felt out of place when we had docked because I was given no responsibilities, I just tried to stay out of peoples way. Before the unloading was complete, a women that wasn't particularly attractive took me and a few other people that were just milling around up the steep hill to the Fort. The Fort looked warn in some places, but in others brand new. Once we were inside the dimly lit tunnels of the Fort a stuffy breeze lowered itself onto my chilled flesh. The deeper we went into the oppressive Fort the warmer it was.

We finally came to a room that she told us was our new living area. It had six beds, two tables, a torch and a carpet that looked to be a bump on the stone floor. There was a chest in front of each bed where we could put our possessions. My new room mates were all male, two of them looked to be Imperial like myself, one was a Redguard, and the last was a Dunmer. We all introduced our selfs to each other, one of the Imperials was from Skingrad, he had somewhat long dark hair and an extremely gaunt face, he told me his name was Fornon. The next Imperial wasn't even an Imperial it turns out that the tall burley blond man was actually a Nord from Skyrim. His name was Ondar. The Redguard who had short curly jet black hair told me his name was Joseph. The last of them, the Dunmer whose dark skin and hair reminded me of an assassin. He told me in a airy voice that his name was Azinif.

After that we put our stuff into the trunk that was in front of the beds, all but one of us went to sleep the Dunmer went off by himself. I noticed that the beds were extremely comfortable and couldn't imagine who could supply such beds for a military barracks of sorts. Anyway I went to sleep pretty soon after I had gotten in the bed.

CHAPTER SEVEN: HORIZON

Dartai a seasoned veteran from the Oblivion crisis had decided to retire and live in Anvil. He was getting up in age and had battle scars from the demon like Dremora. His hair was graying but he still had a sparkle in his vibrant blue eyes. After the events and the traveling into a hellish enviroment and even standing next to the last true emperor in a time of great need he had become a little crazy. Most people in town actually stayed far away from him, which he liked just fine. Most of his days started and ended with a prayer to Martin, you see he had begun to think of Martin Septum as sort of a god, or savior if you will. He had been with Septum from Kvatch, he even had gotten a transfer to Bruma, and laughed at how naive the Blades were thinking that they were sneaky.

Today was no different than any other, he woke up, prayed to martin and went out on his small fishing boat and spent the day only catching wind and sea weed. He was fine with this though, usually he would just sit and think or reflect about past battles lovers and heroes. Today he was thinking about the Council and how he hated what had become of his beloved country and was sad about what was happening. Then he noticed something he hadn't seen the day before or the day before that. Apparently the Imperial Navy was gathering. For what he had no definite idea, though he had heard about more rebel activity in the area and rumors of a mass attack. After thinking a little bit longer on this subject he decided to take a nap.

When he awoke the sun was setting and the brilliant pinks and yellows were dancing in the horizon. As he slowly made his way back to the shore he spotted some commotion on the docks. As he neared he noted that some of the townspeople were arguing with the commander of an Imperial regiment. He could not make out what they were saying over the gentle lapping of water hitting his small vessel. When he finally arrived at the docks the townspeople had left and were storming off to their respected houses. As he made his way out of his boat up the ramp and to the commander he wondered what was going on. So instead of going home and thinking about it he decided to ask the apparently decorated commander. Who had a large gash on the left side of his face.

“Why were those citizens so angry sir”? He asked in a professional tone.

“We have had to garrison more forces here to protect you and this town against the rebellious minds that seek to destroy the greatness that is the empire”. He replied back in a cool tone, then added “Also we do not have even room in the barracks so we are having to room solders and sailers in the common peoples houses. If you have any complaints please come and see me and we will see right to the situation. Now please we have allot of work ahead of us if we are to fortify this town against the upcoming attack against us please go back home.”

After thinking for a moment Dartai asked “may I ask of your name good commander”?

“Yes I am Commander Sambrie of the Royal Imperial Legions one hundred and fifth. If that is all may I ask you to please return to your home”.

At this Dartie started the slow hobble home. It was not far from the docks but in his old age he like all other men had become slow and frail, when he finally made it back home to his small one room hovel of sorts he opened the door and was glad that he was not greeted by a solders face. He went strait to his bed and began to think about the situation and slowly drifted off into the inner workings of his mind.

When he awoke he went threw the same daily routine, prayed to Martin made some breakfast from old bread and some cheese then went to his boat. When he was at the dock the solders were building defenses and training for what looked like a assault coming from the ocean. When neared his boat he wondered why the solders would drill for a marine attack it made no sense to him at all, the Imperial Navy was the biggest and best out there. Also by look of the concentration of the ships allot of the navy was there. There was no way that the rebellion had nearly enough ships to even make a dent in a navy one one hundredth the size that was amassed in the cove. He did not go out to sea because of all the traffic from the navy near the docks, it was too much work for an old man to avoid the potential accidents the Navy caused with all of what looked to be newly recruited hands. So he went slowly sitting on a near by bench and watched the military prepare for a battle he was pretty sure wasn't going to be against the rebels.

Nice to see you continuing this. Keep it up!

CHAPTER EIGHT: A NEW DISCOVERY


After a week of training in my small squad which consisted of Anewak, Rataw, Fellesen, and Azinif. Our drills had consisted of tactics which utilized each of our skills in different situations, regular fitness, and weapon specialist work. After our training yesterday we had our first assignment, which was given to us directly from Joshewa. Our mission was to scout out a once abandoned cave nearby in which a Imperial alchemist had set up shop. We were to scout the defenses how many guards if any and what was going on inside. Our rout to the cave was a long one, we were to stay off of the main paths and take a higher rout to get behind the cave. We headed there without much conversation, no one really seemed comfortable or familiar enough with each other to talk much.

As we neared the cave most of the foliage around it had been burned, the charred remains of once proud trees and smaller shrubs were barely reminiscent of what they once were. We decided to stay in the area surrounding the cave that still had good tree cover. We began to set up a small camp in which we had only some magically imbued blankets that repelled water and blended into the surroundings. We began to eat one of our three pieces of bread. On the way up we had scavenged some berries and a few edible roots. We knew from the beginning that there would be no fire made because it would too easily compromise our situation. After this Fellessen went to go scout the immediate area and begin gathering information.

The next morning we packed up and began the survey in earnest, there were only two guards near the entrance but we had no clue how many were inside. At this point it was time to see what was inside, so Azinif the assassin left to get closer to the two guards. The cave itself was jutting out from the nearby hill which made it easy for Azinif to get on top of the entrance and behind the guards. From this point he brought out two small objects, I couldn't quite make out what they were at the time but within two seconds the guards had dropped dead and the assassin was on them pulling out his weapons of death.

We finally entered the cave quickly and quietly, the inside was just how we expected a cave to be, it was dark and vary uneven which suited us perfectly. Silently we crept towards the bottom of the cave. I was surprised at how quiet Rat Jaw was walking. It amazed me that one so large and apparently brutish could be so light on his feet and able to position himself in such a way that he could not be seen. Even though Fellessen had cast an illusion over to make us even more undetectable.

As we neared the bottom we began to hear deathly screams echoing from the dark abyss in front of us. At this we slowed our progress and began to move even slower, and then I spotted something a barrel, just an ordinary barrel but I pointed it out to Anewak anyway. He motioned us towards the barrel and inspected it before he decided to open it. Then in a split second a small knife was in his hand and had begun to cut the barrel open from the top, it was amazing it must have had some property like my dagger because it cut through the barrel like it was butter. After he had lifted the lid he looked to us and shrugged in confusion. When I got to the barrel and looked in all I saw was black sand. Out of curiosity I reached out to touch it but before my hand could make it Fellessen had slapped it away giving me a look that to me said it could be dangerous.

After some more thinking by Fellessen he motioned that he was done and we began to move down the cave again. Again more screams of pain and they were getting louder, as we turned a corner there was an eerie light ahead. We pushed forward and neared a doorway with light streaming out of all the cracks in the wooden door. Anewak leaned close to the door and look through the cracks and then another blood curdling scream assaulted our ears and Anewak immediately pulled back from the door with a look of disgust on his face. Then there was a muttering of sorts coming from the other side of the door way. From what I heard it sounded like the man on the other side was mad and began muttering unintelligible words.

Thinking about this I must have missed the signal to attack because Rat Jaw had just smashed the door to splinters with his massive boot. I drew my sword and entered the room behind my comrades. The only Imperial guard in the room had no chance, one of his arms was claimed by Anewaks axe and his stomach was crushed by Rat Jaws large hammer. At this he keeled over in death, during this Fellessen had an extremely skinny man by his throat asking him what was going on and what they were doing here.

“get your hands off me” the skinny man croaked.

Fellessen retorted with a slap to his face and yelled “Why are you doing this! What are you doing to torture these people!”

“You don’t even know the half of what’s going on. The world at large is about to crumble around us and you think that your rebellion is going to save the day!” The skinny man snapped his fingers. A spark flew from them and towards one of the barrels.

A hissing sound came from where the spark had landed.

“Clear out now!” Rat Jaw yelled.

We began to run out, desperately trying to find an exit. There was light. The end of the tunnel was in front of us.

“Why did we have to get out of there so quickly?” I panted.

Rat Jaw replied “I felt something bad was going to hap-“An explosion rocked the area knocking us all to the ground. I looked back at the entrance to the cave. Black smoke was billowing out, choking the sky with fumes.

“What the hell was that?” I shouted.

“I …nt …ow” Azinif said. I barely understood him the explosion must have deafened me. A second explosion rocked the earth around us. The caves integrity had been destroyed. Large chunks of ground began falling into the earth and blocking the cave off. I saw the rest of the squad start getting up again and moving away from the explosive area. Deciding that was a good idea I ran with them.

The explosion had alerted the nearby guard post. Men in dark armor began to swarm the area behind us. We had to keep moving or they would overtake us.
Three horsemen were fast approaching our flank, they would be upon in a few seconds. I turned back to see Fellessen looking like a king. He had an entirely too regal appearance on. His hand was outstretched.

“Halt! I am the King of Kings! Listen to me loyal guards.” The guards were more than a little bit confused but they did stop. It was a fatal mistake upon which our band immediately capitalized upon. The ‘king’ had already put a dagger in the middle horseman who was falling out of his saddle. The magic flowed through me and another horseman was on the ground. This one being cooked alive. The last was taken by Rat Jaw. Knocked clean off of his horse by the mallet.

“Quickly on the horses!” Fellessen said. We each grabbed a horse except for Azinif. Fellessen and I began to ride forward.

“Az get on my horse already!” Rat Jaw said.

“Why do I get stuck with the orc?” He replied.

“No time they are coming, just get yer but up here ya sack o bones!” He reluctantly climbed on behind Rat Jaw who then muttered “So ya gonna buy me dinner after this?”

Azinif slapped him on the back of the head and said “Just go.”

We were off. Not a moment too soon either. The swarm of Imps was closing in behind us. A few arrow shafts came much too close to hitting their marks.

After we were confident that we had lost the Imps we began to head back to base. I had no idea how we were going to explain this to Joshewa. I had never in my life seen magic strong enough or explosive enough to cause what had happened at that cave. The only thing I could think of was that it was the black stuff in the barrels.

It was dark by the time we had returned to the hideout.

We have a necromancer on this board!!! Great Write !!!