Getting to know each other.
Selmia Grace quickly scanned the hall before her. Baurus had gone to grab something to eat and Martin had, once again, fallen asleep at his table. It was really only her and Baurus who usually caught the Septim napping. The two blades had long ago agreed to let Martin sleep and not wake him up. Because of this, the bags underneath Martin's eyes had slowly disappeared, they were still there but not as prominent. Taking silent steps, she sat across from him and put her feet up on the chair beside her own.
By all rights she ought to have been in her bedroll in the barracks as Jauffre had ordered. But the barracks was not really her cup of tea, plus you had the nice, roaring fire in the hall. Lastly, watching Martin sleep somehow put her at ease and he didn't snore. Slowly she felt her eyelids droop and Selmia succumbed to the call of sleep.
"Come on Gracey. Gracey?" A voice called to her, in her dreams. Gracey. That was Martin's nickname for her, he'd called her it the once out of sleep depravation and found that it annoyed her. But he only called her that in a joking mood, for his sake most proberly.
"Nope, you're not hungry?" The scent of leek and ham stew crawled up her nose. "Fine. Baurus do you want seconds?"
"Really? Thanks. My favourite stew as well. Selmia will have to go hungry." Selmia's eyes snapped open and she sat bolt up in her chair. There Baurus stood, a spoon half-raised to his mouth. The Redguard immediately tried to look innocent. Several sniggers came from Martin, trying his best to keep a smirk off his face. Selmia narrowed her eyes and glared at both of the men. Martin quickly began examining some of his notes rather than meet her silver eyes. After a while Martin spoke:
"Baurus. I'd advise giving Selmia her stew. Knowing Jauffre, he'd make me clean up the smear on the floor." Baurus lowered the spoon and uttered a few curses. Selmia tried to reach out her hand for the bowl when she realised somebody had thoughtfully tucked a blanket around her. Removing it, she accepted the bowl and tucked in after making sure Martin had a bowl. As if knowing what the Hero of Kvatch was thinking, Martin tilted his bowl to show it was empty.
"Thanks by the way, I guess the blanket was you." Asked Selmia between sips.
"You're welcome." Replied the Septim, giving her a gentle smile. "So… happy hunting?"
"Aye. Got a Daedra artefact. I can't believe how many of the Daedra lords and ladies need me to fetch stuff they've lost." Selmia Grace bent down to her rucksack, rummaging. "I've actually got a few here which I've had for a while. Let me see. I have Namira's ring, Vaermina's Skull of Corruption…" Martin couldn't help but roll his eyes as Selmia placed the items on the table. The ring, the staff, Azura's star … a lock pick? Martin reached out a hand to pick up the skeleton key, but Selmia slapped his hand away.
"Paws off. I'm keeping that. So you can choose Azura's star, Namira's ring, the skull thingy or Wabbajack." Martin looked up surprised as she pulled out yet another staff.
"Selmia. Do you go around helping Daedra lords on your weekends off? And what did Sheogorath have you do?" He asked, deciding to pick up the Skull of Corruption gingerly and put it to one side.
"Mostly. I often just raid ruins and caves. Also didn't you hear about Border Watch?" The woman began packing away the rest of the Daedra artefacts.
"The rain of burning dogs? Did I happen to mention I'm a dog person?" She paused and looked at him to see if he was joking. He wasn't. From behind Martin, Baurus mouthed ' you're in for it now'.
"The dogs were Sheogorath's work. I just caused the plague of rats and famine. So blame the mad prince. What's next on the shopping list?" She said hastily, hoping the subject would change.
"Hmmm, okay. I haven't translated the next ingredient yet, but I do know Jauffre needs your help with something down in Bruma." Selmia nodded and hastily stood up, eager to get away from the dog lover. As she reached the main doors, Martin spoke again:
"Oh and Gracey? Try not to set any poor dogs on fire."
She gave him a glare and went out, choosing to ignore the snigger from Baurus. No matter what, Martin always managed to get the last jibe in. Their banter was friendly, of course and a source of great amusement to Baurus. Rubbing her hands together for warmth, she set off along the wall, to where Jauffre stood, gazing at Bruma. Halfway she paused to rub the tip of her pointy ears and wondered how these Blades coped with the cold. It was also a good thing her skin was blue already or it would have been turning that colour now.
"I thought I told you to rest in the barracks, not fall asleep in the great hall." Said the Grandmaster as she came over, arms wrapped around herself for warmth.
"It's warmer in the hall, plus you let Martin sleep at his desk." Retorted Selmia.
"It's the only sleep Martin gets. When I saw you, I would have woken you up, but Martin told me not to. Said something about, he wouldn't clean up the mess afterwards." Selmia rolled her eyes.
"Why does everyone make it out that I'd kill them for the slightest wrong doing? I'm a bleeding short half Dunmer not a 7ft tall giant with lighting coming out of my eyes." Selmia height's didn't really bother her, it helped when she was in battle. Her enemies always had to stoop to hit the 5ft 3 blue blur and it helped when she had get into tight spaces. But when she had to get something off the top shelf… that was a different and embarrassing story.
"No offence but you did close the gate at Kvatch and there wasn't much left of those Cultists at the Priory. Anyway I didn't want to talk about that…" Jauffre was suddenly interrupted as Selmia shoved him to the ground. A second later several arrows flew past them. That was one advantage to having pointy ears, she had better hearing than most people. The Blades were quick off the mark and hurried to the walls, bows drawn. Selmia heard the yells of Mythic Dawn agents. Peaking over the wall, she saw about seven of them.
"Hpm. They are no match for us." Muttered Jauffre but Selmia was disinclined to agree. The Mythic Dawn wouldn't be throwing their people at them like fodder… unless they were a distraction. Selmia immediately bolted to the building. All the other Blades were at the gate, dealing with the distraction. That meant only Baurus was defending Martin. She ran in, just in time to see Baurus deal with an assassin and Martin frying another with lightening. Another dropped from the roof in front of her, but he faced Martin. He was a little surprised when Selmia's Katana pierced his chest. Baurus glanced at her momentarily.
"Distraction at the gates?" He asked.
"Yeah. Clever tactic. I thought Jauffre would know better"
"What's the saying? Overconfidence gets you killed?"" Added Martin, quickly grapping the Mysterium Xares, no doubt if the Mythic Dawn couldn't get their target, they'd go for the next best thing, the Blade's only way to get the Amulet back. Selmia grabbed her empty food satchel and chucked it to him. The Septim was quick in putting his notes and the tome inside. Selmia also grabbed her small backpack with her basics in. Then several more assassins came in from the adjoining rooms and the stairs. They must have been sent to different rooms to make sure. Baurus glanced out of the front door.
"The ones outside have been dealt with. Your highness." Martin acknowledged the hidden order and hurried after the blade, Selmia shortly followed after sending the assassins back with a blast of raw magic. Outside the blades had quickly surrounded Martin. Strangely the Mythic dawn agents didn't come out. Then Selmia caught a sick look flicker across Martin's face. The Septim had become a lot more paler.
"Jauffre! They've summoned something!" He said urgently. Martin was the most magically sensitive being a former conjurer, of course he'd know the sense of daedric magic. There was a sickening crunch as the front doors was booted off their hinges and a daedoth strode out followed by three heavily armoured Daedra Kynreeve. The Blades happily charged into battle while Selmia kept close to Martin. The Septim damaged the enemies a lot so Selmia had an easier time cutting them down. While she ran a cultist though, she realised Martin had been driven away from the group by a mage and was having trouble checking his shield spell up. A fire ball pounded the shield and Martin staggered backwards, the stress evident on his face from using so much mana in a short time. Then the Cultist mage charged up a powerful fire spell. The purple shimmer disappeared from around Martin, he'd ran out of Mana. If he was anywhere near the spell when it went off…
Selmia immediately sheathed her Katana and sprinted. Martin was close to the edge, hopefully there'd be a decent amount of snow to cushion them. She thought as she barrelled into him and took them both of the edge of Cloud Ruler Temple. She felt the fire and heat from the spell discharging. It was too close to her skin for comfort. Well too close, Selmia felt the pain as the fire seared though her armour.
She'd been right. They'd managed to fall right into a snow drift, then her head connected with a rock with a loud crack, and darkness claimed her.
Sooo… Good? Bad? Should I continue? I won't exactly be following canon with the timeline and Martin.
Trishata96