Hey all, Brea here, I hope you are all enjoying your reading on fanfiction net I certainly am!
But anyway, this is my first fic so, please bear with me.
This fic contains spoilers for the game Oblivion. It takes place two years after the end of the main quest.
A disclaimer.
This is an Oblivion fanfic. All things that are copyrighted to Bethesda and the Elder Scrolls series, belongs to them. Charsi, Kyle, Blackish, and all other original characters belong to me unless otherwise noted in a disclaimer.
In other words most of the things in this story are going to belong to them, not me. I'm just the one that got inspired, and most of the words are mine, I admit I will quote the game from time to time however.
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Symbols Used
(This section with be updated as needed)
/This/ is someone's thoughts
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/It was almost two years ago when the Oblivion gates were finally closed forever. When the hero of Kvatch rose up to become the Champion of all Cyrodiil. Some say that the Champion was a Beautiful Imperial woman, others that she was an Altmer. But my son was at the battle that ended it all in the Imperial city. He saw the Champion, and He said that she was a bosmer. And then there are the rumors of what happened to Martin the Heir, and what kind of relationship the two had maintained.
Yes, it was a rather crazy time back then, all those rumors flying about. And on a local note, an oblivion gate opened around the same time as the City's attack, only a half mile away from where I stand! If you were to go out to the end of the grain-field you could see some of the blackened spikes still standing off by the forest. And yet mine was the first farmstead in the area to fully recover from the devastation of that year. /
"Charsi ma'am!" That was Kyle; he was usually out dealing with one of the farm's various animals. "Charsi, Blakish got loose again, he's broken Hime's arm and run off toward the old Gate." He finished his sentence as he took the handful of porch stairs two at a time.
Charsi, roused from her speculations, stood up from her rocker and faced her friend. "Son, I wont even ask how that troublesome creature got out of his pen," she then grabbed a pair of boots from inside the door of the farmhouse, and started pulling them on, "I will however ask how and where is Hime?"
"Oh, he'll be alright ma'am, m'wife was takin' him to our cot to patch up his arm. But what are we gonna do about Blackish this time?" Kyle leaned against the porch rail as he recovered from running half way across the farm to get here. It was nearly Harvest's End and all the farm hands were out working to bring in the last of the crops.
"This is what, the third time this month that s'wit of a gelding got loose?"
"Yes'm, and likely the only time the beast didn't hurt the crops nor fences."
"Auhg, don't remind me. I really don't think we can afford to keep him much longer. If you can't tame that creature by First Seed, and we cant find a buyer for him, I think we'll have to have horse stew around then." She stood up slowly, her back creaking, "Well, anyway, let's sees if we can't catch up to Blackish before nightfall."
"Charsi, ma'am, I hate to say this but you're getting too old to be chasing after skittish horses."
"And you're too good a horse talker for that damn thing to be so skittish, but it is anyway."
Kyle sighed and followed after the aging farm owner. He really was a damnably good horse talker, and they'd never had a problem before. But every time he seemed to make some progress with Blackish, the next day he'd regress and try to break loose of his pen.
They were heading to the remains of the gate at a brisk walk, and could see Blackish prancing about there. They stopped by the stable and pens, which held two other horses, and three pigs. There they picked up a walking stick, lantern, and a lasso incase Kyle couldn't talk Blackish into coming back with them as he usually did.
The sun was just beginning to set as they reached the ruins of the gate, and Blackish was grazing on the nearby grasses calmly. When Kyle was almost within arms reach of the horse, and Charsi was readying the lasso, Blackish suddenly raised his head and stared at the forest edge.
Blackish was visibly tense to the point of trembling, and the whites of his eyes were showing. Kyle hardly dared to breathe for fear that he'd startle the beast into bolting. /Blackish isn't even acknowledging that we're here... Something isn't right. /
And just as Kyle finished the thought Blackish reared up bellowing forth a terror filled scream, before bolting straight for the forests edge a mere thirty feet away. But before Charsi or Kyle were even halfway across the short distance Blackish returned. Just a few feet from the first trees, he stood, looked deliberately at them and neighed.
Baffled Charsi, and Kyle continued to approach cautiously. Charsi was almost within range to lasso him when Blackish stomped and turned back into the forest at a trot. It was thus that Blackish led them through the forest until twilight was just beginning to fade.
By this time they had figured out that Blackish wasn't just trying to get away from them, but actually trying to lead them somewhere. And as they stopped to light their lantern Blackish stomped impatiently.
"Ma'am, I have never seen a horse act so strangely in my life... I, it..."
"It's damn uncanny that's what it is," Charsi filled in when Kyle stumbled to find the right words. "And I swear if there is nothing at the end of this to show for our patience then I don't care if you can tame the beast, I'm selling him." /I'm too damn old to be doing this, and if Blackish is smart enough to be leading us around, he's smart enough to know that. /
"I can't say I object to that, I think it's obvious now that he's not suited as a plow horse."
"Indeed." Charsi leaned heavily on her walking stick as Kyle finally got the lantern lit and secured.
Blackish snorted at them as they approached him, he could never understand how these two legged things took so long to understand him. But that doesn't matter, he heard the call, it sounded kind of like the two legs do, so he brought them with.
The three of them entered a shadowed clearing in the trees. Blackish stopped and smelt the air to find the exact location of the one he heard. Having gotten his bearings, Blackish strode over to a sickly looking shrub of some kind and stomped meaningfully.
Charsi glanced from Blackish to Kyle, "Here Kyle, I'll hold the lantern, you look in the bush..."
"All right ma'am," Kyle gagged as a breeze started up and brought a stench from the direction of the shrubbery. "Can't say as I blame ya, smells like somethin' died."
Holding the lantern aloft Charsi looked on as Kyle parted the branches of the shrubbery and tried to find the source of the stench. Curiosity had as much a hold on her now as it would have twenty years ago; this evening had just been so odd.
Kyle stopped short about halfway through the bushes, "By the Nine! There's a person in here!" He motioned for Charsi to come closer as he knelt to get a better look.
"Are they alive?" Charsi asked in a hushed voice as she worked her way through the bush to where Kyle was. "Oh!" She gasped as she saw the bloody half naked body.
"I think she's alive... But likely wont be for much longer." Kyle began to gently gather the tortured body into his arms.
"Really? You don't say." The sarcasm oozed from Charsi's words like venom. "Well, come on, take Blackish and get her to that wife of yours. If anyone can help she'd be the one."
"But how will you?"
"I'll walk just like I got here. I'll be fine." Charsi walked over to Blackish and glared right into his huge dark eyes. "If you so much as think about giving trouble to that child that you brought us to find, I will know, and I will send you off to become glue, understand?"
Blackish shook his head and snorted, he didn't know what the old two legs was saying but it didn't seem very nice. But before he could decide whether to bite the old one or not, the hurt one stirred and moaned in pain, calling to him once again. She was dying here; she needed help from the two legs... Blackish knelt down carefully so that the strong two legs could get on his back without setting the hurt one down, and he snorted at them when the two legs hesitated.
"Well... Stay safe ma'am, I don't think I'll be having too much trouble from Blackish on the way home." Kyle was settling himself and the girl so that they didn't fall when Blackish stood back up. She was semi conscious it seemed, and becoming more so as the moments passed.
"I will," Charsi smacked Blackish's rump, "Now get up and go you demon!"
Startled by the shout and the sharp thump on his ass Blackish got up more suddenly than he had meant to, almost dislodging his passengers. He waited just a short moment then before taking off at a gallop.
"Feh, bloody horse." Charsi muttered to herself as she followed the path out of the forest that the horse made as he tore through the underbrush. /I wonder if maybe he'll start behaving after tonight.../
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Note: I finally got it spell checked, if there are any obvious mistakes that I missed, please review and let me know so I can fix it! (Also, dont yell at me about the gramatical errors in the speach of the characters, that's just the way they talk.)
Well, that's the first chapter of my little story. Comments and constructive criticism are welcome.