(Warning: Story contains graphic violence and may also include sexual encounters. Viewer discretion is advised. Rating: MA only)
Chapter 2: Friend Among Enemies
"And don't come back you skooma-drinking thief!" yelled the guards as they threw me out of the prison. I landed on the ground with a fwump, my hide armor cushioning the fall. Unlike what most people believe, even though us Khajit look and sometimes act like cats, we don't land on our feet like they do, unfortunately. The guard's laughter was cut off as they closed the door. Racist fucking Nords, I thought to myself, accusing me of stealing when it was that damn singer, what was his name, ah, Mikael. I'll fix that bastard if it's the last thing I do. But at that point, the voice of reason chimed in. Right, and then the guards can arrest you for good.
As I walked along, pondering to myself, I began to near the marketplace. As I descended the steps, lost in thought, I suddenly crashed into somebody. As soon as my body left the earth, I began to assess the dangers. I glanced to see who I had collided with. As soon as I did though, my heart stopped. Falling alongside with me was the most beautiful Nord that I had ever laid eyes on. She was wearing a blue dress, homemade by the look of it, with an iron dagger strapped to her waist. She wore a leather corset over her dress and tan boots. Her closed cropped hair, now streaming around her face, was a shade of ruby red that you could only find in a rose.
Wishing no harm to come to this woman, I grasped her and pulled her close, cushioning her fall with my body. Sadly, my arm had no cushioning and promptly broke as I landed on the hard stone that made up the market square. As I lay there, releasing the woman from my grasp, I dimly perceived a small crowd had gathered, muttering amongst themselves.
"Is that Ysolda?"
"What's that cat doing with her?"
"Bet he tried to steal her gold and then they both fell."
"Somebody get the guards! Tell them we have an accident in the market!"
It was not long before a few guards arrived. By that point, I was sitting on top of the lip of the well, and the woman, who I assumed was Ysolda, was sitting on a crate by the jewelry stall. The guards began to question bystanders as to what happened. The stories ranged from I tried to catch her to I tried to rob her. Nobody apparently cared to the fact that I was clutching my arm and was in a lot of pain. Looking at the beauty that I had saved though, it was worth it.
The next day, I was sitting in Breezehome. My arm was fortunately on the mend. I planned to go hunting today. As I settled down at my table to drown my temporary sorrows in a mug of Blackbriar Mead, I heard a knock at my door. Curious, I opened it to find the girl from the marketplace standing at my door. She looked at me with a sense of both wonder and dare I say it, glee? "Hello, is this the house of, um, Fulujay …" she trailed off as she noticed that I was giving her blank stare. "My name is pronounced Falaja," I said in my deep, Nordic voice, "If you have trouble saying it, you can call me Nightwalker. Now I don't believe in keeping a young woman like yourself out in the cold, so would you kindly come inside?"
At this, she stammered and seemed flustered, so I took her by the arm and shut the door behind her. "Sit down by the fire, and tell me what brings you here." I moved to the cabinet where I kept some spare bottles of mead. Grabbing two bottles, (I forgot about the already full mug that I had) I sat down in the chair next to hers, filled a blue ceramic cup, and offered it to her. She took it into her hands and sipped at it, obviously nervous around me. I then realized one of the reasons she was nervous was probably because I forgot to put on a shirt. Things like that slip your mind when you are more concerned about your life than anything else. Embarrassed, I walked upstairs and grabbed a shirt from my wardrobe.
As I walked downstairs, I noticed that while she hadn't moved from her spot, she was intently studying my house. Sitting down I promptly swallowed my drink in one gulp. "So, you probably came here to say thanks, which you don't need to," I said, "I appreciate the gesture and all but it's late and…" "Can you help me earn your boss' trust?" The words exploded out of her so violently that I was caught off guard.
"My boss?"
"You don't work for the traders?"
"No, what makes you think I do?"
"It's just that, um, well, you're a Khajit, and you are a long way from home, so I assumed that you were, well, working for them?"
At this I grasped my war axe from the table and slammed it into the wood of the table. I leaned close to her and growled "So, 'cause I'm a cat, you think I don't make my own path in this world? That I follow others and become their servants? You think I risk my life for another man's gold? Is that what you think?!" I practically yelled the last sentence, inches from her face. "I-I ju-just assumed that y-you…" she said, quivering in terror. The silence that followed lasted for what seemed like ages, until I exploded into laughter. "By the Nine! You should have seen the look on your face!" I fell onto the floor, clutching my stomach as I howled.
Her brow furrowed as she frowned, looking down on me. "That was a pretty low trick and you know it." I didn't respond as I was breathless from laughing so hard. Seeing that I wasn't going to be able to take her seriously from now on, she gave me a sharp kick. She managed to hit the exact spot on my arm where I had broken it previously. I hissed in pain, causing my ears to stand at attention. I gave her a look that, if possible, would have killed her. She just smirked at me, her previous fear having left her, and said, "So, do you want to hear my business proposal, or not?
I perked up at the sound of that. Unless it was a bounty letter or a job from one of the caravans, I rarely had work proposed to me. I sat back down in my chair and leaned back, the warmth of the fire on my legs. "What kind of job?" I inquired. "Well, as I have told you, I want to earn the caravans' trust. And there leader proposed that if I got him a mammoth tusk, he would do business with me." "So, what, you want me to guard the shipment or something?" "No," she responded, "I want you to help me get it from one of the giants' herds." I leaned forward and stared at her quizzically. "Unless you know how to speak the giants' tongue and have something to trade for one of their mammoths, I doubt they will give up one willingly." "Well, I was hoping you could help me with that."
I leaned back and let out a sigh. "Well, I was planning on clearing that giant camp by the city for the bounty, so I guess you could come along. What combat experience do you have?" She looked down into her lap. "Yes, that's the problem; I don't know how to fight. The most experience I've had with fighting was when I stabbed a man for trying to steal from me." Noticing me about to interject, she continued. "I also have decided to hire Amren, the Redguard that lives here, have you met him?" I nodded, remembering the time that I fought through a group of bandits to retrieve his father's sword. "If you want to do the job, then meet us tomorrow by the gate. We'll wait until noon."
She stood up and walked to the door. She paused as she opened it, "Oh, and by the way, it was nice to meet you Falaja." And as soon as those words left her lips, I made up my mind to help her.
