CHAPTER EIGHT
At the top of stairs sat a lone cultist, half asleep at his desk. I could scarcely see a steel mace at his side, and I thought perhaps Alf could use it, even though it would be like a mere dagger for his massive hands.
“Hey, Alf, you see that guard? I’ll take him out so that you can use his mace. Is that alright with you?” I said softly.
“Yes, that’s okay, Woody, but am I gonna get my share of the killin’ soon?” he whispered back.
“Yes, as soon as we get outside you can have all the fun.”
He smiled with great happiness. I turned around, still with the knife in hand. Suddenly I got up and ran as fast as I could towards the cultist, who was an Imperial. His face lit up with surprise but it was too late for him to call for help. I dove and tackled him to the ground, and then shoved the knife through his throat. The blade was very blunt and I had to use a lot of force to dig in deep, but alas in a matter of minutes the man was dead and we were for now safe.
“Wow, woody, I didn’t know ya’ had it in ya’,” Alf said while I pulled the knife from the robed man’s neck.
“Well, Alf, there’s probably a lot of things about me that would surprise you.”
“Alright, then you can tell me about em’ after we escape.”
After he said that I couldn’t look him in the eyes. Instead, I kept my back to him while I thought about what he said. Did he really think there was anyway he’d survive out there? Sure, he’d probably last a couple minutes, maybe, but then the spells would be flying from all directions. I was now feeling kind of bad about myself. Maybe the Nord really did think he stood a chance.
“Alf, you do realize you’re probably not going to last long out there, don’t you?”
I said this to him while looking at his face. He didn’t seem surprised by my question at all.
“What’s wrong, Woody, you take me for a brute or somethin? You think I’m all brawn and no brains?” Well I’ll tell ya’ lad, I’m pretty nifty when it comes to magic. Yer not givin’ me credit and ya’ haven’t even seen me in action yet!” he said with a laugh.
He certainly was confident, but I still wasn’t sure if this was a good idea. All my life I haven’t cared way or another about anyone besides my self. But now, thinking about what will most likely happen to Alf, I’m having second thoughts about if I should be going through with this plan. It’s weird; I sure hope I’m not going soft.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Alf? I don’t want you going out there if you don’t really want to?”
“What’s gotten in to ya’ lad? Are ya’s scared or somethin?”
“No, I’m certainly not scared, but I don’t want to send you to your death. I mean, you don’t even know me but yet you’re willing to put your life on the line just so I can escape.”
“It might sound dumb to ya, lad, but I believe ya’ when ya’ said you were the Empire’s last hope. I know that I don’t know ya’ very well, but I can tell in yer eyes ye aint lyin; and that’s good enough fer me.”
“Very well. I thank you for your surprising allegiance. It’s too bad there aren’t others like you out there. Cowards like Lex could do wonders by imitating you.”
“Well lad, my mum always taught me well as a child.”
After the discussion ended I carefully cracked the door open and peered outside. To my pleasant surprise there really weren’t that many patrols walking around, about eight in all. Perhaps most of them had gone to bed, thinking nothing could happen this late at night. Boy, were they in for a surprise. I then closed the door and turned back to Alf.
“There are only eight of them out there so it shouldn’t be too dangerous. While you attack them I’ll slip through the gates and if I remember correctly there should be a bridge. Hopefully there will be rocks that I can use to descend to the ground.”
“And if there aint any rocks?” Alf asked.
“Then I’ll just cut through the city itself.”
‘That’ll be dangerous, Woody…”
“I know, but I’ll do whatever it takes to get out of here.”
“Alrighty then, Woody, let’s do this!”
I opened the door once more and Alf told me to stand aside. Instead of foolishly arguing with the giant Nord I let him pass. He ran out the door straight towards a group of three cultists. They saw him coming when he was already a few feet away, for they were not far from the door to begin with.
Alf took his mace and swung mightily at a Dunmer. The blunt hit him in the face with so much force that the mace actually stuck as the dark elf flew back a few yards. The other two cultists of the group stood there, frozen in place. The fear had apparently disabled them from moving and Alf, with no weapons in hand, grabbed the two by the head and then crushed their skulls into one another.
Obviously this prompted three other cultists in the area to become aware of the situation, and soon spells were firing in all directions. Three Dawn members were in front of him, and the other two were behind him, coming up from the rear. At that moment I learned that Alf wasn’t kidding about his magical abilities. I stood there at the door entrance, amazed by Alf’s ability to block the oncoming spells and then quickly cast his own. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the other two cultists creeping up from behind Alf, in an attempt to catch him by surprise. I knew the original plan was for me to escape while Alf kept the others busy, but I just couldn’t leave him. Okay, I’ll admit maybe I am becoming a bit soft, but at the same time Martin and I could definitely use someone as talented as Alf.
I quickly ran out the door and sprinted towards the two behind Alf. It was a good thing I was a fast runner because I got to them before they even had a chance to see me. I got to the first one, a Breton I think, and stuck my knife into his back, while holding a hand to his mouth so that he could not alert his partner. I dug deeper and deeper until the merman was at last dead, and by this time his Imperial buddy knew finally noticed I was there.
The Imperial fired a spell at me and I let the now dead body drop in front of my while I rolled to the right. The spell hit the dead Breton, sending him flying back. While on the ground the Imperial attempted another spell, but with a quick move a rolled this time to my left and avoided the blast. I got up as fast as I could and ran towards the man. I was about ten feet away and he fired once again yet another spell in my direction. At this time I ducked and the spell flew over my back just inches away from my skin. I could actually feel the heat from the fiery blast. Then I tackled the Imperial to the ground and began pounding his face in with my fists. I must’ve hit the man at least twenty times before I was lifted from the ground by my shirt collar. I swung my arms wildly trying to get my attacker off of me, but then I was turned around there was Alf, laughing loudly in my face.
“Ha, ha, ha! What are ye doing, Woody, dancing? Don’t worry bout’ that there Imperial. He’s dead silly!”
I looked at the Imperial and it was very difficult to make out his facial features from all the blood that had splattered all over his face. I guess I was too angry to know that the man was long gone. It was weird, the rage I had felt was nothing like I had ever experienced before. Right then I felt a sharp pain in my right hand. I looked at it, with all of the blood of course, and noticed that my middle finger knuckle looked very deformed.
“Well, well, Woody, will ya’ look at that! You broke your hand!”
“No, it’s only my middle knuckle. I must have cracked a bone or something. Now, umm, could you please put me down?”
The tree of a Nord sat me down on the grass and I attempted to put the knuckle back in place, but with no success. Then Alf tried to get involved.
“Here, lemme try, Woody…”
“NO! Get away! I’m not letting you crush my whole hand!”
“whatever ya’ say, lad. But I’m tellin’ ya’, the longer ye wait the worse it’s gonna get.”
“I know, I know. Don’t worry; we’ll soon meet up with someone who could heal me. Now, let’s get out of here before anyone else shows up.”
“You mean I can come with you?”
“Yes, Alf, I need you actually. Your talents would pay dividends for me Martin, my…umm…partner I guess you could call him.”
Alf then gave me a nasty look. “Woody, don’t tell me yer one of them kind…”
“No, no, no! Not that kind of partner you fool! He’s the one helping me!”
“Oh. Phew…fer a second there ya’ had me scared, Woody!”
“Well, let’s just get out of here so I can tell you all the specifics about what I’m trying to accomplish. I’ll go ahead and tell you know that I failed in coming to this city. I was supposed to find out some information, but I’ll have to tell you later. Let’s go!”
As we were about to exit the prison area, cultists started pouring out from inside the numerous rooms, including the armory. They saw and immediately began casting spells in our direction. Alf and I opened the large gates and made it out, all the while with spells bouncing off the walls, just inches from us. We closed the doors once we were on the other side, and that’s when a decision had to be made. I looked over the side of the bridge we were on, and I noticed a set of rocks were set perfectly for Alf and I to climb down. I couldn’t believe how lucky we were to have found these “step”, but I didn’t the time to stand and gawk.
“Alf, climb over the edge and onto those rocks.”
He did what I told him and then I followed right behind. Just moment after we were both out of sight, the gates to the prison area opened and many cultists made their way onto the bridge, oblivious to the fact that Ald and I were a mere few feet from them.
“Hurry, they must have fallen back to the Temple District,” I heard a Dunmer yell.
Alf and I waited for them to leave, and then we continued down the rocks until were flat on our feet, on the floor below the bridge. After catching a breath for a few minutes we marched around the city walls until we were close to the Waterfront. I took Alf to the shores near the sea, where I instructed him to wait behind a large boulder until I returned. Then, as I was about to leave and find Martin, I heard his voice coming from the left.
“Rayden, where have you been? And what did you do in there? The place is crawling with cultists!”
He looked down at me, and then up at Alf, who was smiling goofily.
“And who in Talos’ name is this?” He said pointing at Alf.
“This is Alf, Martin. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have escaped from prison.”
“Prison? You mean you were caught?”
“Yes, but now is not the time to talk. Let us leave and I shall explain everything on the way to the priory.”
Martin looked agitated, but obviously we needed to leave before we were spotted.
“Fine, let’s just get out of here. And I’ll heal that injury of yours once we get out of sight,” Martin said pointing at my right hand as we made our way west…
On to the next chapter
At the top of stairs sat a lone cultist, half asleep at his desk. I could scarcely see a steel mace at his side, and I thought perhaps Alf could use it, even though it would be like a mere dagger for his massive hands.
“Hey, Alf, you see that guard? I’ll take him out so that you can use his mace. Is that alright with you?” I said softly.
“Yes, that’s okay, Woody, but am I gonna get my share of the killin’ soon?” he whispered back.
“Yes, as soon as we get outside you can have all the fun.”
He smiled with great happiness. I turned around, still with the knife in hand. Suddenly I got up and ran as fast as I could towards the cultist, who was an Imperial. His face lit up with surprise but it was too late for him to call for help. I dove and tackled him to the ground, and then shoved the knife through his throat. The blade was very blunt and I had to use a lot of force to dig in deep, but alas in a matter of minutes the man was dead and we were for now safe.
“Wow, woody, I didn’t know ya’ had it in ya’,” Alf said while I pulled the knife from the robed man’s neck.
“Well, Alf, there’s probably a lot of things about me that would surprise you.”
“Alright, then you can tell me about em’ after we escape.”
After he said that I couldn’t look him in the eyes. Instead, I kept my back to him while I thought about what he said. Did he really think there was anyway he’d survive out there? Sure, he’d probably last a couple minutes, maybe, but then the spells would be flying from all directions. I was now feeling kind of bad about myself. Maybe the Nord really did think he stood a chance.
“Alf, you do realize you’re probably not going to last long out there, don’t you?”
I said this to him while looking at his face. He didn’t seem surprised by my question at all.
“What’s wrong, Woody, you take me for a brute or somethin? You think I’m all brawn and no brains?” Well I’ll tell ya’ lad, I’m pretty nifty when it comes to magic. Yer not givin’ me credit and ya’ haven’t even seen me in action yet!” he said with a laugh.
He certainly was confident, but I still wasn’t sure if this was a good idea. All my life I haven’t cared way or another about anyone besides my self. But now, thinking about what will most likely happen to Alf, I’m having second thoughts about if I should be going through with this plan. It’s weird; I sure hope I’m not going soft.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Alf? I don’t want you going out there if you don’t really want to?”
“What’s gotten in to ya’ lad? Are ya’s scared or somethin?”
“No, I’m certainly not scared, but I don’t want to send you to your death. I mean, you don’t even know me but yet you’re willing to put your life on the line just so I can escape.”
“It might sound dumb to ya, lad, but I believe ya’ when ya’ said you were the Empire’s last hope. I know that I don’t know ya’ very well, but I can tell in yer eyes ye aint lyin; and that’s good enough fer me.”
“Very well. I thank you for your surprising allegiance. It’s too bad there aren’t others like you out there. Cowards like Lex could do wonders by imitating you.”
“Well lad, my mum always taught me well as a child.”
After the discussion ended I carefully cracked the door open and peered outside. To my pleasant surprise there really weren’t that many patrols walking around, about eight in all. Perhaps most of them had gone to bed, thinking nothing could happen this late at night. Boy, were they in for a surprise. I then closed the door and turned back to Alf.
“There are only eight of them out there so it shouldn’t be too dangerous. While you attack them I’ll slip through the gates and if I remember correctly there should be a bridge. Hopefully there will be rocks that I can use to descend to the ground.”
“And if there aint any rocks?” Alf asked.
“Then I’ll just cut through the city itself.”
‘That’ll be dangerous, Woody…”
“I know, but I’ll do whatever it takes to get out of here.”
“Alrighty then, Woody, let’s do this!”
I opened the door once more and Alf told me to stand aside. Instead of foolishly arguing with the giant Nord I let him pass. He ran out the door straight towards a group of three cultists. They saw him coming when he was already a few feet away, for they were not far from the door to begin with.
Alf took his mace and swung mightily at a Dunmer. The blunt hit him in the face with so much force that the mace actually stuck as the dark elf flew back a few yards. The other two cultists of the group stood there, frozen in place. The fear had apparently disabled them from moving and Alf, with no weapons in hand, grabbed the two by the head and then crushed their skulls into one another.
Obviously this prompted three other cultists in the area to become aware of the situation, and soon spells were firing in all directions. Three Dawn members were in front of him, and the other two were behind him, coming up from the rear. At that moment I learned that Alf wasn’t kidding about his magical abilities. I stood there at the door entrance, amazed by Alf’s ability to block the oncoming spells and then quickly cast his own. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the other two cultists creeping up from behind Alf, in an attempt to catch him by surprise. I knew the original plan was for me to escape while Alf kept the others busy, but I just couldn’t leave him. Okay, I’ll admit maybe I am becoming a bit soft, but at the same time Martin and I could definitely use someone as talented as Alf.
I quickly ran out the door and sprinted towards the two behind Alf. It was a good thing I was a fast runner because I got to them before they even had a chance to see me. I got to the first one, a Breton I think, and stuck my knife into his back, while holding a hand to his mouth so that he could not alert his partner. I dug deeper and deeper until the merman was at last dead, and by this time his Imperial buddy knew finally noticed I was there.
The Imperial fired a spell at me and I let the now dead body drop in front of my while I rolled to the right. The spell hit the dead Breton, sending him flying back. While on the ground the Imperial attempted another spell, but with a quick move a rolled this time to my left and avoided the blast. I got up as fast as I could and ran towards the man. I was about ten feet away and he fired once again yet another spell in my direction. At this time I ducked and the spell flew over my back just inches away from my skin. I could actually feel the heat from the fiery blast. Then I tackled the Imperial to the ground and began pounding his face in with my fists. I must’ve hit the man at least twenty times before I was lifted from the ground by my shirt collar. I swung my arms wildly trying to get my attacker off of me, but then I was turned around there was Alf, laughing loudly in my face.
“Ha, ha, ha! What are ye doing, Woody, dancing? Don’t worry bout’ that there Imperial. He’s dead silly!”
I looked at the Imperial and it was very difficult to make out his facial features from all the blood that had splattered all over his face. I guess I was too angry to know that the man was long gone. It was weird, the rage I had felt was nothing like I had ever experienced before. Right then I felt a sharp pain in my right hand. I looked at it, with all of the blood of course, and noticed that my middle finger knuckle looked very deformed.
“Well, well, Woody, will ya’ look at that! You broke your hand!”
“No, it’s only my middle knuckle. I must have cracked a bone or something. Now, umm, could you please put me down?”
The tree of a Nord sat me down on the grass and I attempted to put the knuckle back in place, but with no success. Then Alf tried to get involved.
“Here, lemme try, Woody…”
“NO! Get away! I’m not letting you crush my whole hand!”
“whatever ya’ say, lad. But I’m tellin’ ya’, the longer ye wait the worse it’s gonna get.”
“I know, I know. Don’t worry; we’ll soon meet up with someone who could heal me. Now, let’s get out of here before anyone else shows up.”
“You mean I can come with you?”
“Yes, Alf, I need you actually. Your talents would pay dividends for me Martin, my…umm…partner I guess you could call him.”
Alf then gave me a nasty look. “Woody, don’t tell me yer one of them kind…”
“No, no, no! Not that kind of partner you fool! He’s the one helping me!”
“Oh. Phew…fer a second there ya’ had me scared, Woody!”
“Well, let’s just get out of here so I can tell you all the specifics about what I’m trying to accomplish. I’ll go ahead and tell you know that I failed in coming to this city. I was supposed to find out some information, but I’ll have to tell you later. Let’s go!”
As we were about to exit the prison area, cultists started pouring out from inside the numerous rooms, including the armory. They saw and immediately began casting spells in our direction. Alf and I opened the large gates and made it out, all the while with spells bouncing off the walls, just inches from us. We closed the doors once we were on the other side, and that’s when a decision had to be made. I looked over the side of the bridge we were on, and I noticed a set of rocks were set perfectly for Alf and I to climb down. I couldn’t believe how lucky we were to have found these “step”, but I didn’t the time to stand and gawk.
“Alf, climb over the edge and onto those rocks.”
He did what I told him and then I followed right behind. Just moment after we were both out of sight, the gates to the prison area opened and many cultists made their way onto the bridge, oblivious to the fact that Ald and I were a mere few feet from them.
“Hurry, they must have fallen back to the Temple District,” I heard a Dunmer yell.
Alf and I waited for them to leave, and then we continued down the rocks until were flat on our feet, on the floor below the bridge. After catching a breath for a few minutes we marched around the city walls until we were close to the Waterfront. I took Alf to the shores near the sea, where I instructed him to wait behind a large boulder until I returned. Then, as I was about to leave and find Martin, I heard his voice coming from the left.
“Rayden, where have you been? And what did you do in there? The place is crawling with cultists!”
He looked down at me, and then up at Alf, who was smiling goofily.
“And who in Talos’ name is this?” He said pointing at Alf.
“This is Alf, Martin. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have escaped from prison.”
“Prison? You mean you were caught?”
“Yes, but now is not the time to talk. Let us leave and I shall explain everything on the way to the priory.”
Martin looked agitated, but obviously we needed to leave before we were spotted.
“Fine, let’s just get out of here. And I’ll heal that injury of yours once we get out of sight,” Martin said pointing at my right hand as we made our way west…
On to the next chapter