-How is it going in there? –
I knew this was a horrible idea. Sophia, of course, was worried about her lover. I sent her away telling her that she should be more worried about her father than about Zoe. Even if it was just a little training session. Truth be told I am worried myself, not particularly about Zoe, a little selfish of my part, but about all of us. When Lucius asked me to help him with something that was not what passed through my mind. First, there was the barrier. Our sanctuary had a special room that Capran had built especially for these situations.
Destructive magic is very difficult to control, but if you never practice it, you will never control it, and in consequence, never stop it from destroying those you love. These were his words when I questioned him about that special room. He had it excavated, deep below the ground, then reinforced it with blast resistance, magic resistant enchantments, protective wards and all of that crap, besides a reinforced iron door that was virtually impossible to break. And even with all of this precaution he still asks me to surround the door with the strongest ward I could muster. What the fuck is he thinking.
I never particularly trusted Zoe; people with that much power buried within them rarely do anything rather then destroy. Along the years she earned my trust though, and when she and Sophia got together I became something of a motherly figure to them, considering my relationship with Lucius anyways.
My thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of explosion deep below the ground. It would be a few days before he would actually start teaching her about actual spells and magic schools, firstly she would need to show him that she was able to manifest her magic and control it’s raw form using her will. And with that much magika concentrated in a single person, the air around her would probably be exploding with the slightest release of energy. With his shadow magic Lucius could avoid getting killed by her explosive outbursts of magika, he was probably the only one of us who would be able to train her, considering the fact that he would have to confine himself along her for several days in a closed space.
Again another explosion, I hope Lucius is sure of what he is doing. I won’t gain anything by standing here and being useless. Heading back to the main hall I awaited Brennan’s arrival. Sitting on the table were the argonian and the Dunmer, playing some dice poker and having drinks while Sophia sat at the other end of the table reading some letters.
-Got anything for me? – I asked Sophia, snapping her from her trance
-Actually yeah – she said while reading the document again – it says here that this is supposed to be delivered directly to captain Lucius Capran, but since he is indisposed, I suppose either you or Brennan should have this –
I took the paper in my hands, it was a summon, calling Lucius and his subordinates to Solitude, signed by general Tulius himself. I should probably wait for Brennan to return, though he will just ask me to go in his place anyways, lazy bastard. The letter went on about an urgent meeting in Castle Dour, something to do regarding recent movements of stormcloak forces, and encouraging us to share any intelligence we have about the enemy.
As I finished reading the letter Brennan entered the room with a worried expression. He was wearing his typical outfit, Alik'r light armor and a straw hat that did not match the rest of his look, along with his twin steel scimitars held in only one sheath. Apparently we both had bad news.
-I received an urgent letter, it tells us to go immediately to Solitude, and I suspect that you have even more bad news, just by looking at your face – I said
-A call for help, from Whiterun, Proventus Avenicci the Jarl’s steward asked for immediate assistance. Knowing Lucius personally he and the jarl know that we often solve these sorts of problems – he said, obviously not wanting to share his information, as it would most definitely anger me
-Brennan, I am not a patient person, Spit. It. Out –
-He says that there is a fucking dragon in proximity of the hold. Although he himself has not seen the beast, he received way too many witnesses who have seen it with their own eyes. I know we are not in the best position at this moment, Lucius especially, but we need to get Ruby to Whiterun hold, now – he said with a tone of urgency
My heart sunk. Thoughts rushed to me, Lucius was busy, and there was no way that we would be able to immediately contact him, at least not for the next days. We need to act quickly.
-I’m taking charge, any objections? – I asked, turning my head towards Brennan, he lowered his hat, covering his face; I took this as a sign he just did not want to argue with me.
-We need to act quickly; I will go to Solitude as his next in line. Sophia and Deestan will accompany me. Meanwhile, you and Ruby will answer the call form Whiterun – I said with all the authority I could muster
-With all haste lieutenant, Ruby! – He called out, and she was surprisingly quick to respond – we leave for Whiterun immediately; your special talents are required –
-What do you mean? – She asked
-A dragon, I guess this means that you will finally prove your worth – said Brennan, with a tone of disbelief
Ruby smiled, and turned her head to look at her mace. Her lips moved slightly, periodically, as if she was having a conversation with someone. I was about to inquire her when Brennan interrupted me.
-Well, we should get moving then, it will be just you and me this time, plus whatever the Whiterun guard has to offer. Don’t count on it though, these men have never seen a dragon before, I’m thinking this will be more reconnaissance than anything else. The focus will be to put the dragon down, but if we can acquire samples of the scales, bones, teeth, and take notes in general, that will certainly help us in future conflicts – said Brennan as he got up and signaled Ruby to get ready to leave
This made me uncomfortable; I don’t trust Ruby, not one bit. I got this feeling inside of me, this hunger, coming from her. I see her staring at our necks, walking around at night, and to put her in the same room as Sophia, what is Lucius thinking? To do that with his own daughter…
No time for that now, we need to leave. I called upon Sophia and Deestan to get up and get ready, then I gave Ralthos a scribbled piece of paper that had a message for Lucius telling him about our findings and where we were going to go.
After a few minutes of preparation we were on the road to Solitude. The journey was rather fast, we were traveling lightly and we had no unpleasant encounters along the way. Save for one lone thief who began to ask her for our valuables, but when Sophia dismounted her horse and walked up to him he gave up and offered the contents of his purse if we left him alone.
When we arrived in the stables it was already dusk. We paid the servant in Katla’s farm a few coins to take care of our horses then headed up towards the city’s gates. An imperial soldier was at the other side; a disappointed look appeared on his face, certainly he was expecting to meet the famed captain Lucius Capran. What a disappointment it probably was when he found out he would be escorting his lieutenant instead, and not the friendly one, no.
Arriving at Castle Dour I dismissed the disappointed recruit with a wave of my hand. Barking an order at the soldiers guarding the dour I entered without looking back to see if my companions were following. Inside I saw something I was not quite expecting. Penitus Oculatus soldiers were guarding the door to the meeting room; this was going to be unpleasant. Asking my companions to stay outside I walked in, only to draw the attention of everyone in the room. In the end of the table was the General himself, to his left and right respectively were Legate Rikke and Jarl Elisif. At the other end of the table though, was her…
Julitta Greyhound, Commander of the Penitus Oculatus Special Forces. She is an Imperial, a bit tall for one at that, a foot taller than me she was an imposing presence when she stood up to greet me. She has black hair, rough features, bit paler than what you would expect from an imperial, and disgustingly lovely green eyes. She also had quite the body; years on the field had caused her to develop a very beautiful figure. She was painfully attractive…
-Well look who it is, was the captain indisposed? – She asked, while giving me a sarcastically sad look – need we remind him that he is the one with the lowest patent in this room, and because of this special privilege he should not only be in these meetings, he should wait outside until they start, and hold the damm door while we enter – she said the last part like it was an obvious fact
-Be quiet Julitta, I’m sure Lucius sent his Lieutenant here with good reason, why is he absent anyways? – Asked General Tulius
-He prefers to keep his whereabouts to himself, the walls have ears as we all know – I said, knowing the general would understand
He hung his head in slight disappointment, but he knew that I would deliver his message to Capran, and that Lucius would not disappoint him when the time to act came. Julitta went back to her chair, making sure to sway her hips a bit more than necessary before finally collapsing into her seat. She put her elbows on the table and held her face with her hands, gods she lacked so much class. She makes me sick.
-I hope our Captain is in good health, and I pray that he will respond swiftly to our request – said Elisif
Julitta stared at her with a bored expression. But as soon as she was about to open her mouth to say something the Legate interrupted her.
-There is no need to worry my queen; this type of situation is, unfortunately, common when the Captain is in concern. I for one trust his lieutenant, and she has proved herself in the past, numerous times –
-BORED! Can we get this going already; I have places to go, rebels to kill, all that good stuff – said Julitta, as she began to twist her body and lay her head sideways on the table
-Thanks to the new commander of the Oculatus Special Forces – said Tulius, while signaling Julitta – we have gathered important information from the rebels; they plan to attack Whiterun, but the jarl has refused our right to garrison the keep. We can’t afford to lose Whiterun to Ulfric, but his forces grow every day. The Thalmor have been suspicious lately, and I don’t dare to leave Solitude or the border to Cyrodil without men. Julia, we need Capran's domestic troops, we need his family's legion – said Tulius with a tired expression, seemingly defeated even
He took a drink from his cup, alto wine; I could smell it from here. Queen Elisif maintained a posture, trying to remain as regal as she could manage. Legate Rikke got up to spread a map on the table, as Julitta reached to the silver platter in the other, smaller table next to ours and picked up a sweet roll. Ugh, only her…
As the legate started to explain the plans to defend the city I asked one of the servants to bring me a cup of tea. Ah, delicious, I love canis root tea, helps to calm my nerves. The meeting went on for some time, the conversation quickly turned to less urgent topics, taxes, the future leader of the East Empire Trading Company, and other bothersome topics. When they finished discussing those matters the General announced that the meeting was over, and urged me to deliver the message as soon as possible.
As I walked out the door my companions quickly joined me, wanting news about what just happened. I told them about the information that the Oculatus managed to find, they got worried when I said that, after all, Brennan and Ruby were there. They will get caught in the middle of the conflict.
We were about to reach the door out of the castle when two guards blocked our path; they were Julitta’s men. I looked back and sure enough, more soldiers were blocking our exit. From behind them came Julitta herself. She was wearing heavy plated armor with the colors of the Penitus Oculatus, and at her back was a massive spear, one that I saw her using once before. Honestly, she did not need all those guards if she was intent on killing us.
-Lieutenant Julia, you and your comrades are under arrest on the charges of high treason, deadra worship and witchcraft I suggest you come quietly – she said
Sophia took point, unsheathing her massive sword with only her right hand, ready to cut Julitta in half with a vertical strike. But she sidestepped it on the last moment, unsheathing her own weapon and using the gap between the spear blade and the wall to trap Sophia’s blade. She twisted the weapon; putting it in such an angle that Sophia could not remove her sword. Now unarmed the two women charged at each other.
Julitta was very tall for an imperial, but she simply did not match Sophia’s hulking size. But I knew Lady Greyhound very well; she always had a trick up her sleeve. Sophia was about to smash her head with her fists, but Julitta was much quicker, she ducked just in time, and blasted the Amazon girl in the gut with a blast of kinetic energy that made her fly up and crash down on us.
-I am ready to accept your unconditional surrender any time now – Julitta said with fake faint expression
-Hold on woman, I am not done with you now! – Shouted Sophia
When she began to breath in, readying her Thu’um, I stopped her.
-Stop, we will go – I said while getting up
The soldiers escorted us, making lots of noise along the way, a bit unnecessarily. We were escorted into the dungeons, and once we arrived I was about to question Julitta about those so-called charges when she told me to shut up. After a few moments of silence Julitta weaved magika in her hands, I recognized the spell she was weaving, why was she casting a muffle spell?
The room began to glow slightly, the faint blue glow the muffle spell created, and my ears were filled with a feeling similar to that of water rushing inside them. I looked at her, with a confused look on my face, but she insisted that I was to wait. One of her soldiers walked to the corner of the room and reached up towards the ceiling. He picked up something and then walked back to his commander. She showed me the tiny object.
It was a small bug, a torch bug to be precise. But instead of the bright green thorax of the regular torch bug this one had a regular bug’s thorax, with a small rune of fading blue color. She signaled to the soldier to remove the bug from the room. When the soldier left she weaved the spell to concentrate only on the door and the walls, instead of the entirety of the cell.
-I am confused, I don’t think I have anything else to say, but I expect that you will not be arresting us – I said
-Oh, you know me better than that girl – she said while putting her arm around me – I just wanted a private space to talk to you – she said in a playful tone
I pushed her away slightly and she faked a hurt expression. Then she regained her pose and started to fill us in on the situation.
-That thing you just saw is the newest Thalmor invention. The rune on the bug listens to any sound that occurs near it, then after touching it, it will reproduce the sounds heard. I needed to remove that bug from the room to talk to you privately. My initial plan was to fake Lucius’s arrest so that the Thalmor would think that they would have a great opportunity to assassinate one of the last Blades, and then we would lure the assassin into a trap and capture him. Unfortunately that will not be the case – she said, assuming a more serious position
-I suppose that there is more to this, you know you can trust me – I stated
-The rebels are receiving funds. I do not know from what source or who the mysterious benefactor is. The fact is that they were able to hire the help of many mercenary companies to aid their cause, along with buying craftsmanship to help create siege engines and war machines. The stormcloak soldiers also received higher quality arms and are growing in number with each passing day. My suspicions turn towards the Thalmor, as always, but that is why I need Lucius here, he was my mentor, just like he was with you. I need his advice, I am sure he already knows who this dammed benefactor is – she said, her expression changing for one of anxiety
-That is not all is it? What are you not telling me? – I asked
-There is something else going on, something that is out of the ordinary, and nothing that we can resolve with steel alone. I fear that there is more to this battle, something unnatural. You may not be as attuned as I am, but can you feel this? This sense of dread, of despair. Something will happen in Whiterun, something that defies the explanation of mortals. My scouts have been disappearing; two locations have caught my attention, the far northwest near the port of Northwatch Keep, and the far east near Windhelm –
-That location, Northwatch is a Thalmor outpost, and Windhelm is, of course, the land held by the rebels. A connection maybe? –
-We cannot know for certain, I suspect Lucius has information, information that he chose to keep for himself until he is certain of the veracity of those facts. Did anything unusual happen lately? – She asked, knowing something was wrong with the brotherhood
I hesitated; she was once Lucius’s apprentice, a lone soldier in the legion that he took under his wing to train for command. But was she still that girl that once annoyed me so? Was she still loyal? Or was she playing us, doing this to earn our trust and then backstab us for profit. She was definitely one of his most effective pupils, and if she did want to kill us she could have done it already, without the help of the soldiers. I decided against my better judgment that it would be best to tell her.
-We came across someone, a girl. She was about to be executed in Helgen along with the rebel leader. The dragon came at that time; we were not expecting that, we lost many soldiers. The girl escaped the chopping block but was captured by us under Capran’s orders. The reason for the girl’s capture was the following: Lucius sensed that the girl had the same essence of the dragon that attacked us. Yes, she is dragonborn. Shortly after we discovered that we were attacked by several hostiles. Thalmor, mercenaries, and even vampires – I confessed, much to the surprise of my companions
-Dragonborn… - she said with a look of surprise – this is a game changer, if Lucius is in possession of such an important figure, in a time like this, when these beasts are returning after all these years. Does he have any idea why they are returning? –
-No, he may have, but he did not tell me. But there is one thing that is bothering me. Edward, he fought us, well, Lucius and the dragonborn. He told us to flee and took on the vampire with his new apprentice, after a few days time he returned to us, but there was something different. Previously her curiosity was endless, she was girl that was filled with energy and asked us everything, but that changed once they arrived. We do not currently know the details of their little escapade; neither of them has opened up about that yet. But she seems distant now, keeps her distance from him and twitches every time she sees him. I think that maybe she witnessed one of his episodes –
-That is bad, we cannot afford to be losing allies at a time like this. The plan will still be a minor success though. Right now the bug we talked about previously is in a torture room, the Thalmor will believe that we have captured you and will soon move their spies towards this dungeon. They have no knowledge that we are fully aware of their bugs, and I intend to use that to capture one of their spies for interrogation. This means that you people will have to disappear for a few days. There is a hidden exit that will allow you to leave Solitude in secret, the Thalmor cannot know that you left, this means that you have to keep your companions quiet along the road – she said with an air of authority
-We should probably leave soon then, is there anything else? – I asked
She moved closer to me, and hugged me tightly, whispering in my year.
-Tell Lucius: if he ever desires a real woman, send for me – she whispered playfully in my ear
I pushed her away as she burst into laughter.
-Fuck you –
-Ha-Ha-Ha, seriously now, after commander Maro and the Emperor suffered such unfortunate fates at the hands of the Dark Brotherhood the elder council and the military governor have had certain liberties that have helped us immensely in the effort of preparation against the Thalmor. Along with the discharge of certain unsavory figures that only retained their position because of family ties with the emperor himself. A position of Legate is open, I suggest him make a spectacular appearance in Whiterun…
Comments
I'll just leave it like that