Chapter 4
Kai
The sun had just started to rise over the eastern horizon when he decided to sacrifice his bed after a sleepless night. He was a slacker, sure. But no self respecting hunter could hope to sleep after learning that he had been followed by a man eater. So he had gotten up and decided to make some sort of effort to get back at the cat.
He was currently seated in a chair, a small bottle of mead situated on a circular table before him. Across him sat a Redguard, his expression sour. He was not at all pleased by Kai's company and made it known. Kai knew that look; knew it all too well. That was the look people wore every time he asked them for money. Only difference being that he had asked Ennis for a sheep.
"Why should I give you a sheep?"
"There are two methods of plotting to kill a man eater." Kai began his explanation. "The first one is to sit tight and wait for the furball to make a move on its next target. See, the thing is, cats generally don't return to stale carcasses. So waiting by the old corpses to ambush it is a fruitless endeavor; and since I've been paid to kill it before it kills any others, it'd be my ass on the stake if I were to let that happen. So, we're left with the second method, baiting."
Kai paused and used this moment to indulge in the mead which had been offered to him. As he did so, he recalled what Wilhelm had told him about Ennis. Ennis was a former resident of Rorikstead. He moved out of there and into Ivarstead because some idiot had stolen a goat of his and sold it to a Giant. No wonder he's reluctant, Kai thought as he placed the bottle back down onto the table.
"Baiting, as the name suggests, involves tying bait near the last kill site and using that to lure the man eater in. There is a very small chance of the predator falling for the trick, since man eaters never really go back to hunting their usual prey after tasting human blood, but it's a chance I'm willing to take."
He could see that the Redguard was still unconvinced, "Its' kinda like fishing" Kai simplified, "Except there are no fish."
Silence shrouded them awhile. It was only broken when Ennis sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Young man, let me give you a piece of advice," he said rather solemnly. "Go home. You can do nothing here, nobody can. That thing, which people call a cat, is actually a spirit, a Daedra. No mortal has power over it. If it were indeed a being of flesh of blood, do you think that all the hunters who had been commissioned before you would have failed to make even a scratch on it? Do you think anything could move as silently, kill as efficiently as it has and still be considered a being belonging to the mortal plane? You have heard of poor Klimmek's sorry tale, have you not? Do you still doubt my words? Do you not value your life?"
"I appreciate the sentiment." Kai said finally. "But I have been paid to do a job and I will try my level best to fulfill it, no matter how troublesome it is. Make no mistake, it's not remotely supernatural. It's a cat. It's just a bloody cat. Besides," he said as he stood, "if Baknar can wound it, what's stopping me from killing it?"
They held the other's gaze for a few short moments before Ennis heaved a sigh and shook his head. "You have courage, but do not overestimate your abilities, lad. As for the sheep, I have no extra sheep to give you. I will, however, give you a goat. You need not pay me now. Use it as bait. If it should die, you can pay me then. Now if you will excuse me, I must be on my way. My mother is sick and I must go to Rorikstead. I will be back within two days time."
He cursed his good fortune. Silver linings meant that there was a chance to achieve the objective. And achieving objectives always meant work.
How he hated work.
"Hey mister, you're gonna kill that cat, right? Man, I wish I was like you, ya know, adventurous and all? Life here is so boring! Say, have you ever seen a dragon? Have ya, huh?"
The incessant blabbering of a highly obnoxious twelve year old wasn't helping to achieve said objective, either.
"Yes Lyon. I have seen a dragon." Kai decided to humor him while he secured the goat to a tree with a piece of rope. The goat had a rather healthy bleat. That would prove to be useful while attracting the cat. "A big black pointy scaled thing with red eyes, it was."
"Wow, that is so amazing!" was the boy's reply. His voice was filled with admiration and wonderment. To be fair, had he been in the boy's position, Kai would have acted in much the same way.
"Yeah, very amazing indeed," he replied drily and finished tying up the poor creature. Having done that, he surveyed his handiwork. He had served aboard an Imperial ship for about a year, and as such, had a thing for knots. "Say, don't you have to go home? Your people are probably worried sick about you."
He shrugged, "Nah. They wouldn't miss me. They'd be better off if I never came back."
Kai had no idea how to respond to that one. "I see."
"Hey mister?" the boy began as he started walking back to the village. "What's it like, travelling all over killing stuff? Is it exciting?"
Kai gave the boy a long hard look. The boy, Lyon by name, had become something akin to his unofficial housecarl and stalked him everywhere he went. He was a lad of about twelve; brown hair and lively blue eyes. He wanted to see the world, become an adventurer and a legendary warrior like the Whitestrake, the Hero of Kvatch or more recently, the Dragonborn. He would go on and on about his family, his older sister's love problems, how his father grew lucky cabbages, how he hated the mundane life of Ivarstead, and a whole bunch of other topics Kai had no interest in what so ever. Kai was surprised how he had not lost his temper and thrown the little cretin into the Treva and be done with it. He thought it was probably because Lyon reminded him a lot of himself when he was around that age.
It was at times like these that he mentally praised his old mentor for his patience.
"Hey mister? Mister, mister, mister, mister…"
"What?" Kai snapped and pinched the bridge of his nose in order to bite back his temper. They were on the bridge leading to Ivarstead and it was very tempting to pick up the boy and just throw him as far as he could. But he thought better of it at the last second.
"Why don't you marry my sister?"
How Kai did not trip and plant himself face first into the snow, he would never find out. Maybe there was a God up there that stopped people from tripping and falling upon hearing random bullshit? Somehow, he highly doubted it.
"Think about it!" Lyon went on, elation radiating from his every gesture. "If you marry my sister, you'd be like my real brother! And then you'd have to take me on your every adventure and when you and Fastred make babies, I'll be there to train them and-"
What else he had in store to punish his poor ears even further Kai would also never know because at that precise moment, the infamous sister came up to them, effectively shutting Lyon up by smacking the boy upside the head.
"Lyon, how many times have I told you to not pester the poor man? He has enough on his plate without having to put up with your constant banter."
"We were just talking about him marrying you, sis!" Lyon told his sister, a grin plastered on his face. Fastred blushed slightly and bowed to him. "I am sorry for his behavior. He can be very irritating sometimes."
Kai awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. Don't I know, he thought.
"But Fas – ow! That hurts!"
Kai watched as Fastred led Lyon away by the ear. How that must've hurt. Yet somehow, Kai did not feel even a shred of pity or anything akin to pity for the lad. Shaking his head, Kai made his way to the Inn. There wasn't much he could do now except wait for the cat to take the bait. An unlikely event, but optimism did pay off sometimes. At least, he hoped it would.
Optimism did indeed pay off.
Waking up the next day, Kai hastened to the goat and found that it had been killed. Of course, it hadn't been eaten. Kai couldn't really blame the cat. A powerful and incessant bleat like that would annoy anybody. Unfortunately, annoying a sabre cat was equivalent to sending an invitation for it to slap the head off of the person in question's shoulders. In this case, it was the goat.
He examined the pug marks littering the snow. A single toe on the rear left paw was injured; folded backwards. That settled things for him. This was the man eater's work and there was hope yet.
Hurrying back to the Vilemyr Inn, Kai gobbled up a hasty breakfast, the contents of which had escaped his memory completely as he ran back up the slope to the kill site.
There were a few things he had to do. Firstly, he had to find himself a tree strong enough to support his weight. Judging from the pugmarks, the cat will most likely come from the direction of the Throat of the World.
The mountain was to his left, that was, due west. Taking the goat's body as the centre, he had Ivarstead to the east. To the north and south was open wilderness. Kai turned and walked backwards, due south. There was an old tree; big, strong. It provided ample cover. He could see without being seen. Perfect.
Picking out a branch about ten feet above the snow, Kai took his seat. He could see the dead goat lying before him. To his left was the mountain. The distance between him and the bait was roughly thirty yards, give or take a few. It was within range. The crossbow had an effective range of about forty yards. In fact, a veteran could shoot a deer about fifty yards away.
Hypothetically, the cat would come down from the west. It should stop and sniff the bait, thereby exposing its side to him. This was the most important thing.
"So what're you gonna do, mister?"
"Holy shit!" Kai swore and almost fell out of the tree. "Lyon! What're you doing here?"
"I followed you. Duh."
Kai loved how he just admitted to an activity such as stalking in such a casual manner as that. But since he was asked, he might as well answer.
"When you attempt an elevated shot, you should always aim for the region where the neck joins the shoulder." Kai said. "That way, you have a chance of piercing the windpipe or the carotid artery of the target; a one shot kill. That's what I hope to do. Happy?"
"But how about when you're on land?" Lyon persisted. "You can't always climb a tree, you know."
"When on land and facing the target, always aim between the eyes; another one shot kill." Kai answered again. "Of course, you'll only get one shot."
"Why?"
"That's because the crossbow is a noisy weapon. If you miss, the target will get spooked and run in case of an elevated shot. If you're on the ground," Kai chuckled drily, "Well, you might wanna throw in a prayer to whatever deity you worship."
Kai propped the crossbow atop his right knee and lined his right eye with the tip of the crossbow bolt. He had a clean shot between two branches. Smiling slightly, Kai jumped down onto the snow.
"Since you're here… and not utterly disgusted by a headless goat," Kai muttered the last part. "Why don't you make yourself useful and go find some black rocks?"
Lyon looked puzzled. "Black rocks? What for?"
"Well, it's troublesome to aim for a snowy sabre cat walking around in a snow covered terrain while visibility is low." Kai confessed. "The black rocks will stand out against the sonwy terrain and if the cat comes, some of the rocks will be shadowed by its body, giving me a better idea as to where to aim."
When Lyon gave him a curious look, he added, "Not saying that I don't trust my vision, no. I just don't want to take any chances."
Lyon's face brightened almost immediately. "On it!" he said and bolted off faster than a rabbit.
"Huh." Kai said aloud. "If that's all it takes to get rid of him, I should just feed him some bullshit information every time he opens his mouth."
It took Lyon about an hour to find six black rocks the size of Kai's closed fist. They scattered them around the bait in a circle and started walking back to Ivarstead. The cat usually came out around dusk. It wasn't even noon then. Kai scratched his head. He had a lot of time to kill.
"Why don't you come over to our house for dinner?" Lyon asked. "I bet you have nothing else to do, huh?"
The fact that he was not pissed off by the lad's smugness pissed Kai off somewhat. But then again, he had eaten nothing till breakfast and if he could skip a meal at the Inn, that would save him a few Septims; Septims he could pocket. He only saw benefits from accepting the boy's proposition.
"Ya know what?" Kai finally said. "I am hungry."
Josak
"Tell me, are ya afraid?"
A choked whimper was all he heard. He grinned. This was always fun.
"You remember what I told you when you were brought into the family, right? In case you've forgotten, allow me to refresh your memory," he slipped his hand around the man's throat while clearing his own dramatically. "I really, really hate incompetence."
With his other hand, he pulled back the assassin's hood. It was an Imperial boy of around seventeen; new recruit who'd lost his nerve and fucked up a contract. Unacceptable.
"All ya hadta do was grab 'em by the throat like this," he grinned. "And squeeze and squeeze until they foam like a dog and then squeeze some more… and their eyes are about to pop out and then you squeeze just a little more…"
A loud snap echoed throughout the hall.
"And then just a quick goodbye," Josak smirked as he let go of the boy's throat and watched his lifeless body slump to the ground. "They don't make necks like they used to… snap too easily. Not satisfying at all."
He turned just in time to see Nazir roll his eyes. The Redguard was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. "That's the second one this month. Recruitment is hard enough without you snapping necks left and right."
"Make sure not to recruit virgins then." He grinned, "Babette! Wipe the trash off of the floor."
"Why should I?" the girl hissed from her quarters. "Just because I look like a ten year old child doesn't mean you get to order me around. I'm two hundred and ninety eight years older than you. Show me some respect!"
Josak turned his head to look at the vampire with a smirk. "You're the fucking bloodsucker among us. That gives me all the rights in the world to order you around. Now fucking get to it."
"Such logic," Nazir grinned as Babette went to work, uttering a string of curses under her breath.
"I always was the logical one." Josak occupied a chair and leaned back, resting his boots on the dining table, "I tell ya, these fucking youngsters. They piss me off, ya know? They run away from home and join guilds as if it's some fucking game. They should know that the Brotherhood has high standards… very high fucking standards."
"He was just sixteen…" Nazir argued. He paid no attention to Babette as she dragged the boy away by his heels.
"I had killed seven people at that age, Nazir. Age has nothing to do with it," Josak replied and watched Babette drag away the boy's corpse to her chambers.
Sighing, Nazir sat down on a chair as well. "So now what? Has the Night Mother spoken to you yet?"
Placing his hands behind his head, Josak leaned back further, balancing on the rear two legs of his chair. "Not since the bastard Motierre. Man, that contract was so much fun!"
Nazir scoffed. "That contract destroyed the Brotherhood."
Josak grinned. "So? I spilled royal blood to compensate. I fucking hated the Emperor."
"And why, pray, is that?" Nazir drawled, clearly uninterested. He wondered just where from he would get another recruit.
"Ya see I hate the kinda people who think they can't be harmed, like they're some sorta fucking God." Josak closed his eyes. "They always stay in the sidelines, pulling the strings. They watch as the world around them goes to Oblivion. People like that piss me off. I hate their kind, the cocksuckers. And I love to kill people like that. It doesn't even matter whether they're weak or strong. The people I love to kill are the ones that really get me excited... never see it coming. They're in some happy place where they're sure nothing can get them. Dying is the furthest thing from their minds. Maybe they're thinking about what they're gonna have for dinner. Just like the Emperor was. Right before I walked in."
"Interesting," Nazir replied.
"Of course, there are people that I like too. I love to kill their kind even more." Josak's grin grew wider. "There are two types I like. First, there's the kind that puts their lives on the line and fight. They are a pleasure to kill. The look in their eyes… they fear death, see? They know they can die, and they still fight. Not like the bastards who stay in the shadows."
"And what's the second kind?" Nazir inquired.
"The second kind-" Josak began before his eyes shot open and he sat straight up, bringing the chair down on all fours. "Yes. I see." He grinned. "It'll be done."
"The Night Mother?" Nazir enquired curiously.
Josak nodded. "This one's of the second kind."
The Redguard raised an eyebrow. "And what, pray, is that?"
"The second kind," Josak smirked smugly, "Are the bastards only I can kill."