CHAPTER 2: The Blades
Unknown to me at that time, we had arrived at the Blades' fortress, Cloud Ruler Temple. I stared at the battlements, how thick the stone walls were and how fortified the doors were. But they swung open with ease as Matthias tugged on the iron ring welded into each door. He remounted and we continued our silent march.
The Blades were, to my surprise, mainly Imperials, Redguards or Nords. I saw only one Argonian, an Orc and one elf although I wasn't sure which kind. The Argonian wore the blue hood of a mage and he surveyed us through fierce eyes. His attire consisted of the Blades armor and a sword although his hood showed he was a mage. A Battlemage! I forced myself to look away as all the other pairs of eyes slowly turned towards me. The two Blades sparring with each other stopped. The Orc slowly turned and stepped forwards.
It was only ten in the morning and the place was buzzing with activity. Matthias led me and the horses towards the stable after dismounting. I too dismounted and followed him, leading Bashir behind me. The stable was a simple place, nice and airy with enough space for four horses. There were no others. I turned to watch the Blades slowly return to their business. Suddenly I saw with a slight pang that the Argonian was approaching me. Matthias had begun to slip on his armor and didn't notice the Argonian, or if he did, he didn't care much.
"Ah my friend, it is good to see you again. And who is this?" He eyed my slightly thin form with some surprise.
"Eh Ruin, your watch is over already? Ah yes, I see Parwen has gone to take your place. Excellant. Yes, this is..." He stopped.
I realised I had not told him my name since we had met. I swallowed hard.
"My name is Silas." I said to the both of them. I noticed Matthias gave me that strange look again but I tried to ignore him.
"Ah Silas, I am Ruined-Tail. They call me Ruin. And no, I am not the same Ruin from the books the Argonian's Tail 1, 2 and 3. If you have read it, Missing-Tooth or Mist, was my great-grandfather." He grinned then turned to Matthias.
I noticed Ruined-Tail's armor was not the same as Matthias's. The Khajiit had a dark brown armor, the gold trims polished until they shone. Ruin had a dull light brownish set that didn't shine and didn't seem much impressive at all. It was also the colour of the set that I had 'stolen' off the dead Blade. I was saved the effort of asking by Ruin noticing me looking back and forth from his armor to Matthias's.
"Hmm, you like the Blades' armor eh? You'll get one set too if Grandmaster Steffan accepts you into the Blades." I hated the word 'if' he used but Ruin seemed sincere enough.
Matthias whisked me away from the Argonian and we headed up the stairs into the main building. The Great Hall was warm and I longed to stand by the fire, that is until I saw the Grandmaster of the Blades. He was an impressive figure. He wore the same brownish armor as Matthias and he had a helm on but without a shield.
"What, a new recruit? Are you sure he's not one of our enemies?" Steffan demanded of Matthias.
"No sir, I checked. He hadn't a note or a book on him or any strange items at all. If a key could fortify the Magicka of someone then we are in trouble." I heard him chuckle.
"Hmm, sounds good. And no, a key doesn't work. Ruin's been on the case since we discovered how they were so powerful and he's confirmed keys don't work. If they do, those assassins wouldn't want to use it. It's too easy to lose." Steffan laughed. Then he turned to me. "Captain Matthias has suggested you, Silas, as a new recruit into our sect. And, I agree. He'll take you now to the armory and Thranger will outfit you with your new armor and any weapon you see fit from his selection."
After that, things passed pretty quickly. I was given a new set of armor and I chose the two-handed sword, the Dai-Katana although I wanted to keep the one I had found. It turned out that the armor and blade belonged to the ex-Grandmaster, Jauffre, who had fallen in the great Battle of Bruma. His elite armor had been removed and now sat in the Great Hall along with another fallen Blade's armor and sword. He had been given his older set of armor in respect to him, the set he had worn before Thranger the smith moved in. After Thranger set up shop, the Blades were issued rank-specific armor.
And I was right at the bottom of the pile.
I learned swordsmanship from the Orc, Kurz gro-Baroth and archery from Parwen. Ruin tried to teach me some alchemy and spells although I never did grasp it. In the end, we spent many happy hours sparring under the watchful eye of Kurz. I didn't see much of Captain Matthias but when I did get to talk to him, he was surprisingly easy to talk to. But I never did get used to his bright green eyes that seemed to go right through me.
After I advanced a little, he assigned me to watchtower duty taking over from Ruin who was spending more time than ever doing alchemy in the East Wing. When I wasn't doing guard duty, I was helping scrub Cloud Ruler until it shone, restocking the food and ale cabinets or riding down to the nearest stream to wash clothes. It doesn't sound like much fun but I enjoyed every second of it.
This continued on for ten long years. Then my life changed forever, almost overnight. Well it was overnight. I will never forget it. It was the day the sky turned blood red, just like during the Oblivion Crisis. But this was almost something worse.
Disclaimer and Credits : As usual, I DO NOT own The Elder Scrolls 4 : Oblivion. Beth. Soft. does.
Ruined-Tail is from the book The Argonian's Tail 1-3 in the game (yes, I read them. I've read lot of the books in the game). He is also inspired by the mod Ruined-Tail's Tail. Kurz gro-Baroth is owned by Beth. Soft. too I think. They created him. Recruited using Toaster's Companion mod (yes, some shameless advertising). Same with Parwen. Grandmaster Steffan (Captain Steffan in the original game) is also Beth. Soft. created. Cloud Ruler Temple and the Blades are also created by Beth. Softworks. If you've gone through at least a quarter of the main quest, you'll know :P.