Chapter 12
‘Hello,’ Ambarro said cheerfully. ‘Me and my friends here are looking for the Adder of Cyrodiil. He sells skooma.’
Diia and Harrow went white and gawped at each other, on the verge of vomiting blood in horror. They both grabbed him by an arm and pulled him away from the passer-by, who was standing there looking utterly nonplussed.
‘WHAT IN OBLIVION IS WRONG WITH YOU, DUNCE?’ Harrow screamed when they were out of earshot. Quite, quite far out of earshot.
‘Ahn…’ Diia whimpered, a hand over her forehead, which had begun to throb with pain. ‘Ambarro-to you… idiot.’
They had arrived in Bruma – the closest city they could reach in Cyrodiil. It was built quite high in the Jerall Mountains, around a third the height of Tsukikage. Diia had hoped to stop at an inn for supplies and also to pick up some information on their target if possible.
‘The target will likely not be easy to find,’ she’d cautioned the team. ‘Add to that our lack of street knowledge in these areas and we have quite a daunting task ahead of us.’
‘If we’re looking for “street knowledge”,’ Ambarro had replied, pointing at a random person hiking up the mountain trail they were on. ‘Why don’t we just ask the people on the streets?’
By the time the other two shinobi processed his sentence, he’d already jogged over to the hiker. Thus their current predicament.
‘What’d I do?’ Ambarro said defensively. ‘I just thought I’d ask him about the Adder, that’s all. He didn’t look like-’
‘A skooma addict or a criminal,’ Harrow interjected, his normally cool demeanour lost in a fit of frustrated despair. ‘Which means that it’s highly unlikely that he knows anything about the Adder in the first place SINCE HE DEALS SKOOMA! What were you planning, to go around asking every single man, woman and child you meet if they know about him?’
‘What’s wrong with that? And what’s a criminal even supposed to look like, anyway? You can’t tell that by just glancing at someone.’
Diia stepped in as Harrow started frothing at the mouth.
‘Ambarro-to,’ she said weakly. ‘Don’t you think two children resembling Khajiit and a young pale-skinned elf running through Cyrodiil asking about a skooma lord is going to raise some questions?’
‘Of course we look like Khajiit, we’re Po’ Tun.’
Harrow went over to a nearby fir tree and began a rough imitation of a woodpecker. Diia persisted, her knees beginning to wobble.
‘If questions are raised, the target will know someone’s looking for him…’
‘People are going to be looking for him anyway. He sells skooma, right?’
Diia felt froth build around her lips as well. ‘We’re not looking to buy skooma and nobody is going to believe that we are when we look like this! All the Adder’s going to hear is that some strange people are looking for him, and that will lead him to tighten his defences, which will make him harder to get to!’
‘Eeh… I see,’ Ambarro nodded slowly, smiling innocently. ‘You’re smart, Diia.’
Diia joined Harrow in banging their heads on the fir tree.
In the end, they skipped past Bruma and went to the Imperial City directly, just in case. ‘After all,’ Diia reasoned. ‘It’s the capital city. It should be a good place to start.’
‘Most intelligence webs across history do have their roots in capitals,’ Harrow agreed. ‘It’s a sound plan. As long as a certain somebody doesn’t run about announcing at the top of his lungs that we’re here to put a blade through the Adder’s throat, that is.’
‘Oh, come on,’ Ambarro grumbled. ‘I apologised already.’
It took them another week to travel to the Imperial City. It would’ve taken them four days at most if they dashed all the way, but Diia decided that they’d attracted quite enough attention already, so they ran only under the cover of darkness.
The White-Gold Tower came into their sight on the morning of the seventh day, as they sprinted out of a stretch of woods. Ambarro’s eyes immediately began shining. ‘Look at that look at that look at that,’ he pointed at the building. ‘You can’t even see the top, it’s in the clouds.’
‘Truly, the Ayleids were remarkable smiths and spellweavers,’ Diia said, similarly enraptured. ‘I wonder how tall it is exactly.’
‘That is still a subject of intense debate. Study reports range from half a mile, one mile, two miles to over ten miles. No one has been able to take an accurate measurement. The most plausible theory is that the Tower is simply unquantifiable and unmeasurable, like many other places and objects flushed with pure magic-’
‘I’m a little hungry, let’s get some breakfast.’ Ambarro lost interest the minute Harrow started talking.
‘Would it kill you to at least try to learn something?’ Harrow said, exasperated.
‘Not from you I won’t.’
‘Imbecile.’
‘Alright, alright, breakfast it is,’ Diia spoke up before the two could jump each other.
Then they heard armoured feet marching down the road they were on. ‘Should we hide?’ Harrow asked, reaching for the hilt of his sword.
‘No trees, shrubbery, or any kind of shadows around, and we don’t have time to dig holes. We shouldn’t have used the main roads. Stupid of me,’ Diia berated herself. ‘Sorry, everyone. Keep your heads down and try to appear inconspicuous.’
A few minutes later, men came into view. They were armoured in the fashion of the Imperial Legion, and their leader had a red cloak billowing behind him. Harrow bowed his head slightly, studying them out of the corner of his eye. He counted twenty-two men, including the leader. It wasn’t long before the red-cloaked Imperial noticed the shinobi in return.
‘Halt,’ he ordered, raising a fist to the men behind him. ‘At ease.’
‘Good morning,’ Diia ventured, her hand inside her sleeve relaxing on the grip of her kunai. The Legion, at least, was not likely to attack them on sight.
‘Good morning to you as well, lass,’ the Imperial said kindly. ‘Are you by any chance headed for the City? It’s dangerous to travel alone through these areas. Where are your parents?’
‘She’s not travelling alone,’ Ambarro said indignantly. ‘What are we, invisible?’
‘My sincere apologies, lad, but three children…’
‘We’re not just children, you know,’ Ambarro said, roused. ‘We’re Shad-’
Harrow let out a loud cough that sounded remarkably like the word ‘dunce’.
‘Ah… that is to say, we’re not alone and we can handle ourselves. Yes, that’s right.’ Ambarro stammered.
‘Praefect,’ a Legionnaire behind the Imperial said. ‘Shouldn’t we get on with our mission? The Adder isn’t going to clap irons on his own wrists.’
Diia blinked, and Ambarro gasped. Regretting his slip instantly, he looked away and yawned dramatically. Damn it, I’m a complete moron.
The Praefect opened his mouth to respond, then turned and stared sharply at the three strangely garbed children. Their faces were perfect masks. ‘Hmm,’ he said, frowning at them for a while. He squinted at Harrow for the longest time. Apparently finding nothing amiss even in more familiar features, he turned back to his lieutenant and nodded.
‘I see at least one of you has a weapon,’ he said, gesturing at Harrow’s katana. ‘And of very fine make, too. Nonetheless, brigands and even worse criminals have been known to stalk these parts. I will escort you to the City. Please follow me.’
‘Praefect!’ The lieutenant exclaimed.
‘Men, go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you at the rendezvous point no later than two. Be careful.’
‘Sir,’ the lieutenant saluted, though he did not look pleased. ‘Form up!’
‘You’re very nice, Praefect,’ Diia flashed him a glowing smile. ‘Thank you so much.’
As the Legionnaire smiled back, she clasped her fingers together behind her back, making a series of Shadeclaw hand signs. It’s too much to hope that Ambarro-to memorised it, but Harrow-to should definitely know these signals.
Pick… his… pocket. Harrow interpreted. I see. A high-ranking officer like this is likely to be carrying some form of document. Orders or a warrant at the very least.
‘Please, lass, call me Decius.’
‘Sure!’ Diia said happily, tugging on his arm. ‘Say, I’ve always wanted to see the inside of a palace…’
She chattered away for what seemed like an hour. I can’t think of much more of this nonsense.
‘All right, all right,’ Decius laughed after a particularly forceful tug. ‘I can see you’re very excited about going to the capital of the capital, but please stop it or my arm’s going to come off.’
‘Okay!’ Diia agreed, eyes opened wide in the very picture of innocence. I hope you found something at least, Harrow-to.
Praefect Decius led them all the way past the walls and into the Imperial City, pointing out landmarks as they passed them.
‘Here you are. The Market District. Are you sure you don’t need any more help? It can be quite easy to get lost around here.’
‘You’ve been a great help, Decius,’ Diia bowed deeply at him, unable to resist a decade of practicing Akaviri mannerisms. ‘Thank you again.’
‘Well then,’ the Praefect said, straightening. ‘Good luck on your endeavours, whatever they may be. I won’t pry. And do stay out of trouble.’
With that, he did an about-face and marched back to the city walls.
Diia dropped her act when he disappeared from sight. ‘Harrow-to? Anything?’
‘A report from some agents the Praefect stationed across Cyrodiil,’ Harrow said, handing over a piece of parchment. ‘I put it back into his pouch after I palmed it, so as not to arouse suspicion. Not before making a copy myself, of course.’
‘Nicely done,’ Diia reached for the copied document. Her face brightened as she read the report. ‘We’re in luck. It seems that they’ve narrowed the Adder’s location to somewhere in the Imperial City… which means that we’re in just the right place.’
‘We still don’t know where he is or what he looks like, though,’ Ambarro grumbled, a little disgruntled that he hadn’t been able to do anything.
‘Our work starts there, then. Let’s split up to cover more ground. Ambarro-to, look around the Elven Gardens District and the Market District here. Harrow-to can investigate the Arena District and the Arboretum. I will handle the Plaza District and the Temple District. We will gather at the Merchants Inn in three days to exchange our reports.’
‘Understood,’ Harrow said, a determined gleam in his eyes.
‘Sure, Diia! This skooma lord doesn’t stand a chance!’ Ambarro grinned, swaggering.
‘Then scatter!’ Diia grinned as well, her anticipation building.
The shinobi sped off in three different directions, Ambarro to the north, Diia to the southwest, Harrow to the southeast. The midday sun rose high above the capital, and the shinobi disappeared into the sea of heads and limbs as sounds filled the streets along with a hundred thousand citizens going about their business, a better cloak than even the darkest of nights.
On the pilgrim’s path to the Temple of the One, a slim, brown-furred figure followed behind a procession of the faithful, her ears registering every whispered word of the beggars a hundred feet away on the curb.
Behind the busy counter of the Feed Bag, a black-furred kit sat and scanned the inn. Whenever money changed hands, his gaze flickered to the deal. Motion. Nervous glances. The glint of gold. A sack of Moon Sugar shoved discreetly into a coat. The man wearing the coat rose and stalked out, unaware that he now had a new shadow.
And on a public carriage heading down the main street of the Arena District, a raven-haired boy snored lightly, wedged between two gossiping noblewomen there for the afternoon match. His eyelids slid open ever so slightly, two silver irises barely visible through the slit. The Khajiit sitting opposite him was very pale. Sweat rolled off his matted fur, his pupils were dilated, and the telltale muscle tremors were already beginning. He needed another dose, and soon. Smirking to himself, the youth shut his eyes once more.
The snake hunt had begun in earnest.
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