Chapter Three

Horvak Bear-Arm

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Noemie congratulated herself as she slid down the rope, feet touching the ground without a sound. Concentrating, she focused just the barest smidgeon of flame to her pointer finger before touching the long digit to the dangling rope. The flame raced up the rope, eating the well seasoned fibers without leaving any smoke or any noise, barely visible even in the darkness.

The brunette gave a quiet sigh of relief at how her plan had proceeded so far. Destruction magic was noisy. Theres was no such thing as subtlety with destruction magic unless one used so little that it was useless. Well, for most things, Noemie conceded. Shaking herself from her mental conversation, she cast a long-lasting chameleon spell with a layered avoidance spell over herself before creeping away from the walls of cloud ruler temple.

Keeping an eye on the ever-wary Arcturus who, like normal, was in the watch tower, Noemie was soon booking it down the road to Bruma with none the wiser, her lips curved up in a merry smirk. 'I love it when my plans actually work!'

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Now that she was out of sight of the temple, Noemie had dropped her spells. Giving a few skips of joy at the thought of actually being on the road, traveling and adventuring, Noemie thanked her lucky stars that she had escaped more codling. She was so wrapped up in happy thoughts that she didn't notice the presence that crept up on her.

"Noemie." Shrieking, the bosmer whirled around, eyes wide and chest heaving as she panted in surprised fear. "Ha! Gotcha." Jena smirked at the green eyed woman before her. "I see you didn't forget to pack food this time." The imperial teased, walking past her shocked practice partner, whistling a marching tune under her breath.

"Wha-? Jena… Jena! What are you doing here!" Noemie demanded, chasing after the whistling woman.

"I'd think it would be obvious. I'm accompanying you on your quest. I knew you gave in too easily his afternoon. That means you were plotting on sneaking out early. I snuck out earlier and hid a little ways back, waiting for you. I can't let you go adventuring by yourself. You can't hog all the glory after all." Jena gave a short laugh and kept walking, leaving Noemie to mutter dire threats under her breath.

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"Do you think we should camp soon?" Jena asked as she noticed the moons sinking towards the horizon.

"I suppose we've put enough distance between us and the temple now. If we cut into the woods a ways-"

"What was that?" Jena demanded, interrupting Noemie's pondering. She had stopped and was staring into the woods to the side of the path. A heavy wheezy sound accompanied by a low grunt and then loud earth-shaking thumps easily reached the keen ears of both travelers. "It sounds like an…"

"Ogre." The two chorused with grimaces as the hulking form lumbered towards them from the woods, letting out a loud bellow. Answering bellows rang out behind the two women, from up on the rocky inclines marching along the silver road.

"Peachy. I think we've just been invited to their party." Noemie grumbled, loosening her daggers from their sheathes, mentally regretting the loss of her bow and arrows. The twin blades shined with their subtle green sheen even in the dim moonlight.

"I could do without the invite." Jena replied with a tight smile, concentration locked on the three ogres closing in. Her katana was held ready in her hands, looking frighteningly fragile when compared to the towering monsters.

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Duck. Swing. Dodge. Stab. The moves were a steadily repeating rhythm, one that was wreaking considerable damage on her opponents. The daggers did their work nicely, the hulking, grey skinned monsters slowing as the paralysis enchantments started to cycle through blood streams. Muscles started slowing and locking up, resulting in the ogres losing the ability to stand any longer. They would collapse to the ground where they would attempt to flail their unresponsive bodies. Once on the ground, Jena would take care of the killing blows, ending lives with fatal blows to the heart or neck.

If it had only been two or three ogres, even four, the fight would have been over in a minute or two as the paralysis took effect. As it was, a hunting pack had enclosed around the women, forcing them to spend most of their time dodging slow but painful swings and punches. Noemie and Jena both suffered hits as they stood back to back.

"How're you doing?" Noemie asked, trying to blink sweat from her eyes, delivering a slash to the ogre swinging for her head while stabbing blindly out towards her side. She sucked in her breath as her side twinged in pain.

"Besides nearly having my head knocked from my shoulders, not bad. At least we've dropped three." Jena's face was one large bruise that extended down her throat to her left shoulder. She dragged in a painful breath, silently wishing Noemie had waited to travel with the larger group later on. "I thought you were the champion of Cyrodiil. Where's all your amazing talent?" She bit out, katana biting into a swinging arm. The blade jerked as it sank into the arm, rattling Jena's teeth as she exerted more force. The katana jerked again before cutting through the bone and severing the arm in a spray of blood. The ogre screamed in agony as it drew back.

One of Noemie's daggers had caught an ogre in the stomach and a terrible stench filled the air as the ogre fell to the ground, its death assured. The remaining ogres were grunting in a ragged chorus, starting to draw back, a third of their number dead or dying, another three starting to stumble from Noemie's deadly blades.

The women were starting to breathe easier, hoping that the dumb things were starting to get the message when the one armed ogre launched itself back into the fray unexpectedly, its infuriated attack catching Noemie in her injured side. She staggered towards another, dropping to her knees as the breath was driven from her lungs and fiery pain raced through her body.

"Noemie!" Jena, lunging, katana stretched out, already knowing she'd be too late to intercept the blow aimed right at her downed partner. If this blow connected, it'd crush the bosmer's spine for sure. The world was starting to fade in and out as her damaged neck and chest struggled to keep up with the fast paced fight.

The descending blow halted in mid air. Raising her eyes unbelievingly, Jena's eyes widened in surprise as she saw an arrow sprouting from the ogre's forehead. She watched with morbid fascination as the head was eaten away by some substance coating the arrow. The ogre seemed to fall with agonizing slowness, enticing sounds similar to squeals from the remaining ogres.

As one they turned and started away with their shambling, earth shaking runs. Four dropped to the ground after a varying number of steps, muscles locked and spasming. Jena stumbled around, crumpling to her knees as she blinked in pain and astonishment, watching arrows whistle past her unresponsive body. 'A…a bear with bow and arrows? That can't be right…' She protested as a great brown haired bulk swung down from a tree, bow in hand. As her sight faded, Jena swore she saw a great brown bear leaning over her shaking its head in admonishment.

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The first thing to register itself in her mind was the lack of throbbing in her face, neck and chest. A decidedly musky, wild animal scent was the next thing she noticed, mingled with the smell of a campfire, meat and a sweet enticing smell. Slowly opening her eyes, Jena's sight was a rocky ceiling with shadows and light flickering across in a mock dance.

Lifting her head from the rather lumpy pillow it rested on, Jena observed the fact that she was in a fairly small cave room. She was covered in a blanket of warm fur, laying on a stuffed pallet which was actually quite comfortable. There were two other pallets in the room, one of which was exceptionally large. Large for a large person, Jena mused as she slowly stood, marveling at the fact that she felt only aches in the places she had been injured before.

Her pack, katana, and armor was neatly piled besides her pallet, shined and repaired from the battle. The imperial grimaced. Perhaps wearing heavy armor when fighting ogres wasn't such a good idea after all. It seemed to actually do more damage when the armor was crumpled inwards from a heavy punch or slap than was good for its wearer.

Spying the exit to the room, the woman padded forward, cautious of what she would find. A cave passage extended to both her left and right, lit periodically by torches which had made the light in the apparent sleeping room. The passage was wide enough for four or five people to walk side by side comfortably in except where it narrowed or widened slightly. It seemed to be mostly natural but places here or there hinted at places were the stone had been worked.

Off to her left the passage curved abruptly to the right and brighter light seemed to indicate a camp fire. Deciding that no one ever lived by being cautious, Jena advanced on the light with trepidation.

"Jena!" Noemie's voice cried as the imperial rounded the corner. Shocked and wide eyed, she couldn't help but freeze as something suddenly tackled her.

"Noemie!" Jena gasped as she half choked from the tight grip the ecstatic brunette had on her. "Y-y're going to kill me!"

"Aye lass. Ye doona want ta choke the wee lassie, ye ken." A loud voice rumbled from the shadows near the fire. Releasing her death hold on Jena, Noemie smiled brightly and help the recovering imperial back up.

"Jena, this is Horvak Bear Arm, good friend, local hermit, raiser of mountain leapers and our savior. Horvak, this here is my partner and friend Jena, blade member currently of cloud ruler temple. You must try some of the stew! Horvak is one of the best cooks ever. He can make almost anything taste heavenly. Not to mention he's good with a bow and healing spells."

"N-nice to meet you." Jena greeted, shocked at how huge the man before her was. She couldn't see him clearly, but the flickering light revealed the fact that he was massive and covered in furry pelts.

"The same ta ye, wee lassie. Ye're welcome ta mah fire ana time ye wish't." The stranger greeted with solemn tones, holding out a hand larger than a dinner plate. Using only a finger and thumb, the giant carefully shook hands with the stunned imperial who swallowed convulsively and sat down, grabbing the proffered bowl (filled to the brim with stew) out of reflex.

"When we were, well, ambushed, I was going to suggest that we come drop in on Horvak here. I had some things to see him about, plus there's no safer place in the mountains besides maybe cloud ruler."

"I see. How did you know he was here? We've never seen even a hint of the fact that he lived in the mountains." She spied a large cave opening behind Noemie, opening out onto steep mountain scenery.

"The lass has ken mah fer mahny yerrs now. She used't live wit mah when she was but a wee lassie like yerr self." Horvak answered, an abnormally large bowl and spoon cradled in his hands. Trying the stew herself and finding it amazingly tasty, Jena kept her ears peeled for more information as she dug in, noting with amusement Noemie's fast intake of her own stew.

"I needed a new bow and more arrows. Plus a new quiver. Mine were destroyed in the imperial city... fight." Noemie added with a decidedly cheerful voice. "I thought we might be able to get some mounts from Horvak since it seems like we're going to be doing a lot of traveling in the mountains."

"He raises horses?" Jena asked, confused. Horvak and Noemie exchanged glances before breaking out into loud laughter.

"You'll see. Are you hungry still?" Noemei inquired as she noticed that Jena was just spooning the last of her stew up.

"Surprisingly, yes." Jena nodded, handing the bowl to Noemie who ladled another large portion into the empty bowl.

"'Tis no surrprise ye're hungry. 'Tis three days since I rrescued the two of ye." For the first time Jena noted the way the giant man drew out his r's. Then realizing what he'd said, Jena nearly choked.

"Thr-three days!" She shrieked, waving off her concerned friend.

"I woke up two days ago. It's a side effect of having busted ribs or a mostly crushed throat and then being healed by Horvak. Since I'm an elf, I woke earlier than you. Besides, look on the bright side of things. If we'd been healed by anyone else we'd have been out for a week or so. As it is, I've got my new bow, quiver and an arrow all made, so all I was waiting for was you, really."

"Well sorry for being so slow to wake up." Jena growled into her stew.

"Awww. Horvak! Now she's angry with me." Noemie pouted, looking overly sad.

"Ye're no getting' me inta this, lass. Ye're on yerr own."

"No one appreciates me." Noemie sulked. Jena, refusing to answer, only speared a piece of potato rather more viciously than needed. Noemie 'eeped' as Horvak's rumbling laughter sounded, momentarily drowning out the awakening bird noises.

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AN: Sooooo… this was my first attempt at a fight scene. I hope I didn't do too badly. ^^' I'm hoping to get better character descriptions in soon. Like Horvak's… his is next chappy. I'm trying to decide whether or not to have 1st person point of view chapters or not. Hmm… If anyone has an opinion on this, let me know.

More of Noemie's mysterious past will be creeping in. I don't think I'll write the actual 'becoming the champion' story with her, since there are so many of that type of fanfics already. Therefore, I don't need to worry about being too repetitive or anything! I have ideas for my other OCs, so they might end up in their own stories. I dunno. :D

Noemie is actually a very mysterious character to everyone who knows her. Well, some more than others. Like the cloud ruler co. don't know nearly as much about her as they think they do. Just how much of her personality is really an act? I can't see the champion going through all she did and still acting so childish, can you? XD Then again she is young for a dunmer. She is going to be maturing throughout the story, I hope.

Okay then, sorry for the long and rather wandering author's note. Reviews appreciated! Oh! I don't own Oblivion! :/ Wish I did though. ^.~