*
Me and Nisaba walking to the Refuge Camp:
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...reenShot923.jpg****** With his permission, this chapter has a cameo appearance of King Coin's character "Aravi" in it. Thanks KC, for allowing me to share my page with Aravi, and for making such an inspiring character !!
Chapter 116: The Imperial CityWith the daylight came a quieting to the battle in the Imperial City, but not a cessation. The vampires would have to go into hiding to keep from being burned up in the sunlight. My guess was that they had gone into the sewers, where the battles continued but the sounds were now subdued rumbles and occasional vibrations in this upper portion of the cave.
The bird Jak perched on the rim of the shaft above me, his piercing eyes peering down at the gathering of Khajiit faces cramming together to stare up at him.
“He’s staying! He’s never done that before!” One Khajiit gasped.
“Nisaba, what does the bird have to do with that song?”
“Whenever the song comes to our minds, He is near.” Nisaba’s voice sounded awed.
I glanced around at the other’s faces, the look of awed wonder was universal. Did they think Jak was…a god?
“But what does it mean? Does the bird bring you something? Like food or medicine?”
“He brings the moonsugar to our tongues, and the song. We all belong to him.”
The moonsugar would only come to their tongues when the one that started them was near. Obviously the bird didn’t start them!
“I don’t understand, he’s a bird! He couldn’t have…er…mated with you. How could the moonsugar come by the bird’s presence?”
“He uses magic to become a man.” The older Khajiit spoke. “I saw him in his man form once. It was in a garden. The song came, and I saw a man with laughing eyes.”
“This one saw him turned into a man.” One of the women said, sticking her thumb into her chest to indicate herself. “His eyes danced like stars in the night sky and the moonsugar was sweet on my tongue. Twas at the music festival. He were talking to you.” Her dirty fingernail nearly touched me.
“Me?” I remembered Vicente talking to me in the line as I gave out rings. That was all the proof I needed that Vicente was the owner of the bird. And if the moonsugar was on all their tongues right now…it meant Vicente was very near, close enough to cause it.
***“Nisaba, I have to know how you ended up in a cave, why weren‘t you in the orphanage?”
Nisaba’s expression went totally blank. “I don’t know. I remember being at the orphanage in the Compound, then one day I woke up…and I was in the cave. I was there…years. Then one day I woke up…and I was standing in front of the dragon statue.”
“It was the same for this one.” An older Khajiit barely glanced at me before reverting her awestruck gaze back on Jak. “Twas the celebration of the Emperor’s birthday. My brother let go of my hand to climb a tree…see the Emperor better. Then I woke in the cave. Years passed. Then one day I woke to see the dragon statue.”
“You were all together in the cave?”
The older Khajiit that had forced the potion down my throat answered. “We all shared the same cave, but in different years. When our time came, all of us awoke in front of the dragon statue.”
“Different years? But…how did you all meet?“
“The pain of Azura’s seal…that same cry you gave last night. We hear it and know. We go to the statue to find the new sister.”
“Were you alone in the cave for years? Or were there others in there with you?”
Nisaba turned and looked at me, confused. “I was the only Khajiit in the cave. The rest were humans.”
A few of the women nodded. “The others were human.”
A younger Khajiit that I hadn’t heard speak before took the hand of one a little older than her. “We were together in the cave, but a man took her away. One day I woke up at the statue and she came for me.”
“Were there a lot of others…the humans? Were they all…young?”
The heads nodded in a universal show of acknowledgement, but the eyes never left the top of the shaft where Jak roosted.
***“You were all in the same cave…at different times? Where is this cave?”
Nisaba shrugged. “None of us know, the door was kept locked.”
A sickening shudder went through me and a pain that had nothing to do with the physical. I forced back the cry that would have sounded and fought the tears to keep them from falling. I wouldn’t use the word prisoner to these women, but that is what they had been.
Nisaba said she was in the cave for years…she only remembered the Compound orphanage, not the new one Fathis was supposed to have built. If she never made it to the new orphanage, then she was a child when taken and held prisoner...and before releasing her she had been bred, and remembered nothing. A rage like I’ve never known was consuming me till I thought I could kill Vicente with my bare hands.
“Nisaba, do you have the moonsugar on your tongue right now?”
All the women nodded, Nisaba included. That meant Vicente had to be near. And I had no weapon.
A quick scan of the room showed one badly dinged iron bow and a warhammer that looked like it may split if used. One Khajiit had decrepit greaves on. The rest wore street clothing…Simplicia wore better clothes.
Vicente had obviously abandoned these women. If he was here because my virgin blood was drawing him, I’d have no way to defend myself.
Azura’s Seal is primal. If he brings the moonsugar to these women’s tongues, they will defend him to their death against anyone trying to harm him…including me. There’d be no one to help me against him.
I slipped off Nisaba’s bed and moved away from the shaft. The Khajiit eagerly closed the gap I’d left behind, trying to get a better view of Jak the bird. Their purring had become so loud that an army could approach in full march and go unheard.
I slid quietly into the tunnel, but need not have bothered using stealth. The purring cats could be heard well down the corridor itself.
The tunnel kept twisting and going up rises till I was sure I should have long since come to the room that dropped down into the lower tunnels. Instead it eventually opened into a greatroom. I’d missed a turn somewhere.
Three women were in this room, armored and armed. None wore the parchments around their neck showing their crimes. I backed into then tunnel and yanked the incriminating parchment from my own neck, stuffing it into the front of my pants before heading into the room.
“Hail!” I called before walking closer. In case they drew their weapons I wanted some running room.
The greatroom with the Dunmer women:
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...reenShot921.jpg***“Where’d you come from?” A Dunmer woman pointed at me.
“Uh…” I started before she broke in again.
“Never mind. Just get up to the men’s camp and tell them you need armor.” She pointed at a tunnel on the far wall.
“I can’t go to the men’s camp like this!” I indicated my bare chest.
She snorted and another woman barked out a laugh. “You’ve got less to show than most of the men. Now move it, Ocato‘s orders. We‘ve all got to go.”
“Go where?”
“Lunch at the Palace, idiot! What do you think? We’ve got to help fight in the Sewers.”
“The Sewers! I…I can’t fight the vampires, I’m a virgin.”
“BWAAAHAAA! Go tell that lie to Ocato and see if he believes you. Now who else is hiding back there where you came from?”
“Er…no one. I just…er…went back there to use the bathroom.” I wasn’t giving away the Khajiit and having them sent out to fight. Without a doubt they wouldn’t give armor or weapons to beasts, and we’d be considered expendable and sent into the most dangerous places.
That I was right about that was proven as soon as I reached the men’s cave. “I was told you’d provide me with a weapon and armor…”
“We aren’t running an armory here, go out on the streets and see what you can find like we did. Then get yourself down to the sewers.” He pointed toward a makeshift door made of crisscrossed boards.
The men’s camp:
http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/qq67/Ma...reenShot920.jpg*** It was humiliating to find that the Dunmer women had been right - the men didn’t even notice my nakedness.
All thoughts of my lacking body were shocked from my mind at the sight that met my eyes as I emerged from the cave. The tall grass of the field was a patternwork of bloody patches; some places trampled or burned. I tried to avert my eyes from the bodies, but every turn of my head revealed another. There seemed to be no where to look away.
Shock…it only lasts till your mind grasps the true horror, that someone you know may be among the dead…Alix. Would he have been called to fight from so far away? My knees buckled and a groan welled up from somewhere deep inside me. But I couldn’t fall, not here among the dead. And I couldn’t be the one to find Alix if he lay amongst these…I’d rather die believing he was home safe at the Faregyl.
Choking back the illness that filled my throat, I tried to run on legs that felt like jelly. The tears stung and burned at my eyes, bringing a blessed blurring to my vision...that the faces of the bodies could not be distinguished.
Stumbling into the outer wall of the City, I hugged the cold stones as if they could offer comfort…somehow they did, something familiar...untouched by the bloody massacre in the fields beyond it.
The gates into the City had been left unguarded, I’d never seen them unmanned before. All the strength I could muster would not budge the heavy wooden doors. Had they been bolted? I threw myself against the door, my pounding as ineffectual as what should have been a shout coming from my throat instead of the mewling that barely reached my own ears.
A cawing sounded above me. Without looking I knew it was Jak. But Vicente couldn’t follow in the sunlight…could he? Panic renewed my strength; this time the shout came. The sound of a bolt sliding was followed by the gate slowly swinging open. I burst through the gap as soon as it was wide enough to fit me, nearly knocking down the Legion that opened it.
His gauntleted hand grabbed my arm and jerked me around to face him, and in a growling voice he demanded, “Let me see your eyes.” With a grunt he released my arm.
“What was that about?” I looked up at him, surprised.
“You going in to fight?”
I nodded.
“Vampires what’s fed looks just like anyone, the sun don’t even bother them. Look in their eyes. Yer bones’ll chill if it’s one of ‘em. We’ve lost a buncha’ good men around ‘ta Arena and Arboretum, they’re thick in there. We men can‘t see nothin‘ fer the smoke that explosion left. Cats, though…you can see through anything. Get you some armor for ye go.“ He pointed to a pile of bodies that had obviously been picked clean of anything useful.
***The bodies:
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/1627/ob...05112232580.jpghttp://img824.imageshack.us/img824/681/obl...05112238018.jpghttp://img17.imageshack.us/img17/3257/obli...05112236506.jpghttp://img715.imageshack.us/img715/5663/ob...05112236563.jpghttp://img844.imageshack.us/img844/4766/ob...05112239115.jpgThe thought of taking from the dead churned my stomach, but had to be more appealing than fighting vampires barehanded and nearly naked.
I passed the pile of bodies he’d indicated and tried another further up the street. It wasn’t much better, any unbroken armor had already been scavenged. I lifted one cuirass.
“Don’t you touch no Legion armor!” The guard shouted.
There was another pile of dead near the circle, something flashed green as I neared it. Glass armor! Very badly damaged…nearly useless. Still…even though it obviously wasn’t my armor that Fathis had given me…somehow I hoped the familiarity of it would give me inner strength in spite of its condition.
The streets were still of movement, sickeningly quiet as if in tribute to the fallen that lay scattered like so much litter on every section of the bloodsoaked road. I moved across the circle and slid onto a crate in the center to dress. It just felt safer having a good view if anyone approached.
As I was pulling on the cuirass a cawing sound made me jump and spin around. The statue blocked my view of the bird, but I was sure it was Jak. I moved around the circle, buckling the cuirass quickly as I tried to scan the sky to see him…and then froze. The statue was a dragon. It was the dragon statue all the Khajiit women had found themselves at when freed.
The bird Jak had landed next to an open dome window ontop one of the corner mansions, but paused suddenly and turned to stare at me. I ran shrieking for the nearest gate. That had to be Vicente’s lair! Right here in the Talos Plaza!
Running in that armor was nearly impossible. It was made for a man, and much too large for me. Not only was it awkward, it was clanking and loud…but too late to change now. I saw a nearly broken iron longsword and snatched it up, still at a clunky run.
The Dragon Statue:
http://www.uesp.net/wiki/File:OB-IC-TalosPlaza.jpg***The gate into the Palace district swung open to a scene of chaos. Bodies lay everywhere, too many to count. A swirl of magic blew by me and exploded against a headstone. Destruction magic, was it an Arcane Mage? It took me a few seconds to realize it hadn’t been aimed at me, but at another Khajiit. She was covered in blood, and less than half the size of the man she was fighting…and incredibly lithe and light on her feet in spite of being fully armored. She dodged his magic attacks with ease. Vampires were fast…I wished the guard had been more specific about the eyes, what should I look for?
The man’s magic faltered. The Khajiit leaped forward, her legs like taut springs under her. She landed balancing on toes…dear gods, she was barefoot! In full armor! Was that something vampires did?
Her sword arm flashed in a blur of movement that was all leopard, not the rigid formal blade training of the humans...better. All her movements were smooth and fluid…catlike. Or was it vampire-like?
In seconds the man had an enchanted blade in his hand. He moved like he was on Skooma…dear gods, which one should I help?
The Khajiit’s shield came up to block with what looked like all the power of her body concentrated in the movement…dear gods what a block!
Mesmerized, I slid closer. She was fully a leopard in battle…but using man’s weapons. I wanted to help her even without knowing if she was the vampire…but couldn’t if she was killing an innocent.
Watching the swordplay as I moved forward, I didn’t see the body till I was crashing down loudly onto the bloody street. My blunder distracted the Khajiit. She saw the man‘s sword coming just before it struck. Her blade parried his too late. Just as the blade would have thrust through her she dodged and threw a force block that sounded like it cracked his jawbone. The sword pierced her side.
I started to scramble up, looking up at the man…dear gods he was huge! A giant…Malan‘s? His eyes darted toward me, and in the split second they met mine I felt the blood turning to ice in my veins. Dear gods, he was the vampire, and I may have just cost that Khajiit her life!
I tried to raise the iron sword and it slid from my hands, clattering loudly on the street.
The Khajiit:
http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/3127/ob...10271744398.jpg*
You have done it again! Grits’ jaw is among those hitting the floor! The images in the episode were especially haunting. The part where Maxical wakes up from the dream is masterfully done! All of the Khajiit women softly singing… 
Even more mysteries about Maxical’s background, her mother, and even S’Jirra. And there’s still a war going on. !!Holding my breath!!
...
I really liked that you noted that she isn’t from Cyrodiil originally. 
Uh-oh...
Dear gods indeed.