Crossover: Chapter 8 - Hunting

  • Nigel crouched behind a bush as he surveyed Valtheim, it was made up of two large stone towers either side of the river with a narrow bridge connecting them. The majority of the bandits were asleep but there were a few guards; he couldn’t see Lucy but his rage overlooked it. He was certain she was here – right?

     

    So Nigel stood up, laser rifle in hand, and boldly walked up to the group of bandits. The guard saw him coming and yelled down, “Hey you! If you want to walk past you’ll have to pay us 300 septims or else we’ll kill you!”

     

    Nigel’s eyes literally glowed red as he entered targeting mode, uttering a few final words before his inner anger overtook him.

     

    “I’m not paying”

     

    And with that, he selected a few shots in his targeting mode and before they knew it three of them lay dead. This woke the other bandits and they too grabbed their weapons and began their assault. Arrows flew past him, poorly aimed due to the remaining lethargy of the bandits, a few hit him but his metallic skin deflected them easily. Nigel shot with deadly accuracy and ended the lives of a two more bandits; they would pay for what they had done.

     

    Only ten remained standing: the five warriors congregated on the bridge while the five archers stood on the tower to make a final stand against the ruthless war machine. One idiotic bandit charged at him with a Warhammer in hand, but one deadly swipe of Nigel’s hand sent him flying over the edge of the bridge to be impaled on the rocks below; nine remained - five archers and four melees.

     

    The four melee attackers all rushed towards him, their flying weapons mixed together in a steely blend of pain. Yet Nigel did not feel fear at their attack and simply fired off three shots of his rifle, the laser energy easily burning through their primitive armour. The archers continued firing volleys from their tower as the last melee attacker dropped his weapon and begged for mercy.

     

    “By Talos! Please don’t kill me, I’ll go to jail – whatever you want. Please, I’m just trying to feed my fami…”

     

    He never finished his sentence as one shot from a laser rifle ended his pleas. Nigel kicked the lifeless body off the bridge, he felt no guilt for what he did- they deserved it, scum. It was only the archers left now, the light was coming up now and Nigel reckoned the others at the Khajiit camp would be waking. He aimed his rifle at the archers above and prepared to fire…

     

    *******************************

     

    San-Kai woke up, it was dawn and they planned to find Lucy today. He crawled out of his tent expecting to see breakfast made by Nigel, he usually hunted in the mornings. But San was surprised to see no meat turning over a fire, no pleasant scent to wake up to.

     

    San-Kai looked over to where Nigel would be sat guard but all that greeted him was an empty chair, he walked over to the tent Bjorn was sleeping in and woke him. “Bjorn, Nigel’s gone”

     

    At this Bjorn snapped open his eyes, “Nigel’s gone?” then it dawned on him. “He’ll be at Valtheim trying to get Lucy. Ysmir’s beard I do not want to see the carnage he’s capable of when he’s angry – we should go, quickly”

     

    ***********************

     

    The bodies of archers lay at Nigel’s feet, soon to be kicked off the edge of the bridge like the scum they were. One lone bandit lay, quaking as he approached, he’d seen what Nigel had done to the earlier request of life and he did not expect to live. Nevertheless he plead; “Please, just don’t kill me – I won’t harm you, I promise”

     

    “I won’t kill you!” Nigel calmly replied

     

    “You won’t?” The bandits face betrayed surprise

     

    “No, I have some questions for you to answer”

     

    “Of course”

     

    “Where are Commander Collins and Lucy?” Nigel asked through gritted teeth

     

    “Collins? Oh, yeah – he came past a few days ago to ask directions to Shimmermist cave. We tried to get him to pay us but he killed our chief so we told him and let him pass. You should have just told us you were looking for Collins, we would have helped you –we wanted him dead for killing our chief”

     

    “So, I killed them all for no reason?”

     

    “I joined only recently so I didn’t really know them, but yeah”

     

    Nigel groaned with guilt, he always did this – shoot first and don’t ask questions later. His superiority in combat resulted in him never asking for a yield. Damn it!

     

    “I am so sorry, I really am”

     

    “You left me alive so I really don’t mind – can I go now?”

     

    “Yes” Nigel replied as he sat down and gazed at the carnage done by him, he did this – he slaughtered them all, even the one who yielded. They were bandits, sure, but they were still people.

     

    ********************

     

    San-Kai and Bjorn walked up to Valtheim towers just as a bandit was running past, they readied the weapons in case of danger but the bandit simply ran past, but not before shouting something at them.

     

    “I’d avoid Valtheim if I were you, total massacre – the guy will probably shoot you!”

     

    The pair shared a knowing look and walked on towards Vatheim, the stone towers were littered with corpses and several bodies lay covered in blood as they sailed down the river. They spotted Nigel sat at the top of the second tower, simply staring at the bodies. He seemed to notice them but made no action to acknowledge them.

     

    They walked over corpses and walked over to Nigel, San-Kai greeted him warily “You okay Nigel?”

     

    “Yeah, Lucy isn’t here – I killed them all for nothing”

     

    Bjorn piped up, “They were bandits, they would’ve killed you anyway”

     

    “No, they wouldn’t have – they were after Collins too, they would’ve helped me”

     

    “But you weren’t to know that!” Bjorn assured him

     

    “Unless I talked to them, which I should’ve” Nigel looked up at them, his eyes sparking with glimpses of tears. “One of them yielded, he had a family to look after and I shot him without a second thought”

     

    Neither of them had any response to this, so Nigel continued. “The last guy who told me about Collins, the one I let go, he told me she was in Shimmermist”

     

    “Shimmermist?” San-Kai acknowledged. “That’s really close, we can save her today!”

     

    Nigel’s eyes brightened up slightly, “Okay, let’s go and save Lucy”. Nigel hoped saving her life would stop him feeling so guilty, he’d never felt this guilty for any kill – not since he worked for the Institute at least.

     

    The group walked on to Shimmermist cave, ready to go and save Lucy from the clutches of the ruthless Gunner.

     

Comments

4 Comments
  • Will
    Will   ·  June 3, 2016
    Thanks ShyGuy - I've corrected it
  • ShyGuyWolf
    ShyGuyWolf   ·  June 2, 2016
    just found this mistake:   they guy will probably shoot you
    other then that great piece.
  • Will
    Will   ·  June 2, 2016
    Thanks Lissette, I realized the location was a bit off when writing the next chapter, I've decided that Collins didn't quite know how to get there and stopped to ask a few bandits, then killed their chief in a show of dominance.
  • The Long-Chapper
    The Long-Chapper   ·  June 2, 2016
    Very dramatic and I liked it.
    Isn't Shimmermist a bit out of the way for the route Valtheim though? You don't need to pass Valtheim to get to Shimmermist.