Dragon of the East - Arc 2, Chapter 13

  • Dar-Meena

    ~ ~ ~

    He left! He upped and left without saying a word!

    You damned, red scaled son of a bitch!  Why’d you bring me out here just to abandon me in the middle of nowhere!?

    I paced around the campsite, growling in frustration. By the time I woke up from my sleep it was early morning and a light misty fog covered the woods. Leaves and grass pedals were wet with dew, soaking my boots. And Chase was nowhere to be found. So much for going back to Riften together.

    “Shit… I need to figure out where I am,” I muttered.

    I pulled out a map, the one Delvin had written directions on. Moisture from the air dampened the parchment in my hands. We passed Shor’s Stone some ways back but veered to the west away from the road to Fort Greenwall. Luckily, it looked like the path to Riften was straightforward. If I traveled south I’d hit Lake Honrich and the city would be close by. Though I wasn’t about to leave just yet.

    Fuming, I looked around. Chase’s belongings were gone except for that blanket he left and there wasn’t a message or note lying around to tell me anything. Damned if I could figure out where he went. He was the wilderness expert, not me. I couldn’t see any footprints or anything. Chase must have covered his tracks, which meant he didn’t want me following him.

    It seemed like the perfect setup for a trap; ditch the companion and ready an ambush. But I didn’t think it was a trap. He passed every opportunity to backstab me before. I almost couldn’t believe that he’d go back on his word, after everything he said in Riften, after everything we went through at Stonefalls. I was stupid. I let him get to me...

    It couldn’t have all been a ruse, could it? What in Oblivion is going on?      

    For all I knew Chase was out gathering food or hunting a bear, but something felt wrong. His leaving was too sudden. Something must have happened that forced him to go away. I had to see if there were any clues nearby, so I picked a direction and started walking. It was a very cold morning. The loudest sounds to reach my ears came from the wind, drowning out distant bird calls and hoots of owls.

    I hugged my arms around my waist. I hated being alone again. That’s got to be the one thing that always sets me on edge. Even bad company is better than none.

    Well, maybe not…

    “Turn back.”

    I nearly jumped out of my scales as a voice spoke behind me. I spun around, reaching for my knife, to see there was no one in sight. No sounds of footsteps, no movement in the mist. Nothing. Just trees.

    Who else was out in the forest? Hunters? Nomads? I left my blade in its pouch and pulled an arrow from my quiver, coating the arrowhead with paralysis poison. Somebody picked a bad time to agitate me. I ignored the command and kept walking with my eyes wide open, scanning everything and everywhere.

    The persistence paid off. The voice spoke again from a different part of the woods.

    “You won’t find him. Turn back. Last warning.”         

    I heard it better that time. It sounded feminine, a slight purr accenting its vowels. A Khajiit? Her tone sure wasn’t friendly. I drew my bow and snapped my poison arrow’s tip toward the voice. Still no one in sight. I eased off the drawstring. Who are you, dammit!? I nearly spoke out loud but held my tongue, heartbeat rising in tempo. Whoever this was, she knew about Chase. She must have come looking for him.

    Maybe that was the reason he left me. He anticipated her coming. Was there some kind of danger? I had half a mind to turn and leave, but…

    I must be getting warm, I thought. He can’t be far.

    The forest opened up into a rocky slope. I’d gone north toward the mountains overlooking Eastmarch. The tall grass made my ankles itch. Large boulders were scattered everywhere with strange flat patches of rock smoothed over the ground. A flock of cawing birds took to the air. I was getting jumpy. It felt like the land itself wanted me gone.

    “So determined!” The voice became unnervingly cheery. “He leaves and you come looking for him. How touching. But you still should have listened to me.”

    Warmer...

    I approached a wide boulder with a flat top and flinched at a sudden rustling in the bushes nearby. I raised my bow, putting my back against the cold damp rock, waiting for a chance to take a shot at the first thing that moved. There was a quiet sound of boots walking on stone. A shadow appeared.

    It cast over me. I tilted my head to the side and looked up, swearing softly under my breath. A pair of bright feline eyes stared back, mouth twisting into a grin.

    “You’re in the way,” she sneered. “Now you die.”

    Cold.

    The Khajiit leapt off of the boulder and tackled me to the ground, knocking away my bow. I barely felt the arrow in my hand snap in two. The attacker’s knife plunged down at my throat in a blink. I reached out and caught her wrist. The woman laughed sportingly, slowing forcing the steel tip of her weapon lower… and lower…

    “This is nothing personal. I would have let you live,” she said with a smile. “Now you’re just another thrall for our dear Dread Father.”

    She was too strong for me. The Khajiit had my legs pinned, but not my tail. I used it as an extra set of muscles to boost my leg’s strength, pushing it free from under her, enough to bend a ramming knee into her groin. The cat folded over. I pushed the woman away and scampered to my feet, claws raking up the grass. She recovered frighteningly fast. The cat hissed as she lunged, slamming me against another boulder with the force of her full body. Her knife flashed.

    I lurched to the side, avoiding a killing blow. Instead the blade buried into my shoulder. My bad one. I couldn’t hold back the scream of pain as she pulled her weapon free and grabbed me by the throat.

    “That’s it... Bring him here,” she purred. “We’ll see how he reacts when he finds your corpse.”

    She didn’t notice my other arm, clutching the broken tip of my arrow. I swung it at the Khajiit’s face. All I could land was a bloody scratch on the fur of her cheek, but that was enough. The woman’s eyes grew big and round as the poison did its work. Her body went rigid and she fell to the ground, paralyzed. I loomed over her, holding tight the gash on my shoulder, blood leaking from behind my fingers.

    “The only corpse he’ll find is yours, you bitch,” I snarled.                              

    In the brief letup I could finally take in her appearance. The Khajiit had white fur with braids on her head and wore a black leather suit, skin tight, tailored for noiseless movement. She had a short bow strung over her shoulder with a quiver on her back. Could have easily killed me with that earlier, which meant she’d been toying around. Big mistake. I drew my knife and kneeled down to slit her throat.

    Her eyes followed me. She was still conscious. I hesitated.

    Gods, what am I doing? I was about to kill a helpless paralytic. Those eyes… I couldn’t look away from them. They were huge like marbles. Chase probably would’ve finished her already. How could he do it? Where could he find the will to end someone’s life like this?

    There was a twitch in her fingers. The poison was wearing off. I knew she would try to kill me the moment she could move. I growled and raised my blade.

    “You brought this on yourself!”

    The knife sank into her neck with haste, sending a spray of blood across my chest. I spat and sprang back against a birch tree. The Khajiit made a gurgling sound in her throat as she died slowly. I smelled my clothes and nearly retched. What was left of the cat’s life leaked out into the dirt.

    As I stared at her bleeding carcass, I couldn’t shake a funny feeling.

    I think… I’ve seen her before…

    In Riften. She was the Khajiit I saw in Rfiten, the morning Chase and I had left. I reeled at the sudden memory. She’d been following us the whole time. I couldn’t believe it. I felt like such an idiot.

    That damned Chases-The-Wind!! Where is he!?

     In the heat of the moment I wanted someone to blame for everything, so I blamed Chase. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on that man and throttle him. He could have told me we were being followed! He keeps thinking that giving me a lack of information – or warning, or anything! – is somehow supposed to be better for me! Now look what’s happened! Gods damn it all!!

    I wished that I’d never come to Skyrim. It was one horrible disaster after another. I dug my claws into tree bark, shoulder flaring in pain. The morning mist was making off in the rising sun.

    Oh, when he sees this, he’ll…                        

    A familiar brassy ring shot horror down my spine. It was the sound of magic being cast. I turned to the Khajiit, eyes wide. The body glowed a soft, subtle blue hue. It lifted off the ground as though someone were propping it up by its backbone. I instantly recognized the work of a reanimation spell. Bands of bluish light swirled around the woman’s corpse as it stood on its feet, blood still spilling down from the neck. Runic symbols flashed all over the body.

    Did I… no, it can’t be…!

    There was a glazed look in the corpse’s eyes. Just when I thought I could catch my breath, I was back in the fire. No time to figure out how it happened. The cat brandished its claws and rushed to attack me. There was almost no space between us. I drew my knife in desperation.

    Then came a sound like thunder.

    “FUS!!!”

    A shout boomed through the air. The Khajiit stumbled, rammed aside by some blast of magical force. Chase appeared from a thick of trees and slammed the butt of his crossbow over the corpse’s head, dropping it to the ground. He stomped his boot down on Khajiit’s the neck with a roar and pivoted his ankle, breaking her spine with a loud crack.

    ‘…sever the head to break the link…’                                       

    It was all so fast. I reached out to him.      

    “Chase, what–?!”

    “Stay behind me!!” he shouted, pushing me back.

    There was a flash of bright light. Chase’s ward was up in time to meet a lashing surge of lightning. It cracked and sizzled as it fought against his spell, raining a shower of sparks. Chase dropped his ward and met our attacker, a lone man standing off in the woods, clothed in a black hooded robe with a red cloth masking his face.

    “A necromancer,” he growled. “I have no patience for this.”                     

    He gripped his crossbow, aimed at the dark figure, and pressed the trigger. The robbed assailant stretched out his hand. The steel bolt stopped in mid-air short of his head. A yellow shimmering radiated from his open palm. Telekinesis. The tip of the bolt began to rotate back at us. Chase’s snarl faded.

    “Xhuth!” he swore, grabbing me by the arm. The bolt sailed back through the air and missed as we jumped behind a boulder. Lighting arced beside us as we pressed our backs to the stone. Chase holstered his crossbow.

    “That man is going to pay dearly!” he hissed through clenched teeth, glancing around the boulder. Chase turned to me with a look of controlled rage. “Stay in cover. I’m going after him. Try to fight – try anything – and that mage will strike you down in a heartbeat.”

    Words wouldn’t come to me.

    “Do you understand?”

    “I…”

    Do you understand!?”

    Reluctantly, I nodded. Chase turned away to leave, pulling a vial of dark liquid from the set at his waist. I tried to stop him.

    “Chase, there has to be a better–”

    More lightning struck off the top of the boulder.

    “Not now!” he snapped.

    I took a step toward him and grabbed his wrist. Pleadingly.

    “Don’t you dare leave me here…!”

    He glared back.                                 

    “I will not abandon you,” he said. There was a hint of grief in his voice. He pulled away from me, raising the dark vial to his mouth as he rounded the boulder. I gasped as he disappeared out of thin air in a flash of oily colors.

    What the…!?

    Again lightning struck the boulder, sparks landing on my head. I hunkered down and instinctively reached for my bow. When I realized it wasn’t there, that I’d left it where the Khajiit had jumped me, it sank in just how helpless I was. The necromancer’s destruction spell left seared scars across the ground and on the trunks of trees. I wondered how much the lightning would hurt.

    The thought fled from my mind when a ball of fire sailed past my right and exploded on the ground, blowing clumps of dirt up in the air. I fell back as another explosion flared on the left. The heat of the blast warmed my back like a campfire too close.

    Stay in cover, he said. But that boulder wasn’t going to be cover for much longer. Trees were the closest thing I could run to, so I ran to them. A hissing sound quickly grew loud behind me. I dove into the wet grass. Another fireball flew over and struck a birch tree on its trunk, blasting the wood into splinters. The tree’s crown toppled over.

    The necromancer appeared behind me. He strode at a brisk pace. Unlike the Khajiit, this man didn’t waste time with words. He extended an arm toward me, lightning dancing around his fingers.

    Just as he opened his palm, he hesitated and tried to turn around. The cloth hood he wore started tearing. I saw a flash of color.

    A steel sword blinked into existence halfway through the necromancer’s neck and severed his head from his shoulders. The robed figure stood headless for a fraction of a second. Chase snarled down at the body as it fell, wiping the flat of his blade on his arm.

    I released the breath I’d held captive. The feeling of pain in my shoulder came back worse than ever. Chase ran to me and knelt down.

    “Are you hurt?” he asked before shaking his head. “Nevermind, I can see that you are… Hold on.”

    He helped me to my feet and guided me away from the scene of the battle. Scattered flames were burning out. The forest was too damp to catch fire. As we walked a puff of smoke entered my lungs.

    “Couldn’t have cut it any closer back there…?” I coughed.

    “I had it under control,” he spoke flatly.

    I didn’t want to sound ungrateful, but I had no energy left to keep talking. We stopped at a large pine tree. I rested against its trunk in the shade, sitting uncomfortably on a bed of dead needles while Chase began to work his healing magic on my shoulder. The pain was replaced by a soothing warmth. Even better the second time…

    “Try moving it,” he said as he finished.

    I moved my shoulder. The wound from the Khajiit’s knife was completely gone, though my bloodstained sleeve had a good sized hole in it.

    “It’s better,” I replied. Chase sighed, stood up and walked out from under the tree. He wasn’t tense. I took that as a sign the danger was gone. I followed him, a thousand questions on my mind.

    “Chase… who were those people?” I asked anxiously.

    “Assassins,” he said. His tone almost sounded sinister.

    “I could see that much…”

    “They came here to kill me.”      

    I cocked my head to the side, eyes narrowed.

    “This was all an attempt at your life?”

    He looked out at the destruction in the forest and gave a snort of disdain.

    “Attempt? Don’t even use the word. This was a joke,” he jeered. “I never believed the rumors of the Dark Brotherhood’s fall from grace, but to see it with my own eyes...”

    His words sent a shiver down my tail. “Those two were… Dark Brotherhood?”               

    “One should recognize an enemy that has been fought before.”

    “Gods…”

    Those assassins didn’t seem like a joke to me. If Chase could survive the Dark Brotherhood, that said more about his strength than even the killings at Stonefalls. He turned back to me. I hoped to see a calming and concerned look in his eyes. Instead he frowned harshly.

    “How did you manage to follow my trail?” he said, withholding his anger.

    “I didn’t… I… I had no idea where you went!” My frustration from before was slowly coming back. “You left me without saying a word!”

    “I had to!” he exclaimed. “I knew those two were following us. I meant to confront them alone, to keep you safe!”

    “You could have at least said something!”

    “And you know nothing of the game assassins play.”

    “Chase, how am I supposed to trust that–”

    Trust!?” He was appalled. “Have I once hinted betrayal? Tell me! What reason have I given you to doubt my intentions!?”

    I wanted to counter him but his accusation had bite. It was enough to make me hesitate, so he pressed his attack.

    “Have you forgotten that you nearly got yourself killed coming after me? And the necromancer! I could have fought him handily by myself! That Khajitt would have made no difference! Instead, I had to fight him and protect you! Do you have any idea how much more that put us both at risk!?”

    His forcefulness was more than I imagined, even from him.

    “But…”

    “I left you because I didn’t want you to die!” Chase yelled. “You were in the way!!”

    He said it differently than the Khajiit, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. Chase saved the hardest blow for last. I’d have almost backed down if it weren’t for the fact that he dragged me into all this in the first place...

    “Excuse me for caring,” I muttered, averting my eyes to the ground.

    Chase relaxed. His anger was spent.

    “Your care is misplaced,” he said. “I am not one you should be caring for.”

    “Why not?”

    “Because I am a dead man walking! This was not the first time assassins have come for me, and it will not be the last.”

    Hearing that made me remember something. The Khajiit.

    “But you knew they were following us all this time,” I said, “ever since we left Riften…”

    Chase became attentive. “Riften? Dar-Meena, what are you talking about?”

    “The Khajiit… She was in Riften on the day we left. I saw her talking to a courier. I thought you knew.”

    “What!? You’re certain!?”

    I frowned. “Yes I’m certain. Don’t give me that.”

    Chase was stunned. I figured he must have already known about the assassin being in Riften, but I guess I figured too much. His tail swayed back and forth as he churned thoughts through his mind.

    “That can’t be… It’s too soon…!” he spoke quietly to himself.

    I stepped closer. “What do you mean? What’s going on?”

    “Dar-Meena, I don’t know how, but this is worse than I could have feared,” he said distressfully. “You need to leave at once.”

    Now I was stunned.

    “Why? Just wait a minute, I’m not–”

    “The longer you stay with me the more likely you’ll become a target. Return to Riften and forget everything we’ve done together! Speak to no one!”

    “Chase, you’re making me nervous...”

    “As I mean to!” He buried his forehead in the palm of his hand, cursing silently to himself. “This was a mistake… One long string of mistakes… I’m sorry! I never should have brought you with me.”

    That pissed me off like nothing else. His sense of foreboding didn’t help. I folded my arms and glowered at him. He saw that I wasn’t leaving.

    “This not a suggestion!” Chase implored. “Go back to Riften!”

    “No,” I said.

     “…What did you say?”

    “And you call me hard of hearing.” I pointed a claw at him. “I’m not going anywhere until you give me some answers!”

    “No… No, you mustn’t do this…” Chase’s voice became angry again. “Dar-Meena, this is life or death!”

    “Then why won’t you tell me anything, if it’s so damn important?”

    “I have told you all that I can! You don’t–”

    “Enough of your bullshit! I said I want answers! Just what kind of ‘wanderer’ knows how to fight like you do? Or gets hunted by the Dark Drotherhood? And then there’s that… that thing you did back there! The shout! What was that? Chase, who are you!? What are you!?”

    Chase seemed to hold his breath. He started scowling at me. In threat. The man gently drew his sword, metal scraping against the steel rim of his sheath.

    “You are crossing one boundary too far,” he growled, closing the space between us. “I have permitted your attitude until now. This I will not tolerate.”

    I held in a gasp, staring down the edge of his blade leveled at my head. Like Riften all over again, something in that man snapped. Everything about him screamed malice.

    “I have killed men for asking questions such as yours. If I cannot trust your actions, I will not trust your silence,” he spoke slowly with quiet wrath. “Don’t make me do this. Leave. Now.”

    I was on thin ice. My next words needed to be perfect.

    This is it, Dar… You’re about to find out who he really is…

    Chase twisted the grip on his sword. “I won’t ask you again–”

    “Oh, put that piece of crap away!” I barked. He startled and stared at me like a ghost, wide-eyed. “What are you going to do, kill me too!? Go ahead, then! Do it if that’s what you really want!”

    “You’re a fool,” Chase said softly, his tone darkening. “You don’t understand the storm you’re throwing yourself into. I will not allow this!”

    “Then quit gawking and kill me already, because I’m not going anywhere!” I took a step towards the tip of his sword. He stepped back, thunderstruck. “What’s the matter? I won’t stop you! I couldn’t stop you if I tried!”

    The man’s ferocity was gone. With heartless effort he tapered his glare one last time.

    “Don’t test me…”

    I grabbed the end of his blade and lowered it, taking a stride up to him. He didn’t resist. Our snouts were an inch apart.

    “I’ll do a lot more than that before we’re done here,” I hissed.

    His glare dissolved. Here was a man who relied on the controlling power of fear. It must have been unthinkable to him, getting talked down like this. Gritting his teeth, he snarled like a cornered beast and sheathed his sword. Then Chase did the only thing he could do: he stormed away, muttering to himself.

    “Kaah! You disagreeable, c’e nekhtul…!”

    A triumphant grin rose on my face. I’d called his bluff. I knew Chase wouldn’t kill me. For all his threatening and harsh words, that’s not who he was. I’d been trying to figure him out, to find an angle that I could use to get under his skin.

    At last I found it. That angle was me.

    “And where are you off to all of a sudden? More nature walking? Looking for another tree to climb?” I teased him as I followed close behind.

    “Waxuuthi, caoc’! Suur gahlaaj golt-suu il!”

    “It’s not an insult if I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

    “This is completely ridiculous! Dar-Meena, you’re a fool!”         

    “Wow, nobody’s ever called me that before. You’re so original.”

    “Why aren’t you taking this seriously!?”

    “Why aren’t you not taking this seriously?”

    “I… You…!”

    “Has anyone ever told you you’re too serious?”

    “Unbelievable!!”

    If it makes our squabble seem even more bizarre, don’t forget to picture us both adrenaline fatigued and covered in blood.

    Chase was completely unnerved. This pleased me. I chuckled to myself, proud of what I’d managed to accomplish. Such a deadly man disarmed by a snarky thief and her passive aggression. He had to give up eventually as long as I kept on him. I’d get the answers I wanted.

    “What’s the matter with you, Chase? You were always so calm before. What’s changed?”

    “The only thing that needs to change is your stubbornness. It’s going to get you killed.”

    “Hasn’t killed me yet. I think I’ll take my chances.”       

    The terrifying experience of being hunted by Dark Brotherhood assassins seemed like the last thing on my mind. I was having a little too much fun distracting myself. We edged along a steep upward hill of rocks, the crest of a mountain. Chase stopped, glanced at the slope, and started climbing his way up to the top. The sky above was clear and yellowish-blue.

    “Scouting ahead again?” I asked, hands on my hip.

    He withheld a reply except for his scowl, which he freely showed me.

    “Okay, so you’re not. Then… is this your dumb way of trying to lose me?”        

    “If it works, I will not complain,” he grumbled.

    “Wait, that’s what this is? Oh wow…!” I couldn’t keep a smile off my face. “I was pulling your leg! Gods! You mean you’re actually doing this to get away from me? That’s so lame!”

    “Perhaps. But I am still a faster climber.”

    I perked up. “Yeah? We’ll see about that.”

    The rocks were rough and easy to grip. Even then, though, Chase did turn out to be a lot faster. Was there anything this guy wasn’t good at? He reached the top of the rocks before I could make it half-way up. I blame the fatigue. If I hadn’t had a brush with death mere minutes ago we would’ve had a closer race.

    “This is stupid, you know,” I huffed. “Why are you so bent on not telling me anything? Haven’t I earned an explanation by now?”

    I stopped climbing, catching a glimpse of Chase’s expression. His eyes stared down at something below on the other side of the crags. There was a look on his face that I never thought I’d see.

    Fear.

    “Chase, what is it…?”

    He shouted back at me.

    RUN!!!

    A dragon with deep orange scales shot up into the air from the behind the rocks. I raised my arm up to block the powerful blast of wind that followed, rushing down the slope of the hill and into the trees beyond. As the dragon banked through the sky, I caught a glimpse of Chase before he lost his footing in the sudden gust…

    …and fell over the edge of the cliff.

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Comments

6 Comments   |   Fallout Night likes this.
  • Okan-Zeeus
    Okan-Zeeus   ·  June 9, 2015
    Thanks for the clarifications, Tolveor. I'll take them into account when I go back and make edits.
  • Tolveor
    Tolveor   ·  June 9, 2015
    I will try to clarify a little. Both of those sentences fall in the category of "sentences that makes me stumble". They interrupt the flow of my reading in a way. As you said the first one should be pretty clear, but i think its more this part that confus...  more
  • Okan-Zeeus
    Okan-Zeeus   ·  June 8, 2015
    Thank you, Tolveor, for writing this. (And for reading the chapter twice! That's a huge compliment!) 
    I have to say, it's good of you to mention the issue with the many short sentences. This was actually something I became aware of as I was writing ...  more
  • Tolveor
    Tolveor   ·  June 8, 2015
    Is it still a cliffhanger if he can't hang on to the cliff and falls down?
    #questionsthathavetobeaskedwithanendinglikethis :))
    That said, I enjoyed this chapter immensly.
    Brilliant dialogue, and really enjoyable fighting scenes. If this ...  more
  • Gabe
    Gabe   ·  June 6, 2015
    AAAAAAH
    OKAN HOW DARE YOU
  • The Long-Chapper
    The Long-Chapper   ·  June 5, 2015
    Literally a cliffhanger. GAHHHHH!! That's terrible!, but in an oh so delicious sort of way. 
    Great dialogue work as always.