41: The Khajiit

I leaned against one of the columns that encircled an area of the Arena district. The shouting and yells from inside had subsided, and night’s heavy blanket was slowly pulling the sun out of sight. Obviously, the walls of the city blocked my view of the sunset, but I could see the spectacular colors dancing in the clouds directly above me. I watched them for a short while, and then opened the book I had purchased at one of the local shops. It was simply bound and not all of the pages lined up, but the information inside was interesting enough. It was entitled Reflections upon the Summoning of Creatures. I used it to brush up on my theoretical Conjuration knowledge, and discovered that the book needed to be revised in order to keep up with the changing times. It still said fifty foot tall gates to Oblivion were impossible. After my recent experiences, I decided to take the knowledge within lightly.

It was dark when the Khajiit finally exited the Arena. I had been keeping an eye on the people coming and going in order to find out what was going on inside. He was wearing dark blue robes and moved gracefully, but also warily. I had planned on following him to wherever he was going, but I saw him casting the same green light I had seen before. Once again, the light drifted towards me and was absorbed by the ring in pocket. It illuminated me and I knew I wouldn’t be able to escape the Khajiit’s eyes. I shut the book and stowed it in my satchel. This was going to be a rocky meeting.

“So this is the one Jauffre has sent to me.” He spoke with an accent so heavy it was hard to decipher. “Interesting. Normally I would not take on a student so…” He looked me over, “Frail. But it is of no matter. I shall teach, and you shall learn.”

“What are you talking about?” I said. Obviously I had missed something. Train? I wouldn’t train with this monstrosity for anything in the world. “I have no intention of learning anything from you. I’m perfectly happy with my current capabilities and…”

“I can make you walk again.” He interjected quite forcefully, and I was surprised he knew about my disability. I was taken aback, and had lost any verbal momentum I had once had. “It is difficult to move, isn’t it? The absence of toes is quite… debilitating.” He smiled devilishly. He even knew the source of my disability. “I can help you to walk, even run again.”

“Why…” I floundered, frustrated at the creature’s preparation for this, or at least at my own lack of preparation. “Why should I believe you can help me?”

“Because I know what it is like to be missing a few body parts.” He stuck a furry hand out and showed me that he was missing several fingers, and then he showed me his foot, which was also missing all of its toes. “My battles in the Arena and elsewhere have taken their toll upon my body. But I am still capable of walking and running.” My mind flashed back to the slaughter in the pit of the Arena. More than capable, I would say.

My mind struggled with the decision. One half of me told me to run away from this murderous creature and hope I wouldn’t get my throat ripped out. The other half begged me to accept, so that once again my movement would be free. A third and fourth half was silent, quietly colliding luminous shards of thought within the depths of the staff. I reached a decision after a moment’s pause.

“Very well,” I said finally, “I will learn from you, but don’t think I will be happy about anything other than my own restored mobility.”

The Khajiit smiled, revealing glistening teeth that were not meant for anything less than tearing flesh. “Excellent, meet me here tomorrow morning and we will begin. By the way, my name is Darkasha.” With that, his faded from sight and I heard soft footsteps running off into the night.

“Be careful, Will” The cold voice of the Dark One said. “This creature is dangerous.”

“Thanks,” I thought sarcastically, “I hadn’t noticed.”

“No, you don’t understand. It’s more than just the incident in the Arena…”

“What then?” I asked, curious now.

“It was difficult to see at first, and I still am not sure…”

“What?”

“Surely you can guess… The glistening fangs, the dark robe… The only exiting the building at night?”

Realization began to dawn on me.

The voice in my mind chilled me when it spoke, “Darkasha is a vampire.”

40: Horrors of the Arena

I awoke before dawn, and the few streaks of light that illuminated the clouds in the sky were barely enough to see by, but I wanted to be fully awake when I approached the ruins. A small breakfast was all I could bear to eat partly because of the shooting pains in my leg. It kept me from moving around too much, but I stood and surveyed the ruins. It was mostly a shadow in the darkness, but I could make out the general shape and size of it.

The sun finally rose enough to illuminate the area, and I could see some humanoid figures beginning to move around, though whether they were my “friend” or something more dangerous I could not tell. I edged closer towards the shapes and saw that they were not who I was looking for. Their sickly green skin and sloping shoulders revealed their inhuman nature, and it wasn’t hard to hear their guttural language from a fair distance away.

Goblins have a tendency to hang around caves and ruins, so it wasn’t entirely surprising to see them here. Nevertheless, I was a bit aggravated. If they had killed my “friend” I would be in a difficult spot. I snuck a bit closer and summoned a scamp to deal with the emaciated brutes, and soon I was walking freely about the outside of the ruins. There was no sign of anyone, and the sun was blazing its way towards it apogee. I sighed and sat down in some tall grass near the rotten door leading into the depths of the ruins. I pulled the ring from the depths of my robes and examined it. There was nothing very special about it, other than the little sphere of glass that protruded from its center. I spun it around in my hands for a while and even put it on a few times, but nothing happened.

“Hey,” I sent a message deep into the Dark One’s mind, “What do you make of this ring?” He was quiet for a moment, and then the staff glowed gently.

“As far as I can tell, it is completely normal,” his mind mused quietly, “There is no magical radiation emanating from it, and it isn’t of any special value.” He paused, but I could tell he was thinking deeply by the colors of the staff.

“What if,” I began cautiously as the idea formed in my mind, “the ring only works in certain areas or that it reveals only one specific thing?”

“Perhaps… that would be very hard to detect.” I could tell it wasn’t something he had thought of, and I smiled. I then slipped the ring onto my finger and started looking around. I saw absolutely nothing, but then I stood up and began to search more thoroughly. I found nothing on the outside of the ruins, and began to doubt my hypothesis. Reluctantly, I decided to enter the ruins and see what I could find inside. As I approached the door, however, it glowed faintly. I held the ring closer to the door, and the glow focused and concentrated into a string of words.

The Arena beckons. It read, we shall meet there in four hours. Wear the ring. I wondered whether this message could be old, but then the four hours changed to three hours and fifty-nine minutes. I immediately set off for the Imperial city. I didn’t want to walk all the way around to the bridge to the city, as that would take far too long, and I might be late. Instead, I decided to cross the river at a shallow spot near the ruins. I kept out of the water as best as I could, trying to hop from stone to stone across. A few slaughterfish eyed me hungrily from their watery home, and I didn’t feel like getting my feet wet or nibbled on. I made it across unharmed and unmoistened, and climbed the steep hill towards the Imperial City. The closest entrance was via the bridge from the Imperial Prison, and when I reached the huge walls of the prison I was reminded of my recent incarceration there. I put up my hood and avoided the prying eyes of the guards, just in case they might try to drag me back to that dank cell, even though I had in some ways been pardoned by the late Emperor.

The bridge connected directly to the market district, and I was soon surrounded by a large group of people frantically trying to get the best prices in the city. Obviously now was not the time to shop. Strangely, the shoppers were mostly concentrated around a single shop in the district, something called “The Copious Coinpurse.” I thought little of this, and instead pushed through the crowd towards the center of the city. Green Emperor Way was beautiful and quiet. Whether the stillness was for the many graves that ringed the area, or whether it was for the Imperial Palace. A guard in ceremonial armor passed by and told me to be respectful. I nodded and proceeded towards the Arena District. I still had a few hours before I was to meet… whoever it was that had left me the message, but I decided I could find out what this whole Arena thing was about.

The Arena District was in stark contrast to the Emperor’s way. The giant coliseum dominated the center of the district, and from it I could hear screams of combat and collective cheers from the audience. I pushed past the group of people clamoring to bet on fights and into the coliseum itself. I found my way to a balcony overlooking the sandy pit where the fights took place. A group of people were still down in the pit cleaning up after the last fight, although I use “cleaning” lightly. They were simply raking the sand and pouring more sand over the bloody stains. A few were scrubbing the metal grate in the center of the pit with what looked like hunks of sandstone attached to thick broom handles. I took a seat and awaited the next fight.

Eventually, the cleaners ran out of the pit and a booming voice filled the Arena. “Welcome,” it said, “to the ARENA!” A collective yell rose up from the crowd. The announcer waited for them to quiet down before continuing: “We have a special treat for you today! From the blue team: Three grizzled combatants, each skilled in their own art of combat.” The announcer let the chants of “BLUE! BLUE! BLUE!” die out before announcing the yellow team’s gladiator. “From the Yellow team, we have an up and coming Gladiator. He has specifically requested this 3 versus 1 battle, but how will he survive? We shall see! LOWER THE GATES!” The steel bars dropped away from where the gladiators were standing. Immediately a blast of lighting shot towards the Yellow team Khajiit. He dodged nimbly and ran towards the Blue team. He ran so fast that sand shot into the air behind him. One of the Blue team members (A Nord who was obviously skilled in close quarters combat) let out a battle cry, raised his massive sword and charged. The Khajiit literally launched himself at the Nord, catching him off guard and knocking the massive warrior to the ground. The Khajiit cut his prey’s throat in one swift movement and jumped away towards the other two combatants, who had spread out and were attacking from a distance, one with magic and the other with a bow. The Yellow gladiator dodged both attacks with lighting fast movements, and was soon upon the archer. This time the maddened Khajiit ripped the throat out of his victim with his teeth. There was a shocked gasp and then a cheer from the crowd as the Khajiit flipped away from the gurgling woman. The final Blue team member screamed and began backing away while lightning crackled from his fingertips. The Khajiit advanced much more slowly this time, toying with his prey. It was almost sickening to watch. He flipped and rolled away from the frantic blasts of lightning that arced from the Blue mage’s fingers. Eventually the bursts became feeble, and then stopped. The mage had run out of magicka! The Khajiit grinned horribly and sheathed his blade. He flipped out his retractable claws and advanced toward the doomed mage. The screams were silenced quickly, as the razor sharp claws ripped through the man’s throat. There was a delay, and then the crowd began cheering louder than ever. I looked around at all the cheering people, sickened at their barbaric behavior.

The Khajiit returned to the twitching body of the Nord man whose throat he had slit and made a complicated gesture over him. A red glow washed over the Nord and he jerked. I recognized the spell effects. The Khajiit had sucked the last bits of life out of the body and restored himself. He then walked into the middle of the arena and sent a blast of green energy into the air, which I recognized from the door of the ruins. I held the ring out towards the cloud of energy and it was sucked into the globe of glass. It glowed faintly, and then faded. I looked down at the Khajiit, who was staring at me and grinning. No one else seemed to have noticed anything unusual, but I pocketed the ring and slipped out of the coliseum, disgusted at the whole affair. I didn’t know what was worse, to see that horrible spectacle, or to have to meet the creature who had caused it…

39: Bandits

The sun was nearing the horizon as I set out from the gate. I took comfort from the peaceful breeze that rustled the trees and made the birds sing. I drew my robe closer around me and put up its rather thin hood, trying to keep out some of the chill that was beginning to enter the air. Night was looming over the mountains, and I wondered if I should have waited until morning to depart. It wasn’t until later that I realized how feeble I must have looked, hunched up and hobbling along, and how much of an easy target for bandits I was. The first arrow hissed towards me from behind, it was about to puncture the back of my neck…

Roll! The idea screamed through every fiber of my mind and body, forcibly bending me down onto my knees and onto the stony road. It wasn’t so much a roll as it was a collapse, and my body slammed onto the road. Lay Still… The two words shuddered in every fiber of my being, holding me down to the rocks and straining every one of my muscles. I heard a cry of triumph come from the archer who had attacked me, and some rustling in the bushes that concealed him. I heard him… THEM come closer to my fallen form. I struggled to break free from the invisible hand that held my body motionless, but to no avail. Wait… the words held me down, and I waited. The boots crunched closer, yet the icy voice in my muscles and bones still said Wait… My mind screamed with fury. The boots stopped mid-step, and I heard a confused voice go “What?”

Now! The ice released me.

I spun up from the ground, releasing my aggression in one smooth swing of the Dark Staff. The end connected with the startled bandit’s face, and I swear I saw the staff sprout spikes just before it hit. He spun and collapsed. I turned to face the other bandit, who was a Redguard woman wearing thick plate mail. She snarled and pulled a large sword from where it hung at her waist. I smiled viciously at her and concentrated on a spell. Streaks of flame lanced out from the staff towards her. She leapt away from them, but they followed her enough to burn through a portion of her armor on her leg. She screamed and dropped her sword, and I was just about to deliver a finishing blow when she was back on her feet, sword in hand. Damn she was quick. I swung the staff at her leg but she parried and retaliated. I blocked the blow with the back portion of the staff, narrowly avoiding death. She snarled and spit on me, hitting me square in the eye. My eye burned, and I fell backward over the body of the other bandit. I tried to jump up, but I forgot that my toes were missing, and fell back down again. Luckily, the Redguard had planned on me having toes, and as such her sword swung several inches too high. She lost her balance slightly, and I took the opportunity to swing the staff at her burned leg. The sickly crunch and scream revealed that my attack had been successful. She crumpled to the ground and whimpered. I stood over her, clearing my eye of the acidic saliva. She continued to whimper at her pain, clutching her burned, broken limb in her hands. Pity overtook me. I started to walk away from the scene, when a scream of rage shook me. I spun around and raised the staff to block. A sword clanged onto the metal of the staff, almost knocking me backwards. She had healed herself! She was weakened though, and as I swung the staff around she couldn’t move in time. The staff smashed her skull and killed her instantly. I sighed and knelt to clean the blood and… brains off of the staff. I was further disgusted to see the staff sucking them up. The Dark One laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not eating them. Just… disposing of it in an unusual manner. Believe me; it will stink less this way.” I grimaced and went through the bandits’ pockets.

I found a fair amount of coin, and the healing potions would make a nice addition to my current stock. I could have salvaged some of the armor from the bodies, but I decided it wouldn’t be worth either the chore of stripping the bodies or the added weight I would have to carry. I dragged the bodies away from the road a ways. Nature would clean up the rest.

The road sloped gently towards the Imperial City, I hobbled briskly along, gripping the warm metal of the staff to keep my hands from the chill. The sun set, but I continued on my way. It hadn’t seemed this long to the Circle road before. Eventually I could see the twin moons’ light glistening on the waters of Lake Rumare, with the white walls of the city beyond. I smiled and began looking around for the ruins of a fort. It took about ten seconds.

The crumbling walls were still quite tall, and I couldn’t see if anyone was moving about in the ruins. I decided to wait until morning to approach the ruins, because the darkness always holds surprises. Ruins especially hold surprises, and not the kind that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside (unless by “warm and fuzzy” you mean “Adrenaline rushing through every inch of your body because a flaming sphere has just been thrown at you when you stepped on that little tiny square on the floor”). It can wait ‘til daylight.