At last I can see land on the horizon. After days of sea and waves even the jagged, snow-capped peaks of Skyrim are a welcome sight. I can hardly wait to stand on firm ground again and actually keep some food down. I am so hungry. I wonder if they serve Scuttle in their cornerclubs here? It will be many hours yet before we make port so I will use that time to continue my narrative. For once slain, themes turn into the structure of future nostalgia.
Nothing was ever the same after meeting Esha. I found out her name by subtly asking my fellow Ordinators, who looked at me strangely before answering succinctly. I did not notice at the time that they had noticed a change in me, but in retrospect I was different after that night. My prayers would falter as I forgot the words; my concentration in magickal theory would break as the memory of her would enter my mind; and I spent my days trying to ease the dull ache in my heart. I found myself praying in private to Almalexia for the opportunity to be near Esha again. My life was consumed by thoughts of her.
Many painful months after our first encounter my prayers were answered.
On one crisp and breezy morning as I patrolled near the Ministry of Truth, my distracted thoughts registered a group of the faithful we Ordinators had been keeping an eye on for a long time. We termed them "Dissident Priests" for their views on the Holy Three bordered on the heretical and they strongly - and with increasing ferocity - objected to the Temple Doctrines, Hierarchy and our methods.
I could not abide heresy.
So to see four members of their cabal meeting so openly near a statue of our Lord Vivec made me exceedingly suspicious indeed. I approached them immediately.
"Go about your business, but I am watching you", I challenged. They glanced at each other before the bravest of their number, a mer known to me as Gilvas Barelo, stepped forward to deliver his rehearsed rhetoric.
"Spoken like a true puppet of the Alma Rula. How can you call yourself an enforcer of law and faith when all you enforce are lies and corruption? You Ordinators, all of you Nix Hounds of the Archcanon, allow torture and terror to enact the will of a decadent priesthood. You sicken me."
I had had enough, my blood was boiling from his heretical nonsense. Our methods were tried and tested, kept everyone safe and order in place. They were proven to work. I unclipped my mace.
"Go. Now. We are watching you, scum." This was their final warning, growled out through seething lips.
Gilvas stepped back, saying, "No, faceless drone of Heirographic lies, we are not going anywhere. We will be heard and we will show you how to defeat the Blight and the Devil Dagoth-Ur." His three allies surrounded him, readying staves and spells for battle.
I was delighted.
"Fools!" I yelled, charging forward with mace held high and a fire spell charging in my hand. "You will pay with your blood!" I held nothing back as a I brought my mace down onto the chest of the nearest priest who had no time to ready a proper defence. I felt ribs crack beneath my blow as he was sent reeling backwards and out of the fight.
With a flurry of robes and a swift left and right from her staff, a priestess delivered two swipes to my face and side. My armour absorbed the force and her staff merely bounced off my helm and cuirass, while the flames I had been readying in my left hand sent her tumbling away and her clothing alight. I saw Gilvas flee but was unable to do anything about it, for the final priest had prepared a Paralysis spell which caught my right flank while I was occupied with the priestess. I fell heavily to the floor like a sack of guar turd.
Unable to move or call out, I watched the wounded priests pick themselves up and stagger away. I was prepared for the end, my regret was that I could not stand and face it with weapon in hand. I was to be undone by cowardly sorcery instead of bravely meeting the blade of a skilled warrior and be outmatched.
The cowardly priest approached me, unsheathing a steel dagger from his belt. "Today beneath the Ministry of Truth we strike a blow for truth." His dagger plunged downwards towards my throat and all I could do was helplessly watch its decent.
Time slowed. Sunlight glinted in dazzling light from its metallic surface and it seemed for all the world as though I could see my own reflection in its mirrored finish. Yet also in that reflection there was a flash of green colour as a figure in Glass armour crashed into the Dissident Priest's side, sending his weapon flying safely wide of its target to fall harmlessly to the floor.
Time sped up. The lithe and wild-haired form of Esha Idrassi stood holding the point of her sword to the prone priest's throat. "You strike a blow for nothing today, Malur Omayn." She turned to me, her musical voice quiet and concerned. "Are you alright, Seryn? The spell will wear off shortly and Ordinators and healers will be here soon."
By the three! How beautiful she looked, her hair dishevelled and blowing in the morning breeze, her armour seemed to make her glow as it absorbed and reflected the light of Magnus. And she knew my name. Of all the gifts from the gods I have received in my life, this was the greatest of all.
My heart can still conjure that image of her, silhouetted and verdant, whenever I close my eyes.
My Esha.
My Knight in Malachite armour.
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Oh and nice story. I still chuckled whenever I read "My Knight in Malachite armor".